Sean N

Can't see the resistance range specified in that eBay ad, so who knows? Looks very like the K9 unit, might be worth asking them if it's equivalent to an old Lucas or Smiths unit. Have you tested your sender unit?

Pekka, my apologies, I forgot all about posting that diagram of the water pump for you. Dismantling it is fairly simple - take the nut and washer off the end of the shaft, then drift the shaft and impeller out of the housing. Remove the retaining ring at the front of the housing, then you can remove the grease retainer and bearings. Take care to keep all the spacers etc. in the right order. When refitting, you need to make sure the carbon seal is held against the body correctly, which you can do by making sure the gland spring holds the seal against the shoulder on the shaft as you fit the shaft. As Trevor says, you can best test the thermostat by putting it in a pan of water, bringing it up to close to boiling and seeing if the thermostat opens. It's a long time since I've looked at a K9 thermostat, but that one doesn't look right to me - I'm sure the end should be square and the bellows not compressed / bent like that. If you give me a day or two I'll see if I have another one to compare it with. Might as well reverse flush the radiator while you have it out.

... the M2 bridging rig that was at the Tank Museum a few years ago... http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?49245-Tank-Museum-M2-Bridging-Rig And also the Daimler Dingo converted to a beach buggy that was in a yard off West Quay Road, Poole for a long time. Do I recall it had some American V8 in or is that my memory playing tricks? Did it survive?

It's a shame so many of these became so neglected once they were sold off, having been so mollycoddled while in service. Well done for all your hard work.

Richard, You've triggered my failing memory, thanks. Ron, Yes Yes again - face spanner (adjustable one fairly easily available) Even thinking about doing this frightens the life out of me. Sounds like a very good way to hurt yourself very badly. and do a lot of damage into the bargain.

Anyone?

The ones Garry's asking about are clearly Michelins, unless you're referring to the eastern bloc 14.00 x 20s on the Guyanan MKs in the earlier photos?

Can't get the nearside V belt (fan belt) to stay tight on this Stalwart. I think the rotation of the belt should tend to tighten the two halves of the pulley, which has happened on the off side, but the nearside just wants to come loose all the time. Any suggestions or top tips? Thanks

This is getting totally off topic now, but I find that depends on ground conditions and other factors; for example, with deep mud on a solid base it's often better to cut through the mud and get grip onto something solid rather than skating about on the surface.

But that's only to be expected, really - a 1980s truck replacing, and to an extent competing against, what is in essence a late 1950s truck based on a late 1940s design.

Pekka, have to say it looks deep bronze green to me. Even if you assume the image colours aren't accurate, the engine looks the same colour as the cab underbonnet colour which you have to assume is deep bronze green. Having said that, from what we've put together on this topic you could paint it either deep bronze green, mid bronze green or eau de nil and be accurate (but not sky blue!) Looks as though there is grey underneath, though that may be primer. I'm afraid that's pretty usual on K9s! Been there, done that...

Richard, the inner is 1 1/2" x 3 3/8" x 7/8" x 0.209" equiv. SKF 1.131089/9 and the outer is 13/16" x 2 7/16" x 0.829" x 0.591" equiv. SKF 1.131122/3 Changing them is straightforward, they're Timken type so same procedure as with any Timken wheel bearing.

The ignition advance is set to give the correct flame front propagation so that the fuel burn in the combustion chamber exerts the maximum force on the piston without risking damage; at its crudest, you don't want the flame front chasing the piston down the bore, but you don't want it trying to push the piston back the way it came either. This can vary considerably from engine to engine as Richard suggests. Engine design can differ radically from generation to generation; engines designed in the '50s and '80s are very different things and put together in very different ways, so you can't necessarily make parallels between the two. If I remember correctly, it was very unusual to see static advance of more than 6 to 9 degrees before the '80s. I suppose an engine set up to run on any old muck down to about 80 octane might be happy with the timing advanced slightly when running on good quality pump fuel, but there may also be other issues. You need to be very careful with over-advancing ignition just as you do with over-retarding it. You might think that if you over-advance and it starts easily, you don't get kickback and you don't hear pinking, that's job done; but there are other things to be aware of. For example, if you set a high static advance, you significantly increase the total advance (static + centrifugal + vacuum), which can lead to high speed detonation (high engine speed, that is) which you won't hear but can be very destructive very quickly.

Thanks Mike, that's interesting. Now you say it, the cab is really obviously Haulamatic.

The Leyland 8x6 in the same sale (Presumably DROPS running gear?) is interesting.

Pekka, there's really only two or three ways the water pump can be stuck; the bearings are seized (unlikely, even with the time it's been standing, unless the pump was already leaking); the running faces of the seal are gummed together (quite possible, given it's stood for a long time with no water); or the impeller and the machined face on the pump body have corroded and you've lost the clearance between the impeller and body (again, quite likely). Either way, you should be able to dismantle and rebuild. I may have a water pump here if you're really stuck. I'll see if I can scan the relevant page of the manual for you.

If I post an image which is hosted on my HMVF account, and it's a large image, the forum software posts a smaller version with a link to the full size version. If I post an image which is hosted on, say, a Photobucket or Flickr account, that doesn't seem to happen. Is there a way of forcing it?

That's a very small ditch to put M2s in! I think one of those may have been our old one - I say may have been as I'm not sure I can recall the serial and I can't read the registrations in the video. I'm surprised no-one knows about the Bovvy one though

REO started making trucks before WW1...

That looks as though it's seen better days! Sorry Nick, my confusion. Somehow I'd got the impression the Muckleburgh one was Ashcollection's one. List edited to suit.

Just reviewing the topic, it looks like yours, the one David Crouch had, REME museum, the one near Bath, the one near Degsy, the Muckleburgh one, and the one from Silsoe (assuming none of those are dead or double counted) plus unknowns.

A few years ago there was an M2 Bridging and Ferrying Rig in Berlin camouflage in the Tank Museum yard - anyone know anything about it or what happened to it?

Michael, These trucks were, as you say, works trucks, which means they weren't really designed for use on the road but to ferry goods and equipment around large industrial sites; hence the size and width, as they might need to go in and out of places not really designed for road traffic. I've also seen these things on large hospital etc. sites being used for moving rubbish bins, gardening gear and all sorts. As you say they were designed to tow a substantial trailer load and I've seen these pulling a gaggle of two or three trailers. The trailers were also made by FMW and looked just like the body of the truck mounted on a two axle four wheel trailer chassis of the same width. A lot of these were cast in the 1990s as the large dockyards and establishments were re-organised and reduced in size and I can recall the trucks and trailers coming through the MoD vehicle auctions. I can't recall, but don't they use the Ford crossflow engine? If so, and it's the 711M block, I'd imagine that's the most valuable part of them these days! A useful thing to have for museums etc. though. FMW are long gone; I think they were taken over by one of the handling equipment companies, possibly Manitou, but I couldn't swear to it.

I don't think anyone's arguing about it, just trying to get to the bottom of what on the face of it is the wrong registration. It's probably not a surprise that your Haflinger might have had the same registration as the Champ as (I understand) RN registrations were re-used.

I know nothing of Champ numbers, I was just guessing what might be an obvious misread.