andym

There wasn't yesterday, but it seems to have appeared now .... Andy

There's a mass of tunnels under Portsdown Hill, both the Victorian forts, where their chalk excavations have lasted a lot longer than 70 years(!) and the later ones under Fort Southwick built for Operation Overlord. Most are open to the public and well worth a visit. The Fort Southwick complex is now used by an airsofting company - see here: http://www.portsdown-tunnels.org.uk/palmerston_forts/fort_southwick/1_overview_p1.html Andy

I'll PM you about the drawings! I think you'll find there were two types of generator fitted to the FV439s depending on their age and role. The first ones were petrol driven AC generators, which I think are the Onans. They had independent tanks on the roof, hence no electrical fuel pumps. The FV439 SAS/MC was fitted with diesel driven 28V DC generators, which take their fuel from a tee into the right-hand fuel tank with an electrical fuel pump by the side of it. Andy

Glad to be of service! :-) Andy

There's two separate things here - the collector tank and the drain valve. The collector tank is reached through the removable section of the floor plate, the drain valve is reached through the plug underneath the rear of the vehicle. To drain water from the collector tank, release the lock nut on the valve at the end of the tank opposite from the fuel pump. Unscrew the valve pin. Drain until clear fuel flows and then close the valve and tighten the locknut. To drain the fuel tanks using the drain valve, unscrew the regulating plug (the larger of the two) and the short plug (the smaller of the two). Then screw the regulating plug into the hole where the short plug came from, which will open the valve and allow fuel to drain. The further you screw it in, the faster fuel will flow. Put both plugs back where they came from on completion. For the roof generators, the fuel pump is fed via a circuit breaker on the "Unit, Control and Distribution". To the right of the elapsed time indicator there is a line of four circuit breakers and it's the last one. From the wiring diagram it looks as though the Silent Watch switch must be "Off" to power the fuel pump. I hope that makes sense! Andy

No, it was doing the same for me, too. Ok now! Andy

You're right - I didn't have my CVR(T) info to hand at the time! The distribution panel contains three relays, one for the NBC pack, one for the cooking vessel and one for starter motor thermal protection. It sounds to me from your description that one of these isn't dropping out when it should, and the current through the relay coil is enough to drain the batteries? Andy

Ah, that makes sense - I hadn't considered it from that angle! Andy

Now at £3578 with six days left, which is more than the recent Withams auction ... Andy

Silly question perhaps, but when you say you've changed the box, is it the same model of box? I think the later ones (Stormer/Shielder) are different and have a relay-operated battery master switch. Andy

Which is quite bizarre, really! Andy

At around £2000 the existing owners would probably be interested in buying them for spares, given decent pack and tracks. Andy

Did anyone ever follow up on this? There's some information about the NATO 6TN batteries, including sizes here: http://www.gylling.no/enersys/FV%20OMM%209602-0749%20Rev%2000.pdf Note that the electrical specifications relate to the sealed "Armasafe" variants rather than conventional wet lead-acids, you won't get 1225 amps from one of those! Andy

Just you wait - the Gnome Guard will be after you! :cool2: Andy

Oh no - used car sales techniques in the military vehicle market? :shocked: Andy

I might give the Nokia version a try if it works on my N95 .... Andy

Take a look at the threads from paulob1 about driving vehicles back from Poland! http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?19953-Polish-trip...the-drive-to-end-all-drives.. http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?19888-driving-the-UAZ-and-the-Star-back-from-Poland-is-that-Mad-or-what Andy

There's some interesting things happening on FV432 prices at the moment. Withams seem to have a nice one that's stuck at £3500, presumably below its reserve, and Terry Brooks has one described as "excellent" for sale at £3495. Andy

Thanks Don!

You might want to investigate the AAC museum at Middle Wallop for the AAC bits, perhaps?

In the UK, we've sunk the Leander class frigate HMS Scylla as an artificial reef in Whitsand Bay, Cornwall.

Looks like you're having fun, Iain! :cool2:

Will do! The EMER suggests that broken bars can be extracted through inspection covers in the floor for stations 4 and 5. This is more difficult for 1, 2 and 3 because the covers are beneath the power pack and driver's compartment. It suggests finding a piece of 3/4" or 5/8" bar 6' long and threading it 3/8" UNF for 3/4" for insertion in the anchored end of the broken torsion bar. Screw it in, tap broken end clear of anchor block and push broken end through to axle arm end. Hope that helps ... Andy

John - See my reply #2 above - the axle is jacked up until the centreline of the jacking mandrel is the prescribed distance from the underside of the hull, then you insert the torsion bar. The proper special tool is a jig with notches in it sized to account for the diameter of the jacking mandrel. I'll PM you a pic showing the arrangement: Does that make sense? Andy

You're in luck - E108 seems to include the FV438 although it doesn't say so in the title. It says that the 438 settings are the same as the 432 (see my list above). Strictly speaking it doesn't matter if you've got the wheels on or not as there's a jack under the axle when you measure, but you'd find it a lot easier to do with the wheels off! Andy