Grasshopper

I might add that the start was at the Grasshopper pub, and at the lunch, I consumed Grasshopper beer (silver award winner). A fine day for Grasshopper. Mrs Grasshopper came along and had very cold feet for the whole day. She thinks, quite rightly, that we are all mad. :banana:

You or the tank? :-D

Just got home from the frostbite run- which lived up to it's name! We went in a convoy from our yard, which consisted of 2 half tracks and Mikes Ward LaFrance (which we finished nailing together last night). It sure was cold travelling in the back of an open top half half track, although some of the frosty Surrey scenery was stunning. Most of us were wrapped up warm, apart from Karl Joynes who wore casual attire with neither hat nor gloves. Mind, he is a hardened year-round Pinky driver, so todays chilly climate was "nothing" to him.... The Ward was the largest truck on the run, and the only other heavy was a 2.5 ton Rio with a quad 50 in the back. Armour was represented by the 2 half tracks, a ferret (which i think broke down on the run) and a Dingo. There were many many jeeps, a couple of Dodges and Dodge variants and a smattering of Land Rovers. After the fine carvery lunch, I had the pleasure of driving one of the half tracks home. I am still vibrating!

I know its a lot older than it looks, as it has been re-bodied at some time in its career. It was last used by the Bethesda fire department, and it had been around a bit by then. Mike may know more, but I think the chassis is 1950/60?

I know a guy in that area who had a couple of chieftains as well as a whole lot of other stuff. He ran a driving experiance for a while. He has sold the Chieftains but still has a large collection af armoured vehicles.

That be 101 gearboxes you be thinking of. Good to see that some of my knowledge has rubbed off on you over the years...

Driven by a mutual grinning/baldy aquaintance perchance?

Best bits- CVRT Spartan when it works, Bethune, getting engaged Worst bits- CVRT Spartan when it doesn't work, realising I now have to pay for a wedding.

One problem with that event- who wants an early start on new years day...... :beer: :goodmorning:

CVRTs are all earthed to the hull. If there was a live feed to earth, then cicuits should not operate as there would still be no earth for them to operate through, as it would now be live. In any case, fuses or MCBs (don't know if Chieftains have them) would trip/blow if the current draw to earth was too great.

Sorry, pencil is still blunt. There is a small chance of having Mikes ward ready for an outing this coming weekend (parts delivery permitting), so issue 12 is currently on hold. Regards, Small but excitable one.

There is only one real M series truck- M55. A proper mans truck. At least thats what Nick Chance has been trying to convince me for years.....

Like the man said, have you had the wheels balanced yet? It's the most simple thing to have checked, and the simplest thing is usually the cause of problems in my experiance.

I have not been given the winter off, but have gone into hibernation (under my land rover).

I used to use a blow lamp straight into the air inlet of a knackered old Iveco turbo engine (in a DMS double decker). Worked a treat.

There are certainly easier things to steal....

Why is it that (some of) us engineers (who work on trucks/trains/busses) put up with driving our own vehicles (with many "issues") that most would find intolerable? My Land Rover discovery has knackered steering, a duff gearbox and it handles like a boat in a force 7 gale. I've been happily been driving it around like it for a year. Any other person would just fix it, or pay for it to be fixed. My partner tolerates driving it, but it scares her on the motorway. I have finally got around to buying a polybush kit to sort the handling after driving it 450 miles in a day, half of the milage done with a pair of armoured doors in the rear. It was horrible. Is this just me not wanting to work on uninteresting vehicles (or being lazy/tight/skint/busy), or is it just a typical "mechanics motor"?

Maybe father christmas will bring some willing volunteers for you... :-)

You bored? Never! There is far too much to do when you get back young man. (I have been busy hiding from the dark/rain/cold).

You can remove the distributor drive flange from a dead J60, make an aligning tool then drill and tap a hole in the civvy block to take the military distributor. Worked for us. Our block was from a fire engine so had the same internals as a CVRT spec engine. A car engine has various internal differences (i'm told). Apparently the military bores are slightly oversized as it runs hotter than the car engine, and the valves are different.

Bang bang! :-D

I get freecups of tea the couple of times I have taken a CVRT at the local cafe. PS (ssshh. don't tell Mike).

I heard that some CVRTs are cracking up. It's something to do with a certain early batch of hulls and the reaction with added on belly armour.

My old 101 had been used as a helicopter lift/drop training vehicle (as well as an airfield hack). The history and condition of the vehicle confirmed this.

The light control knob is the same as a land rover and the IR switch kills all the white lights.