timbo

Speculation and confusion abound! To be fair I dont think the article is intending to draw a comparison to the Scimitar as such. It is hard to see how a conclusion can be drawn that Sabre was unsuccessful given its very short service life, and the fact that they only served in the Balkans. I suspect (more speculation again) that the decision to withdraw Sabre was more to do with the problems of the small size of the fleet, especially as they remained petrol rather than diesel, unlike the majority of CVRT. So a decision had to be made to dieselise or withdraw perhaps? Experience in Iraq and Afghan has led to many, many detail changes to the CVRT over the last 10 years, so I don't think the inherent problems of the Sabre were any worse than those of Scimitar etc... Sabre was not withdrawn due to toxicity issues as far as Im aware, that comment relates to Scorpion and the 76mm gun. Army vets tend to blame the RAF for this (not sure if that is fair or not!). The other reason given for Scorpions withdrawal is that Scorpion had the smallest calibre gun that could be classed as a 'tank' for arms limitation purposes. It was therefore a way to meet arms reduction targets without reducing the number of MBT's (which the current govt is busy cutting up anyway but thats another story!). I hasten to add that all, some or none of the above may be true! Tim

Ahh that would be Mr Brooks' then - he did post recently about tweaking the fuelling and said there was quite a difference - he's not kidding!

I thought PD had speeded up the video - reminds me of keystone cops! Has he done something to the fuelling I wonder looking at the smoke? Either way I wouldnt want to be travelling pax in it!

Congratualtions on your purchase - a fine vehicle indeed! 750 still sounds a tad high to me - should it not be 550-600 ?

I will be there with Spartan, Saladin and maybe have the Stormer running too. May even have brakes on the Saladin this year to avoid the 'Saladin handbrake shuffle'! The fireworks spectacular will be happening again on the Sunday night...

No contest mate - CVRT all the way.... And it comes with a BV for making a brew!

Good news indeed!

Hi John Unfortunately I will be on holiday so not able to attend. If you remember would you mind mentioning it to him - its of no use to me. Hope the eye is recovering! Tim

Well done Raph. Yes always worth checking all the bits and pieces on these recons, but glad you are up and running... Tim

Thank you Richard and all!! Now I just need to find someone who wants one...!

Many thanks Clive, so it looks like I've purchased a dynamo off some kind of large truck - useful!

Clive You were my best hope! There do seem to be other part nos with 2920-99-804... which do relate to the FV600 series but cant find this one at all... Thanks anyway Tim

Bit of an update - I have managed to find an additional reference LV6MT4CBG7B24-7X and the NSN 2920-99-804-1819

Can anybody tell me what this is off? I bought it as NOS for my Saladin but clearly it isn't a Saladin generator. In case you cant read the label it is a 24v, high speed, part no 1200071. No FV no. There is an NSN on the crate but it is too faint to be readable... Thanks Tim

Christos You may be able to reach the junction box but to get at the dizzy, sorry distributor, you definitely need to remove the drivers seat and firewall. My advice would be to remove them anyway as it only takes 20 minutes and will make your life a lot easier, especially when you drop a nut, bolt, spanner, phone etc into the engine bay! Good luck Tim

The attached may be of help. It is the description of the ignition circuit from the EMERs and the mod instructions for the electronic ignition. I dont really understand electrics but have always found a basic knowledge combined with a methodical approach does the trick. 201407230946.pdf

Gotta be worth a discount though.... A well known parts dealer has a couple of photos of my Sabre on his site, but he asked permission first - more to do with the fact they were my pics rather than my vehicles though I suspect...

Hello mate Your first port of call should be Rob Nixon from Catterick, who posts on here as rnixartillery. What he doesnt know about restoring artillery pieces isnt worth knowing! I notice he's not been on for a few weeks so maybe on holiday so I would give it a few days see if he turns up... Cheers Tim

Hmmm, might take you up on that Dale.....b**ger there goes my fuel budget for the year! Tim

Looks like fun! Sadly I am on hols in France that weekend otherwise I would be up for bringing the Sabre over... Hope it goes well! Tim

Christos In the original setup, the starter circuit did indeed bypass the ballast resistor to give the coil a shot of 24v, but when you release the starter button this drops back through the resistor so it is only very short term. Note though that if you have the electronic ignition fitted (assuming Belgian vehicles did?) then the wiring was modified so that the starter circuit goes through the resistor too. If you dont do this then there is a good chance you will blow the electronic ignition module (ask me how i know!)... I have only just got home so as its a bit late I will post the diagrams tomorrow! Cheers Tim

Christos I believe the J60 coil is actually a 12v coil....the ignition junction box contains a ballast resistor to drop the voltage, so this could be why your 24v coil has not worked, although this is starting to go beyond my understanding now! I will post up the wiring diagram and fault finding guide when I get home later today. Cheers Tim

Raph The module is located within the distributor. If you take the top of the distributor off you will see the rotor arm, module and 'chopper' which has 6 arms on it. You will then need to remove the rotor arm and unscrew the module. The nuts which hold the wires in place are very small so you will need a 1/4" drive imperial socket set. If you get to that stage and get stuck please shout as I did this recently so can give lots of advice. Tim PS this is assuming the Belgian ones have electronic ignition of course! PPS if you do decide to change the engine, planning and preparation are the key. Write out what you are going to do and the order in which you will do it...

Thought you'd be in the beer tent Chris!?

The J60 comes with all the ignition components installed on the engine, so if you change the engine there is a good chance it will resolve your problems. However, this seems a bit extreme for no spark. You should first remove your dash panel, gently pull it forwards and check the wires to the rev counter, since the ignition goes through the rev counter if this wire comes loose it wont start. Then remove the decks, drivers seat and firewall to give you better access. You should then start at the front of the engine, and remove the cover from the round ignition junction box. Mine had a loose wire coming out of the four pin plug into the ballast resistor. Then take the coil off your recon engine and swap it with your current one. If this doesnt make any difference it could be the ignition module, but this would be unusual unless you have wired it incorrectly which it doesnt sound like you have. Do you have a wiring diagram for the ignition system? If not I can post one up tomorrow when at home. It is worth an hour or so of investigation rather than a full engine change. I have no idea how to wire it up to run out of the vehicle, but have only ever seen it done for very short periods without coolant.. Good luck Tim