timbo

The one with a pic of one blowing up in gw1. Can you help? Have tried searching and also going through page by page without success so far.. As an aside I would recommend anyone to go back through these threads - some really great info..! Cheers Tim

Many thanks - yes it does say T Cooke. I was googling last night and discovered that the co was amalgamated in 1922 so that ties up. I have also found a few pics of naval scopes made by t cooke and they all appear to be bare metal rather than painted, so you may be right about the different purpose.. Cheers Tim

Number of cvrts on the latest withams tender incl spartans with a guide price of £4.5k, which means you could probably get one for a lot less. All in very poor condition as already said but if you wanted a cheap project could be worth a punt...

A shame they will be broken up after surviving all these years....impressive bits of kit.

Hi Wondered if anybody has any ideas? I was sent the pics by a mate who was given it by his grandfather as a youngster. He was a scrappy and dealt with some war surplus but this is the only thing he parted with. Everything else was crushed. Cheers Tim

As George best said I spent most of my money on fast cars women and booze, the rest I just squandered...

I wouldnt bet on it. The Alvis factory on Holyhead Road is marked by nothing more than having a retail park named after it, which does include a multiplex cinema and McDonalds. Saracens, Saladins and CVRT's replaced by big macs and cut price settees...state of the country etc etc moan moan...

The info I have found says that the prototypes were built at Leeds but production vehicles at Nottingham. This is the internet though so it could be all lies..!

The TN15 gearbox is VERY complicated. Rumour has it the man who designed it went mad!! However, I dont think they are as unreliable as some people suggest (in private hands at least), but they do go wrong on occasions. Ultimately you will always be taking a bit of a risk, and buying a beautifully painted vehicle wont get away from that. You should get somebody UK based to do a thorough inspection and test drive prior to shipping if possible. Sometimes it is not a disaster though - when Jon Ps prototype Scorp broke down in the Beltring Arena 2 years ago (could not get any fwd/rev selection), it turned out to be a broken control rod, replaced in 30 mins. David Browns (who do the gearboxes) are 2 miles away from me. They will do a recon job for you but it will cost well into 5 figures GBP..

From what I hear, they are in pretty poor shape and have many parts missing but if you wanted a cheap way in to cvrt ownership and are willing to put some hard work in they could be a bargain. Personally Id go for a Spartan as there are less parts to find so you could be up and running more quickly.. Oh and I have a number of A2 recon engines for sale at very reasonable prices!!!

Careful John our numbers are growing y'know

Im not sure cooling is an issue as such, but you're right in that they do seem to run very warm at the best of times. I was told to make sure the inspection/ maintenance plates on the bottom of the hull were fitted (people often seem to leave them off for ease of access), as without them the airflow through the grills is disturbed and will not cool as it should do. I fitted mine and if Im honest didnt notice any difference. Remember when youre in the driving seat youre not much more than 12 inches away from the engine so it will always be a bit warm! When i took my test in a Sabre a couple of years ago it was one of the hottest days of the year (30ish in our case!), and i wore my army flameproof overalls - never mind boiler suit more like boil in the bag!!! I used to run a ZX7RR race bike which had no fan so was always very warm in the pit lane. I tried some stuff called 'water wetter' which is designed to lower the temperature of cooling systems and it worked very well. Youd probably need quite a bit for a cvrt though. Tim

Repaircraft arent the only ones offering diesel conversions if you know who to talk to but costwise these are very much aimed at government users and way beyond most of our budgets. My question would be though why bother - sure the diesels have a bit more poke and are less stressed than the j60 but in private hands does it really matter? Are you really likely to do so many miles that fuel consumption is an issue? The sound of a j60 at full chat is music to the ears! There are also plenty of them about and consumables are readily available.. Get one, drive it, enjoy it, break it, fix it....lifes too short not to... Spartan drivers compartment is positively spacious compared to sabre/ scorpion!

As Chris says you may have to buy a vehicles with Armstrongs initially, but there are now a few more mezzies around so it should be easy enough to convert, especially if the hull has already been drilled.. There are quite a few belgian vehicles around but i would still say the majority are ex uk, although some belgian have been painted in brit colours. Back to mods - there have been problems with Scimitar 2 handbrakes since they entered service, initially not holding the vehicle, this was partially resolved by fitting Stormer handbrake levers, which have greater leverage, but this has resulted in instances of not being able to release the handbrake, not good if youre trying to make a rapid tactical withdrawal! A new design is now being looked at which removes the dreaded brake bands altogether and uses the main brake calipers to provide the handbrake. There have been threads on previously with 'buying tips' for cvrt's which are well worth searching for.. Thanks Tim

Oh mate good post, this one could run and run. I am sure more knowledgeable people will be along but here is my take on it. Mezzies were fitted in the 90's (?) so arent really part of the current upgrade program as theyve been around a long time. I dont think the Belgians did this, and nor did they dieselise their fleet. The messier damper is a much more substantial beast than the armstrong and gives a much more effective damping action, especially off road. Until recently they were hard to get hold of and commanded quite a premium, but they are now pretty freely available at least in uk, although still cost more than armstrongs. They are nothing to do with the torsion bars which provide the springing, they just damp the action and stop the vehicle seesawing about. Most uk cvrts were fitted with diesels in the 90s, the conversion involving a different gearbox, engine (obviously!), final drives, and differences in the bulkhead, firewall and decks. There are quite a lot of detail differences so it is difficult for a private owner to do, but not impossible esp as parts are now coming out slowly but surely. Matadormike has a diesel spartan but it is a private conversion using commercially available parts rather than an official one. I dont know of any other diesel spartans personally, although there are a couple of scimitars around with at least one other in progress. Over the last 10 years cvrt has undergone significant upgrades due to experiences in iraq and afghan. Some of these include additional armour, different optics, ecm fitment, bar armour fitment, cheese grater armour fitment you name it. All designed to improve survivability in what is after all a lightly armoured vehicle. Scimitar 2 was introduced recently, which is a scimitar turret on an improved spartan type hull. This features even more changes such as improved seats to reduce blast injuries and get the driver off the floor, and raised controls for the drivers feet, again to reduce injuries. Weight of a theatre entry standard vehicle is now about 13 tons (up from 8) so you have to wonder how much further they can go with these vehicles. Hope that helps and look forward to being corrected! Timbo

I have always believed life's what you make it. Consequently there aren't many jobs that make me jealous - yours just did! Timbo

Thanks all. No it isnt one of my refurbs but the takeout which my rather gutless sabre is equipped with.... Now i know why it is gutless at least!! The plugs are also very black as was the interior of the carb which I replaced.. The simplest solution would probably be to uncrate one of my refurbs and see how that goes, but it does mean a bit of faffing to get it from Rugby to Hudds, ho hum, the joys of cvrt ownership. Jon Ive only personally used one of the A2 refurbs so far, in my Spartan, the paperwork said it had a concession for 175bhp, but it seems to go very well (but then it would do compared to this one!). Mr B also had one for his Scorpion, he whined like nobodys business because the carb diaphragms had perished and the coil had gone, but other than that it seems to be ok. I have plenty more to go wrong though! Cheers Tim

Ok so i have, in cylinder order: 130psi 120psi 115psi 130psi 95psi 110psi Any thoughts...?

I use Andrew Page for 25 litre tubs and theyve always been very good, also for 20kg grease tubs. I usually collect though so not sure what theyre like with post... Have also used Morris lubricants by post and they were v good..

The Bob Morrison book is very good indeed. Also the Tankograd BAOR book 2 has a few Scorpion pics. If you are interested in CVRT generally the Tankograd Recce book is also superb, no Scorps as it deals with the period after they left service but masses of late model Scimitar pics and other variants.

Im going but mostly to pick up pre bought bits and have a chat... In fact Ive bought so many 'essential spares' recently i cant actually afford anything else!!

Great pics...Glory days! The smoke and the rauchen verboten sign in the third one gives it a great atmosphere... Robin would tend to agree with you on the first one..

Yep saw it some good footage well worth a look...

Doug Whilst the reason for doing it is unfortunate the activity sounds idyllic! Cheers Timbo

Nearly 2 years on and Magical Trevor still makes me chuckle..!