Richard Farrant

Hi Butch, I think that your engine was originally made for one of the RAF snow removal units, there were two types, both had two 6PJ630 engines driving the plough, and one of these types had a 6PC630 driving the vehicle. The two vehicles were the Douglas / Bros "Snow-Flyr" and the Steels / Bros "Snow-Flyr", it was the latter one with three Meadows in, now that would have sounded good when working hard! The belt drive from fluid flywheel seems to fit as well, because from memory the FWD HAR snow removal trucks had the plough gear driven by a group of v-belts from the rear engine.

Hi Paul, Would your holiday cruising have been around Echuca? I was taken there whilst on the way to Corowa about 14 years ago. we had a trip on one of the old paddle boats. I recollect the steam engine powering it, was an old Marshall of Gainsborough. A really fascinating place. That first picture on your post, was it taken in Viet Nam? regards, Richard

Hi Brett, It could not have been a 4x4 as it has a non driven front axle, judging by the hubs. I think it may have a Thornton double drive rear bogie.

Hi Tony, I can see exactly what you are saying, and to give a graphic illustration of the results that can occur, with the attached photo. This happened to an army Bedford MJ that was recovered with a front end lift, the front prop was not removed, this resulting in the output flange coming detached from the transfer box, propshaft and all., caused by the front output flange being stationary whilst the drive shaft is revolving. The interior layout is much the same on a lot of transfer boxes.

Hi Mark, Your number fits in with those in the Ruddington auctions around mid-70's.

Now Adrian has blown your cover, .......hi Lars, good to see another familiar person on here. :-)

Good news then Peter. If it was disposed of in Germany, it could well have been through Moenchungladbach as I think that was the equivalent of Ruddington.

I see from my notes that I worked on 32BA78, Hull No. 4 in August 1980 when it was still in service.........although just realised, that was 30 years ago, so no bounds what has happened to it by now :-(

OK Jack and Deuce, a few more for you...

a few more, first one is a forum member with his newly acquired DUKW after finding a submerged object in the Murray river.........."Women and children first !" a rare example of a jeep converted to run on rail tracks.. a Chev C60L, known down under as a Blitz.. a convoy of Studebaker US6 trucks on the parade. the earliest jeep at the event, a Willys MA.. and the last one for now, all the vehicles assembed at the Airport after the parade..... if you want to see more, just say

These next photos should have come first, they show the results of a heavy deluge of rain that fell over Victoria and NSW on the weekend before the event started. Some early arrivals camped at the Airport venue were caught out by it, To some it was a chance to play

Paul, The DVLA would not have the Saracen on their database if it has not been civilian registered before. The slip of paper in the container on the engine, is only a record of mods carried out on the engine and date of engine overhaul. As engines were changed on quite a regular basis, for one reason or another, this document would be of little use in tracing the vehicle. Some Saracens had the data plate mounted under the right hand seat, next to the rear doors.

Jan has asked me to put up some photos of this year's Corowa event, as she is a bit busy at present, so here goes with the first few; The first one is a White Scout Car in Australian camo and markings... next is an excellent restoration of a Ford F60L Portee, only completed the week before, well done to Tony, the guard dog on the roof is Clevo... here is Mark Weltner offroading his Mack truck...... more to follow soon. Note to Mods.........I guess this thread is no longer a "Future Event" so should be moved to the appropriate section.

Bluebell, It was heat created by running 12v through a 9v coil ( with no ballast fitted), that softened the plastic part of the points whilst it was running this was. Anyway, changed to a new 12v coil and right as rain. Odd things can happen, but sometimes you never come across the problem again, despite sticking it in your memory as something to check for in the future.

Ray, Just a bit of advice, from experience I had a couple of times when rebuilding M20 clutches. Be wary of pattern plates, both plain and bonded, they are often slightly thicker than original BSA ones and by the time you have got the correct number in, the error has accumulated to the point that the spring is difficult to fit and clutch will not release enough for plates to be free.

Oily, Have you got the gearbox out yet ?

So it has been converted to 12 volt in the past then. The only slightly similar problem I have seen, was on a Dennis fire engine with a Jag 4.2 engine. The owner complained that he had to call out the AA on several occasions, when the engine stopped and the points had closed up. I looked at it and noticed it had Lucas Quickfit points, these are the ones that had a red plastic heel. The heel showed signs of melting, this had caused the points gap to close, hence why he broken down, and the AA had reset the gap. I asked what work had been done prior to all this, he mentioned it having an ignition service. Anyway, I investigated further and found that in the distant past someone had replaced the coil, but not with a 12volt one, but a 9volt one which is used on cars with ballast resistors. Originally it would have had points with a hard fibre heel which would have resisted the heat from 12v going through a 9v coil but the newer plastic points melted.

Eddy, I am sure that is the same Dave. Not seen him for some years, but we did used to meet up as he has had a few MV's in the past.

Did you have to jump start it with a battery start / charger? Reason I ask is that the Chev would be 6 volt ...

I had a low pass by a howling Tornado today. Not seen much RAF activity around here recently, perhaps it is the fine weather that has brought them out.

Hi, Your bleeding sequence is right, did you have problems bleeding fluid out of the fronts? It could be a restriction, like a brake hose ruptured inside, often at the end, it allows fluid one way but restricts the other way, you may well have been able to blow air through it though. Failing that, there is a possiblity that the secondary piston in the master cylinder might be fitted incorrectly. Check to see if the outlet on the m/cyl for front brakes is the port on the end of the cylinder, which it should be, that will mean that the secondary piston operates the fronts, so a possiblity, also in the same area, there is a small dowel screw in the base of the m/cyl, that stops this piston coming out to far. I have seen these fitted the wrong side of the piston so that it is resticting its movement. regards, Richard

Roy, Makrolon is much the same as Lexan, a polycarbonate transparent sheet. It is stronger that Perspex and will not shatter as Perspex does. The sheilds around the roof hatch were not fitted at the time I was involved with them.

That was what remains of the sign that said DANGER - DO NOT ENTER :D

Tim, That is a work of art, well done to all of you. Not long now before you can run the engine I guess?

Hi Roy, I used to fit the Vehicle Protection Kits to vehicles back in the 1970's. Mainly Land Rover 88" and 109", inc Lt/wt and ambulances,, Bedford MK GS and Bedford RL tippers. There was a tendency for this protection to be known as Makrolon, but in fact that is a trade name for the transparent polycarbonate sheet used to protect the windows. This was fitted to the inside of the windscreen and outside of the door windows. At the time, every unit going on a tour had its vehicles converted whilst they were on last minute training. You could often work out how many tours a vehicle had done, by the number of holes in the body panels ! The protection itself was a woven glass fibre panel with many layers. I came across the front panel on a MK once with a bullet lodged in it.