Richard Farrant

Ha, think I see a flaw in all this. Now most of us run on bargrip, trackgrip or other cross country type tyres. They are not flat across the tread, so circumference is measured around the centre ( mould line ), OK all well and good, but.....because of the heavily radiused profiles, when running at lower pressures you get the outer flanks of the tread profile in contact with the road, when this happens, the centre of the tread actually inverts as sidewalls bulge out, therefore the maximum circumference is reducing to the smaller circumference of the outside of the treads. No matter how much theory and calculations you can come up with, there is nothing better than practise to prove a point. :yawn:

No problem Andy.

Well there is a steering box assembly, RH propshaft tunnel, water pump and trunnion cap ( to retain a transfer box to hull ) all visible in the photos and all Ferret.

Ah well having read this later on and replied to a subsequent post, it appeared that you still thought that track length had a bearing on it. That is the trouble with deleting or altering past posts. Thanks anyway.

As the discussion was on speedo readings, ( I think ), the length of tracks are irrelevant, what is relevant is how many links are laid on the ground for one turn of the drive sprocket. What must be remembered is that a tracklaying vehicle is much like a railway vehicle in that it runs on tracks, but carries them wherever it goes. So, speedo is calibrated for number of track links laid in a turn of the sprocket, not a good comparison when discussing tyres of varying diameters or circumference.

Ki-gass cold start system

Hi Chester, I have not been up to your part of the country, but met a few collectors from Qld in the past. It would be interesting to see pictures of your vehicles, especially the British ones.

Hi Chester, Welcome to the forum. Whereabouts Down Under are you? I have been over there a good few times, always on something related to old military vehicles, so know quite a few collectors around the country and seen a few of their collections. The only Austin 6x4 (K6) that I came across there, was a Coles mobile crane version. regards, Richard

I see the upper photo has a plate saying it is reconditioned for ABRO, so it was put out to contract. At one time, British Rail at Derby had a contract to rebuild 2.25 petrol engines, the least said about them the better, they should have stuck to running trains :undecided:. The engine paint used on rebuilds was Sky Blue ( not Duck Egg Green ). It has been used as an engine colour by the army since about 1950.

If the tap works, ie, opens and shuts, but you cannot remove it from the block for fear of shearing off or stripping threads, then why not resort to a sealer in the coolant. The best one I use is K-Seal, it works with antifreeze, so just add the bottle to the rad. It does not block the core, like the old dog turds, sorry, Barseal :-D

Andy, Are you sure that is a crack, it looks too straight. I think it is a mark from when the spring material was rolled, before scrapping it, use a crack detecting spray or similar test.

Hi Tim, I would definitely drain out any old fuel from the tank and filter. Also worth slackening the fan belt to check the pump is not siezed. I recently had to overhaul a jeep that had been standing for many years, went to turn it over on the handle and the engine appeared siezed solid, it was in fact rust around the impellor and body that had locked it up. Brake hydraulics a certainty, cylinders are so cheap, that it is not worth messing about with them as there is bound to be pitting in the bores.

No worries, Loggy, thought I might have missed something

It might have been something to identify it when going through the machining process. Castings are often painted in a primer before machining.

Loggy, As far as I was aware, the AGM is at Stratford upon Avon on 18th April. The Trucks and Troops show is to be the MVT National Event..............unless things have changed since the last Green Sheet.

Ted, If you mean the vents, they were added to later K9 production, as I think the radiator sits high and did not get enough airflow.

Forgetting the white diffs, the top pic of a K9 is unusual, as it has the chrome strips in the grille, not fitted on the military vehicles normally, but standard on civilian Loadstars.

Thats £5 each, hardly "nearly as much as a new one" !

Really? I bet you would not get £50 for a scrap one....................not even £25

Some more pics of WOT6 Machinery lorries, the first is of one in preservation, it is known to have carried a lathe, pedestal drill, bench grinder and valve refacer, generator and gas welding kit. This vehicle still has the fitted bench in it, it is currently for sale, if anyone is interested, please PM for details. It belongs to a friend. The second pic is one in post war service, showing the equipment that was installed in it. ( Les, I think you might have sent me this one ).

The wartime Ministry of Supply Data book says the same weight, also they state that Unladen means without spare wheel, vehicles tools and empty fuel tanks...........and without driver.

Hi Wayne, Qualcast ( lawn mower people as well ! ) cast the cyl blocks, nothing to read into that. As for stencilled numbers on the block, no idea unless you can make out a bit of what is on there. As for the pumps, my memory is vague now, after too many years, but I do know that both 7 and 9 hole pumps were in use by the military. We were rebuilding engines for all three Services at that time, and the issue of pumps often came up, but other than that I forget the details now.

Hi Wayne, When the Land Rovers were new from the factory, the cylinder block, timing cover, water pump and head, were painted a pale blue/grey. Possibly as you describe. This was not an overall spray after assembly. The rocker cover and flywheel housing was bare alloy finish and I think the sump was gloss black. I rebuilt loads of 2.25 engines, both 2a and 3 series, in REME workshops and once they were tested, they were painted completely in Sky Blue, except distributors which were a dull black.

Tony, Not what I was looking for, but the following is from a reprint of a Canadian Army data book, from WW2 period. "Shipping space ( deck area ): Is the maimum square feet of ground area which would be enclosed by a fence completely surrounding the vehicle when standing in normal trim." "Shipping space ( standing) : Is the volume in cubic feet which would be contained in a rectangular case completely enclosing the vehicle. In many vehicles the standing shipping volume can be reduced by lowering superstructure thus cutting down overall height, or by removing same and repostioning moving parts such as rear view mirrors." " 1 shipping ton ( cargo measure ) = 40 cubic feet"

Tony, Looking at the stencil headed "US Port " and "NY", I assumed this was from a packing crate as most trucks shipped from New York ports would have been crated, in order to get the maximum number on board by stacking. But it still raises the question of what the ratio of volume to weight was, when shipping. As Mike says, a lot of British manuals show shipping weight as vastly over actual weight. I have seen it before, think it was in a TM, but cannot find it yet.