Richard Farrant

Richard, The REAR GUARD warning relates to the rear fog lights which were refered to as Rear Guards. My memory is dimming now, as it is at least 10 years ago since I had a lot to do with the Army's fleet. If you put the rear guards (fogs) on, this warning should come on. If it comes on when using any other light on the rear, flashers I think you said, then I would put it down to a local earthing problem at the rear and it is feeding back to the rear guards. Get someone to operate the lights while you observe what happens at the rear. Re. the BRAKE warning light, it may be low level warning, but I cannot remember there being a switch in the filler cap. I think you will find it is connected to a switch in a shuttle valve in the brake circuit. This is in case a pipe is damaged and one axles brakes loose fluid, the valve should move over and seal the damaged line off, thus retaining brakes on the other axle. If this happens, the switch activates the warning light. there should be a brake "press to test" switch on the centre of the dash. Richard

I understand that you can find them in the South of France at reasonable prices, where there is little interest in mv collecting and they have only been used as runarounds or farm hacks. If you have any contacts in that area of France, get them to keep a look out. Richard

The answer is Yes ! I did one for a customer about 18 months ago and he is pleased with its performance. It is a British Lockheed, slightly shorter, small amount of pipe alteration, nothing serious, from memory, the bracket at the front end fitted straight on and a simple support bracket was made for the tail end. It is a much simpler unit than the oversized thing that is originally fitted. The important bit......it is the servo fitted to certain models of Ferret scout cars. As it is probably a commercial item, seals would be available from brake specialists. Richard

I find whenever I have put adverts on Milweb, that there has been a near zero response, apart from the scammers who will buy it without seeing with a bankers cheque. As soon as the Classic Military Vehicle mag comes out, the phone starts ringing...:? Richard

If any of you want to read a transcript of the VCR Commitee meeting, where they are discussing the issues that concern us, go to this web page http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmscviol.htm and then click on "7th Sitting", this will give you the whole picture. When you get to the bottom, click on "continue" to bring up next page. It goes on a bit, but makes interesting reading. It appears they have been shaken by the response to this issue. Richard

Russell, Some years ago while at the Stourpaine steam rally with my BSA WM20, a old gentleman asked if I was interested in a pair of WD pannier frames. He brought them along the next day and they were in the brown colour. It seems he bought an ex-WD Royal Enfield in 1946, took the frames off and hung them in his shed. I unfortunately sold them some years back and did not think to get the colour checked out. I am older and wiser now, of course. So it appears that Enfields were that colour.

hi Clive, I note there is no partition between them, do you and Mrs Elliott, sit holding hands ? :lol: Incidentally, they are not canvas buckets you use, are they? Richard :wink:

Hi, According to the servicing schedule, the steering unit used OMD75. This is now an obsolete army grade, but was actually 10w/30 engine oil. Hope this helps. Richard

There were some ex-Netherlands Forces L/R Lightweights which were diesel, but left hand drive of course. I think it was L. Jackson at Misson, nr. Doncaster who had them, but doubt if there are any left now. Richard

Richard, Carb icing may be a problem, I know some Stalwart owners are suffering it, it is due to the nature of the modern petrol, which is now formulated for injection engines and not carbs, as they are becoming a thing of the past. On the Ferret, it may not be difficult to overcome, firstly, the inlet manifold is heated, so allowing the engine to warm up longer before moving off will help. The other thing that is worth trying, is something that was used on the forerunner of the Ferret, the WW2 Daimler Dingo. Part of the equipment on a Dingo, was radiator blanking boards, they hooked over the rear engine louvres, ( where the hot air blows out ). I think just one louvre was kept free. This allowed to hot air to build up in the engine compartment rather than just expel it. You will know when it is warm enough by the temp guage, worth experimenting with a sheet of tin. They should be removed once normal running temp is achieved. Richard

Richard, I thought it was straight out of the army, did not realise it had already had civvy use. Yes, I noted the army reg no, that it was a civvy spec. There were some civvy spec. 110 with V8 engines, again a stop gap due to problems with the diesels in their early life. The holes in your body sides are for an aerial mounting bracket, it was flat plate , bent at 90 degrees with two more holes in the top edge of the body. On the top face of the bracket was a pole of about 18" with like a stirrup welded to the top and a round mounting plate. The aerial base fitted on the plate and cable went through a hole in the reinforced patch in the canopy. Richard

Tyler, I spent 22 years working as a fitter in army workshops, seen so many different versions of Land Rovers. Sometimes that civvy cross member is found on a military contract vehicle, that may have happened because either the cross member has been renewed or the whole chassis has been changed. It was the rear tank that sets it apart. These civvy types were I believe a stop gap contract, with only small changes like FV lights, etc. Richard

Richard, Have you noticed...........its a civvy model, rear mounted fuel tank, tapered ended rear cross member and civilian rear bumperettes, etc. Also the jaw tow hook has been replaced by a drop plate for a ball hitch. Not often you find trailers in the army with ball hitches, usually on something like a recruiting trailer or caravan. Richard

Paul, The dealer is Banisters at Northiam, up the road from Rye. Number is 01797 253211 or wjrbanister@btconnect.com Yes, you can remove the cylinder without disturbing wheel or drum. Sounds like Clive has fixed you up anyhow. Richard

Paul, With brakes you cannot afford to take chances. I would change the cylinder if it is split. It makes me wonder why it has split, are you sure the nipples were of the same thread, they should be UNF. If the new ones were Metric and slightly larger diameter, that may have caused the split. Working with cast aluminium, you have to be carefull of the threads as they corrode, causing the nipple to appear tight when it is not actually on its seat. As I think you are in the Brighton area, I guess you know the one-stop MV parts place at Northiam? Richard will have cylinders. Best of luck, Richard

Robert, There has been some talk about the availabiltiy of these Olympic tyres on MLU Forum earlier this year, seems they may not be going to produce them anymore. This came from someone in Australia, where they are of course, made. I did find a website for Olympic UK depot and they listed the same tyre on there as a grassland tyre for mowing equipment, etc. but that is evidently out of stock. May be worth you contacting Olympic direct to get the full story. There were some other tyres of that size coming in to Australia from India with a heavy deep tread, not really car type use. Richard

Clive My ex-employers colours, as if you did not know ! Re. HA prefix for the paint, I am certain this is the same as British during 40's, seem to remember seeing it before somewhere. H1, etc, came later. Richard

Clive, In answer to your quote above....Yes. The paint was listed in Vocab as Cat. No.HA5715 Brown SCC No2 Take a look at these two links, the second one refers to Canadian vehicles but all the Cat. No. and Regulations are of British origin. http://www.matadormodels.co.uk/tank_museum/xcamo_ww2uk.htm http://milifax2003.tripod.com/Cdn_Patterns_1.html It seem that No2 is not exactly the same as Dk Earth according to the first link, but after a lot of searching, the client and I had to make a decision and it did not look too bad at all. Richard

Clive, I will have a search for the site I found before with colour chart. Richard

Clive, This one has come up before on the MLU Forum. I think the nearest to it is probably Dark Earth, the BS number of which escapes me, but I do have it on a tin in the workshop. To quote from the book "British Tank Markings & Names" by B T White, " during 1941 a khaki-brown shade similar to BD uniform, was again used for tanks". "in Nov 1941 the War Office authorised its use as an alternative to Khaki Green No3. The khaki brown mentioned was known as Standard Camouflage Colour No2 and was included in BS987C published in Sept 1942". It goes on and on...... Somewhere on the web, I have found a site connected with modelmakers, that shows the BS colour charts and from this I concluded that Dark Earth, which is not that dark, more like the colour of a cup of tea, to be as near as I could get. Richard

Matt, Good point ! I forgot about that, obviuosly markings are in usual places like bonnet, doors, front or rear, etc. so extra care can be taken at those known areas. Richard

Mark, It can be bought from DIY stores. I would advise you to experiment with it on a part of your vehicle first, because I find with very old and hard paint it takes for ever, lifting a coat at a time. With the number of coats that a MV usually has, this will be tedious! Also, it has to be washed off thoroughly, to neutralise it, any stripper lurking under body seams, etc. will come back to haunt you when repainting. For heavy metal parts, a needle gun chips the paint of well, rotary wire wheel on a hand grinder, and a hot air stripper is also good for sheet metal. Then off course any components that can be sand blasted with out causing internal damage, ie don,t consider doing it to an engine or transmission, etc. Richard

Clive, I do not know the post war census number, only the original one. It takes a lot of searching to find it as the records are listed with the postwar numbers in order, will have to spend a day at Bovvy to find it. It is doubtful that mine was an RUC one as it was found to have several sets of RAC signs and the original set which was Royal Engineers. The ones you speak off were once in Lindsay Burneys yard in NI, I know of several people who have bought some of them, as you say there is a large cache of them now owned by a gentleman in NI, who appears not to want to part with them. I would put a DAC on a ZR registration, CC sounds more like a Saladin. Richard

I fired off letters to all the VCR commitee members and the Home Office at the request of Preston Issacs, fellow MVT member. We have had encouraging replies from several of those MPs. There have been a great number of amendments put to the Bill by those friendly MPs and some points are much as I suggested. From the minutes to the first of the VCR Commitee meetings it appears they have had a significant response from people like us and are taking note of it. Richard

I promise not to mention W&G again, here is my fleet; 1943 Bedford QLD GS truck 1941 BSA WM20 m/cycle 1943 Daimler Dingo Mk2 scout car Richard