Richard Farrant

Hi Andrew, That is an achievement, your father must be pleased. regards, Richard

There is new or as new one available, I have told Rick, and it is in NSW...... 'no names, no pack drill'

Glad to here you have got to the bottom of this. It was no surprise that the oil sealed the exhaust valves for the compression test as the plugs are above the valves and oil would have gone over them before running down the bores. regards, Richard

Hi John, It is many years since I was working on Crusaders, but re. belts, I would expect the belt to be made to a British Standard and probably in the B cross section, it would be just a matter of measuring the inside circumference and going to a local bearing supplier as already mentioned. The quote from the manual would be about ensuring they are matched lengths, the reasoning for them coming from the same batch. I quite often get belts for some old and obscure military vehicle and come away with a suitable one, never tell them what it is for as they will immediately say 'no stock'! regards, Richard

Well done, Rick Your tank's census number T18656 falls into the following groups; [h=2]T18361 - T18660 CovenanterI, II, Bridgelayer[/h][h=2]T18661 - T18760 CovenanterI, Bridgelayer [/h]These numbers are from the pre-1948 A Vehicle census list on the MAFVA website. Not sure where it means these groups were gun tanks and bridgelayers or just the latter. You will have to look for unusual fittings on the hull to ascertain if it was a bridgelayer. regards, Richard

Seen them fitted as spotlights on army crane jibs and recovery vehicles as well.

Neil, I am afraid I am no expert on the Chieftain, but young Eli could tell you more, watch this; Love his comments on the L60, reckon his father was a crewman.

Hi Chris, From the record card this Martian may have had a charmed life. It appears that it was in storage for 4 years before being issued in Jan. 1962 It later spent 14 years at the Royal Armoured Corps Centre Workshops at Bovington before being passed to the RARDE research establishment at Chertsey. This would seem about the time that Leylands were withdrawn when the Foden recovery entered service. It was finally passed over to the Procurement Executive, but no date of final disposal on that card. regards, Richard

Andy, The little ball valve is there to release air when filling the system, once full the valve will float up and lock off flow. Once engine is warm, thermostat opens. If the thermostat was fitted upside down as Tony says, then the ball valve would stay open, but thermostat would not open very quickly as it sense temperature of coolant from the lower side.

No one has mentioned this yet, but in my long experience on B Range engines is that the Exhaust valve clearance are often not checked due to the limited access in a number of applications, especially anything armoured. The clearance can decrease over time so worth checking. I know you put oil down the bores to seal the rings, but the exhaust valve is a side valve and the oil may well have helped seal a blowing valve.

Hi Jon, I am sure I can see a vertical weld on the nearside chassis rail behind the spring hanger. This probably means that chassis has been cut off at the rear at some point then new pieces welded in, so you have lost evidence of the towing arrangement being fitted.

I thought a Spitfire had a magneto :undecided:

What spark plugs are you using? I recommend Champion J8C for the Bedford 28hp. If you are using NGK, beware as there are fake ones on the market and sub-standard. regards, Richard

I would say the photo is possibly a black & white and has been coloured. The grass looks too green. Whoever done it may not have known the plate should be yellow.

Did you remove these two plugs to look at them? They could be fouled, oil possibly. By holding the cap away from the plug it seems to intensify the spark, hence the old trick of a shirt button in the HT lead.. Something else you can do is to swap these plugs to another position and see if the problem moves with them.

Looks more like a CMP Chev or Ford with a No.13 cab to me.

Hi Mark, I advise you to use the correct nuts for the big ends. All 28hp engines use the same ones. They are slightly deeper than a standard UNF nut if I recall and have a better locking face on them. Contact Bygone Bedford Bits, I am sure Norman will have stock.

Lauren, You are referring to a specific model of Solex carb, the 35RZFAIPO, there are only a small number of vehicle types use this particular specification and they would have jets to suit as well as a variation on the fixing for the Zero Starter cable. Vehicles this one was fitted to were; Bedford MW, OX, OY and QL Austin 3 ton 6x4 Ford WOA1 and WOT range there may be others, but not show in in Vocab. As for the 40RZFAIPO, that was fitted to the Austin K5, Dennis tipper and Albion BY5 and FT11 The letters each denote a feature of the particular carb and some engines will have a different combination of letters to others. To take an example of 35RZFAIPO 35 denotes choke tube size (this is nothing to do with choke as in starting, it is the venturi so to speak. R Governor assembly incorporated in throttle tube Z Dustproof F Generic term relating to diecast carb. A Bi-starter I Downdraught P Pump accelerating device discharging straight into choke tube O Zero Starter You questioned Zero Starter, this is a device on the side of the carb with a disc valve in it operated by what you might call the cold starter cable ('choke'). It works with closed throttle.

Robert, The British Ford V8 was fitted with the 40RZFAIPO carb, and the Bedford had the 35RZFAIPO carb, different choke tube sizes (ie 40mm and 35mm for aforementioned carbs), not the same carb. Correction ..... it was the Ford WOT1 crash tender that had the 40RZFAIPO, the WOA1 and other WOT models had the 35RZFAIPO

You have been walking past it for years .......

No British threads on a Bedford, all NF and NC

Hi Steve, I remember working on these sets when they came in to Workshops, the were commonly known a 'high cycle' gennys. There is no transformer box that I recollect, it is for power tools and I think they plug straight into it. The engine is very well made, I did have to change a crankshaft on one, they probably did not use any two stroke oil. When you stop the engine on the button it is best to hold the throttle shut as they are apt to backfire if you release the button too early. I had our electrical inspector on his hands and knees one day checking readings, he told me to stop the engine and I purposely let it backfire, I think he left the ground!, then said 'do it again!' I recall the cycle indicator is a number of vibrating needles and you adjust the revs to get the right cycle reading, think it was 500 cycles?

Richard, I take it you have measured OD of thread and that it is 5/8" ? If so it could be British Cycle thread (CEI) as on 5/8" size there were two, one being 26 tpi and the other 20 tpi, (thread angle 60 degs) I recall Lucas using CEI thread on some components in those days. Certainly would not be metric in those days. regards, Richard

Was it Red Shoes ?

Clive, Is the photo of the recovery operation of the rocket/missile? It would appear that the Commer is just a transporter, and also the white object, is this to show where it landed? Some years ago I drove a Willys jeep up through South Australia and found one of the camera tracking points for rockets fired from Woomera and not far up the track stopped the night at the very remote pub at William Creek. Outside the pub was a large section of rocket recovered from nearby, it was I understand, the 1st stage of a Black Arrow. There was part of a smaller one as well, but nothing there to identify it. As an aside, the pub had a filling station out front and light aircraft would taxy up from the airstrip to the front of the pub and fill up alongside any vehicle there.