Stormin

Are dug up items like this really selling ? Well with no bids as yet it isn't selling. Question for me is how has it come to be for sale in the first place? Is there no restriction on what you can dig up and sell? Where's the limit or does it depend on where you actually dig things up?

Reading that again it sounds very much like a "block" SVA could be issued for a range of similar vehicles for a period of five years. So it seems it would only take one organization representing all 432 owners to get one application in and cover all 432 owners belonging to that organization. Why hasn't anyone done it or at least tried? Is it the fear that that person or organisation will then be held responsible for any unfortunate consequences?

Could just be that the piston rings are gummed up with oily deposits therefore not springing back out to grip the bore properly. Plenty of use in this condition can lead to glazed bores. As Tony suggest new rings are probably the best cure after a quick glaze bust. Just trying to remove the rings to clean up the grooves tends to lead to a few broken ones. Suspect they won't be too expensive for a set when added to the other parts you'll need. In for a penny in for a pound with these engine jobs. Always best to do the full lot whilst it's in pieces anyway than have to come back later the bit you skimped on.

Not sure about that there's usually a few very slow vehicles going along. I'll probably be in the centre of Littleborough watching a few vehicles go through maybe with video camera if weather is fine.

You mention you ran straight 30w oil rather than a modern detergent multi-grade to suit the by pass filtering of the GMC engine. But when changing the oil did you flush the remaining debris form the sump or remove the sump to clean the system. Non detergent oils and bypass filtration are designed to dump the rubbish in the sump rather than carry it round to the filter, hence the recommendation to regularly clean out the sump. If you are fitting a full flow filter are you going to modify the full oil system to suit, alter by-pass and pressure relief valve? Will you in future be running multi-grade or detergent oil to carry all the debris to the filter?

Why would you have to fit a winch on a 434? Surely the standard fitment crane is enough for it to be regarded as a recovery vehicle?

A lot of pallet firms will transport upto a Tonne and a Half on a single pallet now for single pallet price ~£40. That's how I've had my blasting grit delivered in Tonne and Half batches recently. Could work out a fair saving if you can get both tracks on one pallet.

Looking at the pictures Chris has posted two possible solutions spring to mind:- i) Wider drums with second set of brake bands on. Could even be bolt on add-ons to the original drums say back to back. ii) How about a diff lock device so if the brake on one side fails locking the diff would at least allow the other side braking to pull the vehicle up straight.

Looks a nice bit of proper engineering on that shaft and the bearing carrier. Bet it wasn't cheap. When something looks right, as this does, it should go without problems for a good while. Just one question, what about lubrication for the bearing on the shaft? Is it just a grease it up regularly job? It'll be running more or less all the time at full engine speed, the original input shaft bearing would have been well oiled form the gearbox. Just noticed the grease nipply on the bearing housing. :red:

Really? I don't think with the best will in the world ANY military vehicle enthusiast invests the same amount of time and money to maintain the vehicle to the same standards it was whilst in service. The facilities and resources just can't be compared. Unfortunately lots of military vehicles are bought for a small fraction of their original price and treated as such, just like most old cars, given the minimum of care. The only advantage to maintenance of privately owned vehicles is perhaps they don't quite get the same level of use and abuse as they did in military service. Comparing tracked military vehicles capable of high speeds with tracked plant with typically 5-10mph capability is a bit silly. The likelihood of and accident and resulting severity is greatly reduced with lower speed. Most tracked plant has a good reason to be on the road, a necessary job to do. The majority of this work takes place within a confined site seperated from traffic. One of the few exceptions to this I can think of are Quad Trac agricultural vehicles, but even there they are speed limited compared to say a cvrt and the track is almost entirely rubber, so much like shedding a tyre in terms of effect on drive ability and to surrounding traffic. Braking is also only affected on the relevent corner with the other three able to bring the vehicle to a halt.

Be interesting to know what the postion is across the rest of Europe as to use of these and similar overwidth vehicles. I believe this whole issue arose from trying to bring our legislation in line with the rest of Europe, hence vehicles previously registered got through. I wonder whether it's the usual story of we are the only country rigidly enforcing the rules, were others are playing it more loosely. If values of 432s collapse in this country they may well hold in other places were use is permitted or enforcement is not taken seriously.

Perhaps you should make you case to the Department of Transport and try and convinve them to make it legal then. I think most people on here would be more than happy to see such vehicles on the road rather than removed.

Short answer is if you buy one not already road registered, it seems very unlikely you will get it past the authorities without telling some fibs. If you buy one already road registered, keep you head down and keep quiet, your in the lucky postion of being able to use it on the road for the time being at least. Whether it's fully legal and can be kept and used on the road without legal and insurance implications is another matter.

Adrian, I must have missed this thread the first time round but have a few more questions regarding the fabrication. How do you cut the large plates, floor and side? They look to be laser rather than flame cut, and I'm assuming these days that's a job for a CNC machine. If so why not have the rivet holes lasered in at the same time? I notice for repairs to panels you use mig welding, but what about replicating the original welds on joints, surely this is a job for a stick welder to get the original look or do you manage somehow with Mig technique? I know it's a customers machine and not your choice but the new steel looks obviously different to the original and aged / pitted original. Do you ever try to source aged plate, to give a more original look, or consider if it's new there's no point trying to disguise it as anything but?

Same chap is selling a rather tidy looking Scammell Explorer too! http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SCAMMEL-EXPLORER-/120741678345?pt=UK_Commercial_Trucks&hash=item1c1cc3cd09

The margins to the fuel retailer are miniscule I believe in the order of a few pence, so there's obviously a great incentive for them to try and fiddle a bit extra out of the customer. The real fuel crime, apart from the tax though is straight forward theft, either drive offs or as seems popular round here, stealing from HGV tanks. It's not unknown for axes to be taken to the deisel tank of an HGV to enable it to be sucked dry of fuel with a purpose made rig.

Happened to me about ten years ago. I bought what I thought was a full tank from the motorway services local to me, seemed exceptionally slow going but eventually registered about £50 or whatever. When I pulled out of the services I noticed the fuel gauge still on empty. My first thought was that the fuel gauge was stuck near the bottom. The following day I ran out of fuel on the motorway and had to walk to another services to purchase a can and some fuel. I then went back to the first and offending service station and made a complaint. I was recompensed for my fuel and cost of the can on the spot after the assistant spoke to the manager. I must admit it has made me wonder how when pumps are supposed to be calibrated and checked to British standards they can deliver nothing but still register a cost. Seems this fault has always been there but no-one is admitting to it. I wonder how many short measures you buy of fuel ordinarily? The government won't be bothered as long as they get their tax, even on fresh air. Hmm, reminds me of a song!

A couple of the corporate day companies are advertising their old vehicles still: http://www.manbymotorplex.com/res_website.asp?supplierCode=mby100&page=for_sale http://www.tanks-alot.co.uk/sales.htm These are very old adverts though, think they were current about three years ago when I was considering buying one. Seem to have fallen out of favour now with the corporates, perhaps due to the maintenance burden. They used to come up regularly on Ebay too but haven't seen many in a while. Are good used Stalwarts getting rare and likely to become more collectable and valued?

Having been round a few classic car shows myself I thought it was often desirable to display a period tax disc, even if re-production to complete the look of the car, not spoil it with a modern colourful disc. If many people do this then there's not a lot of point bobbies looking round shows other than for their own entertainment. The place to catch people is on the road on the way in or out of the show, that's where the offence takes place. I'm sure there's a few people who forget to re-attach the modern disc on exiting a show. As far as I'm aware there is no requirement to display a current Road Fund Licence disc on a vehicle unless it is on the public highway. There is of course a requirement to still hold a valid road fund licence for the vehicle or declare it SORN.

Far too sensible an idea to be adopted by those in power, too many axes to grind, too many party politics points to be scored and too many pockets to be lined.

Hard to tell from the pictures but it's quite likely that a crack established at one of the holes in the flywheel and grew slowly over time until the remaining section couldn't take the high loads hence the sudden failure. Looking at the remains of the item it looks to be quite poorly finished in some areas, which won't have helped the strength of the item. When you obtain a replacement item I wold suggest a bit of fettling to reduce the chances of a repeat failure. Firstly run a countersink or oversized drill lightly into all the holes to take away the sharp edges. Secondly run a die grinder or file around the edges of the casting to form a slight radius, similar for the slots or elongated vent holes. All sharp edges are a potential source for future cracks to start. I know the part has probably seen years of use before your failure but it's quite likely a replacement will be of similar age. May be worth doing a dye penetrant test on the item to check for cracks before installation, and regular checks when installed to avoid the future catastrophic failures.

Am I the only one thinking all those compression figures seem very low? Not a GMC expert and I expect being military it's designed to be low compression to run on low grade fuels but anything below 120 psi must be marginal for reasonable running surely. Have you tired a wet compression test, squirting some light oil in the bores first? This often helps to isolate whether low compression readings are a result of faulty valve sealing or piston blow by.

I came across a very nicely restored Crossley at Cark steam gathering a few years back. http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?8827-MV-s-at-Cark-steam-gathering-27-07-08 Second Photo. Glad you managed to get the required information from MOSI. If I'd have seen the thread earlier I'd have loved to have helped out if possible on that score. Very often visit the MOSI and have quite a bit of time on my hands at the moment. Good luck with the restoration.

That's a surprise Jim that there's a route between the engine compartment and the crew area, rather than a fully sealed bulkhead. Was this a standard feature on Shermans or a modification for wading? Is this likely part of the reason Shermans aquired their cruel nickname of Tommy cookers?

Sounds like an interesting engineering project. Are you thinking of machining the spacers individually, then fitting shells, or going for a line bore for the final finish before installing shells? Be nice to see some details and pictures of your eventual solution. I'm very keen on the old Gardner diesel engines and consequently the Scammell Pioneers.