Stormin

Maybe to hide the testers tape measure after a slightly over width vehicle is apprehended on the roads. :whistle:

Not cheap but if you want to do it right :- http://www.surfaceprocessing.co.uk/

I've managed to book our family holidays in Dorset so will be visiting for the first time for a day. Don't know which day yet, will look at the weather whilst I'm down that way. Will also be taking a look at the Bournemouth air festival which is on the same weekend. Should be a good week. Won't be taking a MV this year. Bit far for one. 101 is still in bits, MJ and Lightweight sold to make room for another project.

Go ahead Andy. I was thinking whether to post them there myself. Norman

I was pleased to see such a rare vehicle as well. Originally it would have been built locally to me in Manchester. In fact the Crossley motors site became Rolls Royce marine engines were my partner worked until recently. Here's a few more pictures.

Final Few.

Few More.

And a few more.

Just a few photo's of Military vehicles seen at Cark steam gathering near Cartmel, Cumbria this weekend.

I thought It already had the shiny exhaust!

I thought of putting a bid on just for a laugh and if I won it I would strip all the bling off! Then the missus reminded me it would still be seen on the drive before it'd been stripped. Why would anyone do what they've done to it she says?

I'm hoping Bill Oddie didn't get out. :evil:

Steve What sort of lap time did he manage with the jeep? What event was on at Elvington? Went earlier this year for wheels and wings and have been thinking of a return trip to concentrate on the Air museum stuff. Is there always a collection of vehicles about? Norman

I enquired with VOSA and they sent me the list of recognized companies that had approved conversions. Rang a few and some of them didn't even know what a Bedford MJ was let alone have a kit. Others said they would need to design a kit from scratch. Eventually settled on SVTech as they had the kit off the shelf. They send you the bits which are easy to fit then send off the relevant design paperwork to VOSA. You get an appointment back to take your vehicle in for a Ten minute inspection once the kit is fitted and recieve nice new laminated plating certificate. If I wanted to replate at the original weight it would be a simple matter of removing four bolted on plates and paying for a replate, about £13. The chassis plates are brightly coloured Red on rear and Yellow on front so are readily identifiable to someone in the know. Thet are not so intrusive as to spoil the look of the vehicle. It's a simple if rather expensive conversion. This is not a recommendation for SVtech as my plates came the wrong lenth and had to be cut and re-drilled. Also my test paperwork didn't arrive and I missed my test, had to book another appointment. No change in the MOT class it is still heavy goods and cheaper test than a car. Vehicle excise duty remains the same if you have it registered as private heavy goods vehicle too. Norman

Mark Recently downrated mine to 7.5 tonnes using the SVtech Kit. Very easy to fit but expensive for what you get, four pieces of plate and a few nuts and bolts. You are paying mostly for the design and admin. Mine has a finished gross vehicle weight of 7.5 tonnes and an unladen weight of 5.3 tonnes so leaves 2.2 tonnes of carrying capacity on the back. This is for the basic drop side flat bed. If you have hood and sticks you will lose a bit more carrying capacity. If it's got an altas crane on forget it. With a normal car licence I can tow upto 750kg unbraked trailer behind the truck. Not much, but anymore, even a caravan puts you into Class 1 territory same requirements as for an artic. If you've got a later licence you may be able to tow more having taken the towing test. Hope this helps. Norman

What insulates the contacts on the starter pedal mechanism from the rest of the engine and frame? My money is on one of these insulators breaking down due to wear and tear and causing a partial short and current drain. Norman

No chance of trading my 101 then? It's only in a few hundred pieces at the moment! On the plus side the engine and gearbox went back in this weekend. Making a Stalwart 2 wheel drive sounds a bit expensive for recovery practice with the Scammell. Can't you find something cheaper to attach the winch cable to? And if you make it 2 wheel drive how can you get it REALLY stuck?

Duncan I think you'd have to be careful about the amount of torque you'd be putting through just two driveshafts and hub reduction gears. That torque is multiplied quite a large amount by the gearbox and bevel boxes and is usually shared by six sets of drive components not two! You could well find you just destroy the bits that are connected all the quicker and as Neil says lose the off road ability. From what I have read on the Yahoo forum's consistency in tyre circumference seems the most critical item to avoid wind up. Something Jimmy owners should also be familiar with! P.S. if your getting bored of the Scammell I could be interested Norman

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=160255253363&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=006 Been on a few times before. Would cost a fair bit to get it back to green!

He won't be going up the Thames into the new low emission zone then!

Neil On second thoughts with the OT and a Stolly to feed it may be better to get an account with a fuel company and get it piped straight into the relevant tanks!

If the quantities to be sold in this country are sufficiently small (I believe the limit is 500 units) they could be sold on a single vehicle approval basis, same as for kit cars. That means various bits of nanny equipment fitted for the test and then removed as soon as it gets home. If you sell 500 in several countries over a few years it could well make it worth while.

Neil, Why can't you just fill up from jerry cans in the storage area before leaving. The sooner you buy the fuel the cheaper it'll be! Chances of getting a mobile fuel depot anywhere would be about the same as the price being halved. Health and safety and all that. Most of the bio-fuel places selling from industrial units have been closed down, close to here, due to the stringent regulations on fuel and spillage.

I'm not familiar with gardner diesels. What does the decompression shaft do? Is it to enable different fuels to be used?

The Man 8X8 has been around a while in various forms with various forces and is available (for a price) on the used market. I'm sure the spec has been updated, but talking a few years ago, to an owner at a show at Weston Park, the towing spec was something like 100 tonnes and 50tonnes on the winch, for tank recovery. Looking over the vehicle I was very surprised to find it coil sprung all round. Unusual at the time for a heavy haul vehicle. http://www.leavesley-international.co.uk/images/Products/MAN/Wrecker8x8/MAN%208x8%20Wrecker.pdf