ruxy

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/burma/9204921/British-farmers-quest-to-find-lost-Spitfires-in-Burma.html

I wonder whick Mk. Spitfire / Seafire ? http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/14/david-cameron-spitfires-buried-burma

Good buy !!

Looks like you will have to pay abt. £25 for a B card search at RLC Museum. Seems in your case early history not transferred onto Merlin computer , sometimes it is. I have come across this before , check for VPK having been fitted. Extra holes in bodywork, best / easiest - look for a hole abt. 12mm dia. centre very rear of tub (where bottom of lower tail-gate sits) for engaging bi-parting centre doors shot-bolt. It seems that quite a few were fitted with VPK and held back as reserve for years at OSU Thetford - some never reached NI..

Reading this gives me the creeps - need to get on eBay for some post WW2 puttees

The difference between military and classic cars , or should I say the better classic cars that exist within a parallel universe. If you followed the recent Stanley Mann , court of appeal case (Blower Bentley "reconstructed" around parts of a genuine chassis).. When you have 5 min. spare to read this lot :- http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2010/2444.html Then you will know what chassis cosmetics is all about..

You can still get sticks of body solder etc. but as stated - normally for better class repairs on older vehicles (top repairs avoid fillers & tube filler gun) where the steel is a bit thicker than modern car bodies. Roof gutters , wing seams , pin holes (best method to stop water penetration). Modern body technique is often to use spray putty if not heavy build. Heavy sections such as chassis RSC's that have been shot-blast - no chance of water penetration through - just use polyester filler - to skim.

Google on "Lead Loading" , for best results you need a special torch (burner) with a range of nozzels.. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270943250840?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

So - when / what dress - would you use the canvas gaiters with two brass buckles & not the post-WW2 putties ?

Same overdrive , you just don't get the words Fairey Winches. Tavistock, Devon on the casing casting. The last built (Rovers Down South, New Orleans - production stopped last December) may have the RDS logo on the casting

Look at civilian S3 photographs - you will find the same , I suspect it may have been Home or Export market differences. Not only position variations - BUT perusal of the Solihull build up parts sheets of abt. 1979 / '90 - shows a mixture of glass and plastic bug-eye on some contracts. Prior to noting this fact - I had assumed it was MOD personnel using lens to hand or what they wished , (far to much hassle to swop positioning on a whim) . There would have been assembly line instructions on fitting of lighting according to intended lighting regulations.. It seems that there was some concern with sight of the amber trafficators (note also the plastic lens are marked Front or Rear) , I suspect the glass lens type were difficult to see flashing in strong sunlight. So if you wish to compare period photographs - I would avoid HG , HH + HJ VRM's.. I was reliably informed from a sound Solihull source that the British MOD received many additional contracts around '79/'80 - these being frustrated middle east sales. These vehicles had a number of detail differences (some later incorporated on British contracts) other changes already on line - such as "rationalization" project to the axles & brakes. I suspect there was a flurry of change to nomenclature plates only on vehicles already built up - but no other changes made inc. lighting.

Why will this Wipac fitting never work LoL I suppose a set of 8 qty. off eBay are quite / very cheap , annoying when 1 of the 8 is useless. I decided not to go chasing after period Lucas fittings for my 1961 S2A (at the time they would have been 49 years old). I don't know if these Wipac fittings will go another 47 years but they are holding up OK

Don't rule out J. Brockhouse.. If the nomenclature plate is missing - could be difficult now to identify. http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?12157-Questions-on-Brockhouse-trailer There were plain sided tubs as well as pressed ribbed reinforced sides. Pressed (curved 90 degree bends) inner wings - clue. Any brass C of G plates centre of wheel-arch or holes remaining ? ISTR the chassis (rolling) in the main for narrow-tracks were built up by Rubery Owen (some components such as wheel rims off Sankey) , they were bodied up by Brockhouse, Sankey or Pressed Steel / Roots (who fitted the electrics & finished off). The later narrow-track contracts , in the main by Sankey & Pressed Steel would be the GP trailers but Brockhouse tended to get the contracts for finishing off equipped trailers for such as LO (but ISTR - the basic trailer may not always have been their build up).

Amazing - I suppose the Rotachute would be for the Parachute Regiment. http://www.unrealaircraft.com/qbranch/rotachute.php http://www.unrealaircraft.com/roadable/rotabuggy.php

I digress slightly , a few weeks ago - I was perusing as USA vehicle restoration web site. Somebody had made up a wooden trough and lined it with pond-liner (Visqueen DPC - should be OK) and then used the rust electrolysis cleaning method (with washing soda) on rusted but serviceable leaf springs. Hosed down - they came up as if they had been shot blasted and it cleaned out inter-leaf rust (negating dismantling of springs to blast) , this is something I intend to look into for springs - quick , cheap & effective. I understand this method also removes crud along with rust (obviously you remove the heavy crud first) . If anybody has had good result - I would like to hear of the finer details and also the transformer they used..

The one out of a Land Rover "genuine" box , is probably a cheap copy of what the original S3 bowden-cable operated valve was , fresh air heater. The S3 type valve was fitted at the front of the cylinder head, you could fit the original S2A & Lightweight type fug-stirers (normally fitted at rear of cyl. head) - this can be fully dismantled to fit new "O" rings (genuine Smiths). These are rare NOS , you would have to get a old one. The new brass types (also used on many Leyland Classics) is similar but the top of the valve is crimped over to secure the seal - when they leak , you fit a new one.

Duralamin was just a trade name (German) - like Birmabright (British) , for re-smelters who would take pure aluminium and blends it with such as copper, the aluminium-magnesium alloys, the aluminium-manganese alloys, aluminium-silicon-copper alloys. Duralamin in various similar spelling non trade-name being used to make a general description of alloyed aluminium If you search on the internet , you will find a list of "Birmabright" alloys listed to the BS Specs. This company would produce to specification , covered by a BS LM or more probably N code (aluminium-magnesium alloy) (in fact sheet & strip would have a NS or NP code) is would also be given a Birmabright code. If Land-Rover tech. writers wish to label all these alloys as just Birmabright - then that was their problem (I know better). All this "Birmabright" in the Land Rover "Repair Operation Manuals" , is a over simplification of materials technology for the benefit of giving farmers etc. some information on the repair and welding of body panels. I suppose the writers know that if they gave the full truth , the people reading it would be confused further as they would not have the ability to absorb all the correct info. required, and in fact it would require yet another volume. You must know that you can't put 4 years of C&G welding course on a couple of sheets in a book ? Possibly from your past trade you take all UK military publications as gospel , I don't. -------- Only recently I questioned a stated fact in both Rover 1 driver's handbooks dated Aug 68 + Aug 69 and parts book dated 1976 refer to the dynamo as being a C40T. Now the User handbook is a Rover publication 605498 but is Army Code 22178 . The spares book is the "restricted" one by the Ministry of Defence so is in fact not a de-facto Land Rover publication (they possibly had input). Now I was aware that a Lucas dynamo with a suffix T was one with a tacho drive on the rear bearing housing. I don't believe that this is correct , sometimes one tablet of stone is cribbed from a previous tablet of stone. I doubt that a T genny was ever fitted by Solihull or the REME , but I am probably wrong on that issue too.

---------- Sorry but you are incorrect there :- The use of the word Birmabright is often wrongly used - even in Land Rover literature. There were several grades (if not dozens) of Birmabright manufactured , at a chemical & physical test level, these are regarded as duralumin. Birmabright was just a trade name for the Birmingham Aluminium Company "BIRMETALS" . http://www.cartechnical.co.uk/b/394-birmabright.html Generally speaking , you will be hard pushed to find a pure aluminium sheet as most are well alloyed - commercial available grade nearest is "Half-Hard" (if you Google search on the quoted as above - Today a similar material is known as NS4 or 5251 alloy).. -------------------- ps. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmabright

Steel parts would probably be grey , I have a new L'wt bulkhead that I have had for donkeys & it is grey. Damaged bulkheads - I have noticed had a grey primer. However I have vent panels that are grey & others red oxide , these would be for spares orders. On the duralumin , the process was a wet paint that was stoved , there was no primer . The prep was in fact Alodine (airframe type finish) , more often than not this turns the natural alloy to a gold finish or sometimes a yellowish / green (Alodine - not to be confused with Anodised).

There is no doubt whatsoever that this is what was used from 1970/71 (and earlier but I don't know how earlier). AFAIK - it was used up to the mid/late 1970's. ===================== When sanding a Land Rover 1979 , I soon cut through the top and revealed the grey/pink , that at first I thought was a primer , but as most of us know indicates the IRR pigments (the green comes to the surface of the coat). I made furter enquiries and was advised that it was IRR and the colour must be NATO Green.

I don't know for certain just now change DBG/NATO Green, I would put my money abt. '78/'79 on VRM's GT or GX.

My thoughts also , having seen this here & watched the BBC news :- We all know what is now Cumbria (also parts of Scotland just over the border) were covered with ASU (Aircraft Storage Unit) + MU (Maintenance Unit). I can see why Carlisle Museum staff (or was it TV reporting staff) would like to attach history to The Border Regiment - however , pure dreaming with what remains and no documented evidence. QUOTE. It is thought the Waco glider was used to carry Border Regiment troops into Sicily and was then crated up and shipped back to Britain.

http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=20917

I would have expected Rolls Royce info. for "B" Series engines to be a little more detailed , or does one just assume it covers all variations ? The "BSF" (early) engines had alloy heads - so will have hard valve seat inserts. Later engines with cast iron heads - did these have valve seat hard inserts ? Also (depending) there were different valve material / coatings - and not just Stellited. Possibly on some engines there is in fact a possibility of rapid adverse seat regression ???

IIRC kero like paraffin is hygroscopic , so I suppose it would work BUT you would probably have to adulterate it so far you would need a TVO type engine with a vaporiser to use it up in any case. It may be best to drain the fuel & then decant the petrol off the water LoL