madrat

I've been out of focus all day, having a beer just now to try and cure the problem! I've told her to register and introduce herself, then she can tell the truth about my posts (Like how I ordered the gasket kit for the 6LX instead of the 6LW) she also fancies a ferret :sweat:

15) On each head undo the 3 square headed screws that lock the rocker shaft in place. Then withdraw the rocker shafts starting at the front of the engine. There is one short shaft for each cylinder, i found that they moved reasonably easily out the front of the engine. At the rear head they withdraw out the back of the engine. Keep everything in the right order for reassembly. 16) If you have not already done so you can not get better access to pry up the injectors, mine took a bit of gentle persuasion. 17) You will need to remove the accelerator linkage bar to get the rear head off the engine! 18) Working at the rear of the engine remove the split pin from the decompression shaft 19) Move the shaft backwards in the direction of the arrow, this will release it from the front mounting. 20) The securing nut can now be removed and the complete assembly taken away. You are now ready to remove the 19 large and 3 small head bolts and lift the heads off!!! :-D It should then look something like this... Last step is for 'Mrs Madrat' to take a picture of her dirty hands to prove she actually helped out with the operation: Unfortunately for us the head gaskets I ordered were the wrong part :argh: so we had to call it a day! Watch this space for the reassembly guide....

I headed down to the shed this morning to change the head gasket on the pioneer, its been leaking water badly and I was told that there are rubber seals between the head and block and that these would be the cause of the problem! I got the manual for the engine (Gardner 6LW) but to be honest its not the easiest thing to follow and kept referring to other sections of the manual that I hadn't printed off :argh: I have put together a series of pictures that may help someone else needing to do the same job, I'm not saying its the right way to do things, just what worked for me. Spent most of my time covered in oil so wasn't taking as many pictures as I should have! Here goes... So once you have removed the bonnet and whatever engine side panels you have you will be faced with the above. Then do the following: 1) Loosen hose clip on air cleaner pipe 2) Remove bolt from top of elbow 3) Remove both nuts to rocker cover, then remove the complete elbow and pipework. 4) Remove the bolts from the rocker covers (Should be finger tight) then remove both of the rocker covers. 5) Undo the decompression linkage Once the rocker covers are off do the following: 6) Undo the injector pipe unions at both ends and remove all 6 pipes 7) Undo the 6 unions on the return pipe plus the union at the fuel filter and remove the return pipework 8) Using a screwdriver lever up the rocker arm so that the pushrod can be moved to one side and lifted out. Take care to label the pushrods for correct re-assembly. 9) On each injector remove the two nuts and the spreader plate that holds the injector down. If the injectors are loose enough then remove them (Pull upwards) at this point, otherwise wait until the rocker arms are removed so that you can lever them out. 10) Remove the 4 bolts holding the exhaust manifold to the downpipe. Hopefully you wont find that your manifold is broken like mine was :cry: 11) Undo the 6 nuts on the manifold spreader plates and remove the inlet and exhaust manifolds. 12) Undo the top radiator hose and the hose on the underside of the thermostat housing. Then remove all 8 nuts from the water rail. The water rail complete with the decompression linkage can now be removed. 13) At the front of the engine undo all pipe unions to the filter housing and remove the two securing bolts. Remove the filter assembly (Already removed in the picture) 14) Remove the banjo bolts from the oil supply pipes at the front and rear of the engine, also remove the blanking plugs from the middle of the engine.

My poor gauges are all rusted and smashed to pieces! Any ideas on replacements?! The place that I got it from was kind enough to give me two spare tyres which I rolled out the back with great gusto! Then I figured that I needed to get them back to the shed... Figured I'd lift them up with the jib... half an hour of winding later I decided the forklift would be a better option! :argh: Me and 'Mrs Madrat' are just back from taking the heads off, I shall post an account for all to see!

The floor was also completely shot so that got stripped off too: There was also a load of add-ons at the rear of the truck which needed to go: For say 2 hours work she is looking so much better, I can now see what I am working with. Everything looks good with the exception of the winch laying on gear which has a broken bracket, and the upper roller for the winch is missing! Now the engine is losing water, diesel and oil but I thought I'd have a little run it just to check the walking beams weren't suffering from Croc-itis as I believe its known? :coffee: Anyhow as you will see from the following picture she was given a clean bill of health :-D I have now received my manuals from the owners club and have noticed that the low oil pressure I was getting is actually the gauge for the gearbox! :n00b: The engine oil gauge which is hard to make out climbs rapidly to 50psi at idle so that great news on the engine front.... :yay: I am going to the workshop today to start on changing the head gaskets so expect an update on that very soon!

The morning of Thursday 12th June was a special day for me, it was the last morning that I woke up a Scammell Virgin! I got a call about 9.30am to say that my new toy was on its way and would be arriving shortly! I headed down to the unloading point to be greeted with the following: Oh what a glorious sight! The next bit was interesting, see I haven't ever driven a scammell before and the clutch and steering are a bit heavier than I think they should be. Oh and to add to the fun the trailer was a bit higher than I had expected, did I mention there are no brakes?! Anyway with a bit of messing around we got it off the trailer I have been dying to try the crane out, we went to see a 'mint' explorer at £6k whose crane had been painted over so many times it no longer worked so it was a pleasant surprise to find everything worked a treat. The winch that raises the vehicle is REALLY slow to wind! I have been desperate to remove the awful rear body that has been added to the truck, it was completely rotten so I had no feelings of guilt and attacked it with a pry bar!! I am quite sure you will agree that looks much better! :yay:

I would expect to take around 30cm off all the walls to give a solid base for rebuilding, the lime based mortar used 300 years ago is very soft and crumbly so even good walls are pretty fragile! The appearance of the building will be kept pretty much 'as was' with the stonework, traditional windows and a slate roof. The planners were however very supportive of two huge glazed windows that form two of the gable ends. My girlfriend however wasn't as supportive when she heard the cost :argh:

Hey, thanks for all the encouragement! I wonder if that engine cover has originally come from my pioneer, I've posted a pic of the one which was on my pioneer until very recently, youngguns is a better match! I have no idea how long this pioneer project is going to take, we have just taken on the mother of all restorations in the form of a 300 year old ruin, we have to rebuild this traditionally stone by stone! I guess this will take priority, its a nice spot though and should be worth it :shake:

It is a good match! The one which is missing off mine was taken and put on the other pioneer they are selling. They wouldn't sell it back to me (At any cost! :argh: lol) it was mentioned that a pioneer cover went missing in the night once :nono: I've figured out the solution though, I just need to make the engine look that good that there is no need for the covers! How did you get on with the explorer?

And another of her home for the last 10 years

My Pioneer waiting patiently for its trip up north!

Thanks Andy! She obviously appreciates my attempt to save her from the gas axe :-D I've been working crazy hours lately and it was great to get away from it all and tinker away with her, best day I've had in ages!

Good evening everyone! I was fortunate enough to be in Newcastle on business on Friday morning and took the chance to visit my new toy a few days before the uplift. She had not run in 10 years and the last time I was down the starter was playing up and we ran out of time. This time however I wasn't in such a rush so out came the starter for some attention. Found the solenoid was knackered so it was changed and the starter re-fitted. Checked fuel, oil and water and were ready for a try! Primed and bled the fuel system and checked the accelerator linkage thing was loose. Set the cold start and jammed a screwdriver across the starter/solenoid terminals.... To my surprise she fired up instantly, I don't think she even turned over a complete cycle before firing! I excitedly took a picture of the smoking exhaust :-D I'll be honest I don't have any idea what these engines are supposed to sound like, but to me it was sweet as a nut! Let her idle for a few minutes. The gauges are all smashed and rusted out however the remains of the oil pressure gauge was sitting at around 10 psi at idle, there isn't much left of it so I have no idea how accurate it would be! The air system pumped up nicely and I was able to put some air in the flat tyres! Thought we would see if she moved, the clutch is stupidly heavy (About 10 times heavier than the other pioneer in the yard) it can be operated by two feet :cool2: unfortunately it is stuck and wouldn't let us get it into gear. When there is more space around the Scammell it will be easier/safer to try and sort. Used an entire can of WD40 getting the brake linkages to free off, everything is now free at the back but the pedal still feels solid. I saw the air solenoid thing but didn't want to mess about with it, what with me 'not having a clue' what I'm doing yet! Noticed diesel leaks on one of the the two filters and also on a flexi pipe on the engine, also noticed a water leak from the head (I am led to believe there are rubber 'o' rings in there?) so I guess a gasket change/de-coke will be in order! Some pictures attached for your amusement :rofl: should be back in deepest Ayrshire next week so watch this space! Sorry for the odd pictures sizes, don't know what going on there either!:argh:

Guys, Thanks for all the words of wisdom (And all other comments). I have been described as 'loco' on many occasions so it would seam only fitting that the pioneer is registered as one! :-D The pioneer is indeed a recovery unit so it looks like I'm ok! Casualties such as DVLA officers that wont let me get it registered?! :argh: ArtistsRifles good luck with yours! Amazing vehicle although its your fault I got worried in the first place! :n00b:

Hi All, I have recently achieved my dream of purchasing a Scammell Pioneer, the vehicle (I don't think) has been ever registered on the road. Everything seamed to be going very well with getting paperwork to register it with the DVLA, then.... I read elsewhere in the forum about new maximum vehicle width regulations which would prevent any vehicle over 2.55m wide from being registered in the UK. The pioneer I think is 2.66m wide? Has this dream of mine turned into an expensive nightmare? :cry:

Update: Spoke to someone at Nynehead books, very helpful but unfortunately the video is no longer produced :cry: so sad..

Thanks guys, I've found a reference to it on this link: http://freespace.virgin.net/scammell.man/books2.html The Nynehead books website doesn't list it anymore. I've emailed them to ask the question. gritineye do you have the facility to make a copy of the video? I would be more than happy to compensate you for the trouble! :cool2: Thanks, Duncan

Thanks for the input guys, at least now I know which model I have! I have contacted the British Commercials Museum, lets hope they can help with some information. The seller unfortunately removed the N/S engine cover the add value to the other scammell he has for sale :cry: Looks like they could be fabricated although a bit tricky. I haven't heard it run although I understand it is a runner! On the day we bought it we ran out of time although we were close to getting it to go (We had started motor issues) the oil pressure gauge is broken, is there somewhere that a gauge could be temporally fitted to check the oil pressure? Thanks for all the comments!

Hi Niels, The other one is OK, it needs the window area rebuilt and some attention to the cab. The rear bodywork is good and the engine started beautifully! I'd say that it was a much better bet than mine, but then it wasn't in danger of being broken up. If you PM me with your email address I shall send over some pictures that I took of it last week.

Great advice guys, thanks! I think this is a good approach, too many projects get abandoned once reduced to a pile of bits. We have a busy year ahead rebuilding an old farm so keeping it running if definitely the way to go. Niels, this is indeed one of the two in Monte's transport spares. The other one is a far better bet than my one, but then I never take the easy route with anything! I chose to save the unloved one :cry:

Hi all, I have put down the deposit on my first scammell :-D I should take collection at the end of May so there won't be too many pics for a couple of weeks. However in the mean time I was hoping that I could gather some help and opinions from you good people. Questions/Thoughts at this point in time would be as follows: 1) What have I bought?! Is this is a SV1S/SV2S? Can anyone tell from the pictures :confused: 2) Where do I start! I'd like this to be a rolling restoration as much as possible, I was thinking of removing the 'aftermarket' back body and re-instating the wooden lockers. What colour should it be painted etc etc? Any opinions appreciated. 3) It doesnt have a number plate! although with it having been used for recovery work I presume at some point it was registered? All I know is that it was used by 'rutherfords of coldstream' in the borders for a while, does anyone know its history? 4) Military registration is 34 YZ 09 and chassis number 6002. Do these mean anything to anyone?! 5) I had a thought that might help other owners, I'm quite handy with autocad and was thinking of producing drawings of all the parts I have to fabricate such as the cab panels and rear lockers/woodwork. I would share this info as pdf's and dwg drawing files. From this file any good metal fabricator could laser/water/plasma cut a set of panels out for the cab, should be quite cheap to have done. Good idea? Anyhow, on with the pictures: so you what do you think?! Has anyone wet themself with laughter? :rofl:

Hi everyone, thanks for the warm welcome. I've attached two pics of our 'scammell playground' 3000 acres of nothing at all, me and Jamie are outnumbered by sheep 600:1 :-D the guy who owns the land has a simple rule regarding land use: "You can go anywhere you want - so long as I get a drive of the Scammell" Sounds fair enough to me! Although If i get stuck I'm going to have a problem... I shall try and convince the girlfriend we need another scammell 'just in case'. She was looking on milweb last night and decided she would like to get a ferret! Are there any owners local to me? I have to encourage this behavior :cool2: 6x6 I'd love more details on the video/dvd you mention! Also if you would PM me the details of another owner local to me that would be great! I shall greet him with tape measure and pen+paper (Got a lot of fabrication to do) :shocked: Regards, Duncan This is the turn in from the 'main' road into the driveway, you can see the house in the middle of the pic (White spec) a friend of ours drives rather cautiously, it takes him 18min to get up the driveway :cry: I figured that in a petrol explorer it would cost me £10 to get to the end of the drive, hence the diesel pioneer! Another shot of the house from up the hill. Its hard to get the scale of the place, we went out for a play on the quads the other day and managed 18 miles without touching tarmac :shocked: we could have gone much further too, just the rear quarters were getting sore!

Thanks! Hopefully not much longer til you get yours younggun :-D will keep my eeen open for you!

Hi, I should have added a picture of the 101 so you don't all think I'm completely insane :cool2: sensible runabout pictured below!

Hi everyone, I'm Duncan from east ayrshire, just come across the site whilst looking for Scammell information! I've had a good numbers of vehicles in the last 10 years of my driving history, only MV's would be 101's of which I still have a pretty tidy GS. I've just bought a basket case Scammell Pioneer from Newcastle so I shall be posing progress on the restoration as soon as I get it home. Any info on Pioneers would be gratefully received!!! :coffee: Me and the girlfriend should be doing a few shows this year, hope to see you all soon! Duncan