teletech

Surely you don't consider a ski-waxer curious? 😄

I plan on changing the rubbers on the rear seals and am very interested in knowing if anyone has found a suitable replacement or if I'm going to have to make new ones. I read in the manual that they used X-ring originally but switched to standard o-ring for the ones on the end of the shaft. Good to know about the 3-3/16" issue. I guess if it's too small then I'm back to using oilite bearings and turning them to size as a replacement. Double the money, more time, and I'll want my mechanical engineer to do more math, but that's cheap compared to not getting it right!

Ah, that may well be, pardon my ignorance of the "new" model then.

Very good point. In this case they failed on both counts, but I suspect poor service was the root cause there. In my case, I don't plan to run it often but would like my floor to stay at least mostly clean, so I'm willing to optimize for quality of seal vs. longevity (within limits of course).

I'd spoken to a mechanical engineer about alternatives and the early math did suggest that oilite bearings should work fine. I found one that had the correct ID and length, but was too large in OD. I'd have to make a little fixture for the lathe and turn them down, but that's an easy job on a self-lubricating material! I went shopping around and found some for about half the price of my first source, so was waiting for the final math when I found what seems very much like the perfect item for the job. It's got a layer of PTFE on top of the layer of bronze, but that should work just fine. I do wonder how thick the Bronze layer is, but I guess I'll order one and find out. https://asbbearings.com/collections/3-id-steel-backed-ptfe-lined-inch-sleeves/products/zu-48zu32 Now I need to decide on the O-ring to seal the outside-end of the pivot-arm shaft. originally I think they may have been square or X in cross-section, then changed to round. I'm thinking the double X profile might be the best and wondering what material and hardness to use for best lift and the least leakage?

I understand the allure of the available and sympathize. They did use the J60, and they were awful, part of the reason there were several replacement powerplants used. They derated the motor in the CVR(T) to make less power, and that did help. The Jag motor was brilliant and far ahead of it's time when it was designed and originally produced, but as it grew from a 3.4L to a 4.2L motor without any real redesign and Jaguar was always lacking the funds to recapitalize, so the design and tooling didn't improve. The result was a motor with major problems with overheating, block-cracking between the cylinders, and a pronounced tendency to chuck the #4 conrod through the side of the block.

Inspecting the pivot-arm bearings made clear they were going to need wholesale replacement. Most are heavily worn and many are worn all the way through the brass/copper layer. In more than one case, I found .030" of wear and that wasn't to the bottom of the scratches!:

Lacking outside advice, I went ahead and had a run at it, using a thin layer of primer on the back of the brackets and then a thin squeegee of the aircraft-certified anti-corrosive mastic. Tightened things to whatever I saw online for that size bolt in aluminum, and called it done. Hopefully nothing falls off. All of the hull-sde threads were good, so that was a relief! I had some of the mastic squeeze out of holes and between plates, but mostly feel like I got a good balance going. I avoided the really rough stubs and otherwise just picked the best-looking ones for installation. I might consider sleeving some of the really worn ones, but I feel like the ones I have are pretty OK for now.

The audacity to build a replica tank from scratch is astounding and amazing to me. The sheer number of parts and hours is beyond my comprehension, it's taken me years just to fully disassemble a CVR(T) and start going the other way and yet here you are! That said, I can't imagine putting a British engine in even a pretend German tank. Organ rejection seems likely. The Jag motors were objectively pretty bad anyway. I'd have suggested the Ford I-6 300 as a much more robust engine and Ford was a supporter of Germany at that time, so it's at least not in direct opposition.

Nice to see it pretty much doing what it was built for, just a little farther east. That much brush over the air intakes is going to be an issue when it's warmer or once it filters through the louvers and packs up on the radiator and I'm not sure the mudflap art helps with camouflage. Seems the MOD-given ones have the dischargers intact but the civilian-held ones couldn't go with dischargers, is that really the case, or have some slipped through? Pity they don't have the GPMG fitted as they would be a great comfort facing the human-wave attacks of the mobiliks.

A familiar profile on the title picture, though we don't se it again in the piece:

A very slight movement of the microswitch and it will now turn off (barely), so mission accomplished! Bit of a mystery why first it didn't turn on (oxides on some contacts?), but I'm willing to call it fine now. Thanks for the support and assistance. Now, what does the stowage bracket look like so I can carry it in style?

The angled plate isn't removable, so I have to remove the eyepiece assembly and pull the tube spacer and the tube to gain access. Luckily it wasn't a big job at all, thanks for the pics so I knew I wasn't going to have a big pile of gears or springs or anything!

Heh, there is that. I'm waiting with more than a little trepidation on a shipping quote for a pair of 353s to USA. >8-O

Ugh, I hated to break the paint, but here we go. Yes, I have a tube (dated from 1994). Removing the front cover also removes the down-converter and disconnects it from it's mating DB9. Pin 1=24V, Pin 2=6.8V, Pin 3-Gnd Seems to work OK. Only about .3V across the LED so I don't know if it's current-sensitive or something else, but it's part of the downconverter so at least I know it's nothing to do with the heater. Dug around for a couple DB9 connectors and hooked the downconverter up externally and the unit started working fine! put the converter back in the housing, unit still works fine, so... Oxides on the DB9 that needed breaking loose? Or, is it something else. the thing I thought of as off, on, ND filter, iris does not have a position where it actually turns off power to the tube now. SO, the switch was somehow open no matter what and in the act of disassembling the unit a bit now it's always closed? seems odd, but it's all I've got for now.

Heater OFF, NV OFF: 5.2K ohm Heater ON, NV OFF: .16K Heater OFF, NV ON: 5.19K Heater ON, NV ON: .13K Pin C is tied to the chassis, 0Ohms. I never see anything but infinity from C/chassis to A or B, so that confirms what others said. Given the various resistances, it seems a certainty the heater is working and some part of the Image intensifier electronics are at least in the circuit. I guess I'll have to open it up if I want to know more. My fear now is the HV PS is shot or even that the sight was demilled and the tube removed.

I've been making covers so I can sandblast and paint the hubs and pivot arms without grit getting into the bearing areas. In doing so, I've had to really realize what deplorable shape my pivot-arm bearings (bushings) are in! They need pretty much wholesale replacement. So, where does one find 20 new bearings? They are apparently copper-covered steel, so just making some isn't likely to happen. I was thinking that for the few miles a year I was likely to drive, perhaps I could make new ones out of brass, bronze, oilite, or even one of the fancy UHMW plastics. Have people had much experience with the act of replacing these or making new ones?

I corrected the typo, one fuse holder is connected to A, the other sees B. II didn't see continuity on pin C, but it was the end of the day and I neglected to check it on the higher ranges and with reversed polarity to see if there was any path from a or B to C with the heater or illumination switches on. The reason I haven't just started pulling it apart is partly the condition of the paint is so nice, I hate to mess it up by removing screws. Thanks for identifying it as likely L7A1-derived, this suggests that going in from the flat plate just about the viewing section is likely to give me the best view with the least disturbance to the unit.

Interesting! Pin A has continuity to the fuse holder near the plug, Pin B has continuity to the fuse holder farther from the plug. This suggests that this NV sight might need pin B after all.

I'm trying to refit the clansman VRC-353 radios into a Spartan that had them removed and Bowman gear fitted. So, I need the shelf they were fitted to, or drawings of that shelf. So, if the Clansman gear you got to install in your vehicle had the radio shelf, I was interested in pictures or measurements of it. If your Clansman gear didn't come with the shelf, then it's not relevant.

Ah, got it, just Clansman for intercoms then. I did see an interesting article about interfacing Clansman gear to COTS radios recently: http://www.vmarsmanuals.co.uk/newsletter_articles/clansman_interface.pdf Yes, the 353 was the most common radio fitted to the CVR(T) range vehicles. They are 50W boat-anchors in the 6M band.

Are you installing the radios as well, or just the intercoms? If you have the mounting hardware for the 353s, I'd love pics and/or measurements.

Well, the good news is my cable seems correct: A=24V, B=GND, C is actually a short wire that looks like it could be intended as a local RFI ground to chassis. The bad news is my sight does nothing at all when I hook it up and power it on. Fuses are present and have continuity. No HV whine, no eyepiece illumination, and also no indicator lamp (I don't know if that's for the heater or NV). I'm a little reluctant to take it apart without knowing which bits will disturb the iris, does anyone have some guidance on this?

I have one I've never used but was supposedly "like new". I'm wondering what the power cable input wiring is? There are three pins, I assume one in ground and the other is 24V, but I don't know if the third pin is used and I don't know which pin goes where and I naturally don't want to hurt anything. A manual would be amazing, but the pinout of the power cable would be a good start. I have what I suspect is the correct cable (the ends are correct) but don't quite trust it. I'm also curious about the difference between the L18A1 and the L5A1, which I gather is also a fit for the CVR(T)?

Perhaps just a bit about having to have been a member for a month or two before access or something would serve?