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CVR(T) Sabre 49AT37


sirhc

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Back in July we purchased a pair of Sabres for restoration. 03FD10 had been messed with inside, wiring and dash removed and the original gearbox removed and a possibly dodgy one chucked back in the hull. We decided to start on 49AT37 first. I'm going to post some photos of the progress, just incase anyone is interested.

 

As hinted on another thread, this vehicle obviously has a UN history and there was evidence of white paint everywhere. Unfortunatley the 10+ layers of green and black didn't stick well to the white, so the overall appearance was pretty bad. Travelling down the motorway following the low loader, quite a lot flew off and ended up on my windscreen.

 

Here they are 'as found'...

 

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The low loader driver was very good, as you can see he didn't hang around!

 

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Back at base they were unloaded, and we headed off to Beltring.

 

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After Beltring, we removed the top deck and had a look inside. It was the typical ex-service CVRT mess of oil, mud and lots of water. Anyone who's owned one of these will know they hold water very well.

 

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After a bit of drying out, it was time to remove as much of the interior as required and get the wet vacuum cleaner in there.

 

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With the exterior stripped, it was time to move it to the blasting shed. Luckily the owner of the farm is also the guy who does our blasting for us.

 

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I know people don't like grit blasting vehicles, but it was the only option with this one as the paint was so poor. It did fill up with grit, but it was no worse than the mud that was already in it.

 

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Once the outside was blasted, it was time to finish cleaning the inside. We used a vaccum cleaner to get most of the grit out, then a high pressure steam cleaner to remove the rest of it, and any residual mud and oil. We have left it unpainted for now, but did go over the steel bits with some primer.

 

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The next job was to drop an engine into the engine bay. Luckily we already had one I prepared earlier. This was bought a few years ago as a take out, we stripped it down and found one burnt piston... probably because it was running on the wrong spark plugs. We also swapped the head gasket, oil, filters etc before test running it.

 

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The next job is to connect everything up and fingers crossed next weekend it should be running and driving again. Then we can start work on painting the outside and restoring the turret.

 

I am still looking for a gunners sight for this one, if anyone has any leads!

 

Chris

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As always, great pictures and text Chris, useful things those A bars for CVR(T)s arent they?

 

R

 

Robin,

 

Yes they are, people are always asking me if I want to sell it, the answer is always no!

 

Chris

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My new employee helped me move ours around on Friday, he is getting hands on, on the job training on MVs this week. He has been the inside man on 05CC 29 Ferret clean up and the Spartan, also gave him the job of being New Holland TS90 driver with Spartan on A bars as well.

 

He was surprised how well it manouevered around the yard and into the shop and how much all round view you have from the tractor cab, makes life so much safer.

 

R

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  • 1 month later...

Not updated this for a bit, so here's a quick update.

 

The Sabre is alive. Here's a video of it sounding like a 432...

 

 

 

We've since fitted an exhaust, I have a new silencer to go on it but I will fit the new exhaust heat shield material and paint it first. The drivers bulkhead is fitted now, along with the controls. We are currently finising of the wiring and electrics to get it roadworthy. We can then drive it home ready for the paint and cosmetics. We also have good take off wheels, track, sprockets, dampers etc ready to fit.

 

Still looking for a no. 52 gunners sight, if anyone can help!

 

Chris

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Looking lots better already, should be nice once painted and fitted up.

 

What plugs was in it? Should be RSN13P i believe, but even with new the j60 still missed and popped, the unoficial mod we used to do was fit RSN12Y screened 24v ffr l.rover plugs, they ran sweet as anything, never any more problems.

 

My friend over here has all the cvrt range, he has a really mint sabre, (will have to get some pictures) i will ask him if he knows anywhere within his contacts who has a sight!

 

Keep up the good work.

 

 

Shaun

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Thats good then, thats the best ones to use, i have a set to go in the stolly also.

It can also be fuelling that causes problems like that hole!

 

Sounds quite throaty on the tube, but i think a long drive in it would not be so good, they still sound good with there silencers on though. :D

 

 

Shaun

Edited by Amphibi boy
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Starting to look a bit more full now. We've given up trying to keep it clean for the time being, where it is stored is like the Somme at the moment! When the weather gets better I've take it to bits and give it a thorough clean.

 

Chris

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Aah chris your're putting me to shame and the xmas hols aren't even over yet. To be fair it looks pretty good considering what itr started out as..

 

Negotiating for a pass out for Sunday and if achieved I hope to be sorting my track rams once and for all as well as finishing off the fuel filter, rechecking engine and gearbox levels, and will probably have a quick check of all the hub levels as well (as I've not done this yet). Then yippee doo I should hopefully have a reasonably well sorted (mechanically at least) Sabre and can start on the cosmetics and the 3000 thread repairs I need to do..!

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  • 2 months later...
  • 2 months later...

Not yet Andy! I've been busy getting the last few jobs on the M151 done - needed a new steering box according to the MOT tester. Also had to replace the radiator on the Wolf, and some bushes on the rear axle. Then swap the old idlers on my restored Sabre for some new ones, and service it.... always plenty to do! This one has been pencilled in for a couple of months of intense work after Beltring though!

 

Chris

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I know the feeling - I've been trying to get on with the Abbot but the 432 got in the way when my nice shiny new takeout pack proved to have problems with its oil pressure and I spent a week swapping packs in and out. Very frustrating!

 

Andy

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  • 2 months later...

Time for an update. Last weekend we were finally able to get back on with this Sabre. I hadn't seen it since December, but I put some batteries on it and connected up a jerry can to the fuel pump and it fired straight away. We did have a small problem of a wasps nest to deal with first. We needed to move this one back home as we can work on it much easier when we have electricity and water.

 

Ready to leave for home

 

 

 

Back at the house and on with the cleaning

 

 

 

The first job was to start preparing it for some paint. We had already removed the old exhaust heat shield material as it was mostly falling off anyway. I used a wire brush on an angle grinder to clean up the glue, then finished off the new material we started making a while ago.

 

 

 

I found some very good high temperature contact adhesive for sticking the new material back on, it seems to have worked a treat. I am planning to use this to stick the interior padding and hatch pads back on.

 

 

 

I went round the rest of the hull and removed the surface rust and the last few bits of paint the sand blaster missed with a needle gun and wire brush. Then on with some primer. I am going to do this in 4 stages, first the hull, then the turret, remove the wheels etc and do the running gear, and finally the front decks once I've finished walking up and down them all day.

 

 

 

With the primer on, it was time for some top coat. Sadly most of this paint will be covered up by bins etc once it's assembled, but at least now it's green we can start to put the bins back on.

 

 

 

 

Here's the finished and painted heat shield material.

 

 

 

The last job for today was to sort out some new headlamp guards and front bins. This vehicle seems to have been convered in a hurry, the headlamp guards were only held on by 2 bolts each so we had to line up and drill a few more holes. I put some new halogen lamp units in at the same time.

 

 

 

 

Next weekend I'll do the turret. Eventually I have a new exhaust to put on, but it actually sounds very quiet with this old one on for the time being.

 

 

 

That's all for now!

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Edited by sirhc
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Chris,

 

I'm sure I asked this before but i'm not sure I ever got an answer. The AT registration, is that the later build for the RAF Regiment that then got turned back to the Army later?

 

R

 

That's correct, this one was built in the early 80s and never had any of the wading screen stuff fitted.

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Chris -

 

Out of interest, what are you planning to do about the interior silver paint? I've just been having a chat with Clive about DEF STANs and debating whether to re-do the Abbot with the proper aluminium fire-resistant paint, assuming that I can find some.

 

Andy

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I do have a tin of the correct aluminium paint which I will use to tidy up all the interior brackets, turret basket etc. The hull interior on this one is White, I have some of the correct stuff but it seems to peel off when fuel is spilt on it. I did the last one with White bilge paint from the boat yard and it worked a really well, so plan to use it again.

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