kevin powles Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 (edited) Hi, I am restoring a Centaur Gun Tank, I purchased from a guy on this site, its progressing well, I have it stripped down and the hull, suspension and side armour, grit blasted, zinc rich primed and the hull in two pack paint, (please excuse the present colour). I am looking for a few parts for the project : wheel hubs, drive hub, two suspension split retaining brackets (will post a pic of these), brass retaing ring for the Centaur style track tensioner assemblies. I have the tank at mine now and can progress the project more economically. I am casting a Besa mount from an original if anyone is intereted as i am having moulds made, if so please p.m. me. I would appreciate any leads to parts or finding a turret to restore with turret ring. kevin. Edited December 7, 2012 by kevin powles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin powles Posted December 7, 2012 Author Share Posted December 7, 2012 More Pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 not bad for a beginner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonnie_scott Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 Hi Kevin, well done for taking this on..... Good luck with finding the missing bits. I look forward to seeing your progress. Julian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Good to see this one is being saved. Good luck in sourcing parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajmac Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Kevin, Did it have the remains of the engine and box in it when you brought it or had that been removed many years ago? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lauren Child Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Great job. You can just imagine what a factory full of them must have looked like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferrettkitt Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Kevin,Did it have the remains of the engine and box in it when you brought it or had that been removed many years ago? Having seen the vehicle in Bobs yard I seem to remember it had its transmission and engine in place. I'm pretty sure that I could see pistons so the engine was slightly un-serviceable :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajmac Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 slightly un-serviceable I like the sound of that, I shall endevour to use it my next Turbine report :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 andy's right it was complete when i sold it to kevin, it had the engine, rads, fuel tanks clutch and gearbox with it, unfortunately they were all in little pieces in the bottom of the hull :-( although the clutch might be useable the rest was pretty much beyond hope but i'm sure kevin has a plan. rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shane.c Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Doing a cracking job keep us updated, looks good, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Git Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 Hi Kevin, just wondering how it's going with this project? Have you made any progress since your last update? I also wanted to ask a question about your 2nd picture showing the Final Drive housing. I've been looking for a long time and this is one of the best pictures I've seen showing the FD Housing and it clears up a couple of questions I had from looking at the drawings as it shows those parts of the FD Housing that the Outer Side Plate sits on and which are not shown on the drawings (or at least not on the drawings I have). By any chance did you also take pictures of the FD cover for this housing and the gear wheels that go inside, or did you not have those when you received the tank? Looking forward to more updates mate, I can't get enough of restoration shots of classic British Armour. Oh, and the bigger the pictures the better so we can zoom in on the detail:cheesy: Best Regards Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redherring Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 I was wondering about the motor. Is it the Liberty and do you have a photo of the remains? Was this the Great War design or was it heavily modified between the wars? Renovating tanks is not for the faint hearted. Well done thus far. Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferrettkitt Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 Liberty engine which as you say is a great war design Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin powles Posted August 14, 2013 Author Share Posted August 14, 2013 (edited) Hi. Update, been spending the last few weeks breaking down a set of track from pounds scrap yard into 7 sections per track, it's not been easy, currently the track is 10% free, next step is to immerse each section in molasses for min 6 weeks. Then into a modified fly press to work it free. Had to build a hydraulic 20 ton rig to push the pins out, On a good day I managed to get 4 pins out!. It was necessary to break down the track into manageable sections to ease the handling. This stuff is not light!. Kev. Edited August 14, 2013 by kevin powles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Grundy Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 Was all this done without any heat ? have you now got all the track you need ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 Did your bottle jack work in a horizontal position like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Barrell Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 As long as the pump is toward the bottom, all bottle jacks work like that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin powles Posted August 15, 2013 Author Share Posted August 15, 2013 Hi, This jack would work in horizontal position if the jacking valve piston was located at the lowest point towards the ground, no oxy acetylene was used. I have located some new pin material and plan to make new pins with a circlip on one or both ends. I would like some loose links if you have any Bob?, but have a full set off a Centaur dozer with very little wear. kevin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulob1 Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 people who go to these lengths to restore an old vehicle like this need a medal or some sort of recognition...there should be a hall of fame for such projects... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 I like it kev, I made a similar setup for the Churchill track but haven't got round to doing anything with it yet. I will follow your track restoration with great interest and maybe pick up a tip or two. I also plan on dipping mine in molasses once most of the crud has been sand blasted off. hope it all goes well. rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lssah2025 Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 Looking good, everytime I think about getting a tracked vehicle again I go back and look at these restoration blogs :cool2:, deciding if I want to divulge back and swear like a sailor again while working or restoring one of these.... Hands off to you, if I had the time and the workshop I would love to do something like this again, unfortunately time is not on my side, so I have to leave it to professionals to work on my stuff, which cost more, but it gets finished quicker... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Grundy Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 Hi, This jack would work in horizontal position if the jacking valve piston was located at the lowest point towards the ground, no oxy acetylene was used. I have located some new pin material and plan to make new pins with a circlip on one or both ends. I would like some loose links if you have any Bob?, but have a full set off a Centaur dozer with very little wear. kevin. Possible source, PM sent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin powles Posted March 7, 2014 Author Share Posted March 7, 2014 Gents, Does anyone know a source or has some of these special shock absorber mounts found on the dash, if not i will have to make four from scratch. kevin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowfat Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Have a look here http://www.barrycontrols.com/products/product.cfm?cid=5&fid=31 It might help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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