robin craig Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 That must have been very satisfying to hear that run. Glad you have found time to get it going, wont be long before it moves I would think. Maybe by year's end? Happy Christmas Chris! R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted December 24, 2013 Author Share Posted December 24, 2013 Hi Robin, I won't get any time to get it mobile before new year, but hopefully in January. I need to bleed the brakes and steering and after that there's not too much to bolt on before it moves. I hope you have a good Christmas too, and are not too affected by the storms over there! Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul connor Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 It's always great to look through your restoration blogs, Chris. Another fantastic vehicle! Good stuff & look forward to the finished product. Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted March 9, 2014 Author Share Posted March 9, 2014 Finally got the Scimitar out for a spin after filling and bleeding the cooling system. It runs well, sounds a lot nicer than the diesel Spartan. I will be putting this on hold until later in the year now as I have to get the Spartan ready for W&P. We did tidy up the farm yard a bit by dropping the turret and engine decks on it. Looks a bit more like a tank now! Attempted to drive the Spartan home yesterday only to get a few yards from the house and have it break down. The problem is fuel related, I suspect the tank is full of junk and the filters are clogged. Another job to do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth dawe Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 Good luck, and you know it will all be worth the hard graft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Hunter Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 Hi Chris - she's coming along nicely. I've managed to get my project in the shed - may try and get something going for W&P - now I have got those fantastic parts off you!? Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tokarev Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Video for those who like engine noises... Chris I do like engine noise - thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted September 14, 2014 Author Share Posted September 14, 2014 It's been ages since I got to spend any time on this one, but this weekend was a bit of a mixed bag. The brakes are now sorted, everything electrical seems to work ok and so we put the drivers seat in, bulkhead on etc. Also fitted the turret ring. It was a bit tight without the turret on, with it on I can't turn it at all. It needs to come of for further fettling but for now the turret is bolted on. I took it for a thrash about and it has developed a clicking noise from the clutch at idle, seems to run and drive fine otherwise. Looking much better with the decks on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted September 14, 2014 Author Share Posted September 14, 2014 Short video here: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted April 12, 2015 Author Share Posted April 12, 2015 I haven't really spent much time on this project over the winter, but now the better weather is here I've had a chance to spend a few days on the Scimitar. A few weeks ago I took the turret off, did some adjusting of the turret ring and put it back on again. It now turns but it is stiff. It should be ok with the traverse gearbox but if anyone knows of any turret rings for sale (not in 100s of pieces) I would be interested. With the turret on I could take it back to the house so we can get on with the rest of the jobs. On Tuesday morning it arrived home. The first job was to start turning the Belgian turret into a British one. Over the winter I have been drawing 3D models of lots of missing bits and getting them made. I have found a good laser cutting company who can work from my SolidWorks models, so I can email them a file and they post me back the bits. Here are the turret side bin brackets. I measured one on a vehicle, drew it up and had them laser cut and folded. I was lucky enough to have the modification instruction to fit the side stowage bins. I had to cut off some of the footman loops which were welded on, then drill and tap quite a lot of holes. You can see the lower brackets in this photo, again laser cut and folded. I managed to find the clips in bags with 9CVT part numbers. The brackets fitted and the NOS bins I have fitted perfectly. I had a modification kit to fit the rear OTIS bin, which made that job easier, but the top retaining pins were again made in the same way as before. I also had part of the Bowman installation kit, so holes were drilled and tapped for those too. The next job was to sort out the air cleaner. This was an EM vehicle, it had the Environmental Mitigation pack installed so a different air filter was fitted. This involved cutting out a large portion of the side plate. I had to draw up and laser cut a new plate as I had the original diesel air filter to go back in. The photos below show the differences between the Scimitar air filter and one for the other variants. I knew the outlet was different, but it wasn't until I came to fit it I noticed the difference between the inlet end. I had the inlet end of the Spartan one fitted to the body of the Scimitar one and I just couldn't get it to fit! Eventually I worked it out and it is now fitted, with a new element. Scimitar air filter at the bottom of the photo: Scimitar air filter at the top of the photo: By the end of the week I'd managed to tick off quite a few little jobs, and some big ones. We put the mantlet in the turret to have a look at the trunions. I have one side but need to work out what to do about the other. It is now looking a whole lot more Scimitar like. I need to do some work to the hatches, fit some new pins, bushes and dampers, then I'll get some paint on the outside and start working on the padding for the inside. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin craig Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Chris, great progess, I assume you will put that through the downsizer and pack it in your luggage in May? When you say drill and tap, are you using stainless inserts in the ally? Robin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andym Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Coming along nicely, Chris! Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted April 13, 2015 Author Share Posted April 13, 2015 Chris, great progess, I assume you will put that through the downsizer and pack it in your luggage in May? When you say drill and tap, are you using stainless inserts in the ally? Robin Robin, The downsizer isn't working so I'll have to leave it at home! No inserts, I just drilled holes in the aluminium then a ran a tap down them. All the holes in the turret are like this. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted May 17, 2015 Author Share Posted May 17, 2015 Another job ticked off the list. The mantlet is now fitted, along with the traverse and elevation boxes. I need to make the coax hole smaller as it has been opened out for the chain gun, I will come up with some kind of plug/bung for this. The Scimitar will go back on hold now as I need to get everything else ready for W&P and come back to it in a couple of months. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teletech Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Here are a few photos of the up-armouring package. It is fitted with the cheese grater armour along the sides of the stowage bins, I'm curious, what was the function of the cheese grater armour, I'd assume is is to provide spacing against shaped-charge but why retain it once the bar armour is fitted? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 See page 6: Mine is fitted with mine blast (plate on the bottom) and ballistic protection (cheese grater Plasan armour) http://www.baesystems.com/download/baes_048444/cvrt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datadawg Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Chris, I see you have also a Fox. Is that restored? Do you have a thread on that vehicle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 No, but I did make this video... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teletech Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 See page 6: Mine is fitted with mine blast (plate on the bottom) and ballistic protection (cheese grater Plasan armour) http://www.baesystems.com/download/baes_048444/cvrt Ah, the BAE document wan't much help really but looking up Plasan armor was very interesting. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7811567.stm In case I want to replicate the look, just how big are those holes and how thick is the plate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 I have most of a set of the cheese grater armour which is spare and could be for sale. It's heavy though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted April 29, 2016 Author Share Posted April 29, 2016 Time for some updates! The Scimitar is now road registered and tax exempt, which is a bonus! I spent quite a lot of time sorting out the turret hatches. I had to cut a load of the pins, press them out and replace them with new ones. The hatch dampers were a total mess, when I stripped them I found them totally rusted solid inside. One was swapped for a spare and the other was rebuilt with parts from a Spartan drivers hatch damper. I also had to free off all the turret locks. These 'simple' jobs actually took several Saturdays. To get the hatch bolts undone I ended up buying a 1m long breaker bar as the steel bolts had corroded to the aluminium hinges. Finally with the hatches on and the dampers correctly set up I spent a few days over Easter painting the outside of the turret and all the brackets etc. I then split the track and discovered some play in the rear idlers. As I had spares I swapped the idler arms for some better ones and the idlers for some NOS ones. I then painted everything and put it all back together. Starting to look good now... Next job was to install the sights and periscopes. The periscopes are all NOS and I think the sights are either NOS or refurbished too. I have the covers for the sights at the blasters at the moment. I still need to replace all the turret padding, re-wire the turret etc but to get it into a condition where it can be shown I am focusing on getting it externally complete first. Next job is to finish the external paintwork and start assembling the turret basket. I have all the basket parts and most are cleaned up and ready to fit. I am planning on taking this to W&P providing I can get the transport sorted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teletech Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 Looks lovely! I just wish I were at the stage where I could start putting things together rather than doing more disassembly. Partly from running out of space to put all the parts. You must have been collecting spares for a good long while to happen to have so much NOS around? I can sympathize, little things like frozen latches and hinges can take hours to sort properly and nobody but the fellow who did the works can ever really appreciate just how much work went into those small items. keep up the good work, I need pictures and text as a manual. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted April 29, 2016 Author Share Posted April 29, 2016 12 years of collecting spares and 9 vehicles later we have a lot of bits taking up space! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin craig Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 And don't forget Chris lives in the land where all the spares are, for those of us on this side of the pond they are non existent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andym Posted April 30, 2016 Share Posted April 30, 2016 Looking good, Chris! Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.