Caddy Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 Centurion 5/2 AVRE 165 @ Duxford Just to let you know that she's started to breathe. We got the engine turning over, clutch is seized on. General idea is to get her running so we can get her under cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lauren Child Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 That's great news Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caddy Posted September 7, 2013 Author Share Posted September 7, 2013 You should see Phil, Lauren; he's giggling like a little girl! 7 years since she last ran apparently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caddy Posted September 23, 2013 Author Share Posted September 23, 2013 Had a lovely afternoon yesterday working on her. We've actually spent about 3 days and 5 litres worth of lubricating oil trying to get things to move again. Getting there. Yesterday we stripped the Aux Gen carb, cleaned and then refitted. I started on the ignition for the Aux Gen, but everything is so rusty I haven't been able to check the low tension feed. Think the Condenser has had it, but will be able to tell once we get hold of a Megger. The engine turns on the starter motor (no booster coil on yet). We've replaced the fuel filter, but still need to blow out the fuel lines. The fuel tanks need replacing (got a spare set), but we will see if she runs with a temp fuel tank for the moment. God know's if the charge circuit will work, more cable tracing. She needs a vaccuum as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0644hunt Posted September 27, 2013 Share Posted September 27, 2013 I think I was the last person to get that Cent running, about 10 years ago. The Gene certainly charged then. But was told off for wasting fuel and to leave it to rot. Shame.:cry:. Glad someone is getting it running again. Cent AVRE's are nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caddy Posted September 29, 2013 Author Share Posted September 29, 2013 So had a great day today. Finished off the work on the Aux Engine carb. Had to replace the condenser in the Aux Eng dizzy. Still couldn't check the coil and filter for the ignition as all the fixings are too fixed..... Aux Eng turns over on the dyna-start. But the SU fuel pump isn't working, so that's off for a check. The fuel lines are good and the new fuel filter is in. Oh, we also got the main engine choke was freed off, but needs more use. Need a new throttle cable for the Aux Eng, and possibly a choke cable as well. Vacuumed one hell of a lot of crap out of the fighting compartment and part of the engine bay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyFowler Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 Good to see the museum is looking after the old war horse ! This is 2008 military vehicle show ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andym Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 Have a chat with Channel 4 - they got one running in a week! :cool2: Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caddy Posted September 29, 2013 Author Share Posted September 29, 2013 Did they? It'll take me a week to get over the day spent on it today.... Is that the same programme where they had to fit a jag V12 ignition system rather than just fit a booster coil? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andym Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 That's the one, and it was on TV so it must be true! Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caddy Posted September 30, 2013 Author Share Posted September 30, 2013 What was more impressive is that they did all that without a reference manual or taking the engine out..... On a serious note we are not going to rush starting the Meteor. Yes, it turns over, but we want to turn her over some more until we get the oil returning. That way we shouldn't damage the engine (hopefully too much). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andym Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 The story of this one has always amused me: http://www.livesteammodels.co.uk/dhmg/englcent.htm Keep up the good work, I'd love to see it next time I'm passing. Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 Cent AVRE is my favourite AFV. Just so much presence, especially with the dozer blade fitted. I'm lucky enough to play with CVRTs so that has to suffice but maybe one day... A fair few years ago we had the pleasure of Nick Meads Cent AVRE FOSGENE (of Channel 4 salvage squad fame) on our display at W&P.Having heard the tail of it, the TV team itself (unsurprisingly) had little to do with the restoration and had to make up a few jobs to do on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caddy Posted September 30, 2013 Author Share Posted September 30, 2013 Does anyone know where we can get a technical handbook for the AVRE? We will need to start on the hydraulic system soon and want as much info as possible. Had a look on afvhandbooks, but no such luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caddy Posted October 6, 2013 Author Share Posted October 6, 2013 SHE LIVES!!!!!! Well sort of; got the Aux Gen running after stripping cleaning and resetting the SU pump, replace the carb, and then try to get it to run. She now charges and we started to get hot coolant running through the main engine. Tried (and failed) to get the Meteor to run with no luck. We know the booster coil is good and we were getting a nice petrol smell from B band exhaust (couldn't check A bank with the Aux Gen running), so I guess we will need to run through the ignition system in a couple of weeks..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyFowler Posted October 6, 2013 Share Posted October 6, 2013 Well done chaps ! Glad its all going well ! :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0644hunt Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 Hi, She'll run. (well she did 10 years ago..lol) I had a little trick on cents, of taking the mags off, cleaning the points etc and running them on a fast drill. To get a good spark back on them. Found this fixes most cent starting issues. Also check the mags are not earthing out (can just remove the earth cable from them). The diaphragms on the main engine pumps usually degrade as well. You can check by the manual primer on them. Don't mean to butt in, just my 2 pennies worth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caddy Posted October 22, 2013 Author Share Posted October 22, 2013 Well Sunday was not a good day. Apart from the fact it was wet and windy the bloody Aux Gen refused to start. Took nearly all day to figure that the inlet valves had stuck open. So we tried to tap the back home with liberal use of penetrating fluid. No good. Very annoyed......... We also found that the casting that holds one of the fan belt tensioners was broken and the other tensioner was seized. Still couldn't get the clutch free and still couldn't get the main engine to even cough. Today was a better day though; managed to free off all the inlet valves in the Aux Gen and get it to run. This means that we can warm up the meteors carb set (linked coolant system), so we will have a better chance to get the meteor to start. Finger crossed for Sunday. Oh the govenor on the Aux Gen is pretty seized as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caddy Posted October 27, 2013 Author Share Posted October 27, 2013 Today was a little bit more uplifting..... Had to strip the fuel pump again as the one way valve was gummed up. Had to remove the fuel tap as it was being a real git, and plumbed the temp fuel tank into to tap outlet. Got the Aux Eng running beautifully and charging. Still couldn't get the main engine to run though, plenty of smoke and fuel vapour. Think we're going to have to remove the exhaust spark plugs and give them a good clean..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caddy Posted November 11, 2013 Author Share Posted November 11, 2013 1 step forward, a whole avelanche backwards! So before yesterday we had the following: Aux gen is running as sweet as a nut, Main engine has coughed once or twice, Rear fuel tank emptied of varnish and cleaned up and fuel line blown out. So yesterday started by cleaning up as many plugs as we could, all pretty manky. We couldn't get to some so had to hope that we could get enough cylinders running that with both mags spinning that we could get one plug in each cylinder to fire. Connect up the dummy fuel tank and watch fuel pour out of the Meteor's right hand pump............. Not a happy bunny. Okay, it was about 10:30 so we wandered over to the Royal Anglian Regiment's memorial and joined the service. It was a very good service, and in a sheltered spot with the sun beaming down it felt right. Anyway, back to the pump, top union came off without a hitch (the amount of old fuel that poured out was amazing). The feed pipe union was another matter and the pipe sheared off. Much swearing..... Undid the rest of the feed pipe unions only to have the same thing happen at the other end. Fuel pump cam off and along with the pieces of pipe we took them into the workshop. We found a length of steel pipe that we can use as a sleeve for the feed pipe, and we'll braise that later. No wonder the fuel pump was leaking it was full of sand (Iraqi?), so that was cleaned up and left in soak so we can strip it later. So frustrating Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caddy Posted January 14, 2014 Author Share Posted January 14, 2014 Time for a bit of an update. I think the last we got to was Aux Gen was running and charging and that was about it.... There has been a slight change of plan from the management; the deadline to get it started came and went so she should have been loaded up on to a trailer and transported to the north side of Duxford for storage. It didn't happen. We have new orders: To get her running properly - no shortcuts! All on the team are much happier with this, we have no time constraints, and we can ask for what spares are needed. So time for a new plan. First thing was to move her round to outside the workshops - first day back and we get to play with the ARRV! A very happy and muddy day. If anyone was at Duxford on Sunday you would've seen Phil and Martin pushing AVRE through a very tight gap (using Chieftain ARRV), glad they were doing it and not me. We have now got AVRE outside the workshop so we can now connect her to our power set (big black box with BAE written on the side), so we can charge the batteries and turn the engine over on that as well. So where next? I guess the beginning. Electricity in, check spark, and then fuelling. Pretty sure the floats are stuck in the carbs as fuel seems to pour through. Oh, the other good thing about being next to the workshop - bountiful supplies of tea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ltwtbarmy Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 (edited) So glad she's going to be saved. I felt so sorry for this cent, getting rustier and rustier very time I went to Duxford. Edited March 4, 2014 by ltwtbarmy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caddy Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 Today was quite a perplexing day, we wanted to check the primary circuit for the booster coil. We had got the booster coil working by running a new cable from the main box to the coil. This worked beautifully, so that left a bit of an issue with the original wiring. We megger'd the line and found an earth leak. We then removed to cover to the conduit and found a slight problem: Not a pretty sight. There are 24 UNIPREN cables in that mess and after testing 8 of them and all failing we recon we are in a mess. What is slightly confusing is that when we checked the loom for physical damage we couldn't find any (after we picked the rust off), but the cables did feel damp so I was wondering if the loom was left in this very damp environment whether the insulation might take on water thus reducing the effectiveness of itself? It would go some way to explain why the readings we got were all around the 95ohm mark. Any ideas? The other job tackled was to start removing the air filter, oil tank and fuel tank from the off side of the engine. We need to get to the exhaust magneto so that we can examine it and then test the HT leads. We are still in discussion whether we do the inlet mag as we'd have to remove the Aux Gen as well....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 If that is the same type of wire as used on a CVRT then it may have cracks in the sheathing which allow moisture in and tracking to earth. I had similar issues with fuel pump and fuel gauge wiring on an early CVRT Striker. There was no obvious damage on the wiring but they tracked to earth. I replaced the wires and everything worked ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caddy Posted February 2, 2014 Author Share Posted February 2, 2014 Got a few hours on her today and we need some cable.... We can't get any UNIPREN 12(amp), so a quick search on this site brought up TC12 as an endorsed replacement. So have asked for a couple of reels of TC12 (17amp). This stuff, although of a higher amperage, I recon is the most suited replacement as it is roughly the same overall thickness and has a lower resistance value. It's black, but such is life..... Have started removing the nuts holding the exhaust manifold on B bank so we can remove the oil and fuel tanks and that'll give room to get to the exhaust magneto. Oh, if anyone has a electrical wiring diagram for a Mk5/2 165 AVRE I would be most grateful. TTFN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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