Ferret's and Cold Weather

[Richard Grosvenor]

Hello,

I have another question. When the weather is warm my Daimler Ferret runs perfect, it doesn't matter how far I go, 20-25+ miles it makes no difference, it still performs great with plenty of power and speed. But when the weather is cold, like today when I took it for a run, after about 7 miles it has less power and is less willing to pull away quickly. It doesn't stop or give me any feeling that it is going to stop, it just losses it's sparkle.

Today, when I first noticed it, I pulled over and let it tickover for 1-2 mins, after this it was perfect again and back to normal. All I did was let it tickover, nothing else.

I've checked for fuel blockages and found none and, as it only happens when the weather is cold and after letting it stand for a few minutes it cleared, I'm thinking more along the lines of the carb "freezing".

Is this a normal Ferret problem and is there any known cure?

 

Many Thanks

Richard

[oddball]

Sounds like a classic case of carb icing to me.

[polecat paul]

Yeah i have the same problem i let mine stand for about 20minutes to warm up and it still feels a bit sluggish i did come up with an idea of winding around a small core copper pipe and plumb it into the water flow from the engine but i forgot to do anymore about it until i read your post!

[oddball]

I have no idea what a ferret looks like "under the bonnet" but in the car world there is always some means of directing hot air from the exhaust manifold into the air intake. Either by pipework or a summer/winter setting on the air filter.

[Richard Grosvenor]

Ah good, I'm not the only one with this problem.

Paul, I too have thought about someway of warming the air going in the air intake.

Oddball, it would be sensible to have a winter/summer setting but it doesn't seem to have one.

Has anyone else come up with a way round it?

 

Thanks

Richard

[tyler]

Is there a heat sheild near to it? If so you could remove this during the winter period to warm the carb.

[Richard Grosvenor]

Hello Tyler,

I got the aerial today, many thanks.

 

No there isn't any heat shield.

Because Ferret engine bays are a little cramped the air cleaner is in the fighting compartment. The air is then ducted over the engine to the carb on the other side of the vehicle. As the air cleaner is the standard military type which has slots rather than a hole there is no easy way to attach a pipe which could then suck warm air from the engine bay.

A customer of ours used to be a Ferret Commander and I remember him saying how they had problems getting them to run well in cold conditions. They did find in artic conditions moving to altitude adjustment on the carb to the opposite of what you would normally would , helped them to run much better.

Problem is, I can't remember which setting he said!

 

Regards

Richard

[Richard Farrant]

Ah good, I'm not the only one with this problem.

Paul, I too have thought about someway of warming the air going in the air intake.

Oddball, it would be sensible to have a winter/summer setting but it doesn't seem to have one.

Has anyone else come up with a way round it?

 

 

Richard,

 

Carb icing may be a problem, I know some Stalwart owners are suffering it, it is due to the nature of the modern petrol, which is now formulated for injection engines and not carbs, as they are becoming a thing of the past.

On the Ferret, it may not be difficult to overcome, firstly, the inlet manifold is heated, so allowing the engine to warm up longer before moving off will help. The other thing that is worth trying, is something that was used on the forerunner of the Ferret, the WW2 Daimler Dingo. Part of the equipment on a Dingo, was radiator blanking boards, they hooked over the rear engine louvres, ( where the hot air blows out ). I think just one louvre was kept free. This allowed to hot air to build up in the engine compartment rather than just expel it. You will know when it is warm enough by the temp guage, worth experimenting with a sheet of tin. They should be removed once normal running temp is achieved.

 

Richard

[Richard Grosvenor]

Hello Richard

 

Thanks for that.

This is a problem I had all last winter and I was starting to think it was something more serious. In a way, I'm glad there are more people with the same problem.

I will try letting it warm up longer next time I take it for a run. I know sometimes I'm a little too keen to get going.

 

Many Thanks

Richard

[AlienFTM]

Hello, my name is Neil (see? I bothered to read the Please Read This before joining) and this is my first post here.

 

I served seven years in a recce regiment in the 70s and 80s. My first real drive of a military vehicle was a Mk2 Ferret in Northern Ireland, I did a six month UN tour on Mk2 Ferrets with the UN in Cyprus. In BAOR I drove rebroadcast Mk1 Ferrets for a year and commanded them for another year.

 

But those two winters on Ferrets in BAOR were cold. As the OP surely knows, there was no heating for the crew - I found that my left foot, resting on the lower front plate beside the GCP, would be in real danger of freezing.

 

And yet I never ever saw this carburation phenomenon. I don't doubt the words of all the other posters on this thread: I must have been lucky.

 

What can I add to the thread? We customised all our Ferrets in BAOR by welding mounting points on the four corners of the engine deck then attaching storage bins made of XPM to these mounting points with butterfly nuts. This made refuelling difficult, since we had to tip the (usually full!) storage bin over to one side before lifting the engine deck to get at the fuel filler cap.

 

Did this somehow insulate the engine deck as a whole from losing heat by convection? I don't really think so: even at the central ridge, the closest point of the bin to the engine decks, there was probably a couple of inches' clearance. We certainly never obstructed the louvres as suggested by one poster. All I can suggest is that our Ferrets were brimming, behind the commander's seat, with radio equipment and even with a storage bin, we still crammed personal kit like webbing, sleeping bags, personal weapons down the sides of the radios. Could this have somehow affected the airflow? After all this time I struggle to picture a Ferret without radios fitted and what sort of bulkhead existed between crew and engine.

 

But one thing I really do have to say is that I envy anyone who has a Ferret to drive. For decades I have told anyone who'd listen that the Ferret is the best ride you'll ever have.

 

I do have a question for you if that is okay. The Scorpions that comprised the bulk of our regiment had a 93 gallon petrol tank. How big is the petrol tank on a Ferret? I distinctly remember exercising on Salisbury Plain 1976-77 and our Squadron Leader simply could not remember that our Mk5 Swingfire Ferrets had nothing like the endurance of the Scorpion and the GW Troop Leader was forever screaming for more petrol.

 

Have a good ride.

[Richard Grosvenor]

Hello Neil,

nice to have another Ferret Fan on here. I'm sure you be made very welcome, there are some very friendly (and knowledgeable) people on here!

I agree totally when you say that the Ferret is the best drive you can get. They have so much character, I smile from ear to ear when driving it. I don't think I would have liked to drive one all closed up with people outside trying to kill you, though!

I think that you could have a point about the radio gear and all the other stuff restricting airflow around the fighting compartment. I think Kewelde's idea about modern petrol also plays a big part in the poor winter running.

According to the service card for my Ferret it was in BOAR and I think it was problabley a rebroadcast unit.( it has 2 long tubes on the front which I guess were for the aerials)

 

Regards

Richard

 

Ps. fuel tank, including 3 gallon reserve, is 21 gallons.

[AlienFTM]

Ps. fuel tank, including 3 gallon reserve, is 21 gallons.

 

21 gallons. That's what I thought. A story you might enjoy. We had exercised for two weeks, first week east of Paderborn, second week west thereof. We finished up a lo-o-ong way from home. And I hadn't slept since 0400 Wednesday. Exercise ended mid-Friday afternoon and the tracks and Saracens all headed for the railhead (outside of exercise, movement by train drastically reduced track miles). Loading the tracks took well into the early hours of Saturday. Once they were loaded and on their way home, the Ferrets and Ladnrovers all set out.

 

We must have had 5 Ferrets (RSM's (he got a lift back), two rebros and two Squadron Sergeant Major's (they also got lifts and supplied ersatz commanders for the journey home)). As Command Troop Sergeant's driver, we were the senior vehicle so we led.

 

The journey was very close to maximum range. We drove over a crest and there was Paderborn a handful of miles ahead. Home territory. At the bottom of the hill was a set of traffic lights. The dual carriageway was straight and we roared off. Then, halfway down the hill, for the only time in my career, we ran out of fuel. The Ferrets all backed up behind us as we coasted toward the lights and I tried to direct my commander to the reserve switch, hidden under a mountain of webbing, sleeping bags, etc. Just as we started to run out of hill, he found the switch, turned it, and the engine caught. We roared off again ... just as the lights changed against us and the rest of the cars were left. We were first people back in camp by some distance, dekitted the wagon and I set off to see girlfriend after a long bath. She took one look at the bags under my eyes and sent me home to get some sleep. It was by now midday Saturday, head not having been in contact with pillow since 0400 Wednesday.

 

I slept long into Sunday.

 

;o)

[Richard Grosvenor]

Hello Neil,

 

I've only run out of petrol once ( so far ).

I was on the way to the petrol station and without any warning, while overtaking some parked cars, it cut out. Luckily I had enough momentum to get back onto the right side of the road. :oops:

I couldn't work it out, I had just under 1/4 tank but all it would do is turn over. Then I remembered that everyone says military gauges are unreliable and un-accurate! After switching the reserve tank on it fired up on the first flick of the starter. Thank god for the extra 3 gallons!

 

Cheers

Richard