AFV Society

Went down to RR Services in Kent today to pay what, hopefully, is the final instalment for the work and to have a look. Good news is that one more week should see her finished. Right now she is sitting in the workshop with the green paint on and waiting for the black disruptive pattern to be applied. Other than that some odd bits need to be done; seals need to be fitted, roof hatch handles/locks are being refitted, mirrors are being refitted and fire extinguishers and then she's ready to come home. She looks good folks and sounds great!!! Took the camera with me and took advantage of the fact the wifee explorer shed an engine idler puller just before we got there to take some pic's:

N/S Cab view


Inside cab - looking at I/P


O/S cab view


Rear view


The rest can be seen at [url="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...epair%20Works/"]http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...epair%20Works/[/url]

Whilst the original damage can be seen at [url="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...tercrash_3.jpg"]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...tercrash_3.jpg[/url]

See the "For Sale" section for a bit more info!!!

Well - we were supposed to take little Maud home today - but alas it was not to be - went down to RR Services to collect little Maud ably assisted by Phil and Jason from AMVG. She wasn't quite ready when we got there so we had a little look around at the first of the 16 Stuarts that were arriving to be restored and sold (Mike, the owner, said around the £80,000 to £90,000 mark when finished) - also the three Churchill's in the workshops - the Wheatcroft Collections Mk VII Crocodile, another ordinary Mk VII and a Mk II whilst Kerry finished off working on little Maud.
All went well as we rumbled down the A28 and onto the A20 but after a while it felt like the engine was losing power in 4th and 5th. Seemed a bit odd - but all was revealed when we pulled into the first service station we came across to put some fuel in the tank. As soon as we stopped the world vanished in a grey cloud accompanied by the smell of burning!!
Closer investigation revealed the front and rear offside and nearside centre wheels brakes were locked on... I have to admit this was more than made up for by the look on the managers face when he ran out - Stalwart parked by fuel pumps + smell of burning and smoke = panic time!! However when we explained what had happened he was happy to let us sit there until the brakes cooled off enough to make the return run to RR Services. This might have been helped by the £100's worth of fuel that went into the tank though!!
So - we sat there for about an hour then headed back avoiding using the brakes as far as possible - this worked until the last but one roundabout when a stupid female driver in a 4x4 (I say BMW X5, Jason reckons a Discovery) came around the roundabout positioned to take the A 28 exit and carried on around over the hatching straight in front of us which meant hitting the brakes hard. No prizes for guessing what happened to the brakes. Phil reckons he heard me screaming abuse at her through the mike on Jason's radio whislt Jason was sitting on the roof (mine was in listening mode...)
Anyways - got back to RR and Kerry said he'd have the calipers apart as he thinks it might be them sticking as opposed to collapsed hoses - either way though there are spares still on the donor hulk. Now I need to talk to Kerry again in the week to see when little Maud will be ready for a second attempt.
Mean time - as I got out of her my foot slipped off the lowest cab rung resulting in me slamming into the hull tearing, in turn, my trouser, my shirt and the skin on my stomach! What a mistaka to maka!!!

We have finally got little Maud the Stalwart back to her home at Coalhouse Fort!!!

Today was a day not without it's moments of drama and comedy I have to admit but little Maud the Stalwart is finally back at Coalhouse Fort at East Tilbury where she belongs!!

Day seemed to be getting off to a "good" start when we got to RR Services just outside Ashford in Kent and were told "she's out of fuel".... They put two jerry cans worth in and climbed in to the engine pay to hand prime the system and we were ready for the off. First problem instantly manifested itself - she would not idle - period. Take the foot off the go pedal for longer than a couple of seconds and that was it. However we weren't going to let a little thing like that stop us so we carried on to Hothfield Services where, after filling, we were greeted as old friends - can't think why, only been there three times!!! Stuck 200 litres in the tank for safety as the fuel gauge still goes to max deflection when the isolator is turned on. The cutting out problem persisted all the way to Maidstone when it suddenly stopped for the time being.
Halfway around Maidstone something else presented itself which gave much cause for worry - every time we stopped the air pressure gauge dropped to zero with the compressor going full chat.... Brakes were working though... Coming out of Maidstone this too cleared itself and we carried on. Took the A20 up to the M25 and then headed for the tunnel and into a traffic jam. My mate Jason who was acting a vehicle commander was in his element up on top waving at all the young ladies either passing us or who we passed depending on which side they were.... One truck driver offered to lend him an umbrella 'cos of the rain!!
Finally got to the tunnel and another mate, Ian who was i/c of bringing the car back overtook us to pay the tolls for both the Explorer and the Stalwart. Apparently the guy at the booth looked at the Stalwart and said "looks like a car to me" and only charged us £1.50 - what a nice man!!! Cleared the tunnel OK for the next issue to manifest itself - in the pouring rain the main windscreen wiper (air operated) gave up the ghost.... No idea why yet other than turning on the air makes it move a couple of sweeps and then it stops on the off-side. Trying to move the manual control handle with the air on is very hard implying it's air pressure thats holding it over, turn the air off and it works easily by hand ???
Still - that was the last of the issues with the vehicle and we got back to the Fort safe and sound. Both Jason and I were frozen and soaked by this time - Jason obviously more so!! Now just got to finish off the odds and ends and all is done.
We won't mention how many idiots decided to turn right in front of us, pull out in front of us or who carved us up on roundabouts - suffice it to say there are an incredible number of suicidal maniacs out there!!!

List of jobs still to do now (in no particular order) include:

* Refit towing cables.
* Refit bridging plate to swim board.
* Refit Alvis badge to swim board.
* Refit Union Jack stickers.
* Replace front number plate.
* Sort out earthing issues on the fuel/oil level gauge.
* Refit UBRE earthing tag and bolt to inside rear of exhaust stack.
* Work out how to connect loudspeaker to clansman intercom system.
* Work out whats wrong with air operated main wiper motor.
* Work out whats wrong with the combined fuel level/oil level gauge.
* Find and fit inner "Tee" handles to roof hatches.
* Repaint name to sides of cab.
* Repaint bridging class onto bridging plate.
* Replace rotted ropes in load bed cover.
* Locate and make-up rubberised retaining straps for pioneer kit etc.
* Get the proper hinges for the swim board made up at a local workshop and then fit them.

Neil you're a brave man but well done on getting her home, and thanks for sharing the adventure with us! Mike

Well - all was too god to be true..... Took her over to the Bunker Bash the other weekend and, when we were leaving after the show finished, the same damned brake circuit seized on again. To say I'm not impressed with the work done by a certain firm now is an understatement!! So she is stuck over at the Bunker for now,

Anyways - in the interests of getting a "fixed once and for all" solution Lee has kindly offered the help me strip the whole damned brake system down and rebuild it. On Wednesaday we took of each flexi-hoe in turn and put a pressure tester on the system to see what we were getting. The EMER says we should have 2160 psi at each wheel station with fully charged air packs. What we actually had were:

Rears - 1200 psi on both - O/S pressure releases slowly (this wheel is not on the circuit that was seizing on)

Centres - 1500 psi on both

Fronts - 1100 psi N/S side, 1000 psi on the O/S side.

As Lee says- the fronts low reading might be due to air in the system from doing the rears and centres. All but one (O/S Rear) of the flexi-hose unions had never been removed in years and the front two had to have the leading pair of shock absorbers & bump-stop released from their top mounta to access the hull points for the flexi hose.
Both front flexi-hoses were rotten and tore apart during removal and the rigid pipe on the front O/S calliper burst during testing - a lucky escape there!!! Sprayed Lee with fluid though...

Right now the plan is to rebuild the hydraulic circuit(s) by replacing all six flexi-hoses, both rigid lines on the front wheels, all the calliper seals, pads and the master cylinders (got to replace the whole cylinder as seals kits aren't available). May need to get the brake discs skimmed as well - will know better once the road wheels are off.

We also need to remove and check both the air-packs and the sensing tank as it's venting compressed air a LOT faster than the book says - could be a crudded up auto-drain down valve on the sensing tank?? Sitting in the cab as soon as the engine is turned off escaping air can be heard very audibly and the air pressure gauge drops rapidly. Build up of air pressure after restarting is also very slow.

Then the plan is to flush the entire system through with fresh fluid - what came out today was discoloured, stank, and varied in viscosity, colour and smell at all 6 wheel stations!!! I popped down to see that nice Mr Banister on Friday to pick up the hoses, pads and various seals needed for the calipers plus two new master cylinders ans no seal kits are available - and parted with about £890

Now the odd-balls that occured that day!!!

Sitting in the cab with air up I decided to try the main wiper motor again as it's been working only intermittently and a light rain had started.
Soon as I turned the knob to "Run" - I got squirted by a jet of water mixed with oil from the hole the manual control lever goes though. How the hell did that get full of water??? Wiper worked OK though!

And finally - to add the icing to the cake - the oil pressure has started doing weird things. Starting from cold it's constant at around 25 - 28 psi but as she warms up the idle pressure drops down to 10 psi -ish that slowly raises to about 15 psi as engine revs increase. I'm assuming an urgent oil filter wash or change plus a of engine oil seem to be the next jobs after the brakes......

Some photo's of the work in progress (not too good, they were taken on a camera phone):


 

take heart
m man and me both have cvrts that also stick to the road for no reason
done that with the brake circuit thing
tracks

Well - after a LOT of work that was supposedly already done we took her out oh her first road run today - and apart from a couple of minor lighting niggles all went well. Brakes were excellent, all hydraulics worked as intended and oil pressure was good.

The niggles was the head lights weren't working at all - I suspect a wire or wires got disturbed when we had the floor plates up - and the bulb holder in the O/S brake/side light holder broke up enroute home; this means a new bulb holder I think!!

Still have the winch to sort out as well as the wiring for the oil and fuel level senders but at least she's now safely back in secure storage at the Fort.