AFV Society

Ok chaps,

Time to introduce you to "Skippy" my Scorpion. I hope to bung this poor old girl back together over the coming months/years.
Having previously told myself "NO MORE PROJECTS" I'm afraid I couldn't resist this one so have launched myself into the mire

Skippy as purchased

Oh dear what have I done

Oh dear oh dear oh dear! Looks like ours did when we got it (except i hope yours doesn't have a big hole in the side!). Shouldn't be too much work to resurrect if the wiring loom is there (mine isn't... ). How complete is it?

If it's ex-belgian army, i must recommend stripping and cleaning the hubs as the oil in ours was black and tar-like. They used EP90 instead of engine oil as prescribed by the British Army. They also used grease in the radial arm bushes which also should have been oiled. This has caused some of the bushs to be quite badly damaged. I have managed to source some replacements. Will post some pictures when I get tinternet in my new house. Must have a chat soon so we can compare notes/woes!

Vince

Nope no loom, MT Hull

Out into the daylight

Cleaning the hull out and doing the gardening

Looking better but very MT.

The Hull hade some areas of corrosion undercutting some of the welds on the Hull floor. While the Scorpion is disassembled to this level it was thought to be a good idea to take the opportunity to effect some repairs.

So I wire brushed and cleaned out some of the crap (the poor bugger who came along with his big industrial MIG welder still had a fair amount of cleaning up to do as the slightest contaminant made a right mess of the welding process).




Naturally the more that was cleaned and repaired, the more showed up as needing cleaning and repair.




This may seem a bit of overkill, and possibly unnecessary as far as some people may be concerned, but this vehicle will be for using and I hope will never need stripping to this level again.

And I thought my project was a lot of work! Mind, you have started with less to take off than I did (but only just!).

I have sourced a close colour match to the interior anti-spall material (British spec) but is slightly the wrong texture if you are interested. Will be putting in an order in the next few months. Am also on the lookout for the reflective exhaust material. I will use the stuff Homebase sell for home radiators if I can't source any. It seems to work on J60 heat exchangers we have tried it on.

Are you hoping that all the work you put into this project will help make you fit in it......?

ratty ratty ratty
when i see your pics it makes me so glad sparky is finished
do you live near andy or are you planing to pitch a tent out side his shed
he is harder work than the rebuild
we have to cross the sea every time we need our spares
saw that little hull off yours hid away last time we were over
they are not a bad project to work at if you can keep the bits coming
may the force be with you
tracks
keep the pics coming

Hi Tracks, no unfortunately I am 125 miles away in darkest Essex, that’s a 2hour drive before I even pick up a spanner/screwdriver/hammer/bigger hammer/enormous hammer.etc.
But while the M25 has the poxy poorly thought out road works and contra-flow lately it has been taking 3 soddin hours each way. Still I attempt to keep good humor and make an effort to get to Skippy once a fortnight at least.

That’s enough whining about traffic. Now last time I visited I dragged Skippy outside and gave her a good pressure washing inside and out.

Now it was time to start on some of the very crusty bits, see pic’s of my NBC filter door hinges, yep they are nastier than they look.





With some gentile persuasion I managed to convince this mass of seized crusty bits to start moving again and eventually succeeded in pulling/bashing them apart. Then a pleasant couple of hours were whiled away putting my fingers through hellish torture cleaning the buggers up.




On with a quick coat of primer in a vain attempt to stop these hinges in their quest to return to the oxides from which they once came.



If as and when I find myself flagging, all I need to do is look out into my front garden where my Spartan resides, and think to myself “yes get a Scorpion out there next to that bugger and that’ll really piss the neighbors off”.


Nigel

well at lest you are sited at parts HQ thats a big help and its means you are driving towards the spares all the time
over here in norn iron stopping in at the local moter factor for a cvrt part is usaly met with a <what>
i can see you will have a few trips yet ever tried i spy
us over here still cannot creak how to load up photos duuuuuuu
cheers tracks

Hi Nigel, sent you a PM with a link for Mastinox (stuff for sealing final drives into hull).

Vince

Thanks Vince, I'm off to smash me piggy-bank