1964 Alvis Stalwart
Discussion
Gretchen said:
Was privileged to have a personal tour of the Stalwart and a leg up in to the cab to watch the sunset tonight. What an awesome piece of engineering and such a beautiful machine.
Glad I was warned to wear trousers. It's not the most ladylike vehicle to climb in and out of. Few practices and I got the hang of it. Thanks LewG. It's the little things.
Really enjoying this thread,but can't help thinking if you added tracks and squinted your eyes this is where Gerry Anderson got his inspiration for Shado 2 from the UFO series from the seventies {or am I just showing my age}! Glad I was warned to wear trousers. It's not the most ladylike vehicle to climb in and out of. Few practices and I got the hang of it. Thanks LewG. It's the little things.
Aaron as I said on the email, thanks so very much I really do appreciate you going to the effort of getting hold of those for us.
Funnily enough I've already been asked if I'm starting my own International Rescue
may be some time before we get to that stage.
We've got hold of some old curtain sides off of an articulated lorry to put over it whilst it has to live outside, silly levels of rain due later apparently so will head up there this evening and sheet it up. There is new units being built at the farm so hopefully it will be going in a shed eventually
Funnily enough I've already been asked if I'm starting my own International Rescue
may be some time before we get to that stage. We've got hold of some old curtain sides off of an articulated lorry to put over it whilst it has to live outside, silly levels of rain due later apparently so will head up there this evening and sheet it up. There is new units being built at the farm so hopefully it will be going in a shed eventually
LewG said:
Aaron as I said on the email, thanks so very much I really do appreciate you going to the effort of getting hold of those for us.
Funnily enough I've already been asked if I'm starting my own International Rescue may be some time before we get to that stage.
We've got hold of some old curtain sides off of an articulated lorry to put over it whilst it has to live outside, silly levels of rain due later apparently so will head up there this evening and sheet it up. There is new units being built at the farm so hopefully it will be going in a shed eventually
Sorry not trying to hijack thread just google shado 2 and you will see what I meant. International Rescue was Thunderbirds!.....Really enjoying what you are doing you are a brave man!Funnily enough I've already been asked if I'm starting my own International Rescue
may be some time before we get to that stage. We've got hold of some old curtain sides off of an articulated lorry to put over it whilst it has to live outside, silly levels of rain due later apparently so will head up there this evening and sheet it up. There is new units being built at the farm so hopefully it will be going in a shed eventually
Really I can assure you that no, nobody needs to see that! 
I managed to lower the tow hook today with some heat and a 12 tonne bottle jack between it and something solid. Worked a treat! I then needed to remove the hex plug, a 1 inch Allen bit. The Ferret has the same plug on for its crank handle hole too but unfortunately Dad broke the tool for removing it several years ago and I haven't seen it since. Rather than mullering it with a chisel etc I decided it'd be easier to drop the entire rear belly plate which wasn't too bad a job at all. About 30 3/8 UNF bolts hold it on and four big buggers in the centre going into a rigid cross beam inside. With this removed I put the Ferret crank handle in and heaved on it. Hooray! She turns
I managed to lower the tow hook today with some heat and a 12 tonne bottle jack between it and something solid. Worked a treat! I then needed to remove the hex plug, a 1 inch Allen bit. The Ferret has the same plug on for its crank handle hole too but unfortunately Dad broke the tool for removing it several years ago and I haven't seen it since. Rather than mullering it with a chisel etc I decided it'd be easier to drop the entire rear belly plate which wasn't too bad a job at all. About 30 3/8 UNF bolts hold it on and four big buggers in the centre going into a rigid cross beam inside. With this removed I put the Ferret crank handle in and heaved on it. Hooray! She turns
I think I've half worked out what's going on with the Stalwart not cranking over on the starter, it would appear that the ignition junction box on the engine containing two ballast resistors is not getting power from the dashboard electrics. This supplies 24v to the starter solenoid , 12v to the coil under normal running and 24v during cranking as the resistors are bypassed when the starter is actuated. Someone has been fiddling in there and it looks as if they've supplied 24v direct to terminal 'SOL' to get it to turn over in the past, this is what ours looks like
And a better view of the insides on another one
And a better view of the insides on another one
Edited by LewG on Sunday 2nd July 19:19
LewG said:
now we just need to know if the water jets workApparently you need water around the impeller bearings before activating the jets to lubricate them and keep them cool as they're made of PTFE, quite advanced stuff for the time!
Tried to start her the other night having put sone fuel directly into the carburettor. Not even a cough so on checking for a spark unsurprisingly there was nothing. I cleaned the points this morning and hey presto, a big fat blue spark on turning it over!
20170702_111130 by Lew Garner
As you can see here it uses two sets of points on a four lobed cam making up all 8 cylinders.
The rev limiter is built into the rotor arm and is somewhat conservative!
20170702_110730 by Lew Garner
As I mentioned before the engine is dry sump on this. The engine oil tank is up at the top of the vehicle so over the years the oil has slowly drained back into the engine, there was only a tiny bit on the bottom of the dipstick so I topped it up with some fresh cheapy 5W-30 semi synthetic just enough so that if it pumped all the extra oil back in the tank it wouldn't overflow and start pissing out the tank breather. Having run it oil pressure came up straight away and after stopping the tank was massively overfull with horrible grey oil, definitely worth draining out sooner rather than later and flushing!
Tried to start her the other night having put sone fuel directly into the carburettor. Not even a cough so on checking for a spark unsurprisingly there was nothing. I cleaned the points this morning and hey presto, a big fat blue spark on turning it over!
20170702_111130 by Lew GarnerAs you can see here it uses two sets of points on a four lobed cam making up all 8 cylinders.
The rev limiter is built into the rotor arm and is somewhat conservative!
20170702_110730 by Lew GarnerAs I mentioned before the engine is dry sump on this. The engine oil tank is up at the top of the vehicle so over the years the oil has slowly drained back into the engine, there was only a tiny bit on the bottom of the dipstick so I topped it up with some fresh cheapy 5W-30 semi synthetic just enough so that if it pumped all the extra oil back in the tank it wouldn't overflow and start pissing out the tank breather. Having run it oil pressure came up straight away and after stopping the tank was massively overfull with horrible grey oil, definitely worth draining out sooner rather than later and flushing!
Edited by LewG on Thursday 20th July 00:23
LewG said:
Apparently you need water around the impeller bearings before activating the jets to lubricate them and keep them cool as they're made of PTFE, quite advanced stuff for the time!
well they are in effect just a pump, i was not really being seriousi doubt you can get parts for the water jets
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