1954 Daimler Ferret armoured car
Discussion
yellowjack said:
LewG said:
Hello chap, I know of Rick and his Cromwell! Followed his thread over on HMVF, from what I remember he has a Churchill under restoration too by Bob Grundy up at British Military Vehicles, good on him. We exported a CVRT gearbox through them to a collector in America. I bet you were absolutely in your element up in the turret, what a great experience. It must be said I've gone through my head repeatedly over the last couple of days trying to work out how I can buy myself a Cent or a Chieftain. Should really be saving for a mortgage but I suppose I could live in a tank too?
If you're going to try it, I'd recommend a (Vickers) Chieftain AVRE. More room inside the hull/superstructure for a start, plus you could probably put up a shed/summerhouse type structure on the rear hampers, with perhaps some decking or astro-turf on the front hampers with a picket fence round the outside......so long as the BVs are working you'll be sorted for brews and beans.
The best compromise would be the Shir/Khaled version with Cheiftain looks and Challenger 1 running gear...
Agreed, the tank the Chieftain always should've been! I do love the L60 and as you say particularly the noise but realistically it was never great. As they say the Chieftain was a great tank from the turret up.
Another weekend down in the Ferret on the PH stand at Kimbolton castle classic show, a great little event. Thankfully for most of the day the rain held off. The plan is to check all levels over one night this week and try to pump a bit more grease into the offside suspension components as they are creaking quite badly over low speed bumps. The last thing I want is further extensive stripdowns so hopefully with some heat and cleaning it'll go rather than just pushing out around the nipple.
Another weekend down in the Ferret on the PH stand at Kimbolton castle classic show, a great little event. Thankfully for most of the day the rain held off. The plan is to check all levels over one night this week and try to pump a bit more grease into the offside suspension components as they are creaking quite badly over low speed bumps. The last thing I want is further extensive stripdowns so hopefully with some heat and cleaning it'll go rather than just pushing out around the nipple.
Edited by LewG on Wednesday 23 August 22:06
Lew, you couldn't do me a favour, please. We could do with some close up pictures of the Bren gun mounts. We have the base plate, although on my mates its mounted on the rear of the commander station, but nothing else.
He has a potential deal on a Bren, but were wondering if we could make the bits were missing. That would mean it would have a .303 on the front and a Bren facing rearward. We would be very grateful for anything you could take the time to snap.
As for ferret life, we fixed a pretty major oil leak on the engine a couple of weeks ago. It had been to a well renown ferret specialist down in Kent and they replaced an exhaust valve. However both side vale covers rear only done up hand tight and leaked badly. Sorted now anyway.
We have a bad creak on the rear left hand side over shallow bumps. Not good. We have some fluid grease at work and was thinking of pushing that through first to try and clear the passageways before putting heavier stuff through. Might be worth cleaning the bores out with a small drill bit just to help a bit. Just spit balling on that lot really for now.
On a side note, do you find every show/meet you go to, you come across at least 3-4 people who either served in them or worked on them in the REME. The general thing I have got out of this is don't roll them over and being introduced to the REME phrase of "Peddling up".Liked that one.
He has a potential deal on a Bren, but were wondering if we could make the bits were missing. That would mean it would have a .303 on the front and a Bren facing rearward. We would be very grateful for anything you could take the time to snap.
As for ferret life, we fixed a pretty major oil leak on the engine a couple of weeks ago. It had been to a well renown ferret specialist down in Kent and they replaced an exhaust valve. However both side vale covers rear only done up hand tight and leaked badly. Sorted now anyway.
We have a bad creak on the rear left hand side over shallow bumps. Not good. We have some fluid grease at work and was thinking of pushing that through first to try and clear the passageways before putting heavier stuff through. Might be worth cleaning the bores out with a small drill bit just to help a bit. Just spit balling on that lot really for now.
On a side note, do you find every show/meet you go to, you come across at least 3-4 people who either served in them or worked on them in the REME. The general thing I have got out of this is don't roll them over and being introduced to the REME phrase of "Peddling up".Liked that one.
Edited by spudgun GB on Tuesday 12th July 22:35
Certainly can chap, I have seen a couple with the .30 Browning on the front and Bren at the rear. I'll get photos of our base plate and swivel cup tomorrow. The mount itself is quite a simple piece of kit.
Nice one on the work done, personally I've had nothing but good experiences with 'the Ferret specialist' but I've also heard of a few bad experiences too. He actually sold us this one all those years ago on the behalf of another collector.
As you say you do hear some great stories at shows from people about them, I do get tired of the vast amount of bulls
t you also hear but that's offset mostly by the genuine tales 
Nice one on the work done, personally I've had nothing but good experiences with 'the Ferret specialist' but I've also heard of a few bad experiences too. He actually sold us this one all those years ago on the behalf of another collector.
As you say you do hear some great stories at shows from people about them, I do get tired of the vast amount of bulls
t you also hear but that's offset mostly by the genuine tales Edited by LewG on Friday 15th July 17:01
9 
Obviously this is technically for the 7.62mm version of the Bren, it wouldn't be hugely difficult to fabricate a replacement to be honest, putting this one on did require a few persuasive taps I know that much. Up the back of the unit I do have the bullet case catcher box that hangs off the side, it looks smart with that on.
Obviously this is technically for the 7.62mm version of the Bren, it wouldn't be hugely difficult to fabricate a replacement to be honest, putting this one on did require a few persuasive taps I know that much. Up the back of the unit I do have the bullet case catcher box that hangs off the side, it looks smart with that on.
Edited by LewG on Friday 15th July 16:55
Thank you very much for that Lew. That's really great. I wasn't expecting to be mainly made out of sheet metal, but that will probably work to our advantage.
We don't hold any malice or judgement on the Kent specialist. He's only human, just like the rest of us. Having seen the bill his rates are very good indeed for the work he does.
Simon, my mate, has his first paid gig on Sunday, turning up to a children birthday party. I'm quite pleased I'm at a classic car show that day, too be honest
We don't hold any malice or judgement on the Kent specialist. He's only human, just like the rest of us. Having seen the bill his rates are very good indeed for the work he does.
Simon, my mate, has his first paid gig on Sunday, turning up to a children birthday party. I'm quite pleased I'm at a classic car show that day, too be honest
Edited by spudgun GB on Friday 15th July 20:38
Yep it's not bad, fairly thick gauge stuff but could probably be cold bent in a vice etc. Absolutely true about that, he is a good bloke and there's no doubt about it he's forgotten more than most people know.
Haha that'll go down a treat! We took my brother and his clan to the prom in our CVRT and made the front page of the local paper
I got a few more photos today for you of our base plate mounted at the front:
Haha that'll go down a treat! We took my brother and his clan to the prom in our CVRT and made the front page of the local paper
I got a few more photos today for you of our base plate mounted at the front:
Edited by LewG on Wednesday 23 August 22:09
Well today was all about greasy nipples, sadly only on the Ferret. I had today off work so I thought I'd have an hour or two this morning to see if I could get any grease into the creaky suspension components. I only got one corner done so there's the rear offside to do tomorrow. I took all of the grease nipples out and cleaned them down with brake cleaner and the wire wheel, then tried digging some of the more solid dirty grease out from the galleries with a drill bit. The outer wishbone pivots have grease caps and felt seals so I took those off and cleaned behind those, the seals weren't great so I might have a go at making another with a flat O ring. What lovely weather for it though, looks like I picked the right days to have as holiday!
Steering box arm is weeping but at least it shows there's oil in it
Steering box arm is weeping but at least it shows there's oil in it
Edited by LewG on Wednesday 23 August 22:15
How did your mate get on at the party with it? Suspension is a lot less noisy now but still it's difficult to get grease right to the inner parts of the scroll, I suspect what's in there is so waxy and horrible the easiest path is out of the seals etc.
That is indeed, from what I can tell it's basically a Ferret hull with a Chevy V8 in it and huge coilovers I wonder what they did with the transmission because that would take a bit of engineering
That is indeed, from what I can tell it's basically a Ferret hull with a Chevy V8 in it and huge coilovers
I wonder what they did with the transmission because that would take a bit of engineering LewG said:
How did your mate get on at the party with it? Suspension is a lot less noisy now but still it's difficult to get grease right to the inner parts of the scroll, I suspect what's in there is so waxy and horrible the easiest path is out of the seals etc.
That is indeed, from what I can tell it's basically a Ferret hull with a Chevy V8 in it and huge coilovers I wonder what they did with the transmission because that would take a bit of engineering
Very well as it turned out. There was about a dozen children there, but it was the parents that spent the most time in it. The young mums liked it a lot, so could turn out to be a surprising lady puller, well maybe not That is indeed, from what I can tell it's basically a Ferret hull with a Chevy V8 in it and huge coilovers
I wonder what they did with the transmission because that would take a bit of engineering They also had a long piece of wasteland that he drove up and down in to do a bit of off-roading. The grass was about 4 feet high so he now has grass seeds everywhere inside. It didn't put him off doing it again.
That video clip is killer, I struggle to get my head around that but its pretty mega. He certainly has the steering wheel position and driving it like that nailed.
EarlOfHazard said:
Bugger!! deep pockets required for that one.We had a go at the squeaky rear corner today, Lew. It was bloody hard work.
Most of the greasing points played ball but some did not. The lower wishbone forward grease point was having none of it to start with but after much persuasion it did pump out both sides.
The biggest arse ache was the forward lower shock pivot point. After some "gentle" heating we managed to get the rear most bush flowing ok but the front one I have my doubts about. The creaking has gone from a notchy creaks and bangs to a smooth creak while working the corner with a jack. I can't see it being any worse than it was, hopefully it will be better.
Most of the greasing points played ball but some did not. The lower wishbone forward grease point was having none of it to start with but after much persuasion it did pump out both sides.
The biggest arse ache was the forward lower shock pivot point. After some "gentle" heating we managed to get the rear most bush flowing ok but the front one I have my doubts about. The creaking has gone from a notchy creaks and bangs to a smooth creak while working the corner with a jack. I can't see it being any worse than it was, hopefully it will be better.
EarlOfHazard said:
Isn't that lovely! The box saying 'Delivery?' with a picture of a Transit made me laugh That's good! Unfortunately I've only got a Taymar blowtorch here and I doubt I'd get it hot enough to actually melt the waxy crap inside. I might ask work if I can take it in one Saturday and get some propane on it, that'd be ideal. I find once the gun has built up some pressure it holds itself on the nipple and then you can really heave on it. Much rather struggle now than have it all to pieces and rebush it though! The front LH corner I've just done is whisper quiet
A big weekend for the ferret this weekend. Bad news, the creaking is back on that back right corner, so that lower shock shaft will be coming out in a weekend or two. Other than that all, good though.
I even managed to strip down a Marcus Glen Bren gun mount and draw it up. That might come in useful
Here are a few pics of proceedings.
I even managed to strip down a Marcus Glen Bren gun mount and draw it up. That might come in useful
Here are a few pics of proceedings.
Edited by spudgun GB on Sunday 7th August 22:58
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