Brit MK 2/3 Ferret Swords + Ploughshares Museum

[Gunner]

Hi all: Firstly, Andy- thanks for the links, I downloaded your manuals when I first contacted you... thanks from all Ferret users for doing that, what an excellent resource and what a great website.

Well I've been laid up since Tue last after ungoing knee surgery. I can tinker and work upright for a few hours each day but have to spend a fair bit of time in a lazy-boy (life is rough ) with the knee well supported.

Nonetheless a bit of work has been done with the help of some keen young volunteers (thanks Alex and Tim) who came out on Sat and helped tidy up the beastie. After getting the heater started we went inside to review the manual on basics and start-up procedure and then went back out to the now nice warm garage and started with an orientation on controls, hatches and Ferret finger! (I would hate to send some teen home with a shortened digit! ). The boys got a walk about and then some time in both seats operating all the controls and opening and closing hatches. This was used as an excuse to lube all the hinges and moving bits as well as to free up some parts that were painted shut.

Of course no orientation is any fun without starting the beast up so we freed up the carburetor starting thing-a-ma-gumby (choke) and got the beastie running in quick order. Lubing the linkages and the choke really made a difference in the start-up and idle. Still running rough on acceleration so I'm going to follow Robin's example and blow out all the fuel lines and add extensions to the lines where they enter the tanks. If that doesn't help then I'll look at carburetor tinkering.

The boys helped haul out the seats and gave the floor and 'cockpit' area a good vacuuming and scrubbing. A wipe down with degreaser got it ready for the aluminium paint (see before and after photos) and the day ended with the first coat of paint on the floor and lower sides. Formal masking and painting higher will have to wait for a few days. Amazing how many nuts, bolts and other odds and ends there were scattered about. I had to buy a few new fine thread nuts and bolts but there were almost enough on the floor to fill all the holes or empty studs on all the shields and floor panels!

Yesterday I had some help from another chum, Mike, (yeah, two Mike's are OK but add a third and it gets confusing! ) and we got the driver's seat back in, amazing how well its works when everything is lubed up! I then sat for a while with a small brush and a tin of red paint and touched up all the bits that some poor squaddy painted up years ago. Adds a splash of colour and makes it easier to find certain controls and knobs with your periferal vision. Mike helped me confirm what the boys had done on Saturday... all the lights and electricals work properly, tho' the horn wires have clearly has too much sun! I have to have a look at the manuals again as I can't figure out where the spotlight plugs in (I put a new cable on my spotlight but it lacks the plug so another thing to add to the shopping list. I suspect that the windshiled wiper socket may serve double duty.

Its kind of nice being home for once (not deployed) tho' I could happily leave winter behind... I'm a bad Canadian: the only snow I like is under my skis (downhill of course, let gravity be your friend!) and the only ice I like is in my Scotch!

Longer term work is the pulling of the power pack to reseal the fluid flywheel (Ferret speak for torque converter) which leaks rather badly and of course a sand coloured paint job to return it back to a Recce/FOO vehicle of the 1st Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery on Op GRANBY (the Gulf War).

After six weeks of detective work with help from all sorts of folks on several fora (Matt Taylor (keeper of the Ferret Registry) and Andy ("Alpine" on this forum) deserve particular praise) I was able to determine categorically that my wee beastie is 18EA56. An email to the Tank Museum in Bovington resulted in scans of her service and maintenance cards which showed she was a Sapper from 1967 to 1974 and then transferred to the artillery after a base workshop overhaul in '74. Initially a Mud Gunner in 49 Fd Regt, RA she became a Horse Gunner in 1982 and her last 11 years of service ('82-'93) were with 1RHA in the BAOR (British Army On the Rhine). The layer of sand paint shows she was prepped for Op GRANBY but I still need proof she deployed, so the next step is to find some shots of her in the desert. Emails to British fora for ex-servicemen may net something and I'm sending off a letter to the CO of 1RHA asking if the regimental photo albums might have anything.

Cheers! Mike (currently living the old Irish blessing: May those who Love us, love us; and those that don't love us, may God turn their hearts; and if he doesn't turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles: So we'll know them by their limping!)