Brit MK 2/3 Ferret Swords + Ploughshares Museum

[Robin Craig]

The spotlight plugs into the socket beside the slave socket behind the smaller round cap.

The two pin plug required is also a Land Rover part and can be had on ebay for pennies. It is worth making up a pig tail to that plug with a polarised quick connect for other 24 volt items such as a rotating beacon which can be mounted into the antennae mount adjacent.


R

[Robin Craig]

Mike,

I would warn you that painting the bevel box top plugs is the start of a road to ruin.

There is a small spring loaded vent in the top. If the vent gets painted over by an enthusiastic volunteer then pressure can build in the bevel box and blow seals.

Just thought you should know, your front left bevel box looks well painted over in picture 3.

R

[Gunner]

Hi Robin:

Sorry if I misquoted... I'll go back and reread the post!

Thanks for the suggestions and advice. I will definitely be making up a lifting frame after seeing how it simplified your pull.

I'll take a look at those breathers and make sure that they are cleaned up. There are definitely a lot of layers of paint on this critter!

I'm putting together my wants/needs list and will PM you tonight or tomorrow.

Cheers! Mike

[Alan Duffy]

Funny I don't remember mentioning on MLU that I blew out the fuel lines.

In addition to a number of things I did was to blow air through the reserve fuel line and then through the main fuel line. The notion was to see if air would pass through. This was done from the fuel tank selector switch which I had removed to check it out. I wanted to see if there were any blockages. Before I go any further I must state that I of course removed the gas cap before I blew any air through the lines.
With the reserve tank I could hear the air bubbling up through the fuel, therefore no blockage. With the main tank the air would not pass through the line, therefore blockage. I removed the fuel tank plug and drained the main tank and then removed the banjo bolt, which I totally destroyed getting it off.
The banjo bolt was totally clogged with sediment. Not wanting to remove the fuel tank I was able to scrape/brush the insides and bottom of the tank. After modifying a shop vac I spent a great deal of time vacuuming all the loose sediment up. I poured in a small amount of fuel which drained quickly, let it dry and then vacuumed again. It was amazing how much stuff came out of that tank.
I put the drain plug and new banjo bolt ( Marcus Glenn UK) back in and added fuel and crossed my fingers. She fired right up! I think I have solved my rough running Ferret problems....maybe?
If I had more time or patience I would have pulled the fuel tank and had it fully cleaned and I would have put an copper tube extension on the banjo bolt.

So that's what worked for me.

[Alan Duffy]

Hi Mike,

Just reading through this thread I can imagine how concerned you were about finding it's British ARN.
Ironically I owned your ferret for a few days but the deal fell through and I never took possession. At that time I remember thinking about carefully removing layers of paint in the two known spots where the numbers would have been. I am sure the movie make-over that was done simply painted over. Multiple layers of paint are very common.

Maybe I am stating the obvious but just thought I would throw that in.

Al

[Gunner]

Hi Robin and Al:

My thoughts on blowing out the fuel lines were an amalgam of what I had read on HMVF, Ferret Heaven, G503 and here on MLU. Robin mentioned blowing out the lines in a post on HMVF on 06-09-11 and it must have stuck in my head along with Al's comments. The important thing I took away from all the comments was to not get buried in the minutia of carburetor and ignition circuits until the basic fuel supply was verified. I'm going to tap into the fuel system and add a boat tank fitting (most of my vehicles have been so modified) as it allows me to move vehicles around the yard without leaving stale fuel in the tanks. Some of the critters haven't had fuel in their own tanks in years!

I really appreciate the collective wisdom that can be found on the 'interweb' and I'm glad that folks are so willing to share their hard learned lessons with the rest of us. The Ferret is different enough that I'm facing a whole new learning curve just reading the books! Heck, the British manual terminology is so different from US manual terminology that it brings to mind Churchill's famous quip about the English and the Americans being two peoples separated by a common language!

I only have the heated space for a few weeks so I'm focussing on quick and dirty stuff at this point. A tidy up of the most obvious points and some rust scraping are high on the list. Narrowing down the rough running problem and doing a fluids replacement/top-up are important and the biggie is to sort out the leaking fluid coupling. As I don't want to overflow my drip pan, I've decided that the fluid coupling will be babied until the warm weather returns and I have the time (and the warmth) to pull the powerpack. If time in the garage permits I may start the paint touch up and start turning the wee beastie into a tan tiger.

As part of the identity search I had started sanding the rear engine panel and could make out some symbols but they were difficult to decypher until the online conversations narrowed the ARN down to the 18EA series. I haven't sanded the area above the driver's hatch yet but hope to get to it soon. One interesting marking on the right side of the rear panel is a foot high black "A" or perhaps its an upsidedown "V" which was the allied vehicle marking in the Gulf War. Strangely enough I've found some vinyl stick on lettering "U.S.A. 2B3673" on the panels aft of the driver's side hatches. I'll contact Brian Asbury to see if these are a relic of film making at sometime in its past.

I now have the Ferret's history from 1967 up to 1993 and I can work backwards with some gaps: me late 2011, Gary MacKenzie 2010-2011, Peter Wilke xx - 2010, Brian Asbury 1994-xx. Al where do you fit in?

Well, back to the shopping list!

Cheers, Mike

[Robin Craig]

He fits in between you and MacKenzie, I drove it on the street outside Gary's place.


R