FV432 help

[rob love]

I am working on a FV432 that I and a partner purchased last winter. It came with 3 power packs. These are the gasoline version, and I believe they are B81 engines. I think I spotted 1980 casting marks on the blocks, and one was last overhauled in 1990.
1: The pack which was pulled from the vehicle for a bad starter. It was reported by the previous owner as running poorly: he suspected burnt valves in a couple cylinders.
2: A pack salvaged from a carrier in the late 90s which was heading out as a range target. This engine is siezed solid from poor storage.
3: Another pack which was salvaged from a range target. It was, like pack 2, brutally ripped out, with hoses and wire harnesses cut, lifted out with a chain, and suffered some damge as a result. Oil reservoir had rusted through.

I have spent a bit of time this summer assembling pack no3 for use. Anywhere there was an opening, the mice got in so some time was spent removing tubes and cleaning out the debris. The air filters also had mice present in them. half of the spark plugs were so rusty, they broke leaving the prorcelin and the base in the spark plug hole.
I am finally at the point of trying out the pack before installation. I was able to prime the lubrication system by filling a small air tank with oil and pressurizing it wile it was hooked up to the oil galleries on the right side of the engine. I had it cranking with the solenoid and the coil hot wired but could not get it to fire. When I opened the coil housing up, a fair bit of oil came out, and the resistance of that coil is nowhere near the resistance I got from the coil out of pack 2. I'll move that accross tomorrow and hopefully get it to run up.

Of course, the pack is super engineered. I would expect nothing less from the British and Rolls Royce. However, I was a little surprised (and miffed) at the low quality hose clamps. They are more akin to the chinese clamps one would purchase from the dollar store. In our military, we use stainless steel clamps (usually tridon brand) which will last forever.

I noticed I can turn the engine in the direction it is supposed to rotate, but cant go backwards....the engine locks up. I tried the same thing on pack no1. and it will rotate forwards or backwards. Can anyone explain why it will not rotate backwards?

[rob love]

Update: problem went away......not sure what changed. Got the pack running on the ground today. Have a leaking carb so I'll try one of the other carbs. I'm hoping to get this pack installed before the snow flies, which could be anytime now.

[fv1620]

As regards hose clips to be used in 'B' Series engines, this was covered in EMER POWER N 109.

This EMER was cancelled in 1978 & rewritten & transferred to EMER TEST & MEASUREMENT A 028 Chapter 153 Para 6 which lists these as "generally reliable and should be used on.....equipment fitted with Rolls Royce 'B' Series engines."

H TP 900 by Hunt & Turner
Cheney Connect by Fenter
Jubilee by L Robinson & Co
Security by H Terry & Sons
Impromet by Impromet Ltd

Whether any of those were stainless steel I have no idea.

[maple_leaf_eh]

That name rang something in my head, and I had to go looking. Yes. I remembered right. Good quality automotive hardware.

[rob love]

Thank you for that explanation Clive. I found it odd that the British military would not have used stainless clamps from the get go. Stainless are certainly the standard for the North American military vehicles.

When I look at Jubilee's page, they show 3 grades of hose clamp: mild steel, stainless steel, and a heavy heavy duty stainless steel. The ones on this FV432 pack are of the mild steel variety and hard to salvage after all these years.

Of the 3 packs that came with this project, the pack I was working on appears to be the only one that is going to function in a reasonable amount of time. The second pack is siezed solid from poor storage, and the original pack has very poor compression, ranging from an intermittent compression of zero to 25 psi on the first cylinder to compressions of 50 and a couple 75s on the remainder. Adding oil to the cylinders raised them up about 25psi each. The starter is also very intermittent so when the time does come to try and save this pack, I'll use the starter off the siezed pack.

Alas, snow has now fallen here in Manitoba, so all 3 packs along with the carrier itself have been tucked away for the winter.

I did do an oil change on the one pack that I ran up and used 15W40. But I reado n one website that the oil must be safe for yellow metals. I am used to this warning for transmissions, but not for engines. I think more research will be needed on my part.