> I really enjoy my Ferret, but as you said, the cooling system is barely
> adequate. Mine tends to overheat, and I am contemplating replacing the
> thermostat, or adding an electric auxilliary fan.
Alternatively you could use an old trick that we did and that was to prop up the
decks so that they are horizontal. The last vehicle I had the driver made a
little hinged rod fixed to a engine deck bolt on each side that swung up and
lodged under the engine cover so that it was propped up in the horizontal
position. Other people used something similar that worked to the same ends. Open
up your engine covers and look on the underside of them.. if there is an
eyebolt and a spring clip welded to the underside then you may have a ferret
that was used on the Suffield training Area in Canada. I remember seeing this
'official unofficial mod' when I was there - the eyebolt had a bit of bar bolted
to it to hold up the deck and the spring clip was to stow it in when it wasnt
needed.. Another one I saw utilised the brackets on top.
I remember our unit [9/12 lancers] had a ferret on trials in the early seventies
that had the flat rear section of the armour replaced by a plate with vertical
vents in it.. I have a photo somewhere round here of it. It was apparently quite
successful but they decided that it didnt get hot enough in the summer often
enough to make it financially viable. It was our practice at that time to have
brackets fitted to the vehicle rear to hold extra fuel in cans. It was not a
success on that vehicle as the cans rapidly heated up with the expected result
on the fuel.. fortunately the driver had the sense to keep driving till the
burning fuel had seperated from the vehicle.. I shudder to think what would have
happened if he had just stopped.
Thereafter, of course we had a ferret in the section that was always running out
of fuel on exercise. It had to be towed on a number of occasions until we got it
some more fuel.. hard to get when you spend most of your time in enemy territory
- so we usually just held up an enemy softskin and 'borrowed' its fuel. I
remember on one occasion sneaking into an american HQ at night and stealing the
fuel can off their generator, pouring it into the ferret and then discovering
while going down the road that it in fact was some pertrol/oil cobination.. boy
did that ferret smoke!
-- TTFN Jim************************************************** The Simonides Group For Military Archaeology and History Enthusiasts ************************************************** http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Simonides ************************************************** Mil-Arch ~ The Military Archaeology Mailing List ************************************************** Mil-Ads ~ Buy and Sell Militaria from all periods **************************************************
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