New V-100

[M813rc]

Thanks for the leads.

IAS has a nice .50 chute (A/C type), but alas no 7.62 chuting.

Crane has the chuting but want $100 a foot (or part thereof), plus $100-$159 each for the three fittings needed, adding up to approx. $659 plus shipping!

I will keep looking.

Cheers

 

[EZFEED]

Any updates bub?

 

[M813rc]

Nope! A few small bits is all that has been accomplished of late.

Work (the bane of the leisure class) has been unkind to me lately. With people promoting/moving/leaving I was supervising 9 shifts working out of two widely separated buildings. Then I got transferred and took on 7 more shifts at a third building! During that period, it was all I could do to keep up with that and a bit of maintenance on my other vehicles to keep them running.
But as of Dec 20th, I now just have my own new folks to deal with, all at one location. They are mostly senior folk who require little direct supervision, so life should be almost normal again.
With that and the holiday season almost over, work on the V can now resume. Remember that the V is 126 miles from me, so every work day has 4 hours of driving attached to it.

(Sheesh, sound like a whiner! With the luck some folks have had lately, I am very grateful to have a job at all).

Cheers

 

[M813rc]

After a hiatus, the glacier moves. Working on it again.

These pictures show the floor panels, transmission/t-case cover, etc. getting fitted and having their attachment hardware aligned and installed.
The long piece on the floor in picture two is the cover that goes along the edge of the right front wheel well (inside).

Now that things are getting a tad dryer/warmer all this stuff will be painted. The paint booth is basically an outside enclosure, so it is weather dependent for proper painting. If it is cool and humid when the paint goes on, the moisture gets trapped under the paint and rusts out or makes bubbles later, sooo....

New projected completion date - the year 2999, so it can participate in the 3000 millennium celebrations...

Cheers

 

[Rickv100]

Looks good,

Rick

 

[wgtactical]

Glad to see the progress Rory!

 

[trades2much]

Nice work, would love to see more pics. Wow, huge difference between the v-100 and v-150!!

 

[M813rc]

Thanks fellas! It is good to get encouragement when you feel that the glacier is so slow it isn't moving.

Getting all the seals in around the engine bay now so the air flows correctly for cooling.
Then the next chore is getting the shifter linkage adjusted. Adjust, drive, try to shift, stop, adjust, drive......
Once that is done it is completely drivable, that stage of the restoration is finished, and I can get on with getting all the interior and detail bits installed.

T2M- yes, there is quite a bit of difference between them. Gerald let me crawl around his when I was out there, very educational (thanks Gerald!). It was interesting to have a V100 and a V150 in the same shop to compare details.
I'm very impressed with the engineering that went into these vehicles, those guys were smart.

More pictures soon.

Cheers

PS. In the interim, my "good" friends have started calling the V 'Nessie' since I have been talking about it for almost two years, and though I keep saying it will be done soon, I have yet to produce it.
Scott/Reloader64 suggested one day that the V was somewhat alike to said Loch Ness Monster, much talked about but not in evidence. Sarge came to my defense and said "But I've seen it!", to which Scott quietly replies "Okay, you claim to have seen it, and Rory claims to have caught it once..."

 

[reloader64]

OK, I have to confess that I have been a little skeptical about this alleged V-100. I have heard about (a lot) from Rory, but it always seems to be 3 months from completion. Now, I have known Rory for about 18 months, and last week he told me it was about 3 months away from being completed. I thought that I had masked my expression of disbelief, but Rory is a very perceptive fellow. So today at 0800, I found myself in Rory's POV, off to see the mysterious armored car. After a short but uneventful drive, which included a wonderful breakfast in a restaurant in Giddings, we arrived at the builder's shop.
What should greet my eyes, but a partially restored V-100. Beside the vehicle stood some sort of dental display, which on closer examination turned out to be Rory's huge smile. The V-100 is indeed an impressive vehicle. It was much larger than it seemed in the pictures. To top off the trip, the builder had just finished adjusting the timing, and Rory was allowed to drive it down the street and back. The dental display grew larger.
To be honest, the vehicles has a few issues, but they seem to be minor adjustment issues, for the most part. But it did run, and it did drive, and that is a huge step in the right direction.
On the way home, I dozed off in the car for what seemed to be only a few minutes. When I awoke, I was somewhat disoriented, as if having awakened from a dream. Was I drugged at the restaurant? Did I imagine the whole day? Was it a hypnotic suggestion by the master of hypnotism, Rory C.? Will I ever stop asking questions, and finish this story?
In conclusion, I believe Nessie is real, and that all of us true believers will someday be vindicated.

Scott

 

[Pawnshop]

Still slightly skeptical, photos of the alleged "drive"??

 

[reloader64]

I'm sure they will be posted shortly. Photographer Amanda used up many pixels.

 

[M813rc]

Scott, ya twit! No, it was real, not an April Fools trick, and I have pictures to prove it!

Latest update- Today I took Scott up with me so he could finally see the fabled beast in person. He can no longer cast doubt upon its existence since we actually took it out and drove it. That was a momentous event for me!! (The driving it bit)

Still has some operational issues- The shifter linkage still isn't adjusted properly, that will take some more runs and tweaks to get right. Still fine tuning the timing also. These vehicles are sensitive to proper timing to keep the temperature down, if its off by much they overheat. Right now it is running around 210 on the gauge, should be around 180-190.
Whether the gauge is accurate will be tested in the near future, it could be off a bit too.
The side panels, engine top covers, etc. are all fitted with the seals in place so the air moves through the cooling system as it should.

We got nothing but grins and thumbs up from folks we passed, which kinda matched all the grins on board.

Cheers

Edit- Looks like the temp gauge was not registering correctly. NOS does not necessarily mean it is good as new! Replaced it, and put a new sending unit in, just in case.


Pic 1- The V today
Pic 2- Engine bay covers in place. The Molotov Cocktail shield goes on the post-like bits on the forward cover.
Pic 3- On the road!! Taken through the front turret vision block opening.
Pic 4- Reaction to meeting a V100 on the road
Pic 5- None other than....Reloader64, IN the V100!!

.

 

[reloader64]

I forgot that it's April 1st. Yes, I've not only seen the V-100, I've ridden in it while Rory drove it. Amanda rode also. No joke!

 

[jimk]

(nonsense deleted)

Congratulations - Sounds like great time

 

[M813rc]

Thanks Jim.
(Edit - this was originally for the silly stuff Jim posted about what thumbs up means around the world, which I thought was funny, but now he has taken it away! Still works for the above)

This was Texas thumbs up which means-
1: Cool, or; I like that, or; looking good, or; all these at once, or;
2: Gig 'Em Aggies, which is also generally considered good unless you are a UT fan, in which case the proper response is to scowl and profer a "Hook 'Em Horns" gesture.
3: It can also mean, I suppose "Look, I have a thumb, isn't it nice??"

Cheers

 

[Barrman]

That is just cruel fellas. You not only drive through town, but you also stop and eat here without picking me up to come along. If you had looked South as you passed the last light to the East of town, you would have seen my M715 in the parking lot of my school. The Gasser M35 is sitting out there today.

Glad to see more pictures of Nessie coming along. Looking good.

 

[M813rc]

Now I feel bad Tim..

Not like we didn't think about you though. We figured you would be at work at that time of day (0915) so didn't think you would be able to join us, could you have?
Didn't know your school was that close to the highway either!
Next time?

Cheers

 

[Barrman]

Not a problem. Yesterday just happened to be a staff development day with no students. Otherwise, I would have had class. See you in Temple 4 weeks from about now.

 

[M813rc]

Okay, bummed that we didn't get to see you, so I will definitely PM you next time I am going that way to see if you are available. Looking forward to Temple.

Here are a few more pictures that illustrate stuff mentioned in earlier posts.

Cheers

Pic 1- Another bullet strike (on the spring mount) from when the V was a target.
Pic 2- Engine compartment showing batteries and their heat shield in place. The air filter will pretty much fill the open area in the upper part of the picture.
Pic 3- Temporary wood engine bay covers (until I can get the other panels made). They have spaced heat shields on the inside. The area upper left with the grey primer on it is where a cannon shell damaged the hull. That repair cannot be seen now, looks good as new.
Pic 4- Radiator intake door. You can't see this detail once the cover goes on top.
Pic 5 and 6- When referring to the Molotov Cocktail shield, or pagoda, this is what I mean.

.

 

[hardride]

v-100 on the road

Congratulations.
Looking forward to seeing more photos when painted.