What happens to a J60 engine when a valve breaks

[Richard Farrant]

Hi Richard

Are you talking about the sidewall of the engine bay on the LHS of the driver?

That was almost the first thing we removed after the engine covers came off, the problem was that the engine was touching the lip on the partition between the engine bay and radiators and the rear wall of the engine bay at the same time. twisting the engine sideways or tilting it only seemed to make it worse so we had to lower it mm by mm.

We did some work on a Fox (Scorpion Turret) but not a lot.  The biggest problem of that was the regulator box getting it to work, at least the regulator box in the Vixen (same as the Fox).  We even swapped the box from the Fox to the Vixen and then both stopped working! 

Have you ever worked on a Vixen?  I believe this one is the only operational one in the World, AFAIK even the one at Bovington isn't working.

Diana,
We also used to take out the front bulkhead, that way it made it easier to access the drive shaft, again, not a lot of extra work, but makes like a lot easier.

Re. The Vixen, I sent a lot of info for the Fox regulator panel to Col quite a few years ago after he spoke to me about the problems. The Vixen was not pursued and development cancelled early on, I worked on Fox from when it entered service around 1976 right through to its demob around early 90's, plus a few in private hands in later years. Only one good thing about them was driving them, but working on them was often trying, power steering unit for instance. Don't volunteer for that particular task!!!

Richard

[Diana Alan]

Hi Richard

Have been absent from the forum for most of the weekend. 

I looked at removing the front panel, but with all the harness and other connections it looked like more work than benefit.

The replacement engine Col sourced had a different arrangement of the exhaust "Y" connection after the flexible joints.  The replacement bent 45 degrees while the Striker one bent at 90 degrees.

In relation to other CVR(T) like the Scorpion.  Would you know if the engine bay rear wall get moved forward in the striker to make more rear compartment space to accommodate the spare missiles and therefore the reason why the engine lift/install was so tight?

Diana

[Richard Farrant]

Hi Richard

Have been absent from the forum for most of the weekend. 

I looked at removing the front panel, but with all the harness and other connections it looked like more work than benefit.

The replacement engine Col sourced had a different arrangement of the exhaust "Y" connection after the flexible joints.  The replacement bent 45 degrees while the Striker one bent at 90 degrees.

In relation to other CVR(T) like the Scorpion.  Would you know if the engine bay rear wall get moved forward in the striker to make more rear compartment space to accommodate the spare missiles and therefore the reason why the engine lift/install was so tight?

Diana

Hi Diana,
The J60 engines in all the CVR(T) range that I can remember were tight to the bulkhead at water pump end of engine so doubt there is any dimensional difference in length of engine bay. Removing the front bulkhead is not a difficult job and will save time and effort in the long run. There are often short cuts to any job, but they can lead to other problems, like difficult access or damage, and it is not as if you are in the battlefield.
Not sure about the Y branch angle, it could be from one of the different height hulls, ie. Samaritan and Sultan are the highest and Scorpion / Scimitar / Sabre are, I think a bit lower than Striker / Samson / Spartan. Only a matter of swapping over though?

cheers Richard