Mk 6 cromwell restoration

[eddy8men]

next, the last of the engine decking is removed and then the traverse mechanism and turret basket can also come out revealing the turret rotary base junction which supplies the electrical feed into the turret and hydraulics for the traverse

[Datrus]

Looks great!!! Thanks a lot.

[eddy8men]

soon the cromwell will go for sandblasting and paint then it will totally different, like a new tank

[davejb]

It looks very tight in there and thats with a lot of gear removed, very claustrophobic and i would imagine a bit daunting try to get out in a hurry

[Datrus]

It has a better looking profile than the Sherman. Keep us posted with some more pics please.

[eddy8men]

once the turret had been removed we also took off some of the top armour from the drivers position, this was simply to enable us to get in and out easily and was time well spent as you need to be as flexible as a snake to get through the hatches and my snake like days are behind me

[eddy8men]

next the major assemblies from the engine bay were removed these were the gearbox, clutch, fan drives, radiators, engine and fuel tanks.

[Datrus]

Looks really good. Is it the same engine as in the Centurion? Or am i totally off here?

[Walkwolf]

Lots of work, but well worth it. Please keep posting photos............!

[eddy8men]

you are right about the engine, it is a 27 litre v12 rolls royce meteor as used in the centurian, although the cent has a later mk4 and mine is a mk1a (which is a very rare engine) infact i was told by the chap that rebuilt it that it might be the only running mk1a in existence. the mk1a's were originally built as aircraft merlins and had probably been removed from a crashed aircraft and rebuilt as a meteor, this was common practice with the raf as once an engine had been involved in an incident like a crash it was not deemed to be airworthy but was ok for a tank.