Like dropping your cel phone in water, dropping your digital camera in “liquid” can be equally as distressing, and we are happy to report that after a few days in box of rice, we are back in business with no lost pics ! It fell from my pocket into a lovely coolant / oil combo pail…sigh, twas a sad sound when it went “splat”…..
Floor is now fully removed, and we ran into big rust issues with the hold down bolts, interesting floor design though, with a series of 6 frame mounted “perches” that angles attach to. These angle have slots cut for the bolts to accommodate production variation .
Attached to the angle iron, is the floor skinning and stowage and radio battery box, you can see the construction from the underside picture how the floor is welded to the fame that bolts up to the perches
what distressed me the most about this is the ZERO blast protection afforded to the crew. While its true that they (and the gas tanks) sat on armoured plates, the center section offered no blast protection. In this case, its much like the M8 Greyhound , ballistic protection sides and top, but not in the floor.
Having worked on modern armour and been involved in BDA’s post blast, I appreciate the advances in armour technology , something the Society tries to highlight with its education programming, showing how technology is being employed to keep people safe in unsafe places
The last frame are the entire package of components , as removed , from the passenger side rear of the light, and its mounts. The triangular section bolts to the rear armour section and bumper to be easily replaceable in the field
the whole floor section lifts off as one part, and can be lifted clear by two people once undone from the frame rails
Here is what’s hiding under the floor , clear, rust free and straight frame !
