Man tries to start unique Rolls-Royce tank engine so rare parts are becoming increasingly scarce

A military enthusiast has started a rare Rolls-Royce tank engine after it had sat idle for decades.

The engine had come out of an FV433 Abbot SPG (self-propelled gun).

It hadn’t run for 20 years.

With parts becoming increasingly archaic and scarce and the condition unknown – would it run with parts missing?

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The rare Rolls-Royce engine

Perhaps best known for finding an abandoned tank in a bush, taking it home, and attempting to start it, Mr Hewes knows how to get the most out of classic military vehicles.

He was eventually able to fire up its Rolls-Royce V12 engine.

With even more form, he previously started an abandoned tank for the first time in 30 years.

“It was our job to assess the engine, find the missing parts, and see if we could get it going!” he said in the video’s caption.

The video focused on a Rolls-Royce K60 engine.

It was a twin-crank, six-cylinder engine with a small supercharger.

Hewes restored it for a friend’s tank-driving business.

He explained to viewers that the main issues seemed to center around the rectifier having a ‘few blown capacitors’.

Fixing it

First up, the host built an injector pump from various parts and tested the pump on a bench before installing it under the hood.

Next, he installed a tricky heat exchanger – a process that proves both complex and frustrating when having to align hydraulic fittings and hoses.

When all the fiddly mechanics were sorted, the host starts it for the first time in two decades – ensuring he had a fire extinguisher on hand just in case.

When it roared into life, the team’s celebrations, applause, and excitement were pretty contagious – although the need to clean up isn’t something we envy.