Man tries to start unique Rolls-Royce tank engine so rare parts are becoming increasingly scarce
- A military enthusiast started a rare Rolls-Royce tank engine
- It had sat idle for two decades
- The engine had come out of an FV433 Abbot SPG
Published on Oct 23, 2024 at 6:52 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Oct 24, 2024 at 7:39 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
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.
All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
