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Tatra 912-2 upgrades!

EZFEED

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Yesterday the Lizard was employed to earn its keep and somewhat failed me in the process. Got the pickup stuck in the pasture and didn't feel like unhitching the cutter from the tractor so I fired the green iron up. Got out there, got the little truck unstuck, started backing the beast into the shop and it died just before reaching the door. Checked the fuel, etc, fine.....the only thing that will kill this truck is an air leak. I shut the fuel off at each tank and flipped the switch tothe auxillary electric pump and pressurized the lines. Heard that tell tale hissing sound shortly thereafter, seems I cracked one of the old steel lines while moving them when I was repainting the interior. I'm about fed up with this air leak mess so I'm ripping all of it out and replacing them with new stainless steel lines and pressure fittings. Most of the fittings are Banjo connections so i'll just use a pipe cutter and cut the line 2" from the fitting and use a piece of rubber hose to couple the stainless steel lines to the original connections. Should fix this.
 

EZFEED

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Finished repainting the interior all except the drivers side and the front wall of the cabin, I think I'll remove the windsheilds when I do that and POR-15 the channels just in case I get a leak one day.
I POR-15'ed the floors and areas where there might be a chance of abrasion, shot the white paint over the POR-15 while it was still tacky so now it wont come off.

I used Rustoleum Gloss White. I really like this color better than the original cream color....that cream color looked gay and didn't brighten up the cabin very well.
I used a wire brush and 90 degree grinder with a cup wire brush to clean up the cabin then I wiped it all down with thinner then instead of using a paintgun I used a roller and rolled the paint on!:p Man it turned out really nice too!!!!!! Gave it sort of a texture and really looks nice!
Some pics, sorry bout the crappy quality but all I had was the camera on my phone. The rustoleum gloss white really shines and as you can see reflects the light fairly well too.
 

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EZFEED

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Allot more than Lizards, I know more than 6 BRDM's, about the same in BMP's, and Ferrets theres gotta be hundreds of cause I see them all the time for sale here. They are in private hands and museums and were some of the most wildley exported armored vehicles in the ComBloc. The Lizard pretty much stayed in its homeland when in production and it wasn't a vehicle that got copied in different sattellite countries like the BMP or BRDM and therefore its numbers are fairly limited. Here in the U.S. theres Jacque Littlefields (RIP), International RepoDepots, and mine and they are all M models. I dont know if there are anymore A or B models left. This is an A model and as you see they have a bunch of little differences but are basically the same. The M got the T912-2 engine with more power and a cab with increased protection.


Lizards were a Czech invention entirely and production was only in the Czech republic and they remained in use there and then some were sent to Poland as well. The Russians wanted the CSLA to adopt the ZSU-57-2 but the Lizard was found just as effective and more maneuverable than the ZSU not to mention easier to maintain and more durable. The 30X210mm is a much flatter shooting round and is still the most powerful 30mm round created even though its obsolete now. Problem with both Lizard and ZSU is they dont have radar equipment and being born in the last days of the unguided missile they were limited in their effectiveness and ultimatley doomed for their intended purpose. They did down quite a few aircraft in their lifespans, it is even rumored that either a Lizard or one of the regular towed PLDvK cannon units (same twin 30mm guns on wheeled carriages) downed a U.S. spyplane or F-117. You'll have to find the article on this because the link I have is dead.

Most were recycled (scrapped) and most of the rest were sold to the serbs/yugoslavians and that was maybe a couple hundred or less and most of those I'm sure got ragged out.
 

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EZFEED

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Some updated pics. The new gloss white Rustoleum looks niiiiice!:-D

I havent finished the drivers side and front wall.



Behind drivers seat (side is where upholstery goes)


Passengers side rear seat.


Passengers side front (commander side)



My helper :) (little brother) replacing the visor knobs. You can see how the "ceiling" turned out.
 

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EZFEED

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More pics today. Worked on measuring up some brackets to fab for a Perma-cool electric fan. The fan will be mounted up in the snout of the Lizard to aid in drawing in fresh outside air and pushing the hot engine compartment air out of the engine compartment. Need to get some airflow going on in there.

There is a HUGE difference in cabin temps when the engine bay doors are left open while underway. Also the heat escapes while parked and does not build up. Going to add some insulation too.
 

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duncan

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Nice dude, hard to find place on the forum. This subforum seems broken for me, possibly because the ground and subforum name are the same. Only managed to get to this thread through direct link!

On topic, thats a completely awesome truck. You know I never knew the AA unit was supposed to come off :oops: Great pictures!
 
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EZFEED

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Really? Thats weird? Maybe the mods can fix it, I dunno?

Thanks and they sure do, If I couldn't have used it for a pickup I wouldn't have bought it. The AA guns were a nice addition though ;)
It gets a bit of use around my farm for stuff. Next vehicle will be a BMP-1 :D
 

EZFEED

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Thanks TM America! Its a project!:-D

@ Duncan,

Nope the Lizard has to earn her keep too. :wink: I have been using her to deliver hay and pick up lumber and stuff from Lowe's.
I havent got a pic but the sides of the bed drop down and it makes a fairly decent flatbed. I can stack 38 square bales of hay back there without tipping. If I throw a cargo net over it I dont guess there would be much of a limit, I pulled a 50 foot X 5 foot thick fallen water oak without a struggle so I guess I'm just limited to stackability.
 

EZFEED

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Surely does Duncan, thats why I got it.:razz: At first I wanted a tank but then I got to thinking about transporting it an exactly what I would do with it because surely I could not afford to truck it everywhere and I'd be stuck with only being able to play with it on my acreage. Then it would be usless for anything else too so I figured some sort of armored wheeled vehicle would be the ticket. Almost got a BTR-60 but then I discovered they are horrible to maintain and the only ones I found were the older gas models. Next was a BRDM but that was small and while neat, didn't have the towing feature/capacity that I wanted. Then I found this and for $3,100 with under 300km and a fresh paintjob I snagged it. Glad I did cause I use it fairly often.
That 813 of yours is quite a usefull machine as well. You would be doing good to tap into it's load bearing abilities and make it turn a buck for you too :)
 

EZFEED

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