Restoration of Ford M8 armoured car U.S Ordnance number 7373

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Big D
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Re: Restoration of Ford M8 armoured car U.S Ordnance number 7373

Post by Big D » Tue May 15, 2018 11:53 pm

Hi all,

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been finishing a few jobs off and tidying up a few things up that I wasn’t happy with. I managed to get the M8 shifted around in the workshop. This gives me much more space around it to work on and will make life easier getting the axles in place.

The radios are in, pending me doing a test on the interphones to see if it all works. I’m charging up a battery now for the test. Fingers crossed it works. I’ve tidied up the instrument panel wiring and it is sitting in place, also pending testing. Hopefully all is connected correctly there as well!

I’ve started reassembling the front axle, starting with making up and fitting some new hydraulic lines. I had to fabricate the small mounts that hold the flexible brake lines where they connect to the fixed brake lines as I couldn’t find any of those. I have some nuts coming that secure the flexible lines to these small mounts.

The rubber boots on the axles were darn hard to get on. A real tight fit, but I got them on. I have the axle shafts in but I forgot to take the grease (!) to the workshop so I’ll do the axle shafts and joints tomorrow as well as fitting the sleeves and bushes that secure the steering knuckles to the axle.

One thing I have noticed that I don’t have is the nut which secures the Pitman arm lever to the steering box. This is a bit of an oddball size of 1 1/8”- 16 UNF and I don’t have one. Does anyone have one lying around in their box of bits and pieces?

I’ve just started on the hydraulic lines for the brake and clutch master cylinders. This is going to take some time with me not having any original lines to work off.

That's it for now...
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Darryl Lennane
NZ

1943 Willys MB
1941 LP2A MG Carrier
1943 White M3A1 AOP
1942 Willys MBT
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car


Big D
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Posts: 788
Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2009 11:22 pm
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Re: Restoration of Ford M8 armoured car U.S Ordnance number 7373

Post by Big D » Sat May 26, 2018 11:19 am

Hi all,

Here is the last bit of work I’ll be doing before I skip over to France for a couple of weeks. I’ll be hitting the military fairs in Normandy so fingers crossed I pick up some of those hard to find parts.

The front axle is now complete, minus the nuts for the brake lines, which are coming. Brakes shoes, slaves cylinders, lines etc are all fitted. As I said last time, those rubber axle boots were dogs to put on. I thought the inner part of the boot was hard to put on, but the outer part was even worse. The boots I used were NOS halftrack ones and they were very stiff. I had to remove one that I had already half fitted and clamp it in a vice with some bits of wood and heat it up with a heat gun to stretch it. That got it on. I left the other side on and heated that up with a heat gun as well. I was then able to stretch the rubber enough on that to get the outer part of the boot on the steering knuckle. I’m told (thanks to Willy) that the best boots to use are the ones for the REO trucks. I don’t think it will be an easy job to ever replace these in situ, but if I ever have to I’ll be using the REO ones.

You’ll see that one of the slave cylinders is marked with a nylon tie The guy who put the stainless steel sleeves in the cylinders said that this cylinder has a split in the body. It shouldn’t affect the operation with it being sleeved, but I will keep an eye on that. The axle is sitting on a dolly now and I’ll slide it under the hull and fit it all when I get back.

I hooked up a 12 volt battery to the wiring to test the driver and co-driver interphones. The BC-604 transmitter and BC-603 receiver both started up as expected, but I noticed that the dynamotor on the transmitter was running all the time. I tried the driver and co-driver interphones with T-30 microphones, SW-141 chest rigs and HS-30 headphones fitted and neither worked. Bugger...I then plugged a T-17 microphone into the transmitter and that gave me audio at the two interphone stations. Okay, some progress, I thought….

I went back to the wiring diagrams I had. As you can see there are three slightly different versions of the wiring for the BC-606’s on these diagrams. I was just about to try rewiring them to one of the other versions when I noted the jumper on pins 6 and 10 on the connector on the FT-237. Two of the diagrams had the jumper on the FT-237, with corresponding differences at the BC-606’s. The diagram I had used though was the one out of TM 11-2702 and this did not have the jumper. I removed the jumper off the FT-237 terminal and straight away, I could transmit from the T-30 microphone on the co-driver side and hear it on the driver side. I noticed to that the dynamotor on the BC-604 was only running when the microphone was keyed which is correct. I tried transmitting from the driver’s side next but couldn’t hear audio at the co-driver’s side, so I obviously still have something amiss there. Whether it is a fault with the headphones I tried, or something internal in the BC-606, I’m not sure. I was out of time then so when I get back to the workshop I’ll work on that some more.

The T-30 microphone, by the way, seems to work really good. Much better than the T-17 microphone I thought.

Anyway, progress, but more work to do.
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Darryl Lennane
NZ

1943 Willys MB
1941 LP2A MG Carrier
1943 White M3A1 AOP
1942 Willys MBT
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car

Big D
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Posts: 788
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Re: Restoration of Ford M8 armoured car U.S Ordnance number 7373

Post by Big D » Mon Jun 11, 2018 1:17 pm

Hi all,

I’m back on the M8 again after returning from France, albeit briefly, as I have an operation on my hand today so will be out of action for a few weeks.

I picked up a few things I needed while in France: NOS throttle master cylinder, return springs for the clutch and brake, NOS turret support bearing and an A62 dummy antenna. I saw a few M8 parts at the various swap meets there, but not a heck of a lot.

I had another tinker with the interphone system for the driver and co-driver. It turns out that the microphone I was using on the co-driver side was not working. I tested it again with a NOS T-30 microphone and it works fine, so that is good news.

I noticed that the NOS T-30 microphones straight out of the box were really sensitive and clear. They were much better than the T-17 microphones I had tried. I have a few older T-30 microphones that don’t appear to work though. Has anyone tried to repair these? I gather they work on vibrations from the throat. I prised one apart but it doesn’t look like there is a lot that is serviceable, short of replacing the microphone element.

I have the front axle under the hull now and springs fitted. When my hand comes right I will bolt the axle to the front springs. I had quite a battle lining up the mounting holes on the front spring mount on the co-driver side. It is a chunky piece of steel but must have a very small twist on it, and I had to open up a couple of the mounting holes by a mm.
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Darryl Lennane
NZ

1943 Willys MB
1941 LP2A MG Carrier
1943 White M3A1 AOP
1942 Willys MBT
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car

Big D
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Posts: 788
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Re: Restoration of Ford M8 armoured car U.S Ordnance number 7373

Post by Big D » Tue Jun 19, 2018 11:07 pm

Hi all,

I’ve decided to get my intermediate and rear axles reassembled by a local truck mechanic. I could do most of the work myself but with the operation I had on my hand last week, I can’t lift anything heavy for 6-8 weeks, and that will really slow my progress down. I figure I might as well get these guys to do the heavy work in the meantime which will keep the project moving.

The rear axle needs blasting and painting and reassembly with a new pinion shaft oil seal and new gaskets.

The intermediate axle also needs blasting and painting, but it also needs the differential carrier bearings replaced (which I have), a light bead-blast of the ring gear and diff housing and reassembly with a new pinion shaft oil seal and new gaskets.

I am in the process of gathering up all the drawings and specs for the mechanic and was looking at the procedure involved in setting up the preload on the pinion shaft, as per the attachment. I guess the truck mechanic will have some sort of tool for setting that preload up.

What about any other form of setup between the drive pinion and the ring gear? What thickness gasket paper should we be using? What effect does the gasket thickness have on the backlash?

Another question – one of the axle housings has a good torque rod end still on it, as per the photo. I haven’t taken it off at this point. My question is, can the adjustable torque rods be fitted with the axles in place and that torque rod end still on the housing? I am not sure whether both ends of the adjustable torque rods have to be on and the complete torque rod fitted in one piece.

I am trying to get my head around that aspect of the reassembly of the intermediate and rear axles. It’s no problem to remove the torque rod end, but I will have to cut it off and I don’t want to unnecessarily remove it if it can be reused.

I’m still after a U bolt for the rear springs if anyone has one.
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Darryl Lennane
NZ

1943 Willys MB
1941 LP2A MG Carrier
1943 White M3A1 AOP
1942 Willys MBT
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car

Big D
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Posts: 788
Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2009 11:22 pm
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Re: Restoration of Ford M8 armoured car U.S Ordnance number 7373

Post by Big D » Thu Jul 12, 2018 9:31 pm

Hi all,

Just a quick update to let you know that I am still alive and that I have started work on the M8 again after my hand surgery.

With the help of a local mechanic, we got the problem flange off the pinion shaft on one of the axles. As you can see, the pinion shaft needs a clean-up and the bearing cups and cones need replacing. The pinion shaft on the remaining axle looks good so I have left that in place, although it does need a new oil seal in the pinion shaft cover.

The axles are at the sandblasters now for priming and painting and then I will drop them off to the truck mechanic and get him to reassemble them. I have new bearing cups and cones for the differential assembly for both axles, new inner axle seals and new bearing cups and cones for the pinion shaft for that one axle, so will get them to reassemble everything with the new parts, and set up the preload and sideload etc.

I did some more work on the front axle and got that into place on the springs. It seemed to take a hell of a long time as my right hand is still not right after surgery. I had to battle away a bit with jacks and cranes to get the axle in place and located on the pin on the springs. At the moment, I still struggle to hold a beer bottle tight enough in my right hand to unscrew the cap, which is a worry. I guess it will come right given some time. Anyway, the front axle is now in place and located on the front springs. The nuts and bolts need some touch up paint now to tidy everything up now that everything is locked down.

I’ve attached some pictures of the 37mm breech block I picked up (thanks DG). It should clean up nicely.

Does anyone have any pictures of the taillight wiring connections? I note there is one plug off the wiring harness in the rear of the hull which goes into the conduit fixed into the hull for the taillights. From what can see, this then splits into two connectors within the taillight mount for the taillight bulbs but I’m not sure what sort of connectors should be here to join the cables up. The manuals are unclear on this. Any help would be appreciated.

That is all.……
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Darryl Lennane
NZ

1943 Willys MB
1941 LP2A MG Carrier
1943 White M3A1 AOP
1942 Willys MBT
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car

Big D
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Posts: 788
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Re: Restoration of Ford M8 armoured car U.S Ordnance number 7373

Post by Big D » Mon Aug 13, 2018 12:19 am

Hi all,

Just a quick update. I have been tied up with a few other projects so I haven’t had a chance to do a lot on the M8. I’ve still progressed a few things though and the search and finding of parts I need goes on.

I dropped the freshly painted axles at the truck service centre along with the diffs, bearings and seals etc. I had completely disassembled one of the differentials and once I had cleaned everything up, it all looked not too bad. The crown wheel has a bit of pitting on it but it will be fine for this old girl.

I did note that the differential carrier housing had a very fine crack in the casting. I don’t think it would have happened during the disassembly and I suspect it has been there for a number of years. I will get the lads at Action Engineering to repair the crack before we reassemble that diff.

In the meantime, I picked up a few bits and pieces: M1A1 A/T mine, TL-122A flashlights, gear shift rod bronze bearing, DM-34D dynamotor, tow shackle, and D40733 Cradle and Pintle assembly for the gun ring. The pintle for this cradle though, should have the long pin so I am now on the lookout for that.
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Darryl Lennane
NZ

1943 Willys MB
1941 LP2A MG Carrier
1943 White M3A1 AOP
1942 Willys MBT
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car

Big D
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Posts: 788
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Re: Restoration of Ford M8 armoured car U.S Ordnance number 7373

Post by Big D » Fri Aug 24, 2018 3:20 pm

Hi all,

I’ve been chipping away on various little jobs on the M8 in between work and life.

I’ve been slowly making up the hydraulic lines. It is quite a time consuming process when you don’t have any original lines to work from. I found after I made the first two lines, that it was easier to get a length of Number 8 wire and shape that to what I wanted and use that as a template. I ended up using steel bundy tube and I’ve found that even 5/16” line is quite hard to bend. The copper alloy tube I'd seen was just too expensive and I’ll need a better tube bender than what I’ve got to finish the 3/8” and ½” lines.

My intention is still to get a commercial brake line specialist to do the flaring on the ends of the lines. I want to be pretty darned confident that I’ll fit these lines and they won’t leak, and while I can do the flaring myself, I think it is a wise move to get them done right, especially with steel lines.

I’ve seen a couple of versions of the layout of the hydraulic lines to the throttle master cylinder. I’ve noticed that most (I figure the original layout) have the line from the outlet on the master cylinder coming out horizontally and then being bent upwards vertically (see the pictures I borrowed off the net). From what I’ve seen this can be a problem as the co-driver can damage the connection by just putting their foot on it. I plan to fit a 90 degree connector to the outlet so the line can go vertically upwards and behind the reservoir, which should hopefully prevent those problems. I'd be interested to hear what other M8/M20 owners have found with this.

Has anyone reconditioned the primer pump? Mine is missing the washer/seal in the end of the pump and I am looking for the correct replacement. A local seal supplier said they can make me one out of a rubber product which will handle the fuel but I’m thinking there must be something commercially available now that will do the job. Is this a cup type washer or something similar? What is the purpose of the two nuts?

I noticed there are several variants of the rubber bushing for the shock absorbers. I was told that the one in the centre of Photo 10 (the bottom photo) was what ‘everyone is using’, but they are certainly too thick in their present state. The one on the left is the correct one but I only have a few of these. Has anyone got a source for these?

What about the spacer for the top mounting bolt on the shock absorbers? Does anyone have any of these?
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Darryl Lennane
NZ

1943 Willys MB
1941 LP2A MG Carrier
1943 White M3A1 AOP
1942 Willys MBT
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car

Big D
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Posts: 788
Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2009 11:22 pm
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Re: Restoration of Ford M8 armoured car U.S Ordnance number 7373

Post by Big D » Thu Aug 30, 2018 7:34 pm

Hi all,

Today I spent some time looking over the various Hercules JXD engines I have for both the M8 and the White Scout car I am restoring.

My engine reconditioner has had two Hercules engines at his workshop for me for several years (that’s another story). Well, he has now started work on the job of getting one engine rebuilt for my Scout Car so it was a good chance to take stock of what I have and what engines I could put together.

As I say, I have two engines for the scout car with the engine reconditioner. I also have three partly complete engines for the M8 at the workshop. I’d like to know exactly what parts on these engines are interchangeable between the M8 and the Scout Car.

From what I understand, the short blocks on these are the same. That is, the short block on an M8 will be fine for a Scout Car and vice versa. I know there are differences with the clutches, waterpump, gearbox and oil pump where these parts are not interchangeable. What else is there that is different?

Of the two engines at the reconditioners; one has a good block and had .40 thou pistons in it. This block has now been crack tested and it appears fine. It also looks like the bores and pistons will be okay with new rings.

The other block had the pistons completely stuck in the bores. Several pistons got broken in the process of getting them out. The bores look bad but the walls themselves appear fine and have not collapsed at all that I can see so far.

The three engines for the M8 in the workshop all have the pistons stuck in the bores, as per the photos. All have a wall in the bore that has collapsed. I understand that sleeving these bores is an option providing that there is an inch at the bottom and an inch at the top that is sound which will support the sleeve. Has anyone else had experience with sleeving these with such a scenario?

So, can I mix and match the blocks between the M8 and the scout car? What other parts can I mix and match and still end up with a correct M8 engine/Scout car engine. What other differences do I need to consider?

I have spare valves, STD pistons, 0.20 thou pistons and 0.60 pistons, plus spare valves and as you can see three spare crankshafts. I also have mains and big end and camshaft bearings. These bearings are all readily available anyway.

My ideal scenario is to build a good engine for the scout car, a good engine for the M8 and have a spare engine that I could potentially use in a future project.

Any thoughts or experiences with the Hercules JXD engines would be appreciated.
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Darryl Lennane
NZ

1943 Willys MB
1941 LP2A MG Carrier
1943 White M3A1 AOP
1942 Willys MBT
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car

Big D
G-Captain
G-Captain
Posts: 788
Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2009 11:22 pm
Location:

Re: Restoration of Ford M8 armoured car U.S Ordnance number 7373

Post by Big D » Thu Sep 06, 2018 11:11 pm

Hi all,

Thanks to Willy, who is a fountain of knowledge on M8’s, Scout Cars and anything armour, I’ve worked out the differences in the engines on the M8/M20 and the Scout Car. The basic engine blocks are identical and have interchangeable crankshafts, camshafts, valves etc. The parts that are different are all the extras:

• Oil pan and oil pump
• Bell housing and timing cover
• Flywheel and clutch assembly
• Starter motor, water pipe and distributor

The reason I was keen to know this was to make best use of all the Hercules engine parts I have. I have a spare engine block from my scour car restoration which now has all the pistons out of it. The bores on this are worn, but are sound with no damage to the walls.

The three engine blocks I had for the M8 all have stuck pistons with damage to the bore walls. After comparing the spare scout car engine block with the three M8 engine blocks, I’ve decided that the scout car block is the better candidate for a rebuild for the M8, so I will use that one. I’ll remove the timing cover, bellhousing, sump etc from the M8 blocks and use those on it. I will work out what combination of pistons and sleeves etc I will use at a later time, but it was just good timing to be able to check this while the scout car engine was getting rebuilt. By the looks of things, I should have enough bits and pieces to rebuild at least two more Hercules engines on top of these two, but that will be something I will sort out later. The Hercules block and head being machined in the photos are for the scout car.

Thanks also to Willy for his recommendation on trying the rubber shock bushes for the Dodge M43. I’ve found these are a better fit than what I had. The ends still need cutting down a bit though so that they fit in the 1.75” gap in the shock absorber mounts. I used a hacksaw to do this and then smoothed the ends with a flap disc on a grinder. This gives the correct width for the rubber bushes to fit into the shock mount.

I got the turret mantle and recoil system back from the engineers yesterday. They had several attempts at removing the screws holding the recoil system in place. They couldn’t spark remove them and so they mig-welded bolts on the screws to see if they could wind them out. They kept breaking off so they arc welded them instead and that worked. As you can see, months of penetrating oil on these screws appears to have made no difference at all.

Has anyone pulled these recoil systems apart? Is the spring under load in the housing? Both recoil systems are a bit knocked about and as one is sold, I want to keep the best one for myself (sorry Lynn). It looks to me like stripping one down will be a challenge as well. There are NOS recoil systems still available so I will see how we go with this one.

I think I found out why my 37mm barrel was not straight! As per the photos, it looks like something has struck the barrel in two places, which was covered by the incorrect sleigh. I see also that the barrel has previously been cut near the breech and welded up. There is a bit of work to do there to tidy the barrel up before I put the correct sleigh that I have on there. I will also need to rebuild the mounts for the lever arm shaft and straighten the lugs that secure the recoil system coupler on the breech ring.

The intermediate and rear axles are progressing. Getting the diff housing bearing cones out was a problem but I understand a gas torch has now encouraged them to come out. I spoke to the engineering guys about the cracked differential housing and they say it won’t mig weld. We are going to look at whether it can be brazed but they tell me there is no guarantee that this will work.

Is there anyone out there with a worn M8/M20 differential who would be prepared to part with that part of the diff assembly? That would save me the trouble of trying to repair this piece which mightn’t be successful anyway. Thanks to Andrew, I might have some ready made gaskets coming to, so we are getting there.

Most of the hydraulic lines are cut and shaped now but I’ve still got to do the ½” tube.

That’s all for this week.
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Darryl Lennane
NZ

1943 Willys MB
1941 LP2A MG Carrier
1943 White M3A1 AOP
1942 Willys MBT
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car

Big D
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Re: Restoration of Ford M8 armoured car U.S Ordnance number 7373

Post by Big D » Thu Sep 06, 2018 11:13 pm

More photos.
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Darryl Lennane
NZ

1943 Willys MB
1941 LP2A MG Carrier
1943 White M3A1 AOP
1942 Willys MBT
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car

Big D
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Re: Restoration of Ford M8 armoured car U.S Ordnance number 7373

Post by Big D » Thu Sep 20, 2018 8:25 pm

Hi all,

This week seems to be one where I start a lot of jobs and for various reasons only finish one or two of them.

I managed to source a NOS replacement housing to replace the cracked one on the differential. I talked with my engineering contacts about various ways to repair the crack in the other one and the consensus was that we could spend several hours on a repair with no guarantee it would be a permanent repair. I managed to get the NOS housing at a very reasonable price so it made sense to go that way.

As an aside, not sure if anyone has confirmed this previously but the differential in the M8 is quite a bit bigger than the one in the White Scout car. I had a spare axle for my Scout Car and I opened up the diff housing to see if I could rob the required part from there. Alas, the diff is smaller. The gaskets I got from Andrew which were made up for LP2A carriers were the right hole spacing and size for the Scout Car axle housing so I’m interested in seeing if they fit the M8 axle housing.

Thanks to Grant for his recommendation on the parts for the primer pump. I got a rebuild kit for a primer pump for an M38 jeep off EBay. The internal dimensions of this pump seem to be the same. The leather washer was a tight fit in the pump bore but it went in. I didn’t have any Neatsfoot oil for the seal so I used Olive Oil instead.

I managed to pick-up a few good parts recently like the headlight sleeves for the hull which I’d been looking for. I’ve also spent a bit of time tidying up some take-off MP48A antennas.

I had no luck finding the elusive U bolt for the rear springs, so I got one made up. It doesn’t look exactly like the original but I will shape it a little bit with the grinder and it should do the trick.

I’ve started stripping the recoil system. Despite many weeks of soaking with penetrant, I needed a big long lever on a breaker bar to remove the buffer off the end of the recoil cylinder. A bit of heat might have made it slightly easier but I didn’t have that at hand at the time. I removed the pin securing the coupler to the piston but that thing is on there real tight. I’ll get some heat onto that next and see if it will pull off. Like Tankanic, I made up a tool to remove the follower at the end of the cylinder but I’d say I’ll need to weld a big lever onto that to get it to move, once I have the coupler off.

Meanwhile, I finally got around to arranging a truck to take the turret to the sandblasters for blasting and painting.

That is all.
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Darryl Lennane
NZ

1943 Willys MB
1941 LP2A MG Carrier
1943 White M3A1 AOP
1942 Willys MBT
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car

Kcimb
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Re: Restoration of Ford M8 armoured car U.S Ordnance number 7373

Post by Kcimb » Thu Sep 27, 2018 5:41 am

Looks good!
Usmc/Army
1976 Czech brdm-2rkbh
1975 Mowag Roland

Looking to buy:

ASU-57
French Panhard AML / EBR
BRDM-1
Mowag Grenadier
Ferret scout car

Big D
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Re: Restoration of Ford M8 armoured car U.S Ordnance number 7373

Post by Big D » Thu Oct 04, 2018 10:23 pm

Thanks Kcimb. Getting there!
Darryl Lennane
NZ

1943 Willys MB
1941 LP2A MG Carrier
1943 White M3A1 AOP
1942 Willys MBT
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car

Big D
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Posts: 788
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Re: Restoration of Ford M8 armoured car U.S Ordnance number 7373

Post by Big D » Thu Oct 04, 2018 10:32 pm

Hi all,

Here are a few photos showing what I’ve been doing over the last couple of weeks.

I managed to get the recoil system apart. Thanks to Tankanic for his assistance. I had to make up another tool to remove the follower. Version 1 just wasn’t strong enough and I needed a big lever to get the follower undone. The photos show how it all sits in the recoil cylinder. I’ll have a closer look at everything when I am back in the workshop.

The new diff housing has arrived so I’ll be able to advance the axle assembly which I’m looking forward to.

I have a brake specialist folding up the 1/2" hydraulic line for the clutch master cylinder. The tubing was pricey so I figured I'd rather get it done right first time. Hopefully this will be done shortly.

I spent a bit of a time stripping the engine blocks to see what I’ve got and what can be reused. I got the flywheel off one of the blocks and the ring has a bit of damage. However, it looks like there is enough meat on there to turn the ring over on the flywheel. Out of interest I photographed the M8 flywheel alongside a White Scout car flywheel. As you can see, the scout car flywheel is quite a bit bigger.

On a side note, for what it’s worth for those doing Hercules JXD rebuilds, next week I will photograph the differences between the oil pump for the White Scout car and the M8 and post it here. I say that as I bought what I was told was a Scout car oil pump from a reseller for my Scout car engine rebuild and it turned out to be one from an M8. There are differences in the sumps as a result of the differences in the pumps.

That is all for this week...
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Darryl Lennane
NZ

1943 Willys MB
1941 LP2A MG Carrier
1943 White M3A1 AOP
1942 Willys MBT
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car

napavalleyartillery
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Re: Restoration of Ford M8 armoured car U.S Ordnance number 7373

Post by napavalleyartillery » Fri Oct 05, 2018 7:11 am

Darryl:

Have kind of followed your odyssey. An excellent example of dedication to a laudable goal. Congratulations on a job nearly finished and apparently perfect.

I've not worked on an M-6 recoil system, but presently have several other recoil systems apart on my workbench. Am pretty certain that you are missing the part which fits around the recoil rod on the end which required your special wrench, and which retains the oil in the system. Also note that the rod itself appears corroded, which in my experience leads to significant leaks.

Now if you are going to shoot just blanks none of this matters. Indeed, merely draining the oil from an M-3 ATG is all that is necessary to permit adequate apparent recoil with blanks when used in motion picture work.

While internal parts for this family of guns seem rare, with the exception of firing pins, the referenced part could be easily machined. As to the rod, I'm presently trying to decide what to do with one of mine which is too corroded to seal. Have considered the possibility of replacing just the portion of the rod which actually passes thru the seal. We'll see.

Again, congratulations!

Barry


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