T-16 S/N 5399 T.D. 97377 Restoration

[horsa]

My basket case in Swiss configuration:





Complete with bullet holes from someone having target practice....



And the holes welded up....



The floor area over the tracks and differential were pretty much rusted through so I cut out and replaced the metal to save future headaches and remorse had I left it in.









Shot below is with the hull on the trailer prior to striping after finally getting the last of the Swiss modifications removed, unneeded holes welded up and British modifications added back on.



This shot shows the hull just after getting it back from being striped and primed. I'll be doing the OD paint over time as I get some little things on each panel taken care of over the next few weeks.

[

Below are two videos of me pushing and pulling the hull off my trailer where it will rest on blocks until I get everything bolted back on and can put the wheels on again. Really sucks having to do everything manually since everything on a carrier project is heavy. But its the only way we poor folks can do it for lack of proper equipment.

Video of unloading the hull by hand (1)

Unloading the hull by hand (2)

[Plushy]

The Hull looks good in primer . What were the Swiss modifications ?

Be careful with your back moving the hull like that, it doesn`t take much to do some long term damage .

Keep up the good work

[Neil Ashley]

Amongst other things, many Swiss T16's had semaphore Indicators fitted in metal boxes on the front armour.

[horsa]

My back has been messed up for a long time already. Left leg has a steel rod in it as well which I've had upgraded to a thicker one after having busted the first one that was installed. Doing this type thing actually straights everything back out again since I wasn't outright lifting the hull. Plus it really was only 2600 pounds and not two tons like I told my four year old daughter who you can hear in the video

Swiss mods and things they removed which were British are quite extensive. I'll try to list the main ones I can remember off the top of my head.

Swiss Added:

Welded on bracket for headlight
External horn
pair of welded on armor plate turn signals
Welded on rear brake light bracket
Welded on pair of hangers under dash for modified brake levers
Brake levers modifed with top studs for above hanger modification
Welded on front aerial bracket
Welded on heavy frame on gunners side deck for radio
Welded on heavy cover for same gunner side radio
Welded on rear inside frame work for battery and spare gas cans
Welded on straps for large gas tank on gunner rear side
Swiss had troop seats with back rests so about 60 holes had to be welded up from all of their bolt down locations

British/USA features removed:
All bailout bag metal hangers that are supposed to be all over the vehicle
Pair of front POW can holding brackets on fender flats
Front and back PIAT brackets on engine deck cover fin
Armor fin on the engine deck cover half cut off by they Swiss
Pair of Bren gun holding bracket plates on each side of vehicle ground off by Swiss
Pair of alternate radio mounting straps in rear cut off to allow Swiss gas tank
Single normal raido mounting strap behind driver cut off sor Swiss troop seat
Pair of welded angle brackets for radio and fifth passenger removed by Swiss for troop seat
Seven tool bin/lockers were removed by Swiss and all of their mounting bracked welded to the floor were ground off
Swiss removed all brackets and holders for rear armor pioneer tool placement
Pair of front recovery cable horns removed
Pair of brackets for storage of aerial sections removed
Bracket for mounting radio control box removed from behind driver armor
Five of the wading skirt plates were removed by the Swiss

British/USA features that bolted on and the Swiss welded up the holes:
Front siren removed and holes on driver side fender welded up
Front Bren gun brackets for holding gun in standby position removed and holes welded up
Holes for front smoke discharger/mortar mounting bracket welded up
Front bracket for PIAT standby position removed and holes welded up
Rear bracket for PIAT standby position removed and holes welded up
Left and Right tail lamps removed and all eight holes in rear armor welded up
Pairs of holes for bolting straps were welded up at front recovery cable location and two places for the aerials

Think that covers the main things that had to be removed or replaced to get back to British WWII configuration. Now the fun part begins with bolting everything back on to make this a running carrier again since the hull is 100 percent empty right now.

Shots below show some of the things I had to build and weld back onto the hull since virtually all British modifications had been removed from it. Bare metal parts don't stay rust free for very long when you work outside in a tent...

[horsa]

Finally got around to bolting up the main accessories on the T-16 engine so I could do an initial test start. Had to build a little temporary loop for the oil cooler lines since the engine isn't in the vehicle and of course several other things are jerry rigged for now but it seems to want to run

Shots below show the engine, transmission and differential prior to restoration. What a mess...









Shots below are of the engine prior to first start. The color matches what we found on the engine and transmission under the crud and rust. It also matches the original Ford tagged WWII NOS parts like the water pump pullys and crank case pully that I installed. For now, all of my lines are made from 1/2" copper as I have had problems with doing decent flares on steel tube. You'll also notice the coil is held in place with rubber bands right now





Two video links attached if you have a high speed connecton. The automatic choke isn't hooked up and you can see it bouncing up and down on the intake manifold since it isn't bolted down yet.

Engine Running 1

Engine Running 2

I'll try and post some updated photos of the hull later today.

[Phil Waterman]

For a first short run it sounds good. Must have been firing most of the cylinders if not all 8 because the engine didn't seem to move around.

Going to be impressive when all hitched up and running at full power under full load.

[horsa]

During the disassembly of the differential, I found the brakes were frozen even though the parts had no wear. Took everything apart and had it chemically dipped to clean them up prior to reassemby. Shots for reference if you've never seen how well the process can work for you.





Also a shot showing my temporary paint booth / work area in a tent. Goes to show anyone can do a restoration on a budget.



Shots below show the hull after I painted it and got the wheel assemblies completed and mounted. Next step is to scratch build all of the steering and braking linkage along with the engine and differential oil cooler lines.











Also I moved the vehicle into the garage so I'm not working on a sloped gravel pad anymore which was a constant cause of aggrevation. The carrier is actually chained at the front but it isn't visible in the photos in case you're wondering about the durability of the little straps holding with the trailer parked on a hill. I also took the precaution of moving my jeep out of the other side of the garage, just in case.

[ron]

Hi David,
Well done,a fantastic job of restoration, congratulations, please keep the pics coming.
Regards, Ron

[Roland Koster]

Hi there,

do you need any parts for the T-16.

I think I have a complete intrument/dashboard.

Interested?

greetings,

Roland

[horsa]

Hey Roland,

I have everything for a proper WWII USA pattern instrument panel with the exception of a Waltham speedometer and a speedometer cable. I'm currently following up on a few leads for the speedometer which will probably be the tougher of the two items to find as they were only used in the later pattern Ford jeeps and the T-16s. I know any jeep speedometer will work but would prefer the correct one if I can find one.

As for parts I'm looking for in case you have other items there...I need several of the hull drain plugs. There are seven on the floor and one in the very front where the engine hand cranking rod goes when needed. The diameter of the threaded sections is 2 5/8" with the overall disk just slightly smaller than a 3" diameter.

I'm also looking for one of the metal fittings which hold the head of a pick. Its the same size as the metal part that is on a pick handle but it is capped off and has a bolt welded onto it for another metal part to fit on which keeps the pick head from falling off the vehicle. The overall part bolts to the rear curved armor that protects the differential.

[horsa]

Made a little more progress and now have completed the fabrication of steering and braking controls along with bending oil lines in copper and bolting them up to the two oil coolers. Shots below are the before and after of the driver area which still isn't finished along with pictures of the lines and oil coolers.













Also got the radiator and engine installed this past weekend. This allowed me to finally test my work from rebuilding the transmission, linkage and differential which so far all seem to be functioning properly. Although the real test will be after I put the tracks on and test everything under a load.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

David,

Over time, I have been reading your restoriation thread with great interest. I think you are doing excellent and important work restoring your T16 to its wartime configuration.

Hats off to you for a job well done, sir!

Regards,
Hanno

[horsa]

Hey Hanno,

Researching the modifications for the T-16 in British service has sure been interesting. I've still had no real luck with identification of wartime records for the units that used the vehicle though. I do know that more saw use with the Canadian forces but since I had the original British wartime registration numbers, I opted to stayed with them and have adopted a British Regiment for now.

Two shots below show the front and rear fender markings as I was messing with wiring this weekend and bolted up the front set to make sure the marker lights and headlamp lined up properly and that I had built the wires long enough to reach the instrument panel.





The markings represent 8th Battalion, The Middlesex Regiment which was detatched from the rest of their normal formation and assigned to the 43rd Wessex Division as part of the Independant Machine Gun Battalion. Company A, B, and C used carriers with machine guns and Company D used carriers with 4.2" Mortars. D-Coy is what I'll be configuring the vehicle for and it existed from February 28, 1944 until August 31, 1945. They landed at Ouistreham (Sword Beach, Normandy) on D+14 with a strength of four platoons and attached with the division to XXX Corps for the duration.

Also have a few short movie clips below from the engine and transmission testing I did last week. It dosen't seem to get much traction without the tracks, even in 2nd gear. Go figure....

Installed Engine Running 1

Differential Spinning

Rear Sproket Spins

[khern2365]

Originally Posted by globalkoster

Hi there,

do you need any parts for the T-16.

I think I have a complete intrument/dashboard.

Interested?

greetings,

Roland

Hey Roland I am Knox Herndon living near Atlanta Georgia USA and am interested in your instrument panel for the T-16. I will be dealing with a resoration process soon hopefully.

Cell 678-665-3623
Home 770-719-2365

[horsa]

Three shots of an aerial carrying case number 1 which I recently got from Lance via MLU sales. It fits the mountings on my T-16 and extends right up to the edge of my 4.2-inch mortar ammunition bins like it was made for it.

Now I just need to clean it up a bit. It's really nice when things come together like they were planned from the start. A rare thing for me anyway.

[andrew honychurch]

very envious david, mind you there would not be much point in me having bought it as I mine is now in so many pieces it coudl be years before I have something to hang it on!

Just one thing, do you know what the stirrup bracket is bang in the middle of the vehicle in extending down into the driver/gunner compartment? It has always confused me as it looks like it is canted towards the gun port?

[horsa]

Hey Andrew,

That would be for the PIAT when in the "ready" position. The rear mount just in front of the radiator and the front mount is in the front armour near the gunner ports. It swivels out of the way when not needed. They didn't fire from this position but it held the weapon in a convenient place for quick access. Similar to the forward Bren mounts under the sloping front armour.

Has your restoration bogged down? Thought you were making great progress on it.

[horsa]

Still a long way to go before I can run a race but here are two videos of the initial road test. Still no exhaust system and the fuel is coming from a small bottle right now. On the test run, I also only had the linkage adjusted for the outside tiller arms which control the brakes. The steering linkage was hooked up but not adjusted at the time so turns in the videos will probably look rough.

First one is backing up hill on my driveway past my truck which probably wasn't one of my smarter moves. Had no issues but probably should have moved the truck out of the way in case the vehicle spun on the concrete.

Backing Out

Second video is coming down the street in first and second gears. Accelerator linkage needed to be adjusted to get more power which I did after getting back into the garage.

First Road Test


This is a shot of the driveway I have to back out of uphill...


Made it to the top


And one while driving on the street in case anyone can't access the videos.

[Jordan Baker]

Very nice and a job well done. It sure sounds like mine with no mufflers hooked up. And yes I would have moved the truck.

[pablo50cal]

david yours tracks are to tight isnt?

[Bangle 99]

David. It looks absolutely fantastic! I can't wait to see it in person.

[horsa]

Hey Jim, looking forward to seeing updated shots of your jeep project as well when you get a chance. I know its tough to find time to work on it with the kids and the day job keeping you busy. My youngest figures my carrier project is just a third job for me except she can help out now and then.

Hey Jordan, I've got the exhaust system parts and mufflers to finish assembly but have put it off while working out other issues on the fuel system which is now complete. Should be posting photos of the two fuel tanks and associated parts this week. For now, I've got two shots showing the gunner position with the seat and lower bins finally installed. Plus a pair of really nice 1942 dated reproduction rubber grips





Not sure on the tracks being too tight Pablo. I'm still a novice at this but each side has a sag between the track return rollers which matches the specifications in the T-16 manuals. If you were comparing some of the older photos, they were taken when everything was still tight and had not fully freed up yet. Think the links are still loosening up and will end up with even more slack by the time I can get it out into a field for some real drive time. Attached shot below is from today when I was cutting tracks into the front yard and side lot which is all hilly. No problems with the tracks so far doing spins or going up and down hill.

[horsa]

It's off to California. The rig had a lift gate that could pick up the carrier so no ramps. There were other British vehicles in the trailer but none were OD.

[chris vickery]

Looks like a tight fit for climbing out with the second deck right over head...

[horsa]

It was a tight fit overhead for climbing in and out but even tighter on the two sides driving in. The transport trucker will have to offload at least once on his way west across the country to get other cars out of the trailer. Sure glad I'm not responsible for backing it up 25-30 feet to get out of that tight tube.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

David,

Sorry to hear you had to let the T16 go. Here's hoping the new owner takes as good care of it as you did.

Hanno

[horsa]

Hopefully the new owner will make himself known on the forum. I can say he is in California and the carrier sold for $55,500.

We thought it was going to end up in Scotland as a group of buyers was planning to fly over to kick the tires while scouting some tanks that they needed for a museum that is being established. But a child of one of the group was in a car wreck and their trip got delayed.

I retained the 4-inch smoke discharger and mounting bracket since it would have been difficult to transfer due to the gun laws on the left coast.