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

[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.

[Jordan Baker]

HI David

Your T-16 looks amazing. Its nice to see another vehicle restored to such a high standard. Plus those handgrips really finish it off.

[Ledsel]

OHH OHHH!!!!! BOBO on front fender!!

[horsa]

Yes, the off-side front fender got bent down into the tracks when I misjudged side clearance coming into the garage after a short drive a few weeks ago. To allow space to move around the vehicles in the small garage, I need to enter the garage with about 2-3 inches of space on that side and then once past the doors I have 12-15 inches to the wall so its only tight at the opening. I barely clipped the wooden beam on the edge of the bricks and it snapped as can be seen in the following two shots. Needless to say, it was a very sad Wyvern I used my floor jack with a 4x4 board to raise the fender up and out of the way from the tracks but have yet to repair it properly.





Maybe this was karma since the alternate unit designation I've been contemplating is 1st Battalion, Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa (M.G.) of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. They were a 4.2" Mortar Carrier Unit during WWII so the 64 markings would remain the same but the 43rd Wessex Wyven would be replaced with a 3rd Division colored square with Maple Leaf.

[horsa]

The following series of images show the gunner side fuel tank with all of the components progressively added. Figured they might be of interest since almost all of the T-16s seem to have an alternate fuel system from what they were designed to use, especially the Swiss modification of a single large fuel tank in the rear over the tracks and differential.

First image shows the fuel tank inside its protective liner with the top of the liner not yet installed.



Next we put the top of the liner on, attach the sender and fuel line, and then bolt on the fuel tank hold down bracket. It uses a bolt at the back to press the bracket down and it has two threaded rods at the front to pull the bracket down to a mounting point on the floor of the T-16. Its pretty close to how the manual shows it but not perfect.



A locker gets bolted to the top of each fuel tank hold down bracket and the fuel tank filler comes up through the bottom. The back of the locker is angled to provide clearance for the rear bolt in the hold down bracket.



This shot simply shows the locker with the lid closed. The four raised squares on the lid are for holding a seat frame in place.



And lastly there is a shot showing a seat cushion on top of the locker. I still haven't build the frames for the seats as I am sorting out how much space is needed for the 4.2-inch mortar bomb racks which will be over the track sponsons. The upper cover for the engine housing is sloped so the cushion can hang over the locker but the angle of the shot makes it appear to be in the way. Surprisingly it all fits fairly well but there won't be a lot of space for people once everything else is bolted up.



This final shot shows the fuel tank and locker on the driver side of the vehicle. The locker is virtually identical to the gunner side but it has a divider and a place for very pistol cartridges. As if sitting on top of the fuel tank wasn't bad enough, they had to build in a place for pyrotechnic devices which point downwards at the tank.

[horsa]

Just got finished reducing the size of all the photographs in this message thread by 20 percent. They are all hosted out on a public photobucket site so hopefully they will load faster now.

[RichardT10829]

I shall use this resto as inspiration for mine ! i just hope i can follw your lead what an absolutely fantastic job you have done !