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

[Philliphastings]

Well I won't pretend to be ion the same league... but I hope that one day, in the (many) years to come, my little carrier may look something like this.

Thanks again for the inspiration

Cheers

Phill

[horsa]

Sorry, the only video of the carrier running since getting everything all together was shot a few months ago at Brent Mullins annual open house and vehicle rally. I'd posted it before but have it again here for reference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQkUzSoUBVM

We never seem to have a camera handy for shooting video when out doing test runs. Hopefully we'll get it hauled down to some ranch property in south Texas this fall when the weather cools down a bit and then can shoot video running in and out of the terraced fields and ditches.

As for the mortar platoon arrangment, I'm working on it. I've gotton ATF approval for my 4.2" barrel to be live and functional and only need to make a firing pin stud to complete it now. Shooting 4.2" rounds will make for some really cool video

[horsa]

Below are some test shots I was doing for Nigel over the weekend before the oil cooler blew out. Wanted to see if high angle and overhead would prove to be neat effects since you don't see them too often and are always left simply seeing the flat hull walls on the carriers.







Not as cool as the little remote control carrier but it sort'a does look like a model from a distance when you can't see all the dirt on everything.

[Ledsel]

Very nice.

[Pedr]

Not as cool as the little remote carrier

David Gordon!, have you been drinking or something?

This is the best carrier I have ever seen....EVER!, and as far as a little remote control toy; this leaves it for d,e,a,d - DEAD!

I want to see a head-to-head with your T16 and a little remote controlled one.

Sir I to your work and ability. (So when do you think you'll be able to come down here and finish mine for me??)

I am very envious of your marvelous machine, and hope that one day mine is nearly as good.

Pedr

[horsa]

Been awhile since I've been able to tinker with the T-16 due to other projects. Over the summer I'd had some issues with the engine seeming to flood while under a load. It would start, idle and rev fine but driving up hill in 95-105 degree heat once warmed up caused problems. The engine would choke down and applying more throttle in an attempt to increase power would have the opposite effect. Did some research and found things related to my issue on some of the rat-rod sites. Long story short it would appear my fuel pump was providing too much pressure for the carburetor and flooding it while running. Reasons could have included the length of the lift rod that operates the fuel pump, the lobes raising the lift rod, the thickness of the gaskets under the fuel pump and manifold, and the length/tension of the spring in the fuel pump. To compensate for too much pressure, you have to get into the carburetor which still wouldn’t be a guarantee of anything.

And for whatever reason, the factory WWII fuel pump delivers 4psi and the carburetor is designed for 3.5psi. Maybe not an issue with everything spot on but just one more concern when things aren’t working as planned.

After a lot of experimenting and testing different configurations, I decided to try some modern accessories. Figure I could always take them off. Plus I was looking for a solution to the heat saturation that can affect the fuel pump on Ford’s where it is mounted high in a closed environment as on the T-16.

So in an effort to keep things visually correct, I put all of the goodies inside the locker above one of the fuel tanks. Essentially ran rubber lines into the locker and up to an electric fuel pump. Added an in-line fuel filter which then leads to a Holley fuel pressure regulator set to 3.5psi. Then back out of the locker and connects back to my metal lines between the locker and fuel tank. From there it goes through the rest of the system as normal. I removed the lift rod from under the original fuel pump and the fuel simply is pushed up the lines and through it when everything is running. The little black box contains a fusible link and an idiot light along with a manual override switch. This way if the light is on, I know the fuse is good and power is on at the instrument panel. Flipping the switch will disable the electric fuel pump in the event that I need to crank the engine to clear it out and don’t want fuel.

So far everything works great. Ran the carrier up and down the street yesterday. Started off in 2nd and needed to shift to 3rd while accelerating uphill within a few feet. It now has the performance of a regular vehicle as it should. As it now stands, I may just leave it this way.

[horsa]

Since we're talking about rusty projects on a few other message threads, I figured I should post some of the shots showing how we chemically striped my carrier hull. All the welding work that is shown earlier in this message thread was completed before I had the hull dipped. Figure that was best with all the sheet metal I was replacing, holes to be welded up and then British wartime features being added back on. That way it could be primed after dipping and I wouldn't be grinding or burning paint off later on with new body work.

All of the armor is original and only light sheet metal areas inside the hull over the tracks was replaced with new metal. But old and new looks the same in the final shots.

I also branded it "Tetanus" at that time due to the amount of rusty metal we had.









This next photo shows the hull about to go into the bath for the second time. First dip was killing the paint residue and pretreating the rust. It was then pressure washed before going in again.



Last two photos show the hull after the second bath but prior to being pressure washed off again. It was really shiny after it was washed but none of those photos came out.