How To: Restoration of Ford M8 armoured car US Ordnance number 7373

[Big D]

Hi all,

There has still been no progress on the blasting and painting of the hull, which is a bit of a bugger as it is holding me up now. However, it has given me some time to progress some other parts of the restoration.

I’ve done a bit more work on the generator. Things were progressing nicely until I realised that the repair kit I had was for the Ford generator and not the Autolite generator I have. I am on the lookout for the correct kit now....

After a light brush down, the field coils look too be in good shape. They appear fine electrically but will let the auto electrician confirm that when I get it all to him. The armature and commutator also look fine at this stage. Apart from one new bearing which I need to fit, the enclosure and end caps are ready for the reassembly.

I still need to rebuild the ceramic plate that insulates the posts from the enclosure and find another stud to replace the broken post. I also need to confirm what exactly is in the breakerbox that is attached to the side of the generator. Does anyone have any photos of the inside of this? I have a circuit breaker and a thick short cable but that is it.

I started work on the FT-237 radio mount and the radio and interphone bits and pieces. The plan is to get all this working before it goes into the hull. I understand the radio mount should be unpainted and just retain its original zinc finish but the steel on mine was pretty corroded and rough in places though so I after I removed the remaining paint and cleaned everything up, I painted the metalwork a zinc colour. I don’t think it looks too bad.

A couple of the toggle clamps were a bit bent but I heated them and straightened them and they are pretty good now. Two of the wee springs that go on the clamps are broken so I am on the lookout for replacements.

The wiring on the mount actually looks reasonably good so I will just test it and confirm. I have some assembly instructions for the wiring of the interphones coming from a supplier in France. The TM manuals don’t show the colour coding for the interphone connections to the terminal block on the FT-237 and the old wiring was too far gone to work out the colours. I have cleaned up the terminal board and will reattach that now pending the connection of the cabling and testing.

Still to do is tidying up of the data plates and the two posts on the left of the mount. I painted the brass plates black and will scratch away the paint on the embossed lettering.

That’s it for today....

[Big D]

More photos.

[Shaun Mastin]

hey mate

been following your thread looking good,
don't know if you have it over your neck of the woods but I no where I live that have onsite blasting , like "ecoblasting" which is the a fine sand and water
(suppose to be good for the environment) , maybe try seeing if that's an option , for sandblasting your hull

[Big D]

Hi Shaun

Thanks for that. I will check with the blasters. They have had to put it off until after Xmas now so no progress on that front until January.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Darryl, I wonder if you have any insight into this compass and mounting bracket. It is a Pioneer made liquid compass sold to me as coming out of an M8. Does it look familiar? If so where does it mount? A similar compass went into Canadian Fox armoured cars but I have no idea where (other than somewhere within view of the driver) or with what bracket.

[Big D]

Hi Bruce

It is not one of the two compasses used in the M8 and the mount is also not for the M8.

I think this one was used in some models of the Sherman and also the DUKW.

Perhaps one of the experts on here might be able to confirm?

[David Dunlop]

Darryl.

Are there any indications the radio mount serves as a ground for any of the connections? That might be why it was simply zinc plated, to maintain good electrical continuity.

If you paint it, be sure to keep good metal to metal contact between the bits where needed.

David