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

[Big D]

Hi John

Thanks for that. Interesting about the JXD. I hadn't heard about that before.

[Big D]

Hi all,

Here are a few photos of what I’ve been working on over the last week.

Thanks to Willy for confirming the black rubber type spacers are the correct one for the headlights. These spacers do have a slot in the middle for the top rim of the headlight sleeve to fit into. When fitted on the sleeves, they need a bit of downward pressure into the hole in the hull so that the brass bush in the handle hole can be pushed through to lock the sleeve in place.

I have the fuel pump and fuel lines fitted in the front of the hull now. The line in the foreground of the photo would normally be at the very front of the hull but it seemed to fit nicely as I have it so I left it at that. I used a bit of thread sealant on all the connections so hopefully all will be well with them.

The reassembly of the intermediate and rear axles is progressing. I’m now at the stage of making up the fixed brake lines for the axles. I have no templates so I am working off photos and the plans from the parts manual to do these.

Does anyone have any axle brake T connections spare that they would be prepared to part with? I have fitted four of the six required but the other two I have are both used and have damaged threads. Originals seem to be very hard to find. Can anyone assist please?

What is the easiest way to install the intermediate and rear axle? The manual says that the back of the vehicle needs to be lifted to a height to get the two axles under it. I guess then it is just a matter of aligning the ends of the leaf springs with the two openings on each of the axles.

My plan was to get the boys in the engineering workshop next door to bring in their truck and hiab crane. We’ll lift the front of the hull and then fit the front wheels to the front axle. Then we can lift the rear of the hull enough so that I can roll the intermediate and rear axles under the hull.

Once the rear leaf spring ends are in the slots on the axles, will the weight of the hull settle enough on the axles to stop them moving around, or will I need to get the torque rods locked in straight away?

There is not a lot of information in the manuals about the torque rods in the manuals, and how they are fitted and adjusted. Has anyone got any first-hand experience with these? Are the top ones adjusted simply to keep the alignment of the axles correct?

I’ve noticed that the handbrake cable is a real bugger to fit into place on the hull side. The cable comes down tube in the side of the hull and has to make an almost 90 degree turn to go into the mount on the hull. The cable is quite stiff so getting it to slide down the tube and then sideways into the mount is not easy. Does anyone have any bright ideas on this? My one is just into the mount but it really needs to go in about another ¾ inch.

That is all.

Merry Xmas.

[Big D]

More photos.

[Big D]

Hi all,

Xmas seems to have come and gone in a flash.

I have fitted the brake lines to the rear axle, along with the brake line shields that I had. I am missing one section of shield but will hopefully pick that up at some stage.

I didn’t have a lot of photos of the actual layout of the brake lines so hopefully these photos might help someone else who is doing them from scratch. The lines are a bit finicky to make to the right shape to fit the shields, and they need to have quite a tight angle to get around the shield and then up into the Tee connections.

I have found the brake Tee connections I need so they should hopefully be on the way to me shortly. I’ve made up the brake lines for the intermediate axle and will finalise these when the Tee connections arrive.

I have fitted the hydraulic lines from the front of the hull down into the engine bay area now. I still need to finalise the length of the extra sections for the bleeder nipples at the ends, and will get this done once I’ve finished all the rest of the plumbing.

A bit of a strange request, but can anyone post a photo of the underside of the pedestal headlights? I have the blackout headlight but want to confirm the pin configuration on the pedestal headlights so that I can finalise the headlight wiring connections in the front of the hull. I only have the one blackout light so not sure how the pins are configured on the actual headlight.

The paint stencils have arrived. Good fast service from Axholme Signs in the UK. A few engine parts also arrived.

While I am waiting for the Tee connections to arrive, I will do some work on the turret which is sandblasted and painted and ready for me to pick up. I will need to give the roller bearing surface on the underside a tidy up when it gets here, as it was moved along a concrete floor before it was taken to the sandblasters.

I’m looking at the best order to fit the gun parts. I have an idea that before the turret is fitted to the hull, it would be preferable to fit the gun cradle into the turret and the recoil system to the gun cradle. The barrel and sleigh could then be fitted into the turret (maybe through the back panel in the turret?) after the turret is fitted to the hull.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the best order to fit the gun?

That’s it. Happy New Year.

[Big D]

More photos.

[Big D]

Hi all,

The rear axle is now complete with hub, internal axles and drums and is ready to roll under the hull. I do need a breather for the axle so will have to see if I can find one of those.

The intermediate axle is awaiting the brake Tee connections which are on the way (thanks Mathijs). Apart from that it is also ready to roll under the hull.

I’ve now completed the hydraulic plumbing for the brakes, throttle and most of the clutch. The clutch is complete up to the engine bay area and I’ll finalise that once I get the engine and gearbox in. So far I’ve worked my way through about 45 metres (nearly 50 yards) of steel tube for the brakes, throttle, clutch and fuel lines. I’ll still need another couple of metres of ¼” tube to finish the fuel lines.

I was having a few issues finding a suitable connector for the 3/8” tubing to go to the throttle slave cylinder. The parts manual lists the fitting as: 11/16-20NF-2 x 5/8-18NPT which I’d never seen before. I thought I might have been stuck finding that but it sounds like I have located one and it is hopefully on the way. I also have the correct adaptors for the hydrovac ordered and on the way.

I fabricated a couple of mounts for the hydrovac. This allowed me to get that in place and finalise the lengths of all the remaining brake lines. I fabricated a couple of small brackets for the flexible hose connections for the front and rear axles. Both of these brackets were missing off the hull. Hopefully where I routed the front line won't interfere with the protective cover that goes over the transfer case.

On the subject of hydrovacs, I have only just realised my hydrovac is a single input and single output unit. I’m not sure how I formed the impression that it had two inputs and two outputs and what I thought was an input port on one side was actually a plug! The hydrovac does appear to be a second series Bendix but looks like it is for one of the models of halftrack.

As a result, I won’t actually need the second (¼”) line I made up to go from the master cylinder to the hydrovac. That was waste of a couple of hours of my life making that. Haha. This actually simplifies things a lot for me though. What I’ve done is to adjust the plumbing a little for the lines to the axles. I have put an extra Tee connection on the hydrovac output so that all axles are connected to that one output. The 5/16” line running from the master cylinder is now to routed to the input on the hydrovac. My plan is to temporarily connect the 5/16” line direct to the ¼” line going to the axles so I can bleed and test the brake system. That will at least tell me that aspect of it is working alright before I get the hydrovac completed and connected.

I may do some painting with some of the paint stencils next week before I get the hull up on its wheels. The hull is at a nice height to work with as it is.

I am still looking for a nut for the steering gear sector shaft if anyone can help. This is 1 1/8-16NF-3. The wheel nuts are 1 1/8-16NF-2 and the thread is very close, but not quite right. What are the differences between NF-2 and NF-3?

That is all for this week.

[Big D]

More photos.