Two T16s to restore

horsa · #1 04-07-12, 00:03

Yep, both hulls show evidence of having done Swiss service. That will account for the lack of internal lockers and fuel tanks since they ripped everything out when they converted the vehicles into APCs.

You'll have to jump through most of the same hoops I did while putting my carrier back into British configuration if that's the ultimate goal.

andrew honychurch · #2 04-07-12, 06:51

hi there Eric and welcome to the wonderful world of T16 restorations. I have nearly finished with mine, which is about 2 years working pretty hard, most of the time has gone in getting the details right, and fabricating all of the rotted out of missing items. I have been greatly helped by David who has chronicled every aspect of his restoration and has been able to guide me in many ways. I will be happy to help you guys with any items you need advice on and if I can help with parts, I have found sources for some items here in the UK. Like carburettors, overhaul kits, fan belts, fuel pumps and kits, new sender units. I wish you good fortune with the restorations and knowing what a fun vehicle they are at the end it will be well worth your efforts.

As well as Rod Shaver, check out Brian Asbury in Canada. He has some specialist T16 parts as well.

Now, you reminded me. I need to update my post!!

EricF · #3 07-07-12, 00:36

The rear end was mounted on the 4th of July, but doing it removed any desire to celebrate the day. We did not use the method we saw in your pictures Andrew. We used the PTO on a tractor to lift the rear end onto a pallet, and then lined it up with the access hole at the rear of the T16. Everything looked good, but we deluded ourselves into thinking this would be a half hour job. It turned into several hours of sweating, swearing and sweltering in 100 degree heat. We finally gave up when we were starting to see mermaids, and thought we would let it sit until Saturday. I got a call from Glen a couple of hours later and he told me that he found advice from an expert (only Glen could find a German who fought in France during the war, and used T16s for a taxi behind his lines) that knew exactly how to mount a rearend. Glen has to tell me the full story on Saturday, but it had to do with a come along and a martial spirit. Needless to say, I was pretty surprised that he got it finished by himself, but at least I was sitting in my airconditioned house while we took on the final work by himself. I will be posting some pictures later this weekend, and hope to have even more completed by the end of the weekend. I am waiting for parts lists from Rod and Brian, and I'll be trying to remember to bring the parts technical manual home with me after we finish work on Saturday. I'm not exactly certain how many track links we have, but I think it's some where around 700. We have two full sets with lots of sag that were removed from one track, and another set with approximately 160 linked together. There is also a stack of unlinked tracks that numbers around 160. Pins might be a problem, because I'm pretty certain we don't have enough for the unlinked tracks. We'll worry about that when we get to it though. We are getting more excited every week, and once the engine is back we'll make getting it mounted our next priority. More to come this weekend.

EricF · #4 23-07-12, 20:42

Just to inform everyone that has been viewing this thread and hasn't seen any activity, we're going through a drought right now, and the temperatures have been over 100 degrees (F) for several weeks. It's just too damn hot to be working with metal right now. We hope to be getting back to work soon.

EricF · #5 09-01-13, 21:20

We're starting to get back into swing with the first restoration. We're slower than we want to be, but we still have our day jobs to consider. Since the last post, we've blasted and painted the hull exterior, wheel assemblies, controls and other assorted objects. We now have one working flat head, and another one almost ready to be picked up. The rear end is mounted, and brakes are being worked on. We've found a local car restorer that will make our bins for us, but since our tracks are both Swiss retreads, there are no original bins, fuel tanks, or other light metal parts. Does anyone have the dimensions for the different storage bins or fuel tanks? We do have several Swiss tanks we are considering cutting down to fit in the original locations. We're also going to be looking for the view port armor, so any references to these would help too. We feel we have enough other parts to restore one complete T16, and we may be putting some of our other parts up for sale to help complete the first one. More on that later. Any illustrations and dimensions would be greatly appreciated.

clarkray · #6 10-01-13, 14:48

I guess David is going to have to take responsibility for another T16 being saved beside mine and a few more.He is the bible publisher in this case.I will add a picture of mine so you will see yours in some future time.

EricF · #7 14-01-13, 18:41

I just visited your website and started drooling. We seem to match up in other ways. Not in parts production. The best we can hope for in that regards is beating something into shape with a sledge. We do have a Clark Airborne bulldozer however, and it still earns it's keep doing a bulldozer's job. Did you make all of your bins and missing armor parts?