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

[Lynn Eades]

I will post some pics of mine, which looks more original, or may be early production, in the area of the pintle and bolt.
The bolt has a "Dog" under the head which can engage in three different locations, which allows the handle to be tight in a convenient locacation.

I also have one with the large pintle used when the bren is mounted in the vickers mount in Aust. carriers.

[horsa]

I've seen a third version of the lower mounting point (pintle post?) designed for these Bren cradles for use on the heavier Vickers mount. It more closely resembled your lower but the post was like a shortened steel version of the post used on the Vickers Mk IV mount for the standard tripod.

I'm fairly sure that the lower on my example was made for use on the lighter bronze/brass carrier mounts. The unknown is was it a wartime mod or something someone did because they didn't have one of the heavier Vickers mounts that these were intended for when first produced? Being a modification, I’m considering the option of cutting the lower post off and welding in a short length of appropriate thickness steel rod. That would allow it to be used with a mount on the carrier’s side hull. My heavier mount could always be used with a standard Vickers setup if we put it on the Weasel. Can’t put that one on the T-16 as we have a lower locker under the sloping armor where the Aussie heavy mount would bolt onto a plate of steel that hangs down in that location.

[Lynn Eades]

The Vickers mount

[horsa]

Yep, that last mount is what I'm used to seeing for the Bren cradle when used on the heavy Vickers mount.

Did the Kiwi carrier have there as well or were they only on the Aussie carriers?

[Lynn Eades]

Apart from the first forty carriers which were a copy of the original British Bren MkII (I am rebuilding one) The rest of those built here, were of the Australian pattern.

[horsa]

Had the T-16 out for our local army base's annual open house and WWII public show battles this past weekend. We had decent weather for a change which was nice since the wife and kids came out and camped. They all dress out as part of a French FFI Resistance Maquis unit and used my wife's '32 Citroen while I ran around with the carrier stirring up the dust.

Probably only drove 10 miles total but burned up almost five gallons of gas, although we did idle quite a bit. And the tracks need adjustment again since they have stretched out a little more after driving over about a mile of rocky terrain.

[horsa]

A few more photos and some video clips from the same event this past weekend. Usually my group is British airborne but we opted to don black berets with Royal Armoured Corps badges this time since we had the carrier out. Not that the public here in America knows the difference.

Staging the vehicles before one of the show battles. We were tail end Charlie following up the two Shermans and a Stuart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd2Kfui8aTA

Video clip filmed from the gunner side as we follow a Sherman tank through a patch of mud.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyJMw...ature=youtu.be

And this third video was shot by my younger 10 year old daughter. She did a pretty good job keeping it steady as one of the Shermans was approaching her about 45 seconds into the video clip. The T-16 isn't in the video since we were out to film so you'll see a jeep taking up the rear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-h51Gr3Eko

[RichardT10829]

Awesome David, great work

[andrew honychurch]

great stuff, its really good to see it covered in dust as well!!! It back to the workshop for me then.

Did you have any running issues over the weekend or was all as expected?

[horsa]

There really wasn't any problems with starting and running now that I have the electric fuel pump and fuel pressure regulator hooked up into the system. On flat pavement I did some driving in third gear while there were no other vehicles with me but never had space and opportunity to get into fourth gear. There is a fairly steep half mile road having about 20 percent grade with a 5mph speed limit posted on the base. First run we did in first gear and lumbered up but the second run uphill was done in second gear and it also had no issues with the long climb or fuel issues. Temperatures were getting on the hot side in the afternoons but the carrier temp gauge never made it to the 200 degree mark.

Only issue towards the end of the tour was degraded turning to the left. But the tiller bars on that side had a lot more play by then and the tracks now need adjustment like I'd mentioned before. I'll need to adjust the steering and braking linkage as well which will be more of a pain since it will mean pulling the floor locker to get access.

At least nothing broke and there were no vapor lock issues

[horsa]

Been awhile since I last posted anything related to the carrier project. Haven't done anything major to it since I've been tied up with two BSA M20 projects. One completed and sold off already and I'm just finishing off the second which will be a keeper.

Managed to put my breather pipe back on the engine since having pulled it off before resolving my original fuel supply issue more than a year ago. I'd removed it and plugged the two holes to eliminate that as a possible problem with fuel/air flow. You can really see how dusty everything is. Maybe an old parachute would do the trick to keep it cleaner while being stored.

I'm still waiting for a long overdue Waltham speedometer which I sent off to be restored several years ago. But decided to plug my spare mid-war production jeep speedometer in to fill the void for now. That meant having the fun of running the uninstalled speedometer cable back to the rear end with everything else already in place. The angle drive I got from Ray worked perfectly so thanks again for that.

And the current thing I'm playing around with is more weapons mounts. Just drilled and bolted up a rifle clip beside the gunner which isn't per spec for a T-16 but certainly will come in handy. Next will be the brass mount for an AA pogo stick if I can figure out a place that won't interfere with other mounted gadgets.

[horsa]

So I decided to clean the garage early this morning and parked the jeep on my side pad and the carrier in the front yard on some old lumber since we had rain a few days ago and the soil is still damp. Had hosed the concrete down and was mopping with a soapy solution when a minivan pulls into my driveway. The driver gets out and has the balls to say he is the president of another housing area’s home owners association and asks me if I get complaints for having this thing in my front yard. I told him an armed society is a polite society and he looked like he had choked on his own breath, got into his minivan and left.

I sure didn’t expect his reaction as its an old saying. Obviously he had never heard it and probably thought I was threatening him. Figured I should post about it in case he calls the cops and they come to take me away. My neighbors have no problems with me and it floors me that this busy body had so little to do that he is trying to enforce his own ideals on people in other neighborhoods. Dumb shit must have thought my carrier sat outside as yard art but even so, it wouldn’t be a violation where I live.

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Originally Posted by horsa

So I decided to clean the garage early this morning and parked the jeep on my side pad and the carrier in the front yard on some old lumber since we had rain a few days ago and the soil is still damp. Had hosed the concrete down and was mopping with a soapy solution when a minivan pulls into my driveway. The driver gets out and has the balls to say he is the president of another housing area’s home owners association and asks me if I get complaints for having this thing in my front yard. I told him an armed society is a polite society and he looked like he had choked on his own breath, got into his minivan and left.

I sure didn’t expect his reaction as its an old saying. Obviously he had never heard it and probably thought I was threatening him. Figured I should post about it in case he calls the cops and they come to take me away. My neighbors have no problems with me and it floors me that this busy body had so little to do that he is trying to enforce his own ideals on people in other neighborhoods. Dumb shit must have thought my carrier sat outside as yard art but even so, it wouldn’t be a violation where I live.

Well done David.
It is idiots like that ,that have nothing better to do..you didn't have a chainsaw handy you could have chased him with...??After all, y'all are in Texas..You gave him response..the chainsaw would have been react..!!But it would have gone well on You Tube.

[Ron Pier]

Looks like a 'Mother Lovely' lawn ornament to me. Good job the shitty little jobsworth didn't pull up at my place. The ginger hair would have kicked in and I probably would have had my collar felt by the blue meanies for aggravated assault. Why can't people live and let live? What about if you complained about the untidiness of his golf clubs or fishing tackle as they lay on his lawn? Did you get his address? I'll send someone round to stick a bat up his nightdress. Makes my blood boil..Grrrrr.............And relax!

Ron

[horsa]

I do have chainsaws and baseball bats but likely I'd loose a Stand Your Ground defense if I used them. A firearm would be quicker and easier. Plus the jury system in Texas would more readily understand and agree that I was in my right since he pissed me off on my own property.

Everything is back inside again so I can now have a brew and let it pass. Still amazed though that the guy wasn't even from my area and stopped to make his point. He likely has a lot of people in his own neighborhood that can't stand him as some places really do have tight restrictions on what you can do with your own house and yard in terms of colors and building styles. Part of why we didn’t move to a place like that…

[lssah2025]

Looking good Dave, love the other mounts, like anything else field mods were widely used, so there you have it, still working on my projects and might have another one or two up the sleeve, we will find out...speaking of things, are you looking at going to the 70th next year across the pond? Hey speaking of the Bren mount, I might be interested in it if you are looking to part with it...

[horsa]

Hey Lance,

You talking about the vehicle convoy for the XXX Corps route to Arnhem next year? I'd love to go but don't think there is any chance I'd have the resources to ship the carrier from Texas to Holland and back. I know Jim B. is taking his wheeled armour and another guy closer to me might be taking a Daimler. Just saw the update on your Humber project. Would be great if you could ship it over and tag with Jim and his crew next year.

[lssah2025]

Depending on the vehicles Dave, you would have a spot, also a certain individual might be taking a jeep and 6 pounder there ... I do 15th Scottish with those guys too, so we will see what goes or what doesn't.

[horsa]

Sounds interesting. Shoot me an eMail when you know more.

[horsa]

Labor Day Weekend Fun....

Needed to do some adjustments on the vehicle so decided to do them all at once. Track had loosened up enough to justify pulling a link on each side and I had the bogie assemblies with the heavier duty double springs on the front of the vehicle and they should be on the rear to keep the butt higher.

Swapping the bogie assemblies was a piece of cake since everything is still well maintained and free moving. Had to take the fronts and put them on the rear but at opposite sides so that my road wheel grease fittings would still be on the outside. It didn't take long but sure isn't getting any lighter lifting these things off and back on by myself.

While the tracks were off, I applied a chemical rust converter to make them black again. I'd never painted the tracks since I knew paint would crack and chip over time and then be hard to touch up being dirty and/or greasy. Plan from the start was to allow the tracks to develop surface oxidation and then convert it. That way as it wore off and oxidized again, it could be touched up as the chemicals only react with rust and don't hurt paint.

Putting the tracks back on wasn't as easy as removing them since it was a lot hotter by then and I was getting worn down. Also forgot that when I first put the tracks on, I'd used my winch to pull them on and over the wheels. Did it all free-hand this time, again by myself. So that shows it can be done with a little determination.

Shots attached show the chemical as it was sloppily brushed on and then the excess was brushed off or spread around to other missed areas. The reaction was fairly quick and you can see some initial shots I took showing places I left untreated for the photo as a comparison. Later spread the track out to get all areas and then flipped them over to do the ground side even though the pads will rub clean again with use. Figured this would allow me to better hit all the inner spaces and I had plenty of chemicals left. Even being sloppy and wasteful, I only used 1.5 gallons for both sides of both tracks. This stuff costs $49 per gallon with shipping and I bought mine on-line via Home Depot since they don't stock it in the stores. It had great on-line reviews and I think I'd agree that it turned out pretty good for little cost or effort. And now the tracks look like all the armour models I had as a kid

[horsa]

The chemical was Corroseal if anyone is curious and one of the attached shots shows the bottle next to the tracks after being treated.

[Michael R.]

Nice to see you again David. Good post regarding Corroseal. Thank-you.

[Ben]

Very smart looking carrier, well done.

[RichardT10829]

Great job.... My tracks are done with similar stuff but look the same.

[eddy8men]

on my t16 I used a thinned down bitumen roof paint and got a nice black finish but when I do my mk1 carrier I think i'll use david's method as the bitumen takes forever to dry.
thanks for the tip

rick

[horsa]

The stuff I used converts the rust to a black oxide. The conversion was very fast. I tested first by dabbing a little onto a spot with a rag and it turned black almost instantly. That was enough for me to decide to dump the contents of the jug into a small bucket and to apply it with a very cheap 2" wide paint brush. If you slop it on enough to pool up, it does the conversion and the excess dries like latex caulk which can be peeled or scraped off without any affect to the metal that converted underneath. Less work to paint evenly but that takes a lot longer also. I started out being neat but as my paintbrush started to get clumpy from jabbing it into the holes in the links, I adopted the quick slopping method. The chemicals didn't eat the brush but the method of getting to all of the track surfaces pretty much killed the brush after doing all of one side for both tracks.

[horsa]

It's off to California. The rig had a lift gate that could pick up the carrier so no ramps. There were other British vehicles in the trailer but none were OD.

[chris vickery]

Looks like a tight fit for climbing out with the second deck right over head...

[horsa]

It was a tight fit overhead for climbing in and out but even tighter on the two sides driving in. The transport trucker will have to offload at least once on his way west across the country to get other cars out of the trailer. Sure glad I'm not responsible for backing it up 25-30 feet to get out of that tight tube.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

David,

Sorry to hear you had to let the T16 go. Here's hoping the new owner takes as good care of it as you did.

Hanno