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

[horsa]

My back has been messed up for a long time already. Left leg has a steel rod in it as well which I've had upgraded to a thicker one after having busted the first one that was installed. Doing this type thing actually straights everything back out again since I wasn't outright lifting the hull. Plus it really was only 2600 pounds and not two tons like I told my four year old daughter who you can hear in the video

Swiss mods and things they removed which were British are quite extensive. I'll try to list the main ones I can remember off the top of my head.

Swiss Added:

Welded on bracket for headlight
External horn
pair of welded on armor plate turn signals
Welded on rear brake light bracket
Welded on pair of hangers under dash for modified brake levers
Brake levers modifed with top studs for above hanger modification
Welded on front aerial bracket
Welded on heavy frame on gunners side deck for radio
Welded on heavy cover for same gunner side radio
Welded on rear inside frame work for battery and spare gas cans
Welded on straps for large gas tank on gunner rear side
Swiss had troop seats with back rests so about 60 holes had to be welded up from all of their bolt down locations

British/USA features removed:
All bailout bag metal hangers that are supposed to be all over the vehicle
Pair of front POW can holding brackets on fender flats
Front and back PIAT brackets on engine deck cover fin
Armor fin on the engine deck cover half cut off by they Swiss
Pair of Bren gun holding bracket plates on each side of vehicle ground off by Swiss
Pair of alternate radio mounting straps in rear cut off to allow Swiss gas tank
Single normal raido mounting strap behind driver cut off sor Swiss troop seat
Pair of welded angle brackets for radio and fifth passenger removed by Swiss for troop seat
Seven tool bin/lockers were removed by Swiss and all of their mounting bracked welded to the floor were ground off
Swiss removed all brackets and holders for rear armor pioneer tool placement
Pair of front recovery cable horns removed
Pair of brackets for storage of aerial sections removed
Bracket for mounting radio control box removed from behind driver armor
Five of the wading skirt plates were removed by the Swiss

British/USA features that bolted on and the Swiss welded up the holes:
Front siren removed and holes on driver side fender welded up
Front Bren gun brackets for holding gun in standby position removed and holes welded up
Holes for front smoke discharger/mortar mounting bracket welded up
Front bracket for PIAT standby position removed and holes welded up
Rear bracket for PIAT standby position removed and holes welded up
Left and Right tail lamps removed and all eight holes in rear armor welded up
Pairs of holes for bolting straps were welded up at front recovery cable location and two places for the aerials

Think that covers the main things that had to be removed or replaced to get back to British WWII configuration. Now the fun part begins with bolting everything back on to make this a running carrier again since the hull is 100 percent empty right now.

Shots below show some of the things I had to build and weld back onto the hull since virtually all British modifications had been removed from it. Bare metal parts don't stay rust free for very long when you work outside in a tent...