Restoration of Canadian Scout Car Ford Lynx I, Mk.III No.1726

[lynx42]

Some old photos from 14 years or more ago when we started to weld the armoured windscreen into place. The rear armour was also taking shape.



This is what we brought home taken from the front showing the Australian ARN. 123980.



The mounting bracket for the steering column helped to locate the exact position of the front armour.



The column mount bolts to both the hull and the 1 inch + ¼ thick armoured ‘windscreen’ panel. This was to help locate that windscreen panel in its correct place when we welded it back on.



Now back to stripping the hull 2013. The steering column was again removed from the hull and put aside for later work. The steering wheel was extremely hard to turn and the column had to be completely disassembled and new bushes fitted.

Rick

[lynx42]

The hull was now nearly ready to take to the sandblasters but before I took into town I did a complete photo walk around taking photos of every stencil and sign on the hull, mudguards and lockers etc.



The Hull number 1726 was stenciled onto the front of the fuel tank armour on both sides. Note the sand coloured base paint with green camouflage.



‘Sling Here’ at the four lifting points.



‘W/T’ on both escape hatches. Notice I did not say doors, these are just that, Escape Hatches in case of a roll-over.



Tonnage and Tare on the out side of the fuel tanks. (TARE 3 tons 13 cwt 3 lbs.)
And other stencil’s in other places.



and the unit sign of the 1st ARMOURED REGIMENT (I think) who went to Japan with BECOF in January 1946 as the 1st Australian Armoured Car Squadron – the vehicles were initially 18 Staghound Armoured Cars and 8 Canadian Scout Cars (Lynx). ( I am open to correction here as I am not up on Heraldry).

Rick.

[lynx42]

The chassis was ready to pick up from the sandblasters and with that out of the way I was able to take in the stripped hull, the front axle complete with springs and other smaller items.



Once again a crew at the sandblasters was arranged and they did the heavy work as I took photos.



The chassis came up a treat.



At last I was starting to see some results happening. The chassis was taken home and set up ready to receive the many items as they were rebuilt.



The front axle, hubs etc were all sealed up so that the medium would not get into the workings. Large coffee tins were just the right size to seal off the hubs.

Rick.

[lynx42]

Well believe it or not we were only 21 days (three weeks) after the Lynx was pushed into the shed and the chassis has been sandblasted and painted in undercoat.



You do not realize how many parts there are until you completely strip a vehicle down.



Many more small pieces were then taken to the sandblaster.



The rear radiator armour is one heavy piece but I was glad that it had not been butchered as it lay out in the paddock for 40 years.



The lifting rings. And there is a story. The hull had the two top rings with it when I picked it up so I had to locate two more. Tony L. in SA found one for me and I was able to find one in a farmers shed. This farmer had wrecked a Lynx many many years ago (Hull No. 718). He thankfully still had the drivers seat and a few small bits. I visited him one day and as we chatted in his workshop I saw one lifting ring hanging on a nail on a post. That gave me the four I needed.

I did know where the two original ones were off my hull. Charlie McCallum had welded the into a rear bumper bar on one of his Dodge Weapons Carriers as tow or tie-down rings. This Dodge is now in the Canberra area and I was offered the bumper bar but the rings had been well welded in.

Rick

[lynx42]

There were still plenty of bits to go on with whilst waiting for the sandblaster to get his gear repaired.



The armoured roof was next to be dis-assembled. This is quite a heavy bit of ¼” armour plate which hinges in the middle and then folds back out of the way.



Pulling this handle releases the two latches at each side to allow the whole thing to lift back.



There are hinges, latches, pivot arms and plenty of other fittings including the earthing straps every where.



Not all the nuts came undone, but I was pretty lucky.



The latches were rusted solid and I had to get new springs made after pulling the whole thing apart.

[lynx42]

The reason it hinges in the middle is so the front half can be folded back or with it in that position the whole roof lifts back and sits on a special rack at the rear of the crew compartment. Rubber head protectors were where the darker parts are. These pads were about 1/2 inch thick but very necessary when closed down.



Plenty of rust to beat here.



The Lynx Mk.II did away with the roof and partially closed in the top opening with rubber pads all around for protection. (Peter Duggan has that type).



This is one from the web. You can see the rubber pads around the opening.



On the Lynx Mk.I special locks are supposed to hold it in the open position otherwise you might be decapitated.

Rick

[lynx42]

Not all the metal in a Lynx is armour plate. There are the mud guards, lockers, many brackets, the under engine belly plates and the radiator grill, and a few other thin bits.



I was lucky as when I located the hull at Charlies, the side lockers and mudguards were almost undamaged as you can see in these two photos.



The full width front locker was still attached but had seen better days.



The mudguards were basically straight but would take quite a bit of panel beating to make them good enough.



No, that is not a dent or bend in this left side rear mudguard. It is the factory made clearance for the muffler which is seen on both the left and right guards.

Rick.

[lynx42]

The diamond pattern mesh grill only was slightly damaged and not beyond repair even though it was lying out side for so long. This grill is the same open diamonds shaped extrusion as a Chev Blitz radiator grill. Strange as it is a Ford product not a Chev. I will put up some photos of the grill in the next post.

I had placed all of these thin bits under cover back when I first picked up the Lynx and had not been near them since.



I was very fortunate that whenever Charlie pulled something to bits, he put the nut and washer back on the bolt and threw them into a tin. Every bracket had the bolts put back into the holes in the bracket with the nuts and washers. Who does that? I might with some things, but Charlie was regimented in it. Most of these bits were scattered through-out the auction and as I said earlier, I was able to locate most of them, place them on one pallet and purchase then as a job lot.



The front and rear guards still had their light brackets but the light were beyond saving. More on the lights later.



The front guards still had the head light brackets which had been highly modified, the side marker lights which were rusted out and none of the locating brackets or footman loops for the 2 gallon cans which mount on the guards.



The guards needed a good clean before being straightened and taken to the sandblasters.



Rick.

[lynx42]

Originally Posted by lynx42

The diamond pattern mesh grill only was slightly damaged and not beyond repair even though it was lying out side for so long. This grill is the same open diamonds shaped extrusion as a Chev Blitz radiator grill. Strange as it is a Ford product not a Chev.

Found some photos of the grill after it had spent quite a long time in the molasses tank and after pressure washing and wire brushing. You can see how well the molasses tank works.



The top corner was quite bad and required quite a bit of work.



I then started to repair it by welding new bits into the grill where they had been damaged or cut out.



The grill has a folder edge around it and this had been cut and was also missing in parts, so it was a case of bending up a replacement and welding it into place.



The mesh section is like flattened wire. I found some fencing wire the right size and proceeded to flatten it with a hammer on an anvil. I was really surprise how many inches I had to flatten to repair the whole grill. The mesh goes into the edging all the way to the inside of the bend, so as you can see there was quite a bit to add in places. I bent each length of wire into a wavy section the same shape as the mesh and used the oxy-acetylene to weld them as needed.



Rick.

[lynx42]

I was still held up with the sandblaster so I decided to do some of the smaller items which needed repairing.



The headlight mounds had seen better days.







These mounts are Lynx specific only, not made to fit anything else. These had been modified to accept some sort of fork mounted light.



Like those you see on a veteran car. (These are on my 1914 Talbot Type 4CB.)



The fork mount had been crudely welded into the Lynx mounts. The forks were removed and work started on the repairs.

Rick.

[lynx42]

The Lynx head lights are the same as those found on a Cab11 or Cab12 Blitz and tighten up by a single nut from under the mount.



I was lucky that one of the mounts still had it's basic shape and was not too badly mis-shapen.



The other one????



I formed a bowl shaped piece with the same sized convex shape as the good (?) one and I welded into position.



cleaned it up and then cut the six sided hole in the top



a small amount of filler and there they were finished.

Rick.

[lynx42]

The headlights were missing, but I had, over the past 37 years, picked up two new old stock LEFT SIDE headlights. The Lynx lights are the same as on a Cab 11 or Cab 12 Blitz.

I was going to have to convert one Left side one to a Right side one and would therefore have to drill a new hole for the headlight wiring into one of the left hand lights and then weld a filler piece into the existing hole.

I had another rusty right hand light which had the correct plates underneath and inside so I drilled out the rivets and found that the headlight drum was already drilled for both left and right side usage.

All I had to do was turn the mounting plate around 180 degrees and re- rivet it back into place. Unfortunately I did not take any photos of that.

Hope that this helps with your restorations.

Rick

[Mike Cecil]

Hi Rick,

Noticed your thread on the Lynx and the following some time back:

"and the unit sign of the 1st ARMOURED REGIMENT (I think) who went to Japan with BECOF in January 1946 as the 1st Australian Armoured Car Squadron – the vehicles were initially 18 Staghound Armoured Cars and 8 Canadian Scout Cars (Lynx). ( I am open to correction here as I am not up on Heraldry)."

The sign is the Formation Sign of 1st Infantry Brigade, ARA, in the 1950s, rather than 1st Armoured Regiment. 1st Armoured were formed in Australia from the returning 1st Armoured Car Squadron personnel who served in Japan with BCOF, so 1st Armoured Regiment didn't actually serve as part of BCOF. The unit (1st Armoured Regiment) were part of the 1st Infantry Brigade throughout the 1950s. The Unit sign in the 1950s was a diagonally divided square, red upper left, yellow lower right, with the number '50' superimposed, later changing to '41' superimposed. Interestingly, the Unit Sign used, for a time, black numerals, ('50') and later, the more commonly seen white ('41'). Your Lynx would look pretty good with the early 1950s unit/formation signage of 1st Armoured. Was there anything left of the Unit Sign on the hull that we might use to identify the actual unit it served with?

Hope that helps.

Regards

Mike

[lynx42]

Hi Mike C.,

These are the TAC/Unit signs etc that were visible on my Lynx. I hope you can identify them for me.



Red over Yellow on the right rear mudguard.



Unit sign on Left rear mudguard.



TAC/Unit sign front left armour above the cross bin. The white '0' is the last number of the ARN.



The front cross bin as found and a faint red over yellow with white numbers on the left side.



Close up of red over yellow with white numbers(?).

Don't know if these will help identify the unit etc. so fingers crossed.

Rick.

[lynx42]

In Post No.69 I showed the work required on the mesh grill. I located a photo of the finished and fitted grill so here it is.



I took these photos one evening as I closed up the workshop and I thought I would share them with you.



A QANTAS flight from New Zealand heading towards Melbourne as the sun was setting.



No it was not crashing but looked spectacular.



Rick

[lynx42]

In 2006 at the Bellfield Melbourne Tank Museum sale there was an M3A1 White Scout Car with a quite unusual camouflage style. Painted in a three colour pattern the blue was something I had not ever come across before in Australia. I mechanically restored this one for the owner (a big big job) but he wanted to retain the unusual cammo as it was.
There are many photos of vehicles belonging to the Long Range Desert Group during WWII and some restored or look-a likes with a blue cammo scheme.



BUT I did not think that I would find that my Lynx also had Blue cammo.



Blue paint under other colours so it has been there a long time on the rear left engine bay side.



Splashed over the hull in many places was the remains of blue cammo. It was to be seen on the rear engine bay sides, the hull, lockers and mudguards. This was in places over painted with green. I say splashed as there were plenty of runs as well as rough brushings. These runs were behind the left locker attached to the left rear guard. The blue went across the locker lid and down the outside.



Rear of the hull near the right side lifting ring, with the runs going down behind the right side locker attached to the right rear mudguard.



Interesting, I hope that Mike C. can give me an answer.

Rick

[Mike Cecil]

Rick,

Not much to work with there: the Formation sign of 1st Aust Infantry Brigade is the only one I can make a positive ID on. The Unit signs are the red-yellow diagonal square, but I can't make out the Unit Sign Number. But at least you are reasonably sure it was issued to an armoured unit of 1st Aust Inf Bde.

The cam pattern I have seen on a White M3A1 at the time of its disposal, so it came from Army camouflaged that way. I have no records indicating how widespread it may have been, or even if it was official - it seems more likely to have been a unit devised scheme. 1st Armoured Regt certainly used a disruptive camouflage scheme in the late 50s/early 60s, but I have only B&W images which are not much help in colour ID, and they are only of Centurions.

Regards

Mike

[Ganmain Tony]

I have nothing valuable to contibute on your restoration Rick. Only to say I am learning a lot about the Lynx. It really is a fascinating thread and a very interesting machine... so thankyou

I do have a question in regards to your experience with mollases. At this time of year (dead of winter) is it wise for me to start cleaning parts with it? I assume it works better in warmer conditions. Does the tank need a cover over the top?

[lynx42]

Originally Posted by Ganmain Tony

I have nothing valuable to contibute on your restoration Rick. Only to say I am learning a lot about the Lynx. It really is a fascinating thread and a very interesting machine... so thankyou

I do have a question in regards to your experience with molasses. At this time of year (dead of winter) is it wise for me to start cleaning parts with it? I assume it works better in warmer conditions. Does the tank need a cover over the top?

Thank you Tony, it is nice to see that someone out there is interested in my restoration. I will be uploading photos for weeks at this rate.

Now the molasses . You do not need to cover the brew. In fact you can put something big in 2/3 the way and turn it over now and then to get full coverage. Do not spray any wd40 or similar onto the item until you are finished soaking it. It won't work on any oil, grease or like product.

Rust film will form as soon as you take it out of the brew but don't panic. Just wash it off and as soon as it is properly dry, wire brush it.

Regards Rick.

[lynx42]

Originally Posted by Ganmain Tony

I do have a question in regards to your experience with mollases. At this time of year (dead of winter) is it wise for me to start cleaning parts with it? I assume it works better in warmer conditions. Does the tank need a cover over the top?

Hi Tony, at 2.36am I woke up as I thought things over, as you do at that time of day, I realized that I had not answered your question whether the molasses works in the cooler months.

Yes it does, just a bit slower. As I said in the thread where my tank is shown,(thread #13), "This solution is not an acid in any way, what removes the rust is a type of algae which feeds on oxygen." The main thing you must do to keep the algae active is give it some rust to work on and add a bit of fresh water now and then.

Hope this helps.(I did wait until morning to answer you.)

Rick.

[Mike Cecil]

Tony,

If you want to overcome the winter cold, place the bath on an old electric blanket and plug it in (err, not one you want to put back on the bed!). Works wonders on the action of a caustic bath, too.

When in Aust, I used a metal heat pad, the sort you put under your feet when working at a desk, but I suspect any source of constant, low heat would do the trick.

Mike

[Ganmain Tony]

Rick and Mike,

Thanks very much fella's, invaluable help as always. Might also help reduce my bill at the sandblasters.

Will give it a go and let you know how it goes..

[lynx42]

I decided that the transfer case was next to tackle so with Jill’s help and my trusty engine crane we placed it on one of the four poster hoists runways.

I like to keep the work area as clean as possible so a good layer of newspaper underneath the job will catch most of the crap and soak up the inevitable oil spills. First job was to scrape off the mud and debris build up before attempting to unbolt anything as with any restoration, you shouldn’t cut corners and just clean up a part and put it back on



Every part of the Lynx is joined with earth straps and you can see here that even the two parts of the case are earthed to each other and then to the chassis.



The Lynx uses a very shot strange type of coupling between the gearbox and the transfer case. This consists of a pair of Rzeppa disc type universal joints connected by a short shaft. This coupling is just like you find in most WWII military front wheel drive diff assemblies. Fortunately for me, the coupling was still attached to the gearbox and was in good condition. The balls were not rusted and after a really good clean and grease the Rzeppa joints were re-assembled ready to refit and as it says in the workshop manual, wrapped in a clean cloth until ready to use. These are the six bolts onto which the Rzeppa joint bolts.



I started the dis-assembly with the declutch unit and after removing the coupling, I carefully removed, measured and stored the shims behind the coupling.



The transfer case was pretty straight forward to pull down. It is a single speed just like in aC15A or F15A, supplying drive to the front axle as and when required. The selector lever sticks up through the floor on the left of the drivers seat. Pushing it down to the floor engages the drive and pulling it up disengages the drive to the front axle.

[lynx42]

Next came the rear drive coupling, it was here that I found that the transfer case had been rebuilt some time during its military service. How did I come to that conclusion? It was fitted with a clearly marked GMH oil seal no. 2057128. That is the same number as shown in the manual.



I next removed the speedo drive and the breather caps before I started on the input drive coupling. A film canister served as a protection cap over the speedo drive for many years. I was able to locate a breather filter for the breather years ago so that was lucky too.

[lynx42]

After a good clean, I removed the input drive coupling with its 6 coupling bolts by undoing the centre lock bolt and sliding it off the shaft. I could then clean behind and around the area.



I measured the shims and replaced them exactly where they came from and then adjusted them to .003” to .005” on each one except the declutch unit which is set at ZERO. Something to keep in mind is that the thickness of the shims must be equal on both sides of the idler shaft.

A straight edge was used to make sure the gears were below the casing so that they would not rub on the cover. The detente spring should be checked and the ball examined to make sure that it will locate correctly.



New transfer case insulators were required and these were cut out of neoprene sheet.



Not much chance of making an error with this one marked 'OUTSIDE"



Once again I was able to purchase all the bearings and seals over the counter and I is lucky that I have a trade account otherwise it would have cost a H#!l of a lot more.

[lynx42]

The gearbox was one thing that I did not have to worry about too much. About 12 years ago I did a swap deal with Alan N. in SA. His part of the deal was to completely rebuild the gearbox for me. That rebuild involved new bearings, seals etc. His gain was a quantity of Avro Anson gauges and other parts for the one he had ideas of assembling.

The gearbox is only found on the Ford Lynx Scout Car. It has standard Ford Blitz gears but the housing is completely different in that the gate is on the side not the top as in a Ford Blitz. This is linked with rods to the fulcrum mid way along the chassis to change a pull to a push and vis-versa.

Regards Rick.

[lynx42]

Next came the gear change tower. As the Lynx has the engine in the rear and facing backwards, the gear linkage has a pivot (known as the Bracket and Lever assembly) to change a push to a pull and vice-versa. (SEE Post #16 for those photos)

This pivot was re-bushed and so were the linkages where necessary.



This is the tower as taken out of the chassis.



There are packing gland seals at both ends of the rods and boy where they a challenge to replace. The gland nuts were seized solid and I did not want to apply heat as I needed to see the type and size of the gland packing. The gland nuts were close together too close to get a grip with anything I had in the workshop so made up a tool like the one you use to undo an oil filter only much smaller. After three or four tries with different straps I was able finally to undo and later tighten the packing glands.



This is the inside of the tower showing the slides which press onto the base plate.



There is a type of turn buckle set into the rods to allow gear change alignment or adjustment to be made if necessary. These two photos are taken of a Lynx under restoration in SA. You can see the adjustment nuts near to the cross member.



In the tower where the lever goes in there is a pin to locate the lever and to stop it spinning around. This pin and the collar on the lever were worn and a bit of welding and the machining up of a new pin soon fixed that. New gaskets and a good clean saw the tower ready to be refitted.

Rick.

[lynx42]

One part I have not yet located is the bracket that the air cleaner sits on which is bolted to the engine.

These photos are not too clear but show the part I need.



It bolts to the left cylinder head and the air cleaner.

I know that it is a Ford part and was also found on the sedans and station wagons.

So who has one to spare?

Thanks Rick

[lynx42]

The marker lights were badly rusted and needed replacing.



The rusted right marker light.



Left front.



Rear lights



I had looked around many swap meets over the years without any success. It looked like I was going to have to break out the lathe once again and machine up the rusted extension tubes. 38 years of collecting and a couple of moves meant that I had Lynx and other vehicle parts hidden all over the place. One day I was hunting for something and I came across a tin box I didn’t remember before. Opening it I found that there were 9 NOS marker lights inside. I couldn’t believe my luck. I have no recollection of ever purchasing them.

I pulled them apart and replaced the wiring. The springs were all OK and the white and red lenses were in excellent condition but the rubber gaskets were beyond repair. I punched out new gaskets out of thin neoprene after machining up some hole punches. It took quite a few goes to get the outside and inside punched out successfully as the gasket is only about 1/32" wide and thick. I then cleaned the contacts and fitted new globes all round. It was a bit hard to find single contact globes that fitted into the tubes so that the spring would seat the lens against the gasket to seal the unit.



The new marker lights and new headlight drums after spraying them.

The painting stand came from a clothing shop and was very handy as it could be adjusted for height.

Rick.

[lynx42]

These are the finished and mounted market lights. These photos are a bit out of rebuild order but I needed to place them here to show the difference from the previous post of the before and afters.







New shielded wiring and new grommets help finish them off.

All of the holes you see have a use and will be filled eventually with the under mudguard fittings and those also on top.

Rick.