MLU FORUM  

Go Back   MLU FORUM > MILITARY VEHICLES > The Restoration Forum

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #271  
Old 07-09-18, 09:20
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

Some more photos.
Attached Thumbnails
20180907_162245.jpg   20180907_162457.jpg   20180907_162505.jpg   20180907_162540.jpg   20180907_162625.jpg  

__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #272  
Old 21-09-18, 06:25
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

Hi all,
This week seems to be one where I start a lot of jobs and for various reasons only finish one or two of them.

I managed to source a NOS replacement housing to replace the cracked one on the differential. I talked with my engineering contacts about various ways to repair the crack in the other one and the consensus was that we could spend several hours on a repair with no guarantee it would be a permanent repair. I managed to get the NOS housing at a very reasonable price so it made sense to go that way.

As an aside, not sure if anyone has confirmed this previously but the differential in the M8 is quite a bit bigger than the one in the White Scout car. I had a spare axle for my Scout Car and I opened up the diff housing to see if I could rob the required part from there. Alas, the diff is smaller. The gaskets I got from Andrew which were made up for LP2A carriers were the right hole spacing and size for the Scout Car axle housing so I’m interested in seeing if they fit the M8 axle housing.

Thanks to Grant for his recommendation on the parts for the primer pump. I got a rebuild kit for a primer pump for an M38 jeep off EBay. The internal dimensions of this pump seem to be the same. The leather washer was a tight fit in the pump bore but it went in. I didn’t have any Neatsfoot oil for the seal so I used Olive Oil instead.

I managed to pick-up a few good parts recently like the headlight sleeves for the hull which I’d been looking for. I’ve also spent a bit of time tidying up some take-off MP48A antennas.

I had no luck finding the elusive U bolt for the rear springs, so I got one made up. It doesn’t look exactly like the original but I will shape it a little bit with the grinder and it should do the trick.

I’ve started stripping the recoil system. Despite many weeks of soaking with penetrant, I needed a big long lever on a breaker bar to remove the buffer off the end of the recoil cylinder. A bit of heat might have made it slightly easier but I didn’t have that at hand at the time. I removed the pin securing the coupler to the piston but that thing is on there real tight. I’ll get some heat onto that next and see if it will pull off.

Like Tankanic, I made up a tool to remove the follower at the end of the cylinder but I’d say I’ll need to weld a big lever onto that to get it to move, once I have the coupler off.

Meanwhile, I finally got around to arranging a truck to take the turret to the sandblasters for blasting and painting.

That is all.
Attached Thumbnails
20180916_170311.jpg   20180917_172845.jpg   20180921_085802.jpg   20180921_144642.jpg   s-l1600 (1).jpg  

__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #273  
Old 21-09-18, 06:26
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

More photos.
Attached Thumbnails
20180919_093229.jpg   20180921_104248.jpg   20180921_104305.jpg   20180921_104423.jpg   20180921_104451.jpg  

__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #274  
Old 05-10-18, 08:34
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

Hi all,

Here are a few photos showing what I’ve been doing over the last couple of weeks.

I managed to get the recoil system apart. Thanks to Tankanic for his assistance. I had to make up another tool to remove the follower. Version 1 just wasn’t strong enough and I needed a big lever to get the follower undone. The photos show how it all sits in the recoil cylinder. I’ll have a closer look at everything when I am back in the workshop.

The new diff housing has arrived so I’ll be able to advance the axle assembly which I’m looking forward to.

I have a brake specialist folding up the 1/2" hydraulic line for the clutch master cylinder. The tubing was pricey so I figured I'd rather get it done right first time. Hopefully this will be done shortly.

I spent a bit of a time stripping the engine blocks to see what I’ve got and what can be reused. I got the flywheel off one of the blocks and the ring has a bit of damage. However, it looks like there is enough meat on there to turn the ring over on the flywheel. Out of interest I photographed the M8 flywheel alongside a White Scout car flywheel. As you can see, the scout car flywheel is quite a bit bigger.

On a side note, for what it’s worth for those doing Hercules JXD rebuilds, next week I will photograph the differences between the oil pump for the White Scout car and the M8 and post it here. I say that as I bought what I was told was a Scout car oil pump from a reseller for my Scout car engine rebuild and it turned out to be one from an M8. There are differences in the sumps as a result of the differences in the pumps.

That is all for this week...
Attached Thumbnails
20181005_150510.jpg   20181005_150523.jpg   20181005_150417.jpg   20181005_154940.jpg   20181005_164352.jpg  

__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #275  
Old 05-10-18, 08:35
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

More photos.
Attached Thumbnails
20181004_154437.jpg   20181004_154512.jpg   20181004_155705.jpg   20181005_143651.jpg   20181005_143708.jpg  

__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #276  
Old 16-10-18, 09:49
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

Hi all,

I am still waiting for the axles to be done which is getting quite frustrating now. If it is going to be too much longer, I’m inclined to go in and pick them up and do them myself now that my hand is right.

As well as doing a few odd jobs on the M8, most of my time over the last week has been spent stripping the three engine blocks. All three blocks are pretty tired with quite a bit of pitting on the tops of the block in and around the valve seats. The pistons and valves are all stuck so there is some work to break them all down. I’m not sure if any of the blocks will be up to the job but my aim is to get them all apart so that they can be assessed by someone with more knowledge than I have.

I have taken out the other two crankshafts that were still in the blocks. One crankshaft looks quite good and still had plenty of oil on the surfaces, but the other two will need some tidying up. I’ve had the pistons soaking with penetrant for some months in these blocks and now that I have all the crankshafts out, I’ve started the process of giving the pistons a good smack with a big hammer and a solid piece of wood shaped to fit in the bore. Out of the 18 pistons in the three blocks I’m working on, 1 piston has moved about 10mm so as I expected, this is going to be a long process.

As you can see, the tops of a number of the pistons are actually so badly pitted they can’t be saved so I am experimenting with another method of removal recommended to me. This involves drilling the top of the piston with the aim of breaking up the piston and or getting to the rings. I have plenty of valves and pistons and these are easily obtained, but good bores are not, so if I can get the pistons out and save the bores and rods it maybe worth a go. I’ve been told an air chisel is the way to do this but I don’t have that so I will progress with a drill and die grinder and see how that goes. I need to get penterant into the rings which will be what is sticking in the bore.

I’ve tidied up the bellhousing, engine mounts and timing cover along with a few other parts in preparation for a rebuild. It took me a couple of go’s to get the paint to my liking. I think it looks pretty close now.

For Oz and others rebuilding Hercules JXD engines, one of the photos shows the two seals for each end of the block. One seal has the unique rubber ring that goes around the seal in the block. I got these from Linda and Jerry at Hercules Parts, along with some other engine parts.

That's it for this week.
Attached Thumbnails
20181010_104719.jpg   20181010_153552.jpg   20181016_125126.jpg   20181016_125154.jpg   20181016_125220.jpg  

__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #277  
Old 16-10-18, 09:50
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

More photos.
Attached Thumbnails
20181016_133241.jpg   20181016_125233.jpg   20181016_174917.jpg   20181016_175157.jpg   20181016_175209.jpg  

__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #278  
Old 21-10-18, 09:43
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

Hi all,

A little bit more progress on the engine side of things which might interest the guys looking at doing Hercules JXD’s.

I’ve cleaned up and prepared a few more parts for the engine rebuild. It looks like there are a couple of types of thermostat housing as I have two types here. I haven’t worked out which one I’ll use yet.

I’ve been working on the fan pulley assemblies. One of these has a broken pulley and is seized. The other one was completely rusted up and I had to soak it in molasses some years ago when I first got the project. Neither is going to come apart easily but I’m hoping I’ll get one good unit out of the two. I have another good fan pulley on the way to make up the two required.

I checked out all three cylinder heads I have here and I see there are differences in them. I picked out the one that looks the best and cleaned it up with a wire wheel. The thermostat housing was a bit of a dog to get off as the internal nut and the stud in the cylinder had corroded and become one. I used a die grinder in the end to knock off the side of the nut and that has saved the stud. I think this head should be okay and I can’t see any obvious defects with it. There is a bit of pitting on the surface so it will need to be planed. It is ready now for a dip and closer inspection by the engine reconditioner.

I’ve attached some pictures of the other cylinder heads I have. The one pictured with the head that I cleaned up is off a scout car engine but I see it has a fine crack through to where the thermostat housing bolts on. This head appears to be the same as the other head I have which has some damage to one of the head bolt holes. Are there differences between the M8 and Scout car heads? Is there any difference in the compression ratio? Is the one I have cleaned up for an M8 and the others are for Scout Cars? I will have to investigate further.

I have made some progress in removing the pistons with three out of the bores so far. I certainly recommend the option of cutting out the top of the piston and attacking the rings from in behind, providing the piston is expendable and the pistons are at TDC. I can see now that five of the six pistons are pitted on the top so they’ll need replacing anyway. I see also that these pistons are .060” so the engine has been rebuilt at least once before. I wonder if the fact that it is at maximum oversize now has contributed to one of the cylinder walls collapsing? Anyway, the three bores where I have removed pistons look good. We’ll see how bad the others are. I can only see one hole in one of the bores so hopefully there is enough meat there for the cylinder sleeves.

That’s all for this week.
Attached Thumbnails
20181021_184649.jpg   20181021_163902.jpg   20181020_094659.jpg   20181020_162000.jpg   20181020_162129.jpg  

__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #279  
Old 21-10-18, 09:44
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

More photos.
Attached Thumbnails
20181021_111220.jpg   20181021_150649.jpg   20181021_150753.jpg   20181021_152154.jpg   20181021_180756.jpg  

__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #280  
Old 28-10-18, 09:39
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

Hi all,

Here are a few photos now that I have the pistons out of the block. I’m glad that the pistons were not reuseable as it was a real battle getting them out and as expected, the pistons are now a sad sight! Four out of the 6 bores are not too bad. As you can see cylinder 5 has quite a hole in the cylinder wall. You can probably make out in the photos that the cylinder wall is actually quite thin there and as I said in my last post, I wonder if .060 thousand oversize is pushing it on these blocks. Cylinder 6 has a bit of damage from where the rings and the bore had become one. Structurally though, this cylinder and all cylinders bar cylinder 5 are sound.

I guess the reconditioner will determine whether the condition of that cylinder makes it a viable option for sleeving. I can’t see any reason why not providing the sleeve seals around that hole in the wall, but then I am no expert. Hopefully I haven’t wasted about 2 days work in getting it apart so far!

I am almost inclined to get the reconditioner to assess the block first before I try to get the valves out as I can see these are going to be a battle as well. All are stuck in the guides and I suspect there will be plenty of pitting around the valve seats once I get the valves out. I doubt whether any of these valves will be reuseable and I will be replacing the guides and springs anyway, providing the block can be rebuilt. Does anyone have any bright ideas on the most time effective way of getting the valves out?

The engine sump holds oil but is a bit of an eyesore and I am debating whether to repair it or not. It has several internal baffles so getting access to the dents is impossible without cutting the bottom off the sump, panel-beating it and then welding the bottom on again. I am a little hesitant to go that route though, as cutting through the sump without seeing what is behind the sump wall might be risky. Alternatively I guess I could drop it off to a panelbeater and get them to try pull out the main dents.

I have seen worse sumps than this though and I’m confident that the majority of the oil would drain during engine change. However, it does look ugly. Thoughts anyone? Has anyone done such a repair?

That's it for today.
Attached Thumbnails
20181028_183734.jpg   20181028_183712.jpg   20181028_183700.jpg   20181028_183643.jpg   20181028_183637.jpg  

__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #281  
Old 28-10-18, 09:40
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

More photos.
Attached Thumbnails
20181028_183428.jpg   20181028_182828.jpg   20181026_110718.jpg   20181026_110704.jpg   20181025_114954.jpg  

__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #282  
Old 04-11-18, 00:20
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

Hi all,

A bit more progress on the engine block side of things. We had a close look at the spare block from the Scout Car rebuild now that all the pistons are out of that.

The crankshaft from this block has some wear on it and the crank I took out of the M8 block I was working on will be a better option.

The good news is that the bores in this block are STD size and are all intact. The bores actually don’t look too bad, and may be good enough with just a hone, but if not they will be bored out to 0.20” oversize.

Like the other block, the valves in this block are all stuck as well. There is some pitting around the valve seats but from what I can see, it is a lot less than the M8 block.

Overall this block appears to be a better rebuild option than the M8 block I have been working on. I will finish stripping it and then get it back to the reconditioner for a crack test etc, just to be sure, but I'm fairly sure this will be the one.

As an aside, here are some pictures of the manifolds for the Scout Car and the M8 which shows the differences between them. The pictures of the M8 block and the scout car block show the two studs missing at each end for the different manifold that the M8 uses. If I use this block, I will need to drill and tap the ends and fit some studs to mount the M8 manifold.

I’ve completed the gearshift and linkage assemblies. I had an original of the shorter rod for the linkage but didn't have the longer one. I’d seen NOS rods for sale but the freight cost of getting what was basically just a length of 7/8” solid rod sent here versus making one just didn’t warrant the expense, so I ended up fabricating the longer rod. In the end, I didn’t even use a solid rod, and went with a hollow pipe with heavy walls on it instead.

I stamped my data tags and fitted the ones to the gun side plate. One of the letters I stamped is not flash but overall not too bad.

That is all for this week.
Attached Thumbnails
20181102_141645.jpg   20181102_155942.jpg   20181102_155914.jpg   20181102_155854.jpg   20181102_170558.jpg  

__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #283  
Old 04-11-18, 00:21
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

More photos.
Attached Thumbnails
20181101_183833.jpg   20181101_183646.jpg   20181028_190922.jpg   20181103_150139.jpg   20181103_152800.jpg  

__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #284  
Old 04-11-18, 01:54
David Dunlop David Dunlop is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Winnipeg, MB
Posts: 3,384
Default

Hi Darryl.

Sorry I am backtracking here a bit, but I forgot to ask when you posted photos of your disassembled main gun.

Is the damage to the barrel deliberate de mil work, range damage, or a combination of both?

David
Reply With Quote
  #285  
Old 04-11-18, 03:50
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

Hi David

I think it is range damage. I don’t believe this gun was ever fitted to the turret I have, which was certainly a range target at some point. However, the damage on the tube of the gun suggests to me that it was done on the range as well.

I’d say the damage done to the tube happened some time ago, as the sleigh and the recoil system fitted to it had been on it for some time, and that sleigh actually covered up the damage quite nicely, so I didn’t see how bad it was until I got the sleigh off.
__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #286  
Old 05-11-18, 00:11
James P James P is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Canada
Posts: 386
Default

It is always a treat to see your fantastic work and breathtaking attention to detail on this rebuild from a heap of beat up random parts into a like new condition vehicle. The pics of your work on this journey shows that you have set the bar very high my friend and getting it done right.
Reply With Quote
  #287  
Old 06-11-18, 19:49
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

Hi James P

Thanks for that. Hopefully the finished product reflects that. Haha!
__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #288  
Old 08-11-18, 09:11
colin jones's Avatar
colin jones colin jones is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Adelaide
Posts: 1,810
Default

Strike me pink Darryl, you've made some wonderful serious progress there. The padding on the side of the 37mm plate, is that standard on all of them and where did you get the plaques from.
Reply With Quote
  #289  
Old 08-11-18, 20:05
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

Hi Colin,

Yes, getting there, thanks.

The padding on the side of the gun plate is standard. I'd seen pictures with different coloured material and not sure what is the correct colour, so I ended up going with this colour because it was cheap!

I got the data plates from a guy in the US. They are a lot thinner than the originals but look the part.
__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #290  
Old 10-11-18, 08:57
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

Hi all,

I’ve continued working on stripping this engine block over the last week. A couple of the valves came out relatively easily, but most haven’t been easy to get out and appear to be rusted into place in the top of the valve guides. One valve was broken at the head, and at least one was bent and most looked pretty rough. Almost all the valves were in the down position, so even when I got the valve spring keeper out, I couldn’t get the spring off the valve. Access to the top of the guide on most of the valves was only possible through the ports, and it isn’t easy to get penetrant into the top of the guide from the port.

The valve pushrods, apart from two or three of them, were also stuck in their guides, so I couldn’t get the camshaft out either. With the pushrods stuck and the valves stuck, I had to scratch my head for a while about how to progress things. In the end, and considering the condition of the old valves and the cost of new valves, I decided to cut the valve springs, cut the keeper end of the valve off, and work penetrant into the valve guide (from the underside), while tapping on the cut end of the valve with a drift to see if I could loosen them up.

Most of the valves were pretty rough, and I’d already decided I would be replacing these along with the springs so it just made sense to do it this way. This has been relatively successful and I have 7 valves out now. The other 5 valves are proving to be a challenge. I can tell by the sound when tapping on the cut end that the valve and guide are now one so I will need to come up with another strategy to get these last ones out.

I have tried applying some heat around the guides from the ports but it is little hard to apply evenly from there. I may yet look at somehow cutting off the top of the valve. This will give me good access to the guide so I can get penetrant in there. Failing that, as a last resort I may just punch out the guides with what is left of the valve stem in them. The guides are removed by punching down out of the block (with the piston side up), so I would still need to have taken the top of the valve off to do this though. These guides will need replacing anyway, so that could be a quick way to deal with the problem valves. Most of the valve guides had some corrosion in them so I will probably just replace the lot.

Once I had cut the keeper ends of the valves off, I was able to turn the block over and get some penetrant into the pushrods, and start tapping away on these. After a bit of work of penetrant, the pushrods were free enough to be able to fully tap down so I could get the camshaft out. A bit more penetrant later and out came all the pushrods.

The pushrods are pretty rough even after a soaking in solvent and with replacements costing $20 each, it just makes sense to replace these as well. I’ll also check out the pushrod guides after the block is cleaned up to see if any need replacing.

The camshaft has cleaned up nicely. It has a bit of pitting in a few places but the lobes are clear. The crankshaft from the M8 block is the best one I have so I will be using that. It has a bit of pitting here and there but overall is pretty good.

Now that I have some of the valves out, I can see that most of the valve seats are in pretty good shape. A couple have some deep pitting but overall these look better than the other block I was working on. Hopefully my engine reconditioner can work his magic on these seats.

I’ve removed the broken manifold studs. I still need to retap a couple of these, along with drilling and tapping the extra holes for the studs to hold the bigger M8 manifold.

I’ve attached a picture of the various shims used in these engines. They are easily bent when trying to clean them.

That’s about it for today. If anyone has any other bright ideas about the valves, I’m all ears!
Attached Thumbnails
20181102_170558.jpg   20181107_120028.jpg   20181107_120112.jpg   20181107_120132.jpg   20181108_150108.jpg  

__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #291  
Old 10-11-18, 08:58
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

More photos.
Attached Thumbnails
20181108_163709.jpg   20181109_181737.jpg   20181109_184041.jpg   20181110_181039.jpg   20181110_181114.jpg  

__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #292  
Old 24-11-18, 09:37
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

Hi all,

I’ve finally completed stripping the scout car JXD engine block. The valves tried my patience but I got them all out, albeit one taking a guide with it.

As I expected, it made a big difference being able to access the top of the guide where all the corrosion was. I got a bit creative and came up with the bright idea of using a mag drill and hole saw cutter to cut the top of the stuck valves off. That worked out good as it gave me access to the top of the guide and I was able to first scrape away and clean off the corrosion and then get some penetrating oil into the guide.

The block is now with the engine reconditioner for cleaning and crack testing. We’ll see then what the bores are like. He took a quick look at the valve seats and felt that two of them may need new seats inserted, but will confirm once he has had a closer look. He also thought that the main bearings and big end bearings might actually be fine, but will also confirm later. I see the big end bearings are already 0.060”.

The M8 manifold is blasted and painted now, although I’m not overly happy with the paint. It is just too flat and some surface rust is showing on the manifold already, so I’ll need to find something a bit heavier. I’ve pre-drilled the holes on the scout car block for the two extra studs required for attaching the M8 manifold. I’ll tap these once the block is confirmed as ‘good to go’.

I did a bit of panel beating on the sump but it still has a number of dents in it. Now that it has some paint on it, it doesn’t look too bad.

I’ve also continued some work on the recoil system. I will need to get some new strips of brass folded up to replace the damaged ones on the top of the cylinder. These strips are held into place by small brass pins. They almost look like an extrusion of some sort so I might try some of the surplus scrap dealers to see if it is something they might have on the shelf. I’ll also need to make up another brass bush for it to sit in the cradle as this only has one. I’ve re-tapped all the mounting holes on the cylinder and all are in good shape. I have also cleaned out the bore and it is nice and shiny. I am taking Barry’s advice and won’t be putting any oil in the tube.

I will need to make up a tool to get it all back together though. With the aid of a neighbour who is a retired mechanic, we spent a bit of time on it today trying a bit of muscle power, to see if we could compress the spring enough to get the coupler on the end. We weren’t able to do it though and I’d suggest it would be a three person job to be able to hold enough weight on the spring while screwing the coupler on the end.

I have in mind to use some steel plate at each end connected by half inch threaded rod. There are enough fixing points on the cylinder that I can attach it to and I’ll simply wind down the plate on one end and compress the spring. That’s the plan anyway…I’ll photograph what I make up next week.

That is all for this week.
Attached Thumbnails
20181114_152741.jpg   20181117_150840.jpg   20181117_150902.jpg   20181123_104530.jpg   20181108_145113.jpg  

__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #293  
Old 24-11-18, 09:38
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

More photos.
Attached Thumbnails
20181112_135028.jpg   20181112_135034.jpg   20181116_153340.jpg   20181124_205424.jpg   20181124_205332.jpg  

__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #294  
Old 24-11-18, 13:02
Tony Smith's Avatar
Tony Smith Tony Smith is offline
No1, Mk 2** (I'm back!)
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Lithgow, NSW, Australia
Posts: 5,042
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Big D View Post
Hi all,

The M8 manifold is blasted and painted now, although I’m not overly happy with the paint. It is just too flat and some surface rust is showing on the manifold already, so I’ll need to find something a bit heavier.
Daryl, have a talk to these guys: http://www.hpcoatings.co.nz/ExhaustH...aspx#HiPerCoat

I've used their Australian counterparts's "Satin Black" on several Ford V8 exhaust manifolds, and the performance is superb. One pair of those manifolds have now racked up over 15 years with no discolouration or loss of coverage. Engine bay temps are lower, too. Cast Iron Grey would look the part, also.

The process is not a paint, it's a baked on ceramic coating that bonds to the iron. Not as cheap as paint, but your manifold will last for years.
__________________
You can help Keep Mapleleafup Up! See Here how you can help, and why you should!
Reply With Quote
  #295  
Old 26-11-18, 01:01
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

Hi Tony

How's things with you? Thanks for that. That might be worth a go. Not happy with the paint and that looks like a good option.
__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #296  
Old 28-11-18, 21:27
mark gillatt mark gillatt is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: nottinghamshire England
Posts: 11
Default

Rebuilt jxc block on milweb.
Reply With Quote
  #297  
Old 30-11-18, 07:35
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

Hi Mark

Thanks for that. I checked it out and it seemed like quite a reasonable deal but I figure I have come this far with what I've got, that I will stick to it.
__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #298  
Old 30-11-18, 07:42
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

Hi all,

Most of my spare time this week has gone into completing the recoil system. This is the setup I used to put the recoil system back together. Others might have a better method but this worked well for me.

I used two pieces of 10mm plate at each end. On the coupler end, I cut a hole in the plate and welded an old bearing cup to the plate over the hole. The diameter of the cup was a good fit over that end of the cylinder. I welded another tubular piece of steel to the other plate to act as a locater for a ¾” socket to hold the nut on the end of the cylinder piston rod.

I used two 1 metre lengths of 18mm stainless steel threaded rod. The rod size seemed like a bit of overkill but it was all the local scrap metal supplier had on the shelf of a decent length, and the good bugger he is, he allowed me to take it home, do the job and then just return it.

I found that size of rod gave some reassurance when winding the tension up and compressing the spring and I wouldn’t recommend anything under ½” or 12mm. The 10mm plate was just starting to bend a little at the peak of the spring compression.

I got some brass folded up for the sides of the recoil system. I looked at buying brass channel but couldn’t find any the exact size. In the end I got a local sheetmetal fabricator to cut and fold some brass sheet. Unlike the original, the folding means there is a bit of a radius on the edges but hopefully with me using sheet that was slightly thinner than the original, this won’t be an issue. I used some 3mm diameter brass rod to secure the pieces to the cylinder. I will try the barrel sleigh on it soon.

An EBay search turned up a bronze bush of the same dimensions I needed for the mounting pin on the other side, so that is on the way to me. I am missing the little arm on the side of the recoil cylinder which I’m guessing is a valve of some sort, so I will find a suitable plug for that. I’ve noticed that the buffer pin on the head of the cylinder is bent, which is making it hard to screw this in, so I will need to straighten that.

I have the pedestal headlight mounting connectors completed and ready for hard wiring in the hull. Thanks to Willy for the electrical connectors and Paul for the black plastic housing.

That’s all for this week.
Attached Thumbnails
20181126_175522.jpg   20181126_175528.jpg   20181126_175533.jpg   20181126_181632.jpg   20181127_132457.jpg  

__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #299  
Old 30-11-18, 07:42
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

More photos.
Attached Thumbnails
20181127_132532.jpg   20181128_120322.jpg   20181130_101833.jpg   20181130_174554.jpg   20181129_152042.jpg  

__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
  #300  
Old 14-12-18, 07:53
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

Hi all,

I have the hydraulic lines for the clutch and brakes fitted in place in the front of the M8 now. I was in the process of making up the lines for the clutch using 1/2" tube, as per the manual. Copper nickel 1/2" tube is available in the US but not easily available here in New Zealand. I finally found a brake specialist here who could supply it, so I made up a template out of 3/16" tube and asked the brake guy to make me the same thing in 1/2" tubing. I wasn't confident I'd be able to fold the 1/2" tube without any kinks so figured I'd get a specialist to do it. The other lines I did in 1/4" and 5/16" came out good but the 3/8" was getting a bit difficult to bend without kinks.

When I spoke to the brake guys, all their 'experts' asked “why the hell would you need 1/2" tubing for that clutch application?” I told them that's what the manual says and that's what the M8 used, so go to it and make me it please! However, they came back to me later and said that while they could supply the ½” tubing they were having a real battle getting fittings for a 1/2" tube to match the 1/2" UNF thread on the master cylinder.

I told them about Malcolm's experiences (http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=29422) in that his M8 had 5/16” hydraulic line for the clutch and it worked fine. The brake company owner came out and looked at my M8 and the master cylinder for the clutch and he also thought 3/8" or 5/16 " tube should do the job for the clutch. He went away and had a look at the connectors he could get and the only way he could get lines and connections to fit the ½” UNF thread on the master cylinder was to have a 5/16" line with an adaptor to bring it up to 1/2" UNF for the master cylinder.

So, to save any more mucking around I told him to go for it and make me that line in 5/16" which he did. Interestingly, he used copper-nickel tubing which they bent by hand. Hopefully it works for me and I will update how this works/if it works, once I am able to test it.

I still need to complete the hydraulic lines for the throttle master cylinder. I have used 3/8” tubing for the lines, as per the manual. It took me a while to work out that these master cylinders use a tapered fitting, presumably of some NPT thread. I’ve sourced the T connections for the bleeding area so I’ll post pictures of these once I have them all fitted.

I spent a heck of a lot of time stripping down one of the two engine fan pulleys I was working on. If I could have found one on the shelf, I would have just bought it, as it cost me days of work trying to get it all apart. This is the one that was heavily corroded when I got it and I soaked it in molasses to clean it up. It had all just about become one big piece of metal and it was a real pig to get it all apart. The molasses did clean the metal up but I think it getting into the insides of the pulley didn’t exactly help in my efforts to strip it. The retainer wouldn’t let go, nor would the little spacer between the retainer and the bigger of the two bearings, and nor would the spacer between the bearings on the main spindle. I had to make bigger and bigger tools with bigger and bigger levers to try and undo the retainer, but I was starting to worry about the stress on the housing and in the end I virtually had to destroy the retainer to get it out. If anyone has a spare (as per the photo), it will save me time and money making another one.

After finally getting the pulley housing apart, I can see that I was never going to be able to press the pin out of the bearings as the metal was all completely stuck together. Liberal use of a cut off disc was required in the end to get the spacer and what was left of the bearings off, but it is now rebuilt and ready to fit.

I picked up a pulley wheel that is a bit quieter than mine, along with another adjuster, so I cleaned them up. I’ve also done a bit of painting and tidying up of some other parts.

I am back to working on the other two axles next week and I’m aiming to have those on the hull in the early new year.

Does anyone know which of the spacers in the photos is correct for the headlights? Both types were sold to me as being for the M8. I see the metal sleeve that sits in the hull actually sits a little proud of the hull when the brass bush is fitted from within the hole for the locking pin. The black spacers have a slot in the middle which fits over the metal sleeve but with this spacer on, it would take a lot of effort to push the sleeve down far enough into the hole in the hull to get the brass bush in place.

That’s it for this week.
Attached Thumbnails
20181212_120112.jpg   20181210_145748.jpg   20181213_130956.jpg   20181213_134034.jpg   20181213_134040.jpg  

__________________
Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Ford V8 engine number - ID? Hanno Spoelstra The Softskin Forum 0 08-04-18 15:42
Ford contract number Hendrik van Oorspronk The Softskin Forum 2 14-09-17 21:00
ford t16 chassis number tracing Joe Bowen The Carrier Forum 6 03-11-16 12:37
Contract number for Ford F15A Chris Daines The Softskin Forum 0 01-12-15 14:44
Ford engine number decoder Keith Webb The Softskin Forum 5 24-05-07 17:54


All times are GMT +2. The time now is 22:57.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright © Maple Leaf Up, 2003-2016