Hi all,
I seem to have been really busy lately but in between time I have completed a few things on the M8. I picked up a couple of NOS BG-96 radio covers, one of which I’ll use in the SCR-508 radio in the M8. They are very nice and give the radio setup a nice clean look.
I got my hands on an original Kidde fire extinguisher so I stripped that and restored it including putting a new decal on it. It does look nice now. I also picked up a couple of headlight locking pins which I have cleaned up and fitted, along with the remaining recoil oil can holder which I’ve also repainted and fitted into the crew area.
I wasn’t happy about how the handbrake was working so I have pulled that out and reassembled it.
I’ve taken the M8 for another couple of road tests. It is not road legal, and I have to be careful where I drive it around here, so I didn’t get it into top gear but I drove it around the block a couple of times and it did go well. My impressions from being a first time M8 driver are that first gear is quite low and once you get into second gear it feels like it really wants to accelerate. It seems to handle well enough and you don’t notice the size or weight of it. Here are a couple of videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3skUfbKPKI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0wuoETkehk
I found I was having a problem with the return of the throttle. When I took my foot off the gas pedal, the throttle would hang for a bit instead of returning quickly. The return spring I fitted on the arm on the slave cylinder was one I picked up and was a guess on strength, so I figured I needed to find another that would return that throttle arm a whole lot quicker. In the meantime I saw a post on the M8/M20 page on Facebook which talked about a return spring on the arm on the throttle master cylinder at the foot-pedal. I was not aware of this and it seems like not everyone has it fitted. I’m told it was a later modification but I am not sure about that. I fabbed up a tab and found a spring of the right size and fitted it. I have yet to test it but I think this will make a big difference.
I finished the engine cover locking handles I fabricated. In five years of searching, I had never seen any original engine cover handles for sale so I fabricated these. The originals have a tab with a square hole punched in it and a matching milled square on the threaded rod of the handle, held on by a nut. I didn’t have access to a square punch and the milling on the handle itself was another complicating factor so I made up a simple handle out of bent rod with a thread on the end. I welded a nut onto the tabs (at the correct angle) I made and put a pin through the nut so it can’t turn once its on there. It seems to work.
Apart from that, I’ve just been adding a few accessories to the vehicle like the 37mm Spare Parts Box and .30 cal spare parts box, ammo cans etc. I need to fab the strap for the front of the fire extinguisher holder but don’t have too many more things to do on the vehicle now. I am still tweaking the turret skirt as that is still binding a bit but I am getting close now to the vehicle being done.
That’s all for this week.