How To: Restoration of Ford M8 armoured car US Ordnance number 7373

[Big D]

Hi all

Not a lot to report this time around as I am still fitting all the bits and pieces to the Scout Car engine, which is chewing up a lot of my time and money.

I have managed to paint and fit the new fuel tank into the M8. It has the correct fuel sender (thanks Kenet) and gas gauge so they should work correctly. I’ve made up all the fuel lines now and it is now plumbed and bolted in and ready to fill with gas. I bolted it to the cross member in the hull.

I also finished tidying up the second protectoscope box that I got and that is now fitted.

The new pulley wheel arrived as did the starter motor adaptor(thanks Brent and Rod). I am on the lookout though for the cast outlet for the water pump and the upper pipe to the thermostat housing, as per the attached photo. The water pump outlet is different to the one on the Scout Car.

Has anyone got any of these parts spare?

I have started rebuilding the starter motor. The stamp on the armature shows 2006 which is interesting. The armature and fields appear fine but one of the brushes is broken. From what I can see in the parts manual, these brushes are used on the M29C Weasel. Does anyone have a source for these brushes?

That’s it for this week.