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

[horsa]

Hey Barry,

I have NOS fuel tank senders in my reproduction tanks. Rod Shaver has them available for sale for the T-16 but I don't know for sure if they would work accurately in other universal carriers due to fuel tank size differences and the T-16 being a 12-volt system.

The second wire on your sender is probably a dedicated ground. The screws used to connect the sender to the tank normally do the job but corrosion, paint or loose connections can mess with the ground and cause the gauge to read off or not work at all. I know people with jeeps often solder a second wire onto the sender to guarentee a good ground.

[RichardT10829]

David, you are a testiment to any restoration, surely this vehicle is worthy of a magazine feature ! i cant get over how perfect it is ! when mine finally arrives i only hope she turns out a fraction as good as your T16 the attention to every detail and clearly you are a perfectionist, if there was a concours class for MV's i reckon this one would set the bench mark

i love reading this thead

well done matey you truelly are an inspiration to us all !


Richie

[horsa]

Appreciate the compliments Richard but the restoration is far from perfect. The hull had a lot of pitting which is still present and will remain so. It was a less than ideal specimen to start with for a restoration but the trade and cash price for the rusty bucket was the best I could afford on my meger budget. I'd been looking at carriers since the mid-80's and much nicer examples could have been had for less money back then but I had too many other projects and interests to branch into armor at the time.

I'm happy with the outcome so far considering what I started with. Being cheap, I don't mind putting in long hours on the project to save money. You'll soon learn all sorts of new skills once you get your hands on the carrier you recently bought in Canada. I'm now an expert at lots of things I'll likley never need to do again. Its been a good experience, one I'd highly recommend to others.

[horsa]

Got that last ammunition bin divider finished and installed into the rear gunner side of the hull. It was for twelve PIAT bombs in four carriers and the extra space was where other assorted gear like the field cooker was kept.



Wireless Number 19 Set is installed on the driver side. Still have a lot of testing to do with it but initially it seems to want to play. Power supply spins up fine and the power indicator light comes on. The light on the control box will light up if I switch it and the one up front with the driver to the "B" set so that is functioning properly. It was to alert the wireless operator that nobody was monitoring the "A" set. The control unit in the front has two dongles for the driver and gunner headsets. A third control unit is behind the gunner armour with two more dongles as there are two seats wedged in between the mortar bombs and the engine. It's one of the "Call Commander" types so they can only listen to intercom in theory or push the panic button which should create a tone in the other headsets.



And these last two shots show the armoured wing installed with temporary bolts and some of the toys in the racks. First shot you can see three mortar aiming rods stored behind the Bren. Another Bren is on the opposite outer hull wall but it isn't visible here.



Rifles, PIAT and fire extinguisher are on this side of the armoured wing. Sure would be tough getting to the extinguisher in an emergency.

[tankbarrell]

Tis a thing of beauty! Well done on a fantastic restoration.
Do you have a source for the catches on your rear bin? They are the same as used in Sherman internal stowage and I am in need of some.

Adrian

[horsa]

Hey Adrian,

It took me a long time to trace the history of those latches from the original WWII manufacturer through all the later companies that either bought the earlier businesses as they went bankrupt or ultimately purchased the manufacturing rights to them. The people with the current rights (as of March 2007) to the items are Shepherd Caster Corporation in Michigan. Their web address is www.shepherdcasters.com but they only sell parts to other companies which are their qualified distributers. I’d recommend you contact them through their web site eMail links and tell them the parts you are looking for and they should be able to recommend a distributer in the UK or Europe for you.

For the parts, the fastener is number 505564 and the strike is number 505555. To keep things confusing, some of their internal catalogs show the fastener as ZLA1002x and the strike as ZL1023X-B. The actual description when I got a sample from the manufacturer direct showed the fastener as Bassick Parts ZLA1002PS/LW17 and the strike as Bassick Parts ZL1023PS/LS29. Prices will vary with quantity but for reference, the fasteners are less than $5 each and the strikes are less than $1 each.

[David Ellery]

Hi David. Outstanding work on your T16, you have a very thorough eye for detail if that makes sense Your Bomb Carriers, could you tell me what you made them out of as I'd like to do the same for the British 3 inche Mortar. Keep up the good work and posts cheers David...