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

[Big D]

Hi Lynn

Yes, a busy night last night with the fire and a complete turnaround with the weather today!

Yes, thanks. The hull is looking good.

[Big D]

Hi all,

While I am waiting for the hull to come back, I've been planning the fabrication and installation of the various hydraulic and fuel lines. I have no old lines to work from so will be working from a clean slate and will have to fabricate each line.

According to the manual, I need 142” of ½” line, 260” of 3/8” line, 923” of ¼” line, and 275” of 5/16” line!

I have a range of pictures and diagrams of the hydraulic and fuel line layout and am curious about the different line sizes used. I see there is ½” for the clutch lines; 3/8” for the accelerator lines; 5/16” for some of the brake lines, 1/4” for the other brake lines. Was the variation in line sizes simply to allow for greater hydraulic fluid for the different applications?

I have read a number of suggestions about fitting in extender lines so that I can bleed from various places. I’ve attached a couple of pictures of one setup. I can’t remember where I got this, so hopefully the owner doesn’t mind me using the photos. This setup seems like a good option to me.

Is there anywhere else I need to consider extender lines?

I am also going to progress the 37mm gun in readiness for getting the turret back. I’m not sure whether it is clear from the photos but the barrel I have is a little bent. I’m guessing that it must have had a fairly hefty weight on it at some point to put a curve in the barrel. It is not going to be a live firing gun but I would like it straight ‘to the eye’ and I would like to have it so that it can fire blanks.

Straightening it is beyond my expertise and the tools I have so I have the Action Engineering guys working on this. We need to get the old sleigh off the tube first and then we can straighten the tube. Hopefully some pressure from a large press and perhaps a bit of heat will do the job.

The breech end of the tube has been plugged which we should be able to clear quite easily. I have the correct sleigh and also have a NOS breech block coming for it.

I also need to get the recoil system off the mantlet so that I can get that stripped and functioning again. The screws holding it to the mantlet are pretty rough but hopefully we can get a rattle gun on them. Otherwise I might have to resort to welding a couple of studs onto them so that I can get a spanner on them to shift them.

I have some repro data plates for the gun side plate. Can anyone advise the size font for the stamp for these plates?

[Big D]

More photos.

[James P]

Looking good there Big D, you must feeling like a proud new poppa with the M8 home. With most all the sub assemblies done and just a matter of wrenching it should come together rather quickly, then the first drive, shake down, correct faults and such as they surface. Is it up on wheels again and semi mobile ? Hats off to you for bringing the car back to a fine example of a M8 from a random pile of parts.

[James P]

Sooooo.............I hope the absence of updates is because you are feverishly turning wrenches and twisting screwdrivers . Come on Big D, at least throw up a pic or two for the M8 fans and your restoration.

[Big D]

Hi James P,

Apologies for not replying to your previous post.

I don't have a heck of a lot of positive news on the M8 at this stage. I am now on my third paint supplier as I have not been happy with the paint supplied by the first two suppliers. The paint from both has not been a matt finish. The colour shade appears correct but the finish is more of a dull satin (if that is a thing?). It simply has not been flat enough and this makes the colour shade look greener than it should be.

We have painted another panel with the paint from the third supplier tonight so hopefully it will be a goer tomorrow. I have my fingers crossed!

I haven't had time to do much other work on the M8 as I've had my hands full replacing rear sprockets on my LP2A carrier, as well as adjusting the brakes and repairing the fuel pump. The Warbirds over Wanaka Airshow is coming up and I need that running for that show.

There are never enough hours in the day!

[Big D]

Hi all,

Finally some progress on the painting of the hull. The latest paint supplier came up with a paint mix which I think is a good match to the OD-319 paint sample I had. We put that paint on today and it looks good. The paint appears a little shiny in some of the photos as it was still wet.

The plan is to get the hull back to the workshop on Monday and then drop off the turret and a few of the loose big parts and get them blasted and painted as well.

I’m looking forward to actually starting to put some of the restored parts on the hull.

I made up some decals for the vehicle and I will apply them as I go. Thanks to David and Seacon for assisting me with sizes etc.