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

[Big D]

Some more photos.

[Big D]

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.

[Big D]

More photos.

[Big D]

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...

[Big D]

More photos.

[Big D]

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.

[Big D]

More photos.