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

[Big D]

Hi all,

I’ve been reminded again about the fact I haven’t posted another update (thanks M.) so here is what I’ve been up to.

I stripped and reassembled the M49 ring trolley I had and now have that running nicely on the ring. Until I did some research, I was not aware that there should be no paint on the roller surfaces, so I spent a bit of time stripping that paint off. The trolley wouldn’t budge with paint on the ring but runs nicely now. The ring actually looks good with the clean steel around those edges.

I mucked around with the handbrake for quite some time. Thanks to David, Dave and James P for their advice. I found that the strange angle on the cable was due in part to the fact that the cable had a kink in it just inside the end of the cable sheath. This made the cable kick out a little bit as it exited the sheath. The bell-crank does not appear to be bent.

The main problem I had was getting the cam lever at the top of the band to return when the handbrake is released. When the handbrake lever is pulled on and the cable is pulled it closes the handbrake band but when the handbrake lever is released, the springs between the band ends didn’t seem to have the power to make the band retract from the drum and the handbrake lever did not return. I experimented with springs that had a little more oomph with varying success.

After some more research, I found that there is supposed to be a return spring attached to the bellcrank to help return that to its start point! There doesn’t seem to be any mention of it in the parts manual and it wasn’t until I saw a single photo of it on an M20 that I noticed it and asked around. Thanks to Reg who later confirmed it is on his M20 as well. I still need to find a double headed clevis pin for the bell crank to hold the spring.

I’ve cleaned up the fuel filter and made up some fuel lines for that. I should have the stainless steel tank ready next month so I can finalise the fuel lines then. I also made up the handles for the engine covers.

Over a couple of days where it was too cold to go in the workshop, I did some work on the 37mm resin projectiles and brass I had. These are starting to look good and I have some stencils coming from Van at Questmasters which will finish these off nicely.

I picked up some more stuff from the blasters yesterday and did some fitting. The engine mounts and floor plate are now in place, as is the 37mm ammunition rack and shelf. I’ve also fitted the radiator diffusers and the fan shrouds will be next.

That’s all for this week.