T16 restoration starts in earnest

[horsa]

Took awhile to research the code in the parts manual for the drain plugs. But they come from the Ford T-17 Deerhound which was an armored car that was in the running for U.S. government contracts during the war. Guess the Greyhound was the winner since it received an "M" number (M8) with the T-17-E1 Staghound a close second since they were also produced in limited numbers. The T-18-E2 Boarhound was another in that contest.

I've not found a source for good replacement drain plugs and nothing modern has the same dimensions. A machinist friend that has a T-16 milled plugs for my vehicle which are installed in the rear section where they wouldn't be visible but can be removed from underneath if needed. He patterned them with large hex heads that are the same size as the hub nuts in the rear end. That way the same large socket tool would work for them since it would already be part of the tool set carried on the vehicle.

These are a good alternative but would only work on vehicles that still have useable threaded flanges on them.

[andrew honychurch]

Thankyou David, as always thats very informative. My T16 has two of the bosses/flanges still attached to the floor with the plugs still in them, but all the others seem to have come off their fixings. I cant really imagine why, unless they were either presses into the floor rather than welded or badly attached. The rest of the floor is not so bad that would have rotted off. Anyway, my plan is to try to aquire some bungs here in the UK and then make some new females to weld into the floor. I am off to see a load of T16 parts that I have tracked down, but I have no idea what is in the bundle until I go. I will report back. If the worst comes to the worst I suppose I could have some new bungs cast and then machined up but this will be a lot and money.