T16 restoration starts in earnest

Marc van Aalderen · #1 10-08-10, 22:31

Andrew,

Just remembered I had this Company under my Favourites. They are called Midwest Military and their link is http://www.midwestmil.com/index.html

Marc

RichardT10829 · #2 10-08-10, 22:52

would not care i have just made a run of Mk1 style sand guards for Kevin, Myself, and one for Martyn.....

andrew honychurch · #3 10-08-10, 23:33

Thanks Guys, interesting information on the numbers. Seems to be more T16's around nowadays than Bren Universals, but maybe the latter are more dispersed.

Thanks for the link to Midwest and the information on the radius' which I sort of suspected. I will try to take a look at the website. When it comes down to it with the cost of shipping I may be best to get them made over here. Anyone know how the beading on the bottom outer edge is made? Is it welded on to strengthen, or is it a rolled edge made by a special machine? To be honest, that appears to be the only tricky bit to the fabrication. Mind you , I am a bit in front of myself as I havent even got the hull done yet!

Oh, and anyone got some nice new fuel tank sender units??

RichardT10829 · #4 11-08-10, 09:19

Andrew its a rolled edge and is very hard to fabricate, the metal is 16swg these were made in a press and without it, its very hard to get the metal to form correctly without it deforming. the ones i did i bent over sectional then brazed in the slits so it looks like it has been pressed. my other thoughts were to use steel brake pipe slit it then weld it onto the sheet however when i compared it to an original item the diameter of the pipe was slightly too small..... mind unless you had one held up against an original you would not know.

it will cost you in the region of $400 US to get a pair from John, then shipping and customs charges on top.

perhaps David (Horsa) could knock you up some paper patterns of his then you could make some yourself and save some cash. thinking on also i think the T16 sand guards have like a right angle flat bar welded onto the outside to carry a tool or something.....you will see on Davids thread.

Rich

andrew honychurch · #5 11-08-10, 10:09

Thanks Richard. Fortunately I do have the originals, which are twisted and peppered so I imagine they will be good enough to use at patterns. I seem to recall that there is a special machine for forminh this . In fact I think it may have been detailed on the Mid West website. Ummh...nothing is straightforward with restorations is it?

My guess is we will have to dummy it as you suggest, welding the bead on afterwards. When my Daimler Armoured Car wings were fabricated the chap welded on the internal strengthening bead and you just could not tell afterwards. They were originally rolled as part of the process. andrew

andrew honychurch · #6 12-12-10, 17:02

A big day today, I managed to get out all the four axles ( as I call them ) . Not an easy job as most of the bolts and nuts were seriously corroded from having the best part of 20 years sitting with water inside the hull. Anyway, I can see some tapping and maybe thread inserts having to go back into the axle housings. When I took off the bogies I note there is a big rubber bush on the axle shaft which fits behind the bogie, i.e up tight against the rear flange,. I assume this is to hold in grease and keep out dirt ingress. One is missing althogether and several have seen better days. Can anyone advise whether these are obtainable?
Not long now before the hull is fully stripped and ready for blasting and welding. Another conundrum is that to do the welding properly it really needs blasting before and then I guess after all the welding and grinding its going to have to be done again which is a pain. Lets hope the blaster thinks it will be easier second time and charge me less.

Alex Blair (RIP) · #7 12-12-10, 17:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrew honychurch

A big day today, I managed to get out all the four axles ( as I call them ) . Not an easy job as most of the bolts and nuts were seriously corroded from having the best part of 20 years sitting with water inside the hull. Anyway, I can see some tapping and maybe thread inserts having to go back into the axle housings. When I took off the bogies I note there is a big rubber bush on the axle shaft which fits behind the bogie, i.e up tight against the rear flange,. I assume this is to hold in grease and keep out dirt ingress. One is missing altogether and several have seen better days. Can anyone advise whether these are obtainable?
Not long now before the hull is fully stripped and ready for blasting and welding. Another conundrum is that to do the welding properly it really needs blasting before and then I guess after all the welding and grinding its going to have to be done again which is a pain. Lets hope the blaster thinks it will be easier second time and charge me less.

Andrew..
Some seals and bearings here..some are half track but some ate T16 too I think..

http://shop.ebay.com/xstuff/m.html

Marc van Aalderen · #8 12-12-10, 19:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrew honychurch

Another conundrum is that to do the welding properly it really needs blasting before and then I guess after all the welding and grinding its going to have to be done again which is a pain. Lets hope the blaster thinks it will be easier second time and charge me less.

I think that it is better to remove paint and /or rust with an angle grinder using a sanding disc or wire brush and then weld. Saves you a lot of hasle and money. This is how I always do it and it works very well.

Cheers,