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

[James P]

^ Damn fine work you are putting into that restoration, always a treat to look at the "as arrived" pics and see the progress to where you are today.

[David Herbert]

Obviously it's entirely down to personal choice but if it was my M8 I wouldn't go for the ring mount . I agree it looks cool but I think you will find it makes climbing in and out of the turret really hard work and the only way to stop it rusting is to oil/grease it, which gets on everyone that rides in the turret - who tend to be your guests. Another practical point is it makes the vehicle quite a bit taller which could make a difference to getting it into a building (possibly at an event if not at home base). To my eyes it also looks a bit less lean and more top heavy with the ring mount but beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

Great job so far though.

David

[Big D]

Hi James,

Thanks for your continued comments. They always help with the motivation!


Hi David,

You make a couple of really good points. Height could be an issue dependent on where I eventually store it. I hadn't considered the other comment you made about rust prevention. A very good point and something else to ponder!

Thanks gents!

[Big D]

Hi all,

I’ve been a bit distracted with other projects over the last few weeks but there has been some more progress on the M8.

I’ve been working on the wiring from the instrument panel and this is just about done now. The NOS loom I got was in good condition but I think made for a later panel, and I had to ‘make’ it fit. My instrument panel is an earlier one, but it doesn’t have the starter button below the ignition switch. It does have the switch hole on the other side, which presumably was the Fire Detector Test button.

Where should the starter button be? The manuals are a little unclear on this and the various photos I’ve seen haven’t helped. At this stage I am using the starter button in the Fire Detector Test button position and wiring it in there.

I have two oil pressure gauges. One is a Stewart Warner make. The one which is fitted is marked as 7412564, and ‘AC”. Is there an easy way to check what gauge will work with the sensor I have? Does anyone have any experience with this? I might as well fit the correct oil pressure gauge from the start if I can.

The brake slave cylinders with new stainless sleeves and new rubber boots are all assembled and ready to fit. I have some spare boots if anyone needs any.

I managed to source some canvas dome fittings for the turret from a company in the US. These have a 10-32 stud fitted into them so were ideal. I just had to drill out the old brass screws and run a tap into the holes and these are all in place now. The only thing left on the turret now is just some tweaking of the mounts for the gun ring. We straightened these before the ring arrived, but now that the ring is here, it looks like they should have been a little twisted anyway to make the gun ring mounting holes line up.

I am getting toward the end of the welding on the hull now. I was very fortunate to be able to get my hands on the front engine cross member I was after. Many thanks to John and Dave for that. The front cross member and rear engine cross member that we fabricated are now welded/fitted in place.

I now see that the reproduction rear engine mounts that I got are not quite right so I will need to modify them before they will work.

I fabricated some new exhaust pipe brackets and fitted these along with the shovel bracket.

One of the headlight guards is now welded in place. The other one will be here soon, as will the First Aid Kit bracket (thanks To Willy and Christophe), so I’ll fit these as soon as they arrive.

That should just about do on the hull before I get it sandblasted and painted.

I haven’t managed to source the rear plate that the engine covers hinge on, so it looks like I will need to fabricate this and the hinge mounts.
Can anyone confirm the dimensions of this plate and assist with any photos please? I have some photos of the top side of this piece but I don't have any photos from the underside showing how this is constructed.

[Big D]

More photos.

[Big D]

Hi all,

Here are a few more photos.

As I mentioned, the repro rear engine mounts that I got are not quite right. The hole spacing on the rear of the mount for the three bolts that attach it to the rear plate on the hull is not correct. The centre hole is pretty close, but a bit high. The side holes are also out.

The holes for bolting the engine mount to the cross member don’t match the sheet metal tray underneath as you can see in the picture. As a result, I am struggling to see exactly where these engine mounts should lie on the cross member I have just fitted. I can see that the rear left mount should be positioned a bit closer to the hull than the one on the other side but I’m not sure exactly where.

I need to position these mounts accurately so can someone please give me the measurements from the side of the hull to the centre of the engine mount hole, and the rear of the hull to the same centre of the engine mount hole. I presume the middle bolt hole on the end of the mount that attaches to the back of the hull, is in line with the centre of the engine mount hole itself. If I can get those measurements right, then I will make up a new plate for the end of these mounts to attach it to the rear of the hull, cut off the old end and weld on the new plate (if that makes sense!). Then I can drill holes in the cross member to bolt the mounts to it.

I also have some questions about the 37mm ready rack and the shelf above it. How is the ready rack secured to the hull? There are what appears to be mounting holes in the top corners of the rack at the front, but I don’t see anything obvious in the sponson to secure it. I realise of course, that this hull may not have had the ready rack, and instead had some other arrangement. I'm guessing there must have been a tab on each side of the sponson that the ready rack would have been bolted to?

The next question is around the door that covers the ready rack. I have a door to attach to the hull to cover the front of the ready rack. However, all the photos I’ve seen have the latch on the door coming up under the front lip of the radio shelf. To do that with mine, the radio shelf would need to be brought well forward in the sponson to do this. Is this normal? This would leave a large gap at the rear of the shelf between the shelf edge and the sponson wall. This is an original radio shelf I have in the sponson and as you can see if sits well behind the front edge of the ready rack. Do these shelves come in different sizes?

Any hints would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Big D]

The rest of the photos.