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

[Big D]

Hi all,

Most of my time these last couple of weeks has been in tidying up odd jobs like rebuilding the carburettor and water pump. Both are ready to fit now but I will need to give the water pump a coat of the correct grey paint. I ran out so I’ve used some other grey paint in the meantime. There are some differences between the water pumps for the scout car and the M8 as you scout car guys can probably see.

I have also made a start on the gearbox rebuild. I had been putting off stripping it until I knew parts were on the way, but they should be here in a few weeks time. The gearbox seemed to come apart reasonably easily but as soon as I started stripping it I noticed that there were a couple of very small needle rollers in the bottom of the case. I figured one of the shafts was going to have some problems but it appears now that I have everything out, these needle rollers are not from this gearbox. Phew!

The countershaft assembly looks like it will clean up nicely. There is a little bit of pitting on the gears here and there, but overall, not bad. I will replace the bearings at either end.

The mainshaft has some problems. As you can see, one of the synchro rings is broken and there is a fair bit of wear on both sets of rings. The synchro face area on third gear is also badly worn so the gear needs replacing. As I say, I have new parts coming to so while I’m waiting on those, I’ll be cleaning up the housing and making up some gaskets ready for re-assembly. I'll also fit new mainshaft bearings.

I finished off the bleeder block for the hydraulics in the engine bay. Let’s see if it leaks when I get the fluid in there!

That is all….