due for an "adjustment" !

so, with the M3 reduced to a roller chassis ( we know this , as we had to move it today to take delivery of a BFAC (Big F...Air Compressor! which will be a great help in the next stages ), so it does indeed roll on her tracks

Many thanks to Star Motors Mercedes Benz of Ottawa for the donation of this pre-loved piece of gear, by the way !

We are now preparing to get the old track off, and have found some great old films of this being done in the field, so are at least positive about how to do it...we just don't think the adjusters are quite ready as they have a few years of accumulated...well...everything on em....so, we shall pray to the gods of WD-40, heat and BIG wrenches

In theory, its easy, block the bogie wheels from descending while jacking the M3 up ( metal wedge or cable strap , put on jack stands, back off track tension and then unbolt the outer half of the rear idler....then just roll the track off the front drive sprocket.....yep...easy

we will keep you posted as we prepare this next adventure in half track life !

idler support and tracking stay, at rear of hull

this adjuster works on the other side of the track spring. this must be loosened off to slack the track

Horizontal track tensioning spring and adjuster shaft

rear idler wheel pivot shaft and retaining nut, inside rear frame rail

thems the brakes .part 2 !

All the brake lines are off the hull, and we have left the flex lines on the front axel, as we will be doing that as a separate system resto.

the first picture is all of the hard lines in an M3 ! the two on the right is from the master, back, and the left is all of the front . Most are in perfect shape with zero rust, so we may reuse the bulk of the lines

the other shots are detail of routing in the front under the rad, with biggest line, being the one from the drivers side, to the passenger side front in a big "C" shape. Unfortunately, this is the only line with surface rust, and therefore will be replicated to ensure a safe hydraulic system

making the big bits, into small bits...

The strategy the Society uses when performing major restorations is to strip a hull, or take it down to a frame, removing major components or systems as larger units. Once that is done,  then, we take those units down into smaller parts for sorting, cataloguing and evaluation

this way, we can get down into the project "quickly"..and evaluate cost estimates if we come across something major. An example of this is the Societies Mk 6 Alvis Saracen, which we discovered , had major corrosion issues between the original hull plates, and the add on armour that was an upgrade against AP rounds. This added much to the cost of the restoration, as we needed to remove and later re-weld, large sections of the outer hull! By doing a fast strip down, we spotted this early in the process, and could make allowances for time ....and of course $$$!

With the M3 , things are moving in the same fashion, and we are now taking the larger sections, stripping them down, and boxing them by system for later resto as we move along . some areas are still stubborn...see drilling !, others yield great discoveries that just are not found any longer, such as the Hull Plate Hardness Testing and armour batch lot numbers. This set of numbers is located under the Cowl armour, where the windshield frame attaches to the cab, the instrument cluster and wires box hid this from view until it was removed !

We love the fact that although she's almost 100% stripped, we still find surprizes like this !

Friday Art Shot

Our V-100 enjoying the sunshine

slow going !

the cab and panel is built much the same was as the rest of the hull, basically sandwich layers of steel bolted together. I'm sure it was easy to fix in the field , 70 years ago, but with corrosion in much of the upper cab section under the windshield, its tough, as we need ( well..want) to preserve as much  of the delicate sheet metal dash and instrument boxes as we can, so its heat, oil, tap repeat !

the cab...how ive missed it....

now that we have the M3 down to a "roller", we are back on the cab we placed aside earlier in the fall. The cold weather seems to have us into more "detailed" work....code for a "kazillion" small rusty bolts and a wire harness that would be at home as spaghetti !

A big shout out to our friends at Vintage Wiring (  vintagewiring.com ) for their awesomeness for being able to supply a full replica wire harness for this early M3! We've used these guys before, and have always had the best in service and quality

Monday (Friday) Art shot

Trailer hitch spring compensator,

flooring can be a big job !...and cameras are fragile !

Like dropping your cel phone in water, dropping your digital camera in "liquid"  can be equally as distressing, and we are happy to report that after a few days in box of rice, we are back in business with no lost pics ! It fell from my pocket into a lovely coolant / oil combo pail...sigh, twas  a sad sound when it went "splat".....

Floor is now fully removed, and we ran into big rust issues with the hold down bolts, interesting floor design though, with a series of 6 frame mounted "perches" that angles attach to. These angle have slots cut for the bolts to accommodate production variation .

Attached to the angle iron, is the floor skinning and stowage and radio battery box, you can see the construction from the underside picture how the floor is welded to the fame that bolts up to the perches

what distressed me the most about this is the ZERO blast protection afforded to the crew. While its true that they (and the gas tanks) sat on armoured plates, the center section offered no blast protection. In this case, its much like the M8 Greyhound , ballistic protection sides and top, but not in the floor.

Having worked on modern armour and been involved in BDA's post blast, I appreciate the advances in armour technology , something the Society tries to highlight with its education programming, showing how technology is being employed to keep people safe in unsafe places

The last frame are the entire package of components , as removed , from the passenger side rear of the light, and its mounts. The triangular section bolts to the rear armour section and bumper to be easily replaceable in the field

the whole floor section lifts off as one part, and can be lifted clear by two people once undone from the frame rails

Here is what's hiding under the floor , clear, rust free and straight frame !

line and plate details !

moving now to stripping under the floor of the rear hull, we are very pleased to see that we can salvage 100" of the original brake systems and lines !

here are a few shots of the line routing . Note the retaining clip attached to the massive axel mount bolt !

and, some underside sponson pics, see they are 4 sections per side, but are retained by two long angle sections, once again showing the "piece on piece" construction. you can see the small strip of steel that "knits" the section plates together to support it from the underside. and , my feet !

seldom seen view of track ...finally !

Nice to have the sponson and rear hull floor structure off. Its been slow going ...I shouldn't have bragged about the lack of rust on her...its been a challenge to get stuff removed without further damage
you can see the rust on the main support beam from the forward rear hull. This is also the support for the .30 / .50 pedestal mount , so quite critical

you can see a light black circle where the base plate for the pedestal weapons mounts up

Remembrance Day , Wakefeld Qc

...we were there supporting our local Community and Legion , as well, as acting as a road block in case we had a driver not respecting the crowd line. Of course, this gave us ample chance to introduce some young people to vintage armour

The Society was very pleased to be able support our local Veterans while educating the public about some of our military history

fall maintenance

Well, its starting to get cold, so we are organizing the hangar so the bulk of the fleet can hibernate, in the cold pale blue light of a Canadian Winter. We make sure they are all tucked in warm with battery tenders turned on, and coolant and other fluids topped up. The only ones we keep ready is our Bv 206 which we keep on short notice ready, with Pinzgauer also ready for last minute events that might pop up during the "Big Cold"

here are a few shots of the Society's V-100 getting checked over today , with a few extra inside shots
Note the unique to the V-series Transfer Case, these are the weak point of ownership, as they are not available, unless you want to part with a breathless amount of money

sweet , sweet engine goodness

getting back on track here slowly, but its been a busy week. Many roads here are still out of use, and my own commute has grown from 30 minutes, to 90 minutes each way from home to shop. Being a Fire Rescue Technician in West Quebec as well as the Curator / Crew Chief here at the Museum basically means there has been little sleep in the last two weeks.

I found this picture, blending perfectly in  the haze of little sleep, Half Track Resto and Fire / Rescue activity



Perhaps I need to take her in this direction ! (kidding !!, )

But , in a ray of good news, her new engine came in ! A zero time French Army rebuild . Its going to be painted up and returned to its 1942 spec before we drop it in

we grabbed a free turning trans and TC as well, which is great news . We like collecting engines and drive line parts for the fleet whenever we find them.

force majour.....

wow, we got hit hard here.

West Quebec, where we have our shop spaces has taken a full on hit by mother nature. Last count we have 127 roads cut by flood waters, over 300 people cut off from evacuation. Some roads are so badly damaged, they may be closed and never rebuilt

all our facilities survived well and are dry, so we are very thankful for that !

all this started midnight Sunday, and as our collection Curator is a Swiftwater Rescue Technician with the local Fire Dept....well, he's been busy, to say the least  !

we expect to be back next week with more Half Track and other MV goodness, so, same bat time, same bat channel ...stay tuned !

to set the tone, in the below pics is a local flood control dam...the water should be 20 feet below the rim...notice the size of the smashed trees in the pile !

gates were smashed out of it by debris.