Restoring M29C3284

[M29C3284]

After the tinning was completed it was time for the final sandblast.

I did not take any pictures of the finished sandblasted hull as it needed to be primed as soon as possible.

Just after getting rid of the ugly red paint, I painted it red again☺️ I thought it would just take a few hours to prime it, but it took me 12 hours to get the hull in primer. There is a lot of nooks and crannies on the inside of the hull that you don't really notice until it's time to paint. 

I sprayed the inside lower area first, with the hull upside down, and then turned it over on it's side to paint the rest. That I should not have done because then the sand can pouring out from the hat channels☹️ But I could not stop priming so I just tried blowing away as much as possible and continue painting. The sand that got stuck I sanded off ones the primer was dry.

The primer I used is the TM9-822 Red oxide epoxy primer sold by Midwest Military. I used 1 us gal. for one complete coat and some touch ups on the areas that where I used filler.

[Patrick Tipton]

2 hours ago, M29C3284 said:

I sprayed the inside lower area first, with the hull upside down, and then turned it over on it's side to paint the rest. That I should not have done because then the sand can pouring out from the hat channels☹️ But I could not stop priming so I just tried blowing away as much as possible and continue painting. The sand that got stuck I sanded off ones the primer was dry.

Looking great!

I must have blown my hull out 20 times before I painted it.  I too put sand all over my fresh white paint.  Really ticked me off.  I sanded it away but there are still a few places that I need to go back and work on....I don't think there is any way to get all the sand out....

[M29C3284]

@Patrick Tipton I know the feeling. I too thought that I had gotten all the sand out after blowing, vacuuming and spinning the hull on the rotisserie more times than I can remember. Anyway after the primer had dried I turn the hull upside down and blew out all the hat channels that had any small opening where I could stick the nozzle of the blow gun in, and I got another few kilos of sand out off them.

So the next step was to paint all the areas that needed to be OD.

I again used a product from the TM-9 range, their synthetic enamel lusterless Olive Drab – Shade #8. I really like this paint as it has good coverage, is dead flat and is very easy to spray.

Since this is going to be a Bandvagn m/48, I did not paint the whole hull OD. This is because the refurbishment instructions from the Swedish army, that I have, states that the whole vehicle shall be painted in Swedish army gray no. 076M. But looking at both this hull, before I removed all the paint, and the other m/48 I have it looks like they did not strip out the hull before painting. So I decided to mimic this and paint those areas that are normally covered in OD. I have not put the gray paint on yet as I need to finish all panels and covers first.

That is were I'm at right know, but here is a teaser of what's to come.

[Patrick Tipton]

I spy a brand spanking new dash.....😍

[M29C3284]

@Patrick Tipton Good eyes my friend☺️ Yes I'm making a completely new dash. I have an original one that needs some rust repair, but since this is going to be a bv m/48 I will need to modify it a bit and I don't want to do that to an original dash. So a new one it is.

[M29C3284]

Like I teased back in September I was going to try and make a new dash panel for my weasel. The reason for this, is like I have already mentioned in a previous post, I don't want to modify an original panel.

So I started with drilling and punching all the holes in the main panel, I only spotted these when I cut the panel as my plasma dosen't really cut small holes very well. Next step was the wire edge on the top. I was a bit tricky to fold the metal around the 1/4" tubing I used. In hindsight I should have used a rod instead as the tubing was a bit too soft but it was what I had at hand with the right diameter. Anyway I ended up making multiple bends in the brake and them used the hammer and dolly to close it around the tube.   

Next task was to form the two pieces that form the channels which the heat door slides in. Here I used my standard method and pressed the step by placing the cut parts between two pieces of sheet metal. The little lip was then just made in the sheet metal brake. 

 

There is also a step, dimple (don't really know the English word for it) for the seat bracket on the lower edge that needed to be pressed. Here I just used the same method as before, I just used some heavier gauge metal on the "press tool".

The oil servicing door opening has a flange all around the edge. Spawned a few ideas on how to make that and in the end I decided that hammer forming was the best choice here. So I cut two forms from some chipboard and clamped and bolted these to the panel.

Then it was only a matter of hammering the flange down little by little. 

Once I was as close to 90 degrees a possible I removed the forms and did some hammer and dolly work to get some of the kinks out. I will also sand it later to remove some of the worst hammer marks.

[M29C3284]

Next part to make was the hat channel that goes just below the wire edge to stiffen the dash. This was a simple yet tricky part to make. It's made from 1,5 mm (16 guage) steel and it is quite small so I could not bend it in one go in my metal brake. So I made two S shaped pieces which I welded together along the top, then milled the slots and drilled the three holes. The S pieces was tricky to bend as well as the web between the flanges was actually too short to make both bent in the brake so I ended up bending the second flange in the bead roller.

If I'm going to make more of these dash panels I'm going to make a tool for the press brake to bend the whole hat channel in one go. 

Final part to make was the heat duct. Nothing special here, the pictures tells the story😊

Complete dash panel parts kit, except the two wire clamps. Time to start spot welding.

I sprayed the inside of the hat channel and the heat duct with high zinc primer before welding it all together.

Original and reproduction.

The parts left to make is the heat door and the knob for that. Otherwise this project it complete.

[OZM29C]

@M29C3284Brilliant work 👍 

[Patrick Tipton]

Always impressed my friend!  Very nicely done.

[42rocker]

Outstanding Work. Thanks for sharing all of these pics and info. 

Good Work.

Stay Safe Everyone

Later 42rocker

[M29C3284]

It's been a while since my last post, almost a year and a half time really flies. I did not managed to get much done on the weasel last year due to other prioritizes, but this year has been more productive.

I started looking at the springs and as you can see from the picture the front spring, marked no. 1, is incorrect. There should be two spring with a tighter arc not one. The more arced spring goes at the front and at the rear with the two in the middle having a shallower arc. Luckily I had a correct spring in my parts stash.

So as I want my weasel to ride smoothly and I decided to take the springs apart and clean and sandblast each individual leaf. I did take a while but over a couple of weekends I had all six spring ready, did the track tension springs as well, for priming. One thing I noticed when I was cleaning the spring was that they had never been painted before installation. Only the ends that stick out past the hull where painted. It kind of shows the short life expectancy these vehicles had. I wonder it the spring on the T24's where painted?  

I decided that I would assemble the spring before I applied the OD.

I used Areoshell Grease 33MS to grease the springs. If anybody has been around this type of grease they know why I mention it :-), because it really stinks. But it was free, we had a full can at work that had expired that I took with me home.

Cleaned and zinc plated and five NOS spring bushings that need to be replaced.

Finished spring and some other parts getting a coat of OD. Sorry about the dark picture but my camera doesn't like the lighting in the spray booth. 

[Patrick Tipton]

Progress is good!  I have been on that same journey...restoring jeeps instead of finishing my T24.. Congrats for the fine work!

 

[M29C3284]

@Patrick TiptonIt's about time that you get back on the T24😊

I have again been doing one of many side projects in this restoration. I have and original rear floor which is not in the best condition. And I tried to straighten it but I only did more damage to it, so I decided it would be easier for me to make a completely new floor.

Since I wanted the reproduction floor to be as accurate as possible, and I also needed to know the correct profile of the beads, I ordered the engineering drawing of the floor form the museum. As most of you know the rear floor has some complicated beads, so I thought the Pullmax be the best tool for this job. When I tried to straighten the original floor I used the bead roller but I did not get the result I wanted.

So to be able to form the beads in the Pullmax I made, since the beads are crossing each other, a round nosed upper tool and used a flat lower tool just for support. The table is also just for support.

Since the Pullmax is a reciprocation tool it's not easy to control the panel while forming it. Making straight lines by free hand is next to impossible. Some sort guide is needed. My first attempt as to sandwich the steel between to pieces of fiber board. As you can see it did not hold up to the forces involved, and cracked as the panel started to take shape.   

So I had to rethink and I decided to make the guides out of steel plate instead. So I cut two peices to sandwich the panel in between again and I also added a second piece to the bottom for extra support. The piece was just a flat plate with threaded holes for all the clamping bolts.

The guide plates are 5 mm thick so a 15 mm sandwich is quite heavy😊

The next attempt went better. One thing I learned front first try was to use a lot of oil to help the tool slid better and to go slow. I have also oiled the table otherwise the "sandwich" would not move at all.

This second panel turned out OK, but I later had a rethink and did not like the beads. They where not consistent and I wasn't happy with the flat area behind the seat pan. I needed to try again.

This one turned out the way I wanted. I was really happy with the result.

Next step was to clamp it back up in the guide plates to keep it a flat as possible when hammer forming the edge of the access hole and half the seat pan edge.

The seat pan was hammer formed between to pieces of wood and then welded to the floor.

After the seat pan was in place it was time for the footman loops and all the other details.

All these small items did actually the a fair bit of time to make. I had to make press dies for the footman loops and the studs took some lathe work. I also had to make a forming guide to the seat belt hoops and a press die for the weld plates. The part I didn't make was the sear back catch, it was my last NOS one.

The good thing about making all these little dies and forms is the I can make more parts quite quickly.

Anyway here is the finished rear floor on the bench and test fitted to the weasel. The extra cut out in the back is a bandvagn m/48 modification by the way.

[aktrapperbrad]

What a beautiful job! I wonder if the used a big stamp press originally.

[Patrick Tipton]

That looks gorgeous!  You do fine work.😍

@aktrapperbrad  I would bet they stamped that out in one big piece. 

[M29C3284]

Thanks guys, it's a labor of love. 

@aktrapperbradThey sure did, on the engineering drawing there is a call out for a separate drawing for the press die.

[M29C3284]

With all the panels complete I could finally paint the inside of the hull.

I had first planned to paint the inside of the hull the same color as the base color out the outside. But I changed my mind and went with the same color as I found on the the steering levers. It's a slightly lighter shade of grey than the camouflage base grey color.

I also made these two covers that goes behind the drivers seat. The smaller one I copied a NOS one I have, but the larger was made from the original drawing. All that is missing on the larger one is some felt padding on the bottom edge.

With the inside painted I could start the fun stage of the restoration, reassembly😊

I started with the suspension system and put Alumilastic on all the parts and bolts  that are below the waterline just like they did at the factory back in 1944. I also try and refurbish and reuse as much of the original hardware as possible. I sandblast and re-plate them. 

I noticed that went I was going to install the traverse spring that I did not have enough on the point tipped bolts. I thought I had some NOS ones, but they where only the smaller 3/8" diameter ones not the 7/16 bananas I needed. So I just machined the ends of some new bolts. 

I would have been easier to do this in the lathe, but at the moment it is set up with the four jaw chuck and I did want to mess around changing chuck so I used the mill instead since it was already set with the rotary chuck😊

About the springs again, I made an error in  my second to last post. The spring with a tighter arc goes in the middle, NOT in the ends, like in the picture below. So please disregard my statement in the last post. 

Anyway this is as far I have come as of today. Digging out all the finished parts from the hiding places and sorting all the hardware before installation always takes longer then I think.

The two grey spring covers are NOS by the way.

Edited August 4, 2023 by M29C3284

[OZM29C]

On 8/5/2023 at 5:36 AM, M29C3284 said:

With all the panels complete I could finally paint the inside of the hull.

I had first planned to paint the inside of the hull the same color as the base color out the outside. But I changed my mind and went with the same color as I found on the the steering levers. It's a slightly lighter shade of grey than the camouflage base grey color.

I also made these two covers that goes behind the drivers seat. The smaller one I copied a NOS one I have, but the larger was made from the original drawing. All that is missing on the larger one is some felt padding on the bottom edge.

With the inside painted I could start the fun stage of the restoration, reassembly😊

I started with the suspension system and put Alumilastic on all the parts and bolts  that are below the waterline just like they did at the factory back in 1944. I also try and refurbish and reuse as much of the original hardware as possible. I sandblast and re-plate them. 

I noticed that went I was going to install the traverse spring that I did not have enough on the point tipped bolts. I thought I had some NOS ones, but they where only the smaller 3/8" diameter ones not the 7/16 bananas I needed. So I just machined the ends of some new bolts. 

I would have been easier to do this in the lathe, but at the moment it is set up with the four jaw chuck and I did want to mess around changing chuck so I used the mill instead since it was already set with the rotary chuck😊

About the springs again, I made an error in  my second to last post. The spring with a tighter arc goes in the middle, NOT in the ends, like in the picture below. So please disregard my statement in the last post. 

Anyway this is as far I have come as of today. Digging out all the finished parts from the hiding places and sorting all the hardware before installation always takes longer then I think.

The two grey spring covers are NOS by the way.

A work of art. Well done. Its more fun putting a weasel together as opposed to just slogging it out doing sheet metal work. Look forward to future reports.

[Rob W]

Hi Alexander!

It's been a while since I've been on here, but I was talking to Barrett this evening and he told me I should take a look on the board.

Wow!  Somebody finally made the weasel rear center floor!  You are the man! nice job. It looks totally OEM! 

Way to put the Pullmax to work!

Also noted your NEW dash panel and other fine parts...you are talented, and stubborn... I'm sure you could have found these parts, but what fun is that😁

While talking with Barrett we both realized we probably wouldn't have had P9's if you wasn't for you 🤣😂 Thanks!

Keep up the good work...thought I don't think there is much more to make at this point!

Best Regards,

Rob

[Rob W]

P.S. I'm sure the board would really like a "shop tour" sometime...Just saying😉

[M29C3284]

@Rob W Thank you for the kind words.

Well, there is still a lot to do yet😊 I need to build a new rear float tank and fuel tank. I also need to either make new track bands or find someone that is willing to make some.

A shop tour can be done. Anyone else that is interested in that? 

[Art Costin]

Art M29C   
I’m  just getting started and have blasted all parts and tub . going to need to replace a lot of metal . I have built my own rotisserie which works well . So far my biggest obstacle are tracks . Where can I get rubber to replace ? 
Art.     M29C 

[M29C3284]

Time for another update. 

The assembly of the hull came to a stop as I found out that I needed several new suspension bolts and bushings, which I believed I had bought NOS several years ago, but appearently I had not. And looking around these seemed to be unobtanium so I had to make them.

These parts are supposed to be nitrited so I'm looking for a company that is willing to do it for me. 

 

In the mean time I decided it was high time I finished the restoration of all the gauges. I had done the speedometer a few years ago, but left the rest for later. Here's a few pictures of the restoration of the ammeter and fuel gauge.

Ammeter before restoation.

All parts of the ammeter cleaned. The housing, ring and hardware have been sandblasted and zinc plated. New cork gasket and vulcaniced paper insulators have been laser cut.

Installing the insulator on the clamp.

 

Fuel gauge before restoration.

Fuel gauge going back together.

I put shellac on all the parts that had it originally. 

My little tool to hold the gauge while I crimp the ring bak on.

Two finished oil pressure guages. The one with the repainted face is for the weasel the other one, to the right is for an MB. The weasel gauge had an extra rubber gasket for the glass, which I assume is because the weasel is amphibious. 

 

One thing I need help with though. I have a step down resistor for the fuel gauge but it is broken in two. Can somebody tell me what the resistance is supposed to be? I have measured the resitance on the broken peices and came up with 33,8 ohms, is that correct? 

 

Edited April 14 by M29C3284

[OZM29C]

Better than new👍

[Patrick Tipton]

You do fine work my friend.  Love the attention to detail.  I have several Weasel fuel gauges...not seeing the step down resistor?  I am assuming someone used one from a 6v system maybe?