M8 Greyhound

[WillWagner]

Tried search...about as fruitful as the old site or any other search feature...no offence Mike, I just can't finger them out!
We are gonna do brakes on an M8 at the museum. The wheel cylinders have an old style piston in them that has the cup on the outdide of and aluminum piston...that's how I understood the explanation...I have heard that there are new style kits, similar to the kits used on a deuce, that are just cups without the aluminum centers. Anyone heard of them or have a civi cross over?

 

[WillWagner]

Well, it's been a bit, but we started wrenching on the M8. Pulled the wheels and drums off, all the wheel cylinders are leaking. Disassembled one axles worth, 4 cylinders, all have water contamination. We looked at the records kept on the unit, as far back as the early 90's there has been brake issues. We got a couple of new style lits for the wheel cylinders, guess 10 more are in order. It didn't run so good, 2 cold cylinders. Pulled the plugs, found a mix of different plugs. In went a fresh new set, hit on all 6 now, but carburation was in need of attention. Pulled the carb apart, a funky Zenith with the float bowl on top of the carb!? Gaskets tore and were hard as a rock...great, where do you find 1941 carb parts? Cleaned the accelerator pump and all the passages up, I learned a new trick, use alcohol to remove the varnish in the carb. You can't believe how fast it works and it makes the parts look new! Had to make new gaskets for the carb, very time cosuming, but worth it, they came out sweet! Reassembled the carb and tried to light it. It would run a few seconds and die. Checked the distributor, was a bit wet, when the covers are raised, the water that collects in them dumps right onto the plugs, coil and runs down onto the cap. Cleaned them out, tried starting, same issue, like it was starving for gas. Found the issue, the fuel lines from the tank to the engine are plugged . Got a jerry can and a pick up and ran a line to the pump, WOO HOO! lit right off and sounded good. Was able to dial the carb in and it accelerates good. Guess I gotta roll under it and check the filters . Another month or so and it will be in driveable condition

 

[clinto]

Just regular old rubbing alcohol?

I have to do the carb on the M38A1 (the needle sticks) and I hate spending the money for carb dip for as infrequently as I do carb builds.

 

[devilman96]

Just regular old rubbing alcohol?

I have to do the carb on the M38A1 (the needle sticks) and I hate spending the money for carb dip for as infrequently as I do carb builds.

Clint, run down to Homies and get a gallon of laquer thinner... Drop it in that for a hour or 2... Spotless!

 

[WillWagner]

Craig whipped out air brake line alcohol. Iguess it would be the same. I'll ask. Stand by...Called Craig, rubbing will work, but not as effective as it isn't a high % concentrate. The air line stuff is 90%. Gotta tell ya, it worked very good. A tad cold on the fingers though

 

[CARNAC]

M8

 

[WillWagner]

Well, the brakes went smooth. Put new style piston and cup back in, VS the old style V ring style, it should last longer. Dis mounted 4 of the WWII bolt together combat wheels, dismounnted 4 lock ring type with good rubber and put them on the WWII wheels. Took the fuel system apart and cleaned things out. Bled the brakes and they worked good a few times, then the pedal went to the floor..not like it had air, but worse, had pressure on the down stroke AND on the release of the pedal. Found a failed hydravac $900.00 to rebuild it. It's special and has leather seals in it. I have heard the CCKW has the same type of hydravac and there is an upgrade to a more modern type. Anyone got a line on these?

 

[SETOYOTA]

The best thing to do is scrap the old hydrovac and go with a more modern unit. I did this on my M8 an never looked back. The original hydro is not the same as a CCKW.

You will also want to addres the hydraulic clutch and hydraulic accelerator. All of these systems were bad even when new. poor design

If you plan on using the vehicle its best to replace the hydraulic clutch with a mechanicle linkage and the hydraulic accelerator with a cable. Mike Shuler in Tampa Florida can give you alot help with this as he helped me get my M8 sorted out. He can be reached at 813-390-0694 or 813-677-7680

Brent Mullins is College Station Tx will have any parts you may need.

Chuck H

 

[SETOYOTA]

you know it would be easier to work on if you took the fenders off

 

[WillWagner]

I flipped the rears up, just had them down 'cause it was raining and I didn't want to hit my head everytime I walked by it with them up Do you know the p/n and make of the upgraded hydravac unit? The throttle has already been converted to a morse cable, I have heard nightmare stories about the stock throttle! Clutch has been no problems according to the notes kept on the unit, seems to work good, even though I only drove it 10 feet! I was hoping someone would have some knowledge on this!

 

[SETOYOTA]

I can tell you....you will have problems with the clutch. They all do. i will see what I can find on the part number

 

[WillWagner]

Thanks!

 

[EZFEED]

Wow Will this is great! I love these resto threads like this! Sorry I didn't see it sooner!

So what was the modern replacment for the wheel cylinders?

Also have you looked into the blue plastic sheet gasket material? DUDE....forget the paper stuff, you ought to check into it. Most hose and gasket places have this stuff and it comes in all sizes. Nice soft seal and will last forever.

 

[WillWagner]

I'll get the numbers later this week. As for the gasket material, i've seen the blue stuff, but we used what was in stock in the Museums parts warehouse. Some of youse guys out west should find some time to stop in there. There is an AMAZING amount of stuff there. After I pulled the hydravac out of the M8, I needed to do something else to stay busy, so, we fired the M901 and exercised it a bit...that's when we found the track adjusters were in need of rebuilding, then we fired a rough terrain forklift with a 453 dogtroit in it. The 901 was last fired last year, but the forklift ..who knows when. Kinda scared me for a bit. When it lit, thought it was gonna be a run away , got to around 800-900 rpm then the governor kicked in and all was good! Had my finger in the shutdown and had a Co2 extinguisher next to me the whole time!

 

[WillWagner]

OK, here are some pics of the finished project. I had a camera issue, but a couple of guys have some pics they'll send me with the engine stuff and some in between things. There was a total of 250 = or - hours in the project.

 

[Gamagoat1]

Will,
What did you finally do with the Hydro-vac. Was it bad?
I never had a clutch problem once I got the D@#%% thing bled. Same for the accelerator.

 

[WillWagner]

We took it the way it was/is. It still has pedal and can be driven short distances, but it will still need to be made right. That will come in the very near future because it is going to get some use and possibly generate some income for the Museum . Any luck on finding the info you were gonna look for? The pedal still feels firm but won't get hard until it is pumped or touched. It is definatly a volume issue, maybe a compensation check valve was junk from the NOS kit we rebuilt the HV with or the cylinder isn't the correct size.

 

[Gamagoat1]

No luck on more info. I'm still looking tho.
If you hold the break pedal down then start the engine, do you experiance a differance?? Pedal should come up if the Hydrovac is working.

 

[WillWagner]

I forgot about that! I'll check it when we bring it back from Playboy.