body
 

the timber body that I made for the C15 used mostly old brackets, new timbers

Gday Bob
 

It was great to have a look and a yarn about the back at Corowa as well Bob.

You woudnt have any more brackets lying around would you??? :confused

Photo's for Rob Pearce
 

Gday Rob

Drive photo's of spreader as promised.

Photos start at the Back of the trucks gearbox a cog has been put onto the trucks tail shaft as a power take off for want of a better term.

The photos then head towards the back of the truck. Single speed gearbox to engage/disengage drive to the spreader box.

Cont'd
 

The single speed gearbox is eng/diseng from the the cab. You can see where the shaft comes out of the Cab to the Gearbox lever.

From the shaft underneath the Chassis another sprocket connects to a chain which drives the transfer case in the middle picture. Another chain runs to a large spocket at the back and this runs into the spreader.

Cont'd
 

A couple of removing the spreader from the truck.

Incidentally, If anyone wants it they had better let me know ASAP. Otherwise its going to the Scrappies TOMORROW. Let me know TOMORROW MORNING 10am at the latest or she'll be gone. Ive got no where to put it, so I cant keep it & every Cocky I talk to says its no good to them.

Thanks Tony, they went to a lot of trouble setting that spreader up when a bedford wheel cog would have been all they needed.
Those old spreaders are too hard to maintain compared to the modern ones, they have a lot of moveing metal parts prone to rust.

I can tell Bob didn't use the 1/4" x 1" joiner strips between the boards. I didn't realize that it would become so noticeable. I think the box that I posted with the open wheel wells looks more like an army truck. The straight sides like Bob's have more of a farmer look to them. Just my personal opinion mind.

Its all about finding out
 

Gday all

Keep it coming David, Bob, Hanno & anyone else - info & opinions....... its all welcome.

After removing the spreader (Moment of silence for the 60 years of hard work its done) I noticed a couple of things.

See photo's

I suppose I'm not that sentimental after all as I still sent the spreader to the scrappies.

I did however receive 30 pieces of silver* for my trouble.

Now back to the Photo's. The last one is obviously the convoy light that shine onto the diff. (very pleased that was still there)

The switch I suspect may be an original fitment as well. Im guessing this but the two little badges above and below the switch look very Blitzish** to me

*90 dollars Australian
**Adj/Like Blitz, bearing resemblance

Electrical bits
 

Yes Tony, that is indeed original and usually missing. The little plates say "red" and "white" and it's used to switch to blackout convoy lighting.

Before I go any further......
 

This is going to turm into a restoration thread if I continue.

Quick consensus from everyone - Start a new thread in the Restoration forum for this truck? Or simply continue here???

Pray continue
 

Well the story up to this point is here so keep posting here I reckon. Good to see the progress. I was working on some finishing touches to Chris' F15 yesterday. Who knows? Perhaps some FGT and cab 12 bits someday soon for me?

Righto - as I were
 

Okey Dokey

Will continue here........
Front shell is off. Oh boy! How much easier are the 13's to pull apart??

They would have half the number of bolts compared to a 12 Cab.

The trucks are a great example of wartime development in improving design, reducing amount of materials used and speeding up production of units per day.

Interesting comparison
 

Interesting to go from restoring a cab 12 to 13 - undoubtedly the more satisfying way to go. Just wait till you drive it - you'll be amazed at how much room there is.
At this rate you'll have her finished in a couple of weeks!

K

Back into it
 

Isnt it rude of normal life duties to get in the way of truck restoration.

Anyway they did... but they can"t forever!! :devil: :devil:

So Ive picked up where I left off. Decided to finish attacking the Cab.

Managed to get all the floor screw headed bolts intact... bar two.

Point for discussion. The webbing under the floor has definitely been impregenated with something from the Factory. Does anyone have a name for it apart from black sticky tarry stuff :confused

"Bitumen"?

H.

Looks exactly like my F15A when i first started stripping her , don`t be surprised if you find a few holes in the chassis once you remove the lime/super coat off the back end of the chassis .

great job so far :thup:

Some Great news
 

I dont remember mentioning that I managed to free up the engine. Amazingly not one stuck valve or lifter. :yappy: :thup2::yappy:

The oil is circulating throughout the engine as the old stuff literally pours out the brass fitting at the back even with just a couple of turns of the crank.

Removed those old strange front wheels as they looked like crap (no other reason). Got the front slave cylinders out while I was going. Bearings are in excellent shape, one side has the bloody brake shoes missing and...... figure this out.....one of the cylinders has been resleeved and could go back in with the original rubbers I reckon, but the other one looks like something out of a Pharaohs tomb.

Third photo gives and excellent example of the orginal fuel line layout with correct curling in the lines, even though the left tank and tap have been bypassed at some stage.

Blitz in bits
 

Just some shots of the carnage when a truck is in all its bits.

The other is of the 16" rims finally back on the old girl. Complete with ancient D^D tyre.

How about Vegemite?

More progress
 

Donk is out and brake cylinders and master cylinder have been removed.

Discovered all brake cylinders including master cylinder have been resleeved using stainless steel. Came apart easily and cleaned up with a bit of metho. Should be able to put new rubber back in and thats all!! The one on the right hand front is not so good and will have to be done (in fact it was never done in the first place :confused)

Cab frame
 

Here's something for the curious.

Part of the Cab frame has broken welds at both ends. Was this a common failure in the trucks??

Ive circled the weld in question. Its broken at both ends.

Tony ,
Two of my cabs have frames that are broken in the exact same postition. I am guessing its a weak point in the design as that bar is the attachment point for the rear cab mounts they must get a lot of flexing when the trucks are one the move .


James

Thanks Plushy
 

Interesting to hear that Plushy.....that bar would cop a heap of load. Will test my newfound welding skills fixing it.

Have taken apart the windscreen frame and set it up back to original.

The frame was reversed by the previous owners to fit the shortened roof after they cut out the roof hatch and welded sheet metal in its place. :doh:

Why?........ I have no idea. :(

I used another unmolested (but very holey & rusty) frame as a template. Involved a bit of mucking around - but thats the whole point with a Blitz isnt it??

I admit I had to redo a few welds I'm still learning the finer arts. More than a few rods were used and a fair bit of angle grinding. But the result was better then new.

I havent test fitted it yet but I'll let you know the result even if it is embarrassing!! :o

Hi Tony & Clevo
I was thinking about the webbing in between the cab & frame . It could be a mixture of Stockholm tar & Linseed oil that the webbing was soaked into. I use Stockholm tar as a thread anti seize on track bolts on earth moving equipment it is brilliant if there is no heat ( Dad & I did a set of tracks on an excavator that did a bit of work in salt water 10 years later give or take we were able to undo the track bolts )
Stockholm tar is old school pushed aside by the new products.It is brilliant to protect threads if there is not a lot of heat ie not for use on engines. But good for body & chassis bolts.
It is what I will be using all over the cab 12 when it starts to go together Sooner than later I hope :thup2:

Time does get away
 

About time for a very quick update..on the little F15.

Finally got the right paint match in terms of colour.

Before anyone says... "that's not khaki no3" I can assure you this colour has been painstakingly matched to an original sample from the truck that was not exposed to fading.

So it is spot on. What I am a bit ticked off about is the semi gloss finish 'cause we also worked on getting a flat to matt finish. The spec's sent to the paint maker specified that 20% flattening agent was required. Anyway I'll work on that.

Couple of weld repairs were done and then blasted, undercoated and painted. All done by Tasman Grit in Wagga. I simply dont have the facilities to sand blast and when it is done you've got to get the paint on quick smart.. so they have done that as well.

Great to have some progress which can be seen. Never ceases to amaze me just how well these trucks come up..

Questions about the paint
 

Hi Tony

"So it is spot on. What I am a bit ticked off about is the semi gloss finish 'cause we also worked on getting a flat to matt finish. The spec's sent to the paint maker specified that 20% flattening agent was required. Anyway I'll work on that."

Whose paint did you use?
Did you add any hardener or other additive other than the flatten-er?
Did you get all the mixture numbers so it can be reproduced?

Reason I ask is did a similar process on my HUP and the finial coat just did not flatten the way I wanted. The problems in my case are technique and adding hardener to Enamel.

Cheers Phil

Looking good Tony, how about a couple of shots of the finished shed :cheers:

Yes Phil
 

Paint specs have been kept by the bloke who did the work putting the formula together. So I can get them off him if you'd like them..not a problem.

I'm just not going to be able to get them for a few weeks.

Shed?
 

I will Robert - stay tuned..

Tony,

I've come very late to this thread, but....

"Before anyone says... "that's not khaki no3" I can assure you this colour has been painstakingly matched to an original sample from the truck that was not exposed to fading.

So we can assume you used a sample from a position between panels? This does not take into account that the individual parts were not 'overpainted' in Australia, but the truck was overpainted with KG3 and the disruptive colour after assembly in Australia by the contractor. The paint sandwiched between panels is generally not a good indicator of the exterior vehicle colour in Australia.

Given the date of production of the vehicle, and the ARN, can I ask:

What pattern the flooring is, and the thickness of the floor inside the cab?

Does the roof have a roof hatch? If so, is it welded or bolted in?

Does the cab lower rear panel have a 'w' or an inverted 'u' shaped strenthening rib? Is there a small disc welded to the rib located on the left side?

Were the cab roof to cab rear panel bolts Whitworth (ie not UNC sized heads)

Does the engine number also appear stamped on the upper right hand chassis member, adjacent to the front cross member, or is this area blank?

My F15s were always fun to drive. The last one had an up-rated diff centre which gave it respectable road speed, too.

Regards

Mike C