The Rebuild
 

I tried out last years Christmas present today and used my first letre tin of paint, all the little bits had been done with spray cans. There are a fiew patches requiring a touch up but I'm happy with my first attempt :cheers:

All the drive shafts are back in place I used nylock nuts this tme.
I now have a working handbreak for the first time since I've owned the Blitz. :cheers:

Todays effort. Once the fuel tank is mounted I will be able to drive the Blitz again making life much easier. Greg sifted sand for me today so I can clean the cab base frame tomorrow. :thup:

If the right tractor isn't home improvise, luckly it handled it easily. Once this bit is cleaned, painted and bolted onto the chassis the finish line will be visible I hope. :coffee :coffee :cheers:

Murphy had his fun yesterday :mad: First I went too mount the fuel tank only to discover I forgot to paint the straps the day before :bang: Then I started the bigger compressor to fill the air tanks for sandblasting. I gathered th gear together and turned to switch on the smaller compressor as well only to see flames billowing from the box on top of the larger compressors motor :bang: so the small compressor had to run full time for the blasting. :coffee

Start Caps
 

Just blew the start capacitors out of the old girl..Try a couple of new ones and watch out for low voltage.. lightning and power failures,single phasing,brown outs are death on start caps.

Spent today grinding, sanding and painting. The nosecone isn't finished yet it has to be tipped over to get the rest. The painting looks best from a distance I don't think I will get job offers for painting but I am happy because this is my job ad I'm having fun trying new skills. :cheers:
Thanks for the advice Alex the wires are burnt so I carn't do it myself so I will get a quote on fixing and price a new motor then decide, the compressor is at least twenty years old. :thup2:

Just before dark last night I added fuel to the tank and ran some tempoary wires. Too my great joy the old girl fired up and sucked fuel from the tank, so no air leaks. With no muffler the engine sounds like it means business. I dove it ten foot forward in the shed to celebrate. :cheers:

The metal was still hot when I got home from work so I added the numbers to get one step closer. :coffee

I finished painting the nosecone today some spots are hard to get. A milestone was reached today with the cab frame being put back on. Vicki arrived home just in time to drive the tractor :D as by myself I kept trying to either smash the carby or distributor :bang: the help was much aprecated and the frame droped straight in with us working together :thup::cheers:

Progress is panfully slow but the ignition wiring is complete as is the horn. Headlight wiring is to dipper switch and indicators are wired to direction switch.

Questions.....
 

NIce job Robert.....

I always enjoy following the progress done on CMP projects...

......and I use the opportunity to learn...

On one picture of your newly painted cab...it shows, on the passenger side floor, a pipe tower and braces??? what is it for...? also observed that your floor panel on the driver's side seems to have a small rectangular door or access panel cut into the floor..... are these things "Holden bodies" differences...???

Amazing how many CMP restorations are done using farm tractors for lifting components...... I know my MF has now become a yard crane...... however the Ottawa Rotters do not have a good looking driver/operator......yet !!

Keep up the postings...

Bob

Thank for the comments Bob. The braced tower is a field modification for changing the two speed transfur box that has been fitted. The door in the floor gives you access to the top of the battery, I don't know whoes idea it was. Some parts might not get painted till after Corowa as I only have a week left to try for rego, I may have to end up with a travel permit as a last resort.

Wiring fiished under dash today so it's time for fitting the nose cone. :cheers:

The nose is back on it's finally looking like a blitz again. I had to jump start the blitz to drive it under the nose the ten year old battery packe it in. I never broke a bolt pulling the nose off but managed to snap one on assembly :bang: :cheers:

Wow
 

Amazingly speedy work Robert!

You certainly got your money's worth out of the battery. :thup:

Battery door
 

The late model C60L in Darwin's aircraft museum also has the battery access panel. Must have been a very late inclusion as its the ony one I have ever seen.
Sorry about the pic quality best I could do with my phone.
Graeme

I finally got the phone call the seat cushions are ready to pick up.
The chassis number sugests my blitz is 1943.

Hi Robert,
Nice job :thup2:
One question why that color :coffee

Hi Eric because I will still use the blitz as a spray rig for four months of the year it will never be a true restoration so I chose a colour I liked that coud be bought off the shelf in tins and pressure packs. It is a metal preserver and top coat in one so it saves a lot of time as well.

Hi Robert,
Ok thanks for the infot i was curious :yappy: and don't worry you have the right to paint it the color you want ;)
I lease your wife can't complainte you put time and money it a working truck for you and not a hobby :fry:

The cab back is on, I made good use of the trouble light I got for Christmas. The front bumper is also on. Next I need to do more cleaning and painting. :cheers:

Had a setback today, the field high/ low change wouldn't work with the chev transfur case mounted properly, it had been hooked up to a ford case bolted direct to the cross member. So I had to cut it out and clean and paint the tower out of the doner, it has a plate welded inside so it only changes high/low. :coffee

Nearly two days of cleaning and a couple of hours painting, I'm starting to see the finish, only one months work left for next week :coffee

I know the feeling...
 

And where would we be without fencing wire!

Yes verry handy indeed, cheep too if you cut it out of a neighbours fence :devil:

I must say a great effort, under what I suspect some trying conditions.

I think I would have become a farmer/sprayer if I known you got great lady TA's as well Grin

Every time the kids pop up in your photos, how quickly they are growing, a credit to you and your lady.

All the best have a safe trip to Corowa

Regards

Col

Col thanks for the comments the boys are growing up fast.
The budget is almost gorne so I have resorted to useing what's in the shed. Today I solid mounted an XD muffler and added a length of flexable to the pipe, I also made a flange gasket from a length of No. 10 wire and sealed it with copper selastic it has quitened the old girl down nicely. I also replaced the doors, mudguards and rest of the floor plates today :cheers: :coffee

Only remembered today that I would need a spare. So after sanding the cab top and seats and fitting mirrors I started to remove the old tyre from the spare rim, the tube still had air in it. The first side came off in half an hour but the second side is deeper than the thread on the beed breaker so I will have to go around again with blocks under the breaker :cheers:

Bead breaker
 

Is your bead breaker a currently available tool or one of those wonderful simple pieces of kit that still serve a purpose but just can't be found in this modern age? You've probably seen lots of us commenting on how much work it is to take tires off CMP rims. It seems that your tool has all that is needed. It clamps to the rim to hold it in place and uses a simple screw to press down on the tire carcass. Has someone been using a cheater bar on the handle of the screw and bending it? If so does that mean that the machine is at the limits of its capacity working on these tires?
If it is a current piece of kit, what is the maker/source? Thanks.

Grant,
The T bar was bent when I had around six foot of pipe on it only to discover the nut had been welded on.
The bead breaker was a Christmas present from Vicki a few years back so I could change the rear tyres on the tractors without having to remove the heavy wheels from the tractor, saves a lot of back work.
It was bought through the local John Deer agency and had been advertised in their anual catalogue for a fiew years. Vicki thinks it cost around $400.00 Aus. back then.