the C8 I am working on
 

Alex van de Wetering asked me to post some pictures of the C8 I am working on. Here are some pictures of a C8 cab and chassis that come from the next county north of here. It has sat for may years and the interior was badly corroded. The exterior sheet metal was in remarkably good condition. It obviously had never been abused, just left to rot.

Parts C8
 

On a trip to Manitoba I committed to mortal sin of removing a military vehicle without permission. It had sat on a truck bed for some number of years and was for sale. It had been used as a donor vehicle for another restoration and most of the front metal work was gone. The interior was complete and in very, very good condition. With both cabs stripped down and the best parts from them I had a compete interior and exterior. Thank heaven for the dry weather of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the dot and dash floor had very little corrosion.

C8 in paint
 

I have been working at the truck since last winter and have made good progress. Things have slowed down while fall work gets done. Hope to have it running under its own power before Christmas. I do not have a cargo box and that will have to wait till next year.
I managed to get 6 thirteen inch wheels and got five serviceable rims from them. Fortunately the hub extenders were still on the axles and that was a huge relief. The tires are the Trellebourg machinery tires and wont pass an Ontario safety check. That's a bridge to cross another day.

Great job Gord. Ive always loved the C8/F8 trucks. Sadly I dont fit very well in the drivers seat.

Are the trellburg tires available in Canada? We are in need of some for the museum.

Great job. It is nice to see some Manitoban cultural property being taken care of.

Gord,

Excellent work; that's a lovely truck you have there. The panels do look good indeed! I can't wait till I have the nose panels fitted on my C8....than it finally starts to look as a truck again.

One thing that caught my eye in your pictures are the rims; could it be that you have fitted them the wrong way round? I think the welded stud end should be on the outside and the nut on the inside.

Did you get tubes from Trelleborg as well? I still have to get some tubes for my Alliance tyres, they are available on Ebay, but noticed the choice of valves and valve angle seems limited.

regards,

Alex

rims and tires
 

Alex

When I bought the Ontario truck it had civilian rims on the hubs so I very well may have the rims on backwards. I'm used to the having the nuts to the outside on the other trucks, I'll try reversing the rims.

Rob

I got the tires through an OK Tire dealer that handled farm tires. They are available in Canada but were a special order. I got the inner tubes from a local tire shop and mounted the tires myself. The bigger problem is the rim flaps for a 9:00 x 13 tire if you need them. I found the dealer that handled the tires with an internet search.

Alex, you can change the valve on the tube to the type needed, by using a valve repair patch & 1100x13 tyre flaps will fit, That is what I had to do
when I changed the front tyres on my f8.
regards, Anthony.

Thanks Antony.....good suggestion. It never occurred to me to replace the valves! I did look at an angled valve extension, which would work in combination with a normal metal valve.
Can I ask where you sourced the tyre flaps? So, does a 11x3 flap work without modification in a 9.00x13 tyre?

Sorry to go off topic, Gord!

Alex

A replacement TR455 valve stem will cost you as much as the inner tube. But if it is what one must do to get tubes, then so be it.

You can cut down a 16 inch flap to length. Leave some overlap and cut the flap so it is angled leading onto the other one.

Oh father I am home!
 

I have returned home for the holidays to visits friends and family. As Dad calls it having his secret weapon home, thus into the shop to play. After we sorted a clutch rod length we fired up the C8 for her maiden test drive.

http://youtu.be/YL7wwFfulDc

Wonderfull......
 

Love the German grey doors.....and the red nuts.

When are you coming to the barn....?

Weather Wednesday looks favorable.

Cheers

I love the video...
 

great stuff! Cheers Rob Fast

Good Work
 

Hi Gordon

Like the grin on your face, says it all.

Cheers Phil

Lovely! Great work and great video....can't wait till I finally have my C8 ready for a movie like this.

Alex

If you like the grin......
 

Hi Phil

If you think that grin is good you should see the one on the guy holding the camera......

Did you not noticed that Gord on the C8 looked a lot younger..... and it has nothing to do with clean air in Goderich...... that's his accomplice in crime......Neil his son !!!!!

Cheers

Well done!
 

Must be walking on air fella's...

Really nice job, thanks for posting :thup2: :thup2:

Don't be deceived
 

There have been many back up and do overs just to get to this stage, and there are quite a few more to go yet.

It's good to let the young one have a little fun and do the first drive out of the shed. Keeps him coming back to help.

Alex, I still have to get those rims switched around yet! Now that the truck drives I'll have to get a push on that chore.

Since this is such a far-reaching group I should point out that the ground here should be covered with snow. Our day time highs for this week have been more what we would expect at this time of the month in October. Today was a great chance to have the C8 out for it's first run in God knows how many decades.

Great job !

Nice video.

Good luck,fair winds.

Thums up!

Dad and I have been playing again, things have moved along slower then normal since we have been to the Hammond Barn and I have been off visiting friends. As things sit we have most of the cab and front sheet metal in place.

Looking real nice and tidy, guys.

Alex

Hey, I have to call fraud. That video wasn't done in the last week: Where is the snow? It's December in Canada....there has to be snow. God knows we have it here in Manitoba.

Snow in Manitoba
 

Rob

Neil drove the truck out of the shed and you know where he usually is. You also know where he has been for the last 10 days. Still think it is a fraud?

Gord and Neil

P.S. Enjoy the Christmas like conditions and all the best of the Season to you and yours.

truck
 

Nice truck.

Gord

You are spoiling him with that sub-tropic environment. He will not want to return to Manitoba at the end of the Christmas break. He has to come back: there is a Dingo on the hoist waiting for him to finish.

The smile on his face in the video makes him look like a kid at Christmas.

Merry Christmas back at yourself and Niel.

Been a while!
 

Not much happened in the shop this winter and I needed to get started on a cargo box. The truck that I got had nothing on the frame and nothing of any kind of box present. So, I started from scratch and Johnathan B let me go and measure up David Moore's former truck cargo box. As an opening to Rob Love to wind me up, Jonathan's truck is a Ford.

Here are a few pictures of the progress so far.

Gordon, Nice work on the body. Did you bend the sheet metal in house?
Lovely work.

Alex

Knowing Gord....
 

.... he probably did it on the out house!!!!

Nice job Gord...... what gauge were you working with....? are you still using you home built bender???

Cheers

metal forming
 

Alex
Last year Colin Jones showed how he formed up some gas tanks for his carrier. From seeing how he did the work I copied his ideas with the minimal resources I had to work with, marvellous what you can do with a hydraulic jack and a tractor. Here are two pictures of how I formed the tank body. From that experience I bought a shop press and made dies to do 90 degree bends. The cargo box sides, the front and floor of the box where formed by a metal working shop near me. With the press brake I can bend up to 32 inch widths and that will do the stowage boxes and small bits that need shaping.

In answer to Bob's question, I have used 14 gauge metal for the construction of the box. That is what is listed in the design records pictures I have seen published in the Bill Gregg books.

Can I have som' more please.....
 

How about more details and photos of your home made hydraulic press..... is it a 20 tons..?

I have seen something similar sold on Ebay in kit form.......

Bob C