Sunday was both cool and hot. 4oC at 0800 hrs and 24oC at 1600hrs. Bob spent the morning fiddling with his C15 floor plates. I decided to clean up the 12 outer and 6 inner nuts for the four HUP rims that I had previously refurbished. After a few hours at the wire wheel, I now know the danger template for 15/16 in HUP nuts…one of the darlings worked its way out of the jaws of the vicegrips I was using to hold them to the wheel. Somewhere in the shelves is one shiny nut with a dent in it…
Following that fun, it was time to put “new to me” Michelins on the refurbished rims and then onto the HUP Prototype. The Michelins will remain on the HUP until after restoration.
Prototype’s new shoes:
After lunch, Bob and I took on the removal of the run flat from the split rim mentioned last week. We had to cut the bead cords in order to separate the rubber from the rim. This took some time as the tire was reluctant to give up its hold on the rim. Finally, brute force won the day, but it was a lot of effort only to find a good deal of damage due to corrosion. The rim will be restored at a future date as it came with the Prototype. Interestingly the 1941 stamping is clear as day.
The next step was to further dismantle the Huntsville HUW. Off came the POW can holder, fuel tank protector plates, running boards and supports. With the exception of the POW can holder, the take offs were in pretty good nick. The state of corrosion of the nuts required the use of grinders (when access permitted) and the hammer and chisel. I also know the danger template for 1/2inch nuts…
HUW (soon to be HUP) Fuel Tank Protector Plates
Near the end of the day, Bob’s neighbor Bruce, brought his family and a lady friend by to see what was causing the racket. The young lady fell in love with the HUP and became an instant fan of CMPs. She noted that the HUP looked like a HUMMER…
New CMP Fan:
At the end of the day, we cleaned up and drained a bottle of Keiths each. Some small talk about making a run down south came up. It looks like we will be raiding the Toronto area in early October – Brian G. – make sure you do an inventory…with that out of the way, we locked up the barn and headed home.