Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

[Private_collector]

Went to order rear brake cylinders from U.S and found that the supplier ran out of stock hours before I tried to place the order. A substitute now found and on their way. Should be here in 1-2 weeks.
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Brake backing plates have been blasted and painted. This one was assembled with the old cylinder, as a test only. All new hardware bought. Some of the original bolts & nuts were a bit chewed by rust. The 7/16 castle nuts which hold the brake backing plate to the rear axle were a shock as far as price goes. Originally quoted at more that $3.00 EACH!! Stated to be expensive due to their 'rarity'. Finally bought 24 of them at less than $1 each. Still outragously dear.

All bearings & grease/oil seals now removed from diff housing. I followed instructions of fellow MLU'er to run a bead of arc weld around inside of bearing cup. Once this was done, the cup was VERY easy to remove. Axle seals popped out with pushing for hub end with tube steel. Rear axle housing will go to sandblasting this week, once I make MDF plates to cover where they join together. I want to keep them seperate for the blasting, mainly because I can't lift the thing if I put the halves back together.

800kms and 14hrs spent Saturday in travel to retrieve parts from two locations. Pity they were so far apart, and a long way from my place, but all in a good cause. Booty includes: Brake vacuum booster, 1x shock absorber, a number of brackets & rods etc, fuel pump, steering wheel, spark plug wire tubes (left & right) and another 20in wheel. Was very lucky to be given workable air compressor that attaches to gearbox.

Also returned home with a Sidevalve V8 and gearbox, for rebuilding, both of which were still attached to about 5ft of front chassis. Moving them around will be much easier once I put wheels under it.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Tony

Have you found the rubber boots for the brake cylinders?

Cheers Phil

[Keith Webb]

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

Hi Tony

Have you found the rubber boots for the brake cylinders?

Cheers Phil

Vanguards here often offer these on eBay here but they look hard and perished and I don't think they sell many.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

Hi Tony

Have you found the rubber boots for the brake cylinders?

Cheers Phil

Phil,

I have! Will note details soonest.

Hanno

[Phil Waterman]

The reason I asked, is what Keith mentioned is that a lot of them look hard being old stock and I have recently gotten new ones through NAPA here in the states.


Cheers Phil

[Bob Moseley (RIP)]

Hi all - i use a very reliable brake place here in Adelaide. They refurbish and/or supply any of the old parts and have a good understanding of the old technologies. I have had several brake sets and brake boosters done by these people and their work is great.

Bob

[Private_collector]

I have a supply of brake cylinder boots, that I had in fact bought from Vangards a long time ago. There is about a dozen each of front and rear. They were not hard or perished. They were soft............mmmmm...soft. I didn't put them on for the photo because I have put them "somewhere safe" and only found them after reading the recent postings regarding them.
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I looked into having the cylinders re-sleeved, but new ones were only $10.00 dearer (for the two) and that included shipping from U.S.

Presently got four master cylinders, at least one of which is not requiring any work.

Hopefully, the only thing that will need to be rebuilt is the vacuum booster. If it's minor rebuild only, there is a place in Brisbane that manufactures seals & rubbers. If major rebuild is required, I may send it down to Adelaide, to the place Bob told me about earlier.

There is a good and helpful brake shop here in Gympie that will assist me in learning how to manufacture new brake lines properly. All the parts can be bought from Macs Auto, once again, mysteriously cheaper than buying down the street.

[Bob Moseley (RIP)]

Tony - there is no such thing as a major or minor rebuild of these things. Whatever has to be done, the booster has to be dissembled and that is quite tricky as it contains a large and powerful spring. Then the thing has to be cleaned and a replacement bucket and seals have to be fitted. Don't bother with the old bucket that could be at least 65-70 years old, these are life saving brake componants you are talking about. When I obtain the other contingencies I talked about I'll see if there is a spare one that I could get rebuilt.

With the master and slave cylinders any good brake place can clean, re-hone or re-line them along with putting all new componants in, i.e. pistons, seals and boots. You don't need to buy from overseas. Doing it all locally also gives you a comeback if anything untoward happens. I would also be wary of using your old brake linings, get them professionally replaced. No matter what vehicle I restore I always get the whole brake system professionally done. Brake lines are easy if you have templates or else if you have them, just a good flush is all that is needed.


Bob