Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

[Private_collector]

40mm BOFORS - TCB 1.jpg 40mm BOFORS - TCB 2.jpg 40mm BOFORS - TCB 3.jpg
As promised, here are some photos of my recent BOFORS discovery. Very intact and in reasonable condition considering it's age and vulnerability (Located less than 100mts from the oceans edge).
40mm BOFORS - TCB wheel close.jpg
Poor old thing won't last forever. Wonder if I could persuade the council to let me buy it ......for preservation purposes, of course.

[Private_collector]

Some time ago, I recall one of our members mentioned that modern CV joint boots could be made into an acceptable relacement for the now extinct equivelent on the vacuum booster. Unfortunately I don't recall where I saw that written or who I have to thank for that idea. Whoever you are, you are a lateral thinking genious! 'God Bless Ya' to your Mother. With the idea in mind, I bought one of those 'generic' boots that taper at both ends. The ones where you cut off the excess until the ends match the size for your job.
Booster cross section - page from manual.jpg
Here's how the original looks. I have never seen a usable original boot, and all the ones I have now resemble the texture and pliability of cheese, hence the need to substitute!
Booster boot 1.jpg
This is the bare front plate of the booster. The new boot will be attached to the three screw holes along the ring which is about 1&1/2" from the centre tube. It willl need to seal tightly around that rim, or it will not work effectively.
Booster boot 2.jpg
This is showing the metal plate that bolts the boot on. I painted mine green when I was doing other stuff. It won't be seen at all, so you can paint it orange if you want, no-one will know
Booster boot 3.jpg
Here is the CV boot once I had cut off all excess rings from the ends. It will be a perfect fit for my needs. I got it from 'SupaCheap', but I would wager all auto parts stores will have them. Sorry, I didn't keep the plastic bag it was in, and can't quote the exact part. Don't get too interested in the holes you can see, just yet. They look to be in very odd places, until you get another two steps along.
Booster boot 4.jpg
As I said, the holes look to be in strange places, but heres why. The holes furtherest from the end will be where the attaching screws go through. The holes at the end will allow access to the screw for tightening. I did consider NOT punching the access holes, but if you don't, the rubber sits abnormally high when fully assembled and I didn't like the look of it.

You shouldn't punch the holes just yet. The next posting will explain why.

Cont'd...

[Private_collector]

Booster boot 5.jpg
Slip the securing ring onto the rubber boot. If you have chosen wisely it will be a nice snug fit, even at the end where it is not flared. If it doesn't look like this, either adjust the part i'm about to say next, or.............buy another one!
Booster boot 6.jpg
Move the metal ring onto the boot, one place along.
Booster boot 7.jpg
Here's the interesting bit. Fold the 'un-concertina' end part back over the metal ring. Get it to sit neatly. Make sure you are happy with where it sits as well as what it looks like, and make sure it sits evenly under the end. I mean the bit that will be between the metal ring & the booster end. It must sit flat and evenly, or it will leak. From what I have read in the manual, booster will still work, but not as effectively, and dust will potentially get into the space where the booster plunger shaft passes along. That would be bad. This is the step where I marked where I wanted to punch the holes. You can fold back a little of the rubber to find where the holes are in the metal ring. I used an awl to create a slight puncture at the correct location of all three holes, then removed the ring and punched to desired size with a leather punch. I think I used 1/4". Don't remember for sure, so check your sizing please.
Booster boot 8.jpg
This shows how it will look with the screws in place. If you wish to do as I did, and remove rubber from around the screw head, punch these locations in a similar way to the screw holes. I did them while the screws were in place and I folded enough rubber back over to allow access for the punch.
Booster boot 9.jpg
And this is what it should look like when finished. I intend to paint the metal ring & screws black, so they don't highlight that I stuffed up one of the 'cut-outs', around the screw head you see in this photo.

How's that for a nice little wrinkle? Cheap and very functional. Quite easy really! Pity it can't be permanently attached to the booster front plate just yet. The other end of the boot will have to be formed around the top end before this can lower end can become permanent! That's another story, for another day.

I'm off now to apply valve grinding paste to my fuel selector switch. Cheerio

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Tony

Great how to substitute for a hard part to find. The booster boots are almost always shot.

Another suitable replacement that I have used following a similar process is off-road shock absorber boots. Which are easy to find seem to last well. The OD of the bellows on the ones I found allowed the retaining ring to slipped over and the mounting holes punched.

Here are a couple of photos.


You will note that the boot has more rings than the original



Below are pictures of the shock boot off.

Cheers Phil

[Private_collector]

Hey Phil!

Mine has too many rings as well, but i'm OK with that. Especially if it gets me out of the proverbial!

Good fun too

I have several brake boosters, and it has taken all of em to donate something that the other ones had which was stuffed. The best one was found by a friend of mine & cost me $20. While it was 'sound', it had suffered from poor storage which had caused some corrosion in the valve shaft. Another one I cut a section out of both ends of the shaft to see/understand what was happening inside. This provided far more details than reading the manual!!!

I see your booster has the breather attached to the unit. Mine has the breather remote on chassis. Did you just put yours onto the booster body for testing purposes???

[Private_collector]

Driver side tank painted 3.jpg Driver side tank painted 2.jpg
The second fuel tank is now painted. I'll put the stencils on some time during the week, as always, weather permitting. I nearly put off todays painting due to high wind speed.
Vac Booster during 1.jpg
Remember I was intending to send the vac booster shaft & valve assembly for restoration down south? I made a thorough check of that part today and found the valves were in PERFECT condition. No perishing to the rubber seals and no corrosion to the inside of the tube or valve shaft. All it needed was a little cleaning! I did instal a new set of seals on the plunger itself. Had them soaking in oil O/N.
Vac Booster finished 1.jpg
After I painted the front cover and linkage fork, I reassembled the entire unit and connected it to the workshop vacuum (appropriate!). It works excellently and smoothly. I found when I held the fork end up and actioned the valves as if braking, it could lift its own weight and another 2-3kg besides (added some other parts and tried again). If fact, when trying to forcefully restrain the plunger from moving, I found I could NOT stop the action! That'll do me
Finished parts 1.jpg
Booster now added to the 'clean' pile of parts.

[Private_collector]

Vac Booster valve mechanism 1.jpg
There are actually two more things needed to finish the vacuum booster. I broke the retaining clip that locks the valve action mechanism, and will have to make a new one.
Vac Booster adjustment end.jpg
Also, there should be a tiny little rubber boot here, to stop dirt getting into the valve shaft. I have NEVER seen one of these, even a rotten one. I have seen some attempts to make do with a crude canvas replacement, but i'm no fan of that, so i'll head off to the local toy shop during the week and see what thay have for R/C vehicles that can be used here.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Tony

Have you check with your friendly motorcycle shop for a throttle or brake cable boot? Mine came from the brake cable of a 1978 Yamaha 125 Trail bike if I remember correctly. Boot is about 2" long but can be cut down.

As for the used the little tiny hair pin style carburetor linkage clips.

Cheers Phil