Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

[gary_bath_jr]

Hey Tony

What brand of tire did you get? I see Wayne said he used Bridgestone and they worked, I got Firestone (Military) and they went on fine, I wonder if the brand makes a difference. Just food for thought I could be way off base.

Gary

[Private_collector]

Hi Gary,

The tyres I have were made in China. Need I say more!

One of the two tyre fitting places spent more than half an hour struggling to put one on my rim, but unfortunately failed. Now, remembering HE was the one who really made a decent effort, he was also the one who wouldn't take any money for his time.

I put a pair of these onto my gun axle, and they didn't have a problem going on, so it may be a case of the angled bead just being too much for the CMP rims to manage.

My plan now is to go back to the tyre shop that refused to accept $$$ for his time, go through his books for something which won't look out of place, and order a set of those. He will also get any future business for our daily driver tyres etc... The fellow there did say he knew people that have removed bead angles with sander/grinded, but he expressed great concern about doing so. Bearing in mind the tyres are chin-lee, I'm reluctant to grind any of the rubber off, lest I cut through to the steel bands beneath. If I do get a set of new tyres, I will keep the ones that don't fit and return the ones on truck now. THEN the tyres will be mine, and I'll be storing them for use on anything else (like my trailer or replacements for the fake gun). There is no problems using them on modern wheels, apparently.

On another subject, I put the new pinch rollers on my sign cutter on Monday or Tuesday (I forget which day), and received a link for me to download the cutter software. That has now been installed, as well as a VERY large set of logos, various designs and novelty images, and most importantly.....51,500 fonts. There is a stated issue with windows becoming unstable if the installed font library is greater than 1,000. This is unrelated to the cutting software, just a quirk of windows 7. Wednesday I spent over 4 HOURS looking through the font library for what fonts I wanted to install. Naturally, I chose every single font that relates to stencils. Some are truly unbelievable in their appearance. They look so real. One in particular recreates the look of stenciling applied in a hurry and without much attention to detail. In total, I activated approx 940-950 fonts, because I wanted to have room to download additional ones from the internet. I know several site that have huge libraries you can download one at a time, and I have already seen a few I want to have.

I'm in the process of modifying the various settings on the cutter, for best results. Too much pressure from the cutting head and the vinyl gets ripped. Too little pressure and the blade doesn't go through the vinyl sufficiently for signage to come away cleanly. Once I get adjustments right, that can be stored on the cutter as one of four 'profiles'. I will then make further adjustments to test the stencilling material David sent me. That can be saved as another profile.
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Have been playing around with the cutter software in past couple of days, and I am rather impressed with the capabilities. I bought Vinyl Master software, which is not as cheap as some others, but you get what you pay for, so I bought best I could afford. I think Vinyl Master is a very good product, and easy to use once the basics have been understood. Once I have found a suitable (read as cheap) flatbed scanner, I can tidy up and reproduce that artwork as logos etc.. Should be fun.

[Bob Carriere]

I know it has been covered before on MLU but no arm in repeating.

Our experience at the barn has been positive.

First the wheel inside portion has to be very clean by sand blasting and painted with a shinny oil based paint.... we use black POR 15.

We bought half a 5 gal. bucket of lubricating snoot..... it is a lubricant used by large truck tire shop which we lather one with rubber glove.

We have built a home made device to press on the tire on the bottom half of the rim. I should do a new series of pictures on how we use it...... we do have 4 tires to install over the next few weeks.

My device is basically a steeltube cross that bolts under the bottom half and presses the bottom bead over the rim..... just far enough to install the tube and flap and then press down the top half of the tire. The top half of the rim fits easily and using the two long studs start pulling the rims sections together. we use a small amount of air to insure the flap/tube do not pinch themselves.

The first design use regular 5/8 threaded bars but the thread got worn very easily. Replaced with ore expensive grade 8 threaded bar and "never sieze" grease on the thread. Even using the impact wrench works fine.

On the HUP 16" rims the walls of the rim are parallel and not tapered like a CMP rim and tires almost just drop on.

I have seen others shaving the bead down to the steel cable beads but I shudder at the long term results.

There has not been one 16 tire that we could not install

Removal is done with a chain saw and a angle grinder...... very carefully and no damage to the rims. The run flats tire casing do leave a generous amount of black rubber chips on the ground.

Persist and don't give up yet.

Maybe I can try doing a sketch/cross section of the tool we built so any one can replicate the process.

On the manufacturers difference..... we never measured the inside bead to bead but I can tell you that between Good Year....Firestone and Mohawk 9x16 tires that once installed we found a height diferences of over 1 1/2 inch. So the caution in the CMP manuals to match tire diameter is a real issue.

Cheers

[Private_collector]

Hi Bob,

I for one, would like to learn your techniques.

Regardless of my recent tyre fitting failures, all is well with the world, at least for 5 weeks. Our Son arrived home today. He has bigger muscles each time I see him. Wish we got to see him more, but 5 weeks over Christmas will do just fine.

[Private_collector]

I was dismantling a surplus Ford cab yesterday, and found something curious. I'm far from experienced with these vehicles overall, but I have pulled apart 4 or 5 cabs at least. When removing the frame that holds the two window apertures, I found that there is a shaped solid steel block that slides up into each side of the window panel frame, and allows additional strength to the three attachment bolts that hold the panel to cab frame. I had my hands full yesterday, but will photograph the part/s I'm talking and post them if anyone is interested.

You will note I mention three bolts holding window frame to cab. Normally one of these bolts has shared duty of being one of the door hinge bolt locations, but not in this case. This cab is the one that takes the canvas covered doors, and there are NO hinges at all. The window frame isn't even one of the parts I was wanting to use. My motivation yesterday was to get the lower rear cab panel off for thorough inspection followed by sandblasting. Unfortunately (and I seem to be including that word in many posts!), that rear panel is in worse shape than I thought. I knew the steel sheeting was badly dented and has perforation corrosion in a number of places behind the lower angle iron section. I knew I wanted whomever gets the job of replacing the sheeting to avoid disturbing the door latching brackets. What I certainly did NOT know, is that the bottom piece of angle is so badly corroded that it has disappeared entirely in one area. Also, two of the diagonal bracing straps are rotten at bottom where they join the angle iron. Repairing the angle iron frame will be a big job. I do have a spare bit for that, but don't have any spares of the diagonal bracing straps. I feel another four-part trilogy coming on!

The main cab frame section seems to look OK, although I have no doubt all of the >65 bolts holding floor to frame will be reluctant to come away without some form or physical protest. This protest usually takes the form of bolt snapping, and for whatever reason, those bolts are commonly the ones that are very hardest to get to, for removing the caged nut!

With Bryce currently home, I'm only putting in token effort on truck, and that is timed for when Bryce is in town at the gym or catching up with old friends. All other times, spending time with him is most important thing. Bryce has said he will be happy to help me get the crank shaft into the flathead engine while he is here, and that will get done when he has free time.

One of the indoor jobs I have been working on, is to compile a list of stencil fonts and print them as a visual reference for selection in the future. I wanted something more than just a boring piece of board or card with some vinyl stuck to it....
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so I bought a thin sheet of perspex and stuck as many as would fit. Stencil fonts were stuck onto one side, and the rear side sprayed in my truck green. If you REALLY wanted to be tricky, the stencils could have been cut in mirror image and applied to the side that would get sprayed later, giving a very nice effect. I didn't dare try that, because I wasn't sure how the paint would stick, and didntr wish to see the paint react with the vinyl material. Krylon is one of the better spray packs to use, because it actually melts into the perspex (or other plastic/s) and fuses together. I don't have any Krylon yet. Another good effect would have been to apply stencils, spray entire steet (same side), then VERY CAREFULLY remove all the vinyl lettering etc.. This gives freedom to then spray further color onto the perspex, and when viewed from the other side, it looks absolutely faultless. Once again, that wasn't something I wanted to do at this time, but have made many high quality signs for business and advertising, when I played around with vinyl signage in early 1990s. Go a step further, using a translucent set of spray colors, and you have yourself a simle to make light-box sign.
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In future there will be more perspex sheets, to demonstrate some of the different effects that can be had. The RAEME logo and Winston Churchill portrait were cut from gloss white vinyl, and then the applicable white was applied onto flat black vinyl. The RAEME example shows white background retained, and logo becomes inverse. This is what you would want to do, if using the vinyl as a stencil mask. Obviously the background color would be applied (and let dry for 24hrs, or more) to the vehicle surface prior. Mr Churchills' portrait shares same Weeding of the white vinyl, but in this case the portrait lost it's impact entirely if the white 'positive' areas of vinyl would have been used instead. I printed two scenarios for Mr C. One as white image, with the only detail being the smaller areas of white only, and the second scenario as shown. When cut and displayed in the positive, where the subject would have been white on background of whatever..., my Wife didn't recognise who the subject was! When done the second way, he was immediately known. Funny how color can determine how we see something. E.g: Dazzle camo of ships. The second photo above, isn't very clear in subject, but if you look closely, you can see a small Invasion Star on left, without background color, and the other piece is one of my 9th Division identification signs. This one DOES have the flat black background. In this form, its a bit of micky mouse. I would expect all restorers would prefer to spray the black square onto the vehicle surface, then apply a stencil weeded vinyl mask over that, for spraying of the second color through. The stencil would then be removed entirely, leaving only two painted colors on the vehicle. No plastic retained at all!
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This is my next night time project, to copy severar types of WWII minefield signs. In coming days I will work on assessing the portion of stencil Board that was kindly sent for evaluation. There is absolutely no doubt that that board will make excellent single use stencils, but I want to attempt turning this material into Oilboard stock, so it can be used over and over again. Im still comparing techniques that will give best result, but it is looking likely I will be applying a form of linseed oil to the board, in anywhere from one to three coats. Once fully 'blotted and dried' I think there is a reasonable chance of making oilboard stencils which are far cheaper that purchasing commercially available stock.

[Private_collector]

The canvas door cab is disassembled. In the spirit of previous work of similar nature, it was painful. Mostly physically. I lost count of the exact number of caged nuts I bashed away (took all of them off), but it is more than ten...in total. Right about now I'm REALLY wishing I had kept note of where I purchased the replacement countersunk flat head bolts I bought for the cab of green truck. I'm confident I would have mentioned that in a post a long time ago, in a galaxy.....
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May be some perforation to wheel arches, but am not sure until blasted. The rest of the frame is OK. Lower rear panel is very badly corroded in the angle piece and panel sheeting.
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Also the cross bracings are affected, with two needing either repair or replacement.
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One curious thing with this specific cab, is that EVERYTHING had anti-squeak pads on. Not just the nose and rear panels, but all the floor panels, along every place where they touch the cab frame. Some of the anti-squeak was thicker than others too.

I am needing to get my hands on one or two of the rear cab cross braces. If anyone has a spare one / two of these they are willing to sell, I would be very pleased to purchase, so I can continue to rebuild this rear panel.

Many thanks,

[Private_collector]

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This is one of the solid steel pieces that prevents crushing of window frame when attachment bolts are tightened. I have disassembled a few cabs, but these are the only ones I've seen so far. Maybe the frame is Chev, and I have thus far worked on Ford???? The check plate floor sure suggests Ford. Maybe this is the only truly original and previously untouched cab I have disassembled??? I don't really think this is so either.
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I had forgotten how heavy these damn floor panels are, but am now reacquainted. Won't have a chance to take them for blasting until mid or late next week. Trailer still has nice green wheels in it. A favorable phone call on Monday, may mean they get new tyres soon. If not, I'll mothball those for another day.
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With my last bit of day, I made and attached the upper shield panel for my gun. My chunk of rope, and $20 shovel from bunnings don't look too bad, but shovel could get replaced if better fitting one surfaces. Doing the plating of rope ends to take the metal thimbles was not easy.

Next gun related task is to finish the brackets to hold sight cases and other things onto the shield. That's gonna mean a whole lot of cutting, because the templates have all been transferred to one piece of steel plate (the cheapskate in me, returns) and I have filled the entire sheet in ackward to cut shapes! Save $10 in metal, spend $20 in cutting disks.

[Grant Bowker]

Originally Posted by Private_collector

Hi Bob,

I for one, would like to learn your techniques.

Bob has posted a series of photos with description at:
http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=25041 starting with post 4 yesterday.

[Private_collector]

Well tie me to an ants nest, and smear my ears with jam! While pottering in the workshop yesterday, I noticed that the nose/front panel on my green truck does actually have the removable upper cross piece. Cool!

Grant,

Thanks. I'm reading through that tyre fitting info now.

[Private_collector]

On Wednesday afternoon I was honoured to have a visit from Mike Cecil. It was excellent to get to meet him in person, and we were able to spend an all too brief couple of hours or so talking and looking over my truck. I had always indicated that the chassis on my restoration vehicle had been shortened by an owner that preceded the guy I bought the wreck from. That is what was told by the seller. Curious, it always struck me, the 'shortened' length was 115" WB, which is precise length of the uncommon tractor CMP that couples with a large trailer. If you refer back to post #55, you will see a reasonable view of the chassis rear, showing a butchered section at very back of both rails. That part of the chassis has obviously been modified. You will also note the heavy-duty springs on rear axle. The H-D bump stops were taken off chassis by previous owner.

While looking over the vehicle, Mike asked about the chassis number. I have checked every inch of the chassis previously, and had to reply 'there isn't one'. Attention then turned to the workmanship (or possibly lack of it) of the shortening. Both Mike and I found no evidence of any modification to the chassis length. No join, no non standard welding, nothing. That is very curious. Mike enquired about what sort of rear body I was contemplating. I'm still not 100% sure, but had given thought to a turntable, based on the 115" wheelbase it is now. In the absence of any visible mods, is it possible the chassis may actually BE one of those tractors???

Mike felt that the rear section of a tractor chassis (behind the spring mount) wouldn't be as long as mine, in order to achieve maximum clearance between tractor chassis and trailer. Now look back to post #55 again. See the boxed-in bodge at back of the rails? Naturally I removed these and had proper profile replacements of same length welded in it's place. In reviewing some old photos, I can now see that badly made box section was in reality an additional portion of length to the rails. The chassis rear used to be considerably shorter. Perhaps too short for some farmer or house restumper, BUT maybe the right 'shortness' for trailer tractor use???

I don't know if the cab is the original for this vehicle, I don't know what other parts have been added or subtracted, except that in removing the rear heavy-duty spring sets I may have contributed to the departure from original specs!

Any thoughts? Do you have any way that I can tell if this chassis was originally 115"?

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

I know it has been covered before on MLU but no arm in repeating.

Our experience at the barn has been positive.

First the wheel inside portion has to be very clean by sand blasting and painted with a shinny oil based paint.... we use black POR 15.

We bought half a 5 gal. bucket of lubricating snoot..... it is a lubricant used by large truck tire shop which we lather one with rubber glove.

We have built a home made device to press on the tire on the bottom half of the rim. I should do a new series of pictures on how we use it...... we do have 4 tires to install over the next few weeks.

My device is basically a steeltube cross that bolts under the bottom half and presses the bottom bead over the rim..... just far enough to install the tube and flap and then press down the top half of the tire. The top half of the rim fits easily and using the two long studs start pulling the rims sections together. we use a small amount of air to insure the flap/tube do not pinch themselves.

The first design use regular 5/8 threaded bars but the thread got worn very easily. Replaced with ore expensive grade 8 threaded bar and "never sieze" grease on the thread. Even using the impact wrench works fine.

On the HUP 16" rims the walls of the rim are parallel and not tapered like a CMP rim and tires almost just drop on.

I have seen others shaving the bead down to the steel cable beads but I shudder at the long term results.

There has not been one 16 tire that we could not install

Removal is done with a chain saw and a angle grinder...... very carefully and no damage to the rims. The run flats tire casing do leave a generous amount of black rubber chips on the ground.

Persist and don't give up yet.

Maybe I can try doing a sketch/cross section of the tool we built so any one can replicate the process.

On the manufacturers difference..... we never measured the inside bead to bead but I can tell you that between Good Year....Firestone and Mohawk 9x16 tires that once installed we found a height diferences of over 1 1/2 inch. So the caution in the CMP manuals to match tire diameter is a real issue.

Bob,

Please post a sketch/cross section or photo of the tool in the restoration forum so others can replicate the process.

Thanks,
Hanno