Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

The battery hold down as shown in Ian's post is visually identical to Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, and Ford trucks used up to the late 40s. So you may be able to widen your NOS search.

Repro item from Mac's auto parts looks identical to me. Good value at 12 USD.

http://macsautoparts.com/early-v8-fo...0R3CHL1071740/

[Private_collector]

Bloody hell Tony, I haven't even thought to check Macs yet. Cheers for the info. My next purchase from Macs will include one of those I believe. I need to order some supension and brake parts anyway.

The afternoon has been spent playing panelbeater again. Determined to get all the driver side step/battery box parts looking as good as can be. Unfortunately, that involves a considerable amount of body filler, sanding, body filler, more sanding......

Guess this is how they faked the moon landing. The eagle has landed!

If i'm calculating accurately, there is about 1/5 of all filler applied that actually remains after the sanding & shaping.

I won't get paint on the step/battery holder parts tomorrow. The photos shown above were taken around 3pm, so both those parts with filler are now under primer. The heavy steel battery tray base now has it's second (lighter) coat of filler, but not primed / spray puttied yet. The step has not yet been touched either. It is in good nick but does require a light skim of filler across where the tray bolts to it. With all that in mind, I wouldn't dream of trying to get final coat on tomorrow. Not enough time for the primer, spray putty & blade putty to dry. Paint them too soon and all sorts of nasty problems will eventuate.

I suppose I could paint the battery box itself, but no point soiling a gun, and all that cleanup afterwards, just for one part. I'll do em all next weekend..............as always, weather permitting.

[Private_collector]

All the driver side step & battery assembly parts are now repaired and under putty.

The pitting on the step, is clearly visible here. It's fixed now, as is one of the diamond pattern shapes that had a very little hole on one side.

I moved onto one of the fuel tanks, and got it stripped and etched. I can only see three dents that will need repair. Some of the places I originally considered may be dents, have turned out to be spot welds.

Pity I found a hole on the underside of the tank. It's smaller than 1/8in, but it will need to be brazed shut. I'll find someone in town for that. I bet they will be afraid to do it, thinking that it might blow up. Won't they be surprised when I tell them thats why I didn't do it myself. Seriously, the tank hasn't had fuel in it for years. I will flush it out before I take it in too.

P.S: Matt, I haven't forgotten that propellor boss we were talking about, I just haven't had the opportunity to photograph it as yet. I hope you will confirm that it is actually from a B-17 and not something mundane. It is certainly big enough for a large bomber. Heavy bastard too!

[Private_collector]

Matt,

I have finally taken some photos of the part in question. It is currently in an ackward location under some stuff in my other shed, so I wasn't able to get photos from directly above. Hope these two are good enough.

As you can see, two of the propellor blades have been snapped off at the blade root, leaving traces of blade as shown. The third one is completely gone. My guess is that the gap between blade remnants and central hub of the three blades is where the variable pitch mechanism would have been. There is evidence of this on one of the blade sides, but it is not visible in these photos.

As a reference to size, the object on left of photos is a motor mower catcher. The piece is sufficiently heavy that I can only lift it for a second or two. Two person lifting is not much better either. It took me several lift attempts to heave it up to my car boot. Was just as much fun getting it out too!

As indicated, this was given to me some years ago, and advised to be from a Boeing B-17 that crashed. I can virtually guarantee it isn't from a Cessna.

My plan is to incorporate this artifact in a memorial to WWII airmen. Especially those airmen that did not return.

[Matt Baker]

Hi Tony,

Very Interesting item and yes quite a heavy lump, I wonder if it may have originated from the Baker's Creek B17 Crash which i beleive to this day is Australia's Worst air Disaster. Just a thought ? It certainly appears to have Hit with some Force To shatter the Alloy Blades like that?

Cheers Matt Baker

P.S. Thanks for Showing us Tony.

[Private_collector]

The driver side step/battery asembly is finished. The last bolts went in this evening. I'm relatively happy with the result.

It's certainly better than it was originally!

I am now looking for a correct fuel filter that goes on the step assembly too. The one I have could be used for cosmetic purposes only. It's eaten away inside with rust. Anyone with one of those to sell, let me know & we'll do a deal.


Also got a set of tank brackets ready to go on. One tank is with a panel shop in town & the second one will accompany it tomorrow. It has a very small rust out that needs brazing up.

No idea on expected return date for chassis, so I guess there will be more of the little jobs being done in the meantime.

Have moved on to rebuilding the steering box. Started stripping it down on Sunday.

Last week I ordered a new brake master cylinder from Rockauto in USA. It should be here within next week or so. Received an email from Rockauto this evening, with a discount code for next purchase/s. That will be the flexible brake lines. They have them all in stock.

Planning to make up the brake tubing for the rear axle this coming weekend. Have had the tube for some months, waiting for the right time to make em.

Still working on the fake battery top. Received an original cell cap with Ford script, which will be used to make a mould for more. Nearly finished the cast to make the lead cell connectors, but scrapped it because now that I have the Ford script cap, I decided I want 'Ford' on the lead strips too. That means making another casting, and more effort to incorporate the Ford script. Lucky i'm not in a hurry, so that's not a real problem.

I plan to remove the rear spring sets of my other CMP, and use those whole, provided I can get them soda blasted well.

Speaking of soda, I mixed a batch of caustic soda in a large bucket, and ran a few amps through one metal piece on Sunday. I selected the brake master cylinder & booster actuation assembly for this trial, because it's too fiddly to be done by hand. The results were EXTREMELY encouraging and rather dramatic. More so when you consider it was only taking a current for less than 6hrs! I'll clean that part off on Saturday.


Nearly forgot: Bought an early 50s Singer sewing machine Saturday, as I had been told by several knowledgeable people that the old machines are near industrial quality and capability. According to the manual accompanying the machine, it can sew multiple layers of denim, light plastic (? window sort like the side curtains), sail cloth and even overcoat material. It should manage two layers of canvas without problem, so I will be making my own mud flaps, side curtain bag (friend gave me the correct brackets) & perhaps even a sunshine roof if I dare.

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Private_collector

The driver side step/battery asembly is finished.

Nice job Tony, that step plate is immaculate. Make sure you take your boots off before you step on it!

[Private_collector]

I get my two fuel tanks back from the panel shop this afternoon. They did good work and I will only need to apply very minimal filler to the areas they repaired. That & a couple of insignificant dents to be filled as well.

I have been thinking about the fuel filter that goes on back of battery box base. Would prefer one with a glass portion, so I can see any sediment or contamination, and remove it easily with the base plug out. There are a couple of suitable candidates available. So I may just install the original one in a cosmetic capacity, with the lines in/out going nowhere, but disappearing from sight. The 'real' filter could be hidden on opposite side of chassis rail (I.E: inward side & under cab). That way I get best of both worlds, modern functionality & original appearance on the visible side. This is looking the most likely way I will go.

Have sent enquirines to local (<100km) paint shops, asking about fuel tank treatment sets such as the KBS Fuel Tank Sealer Kit, which is a three part set suitable for tanks up to 100L. In this case, two tanks of roughly total size combined.

If I get an acceptable reply, I might be heading down to Nambour to buy same, this Saturday.

[Private_collector]

Scott,

Its difficult to see from the angle of their photo, but that does look like my original one. It's pricey, but it may be far less work to just buy one of those and be done with it. I'll save that page and go back to that when the time is right.

Any idea what shipping cost would be to Aust?

Thankyou Scott!

[Phil Waterman]

Hi All

One of the problems I have noticed with original fuel filter assemblies of this type, that have been used is that the shaft are often rusted resulting in a bad fit at the bottom of the filter element. With unfiltered fuel to leak around the element shaft. No easy fix that I have figured out.

Cheers Phil

[Grant Bowker]

Another likely source for repro filters is listed as part WO-A-7850 at http://www.debellajeepparts.com/mbgpwfuel.htm I don't guarantee that the assembly is identical but I found the spring that Peter DeBella sells for the jeep filter fits the CMP filter. (And this one is cheaper than the one above.)
I also recently snagged a filter from a gent who sells DUKW parts on ebay that is described as a DUKW filter but seems dimensionally similar to the CMP so CCKW is also probably similar

[Private_collector]

Phil,

I think your concerns are quite valid. They are now my concerns too. One of the attractive things about a modern replacement, was guaranteed reliability & ability to buy filter body with a glass bowl to see the quality, or potential sediment in fuel.

Grant,

I see the Jeep parts place has those filters considerably cheaper! I like cheaper. Don't suppose the fuel senders would fit CMP too? They're not a bad price either.

Scott,

That filter you bought looks to be a perfect match for replacing my old (& buggered) one!


I got a little sidetracked today. Hadn't intended to work on the vacuum booster right now, but did some cleaning work on a couple of the parts, including frame bracket and vacuum intake filter assembly. Breather still had the original filter element inside too. Yuck! I'll make a suitable foam one to replace it.

Didn't get those parts painted but did get the first of the fuel tanks finished. Stenciling will get done next weekend, unless I get inspired to do it sooner.

Also painted all the brake mechanism for master & booster. Can't see me waiting to next weekend to put this back together, so I guess it will get done some time through the week, when the television watching is particularly poor. That could be any night!

Cont'd...

[Private_collector]

The world famous (well......not really) Glenwood swapmeet was on Saturday, and my feet are still sore from 3 hours of walking. Not that it was geographically immense, I just walked around several times, to make sure I didn't miss anything.

I did get a couple of small pieces. Two of which I have since made redundant, in one swoop of fate.

I bought this brake & fuel line bender for $20. Notice it has 2 different sizes to bend with. Never seen one quite like it, and it caught my eye. Made in UK too, none of this 'made in China' muck. I have tried it today, and found it to be wonderfully easy to use, with just a moderate effort required to bend 5/16 steel brake line. I also bought a brake/fuel line flaring tool of advanced years, and once again, made in UK & far superior quality over modern stuff. That cost $6.00. They would come in very handy with making the brake lines for my truck, and that's where the redundancy comes in.

While at the meet, I did just that, met a fellow whose company specialises in the manufacture of brake & fuel lines, the hardware that connects, all attaching bits and associated parts. They custom makes all lines, both flexible kind and metal, and in all sizes and materials. As the swap was fairly close to my location, he called-in on his way home, to see what I would be wanting done. Very professional fellow and thorough as well. When i'm ready, he will come and make everything needed right in my workshop, and install the lot on-site, there & then.

The business name is: Wide Bay Brake Hose Services
Website: http://www.brakehose.com.au/
There is a very extensive online catalog, they can make ANY type of hose or pipe, and will post Australia Wide.



While at the swap, I also found this horn which is fairer match for my truck than the longer bodied version I already had. It may not be exact but it's close enough. It also gives me a little something to tinker with on the weeknights when I couldn't be bothered going down to the workshop.

I stripped the drivers side fuel tank today as well. Was in process of running over it with the wire cup when the light started failing, so I will continue next weekend. Don't know if I can get it to paint stage, but should have all repairs done and under primer by stumps Sunday next. There are a fair few dents to receive attention on this tank. I'm not as lucky with this one, compared to the passenger side, which was in pretty good shape.

Managed to finally catch myself with the twisted wire cup I was using to strip the tank. This had been expected for some time, as I fear I had been getting braver (more foolhardy) with it's use, and attempting to hold ever smaller items closer & closer to the cup while in use. I wasn't actually doing the tank when it bit me. It was a far smaller and more fragile part I was doing, when the wire cup caught the part and threw it to one side, thus exposing the finger directly to the spinning wheel. "Oh My Goodness" I exclaimed..............or something of a loosely similar nature. You will be very pleased to know that the small part (vacuum booster breather filter) was NOT at all damaged. The finger.........as the Black Knight would say, was "A mere flesh wound". Silly Bastard!

[Phil Waterman]

Hi All

Tony your tank looks great.

I would like to offer a comment for people looking at repairing or stripping tanks. Of my 3 Chevy CMPs the 1941 Pat 12 and the 1942 Pat 13 have plain steel tanks with the neck soldered on, but the 1945 HUP tanks both right and left appear to have been lead or tin coated. I mention this so that anyone can check to see if their tank looks like it is coated. Aggressive cleaning with wire brush, scotch pads or sand paper seems to cut through this coating. The HUP tanks have NO evidence anywhere in side or out of any rust. While the 1941 tanks will need to be rebuilt or replicated because of rust holes and the 1942 showed minor rust when I restored the truck, no holes or leaks then or now.

Has anybody else encountered a coated tank?

The only reason I can see for the tanks to have been coated in the first place was to prevent rust, or to seal tanks that had minor leaks at time of manufacture.

Cheers Phil

[Lionelgee]

While at the meet, I did just that, met a fellow whose company specialises in the manufacture of brake & fuel lines, the hardware that connects, all attaching bits and associated parts. They custom makes all lines, both flexible kind and metal, and in all sizes and materials. As the swap was fairly close to my location, he called-in on his way home, to see what I would be wanting done. Very professional fellow and thorough as well. When i'm ready, he will come and make everything needed right in my workshop, and install the lot on-site, there & then.

The business name is: Wide Bay Brake Hose Services
Website: http://www.brakehose.com.au/
There is a very extensive online catalog, they can make ANY type of hose or pipe, and will post Australia Wide.

Hello Tony,

Thank you for putting the link up for Wide Bay Brake Hose Services. It will be a very handy site to access in the near future. I went to get the pricing for getting some brake wheel cylinders re-sleeved in stainless steel locally, and I was told that no one in Bundaberg does them anymore. All parts are sent to the Sunshine Coast. I thought this was pretty sad since Bundaberg was one of the world innovators in sugar harvesting engineering.

It was good to finally get to drop in and see you, and to have the opportunity to admire the results of your meticulous craftsmanship on your CMP. Keep up the great effort.


Kind Regards
Lionel

[Private_collector]

Hi Guys,

Glad to post the details for brake pipe guy. In a few months (ish) I should be in a position to report on quality & price.

Lionel, It was good to meet you. You are welcome here anytime you are passing by.


I knew I would get the brake mechanism finished some time this week, but I didn't think it would be this early. TV particularly bad tonight, so put the parts back together instead.

Master cylinder from Rockauto is now in transit between Sydney & here. Tracking says due for arrival on Wednesday. Lets see how close they are.

Bye for now.

[Private_collector]

Work continued on the driver side fuel tank last Sunday. As expected, it was not completed before lights out. This is partly due to the unexpected 30 minutes worth of rain at 1500hrs that halted work. When safe to continue, it was already cooling down significantly and my final act was to apply a coat of etch, before shutting down for the week.

I will be taking the etch coat off tomorrow. It 'blushed' from the low temp and moisture formed on the surface. That means it will also have allowed moisture through to the metal.

Passenger side tank now finished, including cap with the new seal I made. I bought the tank stencils when I got the bridge loading plate a while ago. They may not be CMP genuine, but I like em!

When I can afford it, I will still run a sealing system through both tanks. I have received product information brochures for two systems of tank cleaning sets, POR15 & KBS Coatings. Both can be used on tanks after they are painted, provided some common-sense measures are taken. Not decided on which to buy, but the KBS Coatings set is substantially cheaper and almost identical in components!

[Private_collector]

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).

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.

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!

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.

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

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.

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]

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!

Move the metal ring onto the boot, one place along.

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

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

Booster now added to the 'clean' pile of parts.

[Private_collector]

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.

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

[Private_collector]

Phil, That's a grand idea!

I will look into that tomorrow.

Thanks,

[Howard]

Tony, check your PM's
HH

[Private_collector]

Just completed a 'birthday' order for MacsAuto parts, including the battery hold down thingy. Mostly brake stuff. Those bits will be going onto the chassis ASAP, that is once I get it back and paint it.

I love the current exchange rate!

It is looking quite possible that I may do the blasting myself, in the engineering co. booth. I can do that on a Saturday when they don't normally use the blasting booth.

Won't be this weekend. It's the Gympie swap meet. That must come first!!!!

[Private_collector]

Today I went to 2 motorcycle shops and 1 bicycle shop, in search for suitable dust boot for front of vac booster. The bicycle shop were helpful but had nothing suitable, despite looking through a number of storage locations for me. Strike #1

One of the motorcycle shops was staffed by some unkempt, tattooed, greasy haired, gap toothed old crone who was not interested in being any help at all once she ascertained I wasn't there to buy one of their crappy imported quadbikes (Chinese built, of course). Strike #2

The other motorcycle shop had a guy that was too lazy to check what was available and insisted the boots would only come as a set with the applicable cable, no matter which brand of manufacture. Not at all helpful, and couldn't seem to grasp the concept that it was for something other than a cycle. He strangely had a face quite red in color. Not sure if he had tremendously high blood pressure, embarrased about his apathy, or got horribly sunburnt somehow. Whatever the cause, it was redder than a smacked arse! Anyhoo, no joy there with the part request. Strike #3

Then it occured to me, just wait until the Gympie swap meet, this Saturday!!
If I don't get something suitable there, i'll be very surprised. Must wear a hat! Learnt my lesson from the motorbike shop guy

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Tony,

Liked your tale of chasing rubber boots at motorcycle shops. I sometimes thought I was the only one who had to deal with indifferent, lazy, or aggressive counter people.

I think my benchmark of poor service was trying to hire a chain saw a few years ago. The counter man was rather belligerent to anyone except his tradie mates it seemed. He asked me "what was I going to use the chain saw for?" "To cut down a few trees" was my obvious reply. He then went into a tirade about using it for that purpose because there are a lot of ants in this area that carry sand up into the hollowed trunks and it dulls the chain. I noticed a sign above him that said "All chain saws will incur a $20 sharpening fee when returned" and said "so I pay the $20 when I bring it back, what's the problem? He got quite nasty and outright refused to hire me one. Needless to say I never went there again and told everyone I knew about their crappy attitude towards customers.
A few years later the business folded. I wonder why?

Brgds,