Work on My F8, No. 11

[Jim Price]

"The devil's in the details!" somebody once said; this certainly can be applied to the restoration process of a vehicle!

The past two days we've been following up on a number of these:

Picked up all the new brake parts, imcluding the drums with a newly-machined brake shoe surface on them from the brake shop. A couple of the drums had already been turned in the past and could not be fully turned to remove all the pitting.

Began cleaning all of the original brake parts which had been deemed early on to be reusable and took an inventory to be sure we had everything needed to install the hydraulic system. (The emergency brake cable will be next on the list of to-dos.)

Picked up the gas tank from the chemical dipper yesterday and today we gave it a preliminary washing with water. Tomorrow we'll use some MEK to clean it some more and rid it of any water. We then plan on pouring the sealant in it and giving the interior a good sloshing! (sp?) Then it's on the painter for a coat of paint!

Stopped by a gas tank fabricator to get an estimate on making a second tank (only one arrived with the truck!); the estimate was from $400 to $500 USD so shed a tear and wrote that one off the list!

Dropped off the engine heads, intake and exhaust manifolds, and some more major engine parts at the stripper for cleaning. Hope to get them back either tomorrow or Monday for repainting by ourselves.

Sent a helper over to a local auto supply store to pick up engine oil, anti-freeze, brake fluid, cleaning rags, and enough other stuff to start my own branch of that store!

Also picked up some engine flush to clean out any remaining rust from the system. This followed a final thorough probing of the deepest, darkest recesses of the water jacket after which my engine guy opined that we ought to give it a try first before making a decision to have the engine professionally cleaned.

Cleaned off all the red paint off the oil pan that had been added just previous to my purchasing the engine. Will give it a coat of Ford engine green paint tomorrow.

Checked on the status of the springs. All springs and shackles are ready but a set of the front rear mounts are being repaired/fabricated as well as some of the pins and bushings. Hopefully all will be ready by early next week. As it stands now, not having these will be preventing us from doing much of anything more to either the brake sysem or installing the engine for a test run. (Don't have an engine test stand. )

Has been over 110 F the past two days so quit work at 2:30 PM today.

Regards,
Jim

[peter simundson]

Send me a photo of the gas tank you have. I may have found a new one but I want to see what you have,
Peter S

[Jim Price]

Peter:
Thanks for responding to my note regarding the gas tank. The tank is 32" long by 12" wide by 10" tall. Attached are a couple of pictures of the one I have. Let me know if yours is the same; if it is, I would be interested in purchasing it.

Regards,
Jim

[Mike K]

Jim

Brian Asbury ( CMP parts dealer in Toronto ? ) at one time , had the Ford type plate that sits atop the tank with the reserve tap and fuel gauge sending unit hole . I bought one from him years ago. I'll never use it as I ended up with a correct Chev one later on ( got this from D. Ballard of MCC and F15 fame ).

Like u I have one original tank, the other is a dummy ,I was going to make another tank, but never got around to it , hence my interest in finding the top plate .

From memory the Ford version is a die cast alloy and the Chev is brass affair . They have different setup for each style of fuel gauge sender unit .

You could probably modify an existing standard CMP tank , remove the filler neck and relocate it . But even the normal tanks are very difficult to find these days .

Mike

PS if u want the ford plate PM me . But I think there is a RH and LH version, just to complicate things .. isnt anything easy .. no .

[Jim Price]

Mike:
Thanks for responding to my posting! The plate on my tank is brass and the switch does not work. It's stuck on Main but the tube to the tank section is plugged?!?! I sure could use the one you have. Please advise total cost, including shipping.

Regards,
Jim

[Tony Smith]

Dirk Leegwater still shows his fuel tank plates on his site as "On Sale" (along with some other F8 stuff!). Listed under Canadian Military Parts, then Ford Vehicles.

[Mike K]

Jim

You need to check your plate to see if it's a chevy one. I believe Ford used a totally different fuel gauge system, with a thermo bi metal arm and points device at each end e.g., sender and gauge . The chev system is a more conventional method with a wiper arm on a wire , thus variable resistance .

From memory, the Chev sending unit has 5 holes and the Ford 6 holes .
Mike

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

Jim

From memory the Ford version is a die cast alloy and the Chev is brass affair.

You need to check your plate to see if it's a Chevy one.

Mike/Jim, the die cast alloy plate is the Chev version, the Ford is Brass.

Pic of the Chev cover:

[Jim Price]

Mike and Tony:
Thanks for the info; looks like my plate is a Ford brass one.

Mike: As for the plate you have for sale, I'm waiting on a reply from Peter S. on the tank he has for sale to see if it's the one I need and whether it has the plate. Will let you know if I need yours when I hear from him.

Regards,
Jim

[Jim Price]

More odds and ends to report:

Picked up all the parts from the painter on Day 51; temp stood at 118 F so didn't even bother to unload the second pickup truck bed of parts! Locked it up and let it set until Day 53.

Took Day 52 off.

Dried out the tires and tubes where we'd got water in them while washing the tires.

Wire brushed all the head bolt studs, all 48, and then did the same to the head bolt nuts.

Brushed the valves clean and added some lithum grease in the stems to take care of the initial lubrication when we start the engine up.

Wire brushed all the bolts for the oil pan, intake manifold and water pumps.

Still no word from the spring shop so reassembly of the axles and brake system is on hold.

No word from the steel fabricator on cutting of the windshield frame. Probably not a high priority item with them....

Began reassembly of the engine by re-installing the heads, intake manifold and water pumps.

Got up early this morning and painted the lug nuts. Got to them before it got too hot. Will add a clear coat to them tomorrow morning.

Down to one helper and myself; the other called in early this morning with a bad back. Called this afternoon and should be able to some painting tomorrow. He's a college student and I'll need to replace him by the 20th of this month when he goes back to school. He's got a great work ethic and it'll be tough to find someone as good!

Rained this morning and the humidity was fierce today along with a temp above 105 F.

That's all for now!

Regards,
Jim