C15A Restoration

[John Stokes]

Originally Posted by cliff

looking good John. It is nice to see all the hard work you guys put into restoring your vehicles.

It's not so much the hard work Cliff It's the time management that is my biggest problem.Two young daughters and wife need attention not to mention the earthmoving business.Thank you for taking the time out to check out the progress of our latest reto.I finished a 1971 falcon not 12 months ago, I'm enjoying the CMP a lot more as you don't have to spend hours sourcing and paying a small fortune for original parts.I will keep posting progress shots as they come to hand.

[John Stokes]

I picked up the tyres today 12.00 x 20 Dunlops.Dummy fitted one to the rear they look huge standing around 45 inches tall.The wife is worried she cant climb up into it when finished.Hopefully by the end of the weekend i will have a rolling chasis again fingers crossed and hours of work ahead.

[John Stokes]

Hi All,
Well its Sunday night and the Chev is almost rolling.All the brakes,hubs,etc are back on and all is coming along nicely.I would say you have to be dedicated to wrestle with those brake,hub assemblies when checking for correct bearing tension on the front axle.A couple of new brake lines for the front and mount the master cylinder this week and the old girl will have brakes again.Another run around with the spray gun,wheels on,then its time to concentrate on getting the engine and gear box sorted.In the mean time i am sorting out the cab etc more sandblasting,rust patches welded in etc. I'm pretty sure I'm not telling you guys and girls anything new as by the look of the other forums we are all in the same boat.More to come later.The white C60s is my cruiser,well i had a few beers last sunday and thought it would be a good idea if i took a mate of mine for a spin around the block (no brakes) All went well until we ran out of fuel and had to call the wife for a tow.All she asked was where are you? and hung up.A few minutes later arrives the Toyota with chain and wife! well you can guess the rest.(NOT HAPPY WITH ME) oh well that was last week.She is happy i worked on CMP not drove one this week.

[Stuart Kirkham]

Great stuff John. Keep this thread rolling along as we all love a good restoration

BTW, those 12.00 x 20 tyres...are they the same as the Army Unimogs as the tread pattern looks similar?

[John Stokes]

Got home a bit late so not a lot done only fitted up the winch.Because its a C15A wireless van it didn't come out with a winch.We use the original plates and bearings that came out of one of the C60s i wrecked that was too far gone.We let the left hand side plate into the chasis by 6mm so it formed a box section.The right hand side was fabricated so it fitted between the top and bottom rails and bolted.Very neat and accurate job if i can say that without boasting.The tyres i am not sure but they came from the army as new old stock could be unimogs but nut sure.Dunlop Australian made if that helps.I will post a picture of the old C60 i wrecked for parts.The one with the round counter weight is the Chev the other is a Ford F60 with a very rusted side valve.

[John Stokes]

Rain sent me home early today so straight into the shed to work on the C15A.I installed the kit into the NOS master cylinder and fitted the remaining pipes and hoses.Filling the master cylinder with fluid and a bleed here and there it was all good news. I removed the tie rod ends and cleaned the threads and adjusted the toe in something wasn't right.It seemed not to have enough turning angle.I thought about it for a while as i disconnected the drag link from the RHS hub still not the same as the left side.Then the penny dropped the backing plate retaining bolts were fowling on the knuckle.Pulled the drum off shortened the bolts and everything is fine.Not sure if this was always like this or i had lost the shot bolts.The old saying comes to mind check,check,then double check.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi John

Looks like you are making very good progress, as you will probably remember the area around the master cylinder gets crowed with brake lines, fuel line, wiring harness, battery cable and the speedo cable. It also gets very hard to work in once the engine is place.

So now is a good time to get the routing for each of these figured out and locations for all the cable/tube clamps located and sorted out. Consider putting all of the cables and lines in place even if you just put the clamps in place loosely.

I mention this as I had major problems with my Pattern 12 when the speedo shorted out on the brake light switch lugs. Burned out the speedo cable, battery cable, wiring harness, and almost through the RUBBER fuel line, about the fuel line be sure to run steel through this area. Cause for all the problems was that I didn’t have all the locating clamps in place on the speedo cable.

Cheers Phil

[Howard]

Originally Posted by John Stokes

....I finished a 1971 falcon not 12 months ago, I'm enjoying the CMP a lot more as you don't have to spend hours sourcing and paying a small fortune for original parts....

John,
How's about a pic of the falcon?
I have a '73 Fairmont awaiting the loving hand, after the F15!
(PS be aware that Falcons have been called 'ugly' on this forum before...)
HH

[John Stokes]

Hi Howard,I will post a couple pictures but the Blitz is the flavor of the month.Keeping in mind this took two and a half years and 3 jobs at a time to pay for it! That is why i say i am happy to do the C15A more realistic.Image 001 is not shown you will have to open it.

[John Stokes]

Hi all, just a quick update on the progress of my C15A restoration.Took it out of the shed today and installed the 235. I still have a long way before she is fired up but at least it's in and looks like it's ready for action.The new water pump and acc will arrive this week and hopefully i will have some spare time to get it all on.The radiator is going for a clean up and test tomorrow and i'm hoping it will be given a clear bill of health.I still am yet to order a loom and need to do that also.I also pulled the gear box apart today and out of three of the am able to put a realy good one together with the usual new seals and bearings.Feel free to offer advise as i am going off the trucks in my yard and a manual so all the help i can get is welcome. John Stokes

[Bob Carriere]

Hi John

Nice job your doing...... watch the water pump/fan clearance with the stock radiator..... you may have to consider an "hey-Daptor" plate to install an older 216 pump.....

Let us know if you get stuck.... a few of us have been down that snarly path and can give advice......

Boob

[John Stokes]

Hi Bob,I took the 235 out of another blitz and it had a different pulley/fan set up to the stock 216 pump.I have a new 216 water pump do i remove the pulley and use the same set up and install it on the new pump is that what you mean?and not use the big cast pulley.

[Bob Carriere]

Hi John

You were lucky that our 235 had already been modified with an older 216 pump.

Experience has shown that it is impossible to fit a 235 or 261 with the later original water pump...unless you want to cut stuff!!!! ... the original pump is lower in the block and the pump impeller of the original 235 pump is inside the block. Overall the original pump is about 2 inches too long and hits the radiator core. Also because the original pump is lower inside the block when installed in a CMP the lowered fan blades usually hit the lower radiator outlet....

So that major headache is resolved for you..... the only thing left for you to figure out is to match the size of the various pulleys.... the two critical ones are the size of the crankshaft pulley versus the size of the 216 pump pulley...... otherwise there is a chance you will spin the water pump toooooo fast which can cause cavitation and reduced water flow. The typical solution is to replace the modern 235 cranshaft harmonic balancer/pulley with the 216 size which is some what smaller in circumference so the similar belt speed is maintained.

The other consideration is matching the various belt size grooves from all the 3 pulleys..... some are 3/8 or 1/2 inch but the older pulleys may be 5/8 or even 7/8. Having matched the crank pulley to the pump pulley the odd one usually is the generator or alternator pulley.

I suspect... and hope... that in your case since the conversion was already done from a previous Blitz that it may have been taken care of.

Good source for spare wide pulleys and belts are you local or rural farm tractor shops since most still service older equipment and they sell belts by size and not be model/year/make and color of your car.

My tractor shop usually gives me 3 belts to try ....one over, one under and one the matching size I requested.... pay for one and return the others when you drive by...... try that at a typical Auto Parts store!!!!

Let us know how you make out..... and include pictures since most of us can't read too well!!!!

BooB

[Howard]

Originally Posted by John Stokes

...Keeping in mind this took two and a half years and 3 jobs at a time to pay for it! That is why i say i am happy to do the C15A more realistic...

Yeah, I know. The XA is going to take a LOT of work. Well done with the GT! I bet it sounds even better than it looks!!!!!