Identification of F15 2WD?

[Keith Webb]

Interesting to go from restoring a cab 12 to 13 - undoubtedly the more satisfying way to go. Just wait till you drive it - you'll be amazed at how much room there is.
At this rate you'll have her finished in a couple of weeks!

K

Originally Posted by Ganmain Tony

Okey Dokey

Will continue here........

Nose cone is off. Oh boy! How much easier are the 13's to pull apart??

They would have half the number of bolts compared to a 12 Cab.

The trucks are a great example of wartime development in improving design, reducing amount of materials used and speeding up production of units per day.

[Ganmain Tony]

Isnt it rude of normal life duties to get in the way of truck restoration.

Anyway they did... but they can"t forever!!

So Ive picked up where I left off. Decided to finish attacking the Cab.

Managed to get all the floor screw headed bolts intact... bar two.

Point for discussion. The webbing under the floor has definitely been impregenated with something from the Factory. Does anyone have a name for it apart from black sticky tarry stuff

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Ganmain Tony

Does anyone have a name for it apart from black sticky tarry stuff

"Bitumen"?

H.

[Plushy]

Looks exactly like my F15A when i first started stripping her , don`t be surprised if you find a few holes in the chassis once you remove the lime/super coat off the back end of the chassis .

great job so far

[Ganmain Tony]

I dont remember mentioning that I managed to free up the engine. Amazingly not one stuck valve or lifter.

The oil is circulating throughout the engine as the old stuff literally pours out the brass fitting at the back even with just a couple of turns of the crank.

Removed those old strange front wheels as they looked like crap (no other reason). Got the front slave cylinders out while I was going. Bearings are in excellent shape, one side has the bloody brake shoes missing and...... figure this out.....one of the cylinders has been resleeved and could go back in with the original rubbers I reckon, but the other one looks like something out of a Pharaohs tomb.

Third photo gives and excellent example of the orginal fuel line layout with correct curling in the lines, even though the left tank and tap have been bypassed at some stage.

[Ganmain Tony]

Just some shots of the carnage when a truck is in all its bits.

The other is of the 16" rims finally back on the old girl. Complete with ancient D^D tyre.

[Lionelgee]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

"Bitumen"?

H.

How about Vegemite?

[Ganmain Tony]

Donk is out and brake cylinders and master cylinder have been removed.

Discovered all brake cylinders including master cylinder have been resleeved using stainless steel. Came apart easily and cleaned up with a bit of metho. Should be able to put new rubber back in and thats all!! The one on the right hand front is not so good and will have to be done (in fact it was never done in the first place )

[Ganmain Tony]

Here's something for the curious.

Part of the Cab frame has broken welds at both ends. Was this a common failure in the trucks??

Ive circled the weld in question. Its broken at both ends.

[Plushy]

Tony ,
Two of my cabs have frames that are broken in the exact same postition. I am guessing its a weak point in the design as that bar is the attachment point for the rear cab mounts they must get a lot of flexing when the trucks are one the move .


James

[Michael Hughes]

Hi Tony & Clevo
I was thinking about the webbing in between the cab & frame . It could be a mixture of Stockholm tar & Linseed oil that the webbing was soaked into. I use Stockholm tar as a thread anti seize on track bolts on earth moving equipment it is brilliant if there is no heat ( Dad & I did a set of tracks on an excavator that did a bit of work in salt water 10 years later give or take we were able to undo the track bolts )
Stockholm tar is old school pushed aside by the new products.It is brilliant to protect threads if there is not a lot of heat ie not for use on engines. But good for body & chassis bolts.
It is what I will be using all over the cab 12 when it starts to go together Sooner than later I hope

[Ganmain Tony]

About time for a very quick update..on the little F15.

Finally got the right paint match in terms of colour.

Before anyone says... "that's not khaki no3" I can assure you this colour has been painstakingly matched to an original sample from the truck that was not exposed to fading.

So it is spot on. What I am a bit ticked off about is the semi gloss finish 'cause we also worked on getting a flat to matt finish. The spec's sent to the paint maker specified that 20% flattening agent was required. Anyway I'll work on that.

Couple of weld repairs were done and then blasted, undercoated and painted. All done by Tasman Grit in Wagga. I simply dont have the facilities to sand blast and when it is done you've got to get the paint on quick smart.. so they have done that as well.

Great to have some progress which can be seen. Never ceases to amaze me just how well these trucks come up..

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Tony

"So it is spot on. What I am a bit ticked off about is the semi gloss finish 'cause we also worked on getting a flat to matt finish. The spec's sent to the paint maker specified that 20% flattening agent was required. Anyway I'll work on that."

Whose paint did you use?
Did you add any hardener or other additive other than the flatten-er?
Did you get all the mixture numbers so it can be reproduced?

Reason I ask is did a similar process on my HUP and the finial coat just did not flatten the way I wanted. The problems in my case are technique and adding hardener to Enamel.

Cheers Phil

[hrpearce]

Looking good Tony, how about a couple of shots of the finished shed

[Ganmain Tony]

Originally Posted by hrpearce

Looking good Tony, how about a couple of shots of the finished shed

I will Robert - stay tuned..

[Mike Cecil]

Tony,

I've come very late to this thread, but....

"Before anyone says... "that's not khaki no3" I can assure you this colour has been painstakingly matched to an original sample from the truck that was not exposed to fading.

So we can assume you used a sample from a position between panels? This does not take into account that the individual parts were not 'overpainted' in Australia, but the truck was overpainted with KG3 and the disruptive colour after assembly in Australia by the contractor. The paint sandwiched between panels is generally not a good indicator of the exterior vehicle colour in Australia.

Given the date of production of the vehicle, and the ARN, can I ask:

What pattern the flooring is, and the thickness of the floor inside the cab?

Does the roof have a roof hatch? If so, is it welded or bolted in?

Does the cab lower rear panel have a 'w' or an inverted 'u' shaped strenthening rib? Is there a small disc welded to the rib located on the left side?

Were the cab roof to cab rear panel bolts Whitworth (ie not UNC sized heads)

Does the engine number also appear stamped on the upper right hand chassis member, adjacent to the front cross member, or is this area blank?

My F15s were always fun to drive. The last one had an up-rated diff centre which gave it respectable road speed, too.

Regards

Mike C

[Ganmain Tony]

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

Hi Tony

"So it is spot on.
Whose paint did you use?
Did you add any hardener or other additive other than the flatten-er?
Did you get all the mixture numbers so it can be reproduced?

Reason I ask is did a similar process on my HUP and the finial coat just did not flatten the way I wanted. The problems in my case are technique and adding hardener to Enamel.

Cheers Phil

Paint specs have been kept by the bloke who did the work putting the formula together. So I can get them off him if you'd like them..not a problem.

I'm just not going to be able to get them for a few weeks.