C8 progress in Texas

[David DeWeese]

Hi,
Hotter than Hell here in Texas, but in spite of it actually made good visual progress on the truck this weekend. Only advantage to the heat is my paint dries very fast!
Pulled the truck out of it's corner of the shop for the first time in months. It's actually starting to look like a vehicle again instead of just a very interesting pile of parts.
Cut and prepared new wood strips for the floor plates and primed, painted and installed the floor plates for good. Had to trim the large floor plate to accomodate the new SM420 transmission, but removed much less material than I had expected.
One thing I am noticing is as I install more cab components, the room for the driver is going away fast! Also installed glass in the windshield frame, but can't install the frame for good as roof components have to be put on the outer windshield frame first. Next weekend for that...
Thanks, David

[Bob Carriere]

Consider painting you wood with heavy oil base paint including dripping paint in all bolt holes..... so they will be sealed and cannot soak up humidity/water.

Nice job so far.....

Boob

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Originally Posted by David DeWeese

Hi,
Hotter than Hell here in Texas, but in spite of it actually made good visual progress on the truck this weekend. Only advantage to the heat is my paint dries very fast!
Pulled the truck out of it's corner of the shop for the first time in months. It's actually starting to look like a vehicle again instead of just a very interesting pile of parts.
Cut and prepared new wood strips for the floor plates and primed, painted and installed the floor plates for good. Had to trim the large floor plate to accomodate the new SM420 transmission, but removed much less material than I had expected.
One thing I am noticing is as I install more cab components, the room for the driver is going away fast! Also installed glass in the windshield frame, but can't install the frame for good as roof components have to be put on the outer windshield frame first. Next weekend for that...
Thanks, David

Nice work,as usual Dave..
And you are right on the 11 Cab..
They were designed to be driven by pygmies..but Boobee Carrier is 6'3" or so and size 12 clod hoppers and he manages..not well but these were designed in the late 30's when men were average 5'7"-5'9"..
but they improved a little on the 12 Cab and the 13 Cab is better and fine for Boobee to drive..
So keep your little boots for the 11 Cab or give it to the missus to drive..
I'm sure she would be a hit at Safeways,..
Alex

[David DeWeese]

Thanks Bob and Alex,
Bob, I soaked the boards with several coats of Thompson's Water Seal before final installation on your suggestion, so hopefully that will do the trick. Thanks!
Still blistering hot here, so progress was slow. Add to it the folks who want to come out on the weekends and B.S. for hours and the progress gets even slower...
Got out my engine cover pieces to straighten and weld all the cracks. Was a real battle as they turned out to be very bent. All looked to be in reasonable condition until I tried to test assemble them off the vehicle... Still very glad to have all of them, though!
Installed my data plate and newly-acquired shift pattern plate,(thanks, Dirk!), to see if the holes all lined up and noticed another pair of holes below the shift plate. Does anyone know what was held by these holes?
Also had a question about the access hole on the left engine cover. What was this supposed to access?
Dug around and came up with all the hardware to complete the vaccuum wipers for the C8 courtesy of a cab 13 windshield assembly that came with the truck. Don't really care if the wiper motors work or not as they sucked when brand new, plus it will give me something to do later on after the C8 is on the road and finished.
Thanks, David

[Bob Carriere]

I believe the engine access was meant to reach the block water jacket drain valve...... in your picture you have a screwed cap in there.... it should be replaced with a radiator drain petcock.... so the block could be drained when water pump is serviced or head removed to totally drain the block and also if it got very cold and you had NO antifreeze..... for you in Texas...... doubt if it is worth the trouble to drain the block just to install a proper drain petcock.

Keep ondoing what you do best!!!!!

Bob C.

[David DeWeese]

Thanks, Bob.
Spent the weekend painting and fitting more cab items in the C8.
Added about three inches to the rear of the transmission cover to accomodate the later model four speed. Also had to notch the cover to give clearance for the larger top cover casting on the SM420 trans. This couldn't be avoided as if I raised the cover up for clearance it throws off the measurement of all the other sheetmetal pieces that attach to the cover.
Made up a bezel to use with a rubber draft pad for the new shifter opening also.
Had to re-use my original cast brackets from the busted C8 transmission to get the proper spacing for the park brake lever to fit the cover also. While cleaning the park brake lever I noticed it was painted black with a red spring and a chrome release handle and rod, with no evidence I could find of any military paint. Decided to go back with that, but it does kind of look overdone...
Had a battery box made up using plans I got from this forum. The latches aren't 100% correct, but they're the best I could find.
Thanks, David

[jaap de wit]

david you are doing a gread job man.
keep up the good work.
cheers jaap

[David DeWeese]

Thanks, Jaap.
May I say that you are doing an absolutely wonderful job on your C15 restoration. Your truck is very lucky to have been purchased by you...
Repaired the large hole in the upper nose panel of the C8 that had been cut out to gain access to a radiator cap.
Also stripped the paint from the front Chevrolet emblem and found it was made of copper with a thin plating of brass on the outside. Thought this was interesting, so just polished it and sprayed a couple of coats of satin clear to keep it from tarnishing. Know this isn't correct for a wartime paint job, but the little truck has so many interesting features like this that I would like some to stand out. Can always paint over them later if I want....
Prepped the headlight buckets and found the outer rings were missing the sheetmetal screw tabs on the bottom that secures them to the buckets. Dug around and found a couple of Dodge 1/2 ton WC military headlight rings that are identical replacements for the original CMP rings, but they are not chromed.
Straightened and painted the left fender, which was badly damaged at the lower edge. Installed it to find that the heavy cast bracket that holds the fender at the bottom was very bent also. Hopefully nothing but a little creative shimming will be needed...
Thanks, David