Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

[Private_collector]

Its rather late to be posting, but my son just got off bloody facebook!

This afternoon I was making the remedial repairs to drivers door hinge side, as recommended by Phil. I drilled a total of 9 holes to strengthen the door from future cracks, and also made three spot welds along the edge of the skin where it overlaps the inner frame.

While doing this, I was thinking through the forces & mechanics that would have caused the original cracks (now repaired). I kept coming to the conclusion that there must be more to the problem than I already understood. While pondering, I began to examine the hinges themselves. Thats when I discovered a rather devious little flaw with the hinges, or top hinge to be more specific.

Consider the upper hinge as three parts, one that bolts to the cab frame, one that bolts to the door, and the hinge pin as third. I found that when I moved the upper hinge to the 'door closed' position, the two parts came to end of travel BEFORE the door would have been closed. Only just before, but the hinge parts met in a certain place and would go no further, no matter how much force was applied. This would mean that the door itself would have had a load force placed on the frame to complete the close. I checked another door (also cracked) and saw that it too had this issue. I checked a third door, that did not have any cracks, and the hinge pin was worn to the extent that more movement was possible between the two main hinge parts. This hinge did NOT butt up in the same place as the others had because the worn pin permitted additional movement.

I had initially intended to replace the pin on the drivers door (passenger side was OK) but found a good set on another door in my spares. On the top hinge that will now be for drivers side, I used the angle grinder to remove a little of the height that caused the binding I had described above. This hinge now has a travel of another few degrees. I suspect this may relieve one of the contributing factors to future fatigue of the door frame. I will know more once the door is painted and fitted to the cab itself.

Drivers door and hinges will be painted tomorrow (weather permitting) and I will let you know how things go once hung in place.

I made the repairs to door outer surface this afternoon as well, and must say I am somewhat disappointed to find the door skin had a slightly dished in appearance that I don't believe I can remedy! It is not a dent as such, but may be a result of years of slamming the door. I will have to live with this unless I get brave enough to go ahead with an idea I had to have pressure applied from the inside to force the skin permanently out. It wouldn't take much, and I considered using a small amount of expanding foam in a plastic bag to do this. This would be sound in principle, but theory doesn't always hold in practice. I'll wet sand the door and see how it looks after that.

Excuse typographical errors, it's late, i'm tired and about to hit the hay!

[hrpearce]

Originally Posted by Private_collector

Its rather late to be posting, but my son just got off bloody facebook!

Tony 20 minutes once a week is plenty of time for facebook, my boys have become used to this restriction after some initial wining.

[Private_collector]

Originally Posted by hrpearce

Tony 20 minutes once a week is plenty of time for facebook, my boys have become used to this restriction after some initial wining.

Once a week I let him communicate with a girlfriend overseas. It ran waaaaay overtime last night. I hate the damn thing, but have to admit I don't really know all about it, apart from what I have heard. My son has tried to get me interested but I don't have much time for that!

What do we call it now? "Social Media"!
Antisocial media!!!!!

[hrpearce]

Back to the blitz I also had a lot of trouble with the top drivers door hinge but I didn't have as severe cracking to deal with as you have.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi

There was also a good discussion of the hinge issue back last spring in the 2011 at Hammond Barn when the guys were working on fabricating non-existent hinges http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=15944 then do a search this thread on the word "hinge" shows some useful information.

The other bane of Pattern 13 door hinges is they get bent, because they don't have hold back straps. The Boys at the Hammon Barn CMP Overhaul Center (HBCMPOC) have tried straightening hinges to reset them to the proper angle.

My approach has been to use wedge shims to adjust for the bending.

Cheers Phil

[Private_collector]

Cheers guys! Im grateful my hinges aren't bent. Thats something I suppose. Both my doors (ones being used) also had the stop straps with them. They are old and hard, so I will look for something to replace them at the local rubber & foam shop.
driver door painted 3.jpg driver door painted 1.jpg driver door painted 2.jpg
The day was clear and sunny, so I got the door painted. Despite the strong breeze and painting outdoors, I couldn't find any contaminants inthe paint!
driver door hinges painted 1.jpg
Also painted the hinges, headlight rims, fire extinguisher bracket..............
hat!.jpgand an old hat

I have since misplaced the hat. Bloody camo paint!

More to come.

[Private_collector]

pedal plate 1.jpg pedal plate 2.jpg
Pedal plate has been beaten back into shape, ready for blasting. A minor rust repair job will be done at same time as I do the passenger door.
doghouse.jpg doghouse 2.jpg doghouse 3.jpg
Today was the first time I have looked critically at the engine hatch. There are two cracks at top corners and a hole has been cut in the passenger side. Apart from that, it's in really great shape. Whoever cut the hole was then followed by someone who wanted it gone again, because a patch had been screwed in place at some point. I will weld this up once blasted. I think I will send these pieces for blasting either tomorrow or Tuesday.

To top off an already satisfying day, a friend of mine phoned late this afternoon to say he had found a Ford CMP brake booster (in the box) at a garage sale, and asked if I would like him to buy it on my behalf.

You can guess the answer to that one!

The passenger door repairs and these other little welding jobs will happen some time over the Easter break.

[Keith Webb]

Actually it's similar in a lot of ways to what we're doing now...

Originally Posted by Private_collector

Once a week I let him communicate with a girlfriend overseas. It ran waaaaay overtime last night. I hate the damn thing, but have to admit I don't really know all about it, apart from what I have heard. My son has tried to get me interested but I don't have much time for that!

What do we call it now? "Social Media"!
Antisocial media!!!!!