Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

[Keith Webb]

Originally Posted by Euan McDonald

Tony,
The sunshine roof would be correct for the F15 but not a F60s. The only truck other than a swb I have seen fitted with a sunshine roof is a #6 gun tractor.

And that was a prototype.

[cliff]

I have seen one Chev. Australian Pattern Ambulance with what appears to be a Sunshine roof and this photo is one which I modeled my 1/35 scale model on.

[Private_collector]

Guys, my F15 chassis had been very much modified by a previous owner. That chassis was 'adapted' to fit modern engine and gearbox, so a great deal of crossmember mods were done to accomodate, thus buggering it for economical repair. Tony, the vehicle this chassis belongs to has become a parts truck. No plans to attempt repair. The rear cross member on the F15 is not nearly good enough, because it is bent and has a section cut out of it, making a replacement essential. Because of all the changes to the F15 chassis, it is basically useless.

The front axle on my F15 may be original, but at some stage, someone has fit later model hubs and wheels from another make of vehicle, Dodge if I recall correctly. Rear axle is definately NOT CMP at all. The chap I bought this from said the owner before had started to turn this vehicle into a 'Hotrod' project. Thats' the way, get a really heavy vehicle and then try to make it go fast. Christ man, BUY A CORVETTE or something......jeez! That truck did come with two rooves and several other goodies which made it attractive.

The chassis of my F60 has definately been shortened, but I am grateful it is only from the rear, not middle. Axle has been moved forward, and this seems to have been done well. I did a test fit of springs before I pulled them apart, everything lined up OK and measured same on both sides! I do have all the spring hanger brackets for this vehicle, and overrider bump stops as well. In fact I have several additional spares of these, should one or more prove to be less than ideal. I couldn't tell you WHY the prior owner decided to disassemble to extent that he did.....and then just stop work and leave truck to suffer weather damage etc, but that's what happened. Tony, the two rear cross members you refer to would include one which was bolted in place. This piece, and a spare, is currently on one of my parts shelves. Apart from the absolute rear member, there are no further parts I need for the F60 chassis.....as far as I can tell! I am planning to replace the very front cross member, becuase I don't like the extent of cracking around bumper bolt areas. A competent welder could easily repair this, but I already have a perfect replacement which came on the piece of chassis that was attached to an engine I bought ages ago. That piece of chassis also had both cross members that engine bolt to (of course), so I COULD redo the F15 chassis back to original if so inclined. I'm not really!

While it may seem a bit of a waste to scrap the F15 (or Frankentruck), it did donate two quite usable doors to my F60 rebuild. I have searched high & low, and not seen too many doors in ANY condition recently. Having said that, I do have three spare doors that might come in handy one day, but they are almost RUBBISH!

I think I have written than I met a fellow around 4-5 weeks ago who happens to have a Ford rear cross member I can have, free.

Pity I can't find his phone number.........yet!

He also has a Chevrolet CMP for sale at $1400, which he says runs, stops and is complete. Not of interest to me but when I find the phone number, I will arrange to go inspect and take photos in case anyone else may want to buy it.

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Private_collector

That piece of chassis also had both cross members that engine bolt to (of course), so I COULD redo the F15 chassis back to original if so inclined. I'm not really!

Yes, I understand perfectly now. Sounds like there's a lot more damage to that F15 chassis than I realized. With chopped rails and virtually no usable crossmembers, there's not a lot to work with! Plus you'd have to find some F15 front hubs, which is a tall order in iteslf, and that's assuming the stub axles haven't been modified as well. It also needs a rear axle, and F15 ones are slightly different from 4x4 models.

It's good to strive for originality, but there's a critical mass of damage and alterations and missing parts beyond which you lose interest in trying to rectify everything. I'd go the extra yards for a FGT chassis because they're rare, but unless you specifically want an F15, there's no real point here.

I've also just remembered that you have some very nice 11.00 x 20 tyres...which look so much better than 16s IMO. Plus they look best with intermediate wheelbase IMO - I've always considered the medium wheelbase with 20" tyres to have the most aesthetically pleasing proportions.

Thanks for your reply BTW Tony, I can see now where the project is going. Under the circumstances I'd take exactly the same approach as you. In fact I already did! My first resto was F60L shortened to F60S, and it came up a treat (see pics).

As you can see the rear crossmember was cactus, and the gusset plates had been torched through when the chassis rails were docked (why was this so commonly done?!! ) I think the rear crossmember on my first blitz (the bent and plated chassis) was salvageable, but not the gusset plates, and I never got around to finding some more. Apart from that, all I had to do was move everything forward 24", and remove the extra F60L crossmember (the rearmost bifurcated one, which lies 24" behind the front one, to fill the extra F60L length).

As an interesting aside - I retained the F60L two-piece tailshaft set up, which saved me having to find an F60S tailshaft (which runs directly from transfer case to diff). IIRC, I was able to use a spare front drive shaft, which conveniently proved to be exactly the required length. I could be wrong, but I don't recall getting the F60L one shortened. Anyway it was a good move I reckon, which bought me a little extra ground clearance.

In your case Tony, if you can't get hold of an original rear crossmember, I'm sure you could get one bent up from flat quite easily. Maybe chop out a section of the damaged F15 one for them to work off. Likewise the gusset plates - if you don't have any for a pattern I can send you some pics and dimensions.

Anyway I'm looking forward to seeing it shaping up as an F60S, or thereabouts. Having seen the work to date I'm sure it will be an exceedingly tidy job, and very hard to pick as non-original. And I certainly wouldn't worry about the sunshine roof being non-original (which we don't seem to know for sure anyway).

Cheers

[Private_collector]

Tony,

I agree with you on all points you made, as to what you feel looks most pleasing!!!!! Must be a 'Tony' thing

I can't wait to get those wheels/tyres on and stand back to take in the visual effect. I will need to get a hurry on, or I will need some form of mobility hoist just to get up to the cab.

After my reply to you this morning, I have now found the phone number of the contact who offered a cross member for free. I will call him tomorrow.
Not to concerned about not getting that one, because the company that does my sandblasting is primarily a heavy engineering business that specialises in..................are you ready for this.................truck chassis repairs and driveline modifications They are good folks and I have already lined them up to make a new one if all else fails. Always good to have a backup plan!

When I did a measure up of the wheelbase some time ago, it came to 115". I believe that is length of the F60T. If I have that correctly. I don't really fancy restoring as a bland prime mover. Am thinking of putting some sort of AA gun replica on the rear. It will need to be no higher than the truck cabin, or at most 6" higher, because last weekend I tried to check clearance of truck to garage roller door. I will have 8" to spare, MAXIMUM. Once the vehicle is finished, the gantry crane I built outside the workshop will need to be partly disassembled to get the truck through. The diagonal stays for the beam will foul the cabin sides if they aren't taken off. Mind you, by that time there won't be any need for it. That is of course unless I get another project. Was thinking of a Bren Carrier or similar. My wife does not think this is a good idea. I think she may have the begining of dementia.

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Private_collector

I can't wait to get those wheels/tyres on and stand back to take in the visual effect.

Yes, it's an exciting moment in the project when you get the wheels on. I even got a bit excited changing the wheels on my F60S last week. Here's some before and after pics - I think you'll agree it's an improvement!

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Private_collector

the company that does my sandblasting is primarily a heavy engineering business that specialises in..................are you ready for this.................truck chassis repairs and driveline modifications

How convenient!! Maybe you could get them to rivet your spring hangers etc. and pass it off as an original F60T!

Actually I'll be very interested to see how the prime mover wheelbase looked. I'm not sure I've ever seen a pic of one, except this sad looking Chev below.

In some ways it's almost fortuitous that you're forced to shorten the chassis, given that it will effectively be an F60T replica. It's not something you'd do by choice, but in doing so you'll have something a bit out of the ordinary, and of legitimate interest to CMP purists. That's how I'd be looking at it anyway. It's also a very practical wheelbase, and I imagine quite impressive with 20” wheels, while still being nicely proportioned. Was it 115" or 110"...I can't recall...not that it matters much.

I agree though, a turntable is not a particularly fascinating object to stand around and admire. A big gun on the other hand would certainly turn heads in the main street!

[Keith Webb]

Our prime movers were the 134" wheelbase, we didn't use the F60T here in Australia. And only Ford made the 115" wheelbase tractor late in the war.

Originally Posted by Tony Wheeler

How convenient!! Maybe you could get them to rivet your spring hangers etc. and pass it off as an original F60T!

Actually I'll be very interested to see how the prime mover wheelbase looked. I'm not sure I've ever seen a pic of one, except this sad looking Chev below.

In some ways it's almost fortuitous that you're forced to shorten the chassis, given that it will effectively be an F60T replica. It's not something you'd do by choice, but in doing so you'll have something a bit out of the ordinary, and of legitimate interest to CMP purists. That's how I'd be looking at it anyway. It's also a very practical wheelbase, and I imagine quite impressive with 20” wheels, while still being nicely proportioned. Was it 115" or 110"...I can't recall...not that it matters much.

I agree though, a turntable is not a particularly fascinating object to stand around and admire. A big gun on the other hand would certainly turn heads in the main street!

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Tony Wheeler

Likewise the gusset plates - if you don't have any for a pattern I can send you some pics and dimensions.

I've just remembered I have a spare set of these. They came with a pintle hook I bought a while back. I can't see myself ever using them - in fact I'm more likely to be pulling them off things and replacing them with FGT type ones. If you want 'em they're yours. Just let me know and I'll stick 'em in the post.

The photo makes them look identical, but they're not. They're definitely L and R pair - I checked after seeing the photo! One was upside down.

I've also got the little ones somewhere, which go on the upper side of the crossmember. You can see them in the other pic, which is my F60S. I don't have the pigtails though.

[Euan McDonald]

Originally Posted by cliff

I have seen one Chev. Australian Pattern Ambulance with what appears to be a Sunshine roof and this photo is one which I modeled my 1/35 scale model on.

Intresting Cliff,
Note the sun compass mount above the windscreen in the AWM pic, this mount is not uncommon to sunshine cabs.

On your model i'm not sure about the canvas fixing along the front edge as the canvas returns under a metal angle that is held by two wing nuts.

[cliff]

Originally Posted by Euan McDonald

Note the sun compass mount above the windscreen in the AWM pic, this mount is not uncommon to sunshine cabs.

On your model i'm not sure about the canvas fixing along the front edge as the canvas returns under a metal angle that is held by two wing nuts.

Thanks Euan. The photo you see was the only reference I had to the Sunshine roof at the time so if you could send me photos of the fixings of both Chev and Ford for my reference only I'd appreciate it as I have never seen a real one.