Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Private_collector

Right now there is a lady from continental U.S.A trying to convince her friends that Australians only speak english abroad, and that our native language is actually Dutch.

H.

[Private_collector]

Merry christmas to all you good folks, and I would like to express my sincere thankyou to the great number of MLU members/friends that have supported me through the year, with advice, information, parts and kind or encouraging comments. Without your help I may have struggled in my restoration. Maple Leaf Up is a tremendous legacy of its founder, and for that I am truly grateful.

I hope you all are having a great Christmas, and will enjoy a happy and prosperous 2013. The new year seems to have come only weeks since the start of this year. I suppose it must be true, as someone once said, "Life is like a toilet roll, the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes".

With the ANZAC centenary rapidly approaching, I will need to double my efforts to finish the truck, for it to be ready for that special commemoration.

20121225_153306.jpg
On another topic, I am rostered to work today, and one of my patients has given me a wonderful gift, in the form of two volumes of 'Letters Home' from his brother (Flt Lt Malcolm S. Buchanan, DFC) who was a pilot in europe in WWII. These will no doubt be fascinating reading, and a wonderful keep sake. Unfortunately Lt. Buchanan was killed in action towards the end of the war.

Lest We Forget

[Keith Webb]

That's a great gift Tony, I have a few of these personal stories and collections of letters given to me by veterans. Wonderful insights to how these men traveled through the war.
Oh, and a Merry Christmas to you and yours too. May your 2013 be full of CMP achievements and satisfaction.

[Private_collector]

$T2eC16h,!)!E9s2fD)!+BQiwefLZcg~~60_35.jpeg $T2eC16FHJHoE9n3Kd5odBQiwegddg!~~60_35.jpeg
Saw this item on ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Sty...item3f2064331d

Good option to retain original look, while using modern battery.

Would look much better with the lead cell connectors added.

[Private_collector]

After a prolonged search for the wiring clips I was telling Phil about the other day, I came up empty and was begining to think I must have been mistaken about ordering them in the first place. With that in mind, I located another source (ebay, not MacsAuto this time) and ordered 2x sets of 12 pieces each. At $5 per 12, it's not a huge investment and I really do want to use these.

Made the purchase yesterday, sent a request for seller to advise shipping cost, then waited for reply. Seller got back to me and shipping cost minimal. Purchase finalised this afternoon.......................................
Wiring clips.jpg
.......then I found the 10 pieces I did in fact already have. They were in the proverbial "Safe" place.

Typical

[Private_collector]

Brake Lines Both Axles.jpg Rear Axle Brake Lines 1.jpg Rear Axle Brake Lines 2.jpg
Today, I decided to make the steel brake lines for rear axle. Enjoyed it so much, I went on to do the front axle ones as well. Did not attempt to flare the ends. A local brake shop can do that, when they return to work after new year of course. Bloody public holidays.
Rear Axle Brake Lines 3.jpg
Don't worry, the tube will line up again, once the flaring shortens the end a little. I was very fortunate to have the remains of lines on both axles to fabricate from. I did exercise a little user discretion in a couple of places, to keep things neat.
Front Axle Brake Junction Block.jpg
Need to find one of these brake line junction blocks for front axle. Ebay or Macs will provided eventually. The nut into other side (just visible in photo) has corroded very badly, and would have damaged the thread of the block, as it expanded.

[Private_collector]

Pintle Parts 1.jpg
Yesterday I started dismantling the pintle assembly, to assess the damage and start considering plan for rebuild. The poor state of the spring leaves was immediately obvious, as they were 'fanning' out from each other, with a good 1/8" of rust scale between any two leaves. The nuts on the leaf retaining brackets were very badly corroded, and had to be removed by slicing down with the cut-off wheel & grinder. The brackets have had so much force applied by the expanding rust, that the bolt ends were no longer parallel, and now the threads were moderately damaged from the grinder. This was looking like it would be a REAL big headache to remedy.

On the up side, while the pintle itself was seized, I have another which is working fine and has no visible corrosion or other damage. Then I had a second bit of good luck! While looking for my other two rear spring brackets, I found a second pintle spring set that I had forgotten about. It's in great shape, and will only require sand blasting prior to painting.

Now, every episode of good luck seems to be accompanied by a corresponding and equally significant piece of BAD luck, so I wasn't entirely surprised when I located the spring brackets I was after, only to find that one of the set did not belong. Two spring brackets are already finished and ready to install (when I get bolts. Once again, bloody public holidays). Reason for this is simply because I wanted to have a pair available for the engineers to temporarily attach for checking cross member location. They were painted and could have remained on the chassis, if they hadn't managed to spray white paint all over them. Anyhoo........
Correct Bracket.jpg
This is the type of brackets I should have. Three of the 4 are this type.
Incorrect Bracket.jpg
And here's the one which isn't right! If it were used, the spring height would be different, due to the reduced amount that the bracket hangs below the chassis. Damn it! Guess I start making phone calls tomorrow, searching for a replacement bracket.

Beware the 'Easy' Job

ADDIT: Yep, Macs have the required brake block! I'll order it tomorrow, once I decide what else to order, since they charge the same shipping, whether I order a full $30 or just the $13 for the brake part!