Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

[Private_collector]

Don't they look enormous by themselves.

A friend of mine who passed away some months ago, had a great stack of these in a heap under his house. All unused, and perfect in every way, with exception of being asbestos.

Raybestos are the brand of my wheel cylinders. As with most things, cheaper to buy from other side of the planet, as opposed to local suppliers.

I was fortunate enough to get a piece of NOS door-check strap, to replace my hard old originals.

[Keith Webb]

Some berk has welded the brake backing plate to the steering body, in two places! Great welding.

You may find that berk was a Ford Canada factory welder, or an army one. I'm not sure whether others have found this but a lot of the 4 7/8" front ends I have seen had the backing plates welded just like this. Fortunately my FGT plates have not been welded. Perhaps there is some information in a service bulletin somewhere.

[Private_collector]

Why would they do that?? How does it benefit? I don't get it!
The bolts were there, so it's not that they couldn't use them or stripped any threads. I did a quick look, but I didn't see the same weld on the other side. I will go through the service bulletins book to see what I can find out.

The mud flap frames are now with the upholsterers, and I may have them back by the weekend. I will need them back fast......so they can sit on my shelf for months . I won't have a use for them until the cab is on the truck and guards are attached. Bearing in mind the engine, gearbox and transfer case will be finished before this happens, it may be some time yet.

Last thing I did yesterday was to cut some lengths of metal bar, to be bent into new spring set brackets/clamps. They went to the engineers this afternoon. Apparently their metal folder can't handle the shape they will need to be bent to (54mm base, with 75mm height to each side) because the two folds are so close together. They will have to use oxy-acetyline torch to heat and bend by hand. Just like the old days, except no forge involved.
Door check strap material 1.jpg Door check strap material 2.jpg
This is the piece of check-strap material I was given today. It's wider than the original, and very slightly thiner profile, but I don't care. Exact match for original material has eluded me entirely so far. The thicker strap may actually allow me to add a third hole to the securing points on door & cab frame. If I do that, I will have to make fresh securing plates.

Rains are back again. The flooding has already started. As long as it is all gone by next saturday, I won't mind. Scuttlebut has it that we may get a further 100-300mm rain in next 24hrs. Excellent! Guess it's better than getting whacked by a meteor . Oh, those Russians; As Boney-M would say!