Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

Now to the wheel flanges the explanation I was that they were primarily to speed ship loading and unloading using a pair of spreader bars equipped with loop ends a crane crew could very quickly have a truck read to lift. The other use of course is using two ropes they can be used like a capstan winch to pull a vehicle out being stuck. But if there was mud involved I'd drag at the regular winch cable first.

Pic 1 shows the ship loading arrangement Phil describes, but prior to the introduction of flanged hubs. It can be seen just how much simpler and faster it would be with flanged hubs. Personally I have no doubt they were designed expressly for this purpose. I wonder if they were part of D-Day planning...? They appeared in Australia around late '44 as standard equipment.

I've often heard the capstan winch suggestion, but I've always dismissed it as pure speculation arising from the shape of the front hub, which resembles a miniature ship's capstan. It strikes me as entirely impractical, if not impossible. Has anyone ever tried it? If not, it might be a worthwhile exercise one day, to prove the point one way or the other. Perhaps we can get MythBusters to tackle it!

[Private_collector]

Pintle finished.jpg
On Saturday morning, the pintle parts and front bumper brackets were painted. Pintle was assembled/installed later that afternoon. Yep, the paint dries that quick! So quick that I could wrap a rag around the middle of the pintle spring, attach a loop of chain, and hold it in place with the engine hoist, while I put the second pintle bracket in place.
Pintle rubber.jpg
I took the liberty of adding a thin strip of rubber to the pintle brackets, to stop the spring from rattling around.
Front springs cleaned.jpg
Finally got all the old spring clamps off front spring sets.Then gave em a really good cleaning, ready for the sandblasters tomorrow.

As predicted (no, really!), the rain has started to move in again, and jungle drums say lots more rain coming tomorrow and Tuesday. Wonderful news.
Got begger-all done on front axle and steering. Due to weight, that's an outside job only. At least until I get the steering knuckles off. So that means an impromptu 'replacement' job done today.
Reverse selector latch old.jpg Reverse select latch new.jpg
And that job was to make a new reverse select latch for the gear shift. I have three gearboxes, and none have a latch that's in one piece. One was, until a friend 'helped' me unload it when I got it home, and allowed the thing to fall onto the latch, squashing and breaking it!

[Private_collector]

Transmission tower cleaned 1.jpg
The final job for the day was to disassemble & clean the trans shift tower. This was frozen when I got it, and I discovered today that it was dues to an accumulation of dirt and other muck in the selector travel tubes. That's all gone now.
Transmission tower cleaned 2.jpg Transmission tower cleaned 3.jpg Transmission tower primed 1.jpg
When I got the selectors out, I found one of the three plunger ball springs was corroded and broke in two upon removal. Checking through Macs catalog for replacements.
Shift plunger parts old.jpg

[Private_collector]

Unbelievable! The heavy rains have resulted in yet MORE flooding in Gympie. Levels expected to get to 18 metres above normal Mary river height. That means most of the businesses evacuated then flood damaged in the January flood, will be receiving the same again now. Here at home, 40km north of town, we have had over 250mm in past 36 hours. That's roughly 10 inches.

I've had the CMP front springs in back of the car since Sunday, but cannot get them to the sandblaster as all roads there are presently under water. Don't think I can get there until at least Thursday or later.

I don't expect to hear from the metal shop regarding having CNC work for a replica 50 cal either. They are amongst the first businesses to get flooded and have had to evacuate their premises for second time in a month. Fairly certain they have more important things on their mind, other than quoting.

On a positive note, my front brake shoes have arrived, and will do just fine. Also won an auction for a genuine WWII Ford 6 point junction block. Been looking for one for a number of weeks and now that has payed off.

[Ryan]

Good luck to you and all those other poor buggers up there getting a soaking Tony.

Just give me 10% of what your getting though will you!? Only 6mm of rain for feb so far down here.

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Ryan

Good luck to you and all those other poor buggers up there getting a soaking Tony.

Yes, I feel for them too, it must be heartbreaking to go through this yet again. Seems they built Gympie in the wrong place, time to move to higher ground when you find yourself cohabiting with fish.

[Private_collector]

I agree, Gympie was not built with flood mitigation in mind.

Like a lot of gold mining towns, Gympie evolved around the mines themselves, with little thought for the future. We still get the occasional collapse of an ancient mine shaft, resulting in a sink hole. I think the last one appeared in the middle of a road. This has happened in peoples backyards too. All the current rain may contribute to future sink holes.

[Little Jo]

[QUOTE=Private_collector;176591]Unbelievable! The heavy rains have resulted in yet MORE flooding in Gympie. Levels expected to get to 18 metres above normal Mary river height. That means most of the businesses evacuated then flood damaged in the January flood, will be receiving the same again now. Here at home, 40km north of town, we have had over 250mm in past 36 hours. That's roughly 10 inches.

Hi Tony

I feel for you people up there in Queensland, I hope you survive OK without any damage. I see on the news tonight a cyclone off Pt Headlands in WA, We here is SA could surely do with some rain, all we get is heat and drought, so don't be greedy share some of the rain with us.

Cheers

Tony