Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

[Private_collector]

Cool, thanks Cliff!

[Private_collector]

David, your stencil material arrived yesterday, and I will do a test cutting with it as soon as my new pinch rollers arrive. They are expected around this time next week. Certainly an interesting material. Very keen to cut holes in it!
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After looking into a number of options, my king pin kit (81T-3111) has been ordered. I broke my own rule, it's NOS. I did ask a lot of questions about condition before buying, so fingers crossed. Total cost = $95 including the postage. The muck you see on the pins is preservative, not rust.
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Hopefully I won't have any problems with the kit, but even if I don't like the condition of bearing/s or felt seal/s, it is cheaper for me to purchase a pair of them new afterwards, as opposed to buying entirely new set from somewhere like Macs! Theirs are ~$90 + postage of $45. Ouch! All prices are in USD. New thrust bearings are $4.95ea. New felt seals are $0.95c each.

[Private_collector]

Heading off topic for a moment, I recently ordered a large format print of a favourite photo.
The end product is nearly 1.2Mt x 0.9Mt, and I am very impressed with their work. The print is suitable for a range of displays, and it cost under $13.00AUD. That price included postage within Australia, but I see more recent listings show an additional post cost. They can do prints of up to 3Mt x 1.5mt. My photo wasn't even a good resolution image, so a high res pic could look stunning. The photos are printed onto a fabric material that is easy to work with, and stated to be very hard wearing.

Here is the particular listing. http://www.ebay.com/itm/LARGE-FORMAT...IAAOSwBP9UVP1t
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And here is my photo.

I have no association with this company, but just had to bring their work to your attention.
I figured most people would have a special photo or two, that they would love to see enlarged. At $13.00, it's a very reasonable way to make that happen.

[Private_collector]

The inside areas of my wheels are finally painted. Was in town this morning, and when I got home in early afternoon there was still enough time to splash some colour around.
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Normally the paint would be touch dry within a couple of hours, BUT this time I had decided to try the pre-packed pressure cans. Nah, it's not something I would go looking for again, unless there was a reason only a spray can would do the job. I can't imagine what that would be! Apart from having a sore 'trigger finger', my main issue is simply no hardener in the spray cans. I don't know what this will mean in the long run, but there is a chance the edges of the rims may react to the paint I apply to the outer surfaces. Sometimes enamel which has dried only a short time, can 'fry' when a fresh coat of paint (it's the solvent actually) hits it. Doesn't matter that it's the same paint, and this can occur without warning. Trial and error, im afraid. Hopefully nothing happens. I will sure be putting the coats on lightly as I can. I think if I put a light first coat (quite a good idea with enamel anyway!) and let it dry a bit, everything SHOULD be fine.
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The rim nuts don't look too bad once cleaned of crap, do they? Hah, it's a trap! Read on...
I realised today I hadn't sent all the rim securing nuts to the sandblaster, so they needed my attention. I started cleaning them up while the wheel paint was sort of drying. I'll blast them myself, in my cabinet, but it's not a job I look forward to. Will be rather uncomfortably warm this weekend, so sticking my arms into elbow length rubber gloves is NOT attractive. I don't know how veterinarians do it! At least my arms only get stuck into a blast cabinet. There's no poo involved in that. .
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This is the innards of the same nut. Not so great looking now, is it? Absolutely rotten to the point of having virtually no thread visible....at all. Imagine having 8 like this one holding the two halves of a fully inflated rim together. There WOULD be poo involved in that! I think I have a couple of spare nuts around somewhere. Probably somewhere 'safe', I expect.
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Last bit of progress. I literally stumbled across the C & B cats-eyes I bought several years ago, so put them onto the gun shield before I lost them again. The 'safe' location had struck again. Searched all over the place when I wanted them, couldn't be found. Gave up, then kicked my toe on em. If you doubt things are currently that disorgainsed, ask Lionel, he paid me a visit today, while in the area. Always good to catch up with MLU bretheren.

[Private_collector]

It's heart warming to see that my luck continues to hold true.
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My NOS king pin replacement set arrived yesterday. Take a close look. Notice anything unusual? That's right, one of the bronze bushings is a 'some assembly required' item. Broken into 4 pieces, to be exact. Neither the USPS box, nor the Toledo Steel box that contains the kit, had been damaged in any way. I am therefore suspecting the damage didn't occur in transit. Seller has indicated they will rectify the situation, in some way. Don't know if I will be having to search for replacement bushings yet, but with my luck of late, that could very well be the outcome!

I tell ya, it could be raining gravy and I'd be the one caught holding a fork!

[David Dunlop]

Well, Tony, as long as you are not waving that fork madly above your head at the height of the storm, I suspect you'll be OK.

David

[Jacques Reed]

Originally Posted by Private_collector

That's right, one of the bronze bushings is a 'some assembly required' item. Broken into 4 pieces, to be exact. . Don't know if I will be having to search for replacement bushings yet, but with my luck of late, that could very well be the outcome!

Hi Tony,

You might be able to get a replacement bronze bushing from a local bearing supplier or at least one that is close in size and can be machined and/or reamed to the size you require. The bearings places I have visited, often have a range of standard sized bronze bushings in stock or can get them in.
It all depends if Ford used off the shelf bushings or made up their own sizes just to be difficult.

Anyway it may be worth a try if you get no joy from the supplier.

PS: When I read your trials with parts and service suppliers it at least makes me feel I am no longer alone!
Experiencing things like receiving used parts from overseas being passed off as NOS, Khaki Green paint tinted but no record of the formula kept, and a part welded on upside down despite the welder being supplied a photo of the correct position are just a few of my recent experiences too.

Cheers,

[Private_collector]

G'day Jacques,

I must be about due to write you another novel soon.

Can totally empathise with your experiences. My most frustrating episode of 'you just didn't listen, did you' was back when I had a local welder (what is it with welders?) attach a pair of land rover axle stubs to a length of steel tube, which would then become my gun carriage adle. I made a point of telling them to be sure to align the 6 holes in the two stubs with each other. The brake backing plates had to bolt onto those, so it was VERY important to me that this occur. Do I really need to say what they did? Yes, they were out by a good 10 degrees, requiring me to drill another set of holes in one of the backing plates. As a consequence, I don't go there any more!

On a happier note, the seller of my king pin kit has indicated he will send me another bushing, so unless it gets lost in the mail I have a good outcome. As it turns out, the seller is a pair of Gentlemen who deal privately in vintage vehicle spares. The fellow I have been corresponding with is the younger of the Father and Son in Law team, and is a very decent guy to deal through. Quite apologetic and honest! Their motivation is the preservation of vintage vehicle, so I admire them for that. Kinda restores you faith in humanity.......some of humanity, anyway!

The set of replacement wheels for my grey truck have been painted, last Sunday in fact. I placed them laying down on my trailer once able to be touched, then put a tarpaulin over the entire trailer, so they could cook through this working week. Cook they would have too, because we are already having mid summer type temperatures. Ghastly! I was initially at a loss for best way to paint the wheel nuts red while suffering least amount of damage torqueing them up. Came up with the decision to spray full coat of etch, then turn em upside and spray the red onto the bevelled edge. Once they are all in place, the rest of the nut will be brush painted. How it will go, anybody's guess, but I'll know on Sunday. That's when I will put them all together.

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Private_collector

Neither the USPS box, nor the Toledo Steel box that contains the kit, had been damaged in any way. I am therefore suspecting the damage didn't occur in transit.

I disagree Tony. The outer box is fine but the inner box containing the bushes has clearly been damaged by shifting contents, some of which have lodged inside a bushing, and the heavy king pin has jarred into the side of another bushing, causing it to shatter. If the kit was transported upright with the bushes on the bottom, this would occur at the very first bump in the road! To my mind the seller is responsible due to incorrect packaging. I'm pretty sure Mr. Toledo designed the SQUARE inner box to fit SQUARELY inside the SQUARE SECTION outer box, so the bushings would be END ON to the heavy king pins. Plus of course he probably used a heavy cardboard divider as well. You may want to suggest this to seller.

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[Mike K]

The king pin bushes . I've seen some that are steel backed with a thin bronze lining rather than all bronze. I had some new king pin bushes made for my Dodge ute and the guy used brass which was too soft for the application . Some of these machinist guys are hopeless .


When I had 1/2 ton Dodges I went to a machining business and got some of the spring shackles bushed as they were terribly worn to a oval shape. They managed to stuff up the job and the bushes they fitted were out of alignment and it cost a small fortune at the time . That's why these days I do these repairs myself, buy a lathe ... its cheaper in the long run Mike

[Private_collector]

Tony,

I put the lock washers and nuts into the smaller box, and some of the damage to smaller box would be my fault. I accidentally tore away a portion trying to get better access, to take photos. In taking a closer look at the packing of contents within the original packaging, looks like you are probably spot on about the king pins jarring on the bushings. Don't imagine Toledo Steel ever meant their goods to be thrown around in the manner of modern global shipping.

Seller said everything was OK when he posted it, and he does present as trustworthy. Bearing in mind what you have pointed out, sounds like just pure bad luck.

Mike,

You reminded me I need to buy another flathead oil pump idler gear (think that's what it's called) for same reason. Reaming of the new bushing was bollocks up to point that the gear wobbles slightly on it's shaft. Second Time lucky, perhaps?