1944 C-15A-Wire-5 Restoration

[Harry Moon]

I had Pacific Bending in Maple Ridge bend up the missing roof hardware and I welded them up as close to the originals and trial fitted them. They actually bolt to the frame in the roof and I cleaned up the threads with a thread chaser and two holes had to be expanded from the original 5/16th to 3/8.
Another decision I made was not to drill out the rivets on three sides to peel back the roof to replace the plywood sandwiched under the aluminum roof. the existing plywood was delaminated around the edges but not rotten so I carefully measured and intentionally made a tight fit of 3/4 maple plywood and pressed them into the voids between the roof trusses. They for the most part squeezed into place with the jack as pictured and stayed in place, retaining the curve even.
on the other side, I lack pictures for the start, i cut the 2 inch strips from 1/4 inch maple, stained them, and used much longer 1.25 inch #8's with collars to go through the original holes and into the 3/4 plywood underneath. Being careful to not pull the screws through the 1/4 inch strips on the roof. Just progressed along the roof from front to back. I used Polyurethane to seal the strips to the roof and seal the screw holes. So messy and I dare not grab my phone to take pictures as I recall.

[Harry Moon]

the roof side was messy but it went along fine, I added the roof hardware and hogged out the chimney and vent holes with an air grinder to break up the task load as the roof progressed. It felt solid and i did a check to see if the roof flexed underneath with my weight on it and surprisingly it didn't move, I'm still a considerable GVW although getting less.

[Harry Moon]

Next step was to reread all the posts and I picked up on the order of putting the interior back in, start with the roof! The inside ceiling panels were cut and placed and i tried for the original holes in the frame to start but quickly went to self drilling screws to secure the roof panels tight to the roof, had to router a groove for the wires around the powered roof exhaust and to where the switch would end up as there is no longer any void to pass them through, air grinder was used from the top to hog out the chimney and vent holes and trial fit all the vent and chimney hardware. They had beened stripped, primed and painted in the same time period. oh yes, another generous application of Polyurethane. Hint: Zylene cleans it off.

[Harry Moon]

WARNING!!!! DO NOT DO WHAT I DID HERE< CHECKK BACK LATER AS THE BEDLINER FAILED AFTER LESS THAN A YEAR AND IS PEELING OFF THE ALUMINUM< I"LL ADD TO THE THREAD AFTER I GET A CHANCE TO STRIP THE ROOF AND FIGURE OUT A BETTER PROCESS< PROPOBLY NOT THE PRODUCT BUT MY APPLICATION!????????so, i had thought about this for quite some time so I decided to coat the whole roof with a DIY truck bed liner. I had some experiance with applying truck bed liner to the bed of my 20 cwt trailer and it's been indestructible in that application which was a rustoleum product. This time I went with a spray application called Raptor. It was easy to use and like any new procedure to me I check out the manufacturers video's and Youtubers, gave me the confidence to go for it. Reasonable working time with a bottle, used two bottles for first coat and two for the second coat but hard to gauge coverage with the second coat so I was up there with a powerful flashlight checking out coverage before I popped the last bottle. With all the hardware and traction strips it was what you call a complex surface, a truck bed would be easier. I gave it a full 8 days before I got up on the roof to remove the last of the masking tape. What I failed to mention I jerry rigged up a scaffold all around the truck so I could work from the sides only getting on the roof at the beginning to do the centre few square feet then worked around. This stuff is polyurethane based so it was compatible with all the sealer I used previously and I managed not to make much of a mess with it. The special spray gun was accurate and consistent

[Harry Moon]

while waiting for the roof to cure I worked on insulating slightly the walls, gluing in a thin layer of insulation, installed the antenna holders on the front of the cab, the canvas tunnel between cab and wireless box and mounted a shovel in the tool holder, no time to waste as if I ever stand around my wife will find me something to do and latley its been all concrete!

[Harry Moon]

Made up more panels, following and checking both the patterns and measuring as old things tend to shrink(?!) so I measured twice and cut, sometimes twice as well. I scoped out lighting fixtures as the lights and hardware are one of thev few things I managed to salvage from my original wireless box from 18 years ago. Also scoped out all the original holes in the floor and the outline of the shelving unit that lines up with all the measurements from Dave Good and Robert.

[Harry Moon]

Working into the generator corner i cleaned and painted the fridge fixed a broken hinge on it and get it in but not permanently as I'll take it out to prep it for the generators and seal it properly to the walls. Speaking of the walls I used some fender welting I had on hand as a substitute for the sealing strips on the top edge of the walls.stapeling it from behind. Also the two panels that I decided to save got a new coat of paint in and out and were mounted on the upper corner of the generator area. Also sorted out to a close satisfaction the grill for the chore horse cabinets. I reread some of the posts on this thread and figured out how thay were constructed and how they fit in. Not happy and I may redo them when I pull the Fridge out later.