Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

[Private_collector]

Well, the day started with promise.
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The dashboard was attached.
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The two vertical bars that the engine hatch clip into were attached,
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and cab rear frame mount assembled & bolted into place.

And thats where the progress ends, because when I had finished bolting the two larger floor plates I took a good look & wasn't pleased with the screw head bolts I had selected. The exact size I needed was no longer available, and the ones I chose were slightly larger. They still fit OK but don't look quite right.
So tomorrow, I buy 60+ of those bolts in next size down. I had one of these laying around and tried it for fit, it fits well. It fit well several weeks ago too, but I decided against them because they didn't fill all of the recess in the floor plates.
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The ones I tried today were a tiny bit larger than the holes, and sat about 0.5 to 1.0mm above the floor plate surface. I thought I could live with this......but now that I have seen them installed............I can't stand the sight of them.

To add insult to injury, there would not be more than two holes bored with the same depth of recess, and the most shallow holes seem to be where it would look the most obvious. Some look bad enough to trip over getting into the cab. Tomorrow they all come back out and new (slightly smaller) ones go in. I don't expect to get this all done tomorrow. I am picking my sons new car up at 1000hrs, and will be returning to town later, to surprise him with said car when he walks out of school. He knows we have been looking, but doesn't know we have bought one. Rebuilding the Flathead V8 will have to wait until next year, now.

I also expect that the bolt shop will have 'just run out' of the size I want. Hope for the best but expect the worst. That way nothing surprises you!
No, I take that back.......I DID get a startling surprise today when one of the neighbours dogs came to visit without announcing itself and scared the hell out of me when it sneaked into the workshop and jumped up for a pat.

I must go to the markets this Sunday and buy a couple of rabbit traps. They should work a treat on a fox terrier

I'm kidding of course. One trap should suffice!

[T Creighton]

Hi Tony,
I like the ongoing story and attention to detail. Keep it up.
The bolts you need for the floor are 1/4"x1"BSW CSK. I used 304 stainless.
I will also put up a sketch of the rifle butt holder when I get a minute to spare. I need to make a couple as well for myself.
I will pm you on a different subject.
Regards,
Terry

[Private_collector]

Firstly let me apologise for lack of photos today. Yesterday morning I started marking the dents and rustouts on the rear cab panel. I needed to replate three areas. Two where holes had been cut for something to go through, and one along the bottom edge where rust holes couldn't be welded up without blowing the hole bigger and bigger, as a consequence of poor metal surrounding the holes. These were the easy part. The difficulty arose with rust scale between the angle iron frame and panel steel that had caused a bulging effect. I considered cutting out these sections and replating, but knew that if I started doing this I would have to follow through with every place this has happened. That would mean virtually cutting off most of the lower 30-35mm. My metalworking skills don't extend to this sort of job. As Dirty Harry once said, "A mans got to know his limitations", and I do!

This afternoon, I spent a leisurely two hours, laying the first application of filler to the curve on passenger end. This part received a lot of my attention yesterday with hammer and dolly. Someone had torn a hole through the area and despite a quite good weld job, there was much work & time needed to get the area to an acceptable state, where minimal filler was needed.

I HATE PANELBEATING, I REALLY hate panelbeating. And I hate sanding filler WORSE than that! Thats why I tried to have the metal as straight as could be, to minimise how much filler I had to use (and then sand). The result achieved on the end done so far, looks promising, providing I have succeeded in preserving the little vertical groove approx 1in in from the panels end. A coat of primer tomorrow will answer this issue, one way or the other.

I don't want to prolong this job one second further that I have to, and hope to have all repair work finished tomorrow. Body filler sanding is definately an OUTSIDE job. There was so much dust on me, I looked whiter than Michael Jacksons face. What, too soon? I was far too contaminated to touch the camera, hence NO photos. I will take photos tomorrow morning, before I kick-on with the rest of the repair work.

The bolts ordered for floor plates have not yet arrived, so no joy there. Tomorrow won't be as hot as today............apparently it'll be hotter, so that will be nice for working outside, applying filler before it goes 'off' in the moments after application. I could move into the workshop for this bit, but I am rather messy with the filler, and manage to drop the stuff all over the place. Suffering the sun and heat is my penance for being a sloppy pig!

My small angle grinder went west today, just as I was needing it for roughing up surfaces for body filler. This slowed things down considerably. Had to resort to scouring the metal by hand with 36 grit sanding disk.

Jeezus, I HATE panelbeating!

P.S: Terry, did you get my reply message?

[Private_collector]

Panelbeating finished.
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Had intended to get primer on today, but I took ill suddenly and had to stop work for the day. I was just about to start spraying too.
P3020821.jpg Cab panel drawn-on.jpg
It is my plan to spray a light coat of stone guard onto the inside of this panel, in the areas which are marked in black (last photo). This should hide all the little irregularities left from the dent repairs. Even if I could apply filler to the inside as well, it would be a nightmare to do. Besides.......I HATE PANELBEATING!!!
Attachment 47531
Oh, I nearly forgot! I have bought rubber strip to make the 'anti squeak' between cab frame & rear panel. This will be a little job slipped in while waiting for primer / spray putty to dry. A set of circle hole punches arrived for this job, just yesterday!

[Bob Carriere]

Tony .... you are doing such a good and nice job that the truck will not look factory fresh anymore.

Don't know how particular the 1940 crew was at Holden but the Oshawa made trucks had a lot of flaws..... some of the spot welding divots can be seen at 10 paces..... they had one purpose to get them out and running and they sure did.

My old truck lasted 72 years without any rust proofing or any of the modern paints...... and like many others sweated bullets to restore to better than factory.... if a weld is not perfect we grind and weld again..... they had no such luxuries during the war.......

So with all our care and modern chemicals, paint, sealers..... do you think our vehicles will last another 100 years.....???

I enjoy following your progress ......... we are all perfectionists in our own way.

Keep it green

Bob

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Private_collector

It is my plan to spray a light coat of stone guard onto the inside of this panel, in the areas which are marked in black (last photo). This should hide all the little irregularities left from the dent repairs. Even if I could apply filler to the inside as well, it would be a nightmare to do. Besides.......I HATE PANELBEATING!!

Tony, you are to be commended on the work you carry out on your CMP. You are the owner and spend all the effort and money so you have the final say.

But I would like to re-iterate what Bob said: don't overdo it! The truck you're working on was a tool, not a showpiece. I you want to capture and preserve it's essence and use it to show your country and family heritage, don't overdo it.....

I am not bashing you, just giving my opinion. I am enjoying this thread as it is very instructive and enjoyable.

Regards,
Hanno

[Private_collector]

No worries chaps! I understand exactly what you are saying. This truck could never be perfect, even if true craftsmen were paid to do each job. I am considerably less than a 'craftsman', trust me. Besides, the object is to present a finished product that will have a long life and be maintenence free as is possible. So for me the mantra is "do it well once, never have to do it again". Hows that for naive thinking?
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I got the primer / spray filler on the cab rear, this afternoon. While I have endevoured to eliminate 'post built' damage, this will not be achieved, and the best I can hope for is to remove heavy damage and minimise those tricky little bits that don't show themselves until you get a nice even top-coat of paint.
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As I was beating and filling the dents & high spots, I have been very mindful NOT to cover any of the spot welds. These have been left alone. You can see them in the above photo. I agree with both you gentlemen, in that these things show the true construction method and should not be 'improved' upon. In all honesty, I actually like the wavy finish of the original build. I don't like leaving deterioration or damage that has obviously occured in the decades after the war.
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I did go ahead with coating the rear panel inside with a good quality low-build stone guard. It is discrete, and once painted it should not look out of place. It does cover the small lows & highs that I couldn't get completely flat.
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As I said yeserday, the anti-squeak was made while waiting for the primer to dry. When I wanted to cut the rubber where bolt holes go, I was scratching my head as to what could be used to mark the black rubber well enough to locate the right spot for punching holes. Simple answer = liquid paper pen!!

When I was working on the cab floor frame, I was surprised to see some of the welding was worse than mine. Immensely strong no doubt, because there is soooooo much of the weld, and such heavy reinforcing to the frame base. One thing I wondered about is a little round stamp of many seperate divits. These are found in many places around the cab frame. Are these from some part of the building jig? Is it something to assist with bending to shape?

Either way, don't worry, they are still there. I didn't cover them with filler

Your comments are always welcomed chaps, and your advice is greatly valued!

[Private_collector]

WW1 Tank replica.jpg
I need one of these in my front yard.

Then let them come selling door-to-door

It's a replica & advertised on Milweb. I think it was 30,000 pounds (price, not weight)