Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

[Private_collector]

Phil,

I think your concerns are quite valid. They are now my concerns too. One of the attractive things about a modern replacement, was guaranteed reliability & ability to buy filter body with a glass bowl to see the quality, or potential sediment in fuel.

Grant,

I see the Jeep parts place has those filters considerably cheaper! I like cheaper. Don't suppose the fuel senders would fit CMP too? They're not a bad price either.

Scott,

That filter you bought looks to be a perfect match for replacing my old (& buggered) one!

assorted parts.jpg
I got a little sidetracked today. Hadn't intended to work on the vacuum booster right now, but did some cleaning work on a couple of the parts, including frame bracket and vacuum intake filter assembly. Breather still had the original filter element inside too. Yuck! I'll make a suitable foam one to replace it.
Passenger tank painted 4.jpg Passenger tank painted 2.jpg Passenger tank painted 1.jpg
Didn't get those parts painted but did get the first of the fuel tanks finished. Stenciling will get done next weekend, unless I get inspired to do it sooner.
Brake mechanism painted 1.jpg
Also painted all the brake mechanism for master & booster. Can't see me waiting to next weekend to put this back together, so I guess it will get done some time through the week, when the television watching is particularly poor. That could be any night!

Cont'd...

[Private_collector]

The world famous (well......not really) Glenwood swapmeet was on Saturday, and my feet are still sore from 3 hours of walking. Not that it was geographically immense, I just walked around several times, to make sure I didn't miss anything.

I did get a couple of small pieces. Two of which I have since made redundant, in one swoop of fate.
Pipe bender.jpg
I bought this brake & fuel line bender for $20. Notice it has 2 different sizes to bend with. Never seen one quite like it, and it caught my eye. Made in UK too, none of this 'made in China' muck. I have tried it today, and found it to be wonderfully easy to use, with just a moderate effort required to bend 5/16 steel brake line. I also bought a brake/fuel line flaring tool of advanced years, and once again, made in UK & far superior quality over modern stuff. That cost $6.00. They would come in very handy with making the brake lines for my truck, and that's where the redundancy comes in.

While at the meet, I did just that, met a fellow whose company specialises in the manufacture of brake & fuel lines, the hardware that connects, all attaching bits and associated parts. They custom makes all lines, both flexible kind and metal, and in all sizes and materials. As the swap was fairly close to my location, he called-in on his way home, to see what I would be wanting done. Very professional fellow and thorough as well. When i'm ready, he will come and make everything needed right in my workshop, and install the lot on-site, there & then.

The business name is: Wide Bay Brake Hose Services
Website: http://www.brakehose.com.au/
There is a very extensive online catalog, they can make ANY type of hose or pipe, and will post Australia Wide.


horn.jpg
While at the swap, I also found this horn which is fairer match for my truck than the longer bodied version I already had. It may not be exact but it's close enough. It also gives me a little something to tinker with on the weeknights when I couldn't be bothered going down to the workshop.
Driver side tank 1.jpg Driver side tank 2.jpg
I stripped the drivers side fuel tank today as well. Was in process of running over it with the wire cup when the light started failing, so I will continue next weekend. Don't know if I can get it to paint stage, but should have all repairs done and under primer by stumps Sunday next. There are a fair few dents to receive attention on this tank. I'm not as lucky with this one, compared to the passenger side, which was in pretty good shape.

Managed to finally catch myself with the twisted wire cup I was using to strip the tank. This had been expected for some time, as I fear I had been getting braver (more foolhardy) with it's use, and attempting to hold ever smaller items closer & closer to the cup while in use. I wasn't actually doing the tank when it bit me. It was a far smaller and more fragile part I was doing, when the wire cup caught the part and threw it to one side, thus exposing the finger directly to the spinning wheel. "Oh My Goodness" I exclaimed..............or something of a loosely similar nature. You will be very pleased to know that the small part (vacuum booster breather filter) was NOT at all damaged. The finger.........as the Black Knight would say, was "A mere flesh wound". Silly Bastard!

[Phil Waterman]

Hi All

Tony your tank looks great.

I would like to offer a comment for people looking at repairing or stripping tanks. Of my 3 Chevy CMPs the 1941 Pat 12 and the 1942 Pat 13 have plain steel tanks with the neck soldered on, but the 1945 HUP tanks both right and left appear to have been lead or tin coated. I mention this so that anyone can check to see if their tank looks like it is coated. Aggressive cleaning with wire brush, scotch pads or sand paper seems to cut through this coating. The HUP tanks have NO evidence anywhere in side or out of any rust. While the 1941 tanks will need to be rebuilt or replicated because of rust holes and the 1942 showed minor rust when I restored the truck, no holes or leaks then or now.

Has anybody else encountered a coated tank?

The only reason I can see for the tanks to have been coated in the first place was to prevent rust, or to seal tanks that had minor leaks at time of manufacture.

Cheers Phil

[Lionelgee]

While at the meet, I did just that, met a fellow whose company specialises in the manufacture of brake & fuel lines, the hardware that connects, all attaching bits and associated parts. They custom makes all lines, both flexible kind and metal, and in all sizes and materials. As the swap was fairly close to my location, he called-in on his way home, to see what I would be wanting done. Very professional fellow and thorough as well. When i'm ready, he will come and make everything needed right in my workshop, and install the lot on-site, there & then.

The business name is: Wide Bay Brake Hose Services
Website: http://www.brakehose.com.au/
There is a very extensive online catalog, they can make ANY type of hose or pipe, and will post Australia Wide.

Hello Tony,

Thank you for putting the link up for Wide Bay Brake Hose Services. It will be a very handy site to access in the near future. I went to get the pricing for getting some brake wheel cylinders re-sleeved in stainless steel locally, and I was told that no one in Bundaberg does them anymore. All parts are sent to the Sunshine Coast. I thought this was pretty sad since Bundaberg was one of the world innovators in sugar harvesting engineering.

It was good to finally get to drop in and see you, and to have the opportunity to admire the results of your meticulous craftsmanship on your CMP. Keep up the great effort.


Kind Regards
Lionel

[Private_collector]

Hi Guys,

Glad to post the details for brake pipe guy. In a few months (ish) I should be in a position to report on quality & price.

Lionel, It was good to meet you. You are welcome here anytime you are passing by.

Brake mechanism finished 1.jpg Brake mechanism finished 2.jpg
I knew I would get the brake mechanism finished some time this week, but I didn't think it would be this early. TV particularly bad tonight, so put the parts back together instead.

Master cylinder from Rockauto is now in transit between Sydney & here. Tracking says due for arrival on Wednesday. Lets see how close they are.

Bye for now.

[Private_collector]

Driver side tank repaired 1.jpg Driver side tank repaired 2.jpg Driver side tank repaired 3.jpg
Work continued on the driver side fuel tank last Sunday. As expected, it was not completed before lights out. This is partly due to the unexpected 30 minutes worth of rain at 1500hrs that halted work. When safe to continue, it was already cooling down significantly and my final act was to apply a coat of etch, before shutting down for the week.
Driver side tank repaired 4.jpg
I will be taking the etch coat off tomorrow. It 'blushed' from the low temp and moisture formed on the surface. That means it will also have allowed moisture through to the metal.
Tank stencils.jpg
Passenger side tank now finished, including cap with the new seal I made. I bought the tank stencils when I got the bridge loading plate a while ago. They may not be CMP genuine, but I like em!

When I can afford it, I will still run a sealing system through both tanks. I have received product information brochures for two systems of tank cleaning sets, POR15 & KBS Coatings. Both can be used on tanks after they are painted, provided some common-sense measures are taken. Not decided on which to buy, but the KBS Coatings set is substantially cheaper and almost identical in components!

[Private_collector]

40mm BOFORS - TCB 1.jpg 40mm BOFORS - TCB 2.jpg 40mm BOFORS - TCB 3.jpg
As promised, here are some photos of my recent BOFORS discovery. Very intact and in reasonable condition considering it's age and vulnerability (Located less than 100mts from the oceans edge).
40mm BOFORS - TCB wheel close.jpg
Poor old thing won't last forever. Wonder if I could persuade the council to let me buy it ......for preservation purposes, of course.

[Private_collector]

Some time ago, I recall one of our members mentioned that modern CV joint boots could be made into an acceptable relacement for the now extinct equivelent on the vacuum booster. Unfortunately I don't recall where I saw that written or who I have to thank for that idea. Whoever you are, you are a lateral thinking genious! 'God Bless Ya' to your Mother. With the idea in mind, I bought one of those 'generic' boots that taper at both ends. The ones where you cut off the excess until the ends match the size for your job.
Booster cross section - page from manual.jpg
Here's how the original looks. I have never seen a usable original boot, and all the ones I have now resemble the texture and pliability of cheese, hence the need to substitute!
Booster boot 1.jpg
This is the bare front plate of the booster. The new boot will be attached to the three screw holes along the ring which is about 1&1/2" from the centre tube. It willl need to seal tightly around that rim, or it will not work effectively.
Booster boot 2.jpg
This is showing the metal plate that bolts the boot on. I painted mine green when I was doing other stuff. It won't be seen at all, so you can paint it orange if you want, no-one will know
Booster boot 3.jpg
Here is the CV boot once I had cut off all excess rings from the ends. It will be a perfect fit for my needs. I got it from 'SupaCheap', but I would wager all auto parts stores will have them. Sorry, I didn't keep the plastic bag it was in, and can't quote the exact part. Don't get too interested in the holes you can see, just yet. They look to be in very odd places, until you get another two steps along.
Booster boot 4.jpg
As I said, the holes look to be in strange places, but heres why. The holes furtherest from the end will be where the attaching screws go through. The holes at the end will allow access to the screw for tightening. I did consider NOT punching the access holes, but if you don't, the rubber sits abnormally high when fully assembled and I didn't like the look of it.

You shouldn't punch the holes just yet. The next posting will explain why.

Cont'd...