Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

[Private_collector]

These spring clamps were made to replace the originals, which were damaged and mis-matched (two different types on same spring set!?!?). Is that original spec.? A local welding/fabricating shop did the folding for me. The bushes you see are for the front of main spring leaves. I don't know how, but I must have lost the original ones. I do know they were buggered, but would have been REALLY HELPFUL to give them to a lathe operator for duplication in original specifications. Guess they will turn up now that I don't need them any more.
New front spring clamps & spring bushes.jpg
Not a bad fit. All except one of the rivet shafts remained stuck firmly in their respective hole. The missing one was replaced by welding a very short piece of round rod to the clamp going in that location. I considered building up weld on all the clamps to replicate the rivet heads, but it would have taken me hours to whittle the blobs back to a round dome. I know, I tried it! I'm also too shakey to hold the grinder accurately. Maybe I could glue little wooden buttons on them.
I still need to remove the excess thread on the clamp bolts. Will do that in the morning, just before I 'string em up' for painting.
New front spring clamps installed.jpg
The spring 'eyes' at front were not round, so the new bushes had to be ground down to the right profile. I used a pedastal grinder with fine stone wheel. Once the bulk of the metal was removed, I finished off the last little bit of shaping with a hand file. I don't EVER want to do that job again. Painfully slow if you're as paranoid as I am about taking too much metal.
New front spring bushes installed.jpg
Despite being careful, the bushes were not a 100% perfect fit, which means the grease would have pumped out the sides instead of getting to the spring pins. That's bad! Sealed the bushes completely, using the pliable metal substitute that was used to rebuild the water necks of the engine heads. It's really good stuff, and I have no doubt that it will do the job. I have a sore thumb now, from forcing the stuff in between bush and spring eye. And Yes, I did remember to make the grease hole in both bushes. They even line up.
New front spring bushes, sealed.jpg



This is how the front springs used to look.
Front springs 1.jpg

[Bob McNeill]

Tony since the grease is fed from the pin to the bush the spring eye will only get the excess, well that how I see it.

[Private_collector]

Hello Bob,

Not how these springs are set up. The main leaf end has a threaded hole for a grease nipple (or is it a 'zerk'). The grease passes through bush and to the pin via a machined inner channel running around the ID of the bush. If not sealed, the grease would take path of least resistance and squish out the gap between bush and spring eye.

Having said all that, the pivoting rear pins of each spring ARE the type that have lubing via the way you described! I bloody well wish the fronts were too, to be quite frank. I think it's a much better idea. Some day i'll come across a couple of new pins like the rear type, and will make that change to the front.

I got the front springs painted this morning. Did the rear pin retainers and nuts at the same time. The U bolts have been cleaned this afternoon and undercoated. I am still to do the set of plates that attach the axle to the springs. Those should get blasted. They are not in bad shape, but there's no other way for me to clean out the recesses. I'll do that blasting at home. I would have had those finished today too, except I had to make an unscheduled stop to all work, to try and protect my 'new' little car from an approaching hail storm. Quickly lined the roof, bonnet (hood) and rear hatch with some carpet remnants, then put a car cover over it all to keep everything in place! This car was bought new by my Brother, 5 years ago. It has now been given to me. It's such a tiny thing and only had 19,750km on the odometer when I got it the other day. Now has 21,000km on it. Most of that has been in trips to/from Mothers place, just north of Brisbane. Not one scratch or paint chip on it anywhere, with exception of the wheel trims. The last thing I wanna see is hail damage on it. I need to build an extention to our undercover car storage, to preserve its great condition.

Won an auction for a set of 3 genuine Ford battery caps. The type for the correct battery that Ford would have used in the early to mid 40s. Hopefully I will have some exciting news to tell on the topic of batteries, in a couple of days time.

[T Creighton]

Originally Posted by Private_collector

These spring clamps were made to replace the originals, which were damaged and mis-matched (two different types on same spring set!?!?). Is that original spec.?

Hi Tony,
It's pleasing to see you back continuing your interesting thread again.

The front springs have two different style clamps.
Bolted ones on the front half and fold-over ones on the rear half.
It's to do with having less clearance between the spring and chassis at the back I would think.
After being rivetted to their respective spring leaves the folded ones are manouvered over the main leaf then the intermediate leaves are slid in between (with a bit of hammering), then the centre bolt and the front clamp bolts fitted.
On my truck I ground all the rust from the mating spring leaf surfaces, primed them, then gave a coat of Molybdenum di sulphide grease to get a nice smooth spring action.
Some say that this can cause broken leaves but I have never seen that happen.
Kind regards,
Terry.

[Private_collector]

Originally Posted by T Creighton

The front springs have two different style clamps.
Bolted ones on the front half and fold-over ones on the rear half.
It's to do with having less clearance between the spring and chassis at the back I would think.

Oh God, Terry! Don't tell me the springs may not fit, now that I have made all the clamps bolt on type! I guess I could get replacements made easy enough, but whole thing will need painting again.

I will have to do a test fit tomorrow afternoon, if I can.

Thanks for the info.