Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

[Private_collector]

Arrived home from Victoria on Wednesday. Bryce arrived at his new posting this afternoon. He drove the 1,500+km. His first serious road trip, now completed.

Speaking of road trips, and back on CMP track. About 45 minutes ago I returned home from a 770km round trip to see CMP wheels take the military tread tyres that have proven their better of me. Having now seen this done, and (more importantly) taken photos of the process, I believe I can recant the finer points with reasonable accuracy. More pleasingly, I've got 3 of my nice green 16" wheels shod with fresh tyres, in back of my trailer. One more to go, then I'm ready to put the lot on the grey truck.

Bearing in mind the fact I left home at 0730hrs, and returned around 2100hrs, now isn't best time for gathering my thoughts into some form of coherence. I will download the photos from my phone tomorrow morning and offer the technique, step by step, tomorrow afternoon. Apologies for dragging this out another day, but I'm tired, my arse is still numb from hours of driving, and my back hurts. A couple of strong pain killers and a good nights sleep will fix all that though.

[Private_collector]

This is how my tyres were fitted to the CMP rims. I must stress the importance of attention to detail and technique. Safety should be first concern, so care must be considered at all times.

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First, apply some talcum powder to inner surface of the tyre and all over the tube. Fit tube and liner into tyre. Then brush a liberal amount of suitable tyre fitting grease onto rim halves, from the curve all the way down to where the tyre bead will eventually seat. Apply grease to tyre bead and visible portion of the tube liner. The liner will need to slip freely away as the rim halves come together. We used a lanolin based grease that was easily obtained from local automotive store. "Rubber Grease" was mentioned on the list of suitable uses, on label of the grease tub, so we knew it wouldn't damage rubber. I bought 2 tubs, each being 500grms, and we didn't even use one full tub.
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Place tyre and tube over the inner half of wheel, facing upwards. In this photo, you can see the talc powder that got over exterior of the tyre. The tyre seated easiest to inboard wheel half, probably because it was already sitting squarely on the wheel, thanks to the flat surface beneath. Starting now, and at every stage of the fitting, check the liner and tube are located evenly around the tyre and not sticking out anywhere more than should be. This is VITALLY IMPORTANT!
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Place the outer half of the wheel over the assembly, in position for the wheel nut holes to align correctly. On some rims, the studs for joining wheel halves were slightly longer, and a CMP wheel nut could be started onto at least one stud, sometimes more than one. Be careful NOT to tighten that/those nuts yet. You don't want to have one side compressed much more than the other! Using two (or more, if you prefer) lengths of thick threaded rod with nut welded to one end, push it through from beneath, with enough excess thread to get another nut (and washer first) on the upper end of the rod. Now, you can start CAREFULLY tightening the threads and whatever wheel nuts went on, in a manner to keep the top wheel half level as possible. You might already find considerable perch can be made at this stage, however it is vitally important to check between the wheel halves, to be absolutely certain the tube and liner are not becoming caught between the wheel halves. This is where the grease to the liner pays for itself. Don't tighten nuts too much at this point. A few revolutions of the nuts will suffice. My friend had a piece of steel which he would continually use to feed between the halves to gauge depth of the liner from the wheel centre edge. Choose something blunt that can poke the liner back in if you suspect it may be getting in the way. Wrap a piece of masking tape around the tool at correct depth needed to ensure liner is clear. Make a habit of checking this every step of the process, and check thoroughly all the way around the wheel. It may save you needing to replace a tube and liner, which is what will be required if you pinch the tube.
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Continue to tighten the threaded rods evenly, and at this stage you may get a fair few wheel nuts on. By now the tyre will start to be forced onto the wheel, but it may not go evenly. This is normal. Once all applicable nuts and threaded rod are tightened to the extent that risk of wheel halves seperation has been eliminated, you're just about ready to start inflating the tyre.
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There is one more step you should do before putting air into the tyre. REMOVE THE VALVE FROM THE TUBE. You'll find out why shortly. With valve removed, start inflating the tyre, but before you do, check the liner is out of the way again. If you are lucky, the wheel nuts may now have been tightened to the extent that you can't really get anything between the wheels halves. This is OK, provided you have been checking again and again as the nuts were tightened originally. If you DO still have room to check liner, please do so now.

To be continued...

[Bob Carriere]

Very good description of how to do it right.

Bob C

[Private_collector]

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Start inflating the tyre, but do so slowly, and do not fully inflate. Pressure should be added in stages, encouraging the tyre bead to seat as you go. It is not unusual for most, but not all, of the bead to go into place with pressure of 10-15psi. If you see the bead begining to seat partially, STOP inflating, wait a little while and watch the unseated bead for signs of very slight movement. You can actually see and hear it moving, but you will need to pay close attention. If movement stops and no further progress after maybe 20-30 seconds, stop here and let the air out again.Releasing pressure at this point will give you chance to do two important things. One, by letting the air out again, the liner and tube will stop trying to 'herniate' between the rim halves (if there is still room enoigh to do so). Secondly, this is where wheel nuts can be tightened further. You may in fact find they can now be tightened very closely to completed torque, but they will always require final tightening with no pressure in the tube later.
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Once wheel nuts are tightened as much as possible, resume pressurising the tyre. This time pressure can increase to near amount required for road use. One tyre yesterday required close to 25psi before the last section of bead went into place.
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You don't need to increase pressure quickly, in fact it's probably best you don't. The tyre will seat the bead slowly at first, so let it do so at it's own pace. Just watch for movement, and add a little more pressure once movement has stopped for a while. Needless to say, it would be extremely unwise to place fingers between the rim and tyre while this process is happening, so I won't mention that! Make sure you have applied the grease liberally when you started, and keep the work area clean and free from rocks, pebbles, and other grit and contamination. You don't want any of that stuff to stick to the grease and get anywhere it can cause damage to tube at later stage.
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Eventually the last section of bead will move into place. Sometimes it will move there gently, other times it may make that last leap with a sudden pop. Who cares how it happens, so long as it does get there eventually.

You're not finished yet. Let the air out again. Hopefully you still have the valve off at this point. With no pressure in tyre, look carefully around the bead edge and check that it is fully seated all the way around. Turn the wheel over and check the rear side bead too. I'll bet it looks fine back there. It seems to seat well, compared to front side. It is possible that there is yet more movement to be achieved, and letting the air out this final time will show you any areas that require more work. If all looks even, tighten all 8 wheel half securing nuts. Now install the valve fully and reinflate to desired road use pressure. That's it....youre done!

I must REALLY stress importance of checking tube and liner are clear of the two wheel halves as you continue to bring them together. It would be quite easy to damage the tube and/or liner as you go. I know this because it's exactly what we did on one of my sets, and that's why I only have 3 of the 4 sets I need. The final one has now been rectified, but this was after I had departed for home, so I need to travel again soon to get the final one! Whatever. I'm just grateful to my friend for all the help he has given me with getting these damned things together. Tyres are still available if anyone needs any. I will be happy to pass on the gentlemans contact number, just send me a PM.

The above information is proved as a description of how my tyres were installed, and it may differ from your requirements. Whatever the case, common sense and forethought should proceed any attempt to duplicate this process.

[Paul Dutton]

Reminds me of when I was a tyre fitter.
If we had an over inquisitive customer who insisted on standing next to you while doing their tyre and asking loads of questions, when all you wanted to do is strip the rim, fit and inflate tyre and refit, all in 10 mins, then onto next car.
We would 'extra soap' up that half of the bead pointing in the general direction of annoying customer and let the tyre POP onto the rim, satisfyingly splattering the customer!
God, what we did for entertainment back then!!!

[Private_collector]

I like the way you think, Paul!

[Private_collector]

Frank & Marc,

Here are the compressor photos I have at hand. Will continue looking for others, but the following are the sum total right now. If you have any specific questions, post them here. If I don't know the answer, someone will!

The pump should look like this one, and simply bolts onto side of the gearbox by removing a blanking plate.
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You use the same bolts which came off, and should only have to make a gasket. Oil for lubrication is shared with the gearbox. You will see in the closeup of the compressor crank, I was missing a bush between connecting rod and crank. If I remember correctly. I got one from my local bearing shop, and had to ream the inside to fit correctly.
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Let me /us know if you need specific photo of anything in particular.

[Private_collector]

The rivets to attach the two canvas tabs to my CMP rear curtain, have now arrived.
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In order to cover all bases, I have bought three different styles. One is 3mm thick shaft with flat head. The other two are 2.5mm thickness, with one of those having rounded head, the other flat. All three are copper, for ease of forming. I won't need them to be particularly strong. The two pieces of canvas will be invisibly sewn together, with that sewing being entirely (I hope) hidden beneath the metal plates that the rivets will hold together, with one each side of the curtain.
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In the interest of overkill, I also have a strong fabric glue that will be used as well.
The rivets were deliberately ordered in excess length. Once I determine how long they actually need to be, I'll whittle em down to size.

If for any reason I bollocks the job, by inability to form the rivets well, or causing damage to the metal joining plates, I have a backup plan. The fasteners for that plan are yet to arrive. Hopefully won't need those.