Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

[Keith Webb]

The ones I've opened up have a very thin gasket holding the two halves together. You don't want any movement there when it's bolted back together again!

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Tony

Gasket material as sheet stock has gotten hard to find in this day of silicon-based sealants, particularly finding sheets that are large enough to make one-piece gaskets for things like differential housings. Over the years I picked up a stock of sheet stuff at flee markets but just as with NOS gasket sets and the cork gasket material does tend to dry out, or has been rolled so it is hard to get flat.

What I have been using is high grade printing stock paper from a local print shop. Also use tag stock, as used in manila folders this is what I use to print small gaskets from computer. For the larger stuff 24x36 using high fiber or rag content print paper like they print wedding invitations on.

Walked into a printing shop with a micrometer and asked to see their sample book, then proceeded to check the thickness of the various weights of paper. Guy asked me what I was doing and I explained, in the end the guy sold me a box of left over miscellaneous thickness and types paper with 200+ sheets real cheep around ten bucks.

When making large gasket I cut out the gaskets and then spray them with Permatex Spray Gasket (item 80065) which is meant to seal cut gaskets, and to make them sticky so that they stay in place while being assembled. Lay the gasket to be sprayed on wax paper, spray one side and let it get tacky then respray, to spray the other side you need fresh wax paper as the Permatex is like contact cement it will stick to any surface that has already been sprayed. But it won't really stick to fresh wax paper unless you press on it. Then you spray the back side as with the other side and let it get tacky and it is ready to install.

Why did I want various thicknesses, for things like transfer cases where the thickness of the gaskets gets into the preset of the bearings. As I disassemble I save the old gasket (or part of it) to measure thickness when I'm ready to reassemble I select the paper with the closest thickness and go through the shimming process to get the proper preload.

Hope this helps

Cheers Phil

[Private_collector]

That's some interesting information. I'll print your posting and add it to my files for future reference. I have emailed Ross Prince, in Hervey Bay. He might have the bits I need.

[Private_collector]

This Silex catalog arrived today. It was an Australian Co. so no use to rest of world I suspect. Limited use inside Aust too possibly, but here it is just in case!

The applicable pages for CMPs.

Ford

Chev

Column Headings.

[Private_collector]

Work on the rear axle continues.

Diff case opened, the cleaning & assessment has began. Insides of casing were OK, but both the seals and bearing cones are not & will need replacing. I have ordered the seals from Ross Prince but feel I only asked for the fibre ring and will also need the metal part too.

The pinion seal parts are knackered also. Once again, I will have to revise my parts order. As you see, I had to fight the metal bit to get it out.

Didn't find any evidence of what had damaged the shorter axle end, and the differential itself seems to be OK. One of the bearings has some rust pitting on a number of the rollers and will need replacing.

[Private_collector]

I have had the brake shoes soaking in petrol for a week and continued with cleaning today.

Original state when hub removed and 70 years of mess exposed. Remember?
I sure do. Can't wait to get at the front brakes.

This after about 10 minutes of steel wool work. You didn't expect the crud to just fall of, did ya?

Another 5 minutes in the sandblaster and 'lick o' paint'. I don't know how thick the brake linings were originally, but they couldn't have been much thicker than this, surely.

Another of the great advantages of sandblasting, you can see the little details clearly!



Oh, nearly forgot. The nose panel & second seat are still with the sandblasting/engineering place. Neither being ready when I went to collect them Saturday A.M.

[Private_collector]

Went to order rear brake cylinders from U.S and found that the supplier ran out of stock hours before I tried to place the order. A substitute now found and on their way. Should be here in 1-2 weeks.

Brake backing plates have been blasted and painted. This one was assembled with the old cylinder, as a test only. All new hardware bought. Some of the original bolts & nuts were a bit chewed by rust. The 7/16 castle nuts which hold the brake backing plate to the rear axle were a shock as far as price goes. Originally quoted at more that $3.00 EACH!! Stated to be expensive due to their 'rarity'. Finally bought 24 of them at less than $1 each. Still outragously dear.

All bearings & grease/oil seals now removed from diff housing. I followed instructions of fellow MLU'er to run a bead of arc weld around inside of bearing cup. Once this was done, the cup was VERY easy to remove. Axle seals popped out with pushing for hub end with tube steel. Rear axle housing will go to sandblasting this week, once I make MDF plates to cover where they join together. I want to keep them seperate for the blasting, mainly because I can't lift the thing if I put the halves back together.

800kms and 14hrs spent Saturday in travel to retrieve parts from two locations. Pity they were so far apart, and a long way from my place, but all in a good cause. Booty includes: Brake vacuum booster, 1x shock absorber, a number of brackets & rods etc, fuel pump, steering wheel, spark plug wire tubes (left & right) and another 20in wheel. Was very lucky to be given workable air compressor that attaches to gearbox.

Also returned home with a Sidevalve V8 and gearbox, for rebuilding, both of which were still attached to about 5ft of front chassis. Moving them around will be much easier once I put wheels under it.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Tony

Have you found the rubber boots for the brake cylinders?

Cheers Phil

[Keith Webb]

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

Hi Tony

Have you found the rubber boots for the brake cylinders?

Cheers Phil

Vanguards here often offer these on eBay here but they look hard and perished and I don't think they sell many.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

Hi Tony

Have you found the rubber boots for the brake cylinders?

Cheers Phil

Phil,

I have! Will note details soonest.

Hanno

[Phil Waterman]

The reason I asked, is what Keith mentioned is that a lot of them look hard being old stock and I have recently gotten new ones through NAPA here in the states.


Cheers Phil

[Bob Moseley (RIP)]

Hi all - i use a very reliable brake place here in Adelaide. They refurbish and/or supply any of the old parts and have a good understanding of the old technologies. I have had several brake sets and brake boosters done by these people and their work is great.

Bob

[Private_collector]

I have a supply of brake cylinder boots, that I had in fact bought from Vangards a long time ago. There is about a dozen each of front and rear. They were not hard or perished. They were soft............mmmmm...soft. I didn't put them on for the photo because I have put them "somewhere safe" and only found them after reading the recent postings regarding them.

I looked into having the cylinders re-sleeved, but new ones were only $10.00 dearer (for the two) and that included shipping from U.S.

Presently got four master cylinders, at least one of which is not requiring any work.

Hopefully, the only thing that will need to be rebuilt is the vacuum booster. If it's minor rebuild only, there is a place in Brisbane that manufactures seals & rubbers. If major rebuild is required, I may send it down to Adelaide, to the place Bob told me about earlier.

There is a good and helpful brake shop here in Gympie that will assist me in learning how to manufacture new brake lines properly. All the parts can be bought from Macs Auto, once again, mysteriously cheaper than buying down the street.

[Bob Moseley (RIP)]

Tony - there is no such thing as a major or minor rebuild of these things. Whatever has to be done, the booster has to be dissembled and that is quite tricky as it contains a large and powerful spring. Then the thing has to be cleaned and a replacement bucket and seals have to be fitted. Don't bother with the old bucket that could be at least 65-70 years old, these are life saving brake componants you are talking about. When I obtain the other contingencies I talked about I'll see if there is a spare one that I could get rebuilt.

With the master and slave cylinders any good brake place can clean, re-hone or re-line them along with putting all new componants in, i.e. pistons, seals and boots. You don't need to buy from overseas. Doing it all locally also gives you a comeback if anything untoward happens. I would also be wary of using your old brake linings, get them professionally replaced. No matter what vehicle I restore I always get the whole brake system professionally done. Brake lines are easy if you have templates or else if you have them, just a good flush is all that is needed.


Bob

[Private_collector]

Thankyou for you opinion about where and what I should be doing with my restoration. I am somewhat familiar with the disassembly of brake vacuum booster. I pulled apart an unservicable one, for sole puropse of examining the structure, a number of weeks ago. Additionally, I have consulted others who have already been through the process, to gain their knowledge & hindsight BEFORE I decide which path to take. If you read back through postings in this thread you will see I have purchased the repair and maintenance manual and this has been studied closely. As I have said in last 48hrs, there is a company in Brisbane who manufacture the parts you are so concerned about failing, so you need not worry yourself needlessly.

Regarding reconditioning VS new parts (where available). The 'comeback' you speak about is a situation I wish to avoid entirely with NEW replacements where indicated. Why place your safety in hands of someone elses ability to repair a 70 year old part when new is available? Especially when $$$ difference is negligable.

I will put countless hours into restoring minor parts with intention to retain as much originality as possible, but where safety is concerned i'll take new anytime where possible. You say you "always get the whole brake system professionally done" then you state "Brake lines are easy if you have templates or else if you have them, just a good flush is all that is needed" That is a contradiction of philosophies. There are things you can do yourself & there are things that only professionals SHOULD do. If you think for a moment or read back through thread, you may see that I don't half arse ANYTHING, especially concerning safety. Because I speak of rebuilding or repair, it doesn't mean I will be the one doing it. Give me some credit for common sense.

[Lynn Eades]

I'd like to say you are doing a great job! I dont spend much time looking at the softskin stuff, but I am enjoying your informative posts, good photos, and seeing your quality work coming together. Keep up the great work!

[Private_collector]

Lynn,

Thanks very much for your kind comments.

It really does help spur me on, seeing my efforts are looked on favorably.

I'm heading out right now to take rear axle/diff housing to sandblaster. Will be waiting while they do it then pick up some bearing cups from town, and return home to etch/prime the axle.

Shouldn't get any grit inside. I wrapped sensitive areas in 10 layers of gaffer tape (with rags beneath), and the larger openings are covered with plates of MDF I made yesterday morning.

Lets see if it does the job.

[colin jones]

Hmm! Those comments got swept under the rug. Was that a moderator erasor or personal.

[Howard]

Originally Posted by colin jones

Hmm! Those comments got swept under the rug. Was that a moderator erasor or personal.

Yes, Colin, Cliff is a moderator and has acted appropriately by editing & deleting the posts.
H

[Private_collector]

I had asked for umpires decision (moderator).

We both agreed that removal of inflammatory comments was warranted, from both parties posting, and moderator acted in best possible way available.

The matter isn't really worth dwelling on and I hope it doesn't cause formation of bad feelings between any of the brotherhood!

[Private_collector]

Finally got the axle/diff casings sandblasted this morning, and etch primed in PM. The wooden plates I made for the open ends worked well, with only a slight blow through on the half with pinion. It was lucky I had wrapped pinion gear & bearings in a layer of rag. No grit got through to bearings as far as I can tell. There is no evidence of grit with turning the pinion.

Picked up the two bearing cups for the inner axle shaft to diff assembly, and the guys at the bearing shop (Gympie Bearing Service) told me some very interesting information about the quantity of chinese fake bearing parts which are getting onto the market. The story goes that China are producing counterfiet 'Timken' bearings which are in near perfect Timken copy boxes.
He told me that Timken genuine bearings have the Timken name/logo on right upper corner of the box edges and the bearing No. & barcode on left bottom of same side. He tells me that any variation of this is definately a fake! I don't know if this is 100% true, but he stated it as fact and it was agreed from the other 2 staff present in the shop. He did actually show me a box with a fake from china that Timken had given them to show to people, and the differences were obvious once told what to look for. There are visible flaws in the chinese bearings as well. Buyer beware.

The bearing cups (Timken, 33462) cost $24.00 each incidentally.

[gjamo]

Sounds a bit like Chinese bolts I have found stamped Grade 8.8 and made out of plasticene.

[Lynn Eades]

If they are marked "8.8", that is metric "CLASS 8.8", which is roughly the same tensile strength as an imperial "GRADE 5".

[Private_collector]

I had some bad news yesterday. I went to check fit of the new bearing cups & seals, and realised I did not have the diff output shaft seals I needed. The ones I had were not correct size for this truck.

Shot into town this morning and spent an agonising 45min at Gympie Bearing Service looking for a modern replacement. They did find a suitable part but it was not in stock there, and not in stock anywhere in Australia! The bearing manufacturer does not even know if there is any available in other countries to import.

To prove that things are darkest before the dawn, I received am email from Ross Prince WWII vehicle parts, in Hervey Bay, he has these available and ready for despatch. It's only 90min drive from me, so if he is available, I will head up that way tomorrow and get them. Ross has always had every other part I have asked for, and this was no different!

Brake hubs & axle shafts have been blasted this morning (only bolt end of the axles), and I etched them this afternoon. All going well, everything should be painted tomorrow afternoon.

I bought some short lengths of 100NB steel tube to make bearing/seal installer yesterday. It was a PERFECT size for inner hub bearing cup, inner hub seal and output shaft bearing cup. Now I have to remember where I saw the photo of the installer construction. I think it was in either the MB-F1 or a Ford tool book I have somewhere.

P.S: Have been checking the tracking info for the rear wheel cylinders from USA. They are now "In Transit" Yaaaay

Won't sleep tonight!

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Tony

Always following up on others progress on resto projects..... good job.

For installing various size bearings we found that making adapters out of hard wood on a wood lathe is fast, cheap, fit well and they work well with less chance of damage..... besides once used they make good kindling in the wood furnace.

Bob C

[Private_collector]

Bob,

I would rather use wood. Have been trying to think of someone I know who has a lathe. There is actually a wood work museum in town, that opens weekends for tourists. They would have a lathe I guess, as they do demonstrations of old woodworking practices. Mostly wood milling. Not sure about turning. I will try to get a hold of someone today & ask.

[Private_collector]

Al the rear axle parts are now painted. Weather threatened to rain but I got away with it . Paint will be allowed to dry for a week before I attempt reassembly. Trust me, the temperature the workshop gets up to will bake it well in next 7 days. Local carpet shop/s will be getting a visit from me next week, cap in hand, for something soft to lay the various parts onto for fitting together.

In one of the above photos you can see two lengths of pipe up against the wall. The bargain bin of local steel shop is a great place to find handy off-cuts, and these two sizes are perfect match for two main sizes of seals etc. These pipes will form part of the bearing installation tool (once cut to lengths required). All of the tool will be metal but shouldn't present a problem because there will be no impact transferred to the cups or seals. A threaded rod will slowly wind the seals & cups into place. At least thats the way Ford did it with their tool. The larger diameter pipe will also be used to make curved cradles with which to jack the whole thing once finished. Remainder of that tube would make a nice machine tool stand too!


I need to get this off the trailer tomorrow, because nose panel welding is finished and I can pick it up next weekend. For now, the engine/gearbox (yes, there IS a gearbox under all that dried oil & dirt) will be resting outside the workshop, until I get to attach some stub axles on and make it more mobile.

Now I must go and put further effort into removing the slight green tinge that arms/legs and face (around mask) currently have. You see, I had misplaced my disposable overalls!

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Tony

After your comment on counterfeit bearings, I check the packages of all the "Timken" Bearings I've bought in the last year. All of them purchased from a major bearing supplier and noticed that the boxes all had a holographic seal on them I suspect as an authentication measure, pushes the counterfeiters up a notch.

As to the best bearing install tools it is just like tools for installing seals the better the tool the less chance you will screw up a part or worse housing. I have a stock of furniture grade oak blocks all 1" thick and various lengths between 2" and 12" by 2"wide (I was given to large sacks as firewood much to good for that) but they are very handy for making pusher and support blocks to use in the bearing press.

I would like to pass along one old timer's trick. He saves the old bearing after he has removed it, pushes the inter hub out and chucks the outer race in the lath and grinds a fraction off the OD in this way he gets a good pushing tool to use in the bearing press. As he has a number CCKWs and Chevys he now has pretty good collection already made up.

Cheers Phil

[Private_collector]

Re: You friends method of using old bearings. THAT'S BLOODY CLEVER. Wish I had thought of it! I don't have a lathe of any sort so I suppose it's a moot point anyway.

I whiled away the hours this morning, working on my version of bearing installer (well.....Ford's really).

Two sizes have been made. That will cover diff bearing cup, output shaft seal and inner hub bearing cup. I have not yet had the parts welded together, but will have someone do this during the week, all going well (which it rarely does!).

The 'T' handle will ultimately have a nut welded to bottom of the shaft, and the turning of handle draws the bearing/seal towards it....slowly. An hydraulic press would be much easier, but not cheaper. I do have one on my wish list for next years budget.

Through good fortune, the large size pipe is just a 'bees dick' smaller than the bearing cup & grease seal, and it even fits the grease seal lip on the inside of the pipe too. The smaller size is not as perfect a fit but should be no problems.

[hrpearce]

Looks good Tony. I made a tempory hydraulic press using a 20 ton hydraulic jack a short chain and a couple of lengths of 4X2 hardwood and used 3/4 drive sockets as chasers. Unfortunatly no pictures as I didn't think it important at the time.