Valve cover

[Mike Kelly]

Bob,

What you have described , is what I have on the C8 , the little breather slits in the valve cover . I dont know if it is peculiar to 1940 ? Maybe it is . The crankcase vapour re circulating system wasn't on the 1940 engines . It came in in 1942 on CMP's ?

It would have been nice if GM Canada used the aluminium pistons in the CMP's too, they came out in 1941 in the Chev passenger car .

Mike

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Mike

Thanks for the info....

Finally got myself a complete spare CMP parts source... and it has that funny valve cover with the 3 slits... one in front of the first nut holding the cover ... one in the middel and one back of the last nut..... and it is on a 216 at least from the lareg side valve cover that encloses the plugs.

In all the DND manuals it always shows a valve cover with a breather... even the 216..... most of the older CMP engines I have seen had no such thing..... now I know why....

This parts truck was an ex water truck and has the PTO still attached to the tranny..... unfortunately the tranny housing and the bellhousing have been hit hard in the junk yard and the casting is cracked......

Strangely the ex water trcuk has the remains of the rubber streering wheel.... but the shocks are different than my CAB 11... and strangely the somewhat small febble almost Civy shocks are the same as shown for the early Dodge WC trucks..... which I hope implies that they used...early in the war... available off the shelf Civy parts which I may be able to find parts and rubber components..... any expereince in this area.....???

Thanks for you help.

[Mike Kelly]

Bob,

They used DELCO REMY shocks on the U.S. 1/2 Ton Dodges and the Chev 11 cab I have here has them too . They look the same externally , even the same type arms .

The link rubbers were easy to get , just standard round type .

The cracked gearbox and bell housing are easy to replace , they must have made millions of them .

Did I post this pic of Vic Phillips cab 12 C15 before ?

Mike

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Mike

Pardon my ignorance but always assumed that Delco Remy were in to electrical components only.... now thanks to you I know what make they are..... they are considerably feeble looking compared to the cab 13 shocks and large connecting arms.

Is there any value in trying to rebuild them or just clean them and leave them alone as long as they are complete???? with all the springs on the cab 11 and the inherent friction between the well rsuted left springs I doubt working shocks would make that much difference..... in 1956 the flat fendered Dodge power wagon still listed rear shocks as an option......same concept...

The broken bell housing and tranny housing is sad but not to worry since I have a spare from the C60 frame. Will store the cracked tranny for internal spare parts.

That is a nice picture of the cab 12..... in the rear of the cargo box he has the POW can rack.... are they all like that.... it seems that all cab 11 I have seen so far have a small box half the size of the POW rack...completely closed by a solid door and is referred as a chain locker...... any idea were the POW cans would be stored on a cab 11?????

One more question while I have an expert on hand.... my gas tank on the cab 11... only one on the driver's side... as a rather unusual oval cover in the middle....about 4 x 8 inches.... were the ssender/float wire is connected..... it is held there by a series of small screew.... and it as a quarter turn valve on top... yet I have the traditional fuel tank valve in the floor area near the driver's seat..... is my gas tank off something else..... the filler neck is only about 3 inches long and vertical........ it clears the indentation in the tool box....

Thanks for your help..... weird how you ahve to go around the world to find out about a truck mad only 250 miles from where i live.

[Mike Kelly]

Bob ,


All the early petrol tanks had the oval brass or die cast plate on top . The Chev version has 6 holes for the tank sender unit , from memory the Ford version has 5 holes . The tap is for selecting the reserve petrol compartment in the tank , the tank is partitioned off into two compartments , a main , and reserve .


Sounds like you may have a tank for a C8 , if it has a short vertical neck . I thought the C15 tanks had a angled filler on the side , same as the 3 tonners ect. ?

Vics truck pictured has a sort of , home made body that features a bit of this and that . Its not strictly 100% correct , its like a GS body No. 1 (Aust.) but with a later spare tyre carrier .

You would be better off making a replica steel 2A1 type body . The early Canadian built wooden 15 cwt bodies I have only ever seen on the cab 11 F15 's . Didn't Pete Ashby in the UK build a 2A1 body for his cab 12 C15A ? He would have the plans you need .

The Delco Shocks , I just cleaned them up and put a bit of hydraulic jack fluid in them , as you said , they dont do much anyway , unless your planning to jump over logs at 40 MPH .

Mike

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Mike

You may be right on the gas tank..... I now have two tanks off the water truck with the long angled neck which would be more appropriate with the tool box... I do not intend to be a purist... but stay close to original if I can.... one of the water truck tank is very good and could be used with a sealer... the other has a bad rusted bottom... but I am prepared to try to fix it... with a proper sealer probably can have a functional second tank... that wouold leave me with a surplus driver's side tank witht he reserve valve which may be more appropriate for a C8.

I have sealed old tractor gas tank with both POR and Bill Hirsch special coating with excellent results.

AS to the cargo box... my C15 has the typical metal GS box..... a good model to do a repro.... thanks for the tip on plans..... may also find some relevant info from the CDN war museum here in Ottawa. With all the rust, missing drop sides, missign tail gate I am almost convinced to do a repro..... I have a few friend in the metal fabrication business who could help cut bend and form the necessary pieces and I could weld the assembly. My current box had the rear wheel boxes cut and folded down withthe top piece crudely welded in... could reverse the process but would require a lot of patching. When you really have a close look at the GS box... most of it is flat steel... and 90 degree bends...which is more than feasible. Between palns and visual help from museum trucks I should be able to pull it off.

My goal for this Summer/year is to strip down the truck and focus on the power train.... including rebuilding a 1958 fuel delivery truck Chev engine...261 with full oil filter.... prep and paint the frame and instal new or near new 9 x 16 tires on cleaned up rims.

Next year will tackle the body and box and will need some body work expertise as it is not my bag......

I am aiming for a runner for the opening of the new CDN war museum in May 2005......


One of my project for this Summer is to photo document all the various makes and models of 9 x 16 tires I have on hand... including some civilian pattern 1940ish tires which may be original of what was installed on CMP for Canadian based trucks..... than download on your site for world wide reference availability. I only hope that one day the Indian chevron tires will be available at a reasonable price to collectors world wide.

I really appreciate your sharing of experience and knowledge. This weekend is the CMP BBQ were no doubt many stories and cold long necks will be shared..... should be interesting as long as I can remember what was discussed the next day!!!!

I know it is Winter for you guys... God knows you have no idea of what a real Winter really is.... but now it is our Summer at 36 C and humidex at 40+ ..... beer weather!!!

[Nick Bullock]

Hi Bob and Mike

I have fuel tanks with the b rass cover plate and fuel changeover tap on my C8 11 cab. But also have them on an early 11 cab s/m 2002 15 cwt. This truck originally came with a steel dropside body as described. However also cluttering up the yard is a later 11 cab c15 but this time with the later style of fuel tank with the extended filler.... This secod truck is only about 2500 units later
in the sequence.

I have also previously recovered a couple of these tanks from an 11 cab Quad where the fillers come up through the floor inside...

Interestingly I have some where read an account of using this dual fuel tank system, each with a serve tap. So THREE fuel taps on trucks in the desert where there were frequent problems with trucks running out of fuel because the wrong tap was selected! Though the tanks may have been full the reserve on which it was running was exhausted! It is a cinfusing system and all but the tanks on the C8 here ahve been modified to give the full capacity and no change over tap with a reserve....

Nice story though!!

regards
nick

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Nick

It is safe to say the things happened at a rather fast pace early in the war.

As any one tried to dismantle such an oval cover.... if they are brass as you and Mike have stated is should be relatively easywitht he brass/stell configuration..... what will I find inside???

I intend to runsomekind of fairly exotic and permanent sealer on the inside.... what will it do to the reserve valve and reserve section of the tank????

My expereince with reserve valve is limited to the older VW which we used to make dune buggies..... I realize that I am dating myself...hahaha.... it was nothing but a valve that allowed the driver to draw on the very bottom of the tank to get another one or two liter of gas........ and there was a screened gasline intake.

The chemical coating (called POR 15) that I propose to use is basically a crazy glue with color pigmentation.... very very permanent.... and I do not want to plug up any screened intake or glue up some valve or reserve section.....

What is your advice????

..and since we are talking tanks...... the floor has a valve system to switch from one tank and the other.... and the dash has a switch that... I believe.... will switch the gas reading of the gage from the one tank to the other..... and then a reserve switch on the tank...... that explains the necessity for the POW containers has they would undoubtedly screw up and run out of gas!!!!

Any tips on putting on a patch to a tank with a rusted out hole on the bottom???
I would like to salvage the second tank from the ex-water truck since it has the longer filler neck.....

Be nice to yourself...

[Keith Webb]

Originally posted by Mike Kelly
Vics truck pictured has a sort of , home made body that features a bit of this and that . Its not strictly 100% correct , its like a GS body No. 1 (Aust.) but with a later spare tyre carrier .

Vic is a WW2 vet, and a very colourful one at that.

I love the way Vic talks about the truck in the Year of the Blitz video...about the way he lost, then found her, lovingly restoring her with whatever he could find, including panels from old refrigerators for door skins.

To quote Vic: "She's a bitch of a thing...but I love her."

[Tony Smith]

Max hedges asked about these tanks in this thread . Dirk Leegwater replied that he still has some of the covers for sale: