September ’19 was my last update, jeezz time flies and to be very honoust I’ve been spending a lot of time on the Stovebolt forum, because there is so much specilized knowledge there for this age truck. But I don’t want to keep you hanging, so here’s an update ��
The only really bad spots were the front cab mounts and the lower Door hinge mounting point. So the door hinge part we ordered new, but the cab mounts we fabb’d ourselfs. The bolt hole should line out perfectly, the hight is questionable, but thats what shims/spacers are for.
Cab mount fabrication finished
We discovered that the Owatrol Rustol is sprayable! Which save sus huge amounts of time, and it gets in spaces, you can’t get at with a brush.
Next we needed to get some space to work on the rest of the sheetmetal and doors. So we found out the cab fits nicely in the back of my C10.
Time to tackle the rest of the sheet metal; cleaning, scotch brite, decrease and shoot the owatrol on it. it is designed for rust, but it sits pretty nice on paint. Perhaps it washes off in the first rain shower, but thats for later worries. The front fenders had a good amount of bondo on them, so we had a discussion whether to sand them down to bare metal, or just removing the cracked and loose pieces. We choose the latter, just because it is less work and this whole rat rot is about doing whatever we want.. we call it artistic freedom.
After all that metal word, it was time for the mecanical part. The gearbox has had standing water in it, so it looked pretty ruff.
But we cleaned out the gearbox as good as possible by giving it a diesel bubble bath. Check movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdSGaSFMCqw
after this and filling it up with some fresh oil. So far we’ve found 2 forward gears and what we think is reverse, but until it’s on the ground with wheels we’ll just have to wait.
Then we turned our attention to the engine. Mechanics 101, replace all electric stuff; plugs, wires, points, condensator, rotor, distributor cap and even the coil. Fresh oil and such, hose from the fuel pump into a reservoir and helping it with a large syringe ..see movie for the result.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stST2Ery03Q
At this point we had a working’ish gearbox, a running motor and even brakes.. because we blead the master cilinder, the hydrovac and all 4 wheels and we have full lock on all of them. So we’re not pulling the drums, first of all because apart from the fire, everything indicates this car has been maintained meticulously and secondly, we have no idea how to get the drums off ��
The one major problem we were facing apart from the wheels, was the steering. The steering gear had been destroyed by the standing water and all my google experience couldn’t find us an affordable solution of either replacing the steering gear, or rebuilding it. I was getting estimates of $700,- or more, which for just a steering gear wasn’t an option.
So trying to break the endless searches in “the old interweb” Ferry and I had a build off; who makes the prettiest mirror frame. He choose copper, I did steel.
Also I ordered in all the glass which a reseller here in the netherlands had in stock! Christmas!
In the meantime i’ve been in contact with a fabricator who specializes in steel wheels. I presented the problem of the 3 piece wheels and asked if we could turn them into tubeless. Now, here’s some things I didn’t know. 20” truck tires are never tubeless, but going to 22,5” would be an enormous overhead in cost ánd then the tires.. so perhaps it was better to look at 19,5” but the problem there is the gigantic rear drums with a circumference circle of 130cm (which translates into 51”)
At the raised Lip at the back it’s even 136,5cm (53,7”)
I can’t in my right mind drop 5K into wheels and tires where whe whole truck cost me less than 4. And seeing we’re trying to do this as economical as possible, we’re sticking tot he 20”. I know tire size is an issue..but we need a rolling chassis now to proceed and when we go to the DMV and they OK the shortened frame then I’ll rethink wheels and tires. Here are the pics of what the wheels will look like.
Front rim
Rear rim
And with paint I was able to create a dually view with some cutting and pasting.
A while back I bought some stuff from a guy parting out a 1985 G30, among other things a front bench and a steering column whith steering wheel.
Now the Column had to much plastic and electronics on them, so we pulled it apart and where left with a naked column with tilt!
Waiting for wheels, and being bummed out that we could find a solution for the steering gear we focussed out frustration on the G-wagen steering wheel, which in our opinion had to much plastic aswel. So we pulled the airbag out, and the got medieval on its assc ….I like the result. And if you’re wondering how we’re going to make the horn work? Artistic freedom, a.ka. we’ll see.
But then suddenly everything turned bright pink and an Unicorn presented itself. Just by googling in Dutch instead of english (Steering Gear vs. Stuurhuis) I Found a C60 steering gear in the Netherlands!
So I raced 135Mi north to get there as fast a possible. It turned out to be a small, privatly owned ww2 Canadian Allied Forces museum, who had some C15, C50 and C60 stuff for sale. As soon as I got back to the garage I showed my price possesion to Ferry, only to discover it was from a right hand drive!! (canadian ww2 vehicles were RHD..) luckily we could convert everything tot he old steering box and now it works.
It runs, it shifts, it brakes and it goes around corners.. yippiekiyaaaay !