C15A resto
 

I've joined this forum to share the long term restoration of my blitz, and leech dome info from all you experts...
So it's a C15A - 15cwt 4x4, no 13 cab. My uncle bought it in the early '90s. It had a seized motor, but was straight, original and complete. He towed it back with his Studebaker US6 (had to get a police permit to drive it - was on ANZAC day). He bought a rebuilt block that had been sitting in a shop since the 50s. He used the old head, got it running and used it to power a sawmill. I showed a lot of interest in it, and he gave it to me when I was 14. I started pulling bits off it a few years later, and have been chipping away at it for the last 14 years. I've now moved to Australia from the UK so can take it back up in earnest. My uncle is hopefully bringing it up to me on his truck in a month or so. I have so far:

Pulled the motor down, had a machinist confirm the bottom end had a decent rebuild and it's still well within rebuild tolerances. Had the valves ground in, got them to hone the bores out properly too. Rebuilt the gearbox using parts from a 1930s chev pickup dumped in our creek. Amazingly this box was in great nick. Rebuilt the transfer case using parts from three different cases. Originally these smaller 4x4 blitzes had a single speed T case, but I'm putting a 2 speed in. The 216 I6 isn't exactly over powered...
Rebuilt the brakes - all relined, new lines and hoses. New cups, honed bores (came out perfectly thanks to original fluid being caster oil). New wheel bearings.
Stripped the chassis, had it sandblasted and primed. Then whacked 3 heavy coats of black wattle killrust top coat on. Bought a sandblaster, stripped and painted the bulkhead/floor. It's back on. It's currently got an old jaguar radiator so I can run it. Runs nicely, the brakes haven't liked sitting for the last 4 years though. There was no brake fluid in them when my uncle delivered it last weekend, so I'll be finding where the leak is.

So I need to source a new radiator ($250 in the US or $1000 quoted for a record here), then strip and paint all the body panels. ALso I'll make a new timber tray (had a rotten one), and when I'm feeling rich buy a new set of tyres. I'm actually considering having a go at repairing the original radiator now though, it's better than I remember.

I've slowly been replacing what it had on it (9.00x16) with various 8.25x16 my uncle has lying about as the old ones have perished. You wouldn't believe what holds air though... Changing the tyres was a real job - they're two piece military bolt togethers, with no relief well. The beads are enormous rigid ones corroded to the wheel. After breaking the beads with the truck stabilisers, I chained one half to a tree, the other half to the cruiser and put a lot of pressure on. Some popped off, others needed persuading with cold chisels, angle grinders and a chainsaw (no steel belts).
So if anyone's still with me, here are some photos.

chassis stripped - uncle towed me 10 km up to the house behind his FSJ and me standing no a board steering it. Was a very steep rough track too...
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...ps36f0d0c1.png
Towing with the studi

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...ps2f997a50.jpg
how it sat for many years

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...pse6b9c2a7.jpg
starting to strip it


http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...psf8c1a961.jpg
after putting all the gear back on the chassis and going for the maiden drive. That was a great feeling. Was 8 years ago now though


http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...ps3b3a74a4.jpg
In these photos the tyres are the ones it had on it for the last 20 odd years. Pumped right up. Then just in the past 8 years three have died. The rear left is the last original military one. And I think is the remaining survivor. "They don't make like the used to"...

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...psf60bdf9c.jpg
Bead breaking

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...ps975a968a.jpg
gives a bit of satisfaction at the end though. Why didn't I get a tyre shop to do it? I didn't have the money (no income at the time), and I called a tyre shop for advice - they had to put their oldest bloke on the line "Jee I remember those old blitz tyres, the only way we could remove them was by putting them on the bonfire and burning them off".


http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...ps1f392067.jpg
top coated

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...pse7fd9221.jpg
current state

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...ps015b78c1.jpg

Great story so far and it's good to know I'm not the only one to take any driving oppertunity available :cheers:

One thing you might not realize. The frame and undercarriage were painted the same colour as the body. They were never black.

Harry,

Bloody good show! :thup2:

Keep it coming.

Welcome aboard.

:salute:

Thanks a lot fellas. Nice shot of yours Robert, that's a very familiar look! Is your throttle hooked up? Mine isn't and it adds to the 'experience', must sort it...

cletrac - that's interesting about the same chassis colour, not something I'd realised. However, I hope this doesn't offend people but this resto will make no attempt at being period correct. I'm keeping it original as possible just because I love the original fixtures and have learnt the hard way the more you alter a vehicle the worse it gets. It's also a very nice complete original one.

But otherwise it'll just be a vehicle I can use and enjoy and won't go much beyond what I've got, and definitely plan on painting it civilian colours. I like to think it as a worker not just a looker

Hi Harry in that photo the accelarator wasn't hooked up so I was using my left foot on the linkage end.
My blitz was a worker up till a year ago but now I have started to restore it a little closer to original as I am enjoying car club outings.
Mine still has the original unrestored engine although the carby is not standard.
Enjoy your blitz, I have a lot of fun with mine and have met a lot of people including vetrins, since I started driving it in parades in town. :cheers:

Ah memories.....
 

.... the maiden trip.....

Something about the wind in your face....

Don't despair 8 years is nothing......

Bob

Good on you Harry
 

Good on you Harry and welcome aboard!!!

You raise a couple of great points...

Good for you with the civilian colours. A lot of these trucks did more work in their civilian clothes than in their military service years so why not honour the massive contribution they had in civvy life?

Our heritage is not just confined to the war years. A lot of brave (or mad) blokes used Blitzes to snig logs, fight fires and cart just about anything you can name on the back of these old beasts... usually by working out legal load mass, then multiplying it by four.

The other point is you can get so caught up in a resto with all the details...you can potentially fall into the trap of never finishing it and worse...never driving it, or more to the point...never having fun with it as a truck on the road.

THANKS for posting, good luck with it, cant wait to see more pictures or even a bit of you tube film...

Lovely looking truck, even your throttle set up would be better than what I've got - you have to lean over and use your hand on the carby... Non standard carby too, it's off a 202 holden but works well
yep, it's a good feeling. Yours looks very a comprehensive rebuild. What are the curved mud guard style supports for? Are they original? I don't remember them on mine

Thanks Tony, and I totally agree - I'm far more interested in their civilian use, which as you said often included some really perverse working conditions and loads for them. And I agree it's best just to get it moving and not get bogged in the details, certainly when you have a lot of other things going on anyway.

If I was attempting a full on perfect original military spec rebuild there is no way it'd be finished in my lifetime (I'm 28). Also, there a large number (comparatively) of seemingly perfect mil-spec rebuilds that are very impressive. But I love to see them in civilian get up and only know of one ever as a restored civil spec one. I do plan on rego-ing it eventually but for the moment it'll be a farm truck, but kept in good nick.

I am planning on doing a video of it, but I might try and sort out the rad and mounts first.

well life moves on and the blitz sat fairly untouched for quite a while. Currently batching for six more weeks so giving it another go (amongst several hundred other projects).

Brakes are still binding a bit, so I intend to pull a couple of drums off and see what's going on (this threadf has the details- http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=22690). But talking to my uncle he reckons it always felt like they were binding even with them all in their non-working unconnected state. Driving it around a bit and feeling the drums it actually feels like only two are sticky (two warm, two cold)...

Anyway, that aside she's going OK. I managed to seal the water pump up - pulled it off and pulled it apart. Found a lot of flaky rust and one surface of the rubber seal in there had its work cut out sealing on the ultra rough surface. I did this a few months ago so can't remember exactly but I think I RTV siliconed the rubber to the rotor and the fibrous washer - which still seemed healthy and its corresponding sealing surface in the housing was good. Also bought a NOS thermostat and fitted a holden temp gauge. Put it all back together and the pump doesn't leak! Well only where I sealed it back on to the block :( have to redo that silicone but no worries there. Sits between 75-80*C, hopefully not much higher in the summer either...

Also fitted an alloy (yuck) tray that the scrappy was about to clean up so I can use it about the property a bit. It's very temporary but makes me feel better having a tray on it for the moment. Just need to top coat the floor, bolt it in then fit a seat! That's make driving it a much nicer experience. Then a muffler, battery box, TC selector and fuel tank, probably in that order. And the paint job I did on the cab frame has failed - tiny spots of rust have appeared from underneath the top coat (two coats of Wattle Killrust top coat over WKR grey primer after having sand blasted it). The thought of having to pull it off, strip it back and start again almost makes me want to give up, maybe I could get away with sanding the offending areas then priming and top coating? Just don't have the time for an 100% perfect paint job :(

Power is good (considering the sticky brakes) but it has a bit of a flat spot down low, motor was rebuilt (specs checked by a rebuilder) including the head so I'm assuming all that's good. Could it be timing? Might advance it a bit and see what happens. When accelerating for low revs in gear it almost dies then blows the (loose) air filter lid up against the nut then picks up...

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...psdnwzmkev.jpg

Hmm can't work how to embed a video. Here's the link - not a great one and very short - turns out holding the phone and trying to do anything on the blitz is harder than I though... https://youtu.be/u6RTVliYIxA