Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

[Lionelgee]

While at the meet, I did just that, met a fellow whose company specialises in the manufacture of brake & fuel lines, the hardware that connects, all attaching bits and associated parts. They custom makes all lines, both flexible kind and metal, and in all sizes and materials. As the swap was fairly close to my location, he called-in on his way home, to see what I would be wanting done. Very professional fellow and thorough as well. When i'm ready, he will come and make everything needed right in my workshop, and install the lot on-site, there & then.

The business name is: Wide Bay Brake Hose Services
Website: http://www.brakehose.com.au/
There is a very extensive online catalog, they can make ANY type of hose or pipe, and will post Australia Wide.

Hello Tony,

Thank you for putting the link up for Wide Bay Brake Hose Services. It will be a very handy site to access in the near future. I went to get the pricing for getting some brake wheel cylinders re-sleeved in stainless steel locally, and I was told that no one in Bundaberg does them anymore. All parts are sent to the Sunshine Coast. I thought this was pretty sad since Bundaberg was one of the world innovators in sugar harvesting engineering.

It was good to finally get to drop in and see you, and to have the opportunity to admire the results of your meticulous craftsmanship on your CMP. Keep up the great effort.


Kind Regards
Lionel

[Private_collector]

Hi Guys,

Glad to post the details for brake pipe guy. In a few months (ish) I should be in a position to report on quality & price.

Lionel, It was good to meet you. You are welcome here anytime you are passing by.

Brake mechanism finished 1.jpg Brake mechanism finished 2.jpg
I knew I would get the brake mechanism finished some time this week, but I didn't think it would be this early. TV particularly bad tonight, so put the parts back together instead.

Master cylinder from Rockauto is now in transit between Sydney & here. Tracking says due for arrival on Wednesday. Lets see how close they are.

Bye for now.

[Private_collector]

Driver side tank repaired 1.jpg Driver side tank repaired 2.jpg Driver side tank repaired 3.jpg
Work continued on the driver side fuel tank last Sunday. As expected, it was not completed before lights out. This is partly due to the unexpected 30 minutes worth of rain at 1500hrs that halted work. When safe to continue, it was already cooling down significantly and my final act was to apply a coat of etch, before shutting down for the week.
Driver side tank repaired 4.jpg
I will be taking the etch coat off tomorrow. It 'blushed' from the low temp and moisture formed on the surface. That means it will also have allowed moisture through to the metal.
Tank stencils.jpg
Passenger side tank now finished, including cap with the new seal I made. I bought the tank stencils when I got the bridge loading plate a while ago. They may not be CMP genuine, but I like em!

When I can afford it, I will still run a sealing system through both tanks. I have received product information brochures for two systems of tank cleaning sets, POR15 & KBS Coatings. Both can be used on tanks after they are painted, provided some common-sense measures are taken. Not decided on which to buy, but the KBS Coatings set is substantially cheaper and almost identical in components!

[Private_collector]

40mm BOFORS - TCB 1.jpg 40mm BOFORS - TCB 2.jpg 40mm BOFORS - TCB 3.jpg
As promised, here are some photos of my recent BOFORS discovery. Very intact and in reasonable condition considering it's age and vulnerability (Located less than 100mts from the oceans edge).
40mm BOFORS - TCB wheel close.jpg
Poor old thing won't last forever. Wonder if I could persuade the council to let me buy it ......for preservation purposes, of course.

[Private_collector]

Some time ago, I recall one of our members mentioned that modern CV joint boots could be made into an acceptable relacement for the now extinct equivelent on the vacuum booster. Unfortunately I don't recall where I saw that written or who I have to thank for that idea. Whoever you are, you are a lateral thinking genious! 'God Bless Ya' to your Mother. With the idea in mind, I bought one of those 'generic' boots that taper at both ends. The ones where you cut off the excess until the ends match the size for your job.
Booster cross section - page from manual.jpg
Here's how the original looks. I have never seen a usable original boot, and all the ones I have now resemble the texture and pliability of cheese, hence the need to substitute!
Booster boot 1.jpg
This is the bare front plate of the booster. The new boot will be attached to the three screw holes along the ring which is about 1&1/2" from the centre tube. It willl need to seal tightly around that rim, or it will not work effectively.
Booster boot 2.jpg
This is showing the metal plate that bolts the boot on. I painted mine green when I was doing other stuff. It won't be seen at all, so you can paint it orange if you want, no-one will know
Booster boot 3.jpg
Here is the CV boot once I had cut off all excess rings from the ends. It will be a perfect fit for my needs. I got it from 'SupaCheap', but I would wager all auto parts stores will have them. Sorry, I didn't keep the plastic bag it was in, and can't quote the exact part. Don't get too interested in the holes you can see, just yet. They look to be in very odd places, until you get another two steps along.
Booster boot 4.jpg
As I said, the holes look to be in strange places, but heres why. The holes furtherest from the end will be where the attaching screws go through. The holes at the end will allow access to the screw for tightening. I did consider NOT punching the access holes, but if you don't, the rubber sits abnormally high when fully assembled and I didn't like the look of it.

You shouldn't punch the holes just yet. The next posting will explain why.

Cont'd...

[Private_collector]

Booster boot 5.jpg
Slip the securing ring onto the rubber boot. If you have chosen wisely it will be a nice snug fit, even at the end where it is not flared. If it doesn't look like this, either adjust the part i'm about to say next, or.............buy another one!
Booster boot 6.jpg
Move the metal ring onto the boot, one place along.
Booster boot 7.jpg
Here's the interesting bit. Fold the 'un-concertina' end part back over the metal ring. Get it to sit neatly. Make sure you are happy with where it sits as well as what it looks like, and make sure it sits evenly under the end. I mean the bit that will be between the metal ring & the booster end. It must sit flat and evenly, or it will leak. From what I have read in the manual, booster will still work, but not as effectively, and dust will potentially get into the space where the booster plunger shaft passes along. That would be bad. This is the step where I marked where I wanted to punch the holes. You can fold back a little of the rubber to find where the holes are in the metal ring. I used an awl to create a slight puncture at the correct location of all three holes, then removed the ring and punched to desired size with a leather punch. I think I used 1/4". Don't remember for sure, so check your sizing please.
Booster boot 8.jpg
This shows how it will look with the screws in place. If you wish to do as I did, and remove rubber from around the screw head, punch these locations in a similar way to the screw holes. I did them while the screws were in place and I folded enough rubber back over to allow access for the punch.
Booster boot 9.jpg
And this is what it should look like when finished. I intend to paint the metal ring & screws black, so they don't highlight that I stuffed up one of the 'cut-outs', around the screw head you see in this photo.

How's that for a nice little wrinkle? Cheap and very functional. Quite easy really! Pity it can't be permanently attached to the booster front plate just yet. The other end of the boot will have to be formed around the top end before this can lower end can become permanent! That's another story, for another day.

I'm off now to apply valve grinding paste to my fuel selector switch. Cheerio

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Tony

Great how to substitute for a hard part to find. The booster boots are almost always shot.

Another suitable replacement that I have used following a similar process is off-road shock absorber boots. Which are easy to find seem to last well. The OD of the bellows on the ones I found allowed the retaining ring to slipped over and the mounting holes punched.

Here are a couple of photos.


You will note that the boot has more rings than the original



Below are pictures of the shock boot off.

Cheers Phil