Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

[Private_collector]

Today I went to 2 motorcycle shops and 1 bicycle shop, in search for suitable dust boot for front of vac booster. The bicycle shop were helpful but had nothing suitable, despite looking through a number of storage locations for me. Strike #1

One of the motorcycle shops was staffed by some unkempt, tattooed, greasy haired, gap toothed old crone who was not interested in being any help at all once she ascertained I wasn't there to buy one of their crappy imported quadbikes (Chinese built, of course). Strike #2

The other motorcycle shop had a guy that was too lazy to check what was available and insisted the boots would only come as a set with the applicable cable, no matter which brand of manufacture. Not at all helpful, and couldn't seem to grasp the concept that it was for something other than a cycle. He strangely had a face quite red in color. Not sure if he had tremendously high blood pressure, embarrased about his apathy, or got horribly sunburnt somehow. Whatever the cause, it was redder than a smacked arse! Anyhoo, no joy there with the part request. Strike #3

Then it occured to me, just wait until the Gympie swap meet, this Saturday!!
If I don't get something suitable there, i'll be very surprised. Must wear a hat! Learnt my lesson from the motorbike shop guy

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Tony,

Liked your tale of chasing rubber boots at motorcycle shops. I sometimes thought I was the only one who had to deal with indifferent, lazy, or aggressive counter people.

I think my benchmark of poor service was trying to hire a chain saw a few years ago. The counter man was rather belligerent to anyone except his tradie mates it seemed. He asked me "what was I going to use the chain saw for?" "To cut down a few trees" was my obvious reply. He then went into a tirade about using it for that purpose because there are a lot of ants in this area that carry sand up into the hollowed trunks and it dulls the chain. I noticed a sign above him that said "All chain saws will incur a $20 sharpening fee when returned" and said "so I pay the $20 when I bring it back, what's the problem? He got quite nasty and outright refused to hire me one. Needless to say I never went there again and told everyone I knew about their crappy attitude towards customers.
A few years later the business folded. I wonder why?

Brgds,

[Bob McNeill]

Tony, I must be lucky, as I work for a company where the boss recons " if man made it, man can fix it. ". The boss will spend time making bits or repairing a part that saves the customer having to replace the whole unit, EG turn up a piston for a hydraulic ram, rather than spend $3,000 on a complete ram. recut a keyway, or make an unobtainable bush. Don is an old school Toolmaker.

[Private_collector]

Jacques, that kind of service is disgusting but typical. It SHOULD stand out as the extreme exception, but is fast becoming the norm. I do what I can to reverse that, by warning everyone I know. I also make a point of telling the 'server' exactly what I think of their shitty attitude, & wish them great success in their NEXT venture.

Bob,

Originally Posted by Bob McNeill

Tony, I must be lucky, as I work for a company where the boss recons " if man made it, man can fix it. ". Don is an old school Toolmaker.

Oh how I wish I could work for someone like that! Not only becuase it must be a dying art to manufacture that way, but I wish I could do that stuff for myself.

Several weeks ago the steering rack in my wifes car became very noisy and was diagnosed with a leaky seal on one end of the rack. That seal created problems that made repair a must ASAP. But, as would be expected today, you cannot buy the one seal. We had to buy a whole new steering rack and have it installed. The job was originally quoted at over $1700, but the service department staff got it down to ONLY $1400ish. All for a $20 oil seal. It's just crackers really.

[Private_collector]

Swapmeet buys 1.jpg Swapmeet buys 2.jpg Swapmeet buys 3.jpg
Early start for town this morning. The yearly swapmeet has rolled around again. Not a great deal of military stuff, but a few little gems to be found here & there. I bought two Flathead 'Divers Bell' distributors and two sets of plug lead conduits for $40.
Swapmeet buys cleanup 1.jpg
Started disassembly this afternoon, and the cleanup has started tonight. Tomorrow I get a few small things painted and pull some step parts off the other truck. I hadn't realised one of the step brackets is side specific until I realised it was curved to match the chassis profile. The penny dropped at that point!

The fuel filter 'dummy' will be finished tomorrow too.

[Private_collector]

Fuel filter painted.jpg Horn finished 1.jpg
Still working on some of the 'small' stuff. Fuel filter now painted (visually complete only, rusted to buggery inside). The horn is finished and ready to go on.
Distributor 1.jpg Distributor assembled 1.jpg
My distributor was incomplete, but thanks to the parts bought yesterday, it is now all cleaned, assembled, and can be sent for mechanical rebuild by a professional.
Steering wheel before.jpg
Nearing knock-off time, I turned attention to removing the steering wheel that is on my other truck. I had been dreading this and quickly found I didn't have the correct size tube spanner or socket to do the job. So I got the nut off with a cold-chisel. It was stuffed anyway, but the two halves can still be used to source another in town. The wheel came loose with a little encouragement from a few dead blows.

I have long wanted to get at the steering wheel, to see if it could be salvaged. The next posting shows what I discovered!

[Private_collector]

Steering wheel before.jpg
I have known for ages that it may be a long time (if ever) before I stumble across an acceptable steering wheel, so I decided to investigate how much success I might have in restoring the one I've already got. The dark stains you can see are from WD40.
Steering wheel before 1.jpg
This is a close-up of a typical section of the steering wheel upper side. There are several cracks on the rear side, near the hub. They are easily repaired with a special epoxy compound. The following couiple of photos concentrate on the upper side. More on the rear repair work another time.
Steering wheel during.jpg
This is how the cheesy, hopelessly rough surface looks after a few minutes of wet rubbing with 240grit. I only had enough time to do a section of about 1/4 the total outer surface.
Steering wheel after.jpg
And lastly, this is what that same section looks after a rub over with a cutting compound, applied by hand. A second go over with a finer compound will inprove the finish greatly.

I will finish the sanding next weekend. If using a cutting compound by hand, you should go over again with a burnishing cream. I don't have any yet, but it is now on my shopping list for next Saturday. So are polishing wheels for my Sons Dremel. I will follow up all the hand 'buffing' with a machine cut, then the burnishing cream. I think this wheel will do nicely. Pity the small ridges have all but dissappeared, but they were AWOL even before I started sanding. You can just see them in the finish of the above photo.