FGT No9 (Aust) 134855 restoration

[Keith Webb]

After a far too long hiatus this project is again underway. First job today (after building and planting out the vegie garden) was to rid the carport of the interloping Suzuki Vitara (and listed it on ebay in case anyone is looking for one), and move the FGT into position for some preparatory work to start before moving it to Euan's workshop where the rear body will be attached.

As far as can be ascertained these FGTs were built in 1942, so it being her 70th birthday it is only fit and proper to give her some attention.

One of the first jobs will be to unseize the reactionary linkage for the brakes. I did have the whole thing working beautifully with a new booster, but when the brakes are applied the pedal stays determinedly in the down position and having just disconnected the booster it appears the reactionary linkage has frozen. I resleeved the master and wheel cylinders some time ago.

She's much happier here out of the weather!

[Keith Webb]

Yes I realise the 2C1 box (baaarrrx as you Canadians pronounce it) soes not belong here - it was a convenience and also kept it off the ground. It will soon come off and be ready for it's new owner Ganmain Tony.

[Keith Webb]

This post is a bit of a recap of events from the past few years.
Thanks to Peter Morgan a rear body was sourced in NSW, ironically having come from Bacchus Marsh in Victoria many years earlier.



Once home the sheet metal was stripped off (a horrible job).



This has since been sandblasted and primed.

[hrpearce]

Good to see you start Keith, have fun with it. Blitz parts do seme to travel a lot.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Keith Webb

Yes I realise the 2C1 box (baaarrrx as you Canadians pronounce it) soes not belong here - it was a convenience and also kept it off the ground.

The mother of all double cab pick-up trucks! Yet another standard set by the CMP range of vehicles

Great to see you are working on the FGT, Keith. Now try to keep ahead of Tony ...

H.

[Mike Cecil]

Good to see that trailer getting a good work out, Keith!

Nice frame on the FGT, too: good and straight, should 'marry up' quite easily - well, in a straightforward manner, anyway: we all know nothing with a Blitz is ever easy!

Mike C

[Keith Webb]

Another step on the long road to restoration for the FGT when I removed the 2C1 box which had been sitting on the rear of the subframe (to keep it off the ground). It made the FGT into some sort of oversize pickup.

It was a case of undo the temporary U-bolts, lift it up, drive out and back in a trailer, ready for it's trip to Ganmain Tony to try out his welding skills.





I must admit, this is a very gnarly CMP!



The bits of primer are where I had to heat and use multigrips to remove sheared off bolts on the front shell.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Keith

Looks like a great project, is the cab unit is as good a condition as it looks?

Are these the origin of the crew cab pickup?

Cheers Phil

[Keith Webb]

The cab is pretty good although there are some areas of rust to deal with. At least it's not knocked around. There are a few additional holes where extra lighting has been added.

[Euan McDonald]

Phil, the cew cab pick up (PMG), was a coach built body with three doors.
Keith's FGT had a small towing jib fitted to the rear post war.

[Mike Cecil]

And I seem to remember the PMG trucks were 4x2 and all Chevs.

Mike C

[Keith Webb]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

And I seem to remember the PMG trucks were 4x2 and all Chevs.

Mike C

And stretched chassis too. I have pics of one Ford version and also a C15A version.

Here's the Ford:



...and the Chev

[Mike Cecil]

Just shows, never work/quote from a failing memory!!

The 4x4 looks like it has a blade on the front: maybe a high country linesmans truck? (angle blade, like for clearing snow .... probably work OK on stupid 'roos, too.

Nice clean truck: looks freshly converted.

Mike C

[motto]

Any idea what the tangle on the front of the Ford might be? Looks like it may be mounted on the vehicle, not just hung on there to get it up off the ground.

David

[Keith Webb]

Originally Posted by motto

Any idea what the tangle on the front of the Ford might be? Looks like it may be mounted on the vehicle, not just hung on there to get it up off the ground.

David

I recall I couldn't get any closer than this but it appears to be something driven from the crankshaft, possibly some sort of pump arrangement.

[Euan McDonald]

Could it be a weed sprayer?

[Tony Wheeler]

I guess this stretched F15 must have been one of the rare Ford PMG trucks. Note professional chassis extension job, windscreen pillars "verticalized", cab frame welds suggestive of crew cab extension, remnants of door pillars, and of course....red paint!

[Keith Webb]

Euan delivered the now sandblasted rear body frame and some work will need to be done on it before it is cut (precisely I hope) to join the rest of the body.
I spent some time today cutting some spare pieces from the remains of the old wrecked body to salvage some pieces of angle to use to replace the mountings for the lower left 2 gall can holder and step (which also needs to be fabricated).
Also cleaned and painted the shovel clamp, the spare wheel ramp clamps and the clamps which are used to secure the fronts of the wooden floorboards in the rear of the vehicle.
I've been labelling and bagging these as they are primed and they're going into a dedicated (marked) ammo box until they're needed.

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Keith Webb

Euan delivered the now sandblasted rear body frame and some work will need to be done on it before it is cut (precisely I hope) to join the rest of the body.

Any progress yet Keith? Anxiously awaiting developments here! Hoping to see many pics of FGT 9 body reassembly - a rare and sacred event! So many of these got the chop after disposal it doesn't bear thinking about. The unusual thing about 134855 is they left the subframe intact - I presume you'll just use the superstructure off the rear section....?

[Keith Webb]

Originally Posted by Tony Wheeler

Any progress yet Keith? Anxiously awaiting developments here! Hoping to see many pics of FGT 9 body reassembly - a rare and sacred event! So many of these got the chop after disposal it doesn't bear thinking about. The unusual thing about 134855 is they left the subframe intact - I presume you'll just use the superstructure off the rear section....?

I've looked at all possibilities, but because the existing subframe has been cut and has a fair bit missing the cut will be just in front of the 'D' pillar, which is the rear of the crew compartment. Unfortunately the crew seat has to come out because it needs a fair amount of rust repairs.

Hoping to do this ASAP and will take lots of pictures. Euan has access to a plasma cutter so we can do nice straight lines - I find angle grinders are difficult to control.

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Keith Webb

I've looked at all possibilities, but because the existing subframe has been cut and has a fair bit missing the cut will be just in front of the 'D' pillar

Yes I can see it would be quite a complex job to retain the original subframe, not really worth the extra effort. D pillar looks like the logical place to cut and weld. Just make sure you hang on to any left over bits, I need patterns for fabrication! Initially I'm planning to get some lengths of subframe channel made up, and hopefully the sheetmetal sections for the crew seat as well. If this is possible I'll get a few spares folded up at the same time for potential future projects. If yours are badly rusted you may be interested too, I'll give you a ring to discuss.

[Keith Webb]

Hi Tony, great idea... we can pattern from my crew seat if you like - I'm sure there will be several other projects in need of this.

[sth65pac]

Originally Posted by Keith Webb

I've looked at all possibilities, but because the existing subframe has been cut and has a fair bit missing the cut will be just in front of the 'D' pillar, which is the rear of the crew compartment. Unfortunately the crew seat has to come out because it needs a fair amount of rust repairs.

Hoping to do this ASAP and will take lots of pictures. Euan has access to a plasma cutter so we can do nice straight lines - I find angle grinders are difficult to control.

Keith,

Just don't cut that outer rail. They are unique to Gun tractors. One piece - twice as long as the 13 Cab. Nice to see you are underway. That rail helped me identify a few chop-shop sawmill versions.

Ian

[Keith Webb]

Originally Posted by sth65pac

Keith,

Just don't cut that outer rail. They are unique to Gun tractors. One piece - twice as long as the 13 Cab. Nice to see you are underway. That rail helped me identify a few chop-shop sawmill versions.

Ian

Hi Ian
Not sure which rail you mean...
All Ford No8 and 9 gun tractor lower side rails are in two pieces with a join at the rear edge of the standard cab outer rail. You can see it in the pics of my FGT earlier in the thread.

[Keith Webb]

Yesterday with the help of Andrew Laiton (standing to the left in the rear view) the FGT was finally reunited with a rear body. There's still some adjustment to make before any welding can take place as it appears to have sprung a few mm when one of the cross members had to be removed but should line up fine in the end.
Paint is Khaki J from Flowrite paints, huge thanks to Gina for ensuring the best possible colour match.

[Tony Mathers]

Looks very nice, I will have to come and have a look

[Alex van de Wetering]

Looking good Keith! Please keep the pictures coming.

Alex

[Wayne Henderson]

Hi Keith,
Great to see, looking a bit more complete and a big step taken.
Best of luck with the rest and please post some pics of the re-skinning.
The GT is such a brute of a truck to look at
Wayne.

[Keith Webb]

Here's a link to a short video of the rear body going on, wish we had some more headroom in the shed! I was helped by Andrew Laiton, and even Belinda lent a hand... wonders will never cease... er... I mean that was sweet of her

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3ibkpX7KYU

[hrpearce]

Great Keith progress. I don't have to miss out on the videos now I have a decent download per month.