How To: C15a Wire-3 restoration

[Jordan Baker]

Rebuilt the steering gear box and the steering wheel this past week. Thankfully it didn't involve too much work as the internals were all in really good shape. Everything measured up well within the specs. I did the usual POR15 treatment for the case and the tube. A new wire was run for the horn connection between the button and the contact brush. One thing I wanted to clean up was the inside of the steering shaft as it had a lot of surface rust. I ended up using a 4' long steel rod with a slot cut in the end. I then wrapped some sandpaper into the slot. Put the whole thing into the tube then attaced my drill on the end and let it rip...errr..spin. A few minutes later I was done.

[Jordan Baker]

And the steering wheel. I decided to go with the painted finish covering up the wood. The main reason was that the wood had suffered from being expossed to the elements for sometime and had split in a few places. The repairs needed on it were done with a 2 part epoxy putty. This meant staining/clear coat were not possible without it looking horrible. On the flip side the originals were all painted.

On the inside of the steering wheel hub there is two threaded holes. They look to be 5/16" dia. What are these for?

[Jordan Baker]

Lastly I picked this up from a fellow MLU'er who thought it would look nice on my dash. It only needed a screw soldered onto its backside. That was easily done and now it looks right at home on my dash.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Jordan, I think you have the order wrong. Once you find a button you then build a Chev around it. I've got two buttons...

Originally Posted by Jordan Baker

Lastly I picked this up from a fellow MLU'er who thought it would look nice on my dash. It only needed a screw soldered onto its backside. That was easily done and now it looks right at home on my dash.

[Bob Carriere]

....so when are you repainting the truck to match the steering wheel???

Kidding!!!!!

Cheers

[Jordan Baker]

Yeah some days it feels like I am building the truck around one piece.....

I thought I would mix it up a bit. Right now its painted in US OliveDrab from G503. However Ive got a paint sample from Home Depot that matches the closest I have seen to Canadian KG#3. Next week I will be persuing getting it made into something non latex.

[Jordan Baker]

I was able to replace the worn out and cracked steering column bushing yesterday with an original NOS one that I picked up. Looks way better.

[Jordan Baker]

I have also finaly started in on the restoration of the roof. This one has suffered from the normal rust/rot areas along the rear lower bead, window frame and above the door frame/rain gutter areas. There was also substantial rusting along the front main frame piece. However the actual roof sheet metal was in pretty good shape. It just has a few holes that will need filling and one small spot that will need a patch.

So far I have just begun removing the bad areas. The previous owner had cut out the rear window and replace it with a solid panel. This will be getting an entier new panel put in with the upper and lower bead applied.

Lastly I have begun to modify a 6' long 2"x2" 1/8" thick angle iron piece for the front support. The original on mine was flat plate bent in a brake. By the time I am done my new piece will look the same.