How To: C15a Wire-3 restoration

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Jordan

Following your progress with much interest.

Have you tried using the POR Blue Tie Coat..... it is thick, sandable and self leveling. On a flat surface like your floor you should be able to recover a lot of the pits..... may need some light block sanding between two coats just to remove the high spots.

Remember that the worst color for showing uneven surface is "GLOSSY BLACK" paint and the best paint to hide blemishes is flat OD green.

Good luck.

[Jordan Baker]

Yes Peter it is patina for sure. I left a bullet hole in the one wheel well. Figured that was some good patina.

Ill be painting on the tiecoat primer once I get the sides all welded on. So I can do some sanding.

[Jordan Baker]

Todays small amount of progress. I am sure glad I picked up one of the welding extension cables from Princess Auto last fall. Now I can easily reach everything I need from the shop.

Got one of the four channel end caps welded in. I also welded back in one of the hangers for the 1gal oil can holder. When we recovered this box from the woods I had to cut this hanger as I wasn't able to get to the bolts holding the bracket on. Yes I could have just welded in a brand new piece of channel, but other then my two cuts there wasn't anything wrong with it.

[Jordan Baker]

Spent most of the day Friday working on the box. The two wheel wells needed some work done to them. Two end panels had suffered from some metal rotting. New pieces were cut and the old ones were cut out. I was able to re-use three of the loops that are welded on these panels. The fourth one was made.

Saturday was spent going to Cleveland to check out the MVPA National convention. Had a great time.

Today's plan was to get the new angle iron sections welded onto the floor and also get the front panel tacked in. I did manage to get this done even with the weather not cooperating. Setting up three times and bringing my tools and welder back inside three times was a bit of a pain.

[Jordan Baker]

Fitted on the two sides today. I discovered I had some issues with the wheel wells dropping a bit when the original sides were cut off. This left me with a bit of a gap to lclose. I ended up using a floor jack and ratchet strap. Using the strap to hold the jack tight to the box frame I then jacked it up with a block of wood. This pressed the wheel well in tight to the side panel and I could get some good tac welds in.

[Jordan Baker]

Not much to update. Almost done all of the welding on the box. The only bit left is to weld the bottom edge of the front panel to the box floor/frame.

One nice accessory that I recently came into was the components for the buzzer located in the cab. This came from a friends CMP. He wasn't wanting to do a wireless truck and had no need for it. Now it lives on in my truck.

[Jordan Baker]

Finished with all of the welding today. I would have been done sooner, but I ran out of welding wire mid weld the other day. With a new 10lbs spool in the machine I set to it when I got home this morning from work. I had to finish welding on the last 4 rope hooks and the tail gate thing-a-ma-jigs.

Once that was done, I did some POR prepping and then some touch up POR15 was applied. Tonight as the sun was going down I mixed up the tie coat primer and gave it a good spray. All sides and the floor/wheel wells got a good coating of the primer.

I also refitted the tailgate to ensure the hooks all lined up and everything does.

[Jordan Baker]

Taking advantage of the nice weather today and getting a lot of parts painted. Its SCC2 as far as the eye can see. Well not quite. The wireless table was painted in a KG#3 colour. I did that just to help break up all of the brown.

[Jordan Baker]

Well the box is all painted on the top side surfaces. Later this week Ill try and track down one of my farming neighbours to come by with his tractor and we can flip the box over. Then I can finish paint the primer and final colour.

I also painted a few other parts I had ready to go.

Now its time for some dinner.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Excellent work Jordan. I am thoroughly enjoying the construction of the rear body and wireless fittings in this thread!

The wireless table was painted in a KG#3 colour. I did that just to help break up all of the brown.

Haha....like a true scale modeller

Alex

[Jordan Baker]

Here is the NOS buzzer installed on the original wooden block. The special nuts were used as well, after spending a night soaking in Evaporust. The wiring for it I'll be leaving until further information comes to light.

[Jordan Baker]

The other day with the help from a friend with is tractor, we flipped over the box so that I could paint the underside. Today with the help of some of the guys from the firehall we flipped the box up on its side onto some dolly's and wheeled it into the shop. Soon it will be on the frame. Then I can install the top bows superstructure.

[Jordan Baker]

Todays progress brought to you by the aid of gravity. The box is now back on the frame. Im just doing some prep work on the original wooden runners and then they will be installed.

I also need to source out some new u bolts to secure the box to the frame.

[Jordan Baker]

Worked today on installing the top bows superstructure. It was originally meant to be removable in one piece to setup as a cover for a ground station. Up next will be attaching all of the hoops and hangers for the rifle mounts.

[Robert Bergeron]

Nicely done Jordan

[Jordan Baker]

Today I started fitting the wooden boards that attach to the canopy framework. These were supposed to be used for keeping the canopy frames in place whenever the framework was removed from the truck in the ground station role. I still have to drill and screw in a number of footman loops. I believe these were used to strap on the skirt extensions.

[David Dunlop]

Hi Jordan.

Smart idea using the wood stiffeners for the canopy frame. Whenever the canopy went remote from the vehicle, were the open ends of the tubular framework simply plunked down on the ground, or were a set of feet/supports provided to prevent the canopy from sinking into soft ground?

David

[Jordan Baker]

Hi David. Yes there were extension poles that fit into the canopy frame. The AEDB design record mentions them.

[Bob Carriere]

On the assumption that your bows are all original could you share some dimension information. I have to build a set from scratch.

ID and OD would be nice as well as the height of the pipe for the bows.

what kinds/size of fasteners used..... carriage bolts... any wing nuts???

have you tried your repro canvass on it??? interested as I have the same repro from Stew. Can the sides be actually rolled leaving you with a canopy for shade.

Thanks

[Jordan Baker]

Bob I've posted some drawings of the canopy with dimensions. Were you needing the measurements of the three uprights? The wire-3 canopy frame was a lot more extensive then the regular canopy. As for how they are attached. Nothing more complicated then some 10-24 slotted machine screws and nuts and lock washers.

[Jordan Baker]

I decided to put on the canvas top the other day. This helps to free up space on a shelf and also will help keep the dust out of the back of the box. Plus it helps to make it look like things are moving along.

I ended up using the original wooden runners that were still with the box when I got it. For the most part they were in great shape. Even retaining a lot of really nice original paint. The one runner did suffer from some rot on both ends and bugs in one spot. I removed as much dry rot as I could and then decided to use some 2 part epoxy casting resin I had. The stuff is very hard wearing. I did some pours to fill in the voids from the original rot. I also made some simple molds from steel plate I had. I then poured the resin in and let it setup before removing the plates. I then used a belt sander to do some finishing touches and blending of the resin into the original wood. This was all then painted up.

When I went to install them, I had to jack up one side of the box and then inset them in from the sides. After getting both in, I realized that they come in a left and right pair and well let just say I got my straw foot and right foot mixed up. So jack up the box again and swap them around.

[Jordan Baker]

I managed to use the original footman loops that were on the box as well. I also picked up a supply of NOS ones from a dealer in the states thanks to Ebay. They matched my originals perfectly. Im using NOS woodscrews as the originals were too far gone. Its times like this that Im glad I pickup old jars of screws from people. Sometimes this older stuff comes in handy considering the slotted stuff is getting harder to find.

I also moved the WS19 into the truck. More right now just to get it out of the way. I still need to go through it and give it a good dusting and cleaning up. Plus I need to get some new shocks mounts for it.

Lastly I got the box to frame threaded rods I needed from a local shop. I figured I should do the usual POR15 and paint thing on them. So today I sandblasted them and POR'd them and then while the POR was still a bit tacky I spray painted on the final top coat. Ive done this a few times and it works really well. The paint seems to get bonded to the almost cured POR and makes it very tough.

[Jordan Baker]

Installed the tailgate today. Thankfully I left just enough room behind the rear of the truck and the rear shop wall that I can swing the tailgate open fully.

I also finished painting the wooden side boards. They received a few coats of POR15 to seal the wood, including inside the drilled holes. Then when I was screwing on the footman loops, I also applied POR to the screw threads. This should completely seal the wood around the screws.

[Jordan Baker]

Not too much to report over the past few weeks due to an overseas vacation. But the other day I started marking my engine rebuild/testing stand. Thanks to the drawings Phil Waterman put up on his site it has been an easy job of fabrication.

[Bob Carriere]

When thinking of wheels they are never too big. Unless you have the luxury of a hand troweled concrete floor small rubber tired wheels from Princess are preferable and easier on you. A somewhat wide stance when you do the wheels will also improve movement and balance.

Time to start looking for a quick disconnect old Johnson outboard tank from your favorite flea market.

If you are considering running your engine a generic sound radiator will do with a house electric fan. Removing the fan blade from the engine will greatly reduce noise and dust....and safer for knuckles......but keep the belt from the water pump.

If you install the tranny and clutch pack you can use one of Phil's old trick. Once you have established Top Dead Center for timing......open the little door on the bellhousing and mark your clutch pack with yellow pain stick..... use a bailing wire wrapped across the opening screw to screw...... so when you install the engine you can actually use the new timing mark....until you floor is installed....... I also marked my flywheel from below so I can hand turn the engine and find TDC easier.

Remember to have fun!!!!!!

[Jordan Baker]

Bob, im confused by your wheel comments? So i should get the rubber coated ones or go for larger cast steel only ones?

[Bob Carriere]

If the engine stand loaded is moved about in a garage with a rough floor or a dirt floor or even outside by the front of your garage, the larger wheels of any kind are best to overcome surface bumps..... in MHO the small 8 in to 10 inch inflated rubber tires as far superior to any type of steel or hard rubber coated caster system...... besides the small rubber tires are also available in caster format. the down side is they will require inflation maintenance.

The casters I used are fine in the attic of the barn on hard plywood floors but a real pain on dirt or the rough floor of my barn.

Cheers

[rob love]

I tried to overcome the flat tire situation by using the run-flat tires, available from princess auto etc on some shop carts I have here at the museum. The problem is that if you leave a load on them, they develop flatspots for the first while when you go to move them. But on the plus side, they are truly worth the extra $$ as opposed to dealing with the constant flats you get on the Chinese tires these days.

Another option if you have the room, is to grab a bunch of the smaller hide-a spares from your local junkyard. They are cheap, you can buy the appropriate (knock-off) hubs sealed for life for around $30, and are of good quality. They are perfect for oxy-acetylene carts as you can then go cross country, over airlines and extension cords without impediment.

[Jordan Baker]

I bought these last night at Princess Auto. They should work fine in the shop

[Jordan Baker]

Picked up some nice NOS and slightly used CMP parts todaywhile at a steam show. Even found two of the larger no2 clips. That takes. Are of the three I needed for the truck.