C8 progress in Texas

[Bob Carriere]

Hi David

No such thing on a typical cab 11/12....... all they had was a round button about 1 3/4 inch diameter..... in fact there is little room for anything else.

That does not mean that a cab 13 cannot be installed if it makes it easier to drive....... and that can be a serious safety consideration. I have a cab 12 that has the foot well widened by about 4 inches by addition of a steel plate that extends the area into the wheel well...... without interfering with the tire....... strange thing is I had not noticed until about a year after I brought it home......certainly a practical modification.

I know for a fact that I cannot drive mine with safety boots (size11).... there simply is not enough room.... I have to use track shoes or may revert to an older pair of pointed dress black shoes like civilian motor pool drivers would have used in Canada.

Hey if the pedal (shoe) fits use it.....

Bob

[aj.lec]

Great progress
Originally as stated by Bob just a round button
Bob can you post a picture of the foot well mods ?
Sounds like a good idea .I have similar problem with boots

[David DeWeese]

Thank you Tony for the kind words and encouragement! The C8 has a lot of modifications, and not as original as I would like. I'm just trying to maintain some momentum on the project and not get too bogged down on the little things...
Thanks also to Bob and Andrew for the great information and photo!
Well, tore out the gas pedal and linkage I had made today. Makes sense that a button was used instead of a pedal.
As you can see, the linkage hole was badly worn, so I made a threaded sleeve with a pressed-in brass fitting that screwed into the existing hole nicely. Got a freeze plug and brazed a nut to the back side for the button.
Looks a lot more original...
Thanks again for all the help!
David

[Jim Price]

Very nicely done, David!

Regards,
Jim

[Bob Carriere]

...I admire your creativity...... a freeze plug...... actually looks good....

Bob

[David DeWeese]

Thanks Jim and Bob,
Bob, any creativity here is actually driven by desperation or lack of money, and a pile of junk I have retained over the last 30 years.....
My motto is never throw anything away, you will eventually need it!, (finding it again when you actually do need it is another matter).
Got that right fender ironed out, along with the front sheetmetal, and painted and installed them today.
Are the 1/4 inch machine screws correct for the front sheetmetal?
Thanks, David

[Bob Carriere]

Hi David

What size nuts, bolts, screw head is like saying you finally discoverd the exact shade of OD green used on January 14th 1940 on a cab 11...... whi si rigth and who is wrong.

Most cab 11 have had the nose removed many times by backyard mechanics and most of the fasteners have been changed.

You rounded 1/4 in. screw heads are not far from original.....but again "Waht is original..?" around here we those old type fasteners were refrred to as "stove bolts" ...common and cheap.....certainly would have met the production standards at the time.

I have included two picture of my truck at theearly stage of disassembly....notice the mix of 6 sided 1/4 bolts and round screw head.... the only difference is they mostly used washers to spread the stress on the sheet metal.

I personnaly believe that they were all originally assemble using the slightly rounded ..."domed"... 1/4 inch screw heads as usually found on the inside panels that were not subject to as many disassembly..... the domed head was a counter sunk 1/4 screw and used a counter sunk washer which we refer to as upholstery washer today. The domed head screws are still available today (even in SS) and so are the washers in chrome, plain steel and stainless.

But as I said yours look the part particulally when you are consistent and they are all the same.

If you have trouble getting the paint to stick to the screw head try the acidic bluing compound for rifles..... leaves the head dark blue/black and will help paint stick better.

I wish my truck was progressing as fast as yours.