11 Cab F8 - Change of Plans

[Bob Phillips]

Just a couple of comments on these recent posts;
I had the pleasure of seeing Neil's 8cwt just a couple of weeks ago and it looked great. If you were not already aware of it, vehicles that have been restored at the Yeo "facility" are second to none in quality and I am eager to see the final product when the 8cwt is completed.
David, that blue V8 appears to be the one I traded to Brian many years ago. At that time it was a tired and tempermental engine so it did need a lot of "love". By the way it came out of a Ford 13 cab gun tractor, which has since been restored with a high performance Mercury engine.
And finally hats off to Bob C. because I am one of the many people he has shared his knowledge and store of spare parts with. One of these days I hope to see his restored Chev and see how he managed to get his feet into the cab to push the pedals!

[david moore]

Hi Bob
Actually that engine worked very well after several stuck valves were freed up - no really major work necessary. Just for old times sake - photo of "my" truck as purchased from Paul Singleton - and as finished before I sold it - couldn't get really decent tires!

C8May2305 013.jpg cotttruckjul07 018.jpg IMG_3022 (640x480) (400x300).jpg

[Paul Singleton]

Originally Posted by Bob Phillips

One of these days I hope to see his restored Chev and see how he managed to get his feet into the cab to push the pedals!

Exactly the reason I sold the F-8 to David. I realized that being 6’5” with side 15 shoes I would never be able to enjoy driving it.

[Yeo.NT]

For most of us in the hobby its common knowledge to have more then one vehicles, multiples of various parts or assemblies. This has come true with my project as it turns out having more then one transmission has saved me as the original transmission turns out was cracked running almost all the way around the case, nearly split in 2.
The second trans was holding oil and shifted through all the gears, what I didn't do was open it up to inspect the condition of the gears, turn out "Grind it until you Find it" was standard operating procedure for the previous operator. This lead to pulling the internals out of the cracked housing and installing into the good one.

https://youtu.be/9b4WjDeWMPE?si=Gy6wABokdtnYIMow

[Mike K]

That is a good plan, swapping out the gears.

You probably would know this already. I believe that some of the Ford gears will swap with the contemporary Dodge 'New Process' gears. As used in the 4 speed Dodge gearbox, Weapons Carrier and many other Dodge trucks.

A late friend of mine did a similar steering shaft fix. He had a 46 Dodge sedan , the worm on the end of the steering shaft was very worn out. He found a NOS Ford shaft , cut the worm of it and he got a professional welding business to weld the NOS worm onto the Dodge shaft. Ford and Dodge parts have some interchangeability. This method of repair is frowned upon by the 'engineers' but you gotta do with the parts that are on hand.

For fixing two shafts together , instead of welding you can also use ROLL PINS. I've seen the TV car restoring guys use Roll Pins on steering components and the method seems to be what is recommended.

Your last pic where you are pointing to the two legged rear mount casting on the back of the gearbox, I've seen one of those cast mounts fail, it broke off where the legs protrude. I welded it together with a stick welder !

[Yeo.NT]

Previously I came across the issue of not having the correct exhaust manifold to clear the clutch/brake pedals. The solution is aftermarket headers with light modification, a little cutting, welding and ballpeen hammering.

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by Yeo.NT

Previously I came across the issue of not having the correct exhaust manifold to clear the clutch/brake pedals. The solution is aftermarket headers with light modification, a little cutting, welding and ballpeen hammering.

I think the consensus of opinion from the knowledgeable CMP builders on this group is - the design was not good from the outset, and it stayed in service due to momentum because it worked well enough for what had to be done.

At some point every restoration project needs to move on to the next problem.

[Yeo.NT]

If anyone is interested in more detail on how I made the headers fit, here is the link on my YouTube channel

https://youtu.be/EasSBij3mVI