C15A Restoration

[John Stokes]

Well on the way coated in urethane zinc primer after sandblasting.All brake and hubs removed for overhall/renew,No problems so far except i still do not have rear fairleads.Oh well something will turn up.

[John Stokes]

Hi All,
I picked up the rims from the sandblaster on saturday and undercoated them all as well as a few other parts.The wheel cylinders,shoes and new brake lines were picked up also after sleeving and bonding.I am going to top coat the rims in the next few days so i will be picking up the tyres ready for fitting.If i get some time this week i will have all the brakes/hubs back together after a package arrived today from Ross Prince with all the seals,master cylinder etc.I had a brake concentric setting tool made by Shepard Thomason CO in the work shop from the days of my 69 Mack Flinstone.These tools are used for getting the brake linings concentric with the axle a must for 100% contact.So out it came back in service it goes.Just goes to show if you keep something long enough you will use it again.I finished mounting the winch,new seals etc also.In the photo there are a couple of non cmp parts as i had an under coating frenzy.The A frame is to suit the C15A as i planed to flat tow it but floated it instead. Until next time happy restoring. John Stokes

[cliff]

looking good John. It is nice to see all the hard work you guys put into restoring your vehicles.

[martineaton]

Hi John,

Intresting brake tool!

How does this tool work?

[John Stokes]

Hi Martin,
the brake aligning tool is used to check concentricity of the shoes in relation to the axle.The tool has a vee clamp arrangement that clamps onto the axle and you set the gauge to a point anywhere and spin it slowly checking various points around the shoe diameter.There is also another part to the kit that measures the drum and compares it to the shoe diameter you have set.It was made in the USA by Shepard Thomason Co.Not sure what it is called but i use it every time i set up brakes with and offset cam arrangement ie my old Mack and CMP.It turned out when the lower cams were in their neutral position the shoes were perfectly concentric on the Chev.

[John Stokes]

Originally Posted by cliff

looking good John. It is nice to see all the hard work you guys put into restoring your vehicles.

It's not so much the hard work Cliff It's the time management that is my biggest problem.Two young daughters and wife need attention not to mention the earthmoving business.Thank you for taking the time out to check out the progress of our latest reto.I finished a 1971 falcon not 12 months ago, I'm enjoying the CMP a lot more as you don't have to spend hours sourcing and paying a small fortune for original parts.I will keep posting progress shots as they come to hand.

[John Stokes]

I picked up the tyres today 12.00 x 20 Dunlops.Dummy fitted one to the rear they look huge standing around 45 inches tall.The wife is worried she cant climb up into it when finished.Hopefully by the end of the weekend i will have a rolling chasis again fingers crossed and hours of work ahead.

[John Stokes]

Hi All,
Well its Sunday night and the Chev is almost rolling.All the brakes,hubs,etc are back on and all is coming along nicely.I would say you have to be dedicated to wrestle with those brake,hub assemblies when checking for correct bearing tension on the front axle.A couple of new brake lines for the front and mount the master cylinder this week and the old girl will have brakes again.Another run around with the spray gun,wheels on,then its time to concentrate on getting the engine and gear box sorted.In the mean time i am sorting out the cab etc more sandblasting,rust patches welded in etc. I'm pretty sure I'm not telling you guys and girls anything new as by the look of the other forums we are all in the same boat.More to come later.The white C60s is my cruiser,well i had a few beers last sunday and thought it would be a good idea if i took a mate of mine for a spin around the block (no brakes) All went well until we ran out of fuel and had to call the wife for a tow.All she asked was where are you? and hung up.A few minutes later arrives the Toyota with chain and wife! well you can guess the rest.(NOT HAPPY WITH ME) oh well that was last week.She is happy i worked on CMP not drove one this week.

[Stuart Kirkham]

Great stuff John. Keep this thread rolling along as we all love a good restoration

BTW, those 12.00 x 20 tyres...are they the same as the Army Unimogs as the tread pattern looks similar?

[John Stokes]

Got home a bit late so not a lot done only fitted up the winch.Because its a C15A wireless van it didn't come out with a winch.We use the original plates and bearings that came out of one of the C60s i wrecked that was too far gone.We let the left hand side plate into the chasis by 6mm so it formed a box section.The right hand side was fabricated so it fitted between the top and bottom rails and bolted.Very neat and accurate job if i can say that without boasting.The tyres i am not sure but they came from the army as new old stock could be unimogs but nut sure.Dunlop Australian made if that helps.I will post a picture of the old C60 i wrecked for parts.The one with the round counter weight is the Chev the other is a Ford F60 with a very rusted side valve.

[John Stokes]

Rain sent me home early today so straight into the shed to work on the C15A.I installed the kit into the NOS master cylinder and fitted the remaining pipes and hoses.Filling the master cylinder with fluid and a bleed here and there it was all good news. I removed the tie rod ends and cleaned the threads and adjusted the toe in something wasn't right.It seemed not to have enough turning angle.I thought about it for a while as i disconnected the drag link from the RHS hub still not the same as the left side.Then the penny dropped the backing plate retaining bolts were fowling on the knuckle.Pulled the drum off shortened the bolts and everything is fine.Not sure if this was always like this or i had lost the shot bolts.The old saying comes to mind check,check,then double check.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi John

Looks like you are making very good progress, as you will probably remember the area around the master cylinder gets crowed with brake lines, fuel line, wiring harness, battery cable and the speedo cable. It also gets very hard to work in once the engine is place.

So now is a good time to get the routing for each of these figured out and locations for all the cable/tube clamps located and sorted out. Consider putting all of the cables and lines in place even if you just put the clamps in place loosely.

I mention this as I had major problems with my Pattern 12 when the speedo shorted out on the brake light switch lugs. Burned out the speedo cable, battery cable, wiring harness, and almost through the RUBBER fuel line, about the fuel line be sure to run steel through this area. Cause for all the problems was that I didn’t have all the locating clamps in place on the speedo cable.

Cheers Phil

[Howard]

Originally Posted by John Stokes

....I finished a 1971 falcon not 12 months ago, I'm enjoying the CMP a lot more as you don't have to spend hours sourcing and paying a small fortune for original parts....

John,
How's about a pic of the falcon?
I have a '73 Fairmont awaiting the loving hand, after the F15!
(PS be aware that Falcons have been called 'ugly' on this forum before...)
HH

[John Stokes]

Thanks for the advise Phil i will take it as it all makes good sence to me.Where do the speedo clamps go if you can recall ?

[John Stokes]

Hi Howard,I will post a couple pictures but the Blitz is the flavor of the month.Keeping in mind this took two and a half years and 3 jobs at a time to pay for it! That is why i say i am happy to do the C15A more realistic.Image 001 is not shown you will have to open it.

[John Stokes]

Hi all, just a quick update on the progress of my C15A restoration.Took it out of the shed today and installed the 235. I still have a long way before she is fired up but at least it's in and looks like it's ready for action.The new water pump and acc will arrive this week and hopefully i will have some spare time to get it all on.The radiator is going for a clean up and test tomorrow and i'm hoping it will be given a clear bill of health.I still am yet to order a loom and need to do that also.I also pulled the gear box apart today and out of three of the am able to put a realy good one together with the usual new seals and bearings.Feel free to offer advise as i am going off the trucks in my yard and a manual so all the help i can get is welcome. John Stokes

[Bob Carriere]

Hi John

Nice job your doing...... watch the water pump/fan clearance with the stock radiator..... you may have to consider an "hey-Daptor" plate to install an older 216 pump.....

Let us know if you get stuck.... a few of us have been down that snarly path and can give advice......

Boob

[John Stokes]

Hi Bob,I took the 235 out of another blitz and it had a different pulley/fan set up to the stock 216 pump.I have a new 216 water pump do i remove the pulley and use the same set up and install it on the new pump is that what you mean?and not use the big cast pulley.

[Bob Carriere]

Hi John

You were lucky that our 235 had already been modified with an older 216 pump.

Experience has shown that it is impossible to fit a 235 or 261 with the later original water pump...unless you want to cut stuff!!!! ... the original pump is lower in the block and the pump impeller of the original 235 pump is inside the block. Overall the original pump is about 2 inches too long and hits the radiator core. Also because the original pump is lower inside the block when installed in a CMP the lowered fan blades usually hit the lower radiator outlet....

So that major headache is resolved for you..... the only thing left for you to figure out is to match the size of the various pulleys.... the two critical ones are the size of the crankshaft pulley versus the size of the 216 pump pulley...... otherwise there is a chance you will spin the water pump toooooo fast which can cause cavitation and reduced water flow. The typical solution is to replace the modern 235 cranshaft harmonic balancer/pulley with the 216 size which is some what smaller in circumference so the similar belt speed is maintained.

The other consideration is matching the various belt size grooves from all the 3 pulleys..... some are 3/8 or 1/2 inch but the older pulleys may be 5/8 or even 7/8. Having matched the crank pulley to the pump pulley the odd one usually is the generator or alternator pulley.

I suspect... and hope... that in your case since the conversion was already done from a previous Blitz that it may have been taken care of.

Good source for spare wide pulleys and belts are you local or rural farm tractor shops since most still service older equipment and they sell belts by size and not be model/year/make and color of your car.

My tractor shop usually gives me 3 belts to try ....one over, one under and one the matching size I requested.... pay for one and return the others when you drive by...... try that at a typical Auto Parts store!!!!

Let us know how you make out..... and include pictures since most of us can't read too well!!!!

BooB

[John Stokes]

Hi Bob did you look at the two photos above of the water pumps that i have?The rusty one was on the Blitz and the new one i think is wrong unless i have to swap pully assy over.

[Bob Carriere]

Hi John

They both look very similar...but.....

Can you compared the casting serial numbers....

Do you have a picture of the backing plate..... are they similar....

It seems that they are similar except the rusted one the actual pulley is missing....

The four leaf clover thingie on the rusted pump is only the typical backing that allows the pulley and afn blade to bolt on.....

Part of the complications are that we have a variety of model available and even more variety of pulleys....... some early pumps (up to 1947 ) had bushing..later model ( more desirable) have actual bearings. Some have a moon crescent opening for the water some have one hole some have two holes...... pulley can be wide....double grooved.... deep or shallow dish configuration....

It would be relatively easy with a gear pulley to remove the new pulley and transplant on the rusted one..... or lay them flat on the table and check the overall height...... if the same obviously use the new one. Try doing a trial assembly and see, susing s traight edge, if the pulley grooves line up.

The only concerns I would have about the new pump ...would be to compare the new pulley size to another blitz with an original 216 engine pump configuration.

Have you categorically identified the year of Manufacturing of your 235.... it may be an early cross over model that still had the older 216 pump... in which case you are all set....

By the way.... these old pump are very easy to rebuild and kits are always surfacing on Ebay.

will try to post some pictures of pumps on the weekend..

Boob

[John Stokes]

No problems Bob all sorted it's a 1955 model and yes it does use the old 216 pump so i have checked all the dimensions and it will fit perfectly.I will post some pic after a saturdays work being today.

[John Stokes]

Hi All,Today i rebuilt the carby,fitted up the winch handbrake assy and best of all fitted the gearbox i had rebuilt after work each night during the week.All went together like a dream and best of all i have all 4 gears and 1 reverse.I visited a place in Surrey hills called Power Train Products as most of you have heard of.There Brett the third generation manager helped me no end to find new gears and parts for the gearbox i was to rebuild.Just to give you an idea i asked Brett how many new input shafts he had on the shelf which his answer there were 8 left.Very helpful indeed i wish new old stock parts were that easy to come by.With the shifter being sloppy all i had to do was tap out the locating pins at the top 5/16 x 3/16 turn up some new ones out of 5/16 silver steel and 680 locktite the 3/16 dia back into the housing good as new.Tomorrow i will clean the tx box and prepare it for bearings and seals and what ever else it needs,also i hope to put all the bolt on parts back on the engine ready to fire when the radiator returns from it's makeover next week.Thanks for all the assistance for my rebuild,this forum is very helpful indeed. John Stokes

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by John Stokes

...Thanks for all the assistance for my rebuild,this forum is very helpful indeed. John Stokes

We can be grumpier and more surly if you prefer.

BTW, the only Australian car most North Americans recognize is the Mad Max 2-door muscle car. For your sake, is that the one?

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

XY GT? Nice!

[Keith Webb]

Originally Posted by David_Hayward

XY GT? Nice!

CMP = even NICER

[Howard]

Originally Posted by John Stokes

...Keeping in mind this took two and a half years and 3 jobs at a time to pay for it! That is why i say i am happy to do the C15A more realistic...

Yeah, I know. The XA is going to take a LOT of work. Well done with the GT! I bet it sounds even better than it looks!!!!!

[Howard]

Originally Posted by maple_leaf_eh

...the only Australian car most North Americans recognize is the Mad Max 2-door muscle car...

I would give my first born & throw in the Wife for one of these... Problem is the Yanks are buying all of the good ones & shipping them away!

Ever wanted to 'boof' a car before?

[malcolm erik bogaert]

if your still looking for the correct fairleads..I know a chap in Dalbeatie who has some in the yard..postahe however would be expensive...PM me if any interest for his number regards malcolm

[John Stokes]

Thanks mal,
Euan has lent me a full set of rear fairleads to reproduce i'm in the process of gathering all the steel at the moment.This is an easier job now that China has backed off our steel deposits (maybe crossing the line with that comment).As for the GT attraction all good till you take them out in public then you find a heap of new mates with a heap of questions.A mate has an XB GT hard top yellow as well thats a good site to see the two going down the road.I took mine up to the tank museum at Puckapunial on sunday for a dusting off worth every part of the $60 of premium she drank,Hope the Chev is kinder on the wallet.