Hi all.
Don't have a great deal to show for the time I've spent on the restoration lately, but the things I'm working on seem to throw up lots of little side jobs that have to be done first.
My plan was to strip back, prime and paint the driver's side chassis rail so I could refit all the front air lines. Then I could refit the radiator and have it to a point where I could start and move it around the paddock.
It didn't turn out to be that simple. To clean the chassis rail, I had to remove the air, brake and fuel lines from that side rail.
To do that, I had to get at a bolt through a bracket that held the air line up. To get at that I had to remove the starter motor.
That was fairly easy. Unfortunately, when I got it off, I found the clutch slave cylinder above it had been leaking for ages and made a real mess of the starter.
The alloy cap that tropic-proofs the end was almost furry. The steel body was all blistered and rusted.
I started by covering the opening and taping over the plastic end on the solenoid, then I carefully sand blasted it. I was really surprised how well it came out.
After that, it was degreased and etch-primed.
That's where I'm up to know with it as I think I should paint it for better protection, but I'm not sure what with. I was thinking maybe a high-temp engine and exhaust paint might be the thing.
I don't know if it actually gets very hot, but I thought it might stand up to any new brake fluid leaks I get after I put the new clutch slave cylinder in. What do you all think?
I now have all the pipes and hoses out of the way, so the next job is wire-wheeling or sand-blasting the inside of the chassis rail. Once its cleaned back, I can etch prime it then give it a coat of chassis black.
As this has bitumen in it, you can't really paint over it, so the inside of the rails will stay black. The outside, top and bottom will be primed and painted camo green to stay in character.
The main reason for the chassis black inside the rails is that its a lot easier to repaint the outside, but there is a lot of stuff to remove to do the inside and I hope to never have to do it again.
I finally got the spare wheel holder plate and hoist finished. I can't find the Before pic, but it was pretty rough.
It's looking serviceable now, but you can see the deep pitting from the chemicals and rust. Now I just need a crank handle and I could refit the spare wheel carrier.
Anyway, that can wait until I'm finished under the front section. I don't need more things to belt my head into.
Now for some good news. John, (Bush Man), has managed to score some brand new, never in service, mufflers for the MK3/4, F1 & F2 trucks.
These mufflers will only fit if your truck has the dual pipes from the manifold. These mufflers would have to be pretty rare now, and he has done a great job of acquiring them for us, considering he doesn't even own a truck that they would fit.
As you can see, these are definitely the genuine article. One of them was still wrapped in the original hessian and many have the NSN number written on them.
If any forum members need one of these for their truck, PM John, (Bush Man).
If you are looking at having them freighted interstate, the measurements you need to calculate freight are: 860 long by 220wide/high.
The muffler, without any packing, weighs 12kg exactly.
I don't know anyone from Tassy that will be going to Corowa this year, but there's a chance some of the guys from the Defence Heritage Transport Tasmania group might be going, so I'll find out in case they can take a few over.
Greg.
