Building a clone of grandpa's service truck

Nice early X-mass present !

Wow Damon.

You have managed to buy another spare parts fire truck. What an energy you must have to get all this work done wich is great. I love these old fire trucks but understand its gonna be a lot of work to take here a part.

Good luck with the truck.

By the way .My son and i went to a smaller airfield down south here in Norway this week observing and checked out a 1975 model Chessna 310 R Bearcat 2 engine airplain wich he now has bought. He has to cover here up for the winter before removing the wings and engines to take here home next spring.

A creazy idea but much posseble

 

Damon

P.M. sent .

I forgot to mention : old lamps that say " STOP " as the one I had on the back of my '49 3100 , wasn't returned like the butthole who bought it said he would...

He also stole my pristine 1972 Pasadena Gardener's License Plate , like I'll ever find another .

He doesn't see any value to these and other things he stole , I bet they all went in the dang TRASH .

Anyways , when you're rooting 'round in the milk crates and crumbling , greasy cardboard boxes and thinking " he couldn't possibly want that " ~ that's prolly *exactly* the typ of thing I'm proud to put on my truck .

 

Martinius,

Sometimes I bite off more than I can chew... but as the old saying says, "Bite of more than you can chew, and chew it well." Kinda like... how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Occasionally I'll think to myself, "Self... you have too many projects going... stop working on 10 things and get ONE done." But those thoughts rarely last very long. I enjoy all of these projects, after all, that's what hobbies are for, right? That's a very cool airplane. I've thought about trying to get my pilot's license, but that's something that will definitely have to wait until I have a few less irons in the fire.

Nate,

Return message sent. I think I might have something that's right up your alley.

Damon

 

Ok, last fire truck picture for a while, I promise. Then it's back on task with the '50 Chevy. I got the fire truck home, and after some tinkering, got the hydraulics for the aerial ladder working. The truck still doesn't have brakes, but that should be remedied after I finish my Christmas shopping. I will be sending the master cylinder off to get rebuilt, and I'll be buying a remanufactured HydroVac to take the place of the old unit. If you're interested, I'll keep you posted on that project, too. Here's a quick shot I took the morning I got the hydraulics working... it was cold and foggy out.



I didn't have the outriggers down, so I didn't stretch the ladder out or try the turntable that morning. However, I've since dropped the outriggers and tested the extension and rotation of the ladder. Those functions work as well. I still need to find a faulty switch or solenoid that is playing games with the high idle feature. When the operator manipulates the controls for the ladder, the engine is supposed to go to high idle to speed up the ladder's operation. Something is dirty or corroded and the high idle only works when it wants to.

ANYWAY........... back to the Chevy. After speaking with Jim a while back, and explaining to him my oil pan dilemma, he offered up an oil pan on a spare engine he has sitting in his barn. I went over to look at it this past weekend. Whaddaya know... it's in WAY better condition than any of the 235 pans I have. So... we yanked it off his spare engine, cleaned it up, and pulled the oil sump pick-up off of the pump. While I was replacing his good pan with one of mine, Jim banged out the few dents and dings his spare pan had. I'm excited to be prepping for another stage of engine assembly. I think after I get the pan stripped of paint and the oil sump cleaned up, I'll install the new oil pump with the cleaned pick-up, install the oil pan, and finish stripping the exterior rust from the 235. Then I should be ready for paint, and I can drop the engine onto the frame.

It's time for this project to build steam once again.

Damon

 

Looking foreward to that !

Thanks fore sharing the photos and story behing the fire truck . Its a kinda long term project. Looking foreward to follow the progress on your chevy truck aswell . Wish you a nice X-mass Martinius.

 

I really enjoy reading all of your posts on the service truck or fire truck. Keep them coming.

 

Fascinating !

Are the fire truck pix & commentary , keep 'em coming please .

I hope you take the time to test both the new and the old oil pumps before choosing one as the new Melling ones kinda suck mostly .

You're looking for a pump that'll gush volume when spun by hand with a coat hanger in an old hand drill ~ not one that seems O.K. when your 20,000 RPM DeWlat drill spins it . oil pressure isn't important in these 1940's tech engines , volume is .

This is really important .

After you get one chosen , fill it with thik oil , like gear oil so after it's been sitting a while it'll still prime up quickly as you're grinding the starter away....

90 + % of all engine wear occurs at startup so having an oil pump that works well at low speeds is critical .

 

I'll keep the old truck porn (whether it's fire truck or Chevrolet...) coming at you guys, since you all seem to enjoy it.

Thanks for the advice on the oil pump, Nate. I must admit I wouldn't have thought of that on my own... and probably would have blindly installed the new pump, simply because it is a new part. I have two or three old pumps I can test, along with the new one I received in the rebuild kit. I'll use whichever pump passes the mustard.

Damon

 

Oil Pump Service

FWIW ;

Many times you can easily rebuild it , either by mixing and matching the gears to the case (since you have several) or , when the end cover is full of circular wear grooves , by hand polishing it flay again on a bit of polished granite or glass , using valve grinding paste .

The gear to case side clearance is miniscule .

This works on most all brands oil pumps , I've never encountered a worn out 235 pump yet .

 

Ok, I have a mini-update for you guys, with a few questions as well (of course).

First off, I've been prepping the 235's oil pan and sump pick-up for installation onto the engine. I've wire-wheeled nearly the entire pan to remove old paint and a little surface rust. After getting a better look at what I'm working with, I've found a few more small dents and dings I'd like to remove. Jim also recommended ensuring the mating surface of the pan to the gasket is also flat, as sometimes the fasteners were over-torqued, causing high spots on the top lip of the pan, which may lead to leaks. Makes perfect sense to me, so I'm gonna do that as well. My first question is: Do you recommend installing the pan, then painting everything at the same time? Or... paint the pan separate, then install it? I don't see a reason to paint the gasket mating surface, but if you guys recommend I do that, then I will.

Second, I want to ensure that the oil sump pick-up is as clean as it can be. Even after soaking it in several solvents (including in a parts washer), I still get some gunk out of it. Can someone please recommend a thorough way to get all of the nasties out of the pick-up before it's installed? The last thing I want to do is ruin a new engine with dirty oil and bits of gunk.

After those two jobs are done, I'll be ready to test my oil pumps to determine which one I'm going to use in the engine. After the pan and sump pick-up are installed, I should be ready to paint the block. I'm looking forward to that!!!

Next, the crew finally showed up to begin construction on my garage addition. It's a pole barn that I'm attaching to my existing garage. After the addition is up, I'm going to open up the wall of the existing garage and be able to move back and forth between the buildings. Unfortunately, it's colder than a witch's +!+ right now, so I'll have to wait until spring to pour the concrete floor of the addition. Construction is going well so far, and the crew anticipates being finished sometime in the next week or so.

Finally, there's been another addition made to my fleet of old trucks. The day before the first big snow storm hit us here in the mid-west, I brought home another fire engine. This one is original to my department, and it holds quite a bit of sentimental value. The rig is a 1964 American LaFrance pumper truck, with a capacity to move 1,000 gallons of water per minute. Years ago, my dad's favorite job was being assigned to drive this engine. In fact, as the senior fireman on his shift, he always chose that assignment first. I became good friends with the previous owner several years ago when I found out who had purchased this rig (a former fire chief's son). He lives in the Chicago area and invited me to come up every summer to travel with him to a fire engine rally held down town every year. I can sure understand why my dad enjoyed driving that rig! Big Continental Red Seal straight-six engine, non-synchronized manual transmission... it sure keeps you busy! Anyway, when my dad passed away, the firemen set-up a little surprise for us. As the funeral procession passed the fire station, they had this rig (Engine 4) sitting out on the front apron, idling with the emergency lights on and his fire coat hanging on the door for his last alarm. It was a very touching surprise.

Anyway, that gives you an idea of what's going on right now (sound like enough, Zig? ). The garage addition is primarily being built to house the new pumper truck, but I will also move my parts storage shelves (both fire truck and Chevy AD) to the new building after the concrete is poured. I'll try to get some photos posted soon.

Damon

 

Paint work and cleaning old oil sludge

Hey Damon

I would recommend to paint the pan before installing it , try out if it fits well before doing that. Take away the high spots at the mating surface. Have a pan closing bolt with magnet in the bottem hole.

Its posseble to pour ready mixed concrete even if its winter ! There are spesial winter concrete/cement mixes fore areas with cold climates ( i know) . You could ask your cement supplier about your options.

Cleaning the oil sump pickup ; Have it in diesel some days and blow the shit out with a pressure air gun that will do the trick. Dont worry about your engine.


martinius.

 

Here are a few photos, as promised. Not much new to report, unfortunately. I'm still working on cleaning up the oil pan and the sump pick-up. I also chose the best-condition timing cover plate on hand and started cleaning it up as well. You eagle-eyed AD'ers will notice that the engine mount holes are missing. This plate came from the power glide car engine I picked up to rebuild, so I will have to drill those later. Still plenty of cleaning to do on all of the parts, but they look better than they did when I started! I started with some aircraft paint stripper, then wire-wheeled everything, then took the residue off with some enamel reducer. Next step will be some EvapoRust I think.



Here's a shot I took this evening after the work crew was finished for the day. The posts, trusses, purlins were all in place this morning. They finished up the girts today, then installed the roof on the addition, then put the roof on the existing garage. It needed done anyway, so I figured I'd just have a steel roof installed to match the big addition. I'm on duty tomorrow, so I'm hoping when I get home Wednesday morning I'll see some tin on the walls.



And for you old truck porn fans, a little eye-candy for your viewing pleasure... hahaha!! Here's a shot of Engine 4, the "new" fire engine I just added to the fleet. Sure happy to have her home. The engine (a Continental Red Seal straight-six) sounds great. I just need to figure out the coolant leak/overheating issue.



That's all for now. Trying to keep an eye on the construction crew and work a little in the garage on the 235 here and there. Hopefully the addition will be wrapped up by the end of the week.

Damon

 

Damon this is awesome! I would love to have a shop like that. Maybe someday I can swing one And that fire truck is just too cool! I don't know what I would do with one, but man I want one!!! Thanks for the pics

 

! Porn !

Garage porn , old truck porn , FIRETRUCK PORN even ! .

It doesn't get much better than this .

I like the all weather cab on that rig .

Too bad I'll never have a garage to work in , at least I'm where it's mostly O.K. to work outside all year 'round .

 

I've been really busy the past few days, and I haven't even had time to take photos of the shop-building progress that the crew is making. Fortunately, my Ma stopped by my place while I'm on duty today and sent me a picture from her phone:



Looks like it's getting pretty close to being done. I thought I ordered a few windows... I need to check on that before the deal is done. Looks like they were able to do a little dirt work in front of the shop, and on the east side of it as well. I'm still gonna have quite a bit of fill to bring in I'm sure.

It won't be long and the fire engine will be inside, and I'll be able to get back to work more steadily on the Sinclair Chevy project. In an effort to get more work done on the pick-up, I'm going to try to move all of the bits and pieces of the truck to my place. I think if I'm constantly looking at it, I'll be more motivated to make progress on the project.

That's it for now, unfortunately. I'll wait until the building is done to post another picture or two.

Damon

 

Looking good Damon. You planning on putting a loft in the new shop for storage?

 

Definitely planning some over-head storage, but I don't have a specific plan as of yet. I've seen shops that have a stairway going to a loft, like you mention... and I've seen shops that have 2X4 framing covered with plywood anchored to the walls with chains and turnbuckles supporting them from above. Not sure exactly which route I'm going to take yet. I'm going to have quite a bit of space at the top of the walls, and I'd like to use as much of it as I can to minimize how much floor space is utilized for storage.

Which option did you choose with your shop/garage? I'm open to any and all ideas at this point... Thanks in advance!

Damon

 

Back in the mid 90's I had a 30 x 40 "Lester" building built (pole building very similar to yours) and I then designed and installed a loft in the back of it. It had a stairway and the loft was 10 ft x 30 ft. I basically kept everything small enough for a man to carry up on the loft, which kept the main floor area uncluttered.









Fast forward to today, I had a 30 x 40 outbuilding built and then I did all the interior framing. It has an enclosed loft with a pull down ladder, and lofts at the far end. I have a 4 post lift that has rollers on the legs that I use to put heavy stuff up on the lofts.









Hope that helps. If you would like some more photo's of the pole barn loft I can scan some old photo's and post them up here later in the week.

John

 

John,

Thanks for all of the information, lots of super ideas to choose from! More pictures would be great, if you have the time. If you want, just e-mail them to me. My address is "my thread ID name" @gmail.com (no spaces, of course). What are/were your sidewall heights? Mine is 16', so that should give me plenty of height I would think.

Thanks again!

Damon

 

Back to work!

Once again, it's been a while since this thread has been updated. I suppose that's largely due to the fact I haven't worked on the truck for a while.

Now that the shop is up, I'm easing myself back into working on the project. This past weekend I was able to hook up the "new" air compressor and blasting cabinet, so tonight I put the 235's oil pan in the cabinet and cleaned it up. In getting the old paint and crud removed, I found a couple more dents I'd like to bang out before I prime and paint it.

The engine's oil sump pick-up has been soaking in various solvents off and on for a couple months, and I'm still getting a little gunk out of it. I kinda forgot about it and left it outside in a plastic container soaking in gasoline, when we got yet another snow storm. Needless to say the moisture displaced the gas, and the sump has some flash rust on it. It's now soaking in some Evapo-Rust.

The goals for tomorrow are:

1. To ensure the sump is cleaned of all gunk and flash rust.
2. Finish blasting the oil pan and get it rinsed clean of abrasive.
3. Prime the oil pan.
4. Test oil pumps until I find one I like.
5. Install the oil pump and the sump pick-up.
6. Install the primed oil pan.
7. Maybe fill the engine with oil.

I'm anxious to get the pump installed and test the oiling system to make sure oil is getting to the top of the engine. I just don't want to get in a hurry and forget something.

I'm also going to try to snap a couple photos of the progress on the project, as well as of the shop add-on. If I can get half of this stuff done tomorrow, I'll be tickled pink.

Thanks to Paul, Mike, and Bill for sharing the progress with their projects and/or "new" trucks. Ya really lit a fire under me!

Damon