Desotodav

Thanks Dan. You folk didn't get trucks like ours over there in USA. I believe that you call them mono-body trucks over there. We call this style 'coupe' truck because of the roof line. I wondered the same about the chassis cracks Jeff and Dave. I suppose that's I have no problem accepting those cracks when you consider that this truck spent many years driving through rough terrain (bush land) whilst the occupants shot pigs and kangaroos. I'm sure there was plenty of frame flex involved there! I had some time to spare today, so I spent it wisely down at the shed. I decided to move into one of our larger family sheds for this truck restoration project as I struggled for room in the shed which I restored my blue 52 in. The shed that I am in at present (in your talk) is about 42 x 65 feet. We painted the floors in workshop grey paint as they are much easier to keep clean that way. I'm glad that our WH&S Officer wasn't hanging around today as I'm sure that I did a thing (or two) that wouldn't have complied with safety procedures. I installed the outriggers in my truck trolley and now have the truck body sitting on that trolley. I may end up pulling the engine out over the weekend (between work shifts) and then I will give the whole lot a good high pressure hot water blast with the 'Spitwater' blaster.

I spent a bit more time down at the shed today working on the Pop truck. I may look at either removing the engine or lifting off the body tomorrow. Today, I removed the gearbox and the steering column, disconnected and labelled wiring, and cleaned up a heap of other things. I found a couple of unexpected cracks on both sides of the chassis near the front cross member that will need some extra welding down the track (see photos). It looks like the PO had a go at repairing the crack on the left side at some stage. I recall fixing a similar problem on the blue 52 truck. I have the support braces out of the hoods ready for sandblasting. I'm hoping to disassemble the guards/nosecone as soon as I get some penetrating spray to make the job with the rusty bolts easier - I'm going to try a product called 'Rust Off' which is said to be like the PB Blaster that you guys get in USA. I'll clean up the the steering box in the morning before heading back down to the shed. I must say that I was surprised at how easy the steering wheel came off - no puller required! The steering box on this truck is much longer than the previous one - I'll post photos when it's cleaner.

Maybe there's a message in that there dream PP? I'm thinking that it means that the patina paint on the 'Phoenix' truck will be replaced with a yellow lower section and a white roof, red wheels, gold tailgate lettering (with tassels?)... I think that about covers it oops... my Scotch glass seems empty again!

I suppose that you could say that the steering box in my blue 52 truck is located directly down from the throttle linkage. There is a cross steering arrangement Jeff, with a tie rod connecting from the pitman arm to the steering knuckle on the left side wheel. It is difficult working on anything on that side of the truck (the 'busy' side) as one has to contend with the exhaust, brake master cylinder (mounted between chassis rail) and the steering box. There was not a lot of difference between our B and C series trucks (unlike the radical changes seen in your models in USA), which results in them having the same limited room on the right 'busy' side. Merle, I'll have to see if I can locate the section that I read saying that the steering was changed for driver comfort - I suspect it was in my 'C' series Bunn book. The motor capacity increased between the models, and all truck motors that I have come across over here appear to be 25" long.

Thanks Andy. I picked up a fault in my last post and rectified it. The earlier trucks here had a more upright steering column that was mounted by a bracket under the dash (see photo of my blue 52 truck) and ran through the floor of the cab, but the later models had the steering box angle lessened by moving the steering box closer to the front of the truck and the steering column went through the dash area and then through the firewall (see 2nd photo attached) - I read somewhere that this engineering concept was supposed to increase driver comfort.

I had not really considered the differences in steering between our trucks Jeff. Our right-hand drive vehicles would certainly be a different setup from what you guys are use to there in USA. I've attached a few more photos, but it may be easier to see down the track when I've removed all of the crud build up from the truck sitting in a paddock for so many years. I didn't get anything done on the truck today as I chose to spend 'Mothers Day' with my Mum. I hope to get a bit more truck work done later next week. Our trucks here in Oz received a "face lift" (according to my truck manual/s) to the 'C' series around 1954. The 53 'Pop' truck which I am working was one of the later 'B' series trucks which was factory built with a 12V Lucas electrical system, a different dash/instrument setup, and it also received the through-dash steering setup (rather than the under-dash setup from earlier trucks) - which made for an improved steering angle as it had the steering box situated further towards the front of the truck.

I agree with you Jeff that it can be 'therapeutic' working on such a project, but I hope Dad isn't listening too hard to the words that I have been uttering during the process so far! Why is it that there is always only 1 nut or bolt that won't budge and has to be forcefully removed? What a lovely thought to spread your parent's ashes at Big Spur - I can say that I have been there recently and it truly is a lovely place. I made a little more progress on the 'Pop' truck in that I now have the front clip removed (apologies for poor quality of photos as it was dark at the time). I plan on disassembling the front clip so that the whole front section (including hood) can go to be sandblasted, and they will then go to be painted in 2-pac primer before being beaten back into shape. My next plan involves removing the engine and gearbox, and then the truck body. The body removal is a little more difficult than your trucks in other parts of the world as we have what you call a 'mono-body'. I plan to have the rolling chassis completed as soon as possible as I already have a running motor, gearbox, front brakes etc (thanks again lloydiie) to install. The front axle will need to be replaced with a spare that I have in my shed as the blocks that it was sitting on in the paddock for many years had sunk into the ground.

Looking good DD. Can't wait to see your old truck up and running again - it's been a while now!

Seems to be quite a common thing with these old trucks!

Thanks again for the kind thoughts guys. I take it that you fella's don't call them 'Panel Beaters' in USA - that is the term that we use for those in that occupation here in Oz. Although, I have found that the difference between panel beating and panel restoration here is about $70 per hour!

Matthew , best to get a good quality one rather that the cheep one that was installed in my engine (during rebuild) that started leaking after about 1600 miles. The good ones have both felt and leather in them. I wish I would have taken a photo of the good seal before I pressed it into the timing chain cover plate - the cheep seal that was removed is to the right of photo (attached). I'm not sure what they are worth in your part of the world but mine cost something like $35 here in Oz.

Thanks for the kind words (and thoughts) guys. We struggle with the passing of my father as there was only 31 hours between his diagnosis and his passing. We take comfort in knowing that his suffering was brief, and know now that he is now at piece (with my brother) in a better place. I dropped in to see my sand blaster yesterday and he advised that I would have to remove the hood support braces before he would blast my truck hood. I set to work this afternoon and removed the support braces from one side of the hood by unpicking the factory spot welds. My panel beater will weld them back in before the truck is painted. I gave the hood a light sand with a sanding disc. There's plenty of surface rust but the metal underneath looks alright. I'm now thinking that the truck use to be grey and had red undercoat...

Today marked a big day for my family, as today was the day that we relocated my 1953 Dodge (Australian) coupe truck to our other shed for a complete body-off restoration. I plan to document that restoration for all here to view, learn, and offer assistance as the need arises. The project is planned as an original restoration which will take place over the next couple of years with similar attention to detail as my previous restoration project (my 52 blue Desoto truck). I picked this truck up with my late Dad back in March 2009 from a town called Tara, which is located around just under 4 hours west of my place - I live on the east coast of Australia (near the capital city of Brisbane, Queensland). I had planned on starting this restoration project a couple of years back but life seemed to keep getting in my way and the project was put on hold until now. I do not know much on the history of this truck apart from the fact that it was owned by the family of the previous owner for many years and was mostly used as a wild boar and kangaroo hunting/shooting vehicle. The truck had racks fitted, which stretched from the front to the back of the vehicle, in order to carry those culled animals (which I was told were generally destined for export to Germany). The overall condition of the vehicle was good, apart from a lot of surface rust and the stench of rats! I had initially thought of an appropriate name for this truck a few years back, but have most recently decided to name this truck 'Pop' after my dear old Dad who passed away tragically last week after a very short battle with cancer. Please enjoy this topic and feel free to offer comment, words of encouragement, or advice at anytime.

I agree with you there Mr Bill. My 1/2 - 9/16 spanner became my favorite tool when I started working on my old trucks. I reckon that it will be worn out quicker than any of the other tools in my toolbox!

I've found that the hot rivets are still hard to push through after grinding the heads off, possibly as they are tapered (and red hot) when initially inserted making them a tight fit. I've found it easier to drill a reasonable sized pilot hole through center of the rivet/s (to enable them to compress in the center a little) when punching them out, which in-turn has made them easier to push out. Definitely use hardened bolts when re-installing the mounts.

I'm sure that Tim said in a previous post that 'staring' at your truck and 'dreaming' counted as well !!

I couldn't find too much work to do on my blue truck, so I installed a wooden clothes pin to the fuel line an drove to a local car show. It didn't take too long before someone asked me to explain the wooden clothes pin - who's to say whether it's effective or not in stopping fuel vaporizing?... it's still a good conversation point!

I came across another Dodge truck tee shirt whilst surfing the web tonight - cool hey ... http://laidbackusa.com/products-page/product-category/flag-dodge-truck-mens-chill-t-shirt/

Looking good Mark. You must just about be done on the FEF truck now hey?

I love the color and style of your convertible Bob. Hank, Rod (RodFru) and I checked out a similar but earlier convertible in a fella's private collection while I was over there recently in CA. I'm more of a truck guy, but I have to admit that those early MOPAR cream-colored convertible's sure take my fancy!

See if you can find a left-side door lock mechanism over here in Australia. Jeff recently fitted one (that I sent over to him) to his truck with minimal effort. Truck mechanisms are different to car ones though.

I now have replacement door latch spring sets available for our trucks. I had them made a while back to the original specifications (but in stainless). I found a number of springs in my old door latches were broken due to rust, which is the reason why I had these new springs made in stainless steel. I also had a limited number of gear shift lever return springs made in both galvanized and normal spring wire - 'return spring' 19-46-10 part # 1139 634. I can be contacted via PM for those who are interested.

Interesting info Tod as that explains the difference in ratings at the pumps. So I am running my truck on what would be about 93 octane rating in USA. Still way too expensive here in Oz IMO.

I was surprised on my recent trip to California that our fuel octane ratings here in Oz are much higher than over there. Our low rated ethanol-based fuel has a 91 octane rating, and the other fuels have 95 and 98 ratings. I find that the lower rated fuel will go stale within a few weeks of sitting in the fuel tank, so I now run my 52 truck on the 98 rated fuel. I guess the real solution is that I should drive my truck more often! We are paying around $1.80 per liter for 98 rated fuel at present, which (using the formula 1 US gal = 3.78541 liters) equates to around $6.81 per gallon in USA talk.

I didn't know that you were that close to the event Mr Bill - would have enjoyed meeting up with you as well. We (Hank and I) got the idea to visit the woodie show from a post that Charles made a while back. We were very pleased to meet Charles at the event and to check out his truck. There was only really his and Tom's woodie trucks there. There was a really cool Ford woodie truck there as well, which I heard the owner mention that he couldn't afford a woodie truck so he made his own - the photos in the album in the back of his truck verified his statement.