restoration Dodge VC3 restoration

There are some NOS temperature gauges about, but they don't all work

I remember trying three at a dealers to find on that works. The Plymouth car / truck people have a page on how to rework / replace the sender tube but never done it myself. I did think I'd take a broken original, then just cut up one of those new jeep / Dodge repro gauges for bulb and tube.

Might have a bit of VC manual news this week, wait and see ....:cheesy:

Hi Nick,

Thanks, I found a temperature gauge in the US and let it get reconditioned by Vintage Power Wagon.

It was not cheap... But as long as it works.

Have all gauges ready to install, just need to get the dashboard painted first.

Niek

After welding some new parts in the front mudguards ( Where the headlight mount is bolted on), some adjustments had to be made to fit the curve again. Now fits very nice again.

Next week we'll beat the panels in the right shape again.

The left front mudguard still shows traces of an impact and the contour line needs to be beaten in again. Then we can start to paint the front mudguards and give all mudguards a rubber protection coat.

Getting there Niek

I can now announce ( drum roll please ..... ) that I have not only all three of the VC manuals for the various production batches, but also the three matching parts lists.

This was difficult to achieve as the last batch was only a couple of hundred trucks so the manual and parts lists are correspondingly rare. I don't know anyone else at all who has all six of these, even Dennis at Portrayal only had five. Might be that Wally Wahlforth has a set.

Might seem no big deal, but even the 1943 Master Parts doesn't have everything in it, not sure for example it has all the part supercedence info, plus the original manuals have details about the pickup supplied to the Civilian Conservation Corps and the like.

I'm not interested in copying, reproducing, or selling them, but I can copy individual details for owners who need them when I get the time.

Managed to put another layer of primer on the dashboard. paint supplier switched colors (no we're not trying to paint it in navy grey :-D).

Gordon, what do the manuals / part lists say about the brush guard rods?

I'll have a look Niek, currently in Aberdeen and the manuals are in Falkirk. I know the Master Parts appears to show them as rods with flattened ends, but I know straight bars have also been seen.

The 1940 manuals aren't that great, but there is interesting detail on the front couple of pages, and having all three manuals side by side let's you check which pages were added and subtracted - for example ( and this is from memory - don't hold me to this )

1. The first manual is VC 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 - remembering here that the VC 6 prototype was in this batch but was just given an ordinary truck USA number.

2. The second manual is VC 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6, as the VC4s were already made, and this second batch included the production run of the VC 6 Carryalls. Therefore more pages than the first manual.

3. The third manual was just VC 1 and VC 5, as these were by far the most common variants, and my impression is that this batch was just a few hundred trucks to use up the leftover parts. Less pages than even the first manual I think, due to the reduced number of vehicle types covered.

My final parts list flew in from Argentina, reinforcing that detail I saw some time back about a bunch of VC 1 Command cars going there. Just wish I could remember where I saw that.

Anyway - back to your excellent restoration....

Great resto !, very well done.

Im looking forward to starting my first Military Vehicle resto next week.

Mark :-D

I believe i saw a picture of one a while back on the Dodge forum?

 

My final parts list flew in from Argentina, reinforcing that detail I saw some time back about a bunch of VC 1 Command cars going there. Just wish I could remember where I saw that.

 

Anyway - back to your excellent restoration....

Thanks, which Vehicle are you starting on? Be sure to make a restoration blog.

Great resto !, very well done.

 

Im looking forward to starting my first Military Vehicle resto next week.

 

Mark :-D

I believe i saw a picture of one a while back on the Dodge forum?

You may well be correct there.

I have seen details which said a batch of VC 1 went there but I really can't remember where. I'd forgotten about the photo though.

Got it - it was on the Just Old Trucks Forum' date=' courtesy of Bill Murray

http://forums.justoldtrucks.com/32169/Argentinas-trucks?PageIndex=1

Here is a photo of a T202 in Argentinian service with the Cavalry School in Cordova.

Bill

Gordon

I have 3 Universal carriers to start. Im selling one of them which is the most complete one to help fund the other 2. They are all British made 1941 Mortar carriers.

Mark :nut:

That's quite a project to start with :wow:. My father and grandfather started in 1979 with a jeep. They restored it fully only to find out at their first meeting that it was a Hotchkiss M201. They were dissapointed and sold it to buy a genuine Willys MB (and work started all over...). 35 years and a lot of vehicles later, we're here . Best of luck with your restoration.

Well, dashboard now painted OD.

will try to install some of the guages this week to see how it looks.

wiper motors and windscreen are ready for fitting.

Started to assemble the dashboard, gauges are all in place.

Although not connected yet, just was anxious to see how they would look :-) ...

Windshield wiper motors are also in place.

Also put the tailgate in primer and fitted it.

Gordon, do you happen to have any idea on the Date of Delivery of this VC3 or a guess according the VC list maybe?

Well, didn't do much last week. Went to the war and peace revival for a couple of days.

But work goes on, here are some pictures of the seat, ready to install but waiting for the cab liner to arrive.

Once that arrives we'll be able to complete the interior of the Dodge.

Front fenders are also almost ready.

Another thing which must be done is fitting and adapting the brushguard rods.

Well' date=' didn't do much last week. Went to the war and peace revival for a couple of days.

But work goes on, here are some pictures of the seat, ready to install but waiting for the cab liner to arrive.

Once that arrives we'll be able to complete the interior of the Dodge.

 

Front fenders are also almost ready.

Another thing which must be done is fitting and adapting the brushguard rods.[/quote']

 

Niek,

 

Here are some pictures of the bush guard rods that were original with my Dodge VF. As you can see, they are not flat but round shaped.

Not sure if the VC series had the same but the bush guard is identical.

 

 

A stunningly beautiful restoration! Well done chap, very well done indeed!

Gordon' date=' do you happen to have any idea on the Date of Delivery of this VC3 or a guess according the VC list maybe?[/quote']

 

Chassis number and USA number and I'll give it a try.

 

While I'm on. Is there any sign of heavy chassis repair? Welding of spring shackle mounts, or chassis cracks, have the front top of the chassis rails been plated where the bolts go for the end of the brush guard stays?

 

I reckon there was a production rebuild of a lot of VCs, during which they got chassis repair, front chassis reinforcement, standard WC front axle centre sections, and standard WC transmissions, but with the VC four wheel drive lockout system left on top/

 

Basically your truck is either original - not rebuilt - or it would have had the full rebuild as outlined above. The fact that your engine was replaced with a T223 tells me it was probably in service through the end of the war with the army.

Niek,

 

Here are some pictures of the bush guard rods that were original with my Dodge VF. As you can see, they are not flat but round shaped.

Not sure if the VC series had the same but the bush guard is identical.

 

Hi Bart,

Thanks for the pictures. Ernie O. gave me some pictures of VC's which appear to have the same bar shaped rods.

He thought that the round ones where factory ones and later on where replaced by sturdier bar ones.

He thought this was because the brushguard still vibrated when driving at higher speeds or off road which led to cracks.

I'm not sure yet if we're going to make a new pair or keep the ones that where on them. Under the several layers of paint on the bars, i did manage to find OD paint, meaning they must have been adapted during it's service time.

Chassis number and USA number and I'll give it a try.

 

While I'm on. Is there any sign of heavy chassis repair? Welding of spring shackle mounts, or chassis cracks, have the front top of the chassis rails been plated where the bolts go for the end of the brush guard stays?

 

I reckon there was a production rebuild of a lot of VCs, during which they got chassis repair, front chassis reinforcement, standard WC front axle centre sections, and standard WC transmissions, but with the VC four wheel drive lockout system left on top/

 

Basically your truck is either original - not rebuilt - or it would have had the full rebuild as outlined above. The fact that your engine was replaced with a T223 tells me it was probably in service through the end of the war with the army.

Hi Gordon,

yep, it had all the features of the rebuilt ( except for the WC transmission i think). I do believe it had a long service time, the T223 engine is an engine we sourced, there was a D42 passenger car engine installed which looked in rather bad condition. I do believe it was with the army untill the end of the war. The First post war owner was enlisted in the 109th Field artillery during 1943. I believe he bought this truck as army surplus for his roofing and sheet metal company after the war.

Hi all,

Front fenders are now in primer again. Now looking to adapt the brushguard rods.

Also going to change the crankshaft pulley. So we'll have to remove the front sheet metal again.

Windscreen painted today and some other little bits.

hope to adjust the brushguard rods next week, will be more difficult then i thought...

Oh well, keeps us busy.

Windscreen now installed and sliding arms are in place!:cool2: Went quite well actually, was expecting worse.

We've done some closed cabs before and know fitting the rubber seal can be quite a pain.

Also fitted the rear light brackets. Haven't found correct lenses yet.

Removed front fenders to start adjusting the brushguard rods, i'll include a picture to show how much adjusting they need...

Once they're done we can remove the nose, paint it OD and put the trim on it.

We'll also have to swap the crankshaft pulley because the one that's on it has play and this would cause the belt to wear quickly.

Now in the weekend off to the Pas-de-Calais tour in Souchez (Bethune, France), we've earned it! :-D

Back from Souchez and work continues.

Finally got to adjusting the brushguard rods, we had to shorten them quite a bit.

When the VC3 arrived the brushguard was mounted backwards, the rods were bent to fit the holes in the brushguard.

We had to make cuts in them so we could bend them at the right angle.

Once they were at the correct angle, we had to redrill the mounting holes.

Then welded all the cuts and previous holes.

Once done we gave them a more nicer round shape since they looked very crude.

The front of the chassis is a lot sturdier now with these rods attached.

That's as good as they ever were in service.

The two supports under your brush guard are marginally higher than mine were, maybe one centimetre or so. That will be why your supports can't be absolutely straight. If you reduced those heights slightly you could straighten the rods again but it looks OK as it is.