CMP-Phil

Thanks for posting question and answer looks like a very useful tool. Something that any of us with a winch on our MV should really consider adding to our kit. Just to many ways a tool like this can save our fingers and prevent injuries. I will be using your drawings to make one up. Just watched the video below that makes extensive use of this hand little tool. Still have not been able to post direct Youtube link with my Mac computer. Cheers Phil

Hi Bryan Thanks for posting the link, watched the entire video lot of interesting vehicles. Some of the camouflage was interesting, the guys who camouflaged there tracked vehicle with net and local grasses showed how to breakup the silhouette of the vehicle and blend into the ground from above. Also like the camouflaged porte-potties they show up at the end when they are breaking camp. As I drive RHD CMPs here in the states got a kick out of all the British vehicles were left hand drive. One of my CMPs came out of French NATO stock with very low mileage in talking with Bart Vanderveen about it he said that a lot of RHD stuff given to the French was not used because of a real or perceived danger of traffic accidents on the Continent. Cheers Phil

Hi Howard All three of mine are negative ground, but your question about positive or negative ground is a good one as Chevrolets at that point that were a mix. I've have a 1940 Canadian Chevrolet and Maple Leaf Truck and GMC in tells you to reverse the instructions for checking regulator, which is very confusing. The regular MB-C2 manual is much easier to follow. Did you polarize the generator or did the shop? Reason I ask is that after working my way through all the regulator checks and still not getting out put I've repolarized and the thing started working. Working out little problems like this is one of the reasons I set up engines on test stand before putting the engine into the truck, Pattern 11&12 cabs have such good access to the engine. Cheers Phil

Hi Howard "I fitted the rebuilt dynamo today but after a run theres no charge showing on the gauge. I am wondering if its the control box." As many times done this I keep going back to the manual and going through it step at a time. In general it will be something simple, here is my list of simple stuff that have tripped me up. 1. Forgetting to repolarized the generator 2. Wires on wrong terminal 3. Rust or corrosion on regulators terminals, this has gotten me twice 4. Did the generator turn doing the motoring test? 5. If not then check that the brushes are actually making contact, somethings they hang 6. Use ohm meter to check the regulator, per the manuals Hope this helps Cheers Phil

Hi Old tires on MVS are likely to be a lot different than old tires on a regular car. I sure would not drive a regular car at 70MPH for an hour in 90 F temperatures on 20 plus year old tires, as the result would be prodictable. Now l have driven 20+ year, old military tire, 8 plys at 35-40 MPH in 70-80 F in my CMP HUP with no problems, was it just luck? There is one thing about old military tires the get hard, ride harder, resist wear, or wear like iron and they have about as much traction as iron tires. One comment that I've heard about old tires both for regular tires and heavy military tires is that when they fail, the failure become catastrophic quickly, they don't just go flat on road they quickly fail completely. Fail completely in that large chunks start flying. All of my MVs have been driven more miles, by me, on 15-20 year old than on new tires. Couple of years ago one of the guys in our club bought a trailer truck load of brand new 1100x20 military tires directly from manufacturer. Huge savings in cost he passed the savings along to club members who needed them. So for the first time in probably 70 years my two big MVs got new tires. The difference in ride and traction was very noticeable. So noticeable that l bought new 900x16s and told the dealer that l wanted tires dated with in the year or no sale, they checked and actually shipped tires dated within the year. Will warn you that new tires have better road traction for a reason they wear faster. As to what do you do if the tires that fit your MV are hard to find or not available, change rims to something that is available. Custom steel rims are now a reasonable alternative. My view is better on the road than sitting on blocks. Cheers Phil

Hi Howard Bottom seat cushions are 6 inches thick at the front and 4 inches at the back edge. As too stiffness of the springs I weigh about 160 pounds and I bottom out on hard bumps. Probably the equivalent of dropping your bottom on to the seat from height of 6 to 8 inches. Seat back cushions are 1 1/4 to 1 /2 inches thick. With Pattern 12 you really can't make them much thicker, because of the tightness of the cab. Do you have seat covers to work from as patterns? Cheers Phil

Hi Jon Look forward to seeing, more on your project. Cheers Phil

Hi Howard Only my HUP had original seat cushions and back rests, which I will measure and post. They are horse hair cushions, and after 70 years of use have lost much of their softness, in they ever had much. Seat bottoms are springs with thin layer of horse hair cushion. My Pat 13 C60S had original seat bottoms with poor copies of the seat back cushions. The Pat 12 cushions were gone, but the good news is Pat 13 seat cushions fit, so it was easy two sew up new covers. My Pattern 12 C60L does not have a drain gutter across hood opening instead it apparent relied on a rubber gasket. I suspect this water problem was the death of engines when aircleaners filled with water to the point that it ran into the carb and down into the engine. Cheers Phil

Hi Howard You raise an interesting question, all of the Pattern 12 Cabs I have seen had windshieldsome that opened, while Pattern 11 had fixed. As the two patterns share a lot of parts was there a change over period when fixed windshields were put on Pat 12s. Or could have been done as a replacement? Or could it have been done post war to address leakage? On the topic of leakage in the area of windshield and hood, there is a problem with heavy rain hitting the windshield running down under the lip of the hood and dribbling into the air cleaner where it collects. Two things I've seen happen rusted out aircleaner the other happened at a meet with heavy rain truck would not start the aircleaner was half full of water which blocked air from getting in. Guess I was lucky that it didn't sucked the water into the engine. Cheers Phil

Hi Howard Windshield frame rust out is common, here is link to how I fabricated new frame assembly, using M37 frames for stock. http://canadianmilitarypattern.com/Chevrolet%20Pattern%2012%20New%20Windscreen.htm Cheers Phil

Hi Good points, your comment about YouTube videos getting corrupted is very true good case for being sure to save a copy. As to the video links you posted I had actually already found an watched the 2nd great action shots of Scrammels. Also enjoyed the C60L Wrecker video, I do regular searches for CMP videos. Back to my orginal question What Makes A Good Ride Along MV Video? We are looking to start a Ride Along page on our club web site to give people an idea of what it is ride in various military vehicle. Looking forward to more comments and links to videos. Cheers Phil

Hi All What makes for a good MV ride along video? Here are clips out of ride along videos, taken over the last 2 years, in open Pattern 12 C60L, HUP, and Pattern 13 C60S all CMPs of course. They are numbered which segments do you like best and why? link fixed I've shared this on MLU and gotten some interesting input on making better videos of my own trucks and club events. Thanks Cheers Phil PS What went wrong was the youtube link disappears- need some help or is just not possible to share videos? Thanks to Mike for helping me post video link.

Hi Gary Great photos, would love to see more on C60L, nose off says something is up with engine. Cheers Phil

Hi Pictures please. Large event or small enjoy seeing pictures from shows in other regions. Cheers Phil

Hi Howard Just to give you an idea of US prices on Carter W1 here is a source you may have already found http://www.oldchevytrucks.com/cart/index.asp?cat2=10329&path=1934+%2D+1946+Truck+Parts%2FMechanical%2FFuel+System%2FCarburetors%2C+Repair+Kits%2C+Etc%2E&station= I'll look around see if I can find a better price. Cheers Phil

Hi Howard Enjoying following your restoration, if you have not already found the manual on the carb here is a link to a pdf copy http://www.canadianmilitarypattern.com/Resources/CMP%20Manuals/fuelexhaustchevrolet.pdf Agree with Maurice the carb you have may tend to run rich on the 216 engine, but then again the difference in fuel from 70+ years ago make getting fuel mixture correct difficult. Now that Maurice has identified carb let us know you make out finding a rebuild kit. Cheers Phil

Hi All Just showed this thread to my wife, her reponse- Look for the e-mails that say for just a small investment we will sell you a 1/16th share of the find. Or Is this a geo-cache find it hunt? Any way sounds like a lot of whooey! Cheers Phil PS- My wife was a librairian and says that Thomas the tank engine and the Nazi gold train is not an orginal PBS with Ringo Star as the narrator story.

Hi The photo of the pump location is excellent, what is the source? The loops in the line are interesting, and something found on CMPs where vibration or flexing would be a problem. The low down location sure would make priming easier when you ran the a tank and the fuel system dry because you forgot to switch the fuel selector valve over. How many of us have been driving down the road with fuel gauge on the right tank and the selector valve on the left? I've also found these autopulse pumps one hotrod Lincolnshire of the 40s. Cheers Phil

Hi Yes some of the pumps may produce to much pressure, the CMP manual says 3.5 PSI. The bigger problem is that pumps for 6 volt and 12 volt are often identical in appearance and the box may not be marked 6 - 12 volt. I have had parts clerks give me the wrong one or they have given me the 8 PSI pump. So do your homework and get the spec sheet from the manufacturer to confirm you are getting the correct one. I have been using Airtex E8902 and it seems to work well with the Carter W-1 Carb on the 216 -235 and 261 engines they all seem to like the 4PSI pump. The don't like the 8 PSI pump as expected they run rich, flood easily and get even worse gas mileage. Because I have gotten the wrong pump often enough first thing I do is put a fuel pressure gauge on and check it. The shuttle type pumps seem to like being mounted vertically better. Cheers Phil

Hi Howard I've put 6volt electric fuel pumps on all three of my CMPs. Started doing this years ago as a primer for the system which makes starting an engine that has been standing for a long period of time much easier. Priming the system before hitting the starter allows for easy starting even in low temperture. Then the mechaincal pumps take over, always add a switch so that the fuel pumps can be turned off. Help if you ever manage to flood an engine. With the addition of ethanol gas problems with diaphrams in the mechanical pumps started to be a problem. Now two of my trucks have the mechanical fuel pump by passed. On one I removed the mechanical pump completely and installed the electric fuel pump in that same location. That has been a trouble free location a number years. When I restored my HUP a couple of years ago wanted to maintain the look of stock orginal engine. In that case I removed the rubber diaphram and mechanical arm and put a steel plate inplace of the diaphram so the fuel now just passes through the pump assembly. Fuel pump is located up under the floor under the driver near the distributer. Not the best location as the only way to service the pump is by removing the floor plate. Plan to relocate it back next to the military fuel filter over the battery box figure there it can be serviced by just removing the battery. On the last truck with mechanical pump my C60L Pat 12 I'm running a fuel cell in the cargo bed (truck needs new fuel tanks) on that one the electric pump is located right next to the tank with a see through fuel filter before. In terms of priming the electric pump and the system this is by far the best location. On that one the electric is only used to prime, with the mechanical doing the normal work. I have discovered that with ethanol in the gas the electric fuel pumps I have used do not like to stand empty the oneway valves corrode or get stuck and do not work or loose preassure. Recently though I may have found a way to get them to work again. By disconnecting the pump and pumping them full of oil and then putting power to them with the outlet plugged. Cheers Phil

Hi Did you set the odometer to the number of miles when you got it or reset it? Over the years I've done both, now wish I'd always taken the time to reset replacement Odometers to cumulative total so that it would be reading the true life history mileage. Now I've sort of lost track of mileage on two of the trucks. Great work love watching your progress, wish I was making the same progress on my current project. Here is the only way I can try to match your progress, with time lapse photos Cheers Phil

Strange that you should mention the gas peddle, one thing that you might want to check is when the peddle is all the way down is the throttle plate really all the way open? On my Pat 12 C60L after restoration that actually was a problem peddle all the way down was something less than fully opened throttle plate. Only real check is with the engine off have someone hold the throttle down while you are looking down the throat to see that the plate is really all the way open. On the other side of that coin you also have to check that the carb body is not having to act as the throttle stop because you can bend something if it is. Cheers Phil

Hi Paul Book says AC44, I was running AC 45 in one truck and AC R45S in the other but have also used Champion J8C which seem the best. Having problems with internet connection will post more later. Cheers Phil

Hi Paul Welcome to the wonderful world of CMPs. To your question about what speed is a 1945 C60L comfortable with, first question is what rims and tires are you running? I drove my Patter 13 C60S radio truck for years with the stock 216 engine, we would kid that it would do 0-60 MPH in 12 minutes on flat ground. That was running the truck with 20" rims and 11:00 tires which is a slight rubber overdrive so that when the truck is reading 50 MPH it is closer to 60 MPH ground speed. I have some video links on my web site showing the truck from the drivers view. Few years ago I reengined the truck with 261 Chevy and the truck will now very comfortably hold ground speed 60 MPH and can clime 9%grade in third gear dropping to 30 MPH. Having said that I have also discovered that not all CMPs are happy to be driven above 40 MPH they just really start to feel very busy and vibrating. As Peter points out 40 MPH is the comfortable speed for driver and truck. Of my 3 CMPs only one is a really comfortable road machine where you can drive it 250 miles in a day and not be totally worn out at the end of the day and turn around and do it again the next day. (That's driver worn out.) When running in Convoy our club generally puts the slowest vehicle in the lead, and before I up engined my C60S which weights 10,500 with the radio box as drag was often the slowest. I have lead convoys on the interstate were I shifted through all 4 gears on the on ramp and then never took my foot off the floor several hours, never faster than 60 MPH never slower 30 MPH. There is another issue of fuel C60L they are thursty beast. Also there does seem a problem with the modern gas in US that it burns a lot hotter and thus cause problems with manifolds and valves. If a 216 engine exhaust valve clearance gets to "0" you can burn a valve in 50 miles this is particularly a problem with the bigger CMPs which tend to be driven full throttle or foot off the gas. While because the smaller CMPs are not driven this hard there is not the same problem. Cheers Phil

Hi Remember that the front and rear are different size bore. Forgot once while putting them on the truck and had to pull the boots to see which was which. Cheers Phil