42 chevy

Michael; I can get dimensions, however, I do no know the amount of baffles, but I can see straight through the muffler. I will let UNITED muffler tell how many baffles. As far as the tailpipe, it goes straight back, makes a 90 degree bend and stops when it reaches the end of the R/F mud guard. It is supposed to be on the wheel side of the mudguard. I am going to have a muffler shop make one up when I get the truck on the road so I can take it there and they can test and fit with the truck on site. John G

Michael; I have an NOS muffler on my truck. I found a company, UNITED Muffler who are located in CANADA, that can reporduce the muffler, using mine as a pattern. I have considered having a few made in either aluminized steel or stainless. I don't know if you have noticed, but the inlet is 3 inches and the outlet is 2 inches, however, the inlet and outlet on the Ward LaFrance is 3 inches and it is a larger muffler and is considerbly quiter than the Diamond T. Oh, and just in case your wondering what a Detriot Diesel sounds like in a Diamond T. Hearing protection recommended! John G P.S. I don't now what shipping costs would be to your side of the world

Michael; I have not driven my much but expect to go through a gallon of fuel in about 20 minutes just idling. If you want to talk about excessive fuel consumption, a Ward LaFrance goes through fuel alot quicker than a Diamond T. I have attached a link to a youtube video and you can get a an idea of the "orginal" sound from the Diamond T cargo truck that passes by. John G This one does not sound too bad, but the operator should have let the truck warm up first.

Hello; They do have a bit of a "bark" to them. The original muffler was the size of a large coffee can is the best way I can describe it. Ironically, the Ward LaFrance which has a smaller engine, 501 c.i. compared to the 529 c.i. of the Hercules has a far larger muffler. Being a solid lifter engine they will a clatiky sound, you might have the valves adjusted a little to loose, however, loose is better than to tight. John G

Nick; I do not know,but I am sure you could email them and ask. They were very helpful over the phone. The stuff was orginally developed for NASA by this company and they are expanding there market. John G

Remy; Rick LARSEN STENCILS (U.S.) I BELIEVE ALREADY HAS THIS PATTERN. It states Port of Embarkation, weight, width, height, cubic space. These trucks were shipped out of New York. John G

Adrain; Thanks. Did you reinstall or fabraicate a firewall pad. I could not tell from your pictures of the cab. I used my old one as a pattern and instead of using jute padding, I used a "heat absorbing cloth" manufacutred by a company called "KOOL MAT" mated to a thick cardboard mat. As you can attest, alot of heat enters the cab from the engine compartment. Being that these trucks were modified (mine had a heater installed) one pattern would not work for all closed cabs. Additionally, I used a mat from "COOL TECH" on the toeboard to reflect the heat from the exhaust pipe along with a wrap on the pipe itself. It made a huge differance. John G

I took these photos during the Memorial Day parade in Washington D.C. this year. I spoke to the owner and we swaped stories on Model T' as my neighbor across the street from me has a 1917 huckster pick up. The owner stated that this truck was for the volunteer corps so thats why it is painted grey. I believe there only 2 in the U.S.. During this trucks restoration, they imported the wood from France. John G

May I caution you on the repair, you may want to have the balance checked on that shaft before you reinstall it. With the weight of the weld, you may have a introduced a vibration, any good drive shaft shop can check it for you. John G

Adrian; Looks smashing. CONGRATULATIONS. I like the logo on the rear mudguard. I need some help with the weather striping for the roof ventilator, as mine is missing. The grasshopper wiper arms look good too : ) John G

Sam; This was the siren that was on the truck when I got it. John

Sam; This is what I started with.

Sam; Very observent. If you look back on the earlier threads, there is a picture of the dash when I received the truck, many switches had been added. In the quest to clean up the dash, I wanted all the holes filled in, my welder filled in one to many, as you may notice, the hole for the throttle cable also got filled. They have been drilled out. The additonal switch is for the siren. There was a hole there for the switch that had been added sometime during the trucks life and the truck did have a siren mounted on the driver's fender. I have seen pictures taken in theater, where sirens were added to the bumper and also the fender. I am going to install a FEDERAL siren light on the fender and I will have to drill an additional hole in the dash for the siren light switch. John

I got the drive line vibration sorted out, I had a needle bearing in a u joint that had moved when I put the cap back on during installation. Very smooth now.

I am making a new firewall pad from scratch. As anyone who owns one of these trucks can attest to, an excessive amount of heat enters the driver's compartment. I have attached a heat shield to the exhaust pipe, heat shielding to the toe board and heat shielding that wil be sandwiched between the cardboard and cowl. In the previoue post you can see the test fit of the cardboard on one shot of the firewall/ pictures to follow on that. For now pictures of the completed bed area and front end.

Here are the pictures I promised back in April. Work has now progressed to the firewall (cowl). I should have my gauges back next month from the company that is refurbishing them. I want to assemble everything on the dash before I reinstall it on the chassis .The CO-2 was test fit into the bracket, just got to replace the hose and repaint it

Tony; The boat and several others of the same design were used to transport peolpe on the lakes in the region. This boat is the last one in operable condiiton. It was saved, as it had sunk in the lake. A group got to gather and salvaged it and over sevaral years and a lot of volunteer help, it was restored. I believe it dates from around 1900 and has a triple expansion steram engine. It now lives out it's days (in season) taking tourists on the lake for short excursions. John G

My friend, Jeff Jensen, who lives in Excelsior, Minnesota,(U.S.) gave me permission to post these photos of his truck in action. Every spring, Jeff launches the steam boat "Minnehana". He tows it from it's storage barn to the ramp which is about 200 yards away. What is impresssive is that the boat and trailer weigh 70 tons, and the old Ward has no problem moving it. John G.

The vehicle pictured could be a series 1, notice that it has the "early" style air cleaner on the right side of the engine, if it is a series 2, it is an earlier version (first contract). Also, sometime in it's life it had an open cab installed. John G

Tony; Thanks for the clarification on terms. I use KROIL brand penatrating oil with good results and SEA FOAM "deep creep" as well. John G

Help with a clarification on a term: "Parafin bath" and "plus gas" I assume plus gas is a penatrating oil but I am at a loss on parafin bath. Thanks from the other side of the pond. As always, brilliant work, always look forward to updates from your crew. John G

Long overdue update; Well we brought the Diamond T "home" 2 weeks ago from the metal shop where it had been "sleeping" for the past year. The project went on the back burner as other priorites had to be tended to. First order of business was doing a walk around and sorting out where I had left off, and making a list of the 100's of "small" jobs to do. -I found that some of my paint work had "failed", as I did not mix the paint correctly before spraying and it was starting to peel on the fenders and tailgate. So I sanded the probelm areas down, resprayed and all is well. -Crawling under the truck with a light revealed some areas that were missed when spraying the bed, so that was tended to. -The battery box was fitted to the new frame cross members along with installing the new battery hold down tray. -The fuel tank was installed along with both running boards -The front winch driveshaft was installed - The front bumper and tow hooks were installed - The headlight buckets, light guards, blackout marker and black out head light were installed. - Some oil leaks were tended to. - The exhaust pipe and NOS muffler were installed -The engine fired right up (major milestone), and she has a little "bark" to her, I was surprised, as the exhaust note in the WLF is quieter, and I expected the same on the Diamond T. - I am sorting out a vibratrion in the short driveshaft between the tranny and transfer case. The tranny is fine, but I am puzzled, because I installed new U joints, so I have to take the shaft out and have a look. The 2 U joints are aligned correctly. The problem does not exist when the driveshaft is disconected, hmmmm. The tranny and and transfer case are NOS units. Pictures to follow soon John G

"Fitting a propane bottle like a forklift" You would not get to far before you would need a refill. The original engine was a WAUKESHA, 6 cylinder, dual carb with a thirsty appetite. John G

Following up with what Mike stated, by reading the Wheels and Tracks article, you should be able to determine the USA registration number assigned to the vehicle also. John G

Mike; I have all the engine decals. (Oil, air, crankcase breather breather) Let me know if you need them. Nice find. John Gott