bobs1918

And  here  is a  video  of  an early  run. This  was the  first  time  I  attempted  to   back it  into   the  shed  with  the body on  it. I'm getting  better   as  we have also  worked  on  the  steering  linkage which  was  semi   fluid  at  first  and  now  has  been  disassembled  and  fully   lubricated  I  can  now  start  it  either  by  the added  starter motor  or  by  the  crank

Here are  a  series of close up/ detail  pictures

2 hours ago, 4x4Founder said:

Simply awesome!  Worthy of an old soldier's salute.

Thank  you

5 hours ago, Rootes75 said:

Superb, its looking very good.

Thank  you

2 hours ago, 4x4Founder said:

Simply awesome!  Worthy of an old soldier's salute.

Thank  you

7 hours ago, Asciidv said:

A tremendous achievement! I hope you have another project lined up?

no but on  the  scout!

The  1918 FWD Model  B with the  Ordnance Repair  shop body has  passed anther  hurdle  as  the  body  was  reunited  with  the chassis.  The truck   starts  stops  shifts  into  all  gears. It  has  been  a   hard  four  year  project certainly  harder than  any  of  my  other   smaller   vehicles. Here is  the  before and  after

Thanks  Terry....I  solved  the  starter   issue with  a  non  period  set up  but  boy  does  that  make  my  life  easier! Thanks  for  your  help.  As I  remember   you  had  to  fabricate   the  bronze fittings  that screw into  the  jug and  the  spark  plugs  screw into  them.  Not  sure  of  the  term.   A  few  of  mine   have been  mangled over the last  100  years and  are misshapen and  may  present  with   blow  out.   Is  this something  that  could  be  fabricated   at your  end  perhaps?  If  not  I  may  go  with  a  second  copper  crush  gasket  to   improve  this

1918 FWD update....rolled it outside and filled the radiator. Good news water system is tight . no leaks!!!. AND appears to run cool. Newly installed starter works perfectly. (small period   momentary  switch mounted   below  the  mag  cut  off).  Fuel line has some issues with the old petcocks not closing properly and the newly installed fuel filter may be too good and not allowing the fuel to enter the carb fast enough. (this is a gravity fed engine meaning no fuel pump) These issues are hopefully easy to correct. Here is a good picture of the beast outside in sun light and a longer run up of the motor . Oil pressure is good as well. Getting closer every day. Also  a  picture  of  the starter motor  and  bracket  we  made for  the  truck.

On 12/21/2019 at 1:24 PM, Asciidv said:

Were you lucky enough to find a gear ring that fitted or did you make a new one. The teeth in the pictures look freshly cut and I guess it was just shrunk on. What was the outside diameter of the flywheel and how many thou undersize was the ring? It looks a super job!

Hello I   bought   the  largest  gear  ring  that    would  fit the  flywheel   thereby  needing  the  least  machining.  It  was  12 thousandths undersize .Dropped  right   down   after  heating   and  no pinning  was   needed. I  would  have  used   a  ring  that   extended   beyond  the   flywheel  diameter   but  there  was  minimal  clearance with  the  frame rail making  that  impossible.

Installed  a gear  ring    on  the  flywheel   and  will  next fabricate   a   mount  for  the  starter  motor.  Reading   FWD  history  they  did  offer  a  starter   as  an  option  although  the   army  did not  opt for  them.  I   like  to  be  totally  original  but  in  this  case  if  I  cannot  reliably  start  the  truck   then   it  will never  leave  home.  

Thanks   Terry   I personally   did  not  start  it  I  had   a  BIG  guy here  and  he  made  it  happen....My  plan  is  to  install  a  gear  ring  on  the  flywheel and  a  starter  motor   . I  won't always  have  a BIG  guy  around.

I  think  you  mentioned that  your  plan  on  the  BIG  Wisconsin was  to  install  a  starter.  I  don't  know  how   you  could  crank  that  monster  over  by  hand.

Big  hurdle   cleared  as  finally  got  to  hear  the   engine  run.  Everything  was  good  except  that  the  timing  was  advanced  to far.  Retarded  it back  further  and  the  beast  came  to  life....A  very  good day

Also  had  time   to   restore  the   seat  bucket. I  Cot  off  the   bottom  4inches   all  around  except   for   3  inches   in  the  front  on  both sides. I I  had   a  replica  of  the  rusted missing  metal  fabricated with  an   offset  at  the  top.  I   used   blind   countersunk   rivets   to  attach and  then  did  the appropriate body  work  to   hide  the  repair  

I  think  I  figured  out  the  purpose of  the  wooden  sections  on  the side of  the  body. I believe  that  these  prevented  the  chains  from   making  a  lot  of   chatter   when  they    slam   against   the   side.  

well  finally  got  the  body  sand  blasted  again. I  was  never  able  to  prep  it    last  year   so I  had it  redone  and  then  within  48  hours  I   epoxy   primered  it  and   got  it  painted   

7 hours ago, Great War truck said:

• It looks great Bob. You did the right thing. There are several FWD's with a completely modern core and they just dont look right.
• You asked about spare U Joint grease cups. Sadly we dont have any. In fact Steve had to make a replacement as they do get lost.

Thanks  for  checking   we are making  one  as  we  speak.  . 3  out of  4  U joints  came  apart   easily. that  left  one  that  was seized  and  we  had to  drill  out  the   locking  pin. We then   redrilled  the  holes   to  5/16 inch. It  had been 1/4  inch before  the  drill out. We  replaced  the  pin with a  5/16th one. As you know  plenty  of  material  there  to  work  with .

Thanks  Jim we actually we  intended  to  make the  original  tubes functional  but  they  were  so  compromised  that   we  plugged  them  and  they  are  for  appearance  only

Well to  update my  repair  attempt  on  the  radiator  was  unsuccessful. Still  leaked  badly Pulled  it  out  again  and  brought  it  to  a  professional. I  wanted  to  keep  the   appearance  of  the  core as original  as possible.  New   spiral fin tubes  were quoted at  $6500 USD  for the  tubes only.....Not going  to  do  that  so  we  used the  best  looking  original  tubes  on  the  sides  and  front and  put a  modern  tube and fin  design  behind  it. Had  to  repaint  the  shroud  as  the  paint  I gave  the   radiator shop   was  off  in  color  the  last picture is  the  repainted   shroud.

A  little   research   found  that  the  owner of  this   truck  Bill Leuer, passed  away   in 2017. The  truck  is  a   Kissel  built   FWD  as is  mine.  It  also   has  the  Machine  shop body  although I  cannot  tell  which  type  as  there  were   at  least   2   varieties.

Thanks a great  looking  truck that  I  was  not  aware of.   Name  looks   like Bill  Carver but  I  cannot   be certain.

Yes  there is    data  plate  on  the  body but  I  dont  recall  the  makers name  . Somewhere  there  is   a picture  of  it.

It  is   about  80 miles  from   here  so cannot  easily  snap   a new  foto.

FWD  update. We  have   dissasembled  the  radiator   and  repaired  2  leaking  tubes. One   leaking  tube  was interior  and  opted  to  simply   plug  it.  Reaasembled   and  installed  it.  Had a   new step   cast    from a pattern   taken  from   another  FWD. Used cast  bronze  for  strength.   Have nearly  completed  reassembly  of  engine  components   but  a  bit   baffled  by  the   accelerator  linkage.  I  hope  to  get   some    pictures  from  other  vehicles  in  the  US  and  UK  for  comparison.  We  have   good  spark  and  compression   and   expect  to  have  it   running  soon.  I  am  at  the  three  year  mark. The  body   is   ready   to   be  straightened   in  spots   and   then   resandblasted and  painted   

Rather  than  fabricate   a  new step I  had  the  opportunity  to   borrow  an  original   step . Used  as  a pattern  I  had  a    had a  new  step   cast  in  bronze  (for   strength) using  an  existing  the original  as   pattern. Cylinder jugs  installed  Pistons  in   Rod  bearings honed, upper water  manifold  installed, valve shrouds  and  clips  one  side  done (Thanks  to  Terry Harper  and  Tim Gosling), Radiator  apart  and   to be  pressure  tested  soon the  tanks were   caked  solid  with mouse  nest but  the cooling  tubes  look  good. Exhaust manifold,pipe and  muffler have  been  installed.  Good  news  is  I  have  compression  and   good  spark!!!

went  to visit my  parts  chassis  and body  today.  Removed  what  was left of  the  step bracket  as  my  FWD  has  none.  I  will  fabricate  the  step with  welded  steel and  not   have  a  casting  made.   

10 hours ago, 4x4Founder said:

I have read that a lot of war suprplus FWD Model Bs lost their engines to those "hotrodders" driving Stutz Bearcats. From what I remember, the only real difference in the engines was that the Stutz had a larger bore carburetor and spun up a little faster. Maybe some difference in the mags, though I recall less about that. Too busy this morning to dig out those files.

And  they  removed  the  governor!!