Resto: Rims Now Painted.......

Gidday,

Things are happening rather slow lately with this restoration and it is not through lack of enthusiasm on my behalf also the cold weather does not help my cause, cold weather and tin sheds are not a good combination, but I am waiting on some parts to show up from various stores and tradies....
My windscreen is still at the glazier not finished, I am waiting on a new 6volt coil from the local Supercheap Autos store who said it would be a 3 weeks wait and that time is now up, also I am waiting on 4 x new Hella indicators, a flasher can and 6 volt globes from the local auto electrician which should be here soon and also some timber sections for the seat corners that I had trouble reproducing are to arrive soon from a well respected tradie..... So as you can see it is a waiting game!!

Anyway I have managed to get the 4 x rims rubbed back, cleaned up and painted in a good primer for when I install new tubes, rust bands and finally new Firestone 4.50 x 21" tyres.... NICE!!
I also tracked down another rim in good condition which now gives me 5 rims in total so I will now be able to have a fully operational and reliable spare tyre hanging off the back tub of Monty if the need ever arises to use one, hopefully not and fingers crossed that it will never be needed.

As shown previously, rims straight off the car and tyres removed.

Rims all cleaned and getting "the warm treatment"  before primer is added and also noticed the concentration on my apprentice having a nap on the seat as winter time in our signshop with the wood fire glowing is the place to be...

One of the original rims on the right in black primer, still like new after 84years, very smooth and no rust

All 5 rims painted and ready after 2 coats of Cold Gal paint..... Lovely 

So that's about it for now and no doubt when items arrive they will be put to good use quickly as the middle of the year is here in a couple of days, which means I have 6 months to get this done......... It will happen :)

Thanks for looking in from time to time..... I appreciate it and it means a lot to me. Cheers Grant.

Retso: Rims and Tyres Come Apart

G'day,

Today I put Monty up on "the blocks" again? why you ask, well I have to removed the split rims which house the tyres from the timber spoke wheel, and once removed then the tyres have to come off the split rims.
This was only done quickly 18months ago when I originally got the chevy started and rolled it out of dads shed for the first time and back then only two of the tyres had punctures and would not hold air so the local tyre service quickly installed only 2 thin 21" motorcycle tubes to get me rolling which is all they had at the time, and they have held and worked ok and done the job

 The trick now once the rims and tyres were apart was to see just what condition the inside of the rims were in, I have been told that you can get alot of rust build up inside there and that is why you must use and run with a "rust band" which protects the tube from getting a hole in it when it presses against the wall of the metal rim... Well again my findings once they were all apart was that there was very little rust at all on the rims with only the slightest amount of light surface rust showing.... A good buffing up with the wire wheel, some etch primer and then a coat or two of black kill rust and all should be good for many more years to come..
Also one of the tyres a "Dunlop Balloon" is still in very good condition and will be used as a spare on the rear of the car when the time comes.

To my surprise one of the tyres once I pulled it apart revealed a red tube inside, I have never seen a red inner tube before in my life so I wonder just how old it actually is? and stamped on it was "DUNLOP PERDRIAU"

This will look good up on my collection of original parts on the wall in my shed along with the four old tyres

Just another step closer to that day.................... Cheers

UPDATE: Last night I had a reply for a Chev forum member who said : "Natural rubber tubes were often red. They are highly sought after by some of the collectors and purists. Apparently they have superior air holding properties compared with period synthetic rubber tubes. I have one that is obviously decades old and still supple."  ........ Thanks Chipper

Resto: What A great Day Working On The Chev

G'day,

Out of all the Sundays over the past 10 months that Ray and I have been working on the restoration of my old Chev, today would have to have been the most rewarding by far in terms of visual appeal, Monty today looked like a car again with the installation of the side running boards and valances, plus the front and rear guards and after 9 hours of solid work we both agreed that it was a great day and fantastic to see it like this again for years to come....

By 8.30am Ray and I were keen to start and by that we first had to jack up the timber body off the metal chassis to install the webbing material down both top sides of the chassis, this stops the squeaks from the two surfaces rubbing together over time.
With that thought in mind all week prior I also thought of dad and of all the years that we watched and helped him shift and relocate buildings all over the countryside, and I thought the best way to jack up the car body nice and smoothly was with a couple of house jacks, some chocks and good header boards on each side, so I called by dads factory and grabbed some gear to do the job, to easy and see photo below.

   
With the body up off the chassis we installed the webbing, lined the 6 x bolt holes back up again and then lowered the body back down into place..... SIMPLE!.
Next a valance on each side (long black panel above the running board) was slid in under the body and bolted into place loosely.. Ray's Rule: Bolt everything together finger tight first to allow for movement and then come back later when all panels are installed and tighten them up :)

 Valance panel installation

 The old original running boards were next on cards to go on and after a bit re shaping out of some dents along the bolted edge and with many thanks to my grandfathers old bloody heavy blacksmithing anvil they both came up looking great and we had them installed in no time..

 The front guards and front headlights went on next and up to this point every existing hole, nut and bolt lined up perfectly, there was nothing out of line and it was becoming a bit of a joke between us both as we went along throughout the day, it was all perfect considing we had rebuilt all the timbers as well, that makes you feel very rewarded that a great job was being done..

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The two rear guards were next, on they went and bolted up to the tub and along the back edge of the running boards, this was the only spot that needed a little tweaking but all in all, again it went together well and it was at this point that you could stand back and see Monty all togther again.... I smiled, I loved it, I has been bloody worth it!!..... Dad would be smiling also :)

With all this completed we now had to re-bolt and postion up all the things that I had undone throughout the week so that the body could be raised:
The steering coloum under the dash, the fuel lines, the dash guages, the front floor boards and throttle linkage, the oil filter lines, some wiring harness locations, the hood bows and then all the newly installed nuts and bolts were tightened up...

We would of liked to have installed the windscreen but it was now pushing 4pm and a drive around the block was looking like more fun to end what was a great day, and considering that I had a new windscreen cut out of laminated auto glass earlier on in the week and Ray had brought up from Melbourne some new windscreen rubbers, we decide that leave that job for me myself to do through the week and I backed Monty out of the driveway and pointed him down the street for a lap or two and I can tell you that it feels very solid and sturdy on the road..

 Thanks Ray for all your help today, we killed it :)