Hello All, I thought I would make a thread to document my adventures with a 1927 firetruck I am restoring for my landlord who bought 2 29 Chevy coupes and this firetruck about 10 years ago. I am a professional mechanic with a few years experience in a restoration shop and 8 years as a BMW tech. Anyway onward with the fun stuff!
This truck has been sitting for a long time, and supposedly ran about 12 years ago. Here are some photos of the truck as I was introduced to it. And after we excavated around it.
I know many on this forum are purists and like to see originality maintained, but that is not what is in store for this truck. It is going to be a parade vehicle, and a fun toy for the grand kids. Things will be modernized here and there where sensible, and functionality will prevail against originality, while maintaining the spirit of the 20s.
All thoughts, comments, advice, or insults welcome!
I will make a post documenting each section of the projects as time permits, and as progress continues.
The tires on this truck were 75-90+ years old, and might as well have been made of granite. I wanted to start with the wheels to get the chassis mobile. First things first was to get the wheels off the truck. I started with the split rims. After getting them off the wheels, I chose the hottest Texas summer day to sit outside with a grinder and sawsall to hack the ancient rubber from the rims.
Next was to wail on them with a slag hammer for a few hours to knock the scale off.
Followed by a wire cup on the grinder, and then some phosphoric rust converter.
Once cleaned and prepped I painted them with POR-15, and prepped the surface once tacky with a mist of primer to help the topcoat adhere to the exterior surface. I really wanted to try and prevent rust from forming inside the rim as best I could.
Once painted I got a rim tool off eBay and mounted two of the new tires. Coker Tire has a back order on the tubes- its now been months, and was just told another 6 weeks for the other 2. used some talcum powder to ease installation and it was a piece of cake, although I learned that trying to install tires like this while keeping the paint nice is an exercise in futility, hence the masking paper post install. New tubes, rust bands, and 6.00x20 tires.
Wheels, wheels, wheels. Wheels forever! Had I realized how much time would be spent on these wheels I would have had new ones made. Good grief. Not something I will mess with again if the spokes are at all questionable.
3 out of 4 wheels came off, the RR was STUCK.
We fabricated a puller out of 1/4" plate and some unistrut, inspired by Rustoholics puller since spending $$ on an original type tool seemed silly. We cut the plate into crescents to match the inner radius of the wheel and to contact 4 spokes between the drum and rim, bolt through the unistrut to the outside, and use two-jaw puller, worked very well.
Found that the key had been put it sideways after having been distorted from square and then locked in place when the axle nut was cranked down. No combination of heat, vice grips, and hammers would get it out so I had to rig it in the drill press, drill through the key, and weld a nut to the end to use a jack bolt and pull the key out of the axle. Fun times.
Next we got a nice delivery of a Skat-Blast cabinet from the great folks at TP Tools. If you’re working on old stuff and have the space, a cabinet is well worth the investment.
Started by blasting the paint off with crushed walnuts, to see what we were working with. The wood was in far better shape than I anticipated. The rest of the truck was thoroughly eaten by termites but the wheels generally escaped harm. The walnut is very gentle and barely raised the grain.
Next up was glass bead on the hub and rim took it down to bright metal.
We decided that treating the wood with a hardening sealer was appropriate before painting.
The wheels were originally painted red, so that is how they will be refinished. Also the spokes had some patches of missing wood from oil penetration and rot, so filling them and painting is the best option anyway. They were then primed and painted with TCPs Restoration Shop Rally Red single stage acrylic urethane and the rims are a gloss black.
Jaxon clamps and bolts were blasted and painted for rust protection.
Mounting the rims to the painted wheels without damage to the paint is nearly impossible. Protecting them as best I could and accepting that touch up will be needed seems to be the better part of valor. Ever onward.
