Nice work! I really enjoy the pictures

 

Not a lot has happened in the last few weeks since I've been out of town every weekend.

I did managed a couple of small projects.

Side window replacement is underway. It took some digging to figure out how to get the windows out. Glass has showed up, new rubber glazing has been sourced, and the frames are in primer. I'm hoping to put them back in this weekend.

All the seals and glass for the rear widows is also here. They will also go in this weekend.

The rear door latch consisted of a hasp and padlock. That wasn't acceptable. I wanted to be able to open the door from the interior. I sourced a couple of vintage looking RV latches that are perfect.





The water tank had a couple of places that had been patched. Today I filled it with water and it leaked nicely. A new 40 gallon tank has been sourced and is on the way.



The new tank is a little smaller so I can relocated the water pump to a location I can get to it without standing on my head.

I also pulled and tested the water pump. It runs like a champ.



I have also decided to strip it down the rest of the way for paint. I've picked up a water sandblaster and a couple of hundred pounds of sand to help with that. Here's a short video of how it works.


More to come as it happens...

 

good to see the progress, the wet sand blasting looks interesting. Good luck.

 

So, what are the benefits of wet sandblasting verses dry? Less dust, less sand, and less air compressor load?

 

interesting! looks like you can blast with less personal protection from the flying sand, i guess you need to dry everything good as soon is you are finished though.

 

Mine runs off my pressure washer.
Advantages:
No dust
Disadvantages:
Flash rust.

 

Subscribed. I also read through the grassroots thread. Thats was good. You decide on a motor / drivetrain option yet?

 

There are a couple of benefits.

1. It doesn't warp the metal the way dry blasting does. This is the biggie. Generated heat and peening will warp thin metals quickly.

2. No need for a monster compressor. I have one and a sandblaster but...

3. I don't mind running a pressure washer, but I HATE sandblasting.

Flash rust is an issue, but my plan is to dry the steel and prime with Ospho rust converter.

I might be able to get started on that this weekend, but it's supposed to rain. We'll see.

 

For the near future, the engine that is in it will be staying. It will run 55 without a problem and get 7.6 mpg, I can live with that for now. I do have a line on a Clark 280VO that would give me a .8:1 overdrive. If I can pick it up at a reasonable price, I might swap that in to help my top speed and cruise RPMs.

Long term, it will either get a 7.3 Powerstroke with a 5 speed or a Cummins 6BT with a 5 speed. That will have to wait and see what kind of deals I come across for a donor.

While I would love to run a DT466, it's just too big. I would have to cut and rebuild the firewall and probably build a custom oil pan to get it under the hood.

 

I assume you also have a compressor to push the sand?

 

I made a little more progress today.

The glass in the rear door has been replaced as well as the seals.



Side window has been glazed. It's waiting on the paint on the slide tracks to dry.



And Amazon dropped this off today. The existing tank was a home made job out of chip board and fiberglass that had a large hole in the bottom.



More to come as it happens.

 

Well, I was wrong about the transmission. It's not a Clark 4 speed.

A passing comment from my father caused me to pull the fill plug on the transmission. He said that sitting oil level on a 4 speed, should be below the main shaft seal, that all the gear oil was running out of. Hmmm.

Sure enough, the transmission was full of water again.

I pulled the floorboards to see where it was coming from.



No clues there unless it was running down the shifter when the roof was leaking.

I did find the casting marks it. It looks to be a Borg Warner T98. So all my research into the Clarks is wasted.

Anyone know what OD transmission will swap in its place? Are the bellhousings on truck transmissions all the same on the transmission side. Would a Clark OD transmission bolt up to my bellhousing?

 

Toyman, I enjoyed your grassroots thread! Good job saving that bus....In regards to a possible engine swap in your future. I would recomend finding Freightliner mt45 (stepvan) with 5.9 Cummins, 5speed, and 6 lug wheels to be the donor. This way you can us the entire drivetrain. Freightliner uses a flywheel housing with the starter on the right (pass. side) Dodge has the starter on the driver's side and that will hit the steering box. Here is a picture of the flywheel housing I used for the 56 f600.

 

This afternoon I pulled the top plate off of the transmission. Things don't look too good inside.

It looks like the water was running under the top plate at the gasket. It also looks like the transmission has had water in it for some time.




Most of the gears have rust pitting on them.







I've heard these transmission are practically indestructible. Since this one made 1000 miles like this, they just might be.

Naturally, I put some gasket maker on the housing and filled it with fresh oil. We will see how much longer it will last. It's going to have to survive for a little while longer.

 

Well, it looks like it got a little warm on that 1,000 mile trip. Probably a good thing you picked it up in the winter.

But the gears all look good. Once you've got it filled with fresh lube, see how everything moves. You may have dodged a bullet.