Tangible progress on the M718!

A place to post pics and descriptions of ongoing restoration projects

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Aswayze
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Re: Tangible progress on the M718!

Unread post by Aswayze » August 28th, 2013, 3:04 pm

If it's wrong, I'll make adjustments. I had it guessed out at 7/16-20 in my head as well, just could not find proof.

I appreciate the help Mark!

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Re: Tangible progress on the M718!

Unread post by Aswayze » September 3rd, 2013, 9:29 am

We had a work weekend for all the East Wind NATO guys. East Wind guys from all over made it out driving from as far away as Canada to spend Labor/Labour day weekend working away on vehicles.

Among the projects, the M718 received more than it's fair share of assistance.

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Fotheringham grinding away at the transmission tunnel on 718.  

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Curfman adding in the new strips along the trans tunnel area.  

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Steve made up the spare tire carrier.

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Hurry up and get the last prep work done!

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Paint by the end of the day!   Second coat then a pattern tomorrow.  

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Re: Tangible progress on the M718!

Unread post by Aswayze » September 3rd, 2013, 9:30 am

Sunday dawned with a thunderstorm rolling through the area.  Seemed like a bummer on the face of it but looking at it you could clearly see that it was a frontal boundary bringing with it cooler air that we all much appreciated.  

Obviously, this slowed things a bit at the start but most of us still had shop side stuff to do so we kept busy on what we could work on until things dried enough that we could resume welding, grinding, and painting outside.  

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Trucker blowing 6037 off to get rid of the standing water droplets and allow it to dry out enough for further painting

Steve and Pete set to work replicating the front bow assembly that was missing.  The electrical conduit bender was not really doing a very good job with the tubing that we had so it ended up being done in sections using standard conduit for the bent corners and the nicer moly tubing for the rest.  Actually worked out quite well since it allowed us to sort of get everything adjusted just right so it all sat perfectly.

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Sorting out the frame sections

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Slight fitting required...  boring out the inside of the tubing slightly to insure a good fit.  Steve enjoyed having a shot at working on the lathe again after being away from one for so long.  

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Me getting to pull bushing duty on a section of long pipe running through the lathe headstock to keep it from clonking around and being a noisy menace.  


David got the hard top pulled off the deuce as well as the driver seat and much of the interior bits to make room for the cab reinforcement plate.

After getting ourselves mostly to a point where we really needed the truck dry more than anything else, we ducked off to Overlooked for a little surplus shopping.  

Upon arrival back, we saw that Trucker had been a busy boy and already started on the black bits of the camo.  He kept on the camo job for pretty much the rest of the day, being his usual meticulous self.  

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After a while, it became time to go hit lunch at Arthur Bryants.  Unfortunately for us, Bryants was not open on Sunday so we had to substitute Gates instead.   In spite of warning everyone about the HI MAY I HELP YOU!  system of Gates BBQ, it still managed to baffle Curfman to a point where he was unable to speak.  Somehow, he did eventually manage to collect himself and get a sandwich instead of just getting a plate of pickles.  Trucker stayed behind and kept on painting so we brought him back a sandwich and fries.

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Trucker prefers Arthur Bryants....  

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Re: Tangible progress on the M718!

Unread post by Aswayze » September 3rd, 2013, 9:31 am

By the end of the day, still more had been accomplished.  

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Curfman and DirtPro had been pulling apart all the u-joints and Fortheringham had been getting them all cleaned up and painted.

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Fotheringham's wind chimes.

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Curfman and I got to spend more quality time fighting with the air compressor.

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Steve and Pete got the reflector fitted to the spare tire carrier.  

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Time to unmask finally came.  

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Stencils were added and general adoration commenced.  

This brought to an end a long, tiring, but productive day.  

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Re: Tangible progress on the M718!

Unread post by Aswayze » September 3rd, 2013, 9:32 am

Labor/Labour day dawned and we got our Canadian friends loaded up and saw them off with breakfast at IHOP bidding them a safe journey and thanking them for their help over the weekend.  

Back at the house, the grind continues:  

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I finished off the tabs that Steve and Pete had made and got them welded onto the new front bow then fitted the seat backs using sections of fiberglass 5 ton troop seat sections that Stagg sawed down to legnth.  

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Huzzah!  Seat backs.  

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From there I added the tabs for the top brace and installed the top brace.  Curfman was annoyed that I only had tabs facing back not both ways so he and DirtPro came along behind me and added front tabs.  Then a little while later figured out why I did not add them...   Now they are...   for... another feature not yet installed.  

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After that they set to work installing tabs for the ribs that run front to back to support the top.  

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It really is a MUCH nicer looking truck now!  

We ended the day with all of the ribs made and installed.  All we need to do now is build the middle bow that rides on the top of the front to back bars.  We started making one, but screwed up the last of our bendable material in the process.   No biggie, get that last bit done and we can fit our top and make sure everything is right!  

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Re: Tangible progress on the M718!

Unread post by rickf » September 3rd, 2013, 9:53 am

When you guys go into a project you go all in I will give you that! It may not be a restoration in the sense of the word but the amount and intensity of the work involved is the same. Congratulations guys.
I have a question, I am usually the one suggesting what tools to use but I saw one in one of the painting pics that caught my eye. You have what appears to be a portable air dryer there. Can I have some more info on that?

Rick
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone

Aswayze
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Re: Tangible progress on the M718!

Unread post by Aswayze » September 3rd, 2013, 11:23 am

I’ll give you as much as I know on that one and will post up the model number once I get back to the house.

It’s an Ingersoll Rand Tool Guard Air Dryer. It’s a desiccant style dryer that uses replaceable cartridges or if you are cheap (like us) you can recycle the desiccant inside by running heated dry air through it using a heat gun set to low.

When it is particularly damp out (like right after a storm on an already hot humid weekend) we attach this one to the top of our surge tank and run the air from the surge tank through this guy before it goes to the gun. Upstream of that we have several down pipes on our shop hard lines to catch water as well as a separator filter right at the regulator that feeds the air line going out from there.

It’s pretty humid down here and keeping dry air for painting is quite a chore. Our layered defense does it even if it is a bit of a PITA to manage sometimes.

We generally cook off all the accumulated water at the end of a job then leave the tool guard stashed away with both ends plugged up till the next time we need it so that we’re not constantly using it for every little thing.

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Re: Tangible progress on the M718!

Unread post by rickf » September 4th, 2013, 4:34 pm

Thanks for the info.
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone

Aswayze
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Re: Tangible progress on the M718!

Unread post by Aswayze » September 4th, 2013, 8:32 pm

I see I forgot to use my "outside of my head" voice on this one... I went home, looked at the thing, noted that it had no model number and the voice in my head told Rick that...

Except that the voice in my head cannot type of course...

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Anyhow, so it had no model number, just says Ingersol Rand Tool Guard on it.

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A couple of pictures of the rear structure all made up and ready for the top install. I even managed to come up with an M151A1 canvas top and doors off of Craigs List that I'll swipe the doors off of for this one meaning we're only short side curtains at this point. The A1 top can go to 6007, it needs a top too.

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Re: Tangible progress on the M718!

Unread post by Aswayze » September 7th, 2013, 10:17 pm

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Ambulance top fitted, seats installed, gas tank in.  

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It's Curfman approved!  

We'd really rather have a vinyl top but you know what they say, if you can't have the top you love, love the top you have.

Next up is getting all of the joints finished off, plumbing back up all of the brakes, full lube order, wiring work and finally going out for a drive in the darn thing!

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Re: Tangible progress on the M718!

Unread post by Aswayze » April 11th, 2014, 7:46 pm

Time to play catch up a bit and fill you guys in on the progress over the fall and winter.

I'll tack dates on the posts so you know when it happened and of course I must apologize for not keeping the lot of you in the loop as we were going along.

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Re: Tangible progress on the M718!

Unread post by Aswayze » April 11th, 2014, 7:47 pm

Sept 12, 2013:

One of these trucks is not like the others...


One of these trucks doesn't belong...

While the rest of us just have "normal" mutts, the one thing we could lord over Curfman was our cool signal corps flags:

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"Ha ha, where's your flags band-aid boy!"  


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"Dammit lads, I think he's got us this time"  

Aswayze
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Re: Tangible progress on the M718!

Unread post by Aswayze » April 11th, 2014, 7:48 pm

Oct 04, 2013:


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Side curtain (as well as a second canvas top) showed up yesterday.  Some patches and repairs needed but we have at least got enough here to keep the bats out.    Current plan it to scrub up and install the second top then see which one is the worst of the two and use that one for experiments in painting canvas tops.

Good times!  

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Re: Tangible progress on the M718!

Unread post by Aswayze » April 11th, 2014, 7:49 pm

Oct 21, 2013:

News Flash!  

Curfman finally beaten into taking action on M718!  

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After several weeks of being thwarted by not having a $8 filter screen for his in tank pump pickup we finally got him one and he was able to install the pump and plumb in his hard fuel lines.  



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All the way up to the carb!  

That means....   Wait for it...










Wait for it....  




We can start the engine!  


http://www.flickr.com/photos/55855884@N00/10379395755/

We started cranking in with no particular success which I found odd, puffed it with some starting fluid, not so much as a fart out of it.  Cranked it some more...  Peered in at Curfman, noticed the engine switch was off, flipped it to ON and it fired immediately and purred like a kitten.  

A kitten with open headers...  

We really are nearing the end on this guy.  

At this point we need:  

Brake hoses $39.50

Brake pad set (all including E-brake with hardware) $50

8 half shaft U-joints at $20 each

Complete exhaust system $160

Pull transmission and replace damaged bearing (not sure on cost but it will not be bad)

And that is pretty much it.  

Only problem is Curfman is running out of money so work is slowing to something of a crawl.  

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Re: Tangible progress on the M718!

Unread post by Aswayze » April 11th, 2014, 7:49 pm

Oct 28, 2013:

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Evil wiring harness removed and discarded.  

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Wiring harness emerging from the firewall.  

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Wiring harness routed around the engine bay.

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Curfman getting all the wiring behind the dash plugged up.  

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Curfman reminds you not to dry dock it!  Use some silicone dielectric grease to get those Packard Connectors to go together and come apart easy.  

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