1941 K18-C GMC Recovered today

[marchplumber]

Another river crossed.

 

[papabear]

Commander Warp accidently wired the turn signal wires into the Sky Champion Radio and decided to make a broadcast before he corrected the connections!! Baby Bear heard the broadcast and mumbled...WTFO??

 

[zout]

Well I had to wire in the tail lights and rear upper marker lights so when I opened the back end WA LA - this baby was staring me right in the face - I then knew I just had to have some fun with PB with it - dang that thing is heavy even with my fat head.

Here are some more lighting pic's. TODAY IS THE 60TH DAY I HAVE HAD THE K.

I was hoping the OEM headlight switch was savable but its toast inside - had a cheapo switch just to run through power to the lights and TS's. That harness on the ground is what is left of the rear harness - changing out the guts of the drivers side upper marker light - its totally fried as well right up to the socket.

 

[nattieleather]

Superior excellent work! Zout you is a rock star in my book!

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Folks, we are surely witnessing the miracle of re-birth !

Zout's da man!!!

 

[zout]

Goes to show that from all the shops I have worked in over my years and all the various styles an d techniques the ole fellas i watched and learned from I kinda paid attention and bought all my trades needed invested in tools.

Only thing working with ole times is over those years-they all chain you to the project. Feed you a bowl of rice a day . but do give you a 5 gallon bucket so you can relieve yourself.

 

[papabear]

Goes to show that from all the shops I have worked in over my years and all the various styles an d techniques the ole fellas i watched and learned from I kinda paid attention and bought all my trades needed invested in tools.

Only thing working with ole times is over those years-they all chain you to the project. Feed you a bowl of rice a day . but do give you a 5 gallon bucket so you can relieve yourself.

Now that's just not fair!!

I have not used the "Zout motivational device" ONCE in the last 60 days!! Also...who gave you TWO days off to have your heart transplant?? Who sent you that 6 pack of cheese crackers to snack on? Who went half on that 6 pack of beer we bought...I only had 4 of them!!

Geeze....you try to make it sound like we're slave drivers around here.

 

[zout]

I don't mean working on the projects here poo poo - I meant at other places I had to work like Freightliner - Freuhauf etc etc etc etc.
At least with CAMO I get tossed a beer once in a while and awesome bbq's.

Got the marker socket guts repaired this morning so all frontal lighting is operatble - rears I finished extending the harness back - getting grounds ran from the light housings to the chassis crossmembers with fresh grounds.
Those dang rear upper maker lights are encased in enclosures !!!!!! So I have to put on my tin foil hat and mull it over getting them ran down the back and into the main tail light harness.

RICKF - I dragged that fuel tank out to give you a peek and when I opened it up it was pretty much what I remembered - so no big surprise to me what it looked like inside. Just going to take some time to get this rust chunks out of it - rust an scale off the interior surfaces - get it down to half way decent clean metal - get it sealed and then weld a replacement end cap on it - then pour some sealer in and flip the tank so the welded end gets its share of sealer as well.
I know what I could do - but I am cheap and not going to spend the owners money doing that - my time is cheaper and I will know and have confidence in the end results as I will be able to keep an eye on it.

 

[papabear]

Now I'm starting to get the itch to drive the ole girl around some and show her off.

Let's see....new engine...check, radiator cleaned/serviced...check, transmission serviced...check, rear axle serviced and new u-joints...check, all bearings serviced/replaced...check, all lights and wiring harness replaced/functional...check, brand new tires...check, brakes/lines checked/serviced/parts replaced...check, new battery...check, all glass replaced...check, body work done and painted...check, dash, switches, instrument cluster rebuilt...check, fugly grill researched/fabricated/installed/painted...check.
Box and cab interior completely refurbished...check.

I'm sure I've missed a lot.

She sure has come a long way in a short time thanks to Zout with occasional assistance from Zout-2 and even some from 73M819!!

 

[zout]

Radiator was re-cored with a new copper high flow almost 2 inch thicker than oem one.

We need to change the plastic fuel jug to a larger Crown Royal bottle to test drive tho.

 

[rickf]

No baffles in the tank or did they rot out? I see what may have been the remains of some in there. Yup, patch it and seal it and just keep your eyes peeled for one to pop up. I am guessing it was a more or less universal tank for all of the GMC trucks? Or was it specific to that truck?

 

[zout]

You can see the remnnents of them where they use to be - they are in that rubble at the bottom - they were previously leaded in. There would have been two of them. But at this point it does not really matter if one is installed or not as it might never be FULL on fuel to splash and shifting of fuel will make a difference.

From what I gather - it might have fit something else but whatever that was is unknown as well - and being 74 years old another one could be worse or a little better - so we might as well tackle this one cause its on our hands.

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Where does that fuel cell reside on the truck?
Is that the filler neck port I see just aft of the passenger door??

Thanks.

 

[goldneagle]

Here is an idea. Is it possible to install a smaller fuel tank inside the original so it would look original but be new on the inside. Just an idea to kick around.

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Here is an idea. Is it possible to install a smaller fuel tank inside the original so it would look original but be new on the inside. Just an idea to kick around.

A bladder-bag inside that steel might also work. Much like the explosion-proof fuel cells on some aircraft - - - - If there no air in the bladder, the risk of explosion is radically reduced.

 

[Tinwoodsman]

Some good ideas.

 

[papabear]

I was just gonna use a 10 gallon plastic boat tank but Dave has my full support in whatever he decides to do.

 

[papabear]

Where does that fuel cell reside on the truck? Is that the filler neck port I see just aft of the passenger door?? Thanks.

Yup...that's exactly where it is.

 

[zout]

I was thinking of the bladder thingy......but i need it more than that tank does -- especially when I knows its gotta hold at least 10 gallons sometimes. So it stays with me. Tank will get other forms of torture inflicted to it.

 

[steelypip]

The rolled terne sheet/wheeled edges/soldered seams construction of that tank is typical Detroit of the era. Could be one of 20 units of one of 200,000. In those days was a lot of fab work at that scale with what we'd now call machine-assisted processes not unlike what a real bodywork guy would do on a custom street rod. I don't know when stamped tanks appeared (I'd guess during WWII), but this is typical small-batch prewar production.

I wouldn't be even a little surprised if it fit something more generic like prewar GMC delivery trucks, but as Zout says, where are you going to find a better tank? I'm sure they were never reproed, and all the originals likely look just as bad as this one or are in restored trucks.

A bladder makes sense in theory, but I'd worry about moisture being trapped between the bladder and tank and eating the remainder of the tank. To prevent the moisture ingress you'd have to make it watertight, at which point might as well just call it a fuel tank...