Not Really a CCKW.......

[WillWagner]

After the WC9 came back from The Regan Library, we decided to do some work to it that it has needed for a bit. The radiator had a leak, the water pump bearing was shot and, since it was apart, replacement of the water distribution tube was in order. We got all that done and when it was attempted to start it, the carburetor overflowed fuel down the throat and into the engine. Ended up rebuilding the carburetor AGAIN! Works well now. Changed the oil and filter, all is good now.

But it has been sitting across the front of a few vehicles, just hanging out in the lane for a bit. another vehicle needed to be moved to put it back in it's place.

I had started this particular vehicle, what seemed like just a month or so back, but after looking at the logs, it was right at a year ago!

First we'll start with the WC9 back in it's hole with it's other ambulance friends.

 

[WillWagner]

Onto the "not Really a CCKW.

If you notice, it the above picture, there is a giant hole in the area in front of the ambulances. That is where this sat. I haven't found the s/n yet, but going by the OEM number in the carburetor ID tag, this seems to be a 1939-1941 GMC, AFKX 352 Light Ordinance Maintenance Truck. I THINK it is one that was manufactured in the first 3 of 6 contracts for the years '39-'41. I'll do some more digging for the s/n later.

 

[WillWagner]

As I stated before, I thought I started this a short time ago, but time flies! After reading the log, it was a year and I noted some issues. Brakes....go figure... Hard to start, no spark, but then it fixed itself, and idled ok but no accelerator pump action.

I drug tools, remote fuel, battery out to the truck, removed the dog house and floor boards...the valve cover sits just above the floor line.

Did you guys know that in a previous life I worked for a place that supported one of Cummins' best customer, MTA and their giant fleet of busses and Cummins also had their engines in busses like MCI, VanHool, Icirus, TEMSA and all those other fugly things. Well, those were not a joy to work on....neither is this! This is not as bad, is fun when running, but I can see that busses were a PITA from the start to wrench on!

Got the stuff hooked up, turned on the f/p, it primed great, tried to start, crank, no-start. Checked spark, nope! Did all the checks, looked at the points, checked voltage at the coil, checked grounds and noticed that the ground circuit was WAY high, like mega ohms high. Did some looking, remember, all this is below floor level and it's kinda dark in there, and noted that the passthrough from the coil to the points looked funky on the inside connection. I could almost pull the condenser wire off. I found that whomever assembled this, didn't line things up properly and the connections on the stud were not making good contact....that'll do it! Did some wrenching with a very small wrench and fat fingers, got thins aligned and in place and just like that, we had very good spark!

Gave it a try again, crank, no start, slight smell of fuel, good spark but no start. Tried some starter in a can, fired right up and died. Gave it a bit more, again, runs until the smelling salts are depleted.

Ended up towing/pushing it to the shop, got the Dodge back in it's home and put the barrier ropes back up.

A bit of background on this. The Museum acquired this back around 2015 ish. It was mostly complete but the radiator was out of it, the cylinder head was just sitting on the block with a couple of bolts in to holt it in place, no wiring at all. I installed the head, adjusted valves, TDC the distributor, made all the connections for oil and vacuum and made a wiring harness/fuse block assembly for it. I have seen this run and drive, I have driven it. I do not recall if I was there for the initial start up, I was still volunteering when I could.

After it was in the shop and I had things situated, like a light and step ladder, disassembly started.

The hardest part of this was the removal of the aluminum intake elbow. Other than that, just awkward due to the carburetor is cast iron, the governor is attached to the carb and the intake elbow wouldn't come off of the carb inlet. Tight squeeze between the linkages!

 

[WillWagner]

These next images are not for the faint of heart! I have to say, I do not know how this EVER ran and drove! This is by far, the nastiest carburetor I have ever seen, even more so than the Stromberg NAR9G that I did for the M7 Priest radial engine!

Things were difficult to remove, STILL can't get the float valve seat out. The accelerator pump was stuck on both ends, upper and lower halves of the carb. The rod between the top and bottom piston pulled out of the lower piston. I had to tap threads into the pistons to remove them! I had to heat the lower body to remove the power valve. The jets all came out fairly easily, luckily, we have a full set of Zenith Carburetor specialty tools, they helped greatly.

This is a Zenith model 63 AW11, Zenith p/n, 9786 and OEM number 2136016. Up draft, all cast iron. The governor has none of the butterflies in it, so it is non-op. So far, I can find only one rebuild kit, and no power valve or accelerator pump in the kit. I will do some more digging today. Hopefully, I can find what I need and get it here by next Tuesday/Wednesday. In the last picture, you can see the float, needle and a cap. That is the cap for the fuel inlet. There is SUPPOSED to be a screen there to prevent debris from getting into the fuel metering device. It is MIA. The electric f/p that is installed was new at install and is pre filtered. My guess is that the carb was installed as it was and happened to work for the short drive it did. The inlet is filthy, like it was taken form a pile of parts and installed. There is no way that this thing got this nasty form the run time that is on it...maybe an hour....since the vehicle was re-assembled.

 

[WillWagner]

A couple pictures of the "shop" area of the truck.