1948 Fordson E83W pickup

A tip when soaking parts in molasas .If it is to big and you leave say half of it out with the intention of turning it over don't do what i did and forget about.
The result was that on the the line where the molasas ends and the air starts it ate thru the steel and virtualey broke it in half. I still use it but i make sure i keep an eye on it.
Cheers Kevin.

A tip when soaking parts in molasas .If it is to big and you leave say half of it out with the intention of turning it over don't do what i did and forget about.
The result was that on the the line where the molasas ends and the air starts it ate thru the steel and virtualey broke it in half. I still use it but i make sure i keep an eye on it.
Cheers Kevin.

Thanks Kev ... I'd better check them tonight!! :-[

After aligning in my jig, the crack in the right-side chassis rail was ground so the edges were bevelled, and the crack then welded up. As I was going to plate this to strengthen the repair, I gave it a rust treatment and a paint when I finished the repair.



I drilled a couple of holes through the plate so it could be welded to the chassis in the middle of the plate, as well as around the edges. It made a very strong repair, and really stiffened up the chassis. After the repair, it sat on the axle stands perfectly, with no twist at all. I was happy with that!!



The rear main cross member also had some fine cracks, so they were ground out and welded up also. These couldn't be plated, because the main leaf-spring is a transverse arrangement, and sits up inside the cross member with no room to spare. The U-bolts sit over the member and are a snug fit on the outside, so this couldn't be plated either. The grinding and welding made good the crack anyway, so I was happy again!!



Flipping the chassis over, I finished off the welding repairs, and while it was belly-up I started cleaning it up ready for painting.



The cross member under the rear of the engine was boxed in at manufacture, and I couldn't get inside to clean it properly. Feeling inside as far as I could with a bent screwdriver it felt like there was quite a build-up of crud inside. The plate used to box in the member was simply stitch-welded to the frame, so I cut the welds off with the angle grinder. What a mess inside!!



Glad I made the effort to have a look-see inside. A quick clean up with a scraper and a wire brush has made it look a lot better. I'll be able to give this a rust treatment and a paint-up before I re-weld the cover plate back on.

It is much appreciated that you are sharing this with us.
I'm putting a Stude Hawk together (just preserving and reassembling), but it'll be years before I have to funds to restore anything again, so watching others' restorations is quite satisfying. Not to mention the information you are presenting.

Thanks.

It is much appreciated that you are sharing this with us.

Thanks asw, your comments are appreciated. Like I said at the start of this thread, this will probably be the smallest commercial vehicle to be restored on this forum. There's not many of these old girls left now, and I'm enjoying showing it off!!

I took the two mudguards out of the molasses tank today. I had left them in there for much longer than I needed to, but I was busy doing other things and they weren't going anywhere! Straight out of the tank and then a hit with the Gerni to clean off the paint and scum. They have come up beautifully, but before the second one was pressure cleaned, the first one had already started to develop a 'flash' rust on the surface because the steel was so clean ...

With all the panels, the 'flash' rust hasn't worried me because I've then given it a rust-conversion treatment with Rust Guard before priming. Here are the mudguards and inner guard panels after the Rust Guard treatment ...

G'day Bugly, I've used Penetrol as a rust treatment under enamel, but it's not suitable for two pack epoxy's. Is Rust Guard OK with two pack's. Cheers

G'day Bugly, I've used Penetrol as a rust treatment under enamel, but it's not suitable for two pack epoxy's. Is Rust Guard OK with two pack's. Cheers

Gidday Tacho - I believe the PPG Rust Guard rust converter is only suitable for enamel or epoxy enamel paints. You might have to head towards POR 15 'Metal Ready' for a 2-pack paint system over the top. I tried Metal Ready initially, but it worked out to be a very expensive treatment.

im watching with envy bugly, very interested in the molasses treatment process as i have numerous smaller items that ill need to treat and sand blasting can get expensive. i will sandblast my cab and chassis but alot of the paint will already be removed. dont know if this will help but worth a try. im lead swiping my repair/alterations on my inter and when i finish a section i treat the metal with Bicarb soda mixed with water and wipe all remnants of the acids with a wet rag wet from the bicarb and water mix. i find this slows the rust process down heaps and gives me plenty more time to get the matal sealed. im actually sealing the metal with spay on lanolin as painting wont happen till all the body work is done. lanolin will come of with the final sandblast.
cheers
tim
tim

Thanks for the tips, Tim!! I am really impressed with the way the panels and parts have come up in the molasses. Even rusty nuts and bolts are cleaned up so the nuts can be unscrewed!! Diluted at 1:10, the molasses works out to be very cheap ... the raw molasses was $2 per litre, so only 20c per litre for the diluted solution!!

I am using this treatment to prepare and pre-paint the mechanical bits that will bolt back on to the chassis, and with the Rust Guard and prime as a holding treatment for the panels. I have quite a bit of work to do to the body, as the likes of the guards are split in quite a few places and rusted out on the bottoms at the rear. I'm going to have to give the guards a 'wired edge' methinks, just to give them some strength. Originally they were just turned under at 90 degrees.