1949 Dennis F1 Fire Truck Restoration

I got one of those ratchet crimpers. bloody fantastic, and the bonus is they squash the plastic firmly around the insulated part of the wire. Don't get anything caught in them cos there's no escape.

Hi Lou

wow oh wow oh wow.

Sorry for taking so loang to write to you.I have been watching but never registered till now.

You are doing an absolute awesome job to the old girl,something i only ever really dreamed off. You are helping me out with plenty of tips for my 1942 light 4 though.

well done!!!!!

I have found some more old photos of the F1, which i got from the alice springs fire station years and years ago, which show the F1 in its original body shape. The current rear end arrangement has some lockers missing but these pics show extra lockers?

Anyway,PM me or email your address again and ill get them posted to you.

Simon
consoletech@kern.com.au :)

Gidday Simon, long time no hear!! Yes, the fire truck is coming along nicely, but I must admit I have been sidetracked by a lonely Mercedes Benz that was calling my name! www.hcvc.com.au/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1344435100

The Dennis is not too far from starting up. I think I just need to connect up the fuel tank, hang the muffler on, sort out the battery leads and battery, top up the radiator, and crank it over. It's all becoming a bit scary now! Once I've got the mechanicals all sorted, I will start on the body, first up with the timber in the cab.

There have been a few challenges along the way, and if you've followed the story over the last 14 pages you will have seen how we overcame them, with the help of a lot of guys on this forum. In turn, if I have helped anybody else in doing this resto, like you and the Ace, then it's a good thing!! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

For those forum members who are wondering where Consoletech fits into all this, Simon was the F1's previous owner in Adelaide, and the guy who assisted greatly with the packing up for transport up to Darwin.

Simon, I'll send you an email ... and of course I would LOVE to see more photos!

Last weekend I installed a new muffler ...

I measured up and made a new tail pipe ...

I fitted the isolator above the battery so it can be reached in a hurry if need be. That's the fuel filler next door ...

And cabled the isolator. "Houston ... we have ignition!"

I slipped down to the local servo and picked up 20 litres of unleaded, and added some fuel stabiliser to the jerry can. Into the fuel tank, and pumped it through to the carby using the hand prime on the fuel pump. I squirted plenty of engine oil down the spark plug holes, and all around the top of the pistons as an upper cylinder lube. Plenty of hand crank using my home-made crank handle, and then wound it over on the starter motor with the rotor out of the dizzy. Hey, I got oil pressure!!

I couldn't think of any reason why the Dennis shouldn't start for the first time in about 20 years, so stuck the rotor back in, and fired it up. Oil pressure good, and plenty of smoke out the exhaust from the upper cylinder lube. It ran a little ragged to start with, but evened out fairly quickly. I kept it on a high idle until it reached operating temperature on the gauge.

Next post will be a little video of the second startup.

Sew we haz Smoke n Noize

Well Dun Bugly

LOL



cya

Well done Bugly it's a fantastic piece of australian history in good hands and it's alive

Bugly, might pay to put some Valve Saver in that motion lotion too, don't want the valves disappearing up into the head.

You must be feeling pleased with the progress, nothing like initial kick in the guts.

Thanks Swishy and AT4114!! Yep, smoke, noise, and she is ALIVE!! [smiley=thumbsup.gif] [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

Bugly, might pay to put some Valve Saver in that motion lotion too, don't want the valves disappearing up into the head.

You must be feeling pleased with the progress, nothing like initial kick in the guts.

Hee hee ... disappearing UP into the head? : You mean DOWN into the block!! And thanks for the reminder bigcam, I'll certainly stick some valve saver in the tank.

And yes indeedy, Bugly is a happy wee chappy today!!

Here's the video of the second start, after I made sure that it wasn't going to squirt oil or water everywhere!!

Clickety click ...

Well done Bugly.

Sounds good.

Now that the engine is running, the next part of the project is to look at the body repairs. The timber frame around the cab is pretty rotten, and quite a bit of it is missing. Looking at the underside of the truck, much of the timber is charred, which is probably understandable as back in the early 1950s and 1960s this fire truck would have attended many scrub fires in the Darwin area and been right in there and amongst it.

Here's a side view of the right side panel which I need to remove to get to the timber frame. You can see where I have marked to cut the panel at the rear wheel arch, at the top of the upper locker, and on the A-Pillar. This would have removed the panel in one piece, but I decided later to also cut above and below the locker under the driver's door to make the panel handling easier. I managed to find the original joins in the sheet, so I cut along the original weld.

Here's the outer skin of the panel under the driver's door ...

... and here's what I'm working with on the inside ...

The upper and lower horizontal 'stringers' are curved, so I may have to make up a steam box to curve the replacement timbers. Because the timber is missing on the curve, I would have needed to go back along the stringer and splice in the new piece on the straight section, so I reckon it would be easier to replace the whole stringer as one piece. So ... I need to measure the curve so I can reproduce it with the new timber ...

The steel skin is fixed to the timber frame with one inch tacks about every three inches, so they need to be removed. The only way to get them out is by prising the panel off the timber with a screwdriver, then 'worrying' the tack up until it can be caught by a pair of side-cutters or pliers. Here a good English steel tack still healthy in the B-Pillar after 64 years ...

The first panel under the door is removed ...

The panel is in great condition, with only light surface rusting on the inner face. This will be treated before it is refitted and welded back into position.

Next task ... the bigger panel. I'm still pulling the tacks out.