Diamond Reo, to be or not to be??

Geez its been over a year since my last post ,this is a sloooooww restoration.
Finally sorted the PT fuel pump problem of the engine running on. I took the pump to a second injection specialist, and this guy really was. It turned out the pump had been set up for a marine VT555, way too much fuel. Runs and idles back beautiful now.

Next task is ripping out all the old wiring and starting on the cab. It only has minor rust in the floor and a few cracks around lower door frames.
The windscreen rubber is totally fosilised, I have been searching for a new one but so far no luck.
Im going to have a crack at re-wiring it myself after painting as there isnt a lot of elecrical stuff on it.

I am still debating as to wether or not take the cab off the chassie. But she does have some corrosion evident between the double rails around the bogie so im going to have to split them for a look-see and no cab in the way would make it easier.

Does any welding on truck chassie rails have to be certified and/or X-rayed for licensing?

Another question is the placement of the exhaust. I cant seem to find it in the rule book anywhere (WA).
I would like to run the twin exhaust out underneath in front of the rear right hand wheels. Or does it have to go out thro a stack or 2 ?

as for the exhaust placement - over here in NSW if it's made after the Australian design rules came in, the exhaust has to be in stacks and exit high, but prior to that (which is somewhere around 1981) you can have them out low. i have a 67 bus that has them out each side at the rear at knee level and just recently got it thru rego from unregistered. great for filling up other motorists windows at the lights.

yep mr oddbod is right but even if it is brand new and used for carting hay you can have pipe going out the side and its legal

Hey norcoast, i have a reo in northampton. Mines been converted to a 6cyl perkins, and its not in as good condition as yours, but it runs. Just if you need parts thought id let ya know

Its been a while but here is another update on the Diamond Reo.
Decided to address the rust issue between the double chassis rails, what a f*%&g job.
Soaked the 158 bolts holding it all together in penetrating oil for a few weeks and with knuckle bar hammer and rattle gun the first one came undone nicely, it was leading me into a false sense of victory. I couldnt budge any of the others even with a 2m length of pipe, so out came the oxy set. Blew off all the bolts along with a dozen or so rivets and really had to lay into it with hammer and pin punch to get the bolts out. Eventually pulled out the bogie and 3 cross sections leaving just the rails from the cab back. The rust was only in the last one third of the rails so I wasnt going to completely demolish the truck.
Then the fun really started, the rails where stuck tight together, it took several hours with hammer, chisel, wedges and porta power. I even had to heat up the outside rail with the oxy to finally fracture the rust. Even with a 10 tonne ram in there the rails would not separate without a bit of heat.
Both the outside rails have fractured between the bogie suspension points and will have to be welded up.
Plan is now to get them sandblasted and primed. Originally they where put together as bare metal, they would have started to rust as it left the factory.
I will try to post some pix, it still doesnt let me do it in here ?
Posted some to Flicker:

www.flickr.com/photos/norcoast

That will be one very nice truck when it is finished. Keep up the good work norcoast, and keep posting progress pic's.
I did the chassis rail split, sandblast and paint a couple of years ago, so I know the work involved.
Cheers

Hi Norcoast,
Well done getting those rails apart. I can see a lot of blood, sweat and maybe a few tears in that job

You are nearly there with posting pics. Once you've got them up in Flickr, you can click on the photo you want in your post to open it in fullscreen, then right click on it and it will give you various size options. I chose Medium 640 for the one below. When it open in that size, you just right click again copy the image address. You then paste that in your post using the insert image function and this is what you get.

Tip: use the preview button before you hit post to see if its going to turn out ok.

Thanks for the encouragement and tips on posting pix Dennis.
I will try it once I get home. My work computer wont let me do it.

hopeing to hear more on this resto