1947 ford ranger...

[Dez]

Nov 28, 2019 21:57:45 GMT craig1010cc said:

Nov 24, 2019 21:10:50 GMT Dez said:

Excellent, thanks.
17 notes is a few quid for a pair of bulbs but if they do the split colour function they’re worth it. Only concern is the may be too long to fit behind the comparatively flat lenses. I’ll have to have a measure.

I e got a set from them that fit behind some pretty flat lenses. They do two types, one that keeps the sidelights on when you indicate (and they pretty much over power the indicators) and a set that cancels the sidelights.

They are a top supplier though, really helpful with sorting any issues with getting them to work

Excellent, thanks for the info.
I like the idea of them cancelling, as Tristan says that would be pretty cool.

Once I’ve got the lights fitted I’ll get in touch with them and order some.

[Dez]

So, on my ‘to buy’ list was an appropriate vintage heater. I was really having trouble finding anything I liked that was the appropriate size and shape and not daft money.
What I should have done was tidy up a bit , cos I was going through a box of entirely unrelated Y block engine parts to find some bits out for a mate, and a found a period heater box in there! Assuming it came from the same vehicle as the engine, it’s from a later 50s ford truck. I don’t know what brand it is, I don’t think it’s original ford as they had ones with the ‘ford’ script stamped in, which are now a fortune, even for untested wrecks. So I assume it’s aftermarket, but I’m fairly up on vintage heaters and it’s not a brand I recognise.

It’s not bad looking, and has a fan fitted that is 12v and after testing works fine. The front door was a bit damaged and it had no heater core, but these old heaters are pretty simple and I thought I’d be able to find something to fit.

So, sort the casing out first. I removed the front panel, cleaned it up, dressed any dents out, knocked the door back flat, and freed up the hinges. Them being seized was why someone had bent the door.


Sorted out a bit-




I also removed the fan from the main casing to rewire it was the insulation was falling apart. Getting the fan off the motor without damaging it was a bit of a mission but I managed it eventually.



The back side that sits against the firewall is dead simple, it just has 3 studs and the slots at each side are for the pipes, the matrix sits flat above the fan.


There’s also doors on the sides and a outlet for a demister pipe, but I didn’t get pics that really showed that.

The next issue was the lack of heater core. So I sat down with a tape measure and a online heater matrix catalogue, and the best option in terms of size, outlets and price was one of these-


Bargain. Certainly saved me a lot on buying another period heater with what they fetch these days.

It’ll need packing with foam a little around the edges, but you want room to add a bit to avoid rubbing and rattles really.
Just waiting for it to turn up and it can go in. May need the heater box trimming a bit for the pipes but that’s no major issue.

In the meantime I’ve got this little bit on the front edge of the heater box to sort, then I can paint it.


I’ll also probably come up with something to replace the missing emblem in the recess on the front, but it’s not a major priority at the mo.

[mylittletony]

Dec 4, 2019 22:19:47 GMT Dez said:

I’ll also probably come up with something to replace the missing emblem in the recess on the front, but it’s not a major priority at the mo.

This is where you need a natty business logo and a contact who can laser cut or 3D print

[Dez]

Actually I know just the man, he’s done me a few little bits for me before.

After much googleage I’ve found out it’s actually a ‘Briggs’ heater, they seem to be from Ohio. Certainly one of the less common ones out there.

[varelse]

Pretty handy bit of kit, doubling as a typewriter!

[Dez]

Dec 6, 2019 10:26:30 GMT varelse said:

Pretty handy bit of kit, doubling as a typewriter!

That’s picclick for you. It’s a site that’s pretty much useless but occasionally gives interesting archived pics, along with some unrelated information!

[Dez]

First off for this update, a parts souring related rant. I shall title it ‘everything that’s f-king wrong with with the UK motor trade parts departments’.

So.
I need these bushes. They’re for the compression struts on the front suspension. Also known as strut rods, tension struts, tension rods, and control arms (by idiots).
As you can see mine have lived a bit of a life, over 300k miles of it, so are a bit past their best.




They’re fairly important as they’re what control the fore-aft movement of the lower arms, and are particularly important in eliminating brake judder. Any play in them would be an MOT fail, and as they’re a wearing part that sees a tough life sat on the bottom of the front crossmember, in all the dirt, likely getting bashed on stuff and are constantly being pulled and pushed by braking and suspension forces.
They go here. (The chassis is upside down in these pics).






Now, as these are the same part on all 2wd European ford rangers from their inception in 1998 up to 2011, and were fitted on all 2wd Mazda b-series trucks worldwide from 1985 to 2011 (yes, really!), so literally millions of trucks, you think they’d be dead easy to just grab a set.

NOPE.

There isnt a single supplier of these parts in the uk, that either I, 3 motor factors or two Japanese 4x4 specialists can find.

I can buy complete leaf springs, shackles, every other bush on the truck in either OEM style rubber or various types of poly, every other moving joint, every brake part including complete hubs, even complete upper and lower arms, but no one has ever thought to stock these. A moving/wearing rubber part 🙄

So Feeling a little exasperated after 2 days chasing these round I think, as I know the Mazda variant was popular in the states, especially with mini truckers, I’ll try Rockauto.
And not only do they do them, I have a choice of 5 different quality variants from 4 major brands, even though these trucks were only available in the states for 8 years.
Not only that, but even the most expensive ones, the MOOG polybushes, are £27 delivered with duties paid.


How stupid is that?

[brc76]

I was going to offer to pick up a set next week and bring them over with me on the 18th. I was halfway through your post, checked autozone and napa local both have them, then saw rock auto had been utilized.

Green wheels?

[Dez]

Dec 6, 2019 23:22:28 GMT brc76 said:

I was going to offer to pick up a set next week and bring them over with me on the 18th. I was halfway through your post, checked autozone and napa local both have them, then saw rock auto had been utilized.

Green wheels?

Thanks for the offer you didn’t get round to making 😉
Rockauto are great, I use them loads, , but It’s coming to something when they’re the best option for parts for a Japanese made UK market truck!

The green wheels are in fact not green wheels, they’re a red herring.
In so much as that they are green wheels, but they’re not for this.

[varelse]

I like the lime wheels..

I also utilise rock auto for most of my parts for my Cressida, not necessarily because it's easier to find parts (it is, they're all in one place, and I don't have to leave the Aircon to the find them), but because they're about half the price delivered as Australian stores.

[Dez]

Dec 7, 2019 0:28:21 GMT varelse said:

I like the lime wheels..

I also utilise rock auto for most of my parts for my Cressida, not necessarily because it's easier to find parts (it is, they're all in one place, and I don't have to leave the Aircon to the find them), but because they're about half the price delivered as Australian stores.

Same over here for a lot of things. As long as you pay the duty up front they’re usually cheaper than any uk supplier.

[Dez]

More bits I bought are turning up.

First these-


The bushes on mine were totally shot, actually worn through on one side, which meant the pins had worn a bit as well. It only cost about £7 extra for the new shackles as well over the price of the polybushes on their own.

New balljoints turned up, and are wrong, so will be going back. One of the few chassis changes is uprated, larger lower balljoints in 2006 (for 2007 model year). Even supplying the reg. number and clearly stating it’s a 2007 TDCI model this dullard sent the earlier ones. Meh.

One massively annoying thing about Japanese designed vehicles is the over-use of metric fine fasteners, In applications that really do not require fine threads. These trucks suffer from it, all fasteners over m8 are metric fine, with even pretty mundane stuff like the bolts for the tank guard and crossmembers being fine thread. There’s no benefit to it, and they seem much more susceptible to seizing and snapping than their ISO counterparts. It also makes replacement an issue, especially as none of them are plain hex head, they’re all flanged, and id like to keep them that way as it means no messing about with washers and lock washers.

Replacing the m6 and m8 stuff wasn’t an issue, but try finding m10x1.25x30 flanged head bolts. In the end I could only get self colour, so I had to buy those and paint em with a can of cold-galv after a dose of brake cleaner.


But that meant I could bolt the first bit back on! It’s this arguably fairly pointless crossmember. The only thing that bolts to it is the handbrake cable, and I’d question its chassis-stiffening capabilities when it’s only bolted on with 4 m10 bolts in slotted holes, but ford/Mazda seem to think it does something 🤔


I also had to buy a couple of new nuts for the front leaf spring eye bolts, as to get them off I’d carefully ground the nut through on one side and split them as they wouldn’t come undone. Being metric fine again, two m14x1.5 flange locknuts ran to a fiver! At least they’re BZP this time.

[Deleted]

Those bushes.
Could you turn them into an ebay sideline??

[Dez]

Dec 7, 2019 22:18:57 GMT @quickrack1 said:

Those bushes.
Could you turn them into an ebay sideline??

Dunno of it would be worthwhile, hard to say exactly how many people would want them, they’ve obviously been doing without them up til now!

[Dez]

On a slightly more positive note than bits that don’t fit and annoying bolts, I was rooting through a box of flathead bits I’d bought off a guy who had one of these trucks, looking for something else, when I found this.


Its the floor mounted dip switch, the correct one for these trucks (notice the misspaced mounting bolts that match the misspaced holes in the floor) and was another bit I lost in the fire, so that was rather fortuitous. Assuming it works when I test it that is, but they’re mega simple things so I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t.

You don’t get branding and logos like this anymore, especially on what is a fairly mundane part.

[jollyroger]

Still thoroughly enjoying this thread thanks, really great work.

[mrbounce]

I remember driving my brother's '64 Mini Traveller with a floor-mounted dipswitch. Brilliant bit of kit - far better than a stalk!

Awesome stuff as usual Dez

[norfolkshire]

With regards to sourcing various bolts, have you ever looked at www.accu.co.uk/

This is yet another website that I stumbled upon by sheer accident. I have been using their services to source all sorts of different bolts/washers/nuts, etc...

Their delivery charges are realistic and I have ordered goods at 7.00pm and had them turn up by the next morning; less than 24 hour turnround.

Perhaps it may be worthwhile trawling through what they have available?

Keep up the good work as well.

[Dez]

Dec 8, 2019 18:25:10 GMT norfolkshire said:

With regards to sourcing various bolts, have you ever looked at www.accu.co.uk/

This is yet another website that I stumbled upon by sheer accident. I have been using their services to source all sorts of different bolts/washers/nuts, etc...

Their delivery charges are realistic and I have ordered goods at 7.00pm and had them turn up by the next morning; less than 24 hour turnround.

Perhaps it may be worthwhile trawling through what they have available?

Keep up the good work as well.

I’ve had a quick look, but as with most suppliers, no one place ever seems to do everything I need. The one you’ve posted doesn’t seem to stock anything over m12, and I couldnt find anything metric fine and flanged either.

Ultimately I end up buying from a number of sources, often through eBay as it acts as an easy price comparison. Spalding fasteners are pretty good for most things especially odd imperial stuff, but then are often inextricably expensive on some stuff.

I buy a lot of fasteners because it’s my job as well, and everything I buy is always very specific and there’s quite a few projects on the go.
In the last years I’ve used-
Spalding fasteners
Kayfast
Speciality metals
Megapacks
Boltbase
ADL components
Paignton tools and supplies
GWR fasteners
Tool and bolt ltd
Charnwood fasteners
Boltworld
Rice metals

And they’re just the ones that are specifically nuts and bolts. Once you get into clips and widgets and also unions and fittings the list would be huge!

[Dez]

Another update on the heater.

Matrix turned up so I decided to see how it fits.
Here’s some better pics of the heater box and the side outlets etc first. Fan and motor are removed here so they’re out the way.






New matrix. Rear one for a tx1/tx2 taxi. I went for ally finned as they’re a little more efficient than copper/brass. And half the price.


Open up the front and slip ‘er in.




Safe to say after nearly 20 years of this I’m quite proficient with a tape measure, and it fits rather nicely. I just need to do something about the pipes being in a slightly different place.
Mark up-


Make holes that allow pipes to protrude...


...and the matrix to slot all the way in. I need to extend those little supports a bit to support this end though so it’s not sat on the fins.


Then I filled in the old slots/holes in the corners for the old pipes and smoothed em off. A bit overkill for something that’ll be bolted up to the firewall and never seen, but I do have standards to uphold.


I also opened out the holes a bit so there’s room for grommets for the pipes.


So yeah, that’s worked out well. I’ll finish those little bits off this week then it can be painted and reassembled and it’s another bit ticked off the ‘unknown’ list.