Jeep Tops & Bus Stops

Great Adventure today! When we arrived home BG had 18841 miles on the odometer which means that she has been driven 423 miles since she was purchased.

The new parade top was finished so we took the Benton Franklin Transit buses from home to the upholstery shop. We found that people over 65 get to ride free, a benefit we gladly took advantage of. It took two transfers and a little over an hour to get to downtown Kennewick. The top looks great; I love it. It is nice and snug. I've included a crummy picture of one of the buses we rode and a picture of BG with her new top and whip antenna blowing in the breeze.

 

Swap Meet, License Plates & WOW

Yesterday several of us went to the Tri-Cities 37th Annual Swap Meet and Antique Car Display at the Benton County Fairgrounds. I took my license plates with me. Earlier in the week I called the guy that I brought the license plates for Blue Goose from (see Blog dated May, 2012), because he had expressed interest in the plates I had for sale, to see if he was going to have a booth here. He said wasn't coming.

While at the swap meet I talked to a lady who was selling license plates. She said she would buy plates and was interested in looking at mine. So I went back to the car and carried my box of plates in. She looked over the plates, only interested in older Washington State ones, gathered a few and asked me what I thought was a fair price for them. I said $25 each. She said that was fair and offered me $400 for the lot. I said sure and we consumated the deal.

When I returned home I checked my database to see which plates she had purchased and found that she had picked eleven. So she paid me almost $40 a piece for the plates. WOW!

The attached picture shows an example plate, probably the one she will get the most money for when she sells it.

  

Roll Cage & Whip Antenna

Blue Goose now has a roll cage and whip antenna installed so she can safely explore the land around us (if she ever gets to). The roll cage came from a military jeep and needed to be modified; the front legs were too long for BG. I had a machine shop shorten the legs and put new flanges on them so that all six legs sat firmly on the fender wells and floorboard. I had the roll cage painted Normandy Blue and installed it in BG using spacers and large washers to provide maximum strength in the attachment. Our son gave BG the whip antenna and quick release mounting bracket. Now she is all ready to go.

The first picture is of the roll cage before it was modified.

The second two pictures show BG in all her glory, one with the windshield up, the other with it lowered.

Neighbor's 1919 Model T Ford

Last week our neighbor had a new garage door installed. He asked me to store his 1919 Model T Ford in our shop for a night while the garage door installers did their work He inherited it from his grandfather who was the second owner. It has 13,000 original miles and is in original condition.It has an electric start and a speedometer. I invited a couple of friends from the local Model T club over. They oohed and aahed and took several pictures of it.

Benton City - Shadow Mountain Grill

Yesterday four couples drove from Richland to Benton City for lunch at the Shadow Mountain Grill.We were in BlueGoose, another couple drove their Model A Ford; the other two trailed in the modern(?) cars.It was raining slightly in Richland when we left. It was raining slightly when we arrived in Benton City. It did not rain for the ten or so miles between the two towns.I took our Garmin GPS to check BG's speedometer. Her speedometer was consistently fast at four mph. So when the GPS said our top speed was 43 mph, the speedometer read 47 mph.While at lunch one of the guys in the trailer cars told me that BG's right rear wheel wobbled a little. So now I am trying to track down someone who has a wheel truing machine. The odometer now reads 18764. Here is a picture of Joan and I and BG on the main street of Benton City.

Benton City - Shadow Mountain Grill

 

Spicer PTO not Warn Overdrive

Spicer 18H (R72772)

I have a friend who is rebuilding a 1943 Willys military jeep. In addition to his jeep he has an abundance of parts available to him in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho because his father had collected them through the years. My friend knew that I was interested in obtaining a Warn overdrive unit. He said he knew that there were two of them somewhere on the farm and he would get one for me. It took at least three trips for him to find it. He called me Saturday evening and I went to pick it up yesterday. It didn't look like what I expected it to look. The gears didn't look right and it had a shift lever on the unit. I brought it home and cleaned it up and what to my wondering eyes should appear on the name tag but SPICER MFG. CORP., TOLEDO OHIO, U.S.A., MODEL 18H, SERIAL R72772. I found the exact same unit on EBAY and discovered it was a PTO. I called my friend and told him it wasn't a Warn overdrive and he was surprised; he said his dad had mislabeled the unit. I reminded him that he said he had two units up in Coeur d'Alene and asked him if the other unit looked the Spicer 18H. He said no and so it, indeed, might be a Warn overdrive. So now I get to wait until his next trip to Coeur d'Alene, hopefully not another year. At least now he knows where the unit is.

Spicer PTO Engaged

Spicer PTO Disengaged

To Prosser & Back, And The Bee

Yesterday we took Blue Goose on its longest trip ever, to Prosser and back. Another couple went with us driving a 1929 Model A Ford.We ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant and stopped by Chukar Cherries as well as a Nursery. The tour totaled 78 miles. BG performed flawlessly; it didn't overheat, there were no carburetor problems and the engine was perfect. It seems to have a lot of low end torque, punched up the hills in great fashion. So far I have driven BG a total of 182 miles since February 2011 and am now comfortable driving her anywhere in town. Once we reached a top speed of 45 mph (going downhill).

The only flaw in the trip was I got a bee sting on the top of my hand and since I am allergic to bee stings I was worried. I did have my EPI pen with me but didn't have to use it. The hand was really swollen and hurt last night but it is OK now.

Water Pumps & License Plates

A friend who has a Model A Ford needed to put some miles on his rebuilt engine before trailering it to Colorado in June for a tour. So we went out for a drive (would have been approximately 20 miles). His "A" started backfiring so bad that we had to stop. While he was fiddling around with his carburetor and distributor I noticed a puddle under the front wheels. It wasn't oil; it was antifreeze. I found a leak under the water pump. It could have been the seals or the gasket. I ordered a new water pump and thermostat and had them installed. The cast iron water pump housing was completely rusted out.

Then a week later we went to the local swap meeting. I was looking for 1947 license plates for Blue Goose. One vendor, from Portland, only had Oregon plates. He told us that he had just sold his Washington collection to someone in Marysville, WA and gave me his number. One thing led to another and I now have a set of  1947 Washington plates for BG. They are truck (TK) plates from Spokane County (C).

Up And Running in 2012

The replacement 1948 windshield has been repaired, sandblasted, extraneous holes filled in, and painted in the original Normandy Blue color. It is noticeably darker than the other blue and is very beautiful. New seals have been added and the canvas top studs transferred from the original windshield to this one. The windshield assembly has been mounted on BG and I took her for her first ride yesterday morning. Now I may have to locate an electrical leak which is draining the battery. Then I have to locate some original top bows to replace the silly ones I have now. Next winter I will have the hood and tailgate repaired and painted.

'48 Windshield Repair

The '48 windshield that I purchased recently because it had the footman loop was taken in for repair. The pivot leg which had been broken and the vertical portion of the frame on the left side will be straightened and aligned and smoothed appropriately. All of the after-market extraneous holes will be filled and the whole apparatus, including the frame holding the glass will be sandblasted. In addition I took all the small pieces (hinges, brackets, vacuum line, stiffening rods, etc.) to another shop for sandblasting. After that I'll take them to a paint shop where they will paint them Normandy Blue, the original color.

Gator Grip Ramps

Thanks to our youngest grandson David I now have Gator Grips (otherwise known as really, really low grit sandpaper) on the trailer ramps. We went up to visit our kids and grandkids on Christmas day and David wanted to show me his new long board along with this stuff he was going to attach to it called Gator Grip. I think it is supposed to keep you from slipping off the long board. Anyway it comes in 11" by 4' long strips. David helped me find a website to order this stuff. I did immediately upon returning home. It arrived Thursday and I just finished adhering it to the ramps. Now Blue Goose will have no excuse, she will NOT slip going up and down the ramps onto and off of the trailer.

Jeep On Car Hauler Trailer

I made the ramps from two 5' lengths of 2x12 lumber reinforced with 2x8 lumber and used two aluminum ramp ends that are designed for pickup truck tailgates. Blue Goose weighs one ton and the aluminum pieces are rated at 700# each! Oh, oh!

I attached the trailer to Snowflk and then for the very first time put BG into 4-wheel drive and low. It was interesting; if I took my foot off the gas BG would stop, didn't need brakes. I crept up the ramp and got BG on the trailer. Neither the ramps nor the aluminum attacments broke. Yeah! After figuring out where to position BG I used the axle straps and tie-downs to secure BG front and rear.

Even though the tie-down straps are only 7' long (shortest I could find at JEGS) they are still way too long. So I plan to not use the axle straps and see how that works. In the end I will probably have to shorten the tie-down straps and reheat the cut end to eliminate fraying.

I took BG and the trailer and weighed them. Big disappointment! The combined weight was 3,625#, a little too heavy. The tongue weight was 374# which is perfect (10% of total weight). The spare tire weighs 50#, the ramps each weigh 30# so if worse comes to worse I can throw those in the back of Snowflk. The trailer tires are supposed to be inflated to 44# but were only 22# so that is my next project.

Jeep Hauler Trailer

About a month ago I bought a car-hauler trailer for Blue Goose. I bought it from a local trailer dealership that had this used trailer on his lot on consignment. I is just right for what I want. It has a single axle with electric brakes. It is classified as "home-built" from California. I had my friend remove his 1937 Packard from the garage which he was storing there and replaced it with the trailer. The title says it weighs 1540 lbs. With BG weighing 2100 lbs. fully loaded that puts the total weight over 3500 lbs. I removed the 2x4 stake sides and the plywood center floor. The wood weighed 225 lbs. The spare tire was loose so I mounted it as you see in the accompanying picture.

Then I checked the wheel bearings. They were OK and I repacked them. However, the left wheel was extremely difficult to remove. The lug nuts had spalled. Little chunks of metal had come off of the nuts and around the holes in the wheel. Instead of trying to make the ova-holed wheel the spare, I decided to buy a new wheel.

So this morning I washed the trailer and hooked it up to the car. And later we will drive it to a scales and see what the new weight is. It is 1315 lbs. exactly 225 less than the title weight. Yahoo!

1948 Windshield and New Steering Wheel

Last Thursday our local Giant Nickel had an add for two 1948 Jeeps without engines for $1,500 each. If you wanted engines the Jeeps were $2,000 each. So I called Les in Yakima and we talked. He mentioned he had lots of parts and something about windshields, PTOs, and an overdrive. So we went to Yakima yesterday to see what he had. I ended up buying a 1948 windshield, because it had the integral footman loop, for $100. While there I saw a new Jeep steering wheel. It wasn't until I returned home to compare what I saw to what I had that I realized that it was exactly like mine. So I called this morning and bought it for $50. Our daughter, who lives in Yakima, will pick it up this week and bring it to Richland next time she comes for a visit.

Yeah, my suspicions proved true. The footman loop is an integral part of the windshield frame, not screwed or riveted on like the rest of the footmans on the Jeep. Nobody could tell me that. I had to find an intact one to prove it one way or another.

I didn't know that Jeeps had overdrive. I wonder when they started offering that. Maybe it was an after market item. 

I Really, Really Like Flat Fenders

Flat Fender is the name given Jeeps that were made up until 1953, I think. After that the front of the fender was rolled down and stuff like running lights or directional signals were installed in the rolled down part.

One of the first things I did after buying Blue Goose (BG) was to have the steering fixed. The worm gear in the steering column box was very worn. So I took it to a mechanic to fix.While waiting for parts I dropped by the shop and discovered that the mechanic had removed the left front fender to have easier access to the steering gear box. I thought that was cool, it didn't take much to remove the fender.

Recently I have been working on some electrical parts which are also located near the left front fender. In the end I too had to remove the left front fender. I discovered that three of the bolts were missing, two on the frame and one on the tub (body). The mechanic had not put the fender on properly, probably because it took a long time to line everything up. Three bolts are used to attach the fender to the grill, five to attach it to the frame, and four to attach it to the tub. I needed to use a die to chase the threads on the frame. I got new bolts to replace the missing ones and also to replace several that were too worn to use anymore. As I write this I think I will replace one more worn bolt and chase one more thread in the frame. Then everything will be hunky-dory.

Oh yes, and when I straightened the bent part stuff flaked off and I discovered the real Normandy blue color BG was originally painted. It is much darker than the blue it has now. I always suspected that but was never able to prove it.

Dimmer Switch - How Could Something So Easy Turn Out To Be So Difficult

When I bought BG, although I didn't know it at the time, the dimmer switch that controls the high/low headlight beams didn't work. One set of beams did work, the other was nothing. So I bought a replacement dimmer switch. It came with three small (and I mean really small) bolts that connect the wires to the terminals. In the process of putting the wires on the switch I dropped a bolt into the bowels of the engine compartment. One hour later I found it. Two hours later I recovered it. In the process of putting the wires on the switch I dropped a bolt again into the bowels of the engine compartment. One hour later I hadn't found it. Two hours later I hadn't found it. By that time I had removed the left front fender assembly. I finally came to the conclusion that it had dropped in a little hole on top of the steering column tube down near where the steering column enters the steering gear box.

To slide the steering column tube up I had to remove the steering wheel. Whee, what a chore! After a couple of false steps I rented a axle puller from our local rental store. It took two hours and several abortive attempts to get it off. When I finally got the steering column tube slid up the bolt did indeed fall out on the floor. Up until that point I had only circumstantial evidence that the bolt was there. I have the steering column tube back in place but haven't put the steering wheel back on. The new dimmer switch is now in place and operational. I have high and low beam and the Tell-Tale lamp on the dashboard that indicates when the high beams are on now also works. It needed a new lamp and to be wired properly to the dimmer switch.

I still have more electrical work to do. It has to wait until the parts arrive. They include installing a new terminal block, a new dashboard toggle switch which turns on the dashboard light and installing the new dashboard light with its clam shell hood.

Blue Goose Got Heat - Almost

When I bought BG the heater didn't work. So I took it out. The radiator core looked good and it doesn't leak. The fan blade, however, had come off the motor shaft. Luckily, Mom found the set screw which holds the fan blade to the shaft. I tested the motor and it didn't turn. I took it apart and saw nothing amiss. So I buffed up the commutator, put it back together again and found that it now worked. I mounted it back in its cage and attached the fan blade. I then found that I needed to adjust the blades so that they didn't bump into anything. I put the heater assembly back in BG and tested the rheostat/switch. Although it worked it only seemed to be off or full on, nothing in between. That explains the "almost."

I found the exact switch on e-Bay and have the only bid of $8.99. In a few more hours I will find out if I win; I fully expect to. After it arrives I''ll install it and everything should work fine.

The Blue Goose Pedigree - Such As It Is Today

I bought the Blue Goose (BG) from Marty Fazzari (Walla Walla, WA) on Saturday January 22, 2011.

Marty Fazzari moved from Clarkston, WA to Walla Walla, WA sometime between 1998 and 2011.

Marty Fazzari bought BG from Steve Perialas on Christmas Eve 1998. Steve Perialas shipped BG by truck (trailer) from Big Rapids, MI to Spokane, WA. The battery froze in the cold weather on the trip across. Marty Fazzari bought a new battery and drove BG from Spokane to Clarkston.

Steve Perialas bought five Jeeps (including BG) from George Byam in 1998. He bought them all because he wanted the red Jeep (CJ3B) shown in the picture which was taken in late 1998.

George Byam restored BG in the period from 1991-1998. Hearsay evidence indicates that he entered BG in several shows and won awards. George Byam had David W. Uhrig (Grand Rapids, MI) appraise BG according to a letter dated October 26, 1996.

George Byam bought BG from E.L.D. Motors (Holley, NY) on June 7, 1991 and had North American movers ship BG from Holley to Grand Rapids.

E.L.D. Motors (Holley, NY) purchased BG from Duryea Motors (Brockport, NY) on December 27, 1988.

Duryea Motors (Brockport, NY) purchased BG from Richard Waller on January 13, 1987

A November 12, 1986 Statement of Facts stated that BG had not been registered by Anthony Gatz since 1955. Richard Waller (Brockport, NY) purchased BG from Anthony Gatz on that date.

The Wiper Wipes; The Jerry Can Is On

My rebuilt TRICO windshield wiper motor (vacuum driven) arrived today. I installed it and checked it out. It works beautifully. Of course the hand-operated wiper on the passenger side works also.

Recently I received several canvas straps, one set was for the Jerry can bracket. Those come with open ends and rivets to uses to wrap them around the slots in the bracket. They are all installed.

It's All In The Springs!

When I purchased BG she tilted a little to the left, like there was a 500 pound driver in the driver's seat even though she was empty.

Like the Model T and Model A Fords, BG has leaf springs. However, unlike the Fords which have two transverse springs (one over each axle), GB has four longitudinal springs (two on each side, or two in the front and two in back).

After first checking to see that the front bumper and the rear bumper were parallel with the body parts, I measured the distance from the garage floor to the bumpers. The left rear was 1/8 inch lower than the right rear. The left front was 1/2 inch lower than the right front. So I jacked up the left front until the bumper was level. The back was level too. So the problem is the left front spring.

Now, how do you solve the problem? Maybe that depends on how the problem occurred in the first place. Did the spring weaken with time or was it battered somehow (pothole, curb, etc.)? Do I buy one new spring or do I have the original bent back into shape?