1936 Speedwagon Fire Truck Parts needed

I am starting a restoration on a 1936 Speedwagon / Stutz Fire Truck. The inline 6 has a cracked head and bad valves. I am trying to figure out my best options and or sources for parts. The Head # is F600A505 and Block # is 14A427. Any info or insight is appreciated.

Chief, are you already at that project and causing problems. Who's motor is used in that truck? Cracked heads can be repaired depending on where the crack is and how bad. The valves can be made from scratch if things really get rough.

We recently got the C 400 Continental running for my 36 Divco restoration. The C 400 had a rather short run so not much is out there. The motor was locked up bad and near junk. It now hums like a singer sewing machine.

Don't be scared.

Thanks for the encouragement. The block is cast with REO on the side and the tag says "Built by REO MOTOR CAR COMPANY". The block # is 14A427 and the head # is F600A505… I am not sure if that means anything to anybody but thought I would post it.

Do you know where the head is cracked? How have you determined it is cracked?

Did you ever get a chance to post a photo of this truck?:eek::eek:

You can clearly see a hairline crack but have not thoroughly cleaned it and examined it yet. I did take lots of photos when we drug it out of the barn last Friday. It's much rougher in the day light than it was in the dark barn, or maybe I just saw it finished in my mind each time I looked at it and saw beyond the rust and bird poop. Either way we made a lot of progress in our first two days and have the wiring schematic completed and a couple of hundred photos to document each component as we disassemble. As far as posting, I tried last night but had trouble. I shot everything in high quality and need to resize to fit the forum format. I will try to get that figured out as well as post a photo of the truck that was taken in 1965 or so. The truck was a trade in to HOWE in the mid 60s but sent to the scrap yard along with several trade-ins. The story was that this was the best of the bunch and kept out to play with as the owners of the scrap yard were volunteer firefighters. After a couple of parades etc, it was sold to my friends father who used it for parades and Boy Scout fundraisers until it quit running about 20 years ago. The owner of the scrap yard had a young son who played on it as it sat for sale in the front yard for sale. That young boy later became and still is the Fire Chief of one of the other departments in our County. He says that he has photos of him on the truck as a young boy. We believe we know the department where the truck first went to and have attempted to make contact but have no reply so far… we hope to get better photos of the early time period. The truck was painted white (house paint) when it came to Howe as a tradein. Our focus for now is on getting the frame ready and completed as well as the major components, did you have thoughts on the head? Tim Stottlemyer, EVFD Chief<O:p</O:p

This is the first daylight it has seen in about 20 years.

Very awesome truck. It has great lines to it. Do you have a decent machine shop in your area and what are your plans for the motor? Get it running or a full blown rebuild? If you can see an external crack it is my opinion it would be fixable. Cast iron can be welded but it does require a certain touch. The iron needs to be heated to a certain point and welded on while hot. The next very important thing is controlling the cooling. If you allow a "fast" cool the iron can re-crack.

Did you say you were in Indiana? I have a great machinist in Wolcott.

We need to talk by phone some eve.

Lot's of goodies on that gal too. Just spotted the bell!!:eek::eek::eek::eek:

We do have a really good machine shop in town but may seek a 2nd opinion if the diagnosis is not good. Thanks for the complements... sometimes all i can see is a $ pit and other times i see a finished truck. This week we have everything off the truck but the engine, trans & pump. We hope to get time to focus on the 3 major components while the frame is getting dipped. Is there a chance that new /old stock may be available for anything on the engine?... or are the REOs too few to find any parts?

Chief,

It has been discussed before by myself and other fire engine owners but be very careful how deep in you get before you hit the point of no return. Fire engine restorations are costly and that is if you can handle lots of the labor. There are so many different systems going on in your fire engine that once you break them down and start restoring each one it can get a bit scary. Pumps, electrical, plumbing, mechanical and we have not even gotten to paint, chrome, and lettering.

I don't want to shy you off but I can hear hesitation in your writing from here.