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1950 Crosley Farm O Road Restoration and more


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Day one of sanding is done, about half of the outer skin has been sanded.  Doesn't look much different than the pictures from the other day.  It is looking pretty good though.  A few spots will need a little primer.

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I am still sanding on the FOR...  It is looking really good.  A few spots will need some attention and then it will be ready for color.   I hope to flip the body over in the next few days.  I will have to modify the cart, but I have figured out what needs done already.

I did have a scare on my 1956 Jeep plow truck.  I went to move it in the garage last Friday as they were calling for snow.  It started but would not move!  Even in neutral it would stall the engine when I let the clutch out.  The shifter wasn't moving as it should but it did move and I was sure it was in neutral while letting the clutch out. After messing around for awhile it went into first gear and moved and I put it in the garage.  Does anyone have an idea of what was wrong?

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Maybe it was cold and the oil in the gear box was too thick?

Sanding and more sanding...I know that song! Depending of the products you are using (2 K or with solvents) wait a while until all is settle. It's frustrating when you apply the paint on a perfect surface just to discover one month later that what is under the paint "worked".

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Roger and Jim,

The only problem with the Jeep was Ice!  Well it was more like ice in the transmission.  As you can see from some of the pictures I have shown of the Jeep in the past it was/is very rusty and the roof, doors, windshield areas leak, and we had plenty of rain last year.  I can only guess the transmission ingested a cup or so of water through the shifter and when the temperatures turned cold it froze and locked up the transmission.  A drain and refill with fresh fluid and all is well till it fills with water again, which I hope it doesn't.   

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I was trying to get paint mixed up and can't find anyone near me that mixes Dupont anymore.  I have the paint mix for Dupont.   Might have to find something close, 1978 International Harvester, Woodbine green.  I was cleaning the back side of the dash and it looks pretty good, almost nice enough to leave original.   Will have to do some more cleaning and decide...

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Edited by dalef62 (see edit history)
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With the temperatures below freezing, painting is on hold.  Today I worked on the transfer case.  I wire brushed it and removed the bad rubber mount and bracket.  It is looking pretty good now.  Not sure whether I will paint it black or cast...  It doesn't look like it had any paint on it originally.   

I will have to make two shifter shafts for it.  One for the Hi - Lo shifter and one for the PTO.  Although the PTO is missing the in-out gear.  Will put a call in to my brother in law to have him take his shifters off his FOR. 

In case you are wondering the Hi range is 1:1 and Low range is 4:1.

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It is officially a single digit outside!!!  1 degree above zero and expected to get colder...  I did a little more cleaning on the transfer case for the FOR this afternoon.  Gave it a bath in gasoline.  A little wipe down and it will be ready for paint now.  I am thinking I will paint it cast color.

Stay warm!!!!

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Great work.  Still have to make progress on our projects, despite the cold.

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It was cold here this am, -6 degrees when I got here.  I got the garage warmed up and got some cast paint and sprayed the bottom side of the transfer case today.  will wait and flip it over later and paint the top side.  Looks pretty good for something you won't see.

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Weathermen called for a light dusting of snow today and we got about 2".  The temperature is finally going up though, was about 15 degrees at lunch.  Got a coat of cast paint on the top side of the transfer case today and it is now ready to install when I get to that point.

I also worked on the two brackets and driveshaft for the transfer case today.

For the FOR guys, is there a gasket between the transmission and the bracket and the bracket and the transfer case?  I am thinking maybe a paper one?  Also, does anyone know what the u-joint number is?  There is a little wear on mine and now would be a good time to change them!

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Edited by dalef62 (see edit history)
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It has warmed up quite a bit around here, in the 50's.  I'll take it!!!  I decided since the weather is warmer to go into the unheated area of the garage and pull the engine on the donor car.  I bought the car from a Crosley Club member and the engine didn't run, I pulled it and put another engine in it and used the car at the national meet one year, less important things like windshield and accessories!   Took it on several runs while at the meet, was quite exciting with the wind rushing through my teeth...   The engine ran well so I decided that I will put it in the FOR because I know nothing about the engine that came in the FOR.  Anyhow, it turns out that the car was titled from the engine number and I was told by the member that the engine was rebuilt????  I still have that engine and I will go over it before I reinstall it back in the convertible donor car.

I started this afternoon around 1:30 buy cleaning off the hood area, as you can see, anything with a somewhat flat surface will get stuff piled on it.  By 2:15 the engine is ready to be pulled with the exception of 3 bolts(one on transmission and two for the motor mounts and the clutch linkage.  Will try and get some help to lift it out soon.  Anyone want to help, no engine lifting hoist needed...

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Well, as usual, I couldn't wait for help.  With a jack and me the engine and bell housing with clutch/pressure plate is on the floor!  About 200 pounds of pure power!  Now to clean it up and paint it and then install it in the FOR chassis.

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Today was a nice day with highs in the 60's, even had the garage door open trying to dry things out from the rains yesterday.  I did more work today on the dash panel.   I stripped off the old paint, dollied some of the rough areas and put a thin layer of filler on it.  Should be ready for primer soon.

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I did some more work on the dash for the FOR today.  Got it sanded and test fit it on the body, it fit with a little massaging.  Also did a little more sanding on the steering column support.   Making progress one part at a time!

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I spent the morning looking for parts that are needed for the FOR.  I needed to find the transmission I will be using and I also needed to find a usable ball from a shift lever.  I need the gear shift lever, the emergency brake lever, the PTO lever and the HI-LO range lever machined with threads for the knobs.  My machine shop guy is retiring and I hope to get to him before he sells all his equipment.  I hope I'm not to late!

Does anyone know what the ball will be used for on the emergency lever?    

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Just a small report today on the FOR.  Took all the round bar to the machinist last week and got it all back on Sunday.  He threaded the bar stock and got it ready for me to do final work on it.  He is going out of business so I had to get it done ASAP.  He has been a machinist since 1948.  He is selling his equipment and retiring again!  As expected he did a great job.  I had an extra set of PTO and Hi-lo shifters made as another member of the Crosley club needs a set.  New is on the left and samples from brother in laws FOR on the right.  First bar is the emergency brake lever, then the little round ball which will slide on the emergency brake lever, then the shifter extension, then the PTO and hi-lo shifters.  

Had a busy week last week that I don't want to repeat any time soon!  On Monday, we had a small fire in our church, not much fire/water damage, but smoke damage is worst.  Then on Friday my air compressor quit working and I am without heat at the shop as my waste oil furnace uses air. Things will get better...

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Doing a little cleanup on the transmission and finding some problems with it.  First picture is the transmission that came with the FOR/less the top, second picture is a transmission that has been laying around for several years in my shop.  I had planned on using the one that has been laying around but there is a problem with the bushing on the input shaft...(forth picture)  there isn't one!  The one that was in the FOR has the bushing but there is plenty of play(last picture).  Now that my machine shop has closed up and sold his equipment, (some of which was bought for scrap!!!!!) I may need to find a new shop to get a new bushing machined.  Other than the missing bushing and possible wear on the output shaft where the bushing runs it is in remarkably good shape. 

Maybe I will go to plan "C", take the transmission that is in the convertible and use it as I think it is good...  It ran well when I used it several years ago???? 

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I'm shifting gears on the transmission today. Pun intended!!!  I was looking through my stash of parts and came across another transmission and checked it out and it looks good to go.  It pays to have been collecting Crosley parts since 1978!!!  I probably have 4 or five more transmissions laying around...  I'll give it a coat of paint and it will be ready!!!

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I was able to get back the the Crosley engine today and stripped all the accessories off.  I give it an initial cleaning with gasoline and now it is ready for deep cleaning and trying to get the paint off the aluminum.  I will not be rebuilding the engine as it was running good the last time I had the convertible out.  I may take the intake and exhaust off of it and the side pans and valve cover but the rest will stay, including the distributor as to remove it I will need to remove the pan and I don't want to do that.  The last picture shows the engine number, Crosley guys will know what it means...  lol

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Paul,

That engine is an early engine, June 1946-December 1946.  It would have originally been a tin block engine (COBRA COpper BRAzed ) that was rebuilt by Crosley at a later date to retrofit to the cast iron block.  It doesn't have the oil fill tube on the distributor side of the crankcase either. 

I may be rethinking the decision to use that engine though.  I have pulled the original engine out and taking a closer look at it.  When I got the FOR I tried to start the engine and it wouldn't fire.  Compression was down on a few cylinders, but it may have been because the valves were not seating due to rust.  So I am soaking everything down with transmission fluid to try and free things up some.  Will give it another compression test in a day or so and see where the numbers are.  I also found a bad rotor on the distributor that may have been another reason it didn't start, but I thought I had spark????  We will see what happens in the next couple days.

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Dale, I don't know if your FOR has hydraulics but something to check. Mine had hydraulics and they were not put back on and was missing the piece that drives the pump from the front pulley. My Dad had swapped engines and didn't remember an adapter. When I cleaned out his stash of Crosley stuff I found the original engine with the adapter still attached. It is just a disk with two pins that attaches to the front crank pulley. Could be made but it was nice to find if I decide to add the hydraulics.

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Did some work on the original FOR engine and found that the cam was out of time with the crank.  After several tries got it to fire and run for a few seconds.  The next thing to do will be recheck the compression on each cylinder now that it has run for a few seconds ( was 75 psi after I got it in time) then clean it up if that checks out.

For those that don't know, the Crosley engine uses an over head cam and a tower shaft to drive it from the crankshaft.  The tower shaft is in the area just under where the "CR" are on the word Crosley.  The Crosley block is also quite different from other manufactures in that the block and head are one piece.  To do a valve job you must tear the engine completely down, crank out, crankcase off, pistons out, then you can get to the valves.

The weather is warming up around here, but I have been slowed by a cold and hope it goes away soon so I can do more work.

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You have been in Crosleys long enough you probably know this. It might take a few cold warm cycles to loosen up the rings. If it is valves, yep a lot of work.

 

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Didn't realize that the block and head were one piece on a Crosley. I knew the OHC was driven by an interesting shaft and bevel gear arrangement, which (to me at least) seems so much simpler than a chain drive with its associated tensioners. 

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Today was a good day for getting some things done on the FOR engine.  Things checked out on the compression and I pressure washed it yesterday and then stripped it down today.  Got all the accessories off it and blasted a lot of them.  Now to fire up the powder coat gun and get some of them powder coated, and the rest painted.  I have hi temp cast iron powder coat for the exhaust manifold and I will powder coat clear the intake and water outlet.  I will spray gloss black on the oil fill tube and bracket for the the pump. 

Jim Bollman, does that bracket look factory for the pump, with the torched out notch for the oil filter line fitting?

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