Thread: Howdy Y'all!

Well, good thing I don't charge for my time but wanted to update that I did in the end manage to clean my sludge-filled fuel tank. It took lots of chemical and mechanical cleaning using long handled scrapers made from 3/16" diameter wire with hammered flattened tips made into small blades -- I could easily bend these to the angle I needed to get at nearly all spots in the tank. I was able to look inside the filler neck and sender hole with a small mirror and flashlight to follow and plan the progress. Would have been faster to just buy a new tank but this one is made of very heavy stock and I mostly wanted to see if it could in fact be cleaned, and once you're into it, well, as everyone on this forum knows, you're into it! I used the POR 15 tank treatment for the final cleaning, etching, and sealing, and am happy with the result -- the fuel tank will now outlast me, ha ha! As others have noted, reinstalling the tank is a bit tricky to do single handedly -- I used two cambuckle straps and a board to cinch it up into place and hold it so I could bolt it down.

Other progress is coming along as the day job permits. Have rebuilt its original Zenith carb (it came with a Weber attached) and have some questions on this linkage and the PCV system that I will post later.

After some months of doing general clean up and letting penetrating oil sit in the cylinders, fuel tank sealing, Zenith carb lapping and rebuild, new fuel lines, fuel pump, spark plugs, distributor cap and wires, rotor, points, condenser, filters and fluids all around, etc., and more etc., I dropped in a battery yesterday. Electrical system seemed to be ok (all lights worked) and so I turned the switch and after a bit of choke action the engine started right up! It had not been started in 9 years. Adjusted the carb settings and the engine sounds great! Still lots to do but the engine appears to be there. For now...

Hey sounds good & looks good.. So can you come & clean my engine aswell . . . .

Sure -- would love to see the down under!

The original Smiths heater in my 1973 SWB was rusted through, its fan motor frozen, and so I decided to rebuild and replace the bad parts. From what I've seen in this forum, this situation is pretty common on vehicles of this vintage, and the rebuild is the basic stuff that we all do. What I have not seen anywhere is a list of reasonably priced replacement parts and where to find them. I looked high and low for a replacement fan motor and squirrel cage and finally found them, with a total cost of about $65 versus nearly $200 for complete assemblies (although I do not know what it would cost to get the parts to Australia). I've detailed the rebuild and parts and post as an attached pdf file -- in this way the post will not take up a lot of room and then whoever is interested can download it. I hope it will save others the time involved in locating the replacement parts and save some money, too!

EDIT: corrected a figure citation in the attached pdf

Excellent and thanks for including the step-by-step pdf. You do good work!

Welcome Idaho,

Good job on the clean up, they look so much better with a clean and some paint.

The heater restoration is worthy of a thread in the projects section. One thing about the states, it is big enough that you are likely to find someone that makes just about anything. It would be interesting if we would find someone who would sell you the bits you obtained.

Originally Posted by Idaho

The original Smiths heater in my 1973 SWB was rusted through, its fan motor frozen, and so I decided to rebuild and replace the bad parts. From what I've seen in this forum, this situation is pretty common on vehicles of this vintage, and the rebuild is the basic stuff that we all do. What I have not seen anywhere is a list of reasonably priced replacement parts and where to find them. I looked high and low for a replacement fan motor and squirrel cage and finally found them, with a total cost of about $65 versus nearly $200 for complete assemblies (although I do not know what it would cost to get the parts to Australia). I've detailed the rebuild and parts and post as an attached pdf file -- in this way the post will not take up a lot of room and then whoever is interested can download it. I hope it will save others the time involved in locating the replacement parts and save some money, too!

EDIT: corrected a figure citation in the attached pdf

Thank you for your time and effort!