Restoration: D750 Ford—Part 30
The latest updates from Deals on Wheels' resident restorer, Lyndsay Whittle
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Joining a lineup of previous restorations
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It has been said that life’s full of ups and downs and at any given time that you happen to be riding the crest of a wave, you can be sure you’re about to be dumped on. However, looking back at my enthusiasm at the progress in Part 29 last month, I can’t believe I was so naïve as to not see what was about to come.
Even though the month of November didn’t start out all that well with the restoration, by the time we were halfway through the month things were looking up, with no apparent end in sight for the fantastic progress already being made.
It’s pretty fair to say that this damned old Covid-19 epidemic hadn’t had a lot to recommend for most people, although from a personal point of view I have to say that all-in-all it didn’t have too much of a negative effect on yours truly.
Aside from two or three jobs I had to outsource that were slowed-up because of lockdowns, I guess I didn’t have too much to complain bitterly about. As they say, every cloud has a silver lining and even dear-old Covid came up trumps for all the good people who would have previously not been able to register their vehicles before they had obtained a warrant of fitness.
Now, the kind-hearted might well say "well done" to the vehicle licensing authority for relaxing the rules while we were unable to go out and get a WOF/COF check, "good on you" they would say.
However, believe it or not there are cynics out there, and those people could possibly suggest that there was method to their apparent madness in the form of a realisation that a shortfall in registration revenue was starting to bite.
Of course, it would be quite improper of me to comment one way or the other, so I’ll leave that thought where it belongs, out there in the ether. Deliberations aside, I must admit to taking advantage of the change of heart, so I hopped online and registered the D.
It’s the first time the old truck’s been registered since 2004, so all we have to do now is get it passed for a COF and we’ll be fully road legal again. Notice how well that previous paragraph flowed off the page and made it sound all-too easy?
That prior comment has greater significance, as it was written several days ago, before I was armed with the knowledge I now have, a few days later, as I sit down once again to continue with the story.
The closing comments in last month’s article went something along the lines of ‘as now the brake booster kit is in our hot little hands, we should have good news to report next month’.
That was a true and correct statement conveying the current (at the time) state of the nation. Now, I’ve never tried to pass myself off as any kind of mechanic, so bearing that in mind I’d given the booster to Colin at CRD Automotive to recondition, knowing that when he’d finished his part of the bargain, all I’d have to do is refit it to the truck and we’d finally have some brakes.
Backing-up the story here, this has been an ongoing saga for the past eight or nine months. It all started when it came to fitting all the booster components after I’d cleaned and painted the chassis. Aside from appearing to need some adjustment prior to pulling the truck apart, the brakes seemed to do a reasonable job of stopping the truck.
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Chassis cleaning still in progress
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After several months of cleaning and painting, everything went back together in sequence and an initial bleed of the brakes produced a rock-hard pedal, the only problem was that after several minutes, the pedal went straight to the floor.
Subsequent brake bleeds produced the same results, so after consulting a few mechanic mates who said it must be the master cylinder, I removed it and sent it off for repair.
Once returned, I refitted the thing again and bugger me, the same result was all I was rewarded with.
So, it was out with the cylinder and back to the brake expert who said he couldn’t find anything wrong with it. Put it back again not expecting a different result, so there was no surprise to find out I was right.
Further down the track, I removed the front wheels and had the four front wheel cylinders rebuilt, one of which really should’ve been done in the first place, although the other three weren’t really all that bad.
When I put them back on the truck there was no improvement whatsoever. Okay, you get knocked down, so you get up and fight again, this time by turning my attention to the brake booster and its slave cylinder.
Here we are back on track with the story as it stands in December 2021 with a reconditioned master cylinder, four as-new front wheel cylinders and a rebuilt booster, and we’re still plagued with the original problem.
Oh, I did forget to mention one faux pas I made earlier in the piece, where I initially transposed the brake line from the master cylinder with the line from the air-operated tailgate release and wondered why I couldn’t get any brakes.
When I discovered my mistake, I thought I’d had a lightbulb moment and was more or less certain I’d solved the problem, however unfortunately this wasn’t the case, so it was back to square one.
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Testing lowering of cab on a downhill slope
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Well, here we are many months later and we’re not much further ahead than ‘square one’. To that end, I’m driving the D up onto a transporter and taking the whole shooting box down to Colin at CRD to sort out as soon as the transporter becomes available.
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Dash lights, wipers and horn working (listen really carefully, you might hear it). Just kidding :-)
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As things currently stand, there are only a few minor details, with the exception of the brakes to deal to before we’re off to the testing station. I’m in two minds as to whether I’m looking forward to hearing the results of Colin’s findings.
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Testing cab for lifting on uphill slope
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On one hand I’m hoping he’ll find it’s something simple, in which case I know I’m going to look like an even bigger fool than I already know I am, however if it turns out to be something more difficult to rectify, it’s going to cost a poultice.
Seems like I’m stonkered whichever way I turn, in any case you can be sure I’ll let you know whichever way the mop flops, even though I reckon I’m not looking forward to it.
A positive note to end on:
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Most of the electrics are now working
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Although the truck might not stop all that well on a downhill slope, it does seem to go up hills reasonably well, with the old Eaton two-speed doing its thing very cleanly.
I’m sure the team at CRD Automotive will be able to sort out the one thing that’s had me baffled for months on end. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Also, lights and electrics working including horns – can’t show a photo of them working though I’m sorry.
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