The restoration of my 69 Power Wagon

[ChristianT]

Hi, thought i would make a project thread of my own, i will probably have many questions along this restoration road

I have wanted a Power Wagon for a long time, very cool looking trucks. The problem is that there are not many of them here in Norway and importing one from The US is very expensive, the freight, taxes and all that on top of pretty high vehicle cost. i have been watching local and nearby country car pages for some time.
About a year ago an opportunity appeared her in Norway, a former Danish Army truck that had been imported many years ago was for sale. It had several problems that needed addressing just from looking at the pictures.
I decided that i could not let the opportunity go, i drove 4 hours to have a look. The truck was partly dismantled witch made it easy to inspect although it was covered in some snow.
The frame was in pretty good shape, axles and drivetrain to.
The cab had a rust hole under the right door, missing window frame, and some other smaller issues like cracked glass and missing instruments.
Engine has been exposed to weather for some time and needed a complete rebuild.
Hood, grill and fenders was ok. The bed comes from a danish army trailer and definitely needs attention/swap out.
The overall verdict was, buy it, and so i eventually did. There was also an issue with ID papers witch postponed the process some, but i eventually got the truck to my storage location and later on a parts truck to that was included in the purchase.

At this point i have done some work already, mostly to the engine which is a 251 flathead. It's completely dismantled and has been shipped to a machine shop for a reboore, crank grind, valve seat job (grind and change to hardened valve seats) valve guide change to accommodate new sodium cooled exhaust valves.

Ok, Ok, enough text, here's some pictures :)

My first look at the truck:

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At my storage location:
The bed and cab was mounted on the truck for easy transportation.
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Removing the bed again with a winch on a A-frame:
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And the cab
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More to come :)

[ChristianT]

Ok, and some pic's from engine teardown.
There was a lot of water in the oil pan, but it was clean, no rust. the internals looked good except for the cylinders and valves.
Almost every part has been treated in a solution called StripAll, basically a caustic soda solution with some other additives. Cleans everything up very nice.

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Some of the pistons was very stuck. Some of the valves too.
Notice the distributor, ist a 24V watertight version.
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Valve guide extraction
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Before StripAll
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After treatment, cleans up very nice.
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[712edf]

You've really got that thing disassembled!

Bucky

[ChristianT]

While the engine's at the machine shop i have done some work on disassembling the frame, and what's bolted on the frame. Ready for sandblast and paint soon.

I'm curious about a thing, i noticed that front half of the frame has a frame inside the other fram and someone has welded a flat iron on top and bottom of the frame. Perhaps it's for strengthening the frame for military use? Was that normal practice? I'm thinking of removing the flat iron, it's only spot welded and it has not been primed or painted in any mather it looks. Water and dirt will gather between the surfaces and rust will grow because i can not treat the surfaces in between. Are there other options than cut the welds and remove the flat iron? What would you do?
Does the civilian Power Wagon have 2 frames inside each other? The last picture shows both frames and the flat iron.

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[Todd M]

The civilian power wagon have the same two frames layered together as you mentioned.

if you are doing a restoration as your thread states those pieces should not be required if the frames are in good shape as it seems in your photos. Several individuals on the website who have done a resto-mod have boxed in the frames.

There are those who have taken the two frames apart to clean and paint; replacing those large rivets will be a trick but several have done it.

[ChristianT]

Hi,

Thank's, so it's supposed to be that way with frames in layer, i think i'll leave it like that. There are some areas where the inner frame has some rust that needs addressing, only a couple of inches at the bottom where the frame drops down behind the front wheels. Also a small area in the front where the fender bolts on to the frame.

I guess that you mean those flat iron (is it called that?) on top and bottom of the frame is not required?

A pic of the front of the frame, the top of the inner frame has lots of rust in that part, that is one of the most badly attacked parts and longest on the frame.
I would rather not part the layered frames, perhaps just cut out the bad parts and replace with fresh metal? Tha part where the frame drops down is a bit worse, but it's smaller.

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[Desoto61]

I'd guess the flat steel strip was added to smooth out the top of the frame for whatever was likely mounted there. I don't see it adding a lot of strength to the frame.

Taking the frames apart is definitely the ultimate solution, but it's a huge undertaking. My solution in places like your last picture was to have my media blaster clean out the rust as much as possible, clean it out really well and then made sure to get some rust converting solution in there before I painted. I am always reluctant to cut or weld on the frame unless I have to, done right it's fine, but wrong and it introduces new problems. If you decide to go that route I would suggest cutting just one layer away, clean up the piece underneath, use some weld-thru primer and then replace.

I would only consider boxing the frame if you were planning on putting on a more modern suspension, but as it stands the frame was expected and designed to be able to twist. Removing or minimizing that twist will affect other things if you plan on using the truck like a truck.

[ChristianT]

Thank you for the input. Think i will remove those flat steel strips, not very motivated in parting the two frames though. By the looks of it, it's the inner frame that is mostly attacked by rust. The outer frame looks very solid all over. Need to clean it up a bit more and assess the damage.
Will not box the frame, i'm gonna keep the truck pretty original.

[ChristianT]

If i were to take the two frames apart, what is the prefered method today to rejoin them, will bolts and nuts be sufficient? The rivets has the advantage that they will not unscrew themselves, but a high quality and proper torqued bolt with loctite will not either i guess.

[Cheyenne Dave]

The issue of bolts vs rivits is mostly based on fastener diameter. A replacement bolt is more of a clamp, whereas the rivit swells to both clamp AND peg. No matter what grade or torque bolt is used to replace a rivet, it will not replace the true clamping power of the rivet. A precise resizing of bolt-to-hole tolerance would increase the bolts effectiveness, but they still wont swell to create the effect a rivet provides.

CD

[CRudolph]

I’m wit DeSoto61, media blast and cover with some rust prevention and paint unless it’s so rbotten you have to cut and weld. I’ve never done the rivet extraction but I’m also with Cheyenne Dave regarding rivets vs bolts. With enough vibration bolts can sheer off whereas rivets won’t as the fill the entire hole.

Keep the questions coming because I learned something all the time from these knowledgeable gentlemen on this site. I just wish we had more step by step photos on how to do some of these things as I’m a very visual learner not that I can’t learn from what’s written but also seeing it is, like they say, worth a thousand words.

Keep us us posted on the restoration. Craig

[ChristianT]

Hi,
The engine is back from the machine shop, getting ready to assemble, just waiting on some parts from Vintage Power Wagon.

I have also ordered inn rivets for the frame, in order to get that peace in mind feeling, i think i need to take the frame apart..

Yes i agree Craig, forums like these are very valuable and full of knowledge :)

Now a new question:
I started looking at the starter and found it in a not to god shape, and need help identifying it in order to get parts.
The starter has a tag on it but i can't find much info by those numbers and the tekst on top of the tag is very faint. All my googling has pointed me in the direction of Auto-lite or Prestolite. Anyone recognise this starter?
Since it's a 24 volt system in the Truck i guess the starter is 24v also.

[Tom Petroff]

Vintage or Midwest military should have a Gov. NOS rebuild kit for that starter,or a exchange unit.
Tom

[ChristianT]

Thank's, had a look at these stores, but they do not have a brush plate in store.
Also i'm not quite shure what starter type i have. The numbers on the tag does not make sense when i look at starters from Auto-lite or Prestolite although some of them looks identical to mine in appearance (on the outside at least).
Have found some brush plates on ebay, but i do not know the part# of my plate. The ebay seller does not answer questions either, so have no idea if it fits.

[ChristianT]

Hi,

I'm assembling the engine now and i'm a little puzzled by the gasket set for the crankshaft, those two small rubber inserts has a lip that i can't make sense of.
It's a 251 from 1969.

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Remove the lip that is circled in?

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The old gasket did not have the "lip", just wanted a second opinion of what to do with it, this does not look right?