Mr. Mike's Tractor Show

Finally got to Mr. Mike's Antique Power Equipment Show. Decided at last minute to take both the GMC and the Ford. Spent all day Saturday and up to early evening at show. This year had two bands and enjoyed both.

Andy and his pop chilling out. Later on Opa and Uncle Blueberry joined us. Ordered pizza from Zorba's. Next year will take a few Ying Lings along for health purposes.

Old Ford cleaned up pretty good

Big and little kids seemed to enjoy trucks

'68 N70 Series Ford

Farm Boys Pig

First Car/Truck Show at Carolina Ale House

This was our first car/truck show. It was the MoPar Club which meets the 3rd Saturday of each month. They now meet at Carolina Ale on Harbison Drive.

OK, there were other cars

Grandson Trey had a good time

Month Nine - Web Sites

There are seveal web sites noted in the Month Five-Parts post. Here is a list of some more web sites that have been helpful:

http://www.stayonline.com
Excellent resource for power cords, plugs, etc.

http://www.addydatacom.com
Antennas,etc. If Mr. Addy doesn't have it he will try to find it for you

http://www.bulbtronics.com
Not only a resource for bulbs but also porcelain sockets

http://commerciallightinginc.com/customer/colisu/images/socketguide.pdf
Only site i have found that has a socket guide pdf, great resource

http://www.centralpafire.com/forum
One of the best forums that discusses anything to do with "fire",also has extensive items for sale section

http://www.govdeals.com
Has section "fire equipment" for sale. although most items have to be picked up, lately lot of sellers will ship

http://store.thefountainheadgroup.com
Good source for Indian Pump parts

http://www.benmeadows.com
Limited number of parts for Indian Pumps but good prices

http://www.bigbeam.com
Have developed interest in big beam lanterns

http://www.batterycountry.com
No need to explain

http://www.circle-d.com
Circle D lights are neck to neck with big beam lanterns

http://www.duplicolor.com
There isn't a nut or bolt that doesn't need a touch up. wide range of spray paints. excellent how to do it resource center. best of all paints are available in just about every auto parts store. if one store doesn't have the color you want, odds are the store down the street will have it

http://www.por15.com
Use their products to strip down anything from small items with many layers of paint to running boards. excellent resource material available. first time tried a couple of short cuts, nothing but trouble. best results come from following their instructions to the letter.

Month Eight-Cosmetics-Wax

Over period of years have tried a variety of waxes, cleaners and compounds. As of date have reduced shelf items to three. Use only Windex on glass. It does not streak and does excellent job of cleaning. If have any surfaces with minimal "rusting" use product under brand name "Never-Dull" marketed by Eagle One( http://eagleone.com/) . This material is excellent for small areas. For detailing use product by Lucas Oil( http://www.lucasoil.com/ )called "Slick Mist". Have found it easy on, easy off, no residue and really makes the truck shine. I also use Slick Mist on all surfaces except glass. Due to the size of the truck and my inability to climb on a ladder without falling off I have found a way to get to the high spots. I borrowed the wife's swifter mop pad/with handle. The pad has 4 slits, one in each corner. Onto the pad I attach a terry cloth towel(best buy for towels is at Sam's) and this gives me the capability to reach everywhere. Especially the areas between the cab and fire body and the center of the hood where it meets the windshield.

Month Six-Electrical

All the belts and hoses have been replaced. All fluids have been changed. Brakes, etc. are OK. All emergency equipment was pulled before I purchased the truck. Have slowly been placing equipment on the truck. In a later blog will list out everything added to truck to date. Probably have spent a minimum of eight hours over a period of a couple of weeks pulling out old wire and pulling new wire. Have a friend who restored a truck. He did everything but did not replace any wiring. It didn't take long for 40 year old wiring to become toast. Everything added that required power has new wiring and switches. Like I wrote in an earlier blog concerning parts, having a supplier with automotive electrical knowledge and expertise is critical. Tommy Amick is such a person. If it is electrical he is the one whether it is an alternator, batteries, switches or how to wire a Q2B. The only person who is his equal is Mr. Alfred, chief mechanic. One of the first major problems was that the truck would not idle. After running for awhile it would just shut down. Added secondary in line fuel pump. Also installed in-line filter between the fuel tank and the secondary in-line fuel pump. Then installed a second in-line filter just below the carburetor. No problems. Also add "sea foam" prior to every outing. Since truck sometimes sits idle for weeks do not want to have any "bad gas" issues.

Month Five-Parts

Belts, hoses, bulbs, switches, brake lines, brake cylinders, brake pads, fluids,etc. all need to be checked. My truck is a '68 model. In my opinion the fire department that had it in service last did a great job at maintenance. However, in order to take the truck down the road with my grandchildren aboard I had to make sure. When you get into belts and hoses check out the Gates web site(http://gates.com/. They have a parts locator section that is helpful. Don't be surprised that your hoses, etc. are no longer manufactured. At that point Gates will be even more important. Usually they will accept an email picture of you hose,etc and from that they may be able to match up a replacement item. If you take a picture, always put something next to the item so as to give them some perspective of your item. I have found a long neck beer bottle to be the best. Plus if the person you are dealing with doesn't have any knowledge of a long neck beer bottle, you don't need to be dealing with them. Also when dealing with ebay sellers I always ask them to send me additional pictures with a "lnbb" beside the item if I have doubts as to its dimensions. Outside of ebay you may be at a disadvantage in finding replacement part unless you can find an independent auto parts supplier. Most of the current franchise auto parts stores rely almost solely on computer images. Most times their data base only goes back to 1985. Also they have little references for "big" rigs. Few franchise stores have "hard copy" books and even fewer will let you research what you are looking for. Some older NAPA stores still have "books" but these stores are far and few. If you are lucky, you may find an independent store that has manual resources. I was lucky. There is a local independent parts store that has a 30 foot wall lined with books. If you cannot find such a parts store you are going to have a hard time. Whenever you go looking for a part take the old part with you. Ms. Epting has found parts for me simply by looking at the old part and matching it up with images and measurements in her books. There are a couple of web sites that have helpful links: they are Chesapeake Antique Fire Apparatus Association(http://www.cafaa.net/) and Society for the Preservation & Appreciation of Antique Motor Fire Apparatus in America (http://www.spaamfaa.org/. Like a lot of people I purchased my first truck before I did my homework. After I bought the first truck I changed my email address to beentook2 to remind me daily of my mistake. By the time I got up enough courage to get the second truck I had pretty well found most of the rocks whereby I could navigate the stream without drowning or getting my feet too wet.

Month Five-Manuals

First thing was to get as many manuals on the GMC as I could find. Since I never planned to "pump" have not tried to obtain anything on pump etc. Most if not all fire bodies that are put on a cab/chassis have a manufacturer's name plate. I have found it a waste of time to contact them. They installed their bodies on countless cab/chassis configurations and have zero information. One of your best friends in a project like this will be Internet. There is no way to obtain materials faster than by Internet. Ebay by far remains to best sole source but don't rely just on ebay. Once you think you have found what you want don't judge the item by a few pictures. Ask questions. If possible get a phone number and call the seller. If it is a manual, ask them to check the index and make sure your truck model/series is covered. If the seller will not communicate with you by email and/or phone forget them. Have several manuals on the shelf that what looks like my truck on the cover but in fact does not have any information on my model/series or year. Lots of companies sell CD,s claiming to have everything on them but the kitchen sink. My one attempt at a CD manual was a toilet. First the pages were hard to read on the screen. When I enlarged them they became distorted. It was impossible to carry the computer underneath the truck and try to identify a part. With the hard copy I could use my handy dandy magnifying glass and read away. Also I could make notes in the margin of the pages to help out later.