Gror's rebuild

[the old trucker]

   Looks like there from my era. PEACE BABY !!! Hey BRO...where'd these pink elephants come from !!!   Like groovy man !!!

[the old trucker]

   Gror is that the original steering wheel for that bomber ? Looks like the center part is gone. I found a few sites on the net awhile back that shows how to repair wheels with cracks in them. It's some kind of 2 part epoxy. Results look good too.
 

[gror]

Yes I think it is. It has been welded up and a lot of the parts are missing so I will probably change it out at some time when all the major work is done.

[the old trucker]

  Gror I'm wondering if that old bell housing is aluminum. If so it's likely that the steel bolts seized onto it over time. Had that problem with my first truck. Had bearings rolled in @ 500,000km. Bolts stuck between lower housing & top of base pan.

[grfishmaker]

Gro,
Could you measure the size of the opening in the wood frame for the smaller back window on your bomber? Also the size of the glass that will go in. Hopefully you still have them out.
I plan on replacing all the glass on my 47' back to the round style windows. Someone had installed the newer larger type windows.  The wrong type of plywood was used so I figure I may as well go all the way and change everthing.
Thanks Gro!

[the old trucker]

  Grfishmaker the small window glass is 6". The other glass is 10" & 12". The opening can be determined when you get the rubber to replace the glass with. I hope you are going to do the same as Gror is doing, by taking pics of everything. Your parcel should be in the mail by weekend.

TOT

[grfishmaker]

Yeah, I know the approx. size, but it makes a huge difference on being close or pretty close. I have seen alot of sloppy window replacement work done. There is a pretty fine line between too tight and too loose. Too loose a fit and any light pressure from branches will pop out your windows. When done right, it's a pretty tight fit. Sometimes it seems like you are trying to put in a piece of glass that is too big and all of a sudden it slips into place. When you get the window in, the glass is held very tight and you know you have done it right. Sometimes it seems like the hole opening is too small.

[houlio]

grfishmaker,
I agree with you on the size of the window having to be precise.  One thing to remember is the gasket material.  I don't know if the original gasket material is still available.  We went with one that was very similar, but slightly thicker and we had to really work to get the small windows back in.

It's up to you, but we tried to make sure the splice in the gasket material was at "6 o'clock" or straight down to try and reduce moisture damage - and make them look consistant.  Also you may want to cut the gasket material at an angle to compensate for the arc in the window - helps reduce the gap.

[grfishmaker]

Thanks Houlio,
 I took out all my windows on my 53' wide a couple years ago when I repainted her. That was the first time I ever re-installed any glass and I could have swore that the glass had expanded when I went to put them back in. I used the rubber moulding than Shaver sells. Looks good, nice and pliable. I had never replaced a bombardier window before and was lucky to have a co-worker that is also a commercial fisherman on Lake Winnipeg to show me how. I used a piece of small sideline and alot of dish soap to coax them back in. Talk about a slippery thing to try and hold onto. I could have kissed each piece as they went in ok. By the time you are on your last window, you have mastered the job and now you are out of glass. I agree with you on the location of the join, right on the bottom. I believe that was the first time she probably had all her windows out to paint, so if someone wants to do it again in another 57 years, I probably won't be around to help (I'll be over 113 years old by then and probably I will have something better to do).

[the old trucker]

  Houlio you had to enlarge the diameter on your windows. But if you were to use the old rubber over again, they should of fit right in. If Gror's windows, rubber, & openings are original, & he replaced them with new rubber of differant thickness between glass & frame, wouldn't it affect the end result
  Example :: glass diameter is 6", opening diameter is 6 1/4". Your new rubber can to be no thicker than 1/8th of an inch. If the rubber is 1/4 " thick, it's too tight!!! By thickness I mean the distance between the glass & the wood.
  Another thing I had to do with the glass on my windshield was to put a small bead of butyl rubber in between the rubber & frame & glass to reseal it tight. 
  That's what I meant by determining the size. Try it with a piece of scrap plywood first!!!      

[houlio]

The orginal gasket material had dried up and we didn't find one with the exact measurements.  I found one extremely close through Goodall Canada. 

The small back windows would not fit back, so we built a depth jig with the same arc as the original window and clamped it to a die grinder.  This allowed us to take off the right amount of material to put the window in.   

[gror]

I measured my small window opening for you grfishmaker . Hole is 6 3/8 inches and the glass is 6 inches. Just to let you know my plywood is not original so dont know how accurate that is. Windows seem to fit ok but there is a 1/4 inch gap in my rubber. Hope this helps you.

[gror]

Hey Swampdawg do you have a part number for that remote oil filter holder and  engine block plate to go on oil filter mount. If you do it would help me out a bunch. Appreciate your pics of your 52 rebuild helping me out in all ways. Thanks gror.

[Swamp Dawg]

The engine block plate is a custom unit we made. I can post pictures of it if you would like.  As for the part number, I'll see if I can find that out for you.

[gror]

Picures would help a lot ,I have a machinest here that can build anything  from a picture.