"LUCKY 13" Restoration Process

[coreyelliott]

We had two pieces of door hardware that just wouldn't free up.  No matter how long I soaked them in the shit bucket or applied various penetrating oils, these two just wouldn't let go.  So, I had to break off the handle knob things and then light up the fire hammer.  After thorough reddening, I was able to knock both of the rods out.  I then made some knew handle knob things and drilled out the old broken pieces.  It was then I learned that they were actually threaded.  Whoops.  Oh well, the new ones are installed with a bit of epoxy and will work just fine.

Corey

[Outsider]

Did you replace the spring in the piece that goes on the upper door? Yes the short rod is supposed to be spring loaded.

Steve

[coreyelliott]

Did you replace the spring in the piece that goes on the upper door? Yes the short rod is supposed to be spring loaded.

Steve

We didn't.  The landing inside the tube that the spring is supposed to push against got "accidentally" removed while I was removing the rod.  I couldn't figure out a quick way to re-set the landing so I reassembled it as is.  That will be another project for another day, once I figure out how to re-secure the little circular piece of metal inside.

Corey

[coreyelliott]

I finally got the gauge cluster and the speedometer done.  Such a good feeling to have that behind us.  I didn't use any NOS gauges and just rebuilt all of the ones I used.   The temp gauge does not currently work as the capillary tube was cut.  They seem to be selling NOS gauges for about $300.  We have other things more important to spend that money on at the moment.  I may try to repair it, as I've seen plenty of explanations to repair with another capillary tube and it seems pretty easy.  Just another project for later down the road.  We will stick a generic temp gauge in the glove box to watch our temps.

Below you can see some before and then after pics.

Corey

[steve1973]

WOW!! Great job on the restoration!!

Steve A.

[Torque]

Could you go into some detail on how you did the speedometer, I have a couple in that condition and would like to make one work.

[8683jb]

Wow! Fantastic job on the instruments!!

My Cessna 180 had an oil temp gauge with a broken capillary, and I sent it to some tractor service in the mid-west to get it repaired. I can’t remember the name of the outfit - this was in 1995. They repaired it and it was still working fine when I sold the airplane 20 years later. Maybe there’s some similar service near you who could repair yours for less than the cost of a replacement gauge.

[spillmk1]

Wow!!!
Great job!!

Keith

[coreyelliott]

Could you go into some detail on how you did the speedometer, I have a couple in that condition and would like to make one work.

Sure, I'll find some pics and throw something together when I get a chance.

Corey

[yd328]

Great work on the speedometer.

Gary

[coreyelliott]

Could you go into some detail on how you did the speedometer, I have a couple in that condition and would like to make one work.

I'll point you to a thread Jon posted a while back - http://halftrackinfo.com/index.php?topic=1902.msg11286#msg11286

I used his experience to guide me through my rebuild.  More I thought about it, the more I convinced myself that there was no reason tor retype out what he said in his great post. I'll post some pictures below of various steps in my process.  And a few points I can remember off the top of my head.

If you want your odometers to work correctly, be sure and mark them where the zeroes are before cleaning them if you can.  Initially, I just used a Sharpie to put a mark on one side.  That wasn't good enough.  On the second go, I used a razor blade and cut a light line across the odometers when I had them zeroed out.  This helps tremendously when putting your new numbers on.  Also, triple or quadruple check that you have the zeroes marked correctly before you apply your new numbers.  I didn't.  I thought I had it marked correctly but ended up be wrong.  Had to order a whole new set of decals to redo it.  Also, I held the odometers in the drill chuck just ease the application of the numbers.

I sand blasted my parts to help get them super clean.  Also, after painting them I applied some satin clear coat.  This really helps prevent the silver paint from getting messed up.  I used a manila envelope for the gaskets and used a file folder for the green plastic.

Be sure to post if you have any questions.  I'll be more than happy to give you any advice that I can!

Corey

[coreyelliott]

Shon has done absolutely ZERO work on Lucky 13 since his knee surgery. He's making me, his little brother, do all of this while he sits around and supervises.  Well, I finally got him to do something.  He wired up the dash and he looks SUPER excited to be doing it.  Everything appears to be working as intended.  Thank the Lord for all of the manuals we've purchased.  We're glad to have this milestone behind us!   Also, we got one of our NOS windshields fit up just for the heck of it.  It looks like the plastic layer inside the glass may have gone bad and we will probably have to get new glass cut.

Corey

[Tapper02]

Shon has done absolutely ZERO work on Lucky 13 since his knee surgery. He's making me, his little brother, do all of this while he sits around and supervises.

Ha...too funny!  It's pretty awesome that you guys have each other to work on your track with...great bonding experience I'm sure.  I bought my halftrack with the intentions of restoring it with my dad...but ALS had other ideas and we never got the opportunity. 
Love reading your posts and seeing your progress.  Keep posting...and don't lose your sense of humor!

-Tom

[8683jb]

I’m tickled to death that you guys were able to use my post to help with your restoration! Thanks to steve-O, that’s what this site is all about – posting our experiences for other folks who are doing the same thing to help each other out with our tips as well as our mistakes. Like your tip on marking the odometer - that’ll help the next guy. All credit to you guys, your instruments came out beautiful!! Keep the pictures coming!

Jon

[spec4don]

Looking good, I’m so glad I had my dash out when I wired my halftrack. Good times!c

Don G.