The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Update -- 1940 CMP Cab 11 4x4 -- and thanks all!

Thanking everyone for their support over the years.

After the Covid 2 year slump, finally got around to giving my 1940 CMP Cab 11 4x4, right hand drive C15a ...... a good trashing.

Running a stock rebuilt 1959 261 engine, 4 speed crash box.


Set out for a solo cruise to test out the Old Chev.

Drove exactly 100 miles from pump to gas pump...purely a coincidence.

Driving time...... 5 hours and 20 minutes.
Gas consumed...... 8.21 imperial gallons....works out to about 12. + something miles per gallon on High test (no Alcohol).
Cruises comfortably at 32/33 miles per hour showing 2100 rpm on the tach.
Top speed recorded 45 MPH on a long flat.
Stayed on secondary roads paved or gravel in 2 wheel drive.
Temp. steady at 165 F
Oil pressure steady at 39 pounds cruising.....35 idle.
Vacuum at 22 in. idle,..... 10/12 in. cruising ..........goes down to 5 in. at 8 MPH accelerating in 4th.

Conclusions and lesson learned....

Engine and truck can take it.........

It's very noisy and would wear hear plugs next time.

Not comfortable for 5 hours.......pedals location will give you leg cramps......clutch left....throttle center.....brake on right.....

Very hot......new engine cover ceramic cloth insulation means the engine cover gets very warm but not burning hot. Explains why they retro fitted the truck cab 11/12 with large hook devices that lets you drive with the suicide doors partly open into the wind stream about 5 inches.

Driving without a top..... roadster style on a Sunny day is awful......

Would be hard press to average more than 20 MPH on long runs.

Engine will pull from 8 MPH in fourth gear when doing a street corner.....

Attracts a lot of attention with waves while driving...... and a lot of questions when you are stopped.

Now been serviced with fresh T4 Shell 20W - 40 diesel oil with 4 ounces Zinc additives and two new PH 8 spin on filters.

Oil also changed in T case using GL 4 90W Penn oil.....same as tranny done earlier.

All fluids up to par.

Brakes system completely flushed with new synthetic US surplus military brake fluids. Surplus brake fluid comes purple when new and slowly turns pissy yellow as it ages.....makes it convenient to bleed system until purple color is restored. All 4 wheels on axles stands and brakes adjusted.

Ready for the next cruise when ever driver musters the courage.

All in all it was fun!!!!!!

Found ALL 4 U bolts holding the cargo box to the frame loose, probably due to wood bearing surfaces drying....... add to regular maintenance schedule.

The above is based on running 10:50 x 16 Chevron tires....would be interesting to compare with more standard 900X16 bar thread tires......axle ratio 6.5 to 1
__________________
Bob Carriere....
1940 C15a Cab 11
Hammond, Ontario

Cool. I second Martin's request for pictures.

Started with a full tear down to bare frame in 2004, sandblasted and everything rebuilt....from rear hitch to front bumper.....engine, tranny, 2 speed T-case, axles, wiring, etc.... running frame by 2008 finished/licensed for the road in 2016.

What happened to the roof?

Wicked awesome!

Bob is probably on the second or third coat of flat paint onto the roof by now, he was heading out to do it just after lunch today. Previously primed and a three light coats of semigloss green.
Next will be fitting the wood structure around the doors and windshield parts of the roof and fitting to the cab. In other words, it's still a work in progress. It made sense to do engine, chassis and cab first to get it running, then the cargo box to make it look more finished, now the roof...

Moved it to General Truck, to share the enthusiasm!

?????

It has a roof in the "before" picture and no roof in the "after" picture.

Nice work Bob. My dad drove those in the 1940s in the Indonesian National Revolution.

My 10 year old daughter loves it, and wants it for her first car.....................

That looks like a lot of fun.

-Woog

Ah yes.... the roof....... took me a long time to iron out the kinks and partly reskin the back......the skin as to be butt welded and is visible from both inside and outside but managed to get it done. The other motivating force for driving it as a "roadster" was the ease of getting in and out without the roof....... truck was designed by British engineers and for soldeirs who were raised in the depression years...normally 5 foot 5 inches and a wirry 140 pounds...... I am 6'2" and now down to 200+...... a large shoe horn helps.

Now let me dig into my archives of pictures...resize, crop, edit and post..... and thanks for the interest.

Bob C.

Hard time getting the second pic posted....... these were shot in RAW then converted to JPEG than resized to about 35% of original size......

This was my first impromptu car show I attended...... half the fun of the show was allowing kids to climb onboard....that was easy.... then I talked some fo the kids' Dad to try sitting in....some big guy just could not do it...... some did..... at which point I slammed the door shut and tell them to pretend they were shot art and get out quick..... Ihave concluded that one would most likely dive out head first..

The proper protocol for me is to insert the left leg first.... and make sure it is stretched fully to the firewall....then back your butt in the seat.... with your back in the seat.... now grab your bottom right pant leg and lift it over the front fender hump and slide it forward. NOW remember that the clutch if on the left side..... brake on the far right and the gas pedal in the middle......\

The foot well is sooooo narrow that I purchased a pair of Italian brown fancy boots that are very narrow so I can drive...... my regular safety boots size 11 1/2 are to wide to safely drive without touching two pedals at once.......

It's a riot to drive, it is hot, rides rough... which explains the thick rubber pad glued to the inside of the roof over the seats, noisy, uncomfortable, very musical with straight cut gears in the T case and non-synchro crash box....and did I mention HOT......

I am now installing a tropical kit..... which when complete I will post pictures....but basically it allows to drive with the suicide doors held open "AJAR" by a reproduced 8 inch long screen door hook!!!!!

Makes you understand WHY when you see the trucks used in the North African campaign the hood are missing, the doors got lost somewhere, roofs are removed and replaced with canvass and most have no windshield as glass was a hazard.......... and yet most were 2 wheel drive as they were better on gas mileage.....

More to follow....maybe a video of getting onboard and ejecting.....

Cheers

Note to the moderator...

If it is more appropriate to have it transferred to the "General Truck" section please do so.

I have totally restored this beast over 12 + years and the Forum has always been there to help and I have learned tons of valuable information from just reading other peoples trials and successes.

RAC1812, you are in General Truck Talk. As long as this thread doesn’t turn into a non-Stovebolt related story telling fest, it is just fine where it is. Interesting vehicle for sure. I’m one of those big guys so I’ll pass on trying to get in it.

I'd drive that to work every day here in Atlanta.

A few years ago there was one that had 20” wheels mounted that allowed a higher road speed, if the engine would pull it. No clue where the wheels came from.

Ed

Hi Ed

The larger CMP trucks had a similar split rim BUT in 20 inches........ using a variety of 900x20 bar thread or Chevron tractor type in 10:50x20 ............ the axle ratio was altered from 6.5 to 7.1 to compensate for the tire size.......... so both the 16 inch and20 inch trucks basically travelled at the same speed using the same 216....... I am using a 1959 Chev 261 and it might pull in a few more miles per hour on the top end........ currently on 16 inch at 44 mph top speed I tend to use both hands on the steering and a very crisp hand with the thumbs out of the wheel spokes...... they are not really designed to operate at high speed and the safety margin goes downhill very quickly......brakes are good but require total rebuild andconstant maintenance/adjustment if you intend to lockup the wheels.

Cheers

Cool, I have enjoyed the CMP trucks, sat in one in Dawson City. Pretty tight, would love to have been able to find one.

Ed