mrsmackpaul

Dunno how I missed this but I have some reading to do Paul

Thanks Swishman, I dont have many books for the truck Paul

Have you washed it down spotlessly to try and establish were this leak is coming from, it's been a while since I have had a injector pump off. I dont recall there been a plate on the rear (engine side of the pump) Would be a shame to pull the pump off for no reason Paul

Thats a nice green, sort of stare right into it if you know what I mean Paul

Wreckers for the second one and any upholstery place that does cars etc I reckon should be able to set you up right for the washers and pladtic covers Paul

Not the actor, the part he played as a actor as in BJ Mc kay or however you spell his name I have no idea about the actor, dont think he ever did much after this n7t open to correction there Paul

Swishman I'll look into this, tah muchly Paul

I feel this happens more and more these days, maybe Im just getting old and grumpy, dunno but more demand the answer they want to the question they ask than ever before Quite laughable if you think about it Paul

Everything Vlad has said just about nails it I dont/wont use silicone or anything like that as what gets squeezed off on the inside eventually breaks off and gets pumped thru your pressure lubricated gear box getting stuck in the the gears etc preventing the gears fully going and the gears then jump out When this happens you have to fully disassemble the gear box just to clean all this crap out Dont ask how I know, but I can tell you it is a huge job Paul

Been 30 or 40 years since it was on TV, dunno exactly when If memory serves me correct and its probably wrong the chimp was with him when got shot down flying choppers in Vietnam ? Actually no I think the chimp bought him food when he was a POW or something after getting shot down Am I even close to been correct ? Its a long long time time ago now Paul

The paint scheme is something that sort of speaks to us I think, I had a few ideas for my truck at the start but it changed over the years and even up until the last few days before painting My mate that painted is not a fan of brown and biege as I call it or brown and cream However I have never told anyone the reason for the colours and the paint scheme is something I saw years ago but not these colours on a Mack truck add Its a fine line between keeping classic and making it yours without going over board And no I don't have the answers to this, I'm just a wannabe lol I do think it's come up pretty well from were I started Still got red dot AC to go under the dash, its in a box or many boxes at home, new exhaust, no ones gunna like what I'm gunna do there but thats okay and I want to lift the cab and fully insulate and sound deaden underneath Replumb the ass end and repaint the chassis A much bigger oil tank out of a step tank Its a long list and I dont think we are ever done Oh that's right I need to do the king pins and bush the front springs as I noticed slight movement there now days The AC is gunna be a big job because its for a LHD R model not RHD as none are made, it does have factory AC but has never been complete since I owned it Picked up a exhaust brake to help the dynatard the other day The list just keeps on going and going Paul

If I may add 20 cents worth here and dont worry I wont get offended if you dont like it The number one thing that stops us driving our toys is reliability The number one thing that makes our toys unreliable is not driving them Many years ago I was a dairy farmer, the best years of my life. It was gunna be a dairy cows paradise, no cow was gunna die on my watch, no sir, I was gunna save them all Now the first year I had down cows here and there and was nursing them back from the point and this can be done, it's a lotta work The vet was there one day and she said to me "Paul she aint gunna make it" stupid bloody vet had no idea lol, another farmer called into see me and saw the mess I was in and he gave me some advice While I'm stuffing around saving these ones that are on the brink some others that need minor help are going backwards and will soon be in the same spot as the real crook ones because Im spreading my self to thin Sometimes we get so focused on the prize we go the real long way around and eat shit sandwiches for the whole trip Turns Jan the vet was stupid at all and we still talk and a friends to this day,I was the only stupid one there that day So what does this have to do with Mack trucks or your fire truck Not a lot However from the story of this truck so far I wonder just how much of the headaches would of been avoided if it was driven once a week or once a month The desire to keep it original I understand, but everyday its not getting driven something else is deteriorating infront of you So back to my 20 cents worth, get the aftermarket reproduction headlights, put them on drive it, enjoy it and keep the search going for the headlight buckets and when and if they turn up put the original back on You will of had a bucket load of fun while waiting for the correct parts to arrive. Okay I'll shut up now And it's great story so far and would be wonderful to see some pictures of it out and about having fun Paul

Well there you go, I'm wrapped and I know that the colours are different but the whole truck is different And whats more it's my Mrs Mack and well as long as I'm happy thats all that really matters Doesn't she just look wonderful Stay tuned, there is more to follow Maybe a long while yet though Paul

I got thinking about things and thougt I should of got the town name in vinyl as well encase I ever shift Anyway not to be So yesterday I get thinking to myself that if I can knock off early I can duck down late Saturday afternoon and collecty Mrs Mack So I make a call to enquire if thats sdoable and will it be okay as it leaves Sunday free to drool All good So my evil plan is coming together HA HA HA Princess runs me down and we collect her, Mrs Mack that is, I'm happy as a pig in poop She is striped and scrolled and looks pretty neat to me I did mention about the town thatI should of got done with stickers instead of paint encase I ever shift Carl just smiled I noticed this morning that Im about 100% sure the town name is stickers, the rest is smooth to touch and is hand painted on, if I look real close I can see the brush marks here and there The end result

I try and explain, tall letters like BISON, a shadow like like shadow but the shadow trailing to the rear no matter which side And the letters unfilled with rocks like shown in the blue circle Can these be done in vinyl encase it looks crap and I dont like it A day or so pass and a message comes thru with this Nah, not really not at all, close but not right So a few pictures and messages go backwards and forwards and I settle for gold infill on the letters, a full grey shadow and Kerang Vic in paint not vinyl A few more days pass and some more pictures turn up I supplied a rough hand drawn sketch of a lady bull dog not the normal butch type of dog So I'm as happy as a fat kid in a lollie shop with a fist fall of coins with this

Well it's been a while since there's been much to report, well not really but you know how it is So my faithful old Mrs Mack has done a sterling job since the make over time Put well over 100,000km on her pulled a fare few big loads from one end of this wide brown land to the other She's been to a couple of shows And most importantly she has never left me stranded yet She has led me up a garden path or two and even up dead end streets were its taken several hours to on couple a road train and back everything out and re-couple, that was a very long day So my friend Rick who does line and scroll work here in Australia was going to line and scroll her for me, try as we may we never quite got the times and dates to match Much to my surprise I got home one night from my been out and about in my Mrs Mack and read on Facebook he had suddenly passed away, after regaining my self from that shock I decided something had to happen So I decided next time Mrs Mack was gunna be free for a little bit I would ask about and get her "done up like a dunny truck" as my Grandfather would say So Im based in NSW north east Riverina for a month or so and made some enquiries about who does this type of thing Hayseed suggested a sign writer in Wagga Wagga so I made a call arranged a date and discussed some details Dropped Mrs Mack off Friday afternoon, spoke to Carl about what I wanted, think he thought I was fruit loop Anyway I'm meant to pick her up the following Sunday So I'm pretty particular about thr colours I want and I want it all hand brushed etc, no stick on line work Tuesday night I get a text with the above photo I tried to describe to Carl the style writing I wanted on the door but its a bit hard to describe if you dont know what your talking about and I dont So I spent some spare time googling and searching and more googling I couldn't find exactly what I stumbled across some time ago But eventually found something and sent a few things thru

It's a strange thing, from what I have learnt over the years about forums is that they have a huge membership but really only a dozen or so keep the show on the road normally Most come here looking for help and generally a few hang about, dunno why but that seems to be the case on any forum A forum that is about Cat machines would have to of been the worst mannered forum I have ever been on and a few drove most others away A forum is only as good or bad as the people posting on it Ego's seem to wreck most and a few people are left to pick up the pieces Sorry not much of a answer Paul

Sounds like a crook uni or or loose yoke Paul