Clarkair CA-1 Discussion Board

this iwill be a running account of my progress on Clark CA-1 machine:

DoD: 3-26-44
Serial: CA 1441508
registration number: 9113462

as the title implies, I am NOT considering this a "restoration", but rather a "refurbish" over what the previuos owner did.

He restored it years ago...replaced engine, rebuilt starter, carb, etc... Replaced all the seals in the hydraulic cylinders....
Yea, he missed a few key items, like when he replaced the cylinder lift hoses, he neglected to replace the main high pressure hose. I guess he felt they were fine, And they probably were 5-6 years ago when he did this restoration. Today, they need attention.

In a nutshell, I bought this machine running and working fine.

BUT... My type "A" personality just cant leave well enough alone.

Nope... Gotta "detail" it I tell myself..I decided to take off some of the sheetmetal that I wanted looking better, and sandblast while they are off.

as of this writing, I have:

Removed the gas tank.... needs to be flushed and cleaned. Bought a gas tank re-lining kit.
Removed the radiator and plan to flush and clean it out too..and re-paint before assembly back onto the crawler
Unbolted EVERYTHING I could accessory wise.
All hoses, cross over pipes, fittings, brackets, etc are off and in the pile heading to the sandblaster, along with seat frame, variuos sheet metal parts, and the like.

Finished a complete and thorough de-greasing and power washing prior to paint. took three attempts with a pressure washer, de-greaser and lots of time to get it ready.

all is dissasembled to the point of where I can now give it a good paint job to reach areas otherwise un-reachable while in one peice.

Ill keep taking pix of my progress

http://public.fotki.com/dachoppa/clark- ... storation/

after the repaint of the lower chassis, Ill put on the lower H.P. hoses.

then onto the sheet metal work straightening and bringing back straight where I can, or replace where I cant by cutting grinding and welding.

stay tuned!

and, it continues.

Tonight, I wanted to get a good coat of OD on the entire drivetrain, as we are expecting rain late tommorow. Ill have a good 24 hours dry time and a good day of sun in it to "bake" it in before the rains come.

And.. because I had mixed a little more than I needed, I decided to just go ahead and spray the tracks, dozer blade and other stuff, even though I ful well intend to have the tracks and blade assembly all blasted once its running again.

(because of my situation workshop wise, and equipment wise to move things, or better put, lack there of, I will wait until I get all parts back from the blaster, finished, and put back on the machine.. In other words, I need it running again on its own power.

Then Ill load and trailer it to my sandblaster and request he hit only the tracks and undercarriage for me.

Anyway, I had the extra paint , so I went and sprayed away to empty the spray gun!

files are too big for posting here, so look at my online album, starting with photo "paint-1"

http://public.fotki.com/dachoppa/clark- ... int-1.html

and, I did a little metal work.. I finished the battery tray fender area.. It needed some attention.

See the same album, starting with #15 of #17 photos.

http://public.fotki.com/dachoppa/clark- ... html#media

thought I would address this now before all of the parts go to the sandblaster.. will look much better once its all blasted at the same time, even the new metal I have here welded in. will give it a good finish for the primer to "bite" into.. always a good idea to break the oily and smooth finish of b=nw metal by scratching, sanding, etching of some means to make that primer adhere better.

I think the rest is good to go.. Yes, the seat frame needs straightening, as does the seat leg uprights. Yea, I guess Ill attack those too before sending off to the blaster.

....a pile of freshly sandblasted and primered parts! Ready for slight "tweaking" and finishing..

picked em' all up tonight.. Couldnt even wait to get my camera out, I had to start spraying a few areas with a spray can that will be un-accessable once mounted.

I know that I gotta mount the hydraulic resevoir first, and I wont be able to reach under certain areas of it once mounted, so I hit this with a thick coat of O.D. right out of the spray can.. didnt bother to mix a batch for the spray gun tonight.. .not enough time before dark.. Anxiuos I guess to get started!

(I bought another gallon of Gillespi #33070 WW2 olive drab flat along with a case of matching spray cans.. Nice to have both... the spray gun allows a heavy coating and a fast wat to cover all surfaces, but you ALWAYS miss some thing and notice it once you empty the gun and have cleaned up ! So having spray cans that match exactly to touch up areas that you missed with the spray gun is crucial)

http://public.fotki.com/dachoppa/ca-1-painting/

I love finish coating freshly blasted parts.. my buddies crew puts on a generous coat of red -oxide primer too.. It leaves a superb texture for my top coat.. Love it!

this to me is the fun part of the rebuild/refurbish

I began assembling today the fenders, hydraulic hard lines, some basic wiring (temporary to get it running..waiting on vintage cloth wiring to arrive)

Anyway, made some good progress today.

Take a look

http://public.fotki.com/dachoppa/clark- ... html#media

I am SO glad I took the time to tear it all down and sandblast the sheetmetal. It really looks Oh so good now!

Wow, that looks nice. I was ready to order some mugs until my wife said "after we move!" ...that is superb.

Finally.

At a point where its got some basic wiring using modern wire (Waiting on my vintage cloth covered wire and material to arrive)
have all the sheetmetal back in place, at least all the side panels and boxes that need to be in place to attach levers and such to make this unit run.

Last night, my goal was to try and start it.. to see if I didnt mess anything up! placed the battery on the fender (No battery box yet.. working on that)

After hooking up the battery, I gave it a whirl.. Fired right up! Ran rough at first, with a lot of black smoke, but that could be the flooding I obviuosly caused when I had the switch OFF when trying to crank it! (Ya see, I got ONLY a simple witre to the switch, from battery to coil, by-passing the ammeter. For now. I didnt want to waste wire and time until my cloth covered material arrived.)

After a spell, it smoothed out... NICE! Smoke gone, smoother idle, etc.

I didmnt try to move it, as the seat frame still aint done.. I can drive it yet. I did however lift the blade! all hydraulics a go! (BTW.. left the blade up last night. This AM, blade still raised! Good seals I guess)

I need to get on that battery box soon! last peice of metal work I need to finish..