I got the crank back from the machine shop and my new bearings in the mail the day before. This week I will clean the block for painting. And I will start working on the small parts of the motor, water pump intake ect... Now the big debate goes on how to paint the engine (original colors of course.) but do I put it all together and paint it as a whole like it would have come out, or do I clean it up and make it neat. I am leaning toward neat. I have also researched what colors the the factory offered for the truck and parts so I have some choices on the body colors that were available in that year. Lots to do and est. two and a half years left to do them in. Lately I have met some more people that can help me in this journey how small this world is I met a man that lives less than 500 yards from me that has several 1930's International trucks and has offered some advice. And hinted that he may have some parts for the truck!

I decided to Google electrostatic engine cleaning and came up with lots of ideas. So I figured that I could do it my self so for a little less than forty dollars I was able to clean the rust from the engine my self. It was real easy(This is not for everyone I felt I was fully capable to do this on my own!). Use a 55 gallon plastic barrel fill with water and house hold washing soda, place waste electrodes in line of sight of rust you want to remove, hook up a negative clamp from battery charger to engine, positive to waste electrodes. Keeping electrodes from touching the block was the hard part! I used a piece of rubber drilled holes for my waste electrodes and ran them threw the block, I attached the other ends with wooden blocks to keep them from making contact with the block. Applied electricity and watched it go!( Please remember this is electricity and it can kill if not handled properly!.) If it is working properly the negative piece will bubble and the removal of rust will begin. The other down side to this is it has to be outside the bubbles coming from the water are Hydrogen and Oxygen which is flammable!. So I safely completed the cleaning. The engine sat in it's bath for 48 hours or more. And you can see from the pictures below just how much rust came off!.

Last week my father and me removed the cylinders from the block, and today I cleaned and pressure washed the block. It still needs some rust removal from the water jackets. I am looking in to many different ways to do this. A few I have entertained is chemical (taking it some where to be dipped.), Electrostatic cleaning (which puts the block in a solution then applies a electrical charge to it and the rust repels off) it's really cool! or just good old fashioned elbow grease and a wire brush. I also received all of the engine bearings. So far so good soon I will be painting the engine and accessories and putting the engine back together!   I will post the pictures soon.

Last month I took the engine out and transmission. I had been turning the engine by hand and all of the sudden it stopped. I got a little worried that some thing major was wrong. when I took the transmission off I found out why! The pack rats had took all of the batting out of the seat and stuffed it threw a half inch drain hole in the clutch housing causing the engine to not be able to move. After that I took the engine apart. Again no problems. I took the crank to a local machine shop to be balanced and smoothed. And went to Hoods machine shop in Bolivar Mo to have a cylinder removal tool made. Big thanks to Dave! and Mark. It helps to know your local machine shops( or be related to the owners). So now all I am waiting on is bearings to arrive and to have the crank back then its time clean and rebuild the engine all new parts!

I started deconstructing the truck last month and so far it has been going great!. Lots of work done and very little to go wrong so far. Every time I turn a bolt I say quietly to my self "I LOVE NEW MEXICO!"  I say this because it is mostly apart. So far only one broken bolt!

In September my Son and I went to Kansas to meet up with a man that I had met at the antique and historic truck show in May. He is a parts dealer for old International trucks and tractors. We bought a parts book, and a new piston set still in the original box! and found out that he most likely has all the bearings and other parts I need to completely over haul the engine.

Today I took the truck down to the local Hwy Patrol to begin the title work. Since the title is long gone it's a bit of a headache to get a title a lot of paper work. After that was done my brother and me were looking at the truck when I shook the door to show him( even after cleaning) how much dust was in the doors, when out fell a small blue bottle! To my amazement after a little research it was a Vics Drops bottle from the 1940's. A few days later I received my first restoration part. Which was a new head light lens. The only bullet hole in the whole truck was threw the drivers side headlight.