Especially if you lived through the history. It has a different sense to it.
The Castle Technical made it's parade debut last week. Reader/commenter Jim B is, I think, the only person who hangs out around here who caught it, at the Village West Rotary Club's Parade of Heroes. That's getting to be a pretty nice parade - now in it's third year. We had a pre-war 2 1/2t truck pulling a 37mm A/T gun, a "Beep" the amphibious jeep of WWII fame, an Airborne motor scooter, and a lot of jeeps. The Castle Technical stood out among 'em because it was the dullest of them... being just about the only unarmed jeep present. But it was unique because it was the only jeep with canvas...
She ran well, didn't overheat, all her lights worked, including the dash lights. She smells funny, though. And I don't mean the new canvas smell - hell, that's a comforting reminder of days gone by. No, the exhaust. When I was first working on her, replacing her muffler, I wondered if something was wrong with the engine when I realized... that's how pre-smog control exhaust smelled. She is three years older than I am, after all.
Which brings up the actual subject of this post. As we age, we all develop some gasket troubles. You over 50's know what I mean, you under 30's, your day is coming. Well, the Castle Technical is no different, and she's got some real slow seepage (as in about a drop a week) from her transfer case.
One of the things about restoring vintage vehicles is the decisions you have to make about just how original you can restore/keep them. Among those considerations can be cost and safety. Many owners of jeeps put non-standard stabilizer bars on them because their steering can be a little less than ideal, especially at highway speeds. I've chose not to do that, and have been embarking on a quest to rebuild the steering, from tie-rod ends back to the gear box.
While searching for the parts to do that, I came across a NOS (new old stock, meaning unused, but old, parts) gasket set for a decent price - a good enough price to take the risk on bad storage.
They arrived.
US-made, correct nomenclature, and even a US stocking label dated July 1972.
This is where it was mailed from.
While it's possible someone bought US surplus stuff by the container-load and shipped it to Vietnam and is reselling it from there... I'm guessing this is from former US/South Vietnamese stocks, left behind when we pulled out.
Interesting journey this gasket set has had, made bemusing to me by having lived through the era, vice just having read about it.
The Castle Technical made it's parade debut last week. Reader/commenter Jim B is, I think, the only person who hangs out around here who caught it, at the Village West Rotary Club's Parade of Heroes. That's getting to be a pretty nice parade - now in it's third year. We had a pre-war 2 1/2t truck pulling a 37mm A/T gun, a "Beep" the amphibious jeep of WWII fame, an Airborne motor scooter, and a lot of jeeps. The Castle Technical stood out among 'em because it was the dullest of them... being just about the only unarmed jeep present. But it was unique because it was the only jeep with canvas...
She ran well, didn't overheat, all her lights worked, including the dash lights. She smells funny, though. And I don't mean the new canvas smell - hell, that's a comforting reminder of days gone by. No, the exhaust. When I was first working on her, replacing her muffler, I wondered if something was wrong with the engine when I realized... that's how pre-smog control exhaust smelled. She is three years older than I am, after all.
Which brings up the actual subject of this post. As we age, we all develop some gasket troubles. You over 50's know what I mean, you under 30's, your day is coming. Well, the Castle Technical is no different, and she's got some real slow seepage (as in about a drop a week) from her transfer case.
One of the things about restoring vintage vehicles is the decisions you have to make about just how original you can restore/keep them. Among those considerations can be cost and safety. Many owners of jeeps put non-standard stabilizer bars on them because their steering can be a little less than ideal, especially at highway speeds. I've chose not to do that, and have been embarking on a quest to rebuild the steering, from tie-rod ends back to the gear box.
While searching for the parts to do that, I came across a NOS (new old stock, meaning unused, but old, parts) gasket set for a decent price - a good enough price to take the risk on bad storage.
They arrived.
US-made, correct nomenclature, and even a US stocking label dated July 1972.
This is where it was mailed from.
While it's possible someone bought US surplus stuff by the container-load and shipped it to Vietnam and is reselling it from there... I'm guessing this is from former US/South Vietnamese stocks, left behind when we pulled out.
Interesting journey this gasket set has had, made bemusing to me by having lived through the era, vice just having read about it.
<sigh>
that's scary.
It is amazing how far in time/space those parts came to get to you, John. Pretty neat, actually.
The part itself may have been manufactured prior to that and re-labeled.
No Zip Code in the manufacturer's addy -- it was required on all packing material manufactured after '67...
Hey, *I'm* leftover, and I'm not scary, either.
Okay, that last part is debatable...
@BillT, about your debatable scariness, doesn't that come under "Good friend, bad enemy"?
@BillT, Don't worry, there are still some more leftovers. You have been good in both the good and bad issues. Thanks.
Gee, we only got PBR MkI, and the stuff always tasted like rust...
The US Taxpayers sends military aid to the ARVN after 1972 in the form of spare parts.
The North Vietnamese then take over Saigon in 1975, afterwhich the spare parts are looted out of an ex-South Vietnamese warehouse,
Three decades later, a middle aged U.S. Taxpayer from Kansas buys back the same spare part with US Dollars.
Seems that someone doubledipped in this economic aid scheme.
John,
I remember very well being issued with 1940's dated C-rations at Fort Knox in 1974. We were fascinated by the date stampings on the cans (or rather, the date paintings/stencils on the cans) and wondering whether they would still be good. They wre, and I STILL have a P-38 from those days hanging from my dog tag chain.
And while on the subject, I remember my two oldest kids asking me what "albums" were.....
They only knew about cassette tapes and CD's.... I felt so old.... :)
Master Allison - in the early 80's, when we were fielding DPICM into war reserve stocks in USAREUR, we too were shooting 44/45 dated 155mm HE.
I too, deal with historic military vehicles, and yep it's a crapshoot whether or not NOS or NIB stuff will be workable. But half the fun is seeing that old packaging. Heck there are some bits I've left in the package because they had too much history...so I bought new decent repro stuff or made it myself. Neat comment thread, and neat OP.
The Soviet gov't would periodically restock its strategic reserves and when that happened, a flood of the previously stored there canned meat (beef and pork) would show up in the supermarkets to the great delight of the population that would stand in long lines buying as many as they can afford and can carry away - the best food for the dachas, camping and vacations. If you stored it right, it could be good for many more years despite being replaced by the gov't. The metal cans were all covered in some oily light yellow goo used to store them (grease?? called "solidol" in Russian) and it took at least 30 min to clean a can up enough to be able to open it and not have that goo all over you and your other food LOL Some of the cans were from the WWII and still tasted good :o) I haven't had one in years (since I came to the States) but I really liked the beef one - it tasted awesome heated with potatoes and black bread and a glass of cold vodka somewhere in the nature setting LOL
I have restored many old vehicles and never have I had luck using old gaskets. They are just not reliable. If you can use something like this. This might not be the correct one but you get the idea that only new gaskets work well. Also get the normal stuff to use when replacing gaskets. When removing the old gaskets use a "gasket removal tool" not a putty knife, exacto or your pocket knife. DO NOT gouge, scrape, scar, scratch the metal if possible. It will leak if you do.
I don't know how many times over how many years it took me (and my friends ) to learn that replacing gaskets is NOT as simple as it looks.
That is if you really don't want any more leaks.
Papa Ray
Central (used to be West) Texas
Terrapod - I suspect the approval came some time ago, but who kknows?
Papa Ray - can you spell... t.e.m.p.l.a.t.e?
I knew you could!
Olga - we always snagged surplus MREs for camping and vacations too. The M!Goth told me that a lot of the guys say they hate the taste and he just shrugs and says "camp food".