My business partner just bought us a "new" company work truck. it's a 1955 Tatra 805. they aren't common over here. it has a 2.5L air cooled, petrol V-8. we might need to put in a diesel. it should be a fun project and vehicle. if there is any interest, i will post updates as we restore it. greg
2.5L air cooled V8..... FTW.... Mount that puppy on a display stand for your front lobby.... Yes, please post up your build.....
If you need a spare motor or parts for that engine, contact the Lane Museum in Nashville, they have plenty and have some for sale.
it lives! with surprisingly little effort, we got the 57 year old engine to run! it idles well and seems to not miss a beat. i'm still a bit interweb naive, so here is a link to the video of it running.... [ame="http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u103/beaner2147/?action=view¤t=011.mp4"]011.mp4 video by beaner2147 - Photobucket[/ame] if anyone wants to teach me how to post a proper video, i would appreciate it and the quality of future updates will be better.
Oh man, that's great..... Loving it.... Is that a gun turret on the roof over the passenger side? :arf:
update..... we have started to make a little progress on the truck. after driving it aroung the block and deciding that all was sound enough to continue, we pulled all of the rotten wood off the back and pulled it into the toy shop.... pullling the wheels and brake drums provided more encouragement as things looked good. really only a removal, cleaning and reinstall required for the most part. there is a bit of bearing noise on the off-side, rear. we will investigate further. the truck (and all Tatras) have a very unique suspension. there is no frame. there is only a "backbone" around which the axles rotate. they are torsion/porter axles. since only gear-heads are still following this thread, i won't bother to explain. the above pic shows the configuration. here is a link to how this suspension works. ours is somewhere between the earliest and latest..... [ame= Tatra Backbone Tube Concept - YouTube[/ame] beaner
I like the original paint patina. You sticking with that? It's part of it's history and seems a shame to loose that part IMHO. And yeah..... Take more and bigger pictures......