Muncie

I agree with Casey - always enjoy your reviews - I look for what's in the kit and you cover everything. On the Olds, I didn't know the kit had the stock version and extra grilles - probably what I need for my Warren Johnson 1984 Pro Stock project - so your review was exactly like what I was looking for and much appreciated. now I'm off to look at that ZZ Top review...

have to agree with everybody. The brasswork on the chassis and front axle looks great.

great looking brochure - there is a lot of good detail in the pictures A couple of things to be aware of --- As noted before, the AMT kit is a "raised" cab, it can be quickly identified by the vertical bar in the center of the grille. The truck in the brochure is a "stretch" cab quickly identified by the two vertical bars and important to note that it is 4 inches wider than the raised cab. The extra width is in the center of the cab - engine tunnel, grille, radiator are among the affected areas where things are a little wider. The front axle is an FE970 series axle with center point steering. Notice how the hub is thru the center of the wheel. The steering kingpins are further into the wheel and vertical to reduce steering effort - kind of a poor man's power steering - not very common for general freight applications. So, between the extra cab width and the narrower wheel track with center point steering, the front tires are located and appear to be much further inboard than the more common front axles used in general freight applications. This is not a good picture for modifying the AMT front axle assembly to move the wheels inboard. Farr Dynacell air cleaners with frontal air intake thru the nose skin like the AMT kit and the brochure were (probably?) not available with the 8V-71 engine. The Farr air cleaner mounted easily on the inline Cummins engines but the main problem is that they didn't flow enough air to meet Detroit Diesel Engineering requirements. I know for certain that it wasn't enough for the 8V-92's but at best they would have been marginal for the 8V-71 - maybe OK for the naturally aspirated 8V-71, but not for the 8V-71T - not sure about it on a 1971 to '73, but I'm sticking to it. Some of the high horsepower 8V-92's that came later even required dual 16" diameter air cleaners - yeah, try to locate that where the trailer doesn't hit it. I think your reference truck has stationary air intake with the air cleaner mounted on the exhaust cross braces - that would be correct for the 8V-71T. The alternative with single exhaust is to frame rail mount the air cleaner under the cab ahead of the fuel tank.

yeah, I could have mis-read the question - they include nine shifter balls - description below is straight from Detail Master's web site... hope this is better. but I agree there are other sources for the knob - I think I would try to source the knob or handle from something else anyway. http://www.detailmaster.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Session_ID=e9a357b41d8f0a32801ed9454902676a&Screen=PROD&Store_Code=detailmaster&Product_Code=DM-2531-2&Category_Code=HS DM-2531 Hurst Shifters (9) Quantity in Basket: None Price: $12.99 Quantity: This etch parts comes with 1 etch part and 9 shifter balls. Please use gloves when handeling the lead balls.

that is a good question - it looks like nine - the sheet has 18 shift handle parts to make 9 shifter handles - they can be paired up back to back so the lettering shows on both sides and they build up to scale thickness.

isn't this the second kit from the '71 Satellite - different hood and a couple of other minor changes - the GTX has been reissued a couple of times

That's another one that would be good to have - Maybe Detail Master has more in the works with the bench seat Chevy and pistol grip Mopars.

a shift boot can be made by stacking rectangles of .020 or .030 Evergreen plastic to fit the shift boot retainer.

aaaaarrrrgh.... looks like all of the Hurst shifter sticks except the most important one - the curved stick for four speed in a 1955-57 Chevy with a bench seat... looks like a must have deal anyway

thanks Casey, appreciate the reply - maybe Round2 will get to it. The old MPC flyer is way cool! - neat archive piece. Steve

An automotive hydraulic brake system uses a hydraulic cylinder to push the brake shoes into the drum. Cam air brakes use a rotating S-shaped cam to move the shoes. In wedge air brakes, the brake chambers push triangular wedges at the end of the shoes to move the lining into the drum. S-cam brakes - the cam is the s-shaped part on the right side of this picture. Normally (what I've seen), the brakes are installed with the cam at the top. The slack adjuster is a lever that rotates the cam. The brake chamber attaches to the other end of the slack adjuster and is mounted on a bracket to the axle housing. When air is applied to the service brake chamber, the cam rotates and pushes the linings into the drum. (when air is released from the parking brakes, the spring in the parking brake chamber applies the brakes). Wedge brakes - there are a few more parts involved. Basically, a wedge is pushed against the end of the shoes to move the linings into the drum. This diagram shows the orientation of the service brake on the axles - two wedges, two brake chambers per brake. The brake chamber tube is almost perpendicular to the brakes so it pushes against the wedge. Note, in my search for diagrams I found another great thread on AMT Freightliner questions - Brian (Driptroit) and others have posted some good information - unfortunately, photobucket has done some serious damage over there but still worth a good look. http://hankstruckforum.com/htforum/index.php?topic=62775.30 This is a cutaway of the brake chamber with for the service brake and parking brake with no parking or service brakes applied. As-shown, air has been released from the service brake side, air pressure is applied to the spring brake chamber to compress the spring and release the parking brake. Most dual-drive truck-tractors have parking brakes on one rear axle and service brakes on both rear axles. There are some youtube videos out there that have a lot more detail.

you're going to be sorry that you asked, because I don't know (I forgot) and don't have a simple answer... if you can find a copy of the Bendix Air Brake Handbook, it's the best air brake reference out there. Everything for the brake valves and air brake controls are there. Get one as old as you can find so it has the single air brake system. Dual air brake systems with front brakes became standard in the mid 1970's to comply with new regulations in (Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard) FMVSS 111. The handbook is probably out there on the internet. An original Freightliner owners manual would also have operating information. The brake system in the AMT Freightliner kit is kind of an oddball - it has brake chambers set up for wedge brakes instead of cam brakes. Wedge brakes were very rare - basically only CF used them. Wedge brakes supposedly had better lining life - CF liked them. The first issue of the AMT single drive day cab kit was made to represent a CF tractor - It was incorrect in other ways because they came up with the sleeper cab dual drive from the same basic puzzle - so there is a mixture of CF components in the dual drive and vice-versa - and a lot of the specific CF stuff was left off. That's my story about wedge brakes in the AMT dual drive kit. Most dual drive tractors in 1971-1973 had cam brakes and were not built with front brakes - so I think the front brakes also carried over from the single drive CF kit. If I built one of these, I'd delete the front brakes and switch it over to brake chambers from another kit for cam brakes. sometimes I get on the soapbox and can't stop...Hope this helps and isn't too confusing -

the cab roof was also upholstered with the diamond pattern - the roof beam across the cab was painted - I believe it was painted the exterior cab color, but may have been black. - Leather sounds cool - but don't fall in love with it if it doesn't work out - leather can be difficult to make look to scale. The real trucks weren't that nice...

more on the trailer over here...

yes, referring to the Luberfiner - required by Cummins, available for other engines - DDE had engine mounted oil filters similar to large automotive spin on filters. I hope you are confirming some of this on your reference truck - most of this is as clear as yesterday but time has taken a few memory cells.

Fuel lines were cotton covered wirebraid - probably something available at Hobby Lobby or Michaels with close to the right texture. maybe braided fishing line dyed black... painted in the chassis up to the engine. Production probably varied at the fuel tank end - some unpainted, some painted to the fitting on the tank. The compressor discharge line to the chassis was copper tube or optional cotton covered wire braid. This line has a lot of heat in it so it would be unpainted on the engine, and painted in the chassis.. Chassis air lines are nylon tube installed before chassis paint at the Portland TMP - may have been different at other plants. Could be plain wire or standard model detailing wire, something that will take paint to represent the smooth nylon tubing. The air lines from the relay valves to the brake chambers are cotton covered wire braid - also chassis painted. The lines to the chassis mounted oil filter were also cotton covered wire braid. This filter was required with Cummins engines but rarely specced with DDE engines. what did I miss? Let's leave this open for more model material suggestions.

Freightliner claimed the only "clyclomatic" dual action cab tilt pump. The pump worked when the handle was moved in both directions so it actually tilted the can fairly quickly - like Brain said, not terribly fast or slow. Once you got past 45 degrees, the weight of the cab would finish the tilt. There is a small valve, the thing sticking out with a crosspin above the cyclomatic valve, that controls up or down. The horizontal location in the photo is more correct than the vertical position in the AMT kit. But it needs to be far enough ahead of a fuel tank bracket so the tilt pump handle doesn't hit the fuel tank brkt.

it's not so much which side the linkage is on - some aftermarket tri-power linkage kits move the linkage to the opposite side of the carbs... it's getting the linkage to pull the throttle open when the pedal is pushed. That could be worked around, too.- but much easier to use the original carburetor orientation. It's just a visual thing on a model...

agreed, the fuel bowls on the carbs need to be forward so the carb linkage can be connected - the stacks can be either way but as molded to the carbs, they need to face forward - a couple of quick cuts and they can be turned around. That's a cool car and nicely done.

those white diamonds are cool. They could be original, or a replacement sleeper curtain. Freightliner stitched their own upholstery in the truck plant at the time - something like that would have been easy if a customer knew how to get it.

I agree, the Burgundy Brougham was the best looking color. No idea on the "C" - My guess and nothing that I can confirm, is that Freightliner provided a show truck built for Marketing purposes to AMT (or photos of a show truck) as the prototype for the kit. Shows trucks were usually highly optioned customer trucks. The "C" meant something to the customer but the reason has been lost to time.. I might cut that center panel out, leave the side panels so the sleeper curtain is open.

My Freightliner knowledge is based on what I saw in the later part of the 70's, but Freightliner didn't change the interior colors very often so I would say it was the same in 1971-73. The diamond pattern upholstery in the AMT kit is the Brougham option. Brougham colors available were blue, red (kind of a burgundy), saddle (tan), and green (dark avocado - it was the 70's). I don't remember black upholstery in Brougham but it may have been possible. The dash and console on the tunnel were molded in black ABS (semi-gloss) with woodgrain instrument panels - black instrument rings. There were custom shops that could stitch up interiors in other colors that were not offered by Freightliner. Vintage Freightliner brochures on the internet are the best guide for detail colors. The letter "C" stitched on the sleeper curtain is an option for a specific customer - it's a rare custom option so I wish AMT had left it plain diamonds. Brougham came with a metalflake plastic steering wheel to match _i'm not making that up. The Custom interior level had smooth pattern vinyl upholstery in black or tan. no diamonds. The standard interior - only specced by a few fleets was able board - probably black in the early 70s - production changed in the mid/late 70's to turf tan. Able board looked very similar to painted cardboard. Custom level and standard interiors came with an ivory colored steering wheel.

It is the door for the oil check and fill. Inside the door are two tubes with caps for the oil fill and check. The oil fill tube can be pulled out so it extends past the grill for access. The tubes attach to the side of the radiator bracket and go back to the engine - varies by engine but it is usually a plate on the block... not sure where on the 8V71T. Older Freightliners had oil check and fill on the engine so the cab had to be tilted to check the oil. Another option was oil check and fill at the back of cab in the tunnel.

Cool! neat old truck. I ran across a 1966 Freightliner in Montana last summer in similar condition - had to stop - the owner really wanted me to take it home... As it sits, does this truck have the 8V-71T engine?