Re: Frankentruck
 

Some days you win, some days you lose, some days you end up right in between.
Today is right in between.

Got the old transmission out on Thursday evening after work. Got the overdrive specific parts reinstalled to the overdrive transmission yesterday after work. This morning, I got the transmission back in the truck, then realized I forgot a crucial part. Yup, it’s gonna leak without the output shaft seal. At least I noticed it before I put gear oil in it. Finished up the swap this afternoon, went for a test drive and that’s where a little bit of sadness happened.

The good: shifts through all the gears, is much quieter, doesn’t make any crunchy noises

The bad: does not shift into overdrive, lockout cable is hanging up and won’t lockout unless I move the lever at the transmission end, gear oil is leaking out of one of the case bolts.

Not sure what the problems with the lockout cable and the overdrive are, but I’ve been working on the truck for about 9 hours today, so I’m throwing in the towel for today. Hopefully with a fresh mind tomorrow I’ll be able to figure it out.

On the test drive, I did see a really cool 64 F100. It has a 302 with a mild cam and a c4 auto. Sounds great and looks cool. I just love hubcaps and steelies :metal:

Re: Frankentruck
 

Sorry to hear about the overdrive not working Christian, hope you get it figured out, which I'm sure you will.

Re: Frankentruck
 

I think you were correct. But in addition to having a lot of time to play with the truck, I don't have a recalcitrant overdrive to fight with right now.

In any case, I'm about 80% or more done now. It's really a pretty good system, not hard to install. I should be ready to evacuate and charge it by Tuesday.

Feel free to PM me if you run into any questions when you get started.

Re: Frankentruck
 

Thanks! Got to work on it some more today and figured out part of it.

I’m hoping that I’ll be able to start my install later this week, if the overdrive starts playing nicely…



Attempted to seal up the couple leaks I found today, but not test driving until tomorrow. Also tinkered with the overdrive electricals and found the contact points in the solenoid needed cleaning. Hopefully that does the trick!

Re: Frankentruck
 

The leaks seem to have been addressed, but the overdrive still won't engage. I've cleaned all the points for the relay, solenoid, and governor, but that didn't fix the issue. Hopefully I don't have any sort of mechanical misalignment issue. Drives really good as a standard 3 speed though, so I'll keep driving and maybe eventually the overdrive will work again?

Re: Frankentruck
 

I finally got this thread fully read, It Took a few days but eh. I started reading about Penny initially then saw mention of this truck, which turned into a "Squirrel!" moment lol.

Re: Frankentruck
 

Yeah, the thread has gotten fairly long, but that’s what happens with a drivable restoration. Thanks for tuning in!


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Cleaned up the back work bench from the transmission rebuild yesterday and then laid out all the new parts. Spent a little time this evening taking apart the interior side of things. Next step was to disconnect the heater hoses, so didn’t feel like making a mess in the dark

Re: Frankentruck
 

I can def see why. Honestly, I am starting down this path with Frankenstein as it is. I have owned the truck for 9 years this coming September and really haven't put much into it other than the basics. It has been a good solid DD for most of that time. I honestly thought I would be further along with it by now but the only times I have parked it for a long period of time is over winter as I wasn't really a fan of driving it in the winters we get up here in Canada.

Re: Frankentruck
 

My philosophy has been that they’re more fun to drive than to work on, so I try to keep mine drivable as much as possible. I missed driving it today to a swap meet, but it’ll be even more fun once I get the ac installed

Re: Frankentruck
 

Speaking of the swap meet, I found some neat stuff.

An aluminum 62 grille, 3 61-63 GMC nub style hubcaps, and the best part, a green gas cap. Not sure if it’s an original GM cap, but it is green and fits nicely, so I’m pleased. Even better that the gas cap was only $5 :metal:

After the swap meet, dad and I went up to our farm to do a little work. Left a different way than usual and found a neat 61 C60 on a neighboring farm. It looked pretty rusty unfortunately, but now I kinda want to see if there’s any chance at saving some of the good parts left

Re: Frankentruck
 

Great finds at the swap meet.

That truck needs to be Saved.;)

I like those 61 hoods.:metal:

Wait is that Tow-Mater :lol:

Re: Frankentruck
 

Wow, I like these big trucks, great finds.

Re: Frankentruck
 

I also like the 60-61 hoods, but prefer the 61 turn signal bezels over the 60. I would love to save it, but with no where to put it and really no need for it, it'll probably sit there for many, many more years

I do too. Maybe one day I'll be able to justify owning one. Would be cool to turn one into a car hauler so that I could take more than one old truck to a show

Re: Frankentruck
 

Reading through this thread has me wanting to go look for an older 60s C10 to go with my '84 lol. Ironically enough I found out that the liner I have in my '84 lists its application as 68-87 on its SKU sticker. Def food for thought if I were to either get my '69 home finally or pick up another '67-72 along the way.

Re: Frankentruck
 

I want to get a 67-72 at some point so I can have all three body styles of C10s :lol:

Re: Frankentruck
 

That 60 2-ton grill might be worth another trip out there. Even if it doesn't fit a half ton it would make a great wall hanger and it looks complete. Gotta love swap meets.

Re: Frankentruck
 

It's missing a bezel and headlight, but I would love to have it for a wall hanger. Maybe one day when I'm up there I'll get a chance to talk to the owner. Some of my best finds for Frankentruck have been at a swap meet. One of my favorite ways to spend a Saturday morning!

Re: Frankentruck
 

Some good progress has been made this week. The A/C switch was added to the factory control panel, old heater core removed, and then prepped under the dash for the new unit to be installed. Installed it this morning and then worked on mocking up the compressor brackets and pulleys.

A couple years ago, when I picked up the spare overdrive transmission, I also got the crank and water pump pulleys and the power steering pump and pulley from the 69 or 70 truck that the transmission came out of. I don’t think it was the original transmission to that truck. Anyways, the pulleys were a matching set, so I grabbed them. Turns out, that was a great move as they’re the exact pulleys I needed to add the a/c compressor. If I ever do decide to add power steering in the future, I already have the necessary parts.

Going to spend some time cleaning and painting the pulleys and painting the compressor brackets tomorrow. I need to get this done before heading to Lebanon, TN, for the Southeastern Truck Nationals

Re: Frankentruck
 

Lots of progress has happened since the last update. Mostly worked on the truck in the evenings after work, so it was slow but steady progress.

Employed the front yard paint booth once again to paint the compressor brackets and pulleys.

I was able to install the condenser without removing the radiator in an attempt to save my coolant, but alas, the old flex hose I had used when the radiator was in the incorrect inline 6 location, provided about a 1/4” of clearance to the fan belt. Picked up the correct, molded lower hose today and now have plenty of clearance.

Got the a/c and heater hoses ran in ways that shouldn’t cause issues with any other component, ran all the wiring, and added some rubber plugs to fill all the unused holes in the firewall and make some grommets for wires and the heater valve control cable.

Pulling the gauge cluster out made running the a/c ducting much easier to the vent on the left of the steering column. That also gave me the opportunity to replace the odometer roll that had locked up on me again with another one. Hopefully this one will last a long while.

On the glovebox, it did have to be shortened, but I didn’t like how short the box was going to end up if I had used the plastic end cap included with the kit. Instead, I made one cut on the box and re-folded it to shorten it up. That ended up working out nicely, so I’m pleased with that. Still have plenty of room to store stuff. I also spent a little time working on lining everything up properly on the glove box door. I would have to dig my fingers behind the door to pull it open beforehand, but now it functions as GM intended. Opens with one push of the button and doesn’t require digging behind the lid. Absolutely love that.

On the vents, I went a little unconventional in my mounting methods. I didn’t feel like attempting to drill holes somewhat accurately to install the vents, so I just used some 3m double sided fender emblem tape to mount them. Works great and didn’t have to drill any additional holes.

I did have to move the coolant/ windshield washer bottle up and to the driver’s side since the new ac and heater lines exit the firewall where the bottle was originally mounted. I was able to use the new system’s mounting studs to mount the bracket, just had to add a piece of metal and repaint.

I was able to test the system and the heat does work, but haven’t tested the a/c yet. I’ve got an appointment to get it evacuated and charged on Wednesday morning. Leaving for SETN on Thursday!

Re: Frankentruck
 

Sounds like Great progress to me.:metal:

I have a vacation day Friday.

Give me a call if you need any help along the way.

I resided close to the Lebanon SuperSpeedWay

Oh WWait it the Nashville superSpeedway:lol::lol:


Looking forward to seeing you at the Show.

Re: Frankentruck
 

A great job and a significant improvement in comfort.
Good idea with the glove box and the vents.

Re: Frankentruck
 

Will do, thanks! Hopefully no issues will come about from all the recent things I've done. See ya Friday or Saturday!

Thank you! Really looking forward to having A/C

Re: Frankentruck
 

I have some great news. The air conditioning system works great! It is so nice being able to drive around without feeling like a turkey baking in an oven.

In the whirlwind of adventure that happened yesterday, I took the truck to a local shop to have the ac evacuated and charged. The owner of the shop has a 63 as well, so that made it easier to leave it under his care.

While waiting for the truck to be done, I was able to fix the overdrive issue. Since I got the rebuilt overdrive back in, it would never shift into overdrive. Turns out, the solenoid I had on it burnt out inside. It smelled burnt when I opened it up and it would not hold properly after shooting the pawl thingy out. That was the solenoid that came off my parts transmission I had put in over a year ago. The solenoid I originally had on the transmission when I first got it in the truck just stopped working one day. I never took it apart to identify why since I had the other solenoid. Well, I finally took it apart to find that one of the contact points had broken in two. So I did what made the most sense. I took the good contact point parts from the burnt up solenoid to replace the broken ones. Once I replaced the fuse that melted from the burnt solenoid, overdrive worked great again.

At around 9pm last night, I checked to make sure the windshield washer system was working and the switch fell apart completely. It was an aftermarket switch that obviously wasn’t made to last. I ended up replacing it with another switch and knob that I had in my stash. It’s a slightly different style button, but I don’t care since it works now.

The trip up to Lebanon, TN this morning went well with no issues. Downtown Lebanon has a really neat look to it. I’m looking forward to enjoying the SETN show tomorrow and Saturday!

Re: Frankentruck
 

Here is a couple places to eat .
https://www.mrpanchosmx.com/

And What A Burger

https://locations.whataburger.com/tn...erland-st.html

Re: Frankentruck
 

Good news on the A/C and overdrive! I know that same A/C system on my '64 totally rocks.

Had to laugh a bit on the windshield washer. What swank! My truck has single speed wipers with no washer. I haven't been able to find a knob for my switch, they all have the hole in the middle for the washer switch that I don't have.

Re: Frankentruck
 

I also have this switch, it's actually supposed to spray water on the windshield and wipe it, it never worked with the button, without pressing the button, just the pen, it works, I'll probably put an extra switch too.
Congratulations on the working air conditioning and the overdrive.

Re: Frankentruck
 

Great job on the ac install Christian!

Re: Frankentruck
 

Thanks fellas, I enjoy driving the truck even more now. The install didn’t come without issues though

Re: Frankentruck
 

Two weekends ago I noticed the alternator light was faintly on while driving home from my friend’s wedding. I figured the externally regulated alternator was to blame, so I decided to pick up an internally regulated alternator that also put out more amps. What I thought would take a day or two ended up taking two weeks.

The first alternator that showed up was bad out of the box. That sucked, so got another. The second one tested good but the alternator light was still coming on when I turned on the a/c. I finally found out that the voltage at the blower motor fuse dropped to 10.4 or so volts when the a/c was turned on. I also discovered that the ignition switch plug melted from excess heat. Although I had replaced the fuse block several years ago, it was a reproduction of the original, so apparently the wire size is too small to effectively run the a/c system.

The fix? Relays. I ran two relays to bypass the fuse block and just triggered the relays with the heater circuit on the fuse block. The relays will only send power to the a/c system when the key is on. That did the trick and the a/c is back to working great. I tested it by cruising over to Acworth, Ga for a cruise in. I did notice that the fan belt wasn’t sitting well in the pulley on the new alternator, so when I got home after dinner, I went ahead and swapped out the pulleys from the old alternator to the new one. The belt fits much better now.

Couldn’t pass up the opportunity to park next to a suburban. It’s got a 502 big block and a th400

Re: Frankentruck
 

I did a little tinkering this morning and figured out why the solenoid wasn't working for the overdrive. The solenoid stopped working on me after I got to Lebanon last month. Finally decided to look at it today just to find that all I had to do was clean up the contact points again in the solenoid. I do love the easy fixes though!

Re: Frankentruck
 

I love easy fixes but hate it when I put them off for awhile because I think they are some huge task only to find out it was a 5 min job lol.

Re: Frankentruck
 

So shortly after I thought the solenoid was fixed, it stopped working again.
I’ve been working on Penny and just driving Frankentruck as a standard 3 speed. On Thursday, I just happened to see a for sale ad on Facebook Marketplace. So now I have four 3 speed overdrive transmissions.
A new solenoid is around $300. These two transmissions were $150 for both. As long as one of those solenoids works, I’ll be in good shape

Re: Frankentruck
 

Decided to try the solenoid from the transmission on the right, and it worked out of the vehicle. It's also very clean inside with a lot of life left on the contact points. My guess is that the solenoid was replaced at one point and then the transmission got pulled somewhat shortly after. I changed the gear oil and swapped solenoids.

Apparently something else is actually my problem with the overdrive electricals. I'll be checking the governor and relays later this week.

Re: Frankentruck
 

Oh no, my rust got rained on

Re: Frankentruck
 

Yes, there was something else wrong with the electricals. Turns out the governor decided to break internally. The weights would still move, but some sort of spring or something inside must have broke. With the cap on the governor, it's supposed to keep open the contact points that ground the entire system. Once the truck gets to around 28 mph, the weights pull the assembly down and the contact points close to ground the entire system. The governor was not keeping the contact points open like it should.

I ended up taking one of the governors off the two transmissions I picked up recently, but that one also didn't work. Apparently the weights are a little frozen up on that one because it wasn't working either. I tried the other governor this afternoon, and sure enough, I have overdrive again. I now have a really good condition solenoid and good governor, so I should be good to go for awhile now!

Re: Frankentruck
 

I haven’t had to do anything to Frankentruck since fixing the overdrive other than just driving around a bunch. I’ve been working a lot on Penny over the past couple weeks. Frankentruck worked great for keeping enough charge on the battery to finally figure out that Penny’s engine has probably jumped time. Looks like I’ll be driving Frankentruck a good bit longer before doing the rust repair

Re: Frankentruck
 

Merry Christmas!

Re: Frankentruck
 

A little early, but nice.
Winter has arrived here today.

Re: Frankentruck
 

Frankentruck did a little light hauling this evening. Picked up a 350 for Penny.
Frankentruck has now hauled 3 engines home. The first one was the engine for the Dakota that went to and from the machine shop. The second was the 283 currently in Frankentruck, and now the 350 for Penny. Didn’t drive all that bad with all the weight at the rear, but I took it slow and careful anyways because I didn’t want to yeet the engine into the cab :lol:

Re: Frankentruck
 

We like to transport engines on an old car tire where it sits securely with the oil pan and lash the engine around the cylinder head, once left and right,