Five Hundred Dollar Fifty Three

[Rambow]

I'm finaly getting rolling on this, so thought I would start a build thread to track stuff.

First a little catchup...

Last November, guy on the other side of the cube wall from me at work mentions that he's been thinking about selling his old '53 chevy truck that he left down in oregon when he moved up here 13 years ago. After some deliberation, he said how about $500.

Of course I say yes- my wife loves these old trucks and has been wanting one for a long time. These are the pics his son sent us:









So the deal was done, sight unseen for this truck sitting 650 miles away. Plans were made to head over in march to drag it home.

[Rambow]

I convinced a friend of mine to do a little road trip down to bend to get it... brought my 6 year old son along for the adventure...

[Rambow]

The wife was thrilled of course (or at least pretended to be thrilled about this thing with flat tires that doesn't run sitting in front of our house)... My 2 y/o daughter was genuinely thrilled with it though ;-)

[Rambow]

So at this point (3 months ago)- heres what we knew:

* The truck had been sitting in bend oregon for 13 years.
* It had ran, and had been used regularly when parked- brake line rusted through caused it to be parked.
* Non- Original 235 (rebuilt?), original 216 still sitting in storage in bend, or
* converted to 12 volts when the 235 was insatlled
* new $500 desert cooler radiator was insatlled right before it was parked (this was really where the $500 for the truck came from)

Engine still full of oil... Radiator still full of coolant... Gastank.. well, it was full of something that smelled nasty.

[Rambow]

Took down some numbers- found its a 58-62 235
Original granny gear 4spd
Has an early Carter W 1bbl on it.

Yanked the seat... looks to be in good shape & re-useable after much cleaning & conditioning the vinyl.

Ripped up the shredded front rubber mats... front floor is pretty rough. will need new pans. Not really a surprise.

Under the seat its rock solid though.

[Rambow]

Next up... I drained about 5 gallons of really nasty brown stuff that used to be gas out of the tank. I had to shove a peice of steel wire up the tube at the bottom of the tank to get through all the gunk. The line is filled solid with that stuff. Nasty nasty nasty.

I pulled out the tank and took a peek inside. Minimal rust- but the bottom 4" or so was solid black gunk.

After much research, just bought two gallons of MEK & a cap for the bottom tube, filled the tank and let it sit for two days, going out to swish it around every now and then.

Then drained it out through a strainer, and hit it with my power washer. drained- and put the strained MEK back in for another day. Repeated power washing again and let it dry out.

Inside has some minor rusty "film" in it- but all the black stuff is gone, and no rust scale that i could see- Good enough to use until i decide what kind of under bed tank to use in a year or two.

Next up- Power.

I charged up the battery, which had a date code that made it appear to have been brand new the year it was parked- but it had some bad cells and wouldn't hold a charge.
I pulled the battery out of my '66 442 and bingo: we have light!



Next Up- Put my 442 in storage for a few months and get that truck inside so i can turn it over and start it!

[Rambow]

Pretty much caught up to where i am now. Truck is in the garage.

I pulled the sparkplugs and shot marvel mystery oil in the bores- have the engine turning over by hand (using the fan)

I pulled the starter, cleaned all the battery & ground connections.

I've re-installed the starter, and it spins when you stomp it- however it isn't engaging the flywheel. I'm thinking that the starter drive is bad and its just slipping when its loaded since its not grinding on the flywheel. It spun fine on the bench.

I ordered up a rebuild kit w/ new drive from Napa today.

I pulled the carburator off- The truck came with a Rochester "B" in a bucket of parts. I ordered up a rebuild kit for it from LMC today- After some research I decided that was a better choice than trying to figure out exactly which Carter W i had and what kit to order.



The B, the W and a monojet that i got, but now realize won't fit. :-)

[Rambow]

oh yeah... forgot to post my overall plans. Missed my 30min post editing window to put it back at the beginning. Oh well.

The Plan:
A. Get it running again
B. Fix the brakes so it will stop
C. Go through suspension & electrical so its safe
D. Spend as little $$ as possible accomplishing A, B & C

We will not be doing anything to the body in the forseeable future.
I may scrub it down with CLR, then spray it with clear to keep the rust from growing- but I don't have any plans to "fix" the body.
The truck is really for my wife, and she wants a "farm" truck... and thats what we got.

I restore seats for my hobby business, so I'll make sure the interior is done up nice... and I want the bed to be nice. Anything I touch under the hood or under the body will get cleaned & painted nice- But everything on the outside, Ugly Wins. ;-)

[alaska gasser]

Nice find and price. Keep us posted.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by Rambow

oh yeah... forgot to post my overall plans.
The Plan:
A. Get it running again
B. Fix the brakes so it will stop
C. Go through suspension & electrical so its safe
D. Spend as little $$ as possible accomplishing A, B & C

We will not be doing anything to the body in the forseeable future.
I may scrub it down with CLR, then spray it with clear to keep the rust from growing- but I don't have any plans to "fix" the body.
The truck is really for my wife, and she wants a "farm" truck... and thats what we got.

I restore seats for my hobby business, so I'll make sure the interior is done up nice... and I want the bed to be nice. Anything I touch under the hood or under the body will get cleaned & painted nice- But everything on the outside, Ugly Wins. ;-)

I think it's an outstanding deal for $500 given that it's all there, the engine turns over, it's got four matching Artillery rims on it, and the underside of that seat is a miracle having set in a field that long. I'm surprised there wasn't generations of mice in there.

It also sounds like your plan is exactly right. The old saying is, "Make it Stop, Make it Go, Make it Cool". Ditch the wiring in total so it doesn't burn to the ground from the undoubtedly cracked and jury rigged patches in the harness over the years.

I'm not a patina guy but if I were I'd say that truck has it in spades. CLR will make it look VERY cleaned up. Personally, I'd buff it out as best you can with light rubbing compound and wax the hell out of it. It'll look great. I'm totally with you on just cleaning up everything you touch as you go. It's what I'm doing to my '55.2. I can't wait to watch your progress.

[FarmerSid]

Cool story about getting the truck. Can't beat the $500 price tag.

[Rambow]

Moving right along (at a snails pace)...

Carb is rebuilt ready to go on...

Wirewheeled the floorpan under the gas tank, primed & painted it- along with the gas tank itself- and reinstalled last night.

Tore apart the starter with the intention of rebuilding it- unfortunately the rebuild kit from Napa, the starter drive unit is an inch shorter than the one i need. Going to have to contact a starter specialty shop to locate the correct drive. Put the starter back together (with new brushes)... should still be fine to start up the truck.






Gonna be gone for the holiday, but next week we should be ready to try and fire this back up!

[_Ogre]

smoking deal at $500 and for the condition the body is in
you plan is good, as mentioned i'd replace all the wiring just to be safe

[nvrdone]

pm sent re starter

[Rambow]

its Alive!!!! First fire up since 1992!!!!




Oil pressure came right up... Valves could stand to be adjusted- but fired right up and idled once the fuel pump got gas up through the new lines & filters.

Running off a gas can sitting on the fender right now- but the tank is re-installed and I'll get the new hardlines plumbed and hooked up this weekend.

Need to change out the 20 year old oil and filter then get a little more run time on it- burn off the dirt.

I'm stoked! One step closer to being able to move and stop under its own power!

[Kodiaks53]

Excellent price on a complete truck. I think your plan is outstanding !!! It will keep you pumped to be able to drive it and the familys intrest and support will be right up there too ! Don't be too suprised if your son claims it as his
Will be watching this adventure!

[Rambow]

Just a note... It is just a catchy build thread name....

the trip to Oregon to GET the truck cost more than the $500 I paid for the truck... So technically its a "fifteenhundred dollar fifty three"... but that just doesn't sound as cool.

;-)

[OrrieG]

Just got around to ready this thread. Know that road to Bend well, used to chain monkey on the Willamette Valley side. Here is a pic in Winter with my real daily driver Chevelle in chains!

[ChuckDriver]

Awesome deal, nice patina and a great plan. Winner, winner!

[Rambow]

No cool pics yet- but I've been chipping away at this project nearly every night, for an hour or two after the kids go to bed- and its finally entering the final stretch-

I purchased a 67+ Chevy truck dual pot MC, conversion bracket from POL- roll of new hardline & brake fittings from speedway.

Got all the old hardlines off... Bent up all new new & flared with my killer mastercool flaring tool (bought it for this project, i'm not sure how i survived before i had that thing).

Removed all the old brake HW... I had purchased rebuild kits for the wheel cylinders (trying to do this on the cheap)... two of the 4 came apart with minor BFH persuasion, but the other two became garbage after the pistons deformed from the attempt to "press" them out.... So bought and installed 4 new wheel cylinders like i should have done from the beginning.

Front drums were toast... pretty sure they were the original 1953 units because they were still riveted to their hubs... they had worn themselves into a deep beveld groove near the outside, so even after backing off the adjusters all the way I could barely get them to come off due to the shoes hanging onto the ridge worn into the drums.

So new front drums... back drums cleaned up ok with sandpaper

Brakes are all re-assembled now, re-packed the front wheel bearings last night (ball bearings!!)

Ready to pull the MC back off for bench bleeding... open up the hole in the floorboard enough to be able to reach it and it'll be time to fill up & bleed the new system!!!

Hope to be able to putt-putt this thing around by next week.

[NEWFISHER]

Great thread.

Spend the few bucks and switch to the tapered roller bearings. It will drive waaaaaaay better.

[Rambow]

Originally Posted by NEWFISHER

Great thread.

Spend the few bucks and switch to the tapered roller bearings. It will drive waaaaaaay better.

I saw speedways kit that had the whole new hub w/ tapered bearings- but seemed pretty pricey for $280

I need to do some more research. Right now all i want to do is get the truck moving and stopping on its own. Any kind of driving beyond the immediate neighborhood isn't in the equation yet.

[Rambow]

Pulled the MC Last night for bench bleeding, then re-installed & hooked up & tightened all the lines.

Will break out the mity-vac tonight and get some fluid out to the corners tonight.











Still on the list for taking this for its first spin:

* adjust brake drums
* Re-wire brake/tail lights
* extract broken bolt from diff housing and reseal & refill diff

Very very close now...

[Rambow]

it lives and drives (and stops) again after sitting for 22 years!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L5iKTQcIyc

Still has no tail lights... and the front tire goes flat in about 2 hours... But feels like I'm over the hump- Fires up and runs great off the original cleaned out gas tank... all new hard lines for gas & brakes... Good oil pressure, seems to hold temp.....

[alaska gasser]

Congrats! That is a great feeling.