What did you do with your truck today, take 2

[rrenner]

I hate rust..

[Dan in Pasadena]

Russ, my sister JUST got done with a year's worth (+/-) of chemo, radiation, etc and they removed the port they'd installed. She doing great AND YOU WILL TOO!

Your "friends-you-haven't-met-yet" here are pulling for you. Positive thoughts coming your way and one of the most positive will be looking forward to cruising your kickass nice truck. All the best, Dan

[ChuckDriver]

Hang in there Russell, you'll be driving her again soon!!

[yoshi]

One of those jobs that "I'll get round to it" Well as its raining I fitted the sound deadening

[yoshi]

Then the carpet

[yoshi]

& edge trim

[rrenner]

Isn't it always raining there?

[yoshi]

Yeah except when it's not

[Russell Ashley]

Thanks everyone for your uplifting and encouraging comments, and especially thanks for your prayers. I'm feeling positive about the whole thing, as I'm getting the best treatment available, but I'm not looking forward to what I'll be going through for the next two months. I am looking forward to feeling good after that so it will be worth it.

My truck is at the exhaust shop today getting new pipes from mufflers back. The old pipes couldn't be used due to the location of the new shocks. Also, my friend gives a big thumbs up to the Street Demon carb.

[bogape]

Originally Posted by yoshi

I'm gonna be busy with these I brought back from my stay in NY

Hi Yoshi...
I'm heading over to New York in October. Is there a good place for parts there close to the city?
....better than Mueseums and sight seeing!

[yoshi]

Ha ha no, I got items shipped to either hotel or FedEx near by before I left then collected them

[thebebop]

What did you do with your truck today, take 2: BLEW the engine. Going down the road last night, smoke started pouring out of the tailpipe...nursed her home and popped the hood...oil all over the engine compartment. Now I'm gonna have to look for a short block : (

[crossfire84]

Bummer^^^^

[47 Fasttoys]

Man sorry to hear that, mine blew in my '46 2 months ago. Summit Racing and $1800 later it's running like new. Bite the bullet and go with a crate engine it worked for me.
Rob

[1958Warrior]

Sorry to hear about your engine Bebob , a crate engine is actually cheaper way to go
but If you ask around you can find a guy like I found Rick at Metroplex Automotive Machine in Balch springs, he does engines for several guys over at the devils bowl in Mesquite , including my neighbor, he can build an engine for you exactly how you want to drive it, yes my 383 was a few hundred more than a crate engine at summit, but I'd feel a lot better explaining a what's going on with my engine to him rather than sending, emails to however trying to resolve a problem over the net.
+ Supporting your local economy . He turned me on to some good parts on the cheap and advised what not to put in , not sure what parts actually make up that crate engine . Stay away from performer products , and pro comp. are a few of the brands that he stressed.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by thebebop

What did you do with your truck today, take 2: BLEW the engine. Going down the road last night, smoke started pouring out of the tailpipe...nursed her home and popped the hood...oil all over the engine compartment. Now I'm gonna have to look for a short block : (

Bebop, She's a beauty! Thanks for posting that photo. Mine's a '55.2 too and it's in paint. I like the side emblems but not especially the hood emblem and always wondered what it might look like with good paint and only the side emblems. I think it looks great!

Best of luck on your engine. If it was already a stock 350 I think I'd be tempted to go with a crate short block too.

[thebebop]

Thanks guys...it's a 400 sbc. Not sure what route I'm going to go at this point. My son really wants to do a big block Chevelle so I might just rebuild it and put it back in prior to selling the truck. I know, I know...sacrilege to get rid of my TF but can only afford to keep one at a time and I really enjoy the build more than the drive : )

If we decide to keep it then I'll probably do an LS1 conversion and IFS front end.

[Bomp]

Installed the under dash power brake set up.
Didn't like the one I ordered so I fab'd up the pieces myself.
Uses the stock pedal so its at the correct height.

[toolboxchev]

Went through all my engine grounds yesterday and today did the rear light grounds.

Man, that makes things a bit better. Ground to clean metal, applied Di-electric to the parts and slathered that stuff on there good.

I have a nice responsive electrical system now.

[toolboxchev]

Originally Posted by thebebop

What did you do with your truck today, take 2: BLEW the engine. Going down the road last night, smoke started pouring out of the tailpipe...nursed her home and popped the hood...oil all over the engine compartment. Now I'm gonna have to look for a short block : (

I feel your pain but don't give up, that much works shows your attention to detail and meticulous attitude.

Mistakes happen, its just the nature of what we do.

[toolboxchev]

Originally Posted by roger55

It feels really good to have all the painting done. It's been a lot of work that's for sure.

I put 3 coats on the strut rods and 4 on the steering wheel.









So between coats I used free time wisely and bolted the spare tire rack on and then mounted the spare up there. Looks really good but there's was a gotcha.



One of the 3 lugs twisted right off with hardly any force at all. Well crap. This is going to have to be drilled out and welded to repair meaning I'll have to touch up the paint (I'm still saying I'm done painting though.) I've got exactly 1 pint of green left so at least that's not a problem.

So take a look at the broken lug. It was repaired before! What a poor excuse for a repair job. You can see why it twisted off so easy. There wasn't much holding it.



You can tell it was a bolt that had been cut with a hack saw and they welded around it and then ground off most of the weld. What a crazy thing to do. The only way to do this right is to drill clear through and weld it from the rear.
I'm also thinking now that I can't trust the other 2 lugs and I should drill those out and do all 3.

Welded Lugs? Never on my 3/4 ton, I would replace em all!

[slck57]

Installed brake booster, worked on fitting steering column, and used dummy motor to fab new mounts to bring engine forward 2 inches to help firewall clearance.

[crossfire84]

nice work.^^^^

[rrenner]

Fixin some more rusty stuff..

[YahamaR1]

Found a Nice rear end to work on