Previous owner blues

[dan42]

Today I spent a couple hours trying to undo a couple of things the PO had done - the valve covers were leaking, so he thought he would put a liberal amount of gasket sealer on the cork gasket and the head, so it wouldn't leak. I don't know why they would leak; he must have spent at least 5 bucks on them at a garage sale somewhere. I hate de-doing things the PO didn't do right, but that's part of the deal, I guess. So, without incriminating anyone on the board, what is the silliest thing you've seen a PO do to your truck? There's gotta be a couple good stories out there.

[TheSasquach]

I have an oil pressure line folded double and tie wraped. I have a '83 Dodge Ramcharger that is a major study in PO insanity, everything from atleast 3 miles of 12 guage wire that was routed trought the truck and wasnt connected anywhere, different casting number heads with different port and combustion chamber sizes, household telephone wire used as throttle cable. Im sure given time i can come up with more. David

[350c10]

the 69' C10 i recently just bought, the previous owner replaced the transmission rear seal and installed the wrong size seal, he couldn't figure out why it leaked and sold the truck to me for $500.

[Bob D]

During my recent frame-off restore I found some potential disasters. The truck was a 6 cyl that one PO replaced with a bebuilt 350. They used the 6cyl engine towers, but bolted them in the forward v8 position on the top of the frame and left the bottom of the tower just sitting on the crossmember.....unbolted. Also, the trans x-member was installed crooked with no bolts in the top frame rail.

The front clip and cab were mounted about 3" off so the front passengers tire was sticking out of the wheel well. Rockers had been replaced once and looked like they were welded in with a stick welder, and they were caulked everywhere with white kitchen and bath silicone caulk. The heater blower housing was sealed to the firewall with plumbers putty instead of a gasket. The bench seat was bolted down with only 4 bolts instead of 8.

The shift linkage rod for the TH350 auto had been legnthened by welding a 8" long 3/8" black iron pipe nipple in the middle of it. The dual 1 3/4" exhaust pipes were run under the frame rails just behind the engine and were hammered almost flat to make the bend.

Just little things like that.

Bob

[Spray-Bomb]

Originally Posted by Bob D

and they were caulked everywhere with white kitchen and bath silicone caulk.
Just little things like that.

Bob

Sounds like my truck
The PO replaced the floor & couldn't weld worth a fart, so he used white silicone EVERYWHERE !!!

Plus my drivers side rocker is falling off because of the "Pro" welds

Also I like how he filled the fuel filler hole with "Bondo"

[Aarons72s]

Lets see here on my green and white.
1. po had to long of bolts for the water pump, so he understandablly used a bunch of 9/16" sockets for spacers.
2. Wheels he had on it didnt have the correct diameter center hole so he used a blow torch to make the hole bigger.
3. cut the springs up front so much the inner fenders wouldnt fit.
4. put the steering linkage in backwqards and had the tie rods way off, could turn right easy. not so much left.
5. Had rusted out swiss cheese headers with brand new pipes and mufflers.

I think that cvers most of his " quality upgrades".

[tavenner13]

my heads are JB welded to the block... probably would have been better off just replacing the head gaskets but hey what do i know...

[dan42]

lol -those are good ones - keep 'em comin' -

[bowtieride]

when i got home with my truck i found out the bench seat wasnt bolted down at all. Lucky i didnt get in a wreck on the way home. I would of sued the hell out of him if i lived through it.

[1970bowtie]

when i got my truck i went to pull the bb out, i started looking the the suspension, none of the bolts were more than finger thight and the front brakes werent hooked up. i guess its a good thing i didnt decide to drive it home, id be wraped around a tree some where.

[Overkill67]

how about butt connectors used through out the entire harness under the dash, for no apearent reason!! even on the steering coulom for the signal switch! Funny thing is he told me there was wiring issues, but not to worry because it came with an extra harness for under the hood lol

found this Jewel today.....PTO shaft was broken so instead of errr welding it or even better just replacing it, they took a heater hose and hose clamped it!! Yea it works but ugghh i would hate to hear the racket and carnage it would have caused when it let loose.

Sure I will find more lol

[72highlander]

silicone, lot's of it. the old man that had it fixed everything with silicone. the passenger window was siliconed shut inside and out for no aparant reason. the window regulator is like brand new is the plus. siliconed windshield, all rubber bumpers, fuel neck gasket, it's everywhere. i've slowly but surely fixed it all. he also liked extra lights, pulled em out of under hood, in bed, only ones i left were one on each side under dash and they are actually kinda handy.

[GREASEMONKEY72]

well my bucket seats are welded to square tubing which is welded to the floor and im not sure about the passenger seat but the drivers seat is about an inch or 2 to far to the left so its off center not to mention all the damn sunflower seeds that were everywhere, and the paint that was sprayed WAY to thick and wrong and thats flacking on the edge of the hood and all the overspray from the primer and the paint thats all over and im sure ill think of the rest later

[Billla]

Wasn't my truck, but on a 1970 MGB I had there were a bunch of bolts in the body that had been replaced with wood scews...what a mess :/

[brak]

Originally Posted by Bob D

...Rockers had been replaced once and looked like they were welded in with a stick welder, and they were caulked everywhere with white kitchen and bath silicone caulk...

Have you been lurking outside my house, because you just described my truck

The best i have found so far is a License plate welded to the floor as a patch panel, then covered with white caulk

[Psycho71]

Well, so far I've found the preverbial butchered radio hole, 6x9 holes butchered in the lower doors, coat hanger for upper radiator mounts, pop riveted aluminum patches on both rockers, two bolts holding the stock bench seat down (on opposite corners?), coat hanger for exhaust hangers, one primary tube dented for clearance until it's about 80% restricted, 3 wire alternator wired like a 1-wire, hardly any fuses on anything electrical, and every bolt I've found not much more than finger tight. I could go on, and on.

It took me close to a year to find and correct all this stuff. Now I am finally able to start my rebuild without worrying about the truck killing me, or catching fire.


Jay

[jd4300fel]

my 72 had 3 fuel pumps inline to electric on mechanical, oddly enought the
carb leaked fuel, they also complained that it would vapor lock when I removed the excess fuel pumps I also removed the bolt in the vent line. Also the ignition was pulled so they could hot wire it to start.
I found the keys under the seat.

[seanu]

Originally Posted by jd4300fel

...Also the ignition was pulled so they could hot wire it to start.
I found the keys under the seat.

LOL..thats a funny one...

Well I don't have much on the current truck..but the 68 I am using for parts..well that was another story...the PO tried to build a "drag truck" of some kind..and had cut the entire floor and firewall out to build a custom transmission tunnel...had a home made gas tank..(which leaked)...and torched the front frame rails up to make room for the big block that he had in there...moved the brakes under the floor with some "home made" linkage...and had wires running everywhere...Luckly, I trailered it home to then take it apart...

[cdowns]

i'm in the middle of doing an engine(ford 429) that the PO changed the waterpump and broke a piece of the timing chain cover / so water was mixing with the oil ,well he must of dumped a halfdozen containers of the silver powder stop leak into it and cleaning out the coolant passages in the block and heads is a real pain, slow but sure its gettin done

[68 P.O.S.]

My truck has a lot of the standard stuff already listed here...butchered wiring w/ no apparent purpose', silicone an caulk, etc. One funny thing is that the PO installed a door bell assembly to operate the horn.

[heavy71chevy]

on my 71' the PO loved using kitty hair..packed all the drip rails so full of glass and bondo that it was completly filled in,....butcjhered the radio surround with a saw zaw..ran at least 10 wires out of one spot in the fuse block for 12 volt power and just left them laying on the bare steel floor.completly incased both rockers in fiber glass and pop rivited a peice of aluminum to the top for alil extra strenth.......the list could go on fopr many more hours so ill stop there cause im getting a cramp in my hand lol

[PanelDeland]

I bought a 66 Dodge car once.It ran well and everything worked.I drove it for about 2 years then sold the running engine out of it for more than I gave for the car.After the engine was pulled I started looking it over for other parts to salvage.That's when I found a ball of electrical tape under the dash.It was about 6 in in diameter and had dozens of wires running in/out of it.The whole wiring harness was run as a clump of wire.

[1970bowtie]

yeah...my truck didnt come with any keys either....