1964 GMC Palomino Tan Survivor

[Southcity]

Originally Posted by caseyjones

I've been bad about taking photos of the truck. Today was nice so I snapped a couple of it in current state:

Outstanding job, truck looks great! Do I spy 64 Oldsmobile caps?

[caseyjones]

Originally Posted by Southcity

Outstanding job, truck looks great! Do I spy 64 Oldsmobile caps?

Yes you do!

[caseyjones]

Spent today modifying the stock radio with a little Bluetooth receiver, using this as a guide.
https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...ight=Bluetooth

I really like this mod because it’s totally invisible and can be reversed.

[Braunschweiger]

I used a small Bluetooth stereo amplifier connected to a stereo speaker in the dash,
my music, radio and navigation are all on the phone anyway, it works great, the sound is great and it connects to the phone instantly when I do am near,
the radio is just for show.

[caseyjones]

Originally Posted by Braunschweiger

I used a small Bluetooth stereo amplifier connected to a stereo speaker in the dash,
my music, radio and navigation are all on the phone anyway, it works great, the sound is great and it connects to the phone instantly when I do am near,
the radio is just for show.

I had one of those too-they are really easy solution but I didn’t like where I mounted the volume knob…I basically just made my life harder and the sound worse just to use the original radio volume knob

[Paul Y]

Originally Posted by Braunschweiger

I used a small Bluetooth stereo amplifier connected to a stereo speaker in the dash,
my music, radio and navigation are all on the phone anyway, it works great, the sound is great and it connects to the phone instantly when I do am near,
the radio is just for show.

Harald,

I have just ordered the same bluetooth amp which I plan to use to power another amp and connect this up to a pair of 6x9's in the massive hole sin my doors, a pair of tweeters in the dash and a kicker bass box behind the seat.

Will it work? Who knows!

Question for you Harald, when it the bluetooth fires up does it announce itself? Make a sound or play a tune?

I am hoping this one does not but it isn't the end of the world if it does.

Sorry for the hijack.

P.

[Braunschweiger]

Paul, the Truck is in the shop at the moment and I always have a Bluetooth box with my music running.
When I connect the battery in the truck, my Bluetooth box in the shop goes out and the one in the Truck comes on, it seems to be very dominant,
which means that my smartphone recognizes it immediately.
The Sound is good and she can loud.

[caseyjones]

Quick update: engine is back together and in the truck and I’m in love again. No regrets so far!

[mattbert56]

Just went through both of your builds. Really enjoyed the documentation of both. Very good read. been wanting / missing my old c20 befor I built it into a k20. Your builds just made that so much worse. Much appreciated.

[caseyjones]

Originally Posted by mattbert56

Just went through both of your builds. Really enjoyed the documentation of both. Very good read. been wanting / missing my old c20 befor I built it into a k20. Your builds just made that so much worse. Much appreciated.

Thanks! I've been pretty bad about updates - The motor went back together without surprises. Fired it up and the gauge stilll read low/no oil pressure...bought a mechanical gauge and pressure was fine. Probably would have been ok with the old bearings but who knows for how long.

Started driving it around to debug it and it seemed like it had some kind of lean cruising issue. Bought a carb kit from a Quadrajet guru and started dialing it in and it started having the problem again...thought about it for a while, and decided to go through the (new) ignition just to make sure it was OK...found that the cheap points in the new distributor didnt seem to consistently open and close, like they were getting hung up on each other. I think it might have been getting worse as they heated up. Swapped in a set of Standard points (with obviously better construction) and haven't had that problem since. Still tuning the carb to try to bump up mpg but overall runs really well.

I've been fighting leaks at the back of the motor since my first drive...i used the 4-pc oil pan gasket that came in the kit, and it was dry for the first few heat cycles, but then got a bad leak. The pan bolts were loose, and i think once it broke the seal on the back of the pan it was all over. The pan was beat up anyway so I bought a new Dorman pan and a new 1-pc gasket...leak was still awful. The Dorman pan has a wider rear u-shaped sealing surface than a stock pan so the Fel-Pro gasket doesn't properly seat on it. So, I reverted back to the original pan, straightened it out as much as i could, and the correct 1-pc gasket for it, and the dang thing still leaked! I thought maybe it was a bad rear main, but that looked dry, so last night I reinstalled the pan and gasket using a bunch of Permatex #2. So far it looks like it might hold.

Edit: oil leak is just as bad as before. Still doesn’t look like rear main but don’t know what else to do at this point.

I added a factory fan shroud and carried over the fan clutch from the V6. I also upgraded the alternator, and used factory or reproduction brackets for the short water pump setup in prep for the next big upgrade - ordered a Vintage Air kit for the truck. I had been thinking about it, pricing out the kit and literally that afternoon the heater core started leaking - I took it as a sign

Here are some pics of the engine bay as it sits - hoping the AC shows up in the next week or so.

[caseyjones]

I ended up pulling the motor and replacing the rear main seal - this time with an offset seal (Fel-Pro BS118291). There was a small groove in the crank surface - didn't look for it the first time around. Sealed up the oil pan and things are staying dry, finally.


Put the truck back together and started on the A/C install. Hopefully this information is useful for someone putting this kit in a GMC. Vintage Air sold me the standard Chevrolet C10 kit for a truck with deluxe controls - this kit won't work as-is with a GMC - helpful hints below.

The condenser installation is much easier with the grill removed. It's almost impossible to route the hard lines through the core support with the grill in place. I also had to bend a little flange on the back of the grille to clear the drier. The hard line from the drier to the condenser is easier to install with the condenser mounting bracket removed.

Mounting the compressor will be dependent on application...in my case it wasn't too much of a hassle. I am using the aftermarket 2.5" ram's horn manifolds and had to grind the manifold bracket just a little bit and play with spacers to get it in the right spot. All else worked as expected. I used some string to get an idea of belt length and ordered a range of belts to find one that was in the range of adjustment. Ended up with a Gates 7580 XL.

Plan out your sequence of hard line and bracket installation on the evaporator, there are connections that are really hard to access if you use the sequence described in the instructions. Once the hard lines are installed the rest of the evaporator installation is pretty straight forward. I purchased a Gates PN 18084 heater hose that has one end molded to fit a 3/4" fitting and the rest of it sized for a 5/8" fitting, since the VA heater core lines are both 5/8" diameter. I did use nutserts and button-head cap screws to hold the blockoff plates in place instead of the included sheetmetal screws.

Of course the included glove box liner isn't compatible. There isn't much room left behind there anyway. I'm planning to make some kind of new liner out of ABS plastic. I ran the wiring for the heater valve and the main harness down behind the unit and out through the firewall hole that was used for the original blower motor wire. I just drilled out a 1" plug to hold a wire grommet and fished the harness through.



The GMC controls are very close to the evaporator box. My truck came with deluxe controls so I wanted to keep them. The linear potentiometers that are used to convert from cable to electronic inputs hang down below the dash, and I didn't realize how visible they would be without the lower dash ductwork in place. Also, the bracket and mechanism take up a lot of space right where the defroster ducts want to be. I ended up running the driver's side defrost duct up and over the controls and the radio to avoid interference. Additionally, the linear potentiometers line up directly with the passenger side duct connection on the supplied under-dash louver housing. This wouldn't be a problem on the Chevy where the controls are closer to the driver.



I ended up ordering the 492090 trimline kit. This hid the linear potentiometers and allowed the duct to connect closer to the end of dash, eliminating the interference. I think an alternative would be to order the rotary controls kit and find a factory single knob dash panel. Then the dash would still look stock and I could probably use the rest of the parts that came in the kit, and the duct routing would be much easier. One more thing to note is that the driver's side vent can't be mounted all the way to the outside if you're using the stock parking brake lever. Not a huge deal unless you're really into symmetry.






I borrowed vacuum pump and a set of gauges and made sure the system didn't leak. It's charged now and blows cold - so far so good! Definitely a big enough system for a truck. I'm happy with the system but wish the VA crew would have suggested the potential conflict between the ductwork and the controls. Lesson learned, hope this helps somebody else!

[SpudWrench]

Your thread keeps me going. Keep up the work. Hope to find you at a meet one day lol

[caseyjones]

Originally Posted by SpudWrench

Your thread keeps me going. Keep up the work. Hope to find you at a meet one day lol

Thanks man-likewise!

I’ve been chipping away at relocating the fuel tank under the bed. I bought the Tanks Inc side fill kit for this generation of truck, along with their fuel pick up kit and their universal fuel sender. Nothing really tricky about putting it all together. I welded a couple of nuts to a flat 1” wide piece of strap to make a pair of captured nut plates to bolt the tank up to the frame. For the fill I didn’t want to go through the bed floor so I made a pocket and used a cheap aluminum filler tube with sealed cap-hopefully it holds up. The tank kit came with a vent so hopefully I don’t have any problems there. Just need to run the new hard line and extend the gauge wiring and see how it works. Probably going to be a slow fill, but hopefully it doesn’t burp all over like the stock filler.

[caseyjones]

Filled up last night. Gauge is reading wonky, but the pump nozzle fits the filler, it filled at full speed, and no burp at the end-I’m happy!

[caseyjones]

Still really liking the fuel tank install. Only remaining issue is that some fuel burps out of the vent after I fill the truck and park it. Thinking the gas in the tank is expanding enough to push out of the vent. Other than raising the vent a little bit more there's not a lot I can do about it.

Did some other minor debugging - greased the track bar and the front sway bar to get rid of some squeaks, installed delrin tailgate trunions and put some foam strip between the tailgate and bed to get rid of bangs and rattles. Repositioned the seat belt retractors so they actually retract the belts, now that the original gas tank is out of the way.

I've collected all of the patch panels so I'll be pulling the truck into the garage and tearing into it soon. Outer floors, kick panels, rockers, lower front fenders and the panel above the windshield all need work.

[Southcity]

Nice to get an update on the new tank install, raising the vent tube should help resolve the fuel burp issue. Hoping you can share some pics of the tailgate setup with foam inserts. All us clam-shell Suburban owners struggle with that clanging and banging.

[caseyjones]

Originally Posted by Southcity

Nice to get an update on the new tank install, raising the vent tube should help resolve the fuel burp issue. Hoping you can share some pics of the tailgate setup with foam inserts. All us clam-shell Suburban owners struggle with that clanging and banging.

It was really just a couple of 1" long pieces of adhesive-backed foam strip at the top corners. Nothing fancy, but it seems like it has helped.

Steering is feeling notchy - thinking something wonky in the lower balljoints? I bought the low-end AC Delco line, and the boots are already trashed on them, so I figure I'll put some Moogs in there and see if it's better...

[caseyjones]

Been working on rust repair - got the left side floor, rocker panel and front fender done, right side floor was held up due to a mis-labeled rocker panel, and I dug into the panel above the windshield. The mouse house ran the entire width of the cab. The inner roof panel is pretty crusty, with one hole that was hidden by the windshield gasket. Thinking I'll just get as much loose stuff out as I can and hit it with Rust Reformer before welding in the new panel.

[Braunschweiger]

Great work, this will be another solid truck.

[shp4man]

I remember when I was a kid in 1965 or so, how upon seeing a GMC in that color parked at a local diner, I thought how unique it was. Back then it was the metallic colors that were popular.
Please keep it that color, it's a part of truck history.

[caseyjones]

Originally Posted by shp4man

I remember when I was a kid in 1965 or so, how upon seeing a GMC in that color parked at a local diner, I thought how unique it was. Back then it was the metallic colors that were popular.
Please keep it that color, it's a part of truck history.

I bought it because of this color - if it ever gets painted it will stay Palomino Tan.

Mostly finished with the rust repair and have been driving it a little bit again. Have a problem with the power steering - just off center to the left, it feels like the steering box is sticking. I've replaced it once already and it didn't seem to fix anything. I've disconnected the tie rods and I don't feel any binding or sticking when I move the wheels by hand. It only happens in that one steering wheel orientation so it seems more likely that it's the box than the pump, but maybe you guys have some experience that says otherwise?

[caseyjones]

Replaced the "new" rebuilt steering pump with a new NEW steering pump - since that was less expensive than a NEW steering box - and it seems to have solved the notchy feeling. Still needs an alignment but it's much better.

[caseyjones]

Took some pictures of it with the completed rust repairs today. Also found some finned Z28 / Corvette valve covers, took care of a few leaks. Making a punch list of things to dial in as I drive it more and more.

[caseyjones]

Originally Posted by caseyjones

Replaced the "new" rebuilt steering pump with a new NEW steering pump - since that was less expensive than a NEW steering box - and it seems to have solved the notchy feeling. Still needs an alignment but it's much better.

I think it was a placebo effect. Or the new pump wore in, pressure dropped a little and the weird steering feel came back...don't know. I replaced the low-end AC Delco ball joints with MOOG parts and the feel is much much better. The Delco joints were super hard to move by hand and felt notchy. I also replaced the idler arm since I had a NOS example on hand.

Still seems to "stick" a little on left turns but right turns are what I would expect. I plan to mess with the alignment shims to max out caster and see if that changes anything. If not, I am looking at buying the Borgeson quick-ratio box.

[motofly196]

Your truck is absolutely awesome! I've got a 60' GMC Short/ Fleetside 2-tone Palomino Tan and white on top. Been collecting parts for over 20 years, and hoping the stance looks as perfect as yours when I finish it up this summer! Great job on this one!!