New GMC guy from Boston

[Sierra sin fin]

Hello! I'm Dave, and I live right near Boston. I have a 1956 GMC 3/4 ton longbed pickup with factory 270 inline six (90k original miles)that I have owned since 1980-I drove it seven years, then put it on weed control duty at my brother's place in northern Vermont for less than 13, and for the last ten it's been in a family owned barn in Eliot, Maine, slowly being made roadworthy again. The barn was just sold, so old Jack Straw (it was a farm truck) is now in a tent next to my house, quickly being made roadworthy. (before snow collapses the tent!) I got paint on it just before it got too cold, and now it needs mainly a total brake reassembly/replacement of everything plus a dual master cylinder, and a new floor.

I am a carpenter and a therapist, and my daily driver is a 1985 GMC High Sierra 3500 Crew cab with a 350 crate engine, the venerable th400 tranny and a longbed as well. My philosophy is if you like to drive old vehicles and like to do the repair/maintenance yourself, have two so when one has a problem, the other will get you where you need to be while you fix the broke one. My Chrysler van died this summer, and so far the one-ton has been doing well, except for a transmission problem i will write about elsewhere. I did some overdue body work on the '85 this fall while doing the same on the '56, and solved a vexing exhaust noise problem on the '85. It had headers when I got it, and they kept loosening, so on the advice of a friend who is into trucks and racing, ("you don't need headers, you're not racing")I got stock manifolds from a junkyard, put 'em on, and had a muffler shop make up the connections. To make a long story short, there was a persistent exhaust leak noise from the rh side- turned out that the rh junkyard manifold had been repaired with the incorrect studs, (no shoulders) and a gasket was left off between the heat riser valve assembly and the manifold. The correct studs and a gasket made all the difference, and now I have a very satisfied feeling pushing down on that accelerator pedal and hearing a contained roar rather than a leaky manifold.

Best regards,
Dave