Old Roy

[saxart]

I thought I would start a build thread to show the truck I recently got, as well as some of the updates it's getting.

Meet "Old Roy"...



Old-Roy is a 1970 C-10 that I found one night on CL. It had just been posted that afternoon. Here in Western Wisconsin, rust is king, and this truck appeared to have less rust than many I've seen locally, so I sent an email to the seller. The more I looked at the ad, the more I realized that the price wasn't bad for the condition the truck looked to be in. It was even a 4-speed manual, the transmission I was wanting. I went to bed hoping the truck hadn't been sold yet.

When I woke up the next morning, I had an email from the seller that mentioned he'd be available at 9:30am that morning with his address. I replied telling him I'd be there then. When I pulled into the owner's driveway at 9:30am as promised, an elderly gentleman stood up from his weed pulling duties. We talked briefly about the truck, he was very honest about some of it's downfalls (didn't run well, needed brakes, etc) and was a VERY nice guy. When I asked him how long he'd owned the truck, he looked at me and said, "Oh! I've owned it since 1970. We used it on the family farm in North Dakota until we moved here '89." I just about dropped my cell phone on the ground when he said that!

We agreed on a price, shook hands, and he motioned me into the house to sign the paperwork. When I walked into his house, his wife greeted us and the smell of fresh-baked cookies filled my nose. While we signed the paperwork at their kitchen table, both of them told stories about the old truck and how they used it on the farm. As we finished, his wife looked at Roy and said, "Are you sure you're ready to sell this truck buddy?" "Yes, it's time", he responded. I could tell he was convinced, but it was still a tough step for him.

Just before leaving, I promised that he could see the truck whenever he wanted, then asked if I could snap a pic of him next to the truck one last time. Meet Roy... Great guy!



The truck was mine...time to get her home! Although I had test drove the truck earlier in Roy's neighborhood, I wasn't ready for just how bad this thing was to drive! I only lived 2.4 miles away, but it was a tough drive. The truck didn't have enough power to accelerate to get fast enough for 3rd gear. It would just miss, pop, and sputter. OK, I guess we'll drive the whole thing in 2nd gear then! Let's talk about the brakes... When you'd try to brake, the pedal would go all the way to the floor....nothing! Then a quick and panic filled re-pump would get a hint of braking at the very bottom of it's travel, that would do nothing but instantly lock up the right front wheel. While you were doing the "double pump brake thing" you also had to keep a foot on the gas pedal hoping that the constant pumping would keep it running for just another mile. Comical!

Once I got it home (and tried to explain the logic of buying this fine piece of machinery to my wife) it started sinking in just how much work she needed. The interior was trashed. The owner had stuffed anything and everything into every hole in the cab to keep mice out, but it didn't help. There were obvious signs that mice had infiltrated the interior. The seat was toast. Not much original upholstery on it at all.

Time to get to work, so I pulled the seat out.





The rubber floor mat was a ripped and duct-taped mess, so I pulled it out along with the mouse-pee foam padding underneath. While I was at it, I also removed the fuel tank as I wanted to start with clean, fresh fuel.







Then I proceeded to HOSE OUT the interior with a bucket of hot soapy bleach water and a scrub brush...



After it dried out overnight, the cab floor got a coat of POR-15 on the heavy surface rusted areas.





While I was cleaning the cab floor, I found this memento:



Time to clean out the gas tank. I dumped it into a bucket and gave it multiple soapy water rinses.



Luckily the tank only had a gallon and a half in it, but it wasn't pretty.



The tank sat in the hot sun for three days after which it was reinstalled with a new filler neck gasket. While the tank was out, I also replaced the sending unit O-ring as it was "crunchy" as well as the 46-year old sections of rubber fuel line that connects the steel lines together. They literally fell apart when I touched them. I also replaced the small fuel filter that resides inside the carb inlet.



I dumped 3/4 of a can of Sea-Foam in the tank along with 5 gallons of clean ethanol free gas and fired it up. It didn't run much better, but at least I knew the tank was clean and free of debris. A couple of days later, I had to start it to move it, and although it didn't run perfect, it ran MUCH better so I suspect that it will improve the more it gets driven.

After the brakes are replaced... (to be continued)