Greenie the 72 C20

[jojo-munson]

This is a thread to chronicle the adventure of getting my Papas old C20, "Greenie" into good shape again. Not sure where I want to go with her in the end, but for now I'm just trying to clean her up and get her reliable.



Some backstory, my Papa bought this truck brand new back in 1972, making me the second owner. It spent most of it's time either with a camper on it in the mountains, or as a daily driver. Crazy enough it only has about 170,000 miles on it. The engine was either swapped out, or redone about 30,000 miles ago. Unfortunately, my dad doesn't remember if they put a new one in or just a re machined one so it's anybody's guess. Greenie sat outside, not moving, for about the last 10 years in the Pacific North West, which hasn't been kind to her. I spent all last summer working on her, every weekend that I wasn't working at the county. I had no prior mechanical knowledge, which makes this really fun. I love learning how to do all the stuff I need to for this truck.

The first challenge was getting her to start. So we replaced all the spark plugs, spark plug wires, distributor cap, starter, coil, and points. After doing all this we went to put fuel in the tank and noticed a big issue, lots and lots of rust.



So we replaced the fuel tank and all the rubber fuel lines! Crazy what you can buy on Amazon. But still, she didn't start. Turned over real nice, but no spark. It took us over a month but we finally realized that the points were not actually opening and closing. So using a voltmeter we adjusted until they did. Fired right up after that! Oh it was beautiful. But terrifying. She smoked for a bit but stopped, we just figured it was some crud built up on the exterior of the motor burning off.



By this time my summer was over and I had to go back to school to finish up my last semester of my degree in civil engineering, 300 miles and a mountain pass away. Go Cougs! After getting my diploma I wen't back to Greenie, changed the oil (which was blacker than midnight) and took her on her first drive in 10 years. My oh my was that a terrifying trip. She kept stalling and dying when I stopped in traffic, lights, etc... So to fix this I upped the idle speed until she didn't die at stop signs. Another issue was that her belts squealed at about 60 mph. But hey she ran and that's what mattered. She puffed a little white smoke at startup but it went away quick enough I always figured it was just some precipitation.



I then decided to get a masters in environmental engineering, specializing in air quality! Because I just love student debt. So I replaced the belts and drove her 300 miles and across the snoqualmie mountain pass. Which is when I realized that alternator belt was way loose, because I couldn't drive over 50 mph without her squealing like a banshee. Man that was a long trip driving that slow. But hey it was an easy fix when I got home, just a slightly smaller belt and no longer a problem. I also got an electronic conversion kit and got rid of the points. Amazing how much better she sounded with those gone, and I was able to reduce the idle speed to near half what it was without her stalling.

Then a big issue popped up. Whenever I fired her up I was getting progressively more and more white smoke that lasted longer. Now this was during winter with lots of snow and moisture so I didn't suspect anything at first. But then she started puffing white smoke after being warmed up, turned off for 5 min, and then turned back on. I first checked the antifreeze level in the radiator, and yup, real low. Yay. So I figured I'd pull the heads off, inspect/clean them, and hopefully just have to replace the gaskets. But the last bolt I went to remove on the driver side exhaust manifold sheared off. So after some advice on here I'm going to try and unbolt it from the pipe and lift off the manifold when I take the head off too.

But the nuts holding the manifold to the pipe are so rusted, they're a little round. So the meager grip I can get on them with a wrench, will slide after too much force. I ordered a propane torch to try and heat them real hot, then I'll let them cool and try again. In the meantime I'm spraying with penetrating oil. If that doesn't work I may just have to get my dremel up there and cut the nuts. Another fun tidbit, of the three nuts that are supposed to be there, there are only 2. If I had the spare cash I'd just order a pair of headers from summit and cut the thing off, but that's not an option quite yet, as I may need the cash to get the heads re-machined or buy new ones.

Anyway's, that's my story so far! I'll ad pictures and events as I continue working on Greenie. Thanks for reading!