My Slap-my-hand-to-my-forehead 68 fixer-upper

[ixnay]

Latest work:

Installed a battery cut-off. Well worth the money. Mine was full price, $21, from my friend's NAPA. Installs in 1 minute and saves you a hassle.

Removed the grey-brown armrests and painted them black. Thanks to Scott who sold me my radio for the tip. Used SEM paint from Industrial Finishes (down the highway in Eugene, Ore.). Works well. Also repainted the dash pad from faded black (?) to black. The door panel is next.

Funny thing about the driver's armrest. It wouldn't come off. Phillips screw kept camming out. Thought about hack-sawing, but I finally got it off. Turns out it was a standard slot. Funny now. Not so funny then.

Working on installing the radio. Bought a speaker and bracket from Brian in Calif. Hopefully I'll be in business tonight listening to the Cards and Rangers.

Rattle can painted my rockers. Got tired of the grey primer. No idea when I'm going to get this thing painted. It's got to fit within the budget. Thinking about doing a rustoleum red with the foam roller. Tempting for the cost savings. Besides, now the paint doesn't match. And I sorta like the candy-apple red.

Anyway, here are three pics. Better pics probably tomorrow.

MJH

[ixnay]

Speaker didn't work but Brian has been gracious and a big help. TY Brian. Picked up a speaker from a local auto stereo store, Stereo King. Will try to retrofit the bracket Brian sent me. Went to a friend's place last night. Friend is an electrical engineer who puts together controls for sawmills. His shop is a wire-lover's heaven. Me? Sparky and I don't get along. I can plumb, do fuel lines, etc., but I get a lot of resistance from Mr. Ohm. Nonetheless, I can locate wires. So last night, got the power cord ready, and modified the antenna lead--the male was too small (no jokes please) so we had to, ahem, beef it up. Nice snug connection, and now she's grounded.

And some pics, I promised some pics. Here's a shot of the radio, the radio slot, and the rebuilt tail gate. You can't even tell that I cut the tailgate, dropped in the pipe, welded on a skin and coated it. I would like to say it was brilliance, but mostly it's that I'm so inexperienced at this stuff that I didn't know you couldn't do it.

MJH

[VA72C10]

Looking good! Nice progress

[ixnay]

Just ordered a speaker from Electro-Tech. http://www.turnswitch.com/speakers.htm Saw the warning about the 4 ohms v. 8. The speaker I bought last night runs 4. So I'll install everything on Monday once I have the speaker in hand.

Now if I can get the vent windows repaired before next Saturday's elk hunt.

After that, it's rubber in the windows and a passenger door panel.

MJH

[ixnay]

Originally Posted by ixnay

Just ordered a speaker from Electro-Tech. http://www.turnswitch.com/speakers.htm Saw the warning about the 4 ohms v. 8. The speaker I bought last night runs 4. So I'll install everything on Monday once I have the speaker in hand.

Now if I can get the vent windows repaired before next Saturday's elk hunt.

After that, it's rubber in the windows and a passenger door panel.

MJH

Electro-Tech shipped me that speaker within 2 days. It works so well, I can actually hear the radio clearly at highway speed.

Vent windows will probably wait until after the elk hunt because (drum roll) I found the rubber inserts for them and the felted door rubber in the box-o-parts that the PO included when I bought the rig. So I saved myself some hassle about buying new parts. Maybe I'll get them installed before Friday's hunt. Yeah, right.

Meanwhile, here's the radio.

MJH

[ixnay]

So I get to the elk hunt camp, pull in, kill the engine, and never get the rig started the rest of the weeked. Got fuel. Got spark. Don't have fuel and spark at the same time.

It turns out last year's HEI was a conversion, not a full HEI. Distributor broke loose after one year. Spark plug wires broke too. Shoddy.

We towed it off the mountain. Tow truck got lost 2x. I'm a tad upset with my now-former mechanic. Since Monday, I've spent $375 for the new sparky and $100 for the tow.

Did I mention that no elk were harmed in the making of this trip?

But the radio sounded nice.

MJH

[ixnay]

The smart thing, of course, would have been to paint the wheels before I mounted the tires. But I liked black back then. Now I want 'em white. The bumpers turned out fine. Tomorrow the engine work starts---going to take care of a rod bearing (and whatever else turns up).

I'm using my camera phone at the moment. The quality of the photographer is not the best. I shall get out the real camera when I finish the paint.

MJH

[67chevy1series]

Nice work, bumpers look good, so do the rims, are you going to put original hub caps back on?
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[ixnay]

Originally Posted by 67chevy1series

Nice work, bumpers look good, so do the rims, are you going to put original hub caps back on?
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Thanks. The spare tire is the one mounted on the rig for the moment. I wasn't as careful with it as with the rubber on the four on the floor. They should be solid black to contrast with the white rims.

Regarding the hub caps, I plan to put 'em back on. I always wanted baby moons, particularly on the 1972 Dodge Charger I used to salivate over. If you look at previous posts, you'll see that i put those on the rims instead of the dog-dish hubcaps. No fuzzy dice though.

[Tinkermc]

Glad you got to keep her the work is starting to shape up and the truck is lookin good, now get it running corectly

[ixnay]

The transmission was a pain, but the engine is out. Now for the diagnosis and a trip to the machine shop. Photos tomorrow.
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[ixnay]

Good news: It wasn't a rod bearing. But one of the rear lifters was concave, not convex. And the camshaft? Nice and round. Which would be fine, except it's like that breakfast drink--supposed to be ovaltine. And the bearings? Oh, boy were they bad. Federal-Mogul supposedly fail early and these did. So, I'll not be replacing the camshaft with the same type as the PO did.

I learned something new too. The PO's widow's neighbor friend handled the sale. Neither the widow nor he knew the exact history. The engine was supposedly a 350 SBC. Nope, it was a rebuilt 305. Possibly the closest this beast will ever come to match the 1976 orange fiberglass Corvettes of yesteryear. Certainly it won't have the same acceleration.

Anyway, tomorrow I'll be handling the clean-up while we find parts and pennies to pay for them. Meanwhile enjoy the photos. The first 3 are from this afternoon. The last two are from yesterday.

MJH

[ixnay]

Today's post-engine work progress: Door panels are on their way. TY SpecialtyRetail. And I'm looking at an eyebrow for the hood. Brothers will probably be on my credit card bill next month for the floor mat I'll pick up. Still need to install the window rubber, but I'll wait until painting is done before I do that.

Then it's off to the hunting camps . . . .

MJH

[ixnay]

Washed parts today. I'm black, but they're clean. Here's a photo of the camshaft. Fourth from the right is the bad one. Should have the engine block back Monday, so we'll start re-assembly then.

I also put the first coat on the letters on the tailgate.

Time for the sis-boom-bah. A blessed Independence Day to you all.

MJH

[ixnay]

Today's follies: First, the morning's fun with the girls. Then painting the block (not pictured), the headers, water pump, and tail gate hardware.

And to you Francophiles, vive la republique!

MJH

[ixnay]

We also did the tailgate, as you can see, and now I'm off to wash the pushrods, rockers, etc.

MJH

PS. Those archers make pretty good painting assistants, too.

[ixnay]

Picked up the drive & camshaft from the Portland Engine Rebuilders Friday. Installed them Saturday. Cleaned the heads. Probably do some work this week at night, depending on my friend's schedule. It's his garage, tools, and expertise.

Hoping to have things running by next weekend. Then I'll work on painting.

I've got that "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" feeling.

Concerning my rustoleum paint job, it's definitely going to be a C10 rig. If you see it from 10 feet, it's not going to be so bad.

Aren't new parts pretty?

MJH

[ixnay]

Slowly but surely. Last night my friend finished cleaning the heads and we put 'em on. Also did the final coat on the tail-gate.

MJH

[Low Elco]

Looks great, and I'm glad to see you back! I was wondering how this truck was doing. I love them all hot-rodded, but it's nice to see one just being cleaned up and used like a truck.

[Tinkermc]

looks good and a lot of progress since I was heere last.

[ixnay]

We put the lifters and pushrods in tonight and bolted down the rockers. A PO had the oil pump pickup scraping the oil pan floor, so my mechanic mentor took a measurement and will press the fitting to give the screen a proper clearance.

Meanwhile, as I have time, practiced my wet-sanding technique on the tail-gate.
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[ixnay]

Last night we installed the oil pump, oil pan, put the timing cover on, "gasketed and siliconed" and painted. Put on the Edelbrock intake manifold, sealed her up and called it a night. Tonight: engine install, or have it ready to anyway.

[ixnay]

I love to sand. Probably a good thing. I've created lots of opportunities to put my love to use. . It's a pretty scary paint job right now since I don't know squat about painting. Need to borrow my friends orbital polisher once I get done.

I had a friend over last night. I told him about the Rustoleum paint job over dinner. Since he used to work in a shop, he was dubious. But he was impressed at how well the paint flattened out. He also suggested painting the cab white. So I'm doing that now, having painted the first coat red. Oh well, it's just time.

The fender is what I'm aiming for. The door was bad and the rear quarter-panel was the U-G-L-Y. Required major sanding. I'm looking forward to a few hours tonight working on it.

The engine is purring along just fine however.

[ixnay]

Came home mid-AT at Lewis-McChord. Little bit of sanding, some re-masking, and two coats. Heading back to L-M tonight, so wet-sanding will wait until next Saturday night.

But we're making progress.

[ixnay]

More photos. After 3 coats, it's looking much better. Still need to do the cab supports, and I'm thinking of buying the letters from Brothers/LMC for the tail-gate unless I really want to take the time to finely paint them in. Which I may. Hmmm.

Then it's on to the window rubber and interior. Maybe I should repaint the interior.