Junkyard Jimmy Super Low Buck Build Thread

[hgs_notes]

It's been bugging me that the engine seems to be running fine, but that it's not driveable. Everytime I drop the tranny into gear, it stalls. I talked to a mechanic friend and also had a couple ideas myself. At first I thought it was timing, I double checked TDC and it was close enought. I put a new degree tape on though anyway. I set the intial timing at 10*, hooked the vacuum advance up and it jumped up as it should. I adjusted the idle mix screws, but it was running a little choppy yet. The vacuum off the carb nozzle was only about 10", which is severely low. I swapped it to the manifold vacuum connector and it was closer to 15-20, but still not good. Checked for vacuum leaks and couldn't find any.

I'm going to adjust the valves next. If I have even one intake valve out of adjustment, the vacuum will be bad. The cam install procedures say to adjust them with the engine shutdown, turning it over by hand, going cylinder to cylinder. I don't trust this style of adjustment, because it depends on the hydraulic lifters having a certain preload. I'll try it the old fashion way. Start it, pull a valve cover, loosen the nut til it clacks, tighten until it stops and give it another 1/4 turn. It always worked before.

In anycase, it was better today, but still not right, and not ready for the road. The front driver caliper is sticking. I would like to find where the tranny leak is at. And it drained the battery dry the last few days. Lots of little problems.

I got my new oil dipstick. Tubeless, which will be a problem checking the oil when it's hot, but how often do you really do that.


It tucks down in there quite a bit.


Got the front bumper on. I had to reweld a nut onto one of the little brackets. And I chased the threads to clean them out. It went together alright. I'll add the outer brackets later.


And I took this picture cause I liked the lighting. It was just the garage door opener light. But the camera flash came on and brightened it.


In closing, I think the valve adjustment will cure the low vacuum, and get it running better. Then I can do better carb tuning from there. This sure would be easier if it was warmer than single digits outside.

[swamp rat]

Do you have an automatic? I had a serious intake leak one time and the truck would fire up fine but every time i put it in gear it would run for crap and die on me at every stop.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

Do you have an automatic? I had a serious intake leak one time and the truck would fire up fine but every time i put it in gear it would run for crap and die on me at every stop.

It is an automatic, but I've already checked for intake leaks and found nothing. I plan on checking again if the vacuum doesn't come up after a valve adjustment.

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

It is an automatic, but I've already checked for intake leaks and found nothing. I plan on checking again if the vacuum doesn't come up after a valve adjustment.

I would go ahead and try to retorque the intake bolts and carb flange bolts to see if it they have loosened and to see if it makes it run better, if any change at all then i'd change out the gaskets, vac leak could be from in the valley where you cant spray anything.

[hgs_notes]

Did the valve adjustment with the engine running and gained about 5-6 inches vacuum and solved the problem. I probably had the valves a full turn and a half or more too tight. Adjusting while running makes a mess, but now I know it's right. It's running great. Took it around the block for a test drive and the only problem I had was the rear brakes don't seem to be grabbing. This is the first drive after all the rear brake components and master cylinder were replaced, so it's probably way out of adjustment. I'll take a closer look and see what's up later. For now, I'm just happy that it's a driver again.

Can't wait for spring, for several reasons. But I'm really looking forward to driving my new/old convertible around town.

[VA72C10]

Awesome! Congrats on getting it back on the road!!! Hope you had a BIG smile on your face

[hgs_notes]

Jimmy is parked outside again, but at least it's drivable now, so I can pull it back in if I want. I just wanted to make a brief update. I added up the misc things I needed to buy during the engine re-assembly and get-r-runnin phase, and came up with $141 for the new water and power steering pumps, oil dipstick, tranny filter, spark plugs, and a few other items, which brings the total spent up to $3251.

Another note, even when I was driving this around the farm yard a couple years ago, the steering was rough and jerky. I had kind of figured it was just from sitting so long and having air in the system or something. I replaced the pump anyway, and it solved the problem. It turns nice and smooth, no noise from the pump, etc. I need to replace the hoses yet, but they work for now.

What's next? Get the new rear brakes adjusted and working properly. Replace the tires and put on the new wheels. Replace the windshield, make sure the lights all work, clean up wiring, etc. to make it a legal, reliable driver for the summer. My son just turned 15.

Now I have a C-10 to get painted.

[1956cameo]

Well, it looks like you are in the home stretch now!

[67chevy1series]

wow only 3,ooo + and it is running and driving!

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by 1956cameo

Well, it looks like you are in the home stretch now!

I believe so.

Originally Posted by 67chevy1series

wow only 3,ooo + and it is running and driving!

Technically it was running and driving for about $1000. Now it has a new engine, new body, and a lot of new or good used parts added in.

My punch list is 2 pages long right now and doesn't include any of the body work or interior work. But I think it is close to the same stage as many daily drivers out there this old. Fixing leaks, replace hoses, adjusting, tuning, wiring fixes, etc. Hopefully I can get my son interested enough to learn to do some of those things, now that I have the BIG stuff taken care of.

I'm finishing the body work on my truck hood this weekend. It's the last of it (except for inside the bed) before the final paint prep. I can't wait for it all to be in one color again, even if it is just primer.

[RCbowtie69]

just checking up with your build & have u made any progress

[hgs_notes]

No progress. I'm working on my pick up now. I just finished all of the major body work and I'm doing the last prep for paint. Should be shooting high fill primer in the next week or so and blocking it out to see how good or bad my body work was.

I really don't plan to do much with the jimmy til spring. Tires, wires and fixing the problems as I drive it all summer.

[1956cameo]

I can't believe you only have $3K in this thing! I passed you up $$wise along time ago and mine is still a shell!! Keep it up.

[Tynee]

Been a while since I've had a chance to catch up on my truck related reading. I'm stoked you got a driver. If you've only got a 2 page list of items for repair, you're probably in better shape than my daily driver.

Can't wait for spring and can't wait for the conclusion fo the c-10 body work so you can get back to work on this project.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by 1956cameo

I can't believe you only have $3K in this thing! I passed you up $$wise along time ago and mine is still a shell!! Keep it up.

Still need to buy tires, bed side, a few patch panels, gaskets/seals for the transfer case, door, & windshield gaskets/seals, primer/paint supplies and all the other odds and ends. I was talking to my oldest girl today about it and that she may want to drive it some this summer with the top off and maybe she could help a bit with sanding, bondo, spraying, etc. We'll see. Then while driving home I thought about using one of the flatz colors for it just to have something ok looking until full body work gets done. Again, we'll see.

Originally Posted by Tynee

Been a while since I've had a chance to catch up on my truck related reading. I'm stoked you got a driver. If you've only got a 2 page list of items for repair, you're probably in better shape than my daily driver.

Can't wait for spring and can't wait for the conclusion fo the c-10 body work so you can get back to work on this project.

It's a pretty intimidating list. Some easy, some not so much. I've been looking forward to spring aver since, well... winter started. This is the most snow we've had in at least 10 years, and for MN, that's saying something. I'm just thankfull I have a heated garage to work in.

[hgs_notes]

Not really a progress update, but still significant to me. Started it up again so I could move it and clear some more snow out from behind it to get it back a couple feet. I took it around the block in the slush (we are having a nice thaw finally) and then loaded some parts in it from the storage garage. I played a little just to see what it does. It'll do a nice burnout. This was short because the front tires were on some ice and wouldn't hold it.

[VA72C10]

Niiiice

[1956cameo]

Sweet!!

[RCbowtie69]

COOL!!! keep on trucking''

[TheWhiteElephant]

Great job, this puts my low buck build to shame!

[hgs_notes]

Just to show you how nuts I can be about finding parts and scrounging junkyards, I did some today. It was about 16F, sunny, not much wind, overall very nice. I spotted a 70 GMC 2500 in this yard a couple weeks back and grabbed a 4 core radiator out of it. I didn't have any tools or I would have got more. Well, the radiator had a few leaks and needed to be returned and this time I brought my tools.

The passenger side fender I had searched for months to find, was finally found. I'll use it on my other blazer. Only $25.


One dent...


Just a small bit of rust...


For the other $25 I spent, I got a gage cluster with a complete manual throttle set up (for use on my C-10), heater controls, a couple horn buttons, a perfect arm rest, and some other odds and ends.


Check this SPID out, nice truck.


As far as this being a jimmy update, I got a GMC horn button and a shift indicator. I'm a bit annoyed with myself that I forgot the position indicator part was also broke and didn't take that also. Plus the heater control is for this.

Look, installed even.

[67chevy1series]

great when i first looked at the pics i thought to myself whaqt in the heck is he doing with a 67 68 chevy horn button

[VA72C10]

Good scores!!!

[RCbowtie69]

Parts is parts,keep progress going & pictures coming

[hgs_notes]

Spring is here and I had to get the jimmy off the grass. The easiest way to do that is to drive it out of course. Charged the battery and fired it up. Drove around the block a bit, did another burnout in the driveway and parked it in my normal car spot, which is where it spent last summer.

This thing will light up the one wheel wonder like nothing, rolling smoke in just a few seconds. Before I change to the new wheels and tires, I'm smoking this set to the threads, one at a time.

Progress is a bit light, I was going to bolt the seats in. Seems simple enough, but with this rig, that is rarely the case. I ran a tap through all the nuts to clean the threads out, added a little lube, put a bolt in the front corner, then looked to the back corner, and find this:



There was an extra set of holes, forward of the ones with nuts. Who'd a thunk the ones with the nuts were the wrong holes. Very odd. I'll have to get some plate and weld some nuts on for the rear seat bolts. What's next? Adjust rear brakes
Finish bolting in roll bar
Fix tail light wiring
fix gas gage wire
install e-brake cables
clean the alum slots
replace the tires
add some lift blocks to the rear to level it
get some shocks
replace windshield
install gages
install radio
fix leaks
get waterproof seat covers
remove top
tune it up and drive the crap out of it

Found an ad on craigslist last weekend for 67-72 chevy truck parts, local even. It's rare when you live 100 miles from Minneapolis out in the corn fields. Anyway, this kid had some parts leftover from a restoration on a 67. A hood and long bed side were damaged during shipping, LMC sent new ones, they were selling the damaged ones. I don't really need a longbed side, but could use the hood on my 2wd blazer so got that for $65 (dent in the middle, very fixable). Also picked up a brand new battery tray for the jimmy and other parts for use elsewhere or re-sale.