Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England

[Jeff La]

Truck is coming along nice, along for the ride.

[ibrown50]

Next up was the trans, I really wanted a 700R4 but just couldn't find one for sale in the UK at sensible money. I had an old TH350 that I'd used for mock up when building my A bone and the TH350C that had come with the truck, I couldn't decide which one to use, then I got an offer on the TH350 , which would cover the re-build of the 350C so that made my mind up. I know 350C's have their faults, small pump, overheating etc, but I'm not going racing and the lock-up convertor does give (a wee bit) better gas mileage.

I had the trans "freshened up" by a local firm, normally a job I would do myself, but at the time thought it would be quicker to farm it out. This turned out to be a mistake, the service was really poor and very slow, I would neither recommend them or use them again.


The new torque convertor was supplied by Steve at Langys Rod shop ( http://www.langysrodshop.co.uk ) someone I would be very happy to recommend. Although primarily a rod shop they deal with Bothers, LMC etc and are also happy to do bespoke orders. The service is always great and Steve is a really nice bloke to deal with.


While I was busy the trans was given a coat of dark metallic grey (only because I some left over from some wheels I had painted) a chrome pan and convertor shield. With combination of engine crane and engine stand the two bolted up without much fuss.

[Grizz1963]

You should always name and shame publicly if there is a real case, saves others the pain.

Still, looked good.

[ibrown50]

The engine went back in without any drama,



I set the engine down forward of its final position so that I could bolt up the headers which I had wrapped in exhaust wrap. Now I could waffle on about how it directs heat out of the engine bay blah blah , but honestly! it tidied up my headers which were a bit scruffy, certainly cheaper than new ones


I don't know how you guys manage but I found with a standard HEI dizzy there was zero room between the fire wall and the cap. I bought one of these (again supplied courtesy of Langys rod shop). Its an HEI but the coil is separate so it's much smaller. They have an old school style female cap that looks like a points type and gives more clearance.

I dropped it in before pushing the engine back to its final resting place

[Grizz1963]

This sort of chain of events really does give one faith in humanity as well as a warm fuzzy feeling.

Nice one Martin and Duncan (another South African on "Mud Island")

[uber cool]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

This sort of chain of events really does give one faith in humanity as well as a warm fuzzy feeling.

Nice one Martin and Duncan (another South African on "Mud Island")

If we carry on part swapping at this rate this time next year we will all have someone else's truck in our garage.

[mjh1965]

Originally Posted by uber cool

If we carry on part swapping at this rate this time next year we will all have someone else's truck in our garage.

That did make me laugh , but look on the bright side, we should get all the trucks on the road with all the parts swopping .

[ibrown50]

This week is has been a great week for parcels, at the beginning of the week the stuff from Martin arrived and at the end of the week the suspension kit I ordered through Langys Rod Shop arrived



I now only need a lower control arm for the passenger side and I'll have everything I need to finish the suspension drop and overhaul, including a disc brake conversion
While I have the front end stripped, the other job I have planned is a power steering conversion, I'm using this kit from POL.



If you live in the UK any parts can be hard to come by so often buying a kit is the safest option. This one has everything except the power steering pulley and is very reasonably priced. June is going to be a busy month for me, it has five birthdays, including my mate Phil's 50th (yes he who named the truck!) a wedding, a charity run for cancer, my middle daughters prom and a ton of other stuff! I am however, determined to keep making progress, so I've started with the steering kit.

With the old box removed and the rag joint end trimmed off the installation begins. The plates supplied with the kit locate using the old mounting holes, allowing the new holes to be marked and drilled. I went slightly oversize on the holes through the original chassis to give a little wriggle room for alignment. I do intend to weld the plates to the rails once everything is complete.





Before the new steering box can be mounted one of the holes has to be drilled out to convert it to a through hole.