1969 Custom/10 clean up

[Steve-W]

Originally Posted by RockinKees

Bed looks straight and really nice in paint!
The rattlecan test part is also very nice. Is it a metallic blue? Can't see that...

We should meet up sometime, I want to see it in realtime
Take a cup of coffee and talk koetjes en kalfjes and talk cartalk

Cheers Kees, The blue I had matched at a paint shop because the previous blue I used (Boeing Aircraft Color Blue) wasn't available for me. So I took my glove box and had them match the color. I have the feeling the tint is good, there's just a little bit more metallic in the new paint. but I have been thinking about a mat clear coat which is available as a 2K rattle can..but from what I heard is that spraying a mat clear coat is equal to opening Pandora's box. your thoughts?

I've got your number, so i'll call you later.

[RockinKees]

I do not know a thing about spraying paint, all I know is that spray a Matt clear is difficult.
Or you have to spray everything in one go, so spray everything from the same bottleneck.
You can ask Royal Jack, he's done a lot special paint work.
Nice guy, just tell him I sent you.

I plan to go to the next King Cruise, I should be ready then.
If you go we meet there, we have contact before.

[Steve-W]

jeez.. these side panels are so big, I can't haul them around by myself and because of the length I can't fit them in any normal sized European station-wagon. next to our garage there is a Polish garage owner who's got an extended Mercedes van, but it's unavailable for the coming two weeks. I just don't have the patience to wait for this.

the alternative, painting it here in the garage is not an option, I mean the chance of covering everything with blue spray dust is not a risk I want to take.
small surfaces is no issue, but two longbed fleetsides..nah, not gonna risk it.
So, I'm going to put the whole thing together and see if there's a spray booth I will fit

in the meantime I have mostly been helping with our GMC 100, which is nearing completion. (I'll update that thread soon, waiting for some pictures)
But I did a small experiment with a 2K Mat clear.

My tailgate is going to remain patina, so I mat clear coated that.



then I looked at the small blue test I did on the bedside and first scotched it, then shot the mat clear... I have to say, it does look good in my opinion.

before:


and after:



let me know what you think

[RockinKees]

Looks good to me!!

[Steve-W]

So the whole mat clear finish is long term, because the owner of the garage wants us to create some space so he can put some tractor parts. Well the GMC 100 won't be going anywhere, unless it's sold. and my C10 still needs some work. Initially I wanted to paint the bed sides as loose parts, but I can't seem to get the logistics and time scheduled. So I'm putting it back together and then spraying it whole.
I filled up the double plating with something like POR-15 and then took care of the area which I won't be able to reach once the bed is on.
then I primed the bed corner and rattle canned it blue.


using this pistol grip, really makes it so much easier!

[Steve-W]

Tomorrow evening me and my mate Ferry will go on a 400Mi road trip.
Setting of from Hoofddorp in the Netherlands, we'll drive to Voissel in Germany
and then back on Sunday.

So in preparation, I changed my alternator because it wasn't giving enough juice to the battery and I put in an aftermarket voltmeter..just to be sure.

Also I didn't have any temperature indication, so watertemp meter has been placed. the trick was getting the European sending unit to fit, because I tried the original one, but the temp range was way off (after 10 minutes of idling with a cold engine, it read 250F..)

replaced the belts, and of course oil and filter.
Seeing I'm only running on propane, I thought I had to map out all the propane gas stations in Germany, but luckily they're propane friendly..no pun intended.


here the initial test with the original sending unit after 10min idling


here the temp and volt meter built in...yes the volt meter has a temporary place.


during my holiday my mate Ferry was using the truck for what it was built for, hauling stuff.


guess where I went on holiday?


I'll try to have a detailed trip log..if we make there

[dfwright]

That's very nice! I'm glad to see you're up and running, and I look forward to any updates about your trip. I hope it all goes well for you!

[Steve-W]

We made it there and back without any trouble!!, the engine didn't miss a beat, tranny didn't fail, and despite some moderate climbing (from below sea level in Holland to 2000 Feet at our destination) the brakes were as hard an reliable as always. Leaving we had decent weather, but once we started to clime..it turned ugly! Poring rain, thunder and lightning and guess what? no water in the cab!
there we're of course some things; the truck would shudder around 45MPH, so I drove 55 continually but then I was worried because it was revving a bit high. there was the odd rattle/squeek/bang But the engine temp stayed at a constant 176F, oil pressure never dropped..happy camper!

here is a map of our route and the trip is 611KM, or 380Mi. We burned 115L or 30Gallons of propane, which makes a milage of: 12Mi/Gal..not bad, not bad at all! Seeing propane costs 50 eurocents/ liter, the trip cost me 80Euro's or $96,-


So on the Friday we expected a quiet evening because the birthday party was to be on Saturday with more friends from Holland arriving. guess our surprise when we pulled up at 12:30 in the evening with a full blow party..so I only saw the inside of my eyes when the sun was rising .

With a pounding head in the morning we rumbled through sleepy German towns looking for a supermarket to fetch breakfast (on the BBQ ofcourse)
we found one and some nice back roads


on Saterday the party continued with fresh people rolling in and unfortunately taking pictures while intoxicated isn't one of my skills.
so you'll have to settle for a bonfire picture


Then Sunday came, with a double hangover, but I was able to shake off the cobwebs and take some pictures





(thats not me btw)

The drive back went as easy as coming, but some how my friend and I were a lot quieter during the trip

while I'm writing this, the rain is coming down in buckets with my truck sitting outside.
Tomorrow I'll be going on a 100Mi trip to a BBQ, so I'll be loading up my UDS again.. hopefully It'll dry up a bit.

[dfwright]

Sounds like you had an excellent adventure! You must have a virtually one-of-a-kind ride on the trips!

[RockinKees]

Hey, just missed your roadtrip!
Glad it went well! There are these things for, driving around!!

Sunday (sept 17) King Cruise??

[Steve-W]

Originally Posted by dfwright

Sounds like you had an excellent adventure! You must have a virtually one-of-a-kind ride on the trips!

We did for sure! the weather has turned to absolute crap here, so got her locked up now, but I hope to make the same trip soon, because the guy who lives in Germany has (among a lot other cars) a '71 charger. we've stil got a lot of parts laying around that need to be transported there. engine blok, tranny and rear axle..I'm a bit worried about the weight, but it should be fine.

Originally Posted by RockinKees

Hey, just missed your roadtrip!
Glad it went well! There are these things for, driving around!!
Sunday (sept 17) King Cruise??

Kings Cruise..Hell yeah!, my son has a sport event in the morning, so I'll be there at 14:00. I've got your number, so I'll give you a buzz when I arrive.

Bought a new trans pan gasket because I over torqued the the cork one I put a year ago and it's leaking now. this one is silicone, so we'll see if it's better.

and I had this 8" knife laying around, which was heavily abused and very illegal here in the Netherlands, so I decided to put it to good use and turned it into my shift knob.



Here are my wife and our 18month old daughter playing in the truck

[Steve-W]

Went to a local car show on Sunday and ran into RockinKees.
But seeing the last 1000Mi I have driven, it was either raining, or raining hard. So you probably guessed it, it started to rain a half an hour after we arrived.
luckily we could sit inside with burgers and beer, but most of the cars were heading home. I was able to take 2 pictures

[dfwright]

Wow, that panel is very nice!

[RockinKees]

How are you doing Steve?
Any progress made lately?

[Steve-W]

Originally Posted by RockinKees

How are you doing Steve?
Any progress made lately?

Hey Kees, yes still alive and kicking. Good to read in your thread that your health is improving.

I faced some oldman problems even though I'm only 46. it turns out I have severe Cervical myelopathy and arthritis in the upper part of my neck. which caused excruciating pains and loss of function and feeling in my right arm/hand

Since March I've had pain meds and physiotherapy and I'm at the level now where I have 95% of my mobility and strengh back and only my right little finger and surrounding tissue is still numb.

Most important thing, I can handle a spanner!

The C10 was running ok, during my recovery I was planning to go to Belgium for an endurance drive on my Yamaha WR450. So we loaded the C10 with 2 bikes and headed down (. But luckily faith stepped in; 5 minutes into the enduro drive the Yamaha died and nothing i could do to get it started again.
(I'll add some pictures, gotta find them first) I think it was the smart choice not to engage into a 5hr endurance drive with an iffy neck...

anyway, did absolutely nothing on the truck, it just ran and ran and ran. until 2 weeks ago, where it would fire up, but as soon as I hit the street, it would loose 2 cylinders. I bought new sparks, plugs HEI parts..but my gut is telling me that i need to measure compression. so hopefully I'll be able to do that tomorrow. back online and keeping you posted. but the biggest news is still to come because we found a new project...all I'll say is keep a lookout for a new thread with "Viking" in the title

[Steve-W]

Originally Posted by Steve-W

until 2 weeks ago, where it would fire up, but as soon as I hit the street, it would loose 2 cylinders. I bought new sparks, plugs HEI parts..but my gut is telling me that i need to measure compression. so hopefully I'll be able to do that tomorrow. back online and keeping you posted. but the biggest news is still to come because we found a new project...all I'll say is keep a lookout for a new thread with "Viking" in the title

First of all the compression turned out good, not as high as one might expect, but at least equal on all 8.
changed the sparkplugs, wires and HEI distributor and it fired right up

Now suddenly the damn thing won't turn over due to some weird electrical problem. gotta check the fuseable link, but it's cold outside and early dark, so I'll wait for the weekend.

secondly check out our new project:
1958 Chevrolet 60 Viking

[RockinKees]

You’ll sort that out, no problem!

[Steve-W]

Sorry for the late update.
the problem turned out the be the fusible link.
I have the entire wiring harness in shrink wrap, to pull it apart is a female dog.
what I did instead is put in a by-pass with a starter button, yes with a fuse.
since November I've driven about 600 miles without any hassle!.

Question: How do I find where the fusible link breaks, heads up: this is an EZ wire 12 harness.

[RockinKees]

Originally Posted by Steve-W

Sorry for the late update.
the problem turned out the be the fusible link.

Question: How do I find where the fusible link breaks, heads up: this is an EZ wire 12 harness.

What I mostly found with the fusible links are, that they “burn” inside giving a very bad contact or none at all. As if a normal fuse is blown.
Also had a bad contact once where the link was attached to the wiring of the car, but then we bad contact, sometimes contact, sometimes not. This was hard to find. Just after striping the insulation and measuring resistance we found the problem.
Maybe you can point it out with an Ohm-meter, just measure the wires one by one.
Succes!

[Steve-W]

situation 1) having driven my truck lately without any noticeable issues I put it on the lift because of some rumbling sound at a certain speed. turned out my center driveshaft bearing was busted, so ordered a new one from Rockauto, but didn't check any further. So the new bearing comes and when taking off the old one I notice the play is not so much in the bearing as it is in between the bearing and the driveshaft.. so the seat(?) where the bearing mounts is all worn out.
what to do? get a new driveshaft or have it welded up and then machined to the required thickness?

situation 2) I have the tendency to buy stuff in the spur of the moment, which lead me to buy the 10 bolt G30 rearend a while back. I thought the axles would fit my GM 12 Bolt wanting to convert from 6 bolt to 5 bolt. Alas.. they are a tad longer, but the drums on the 10 bolt are wider as well. I guess I have 3 options here:
a) use the axels from the 10 bolt and transfer the wider brake shoes and drums etc
b) install the complete 10 bolt instead of the 12 bolt, and countering the gear ratio disadvantage by putting in a 700R4 (which I just bought last week)
c) order 2x USA STANDARD GEAR USA21629 1541H Alloy Axle; 30 spline; 30-3/4" long; 5 lug from rockauto. (and still get the 700R4 in for lower RPM at 65MPH)

what's the sensible thing to do fella's?

[Steve-W]

Seeing I didn't get any responds on my previous post, I'll tell you I bought the rockauto axles with a bearing set and they bolted straight in.
so I'm now rocking 17" Jeep steelies, I just had to modify the center gap.

and now instead of 55 at 3500rpm, I get 65 at 3500 rpm.
Thus I decided to put in the 700r4 I had laying around, which bolted straight in, because my th350 was a long tail, so no modification needed at the driveshaft.
the 700r came with the correct tv cable and converter.
Now I've run into a snag, but that you can read here at the engine thread.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=808844
anyhow, the reason for putting in the 700r4 is because I'll be driving the truck to Poland for the summer where we visit family from my wifes side.
it's only a 1600Mi roundtrip, but 99% highway hence the tranny swap.

with the tranny off, I got a good look of the engine from behind and realised just how oily it was, turned out my valve cover bolts were just hanging on by the last thread, so I got some cleaning to do. In the meantime I have a question. what should be connected to this pipe?


while changing the valve cover gaskets, I also proceded to change my plugs.
which with the car on a 4 column lift isn't easy when you're 5,6"


and I just have to ask.. do you have any differental ****ting type bird in the US?


what do you think of my 4yo..she wanted the keys!

[68Gold/white]

That pipe is a connection to the crank case. Originally there was a hose that hooked to it, for a draft tube (early days) for crank case ventilation. Later, and most usually, that has a hose on it that connects to an in line PCV valve, other end hooks to carb or intake vacuum source...

[Steve-W]

Originally Posted by 68Gold/white

That pipe is a connection to the crank case. Originally there was a hose that hooked to it, for a draft tube (early days) for crank case ventilation. Later, and most usually, that has a hose on it that connects to an in line PCV valve, other end hooks to carb or intake vacuum source...

I have breathers on either valve cover, so can I just close that pipe?

[68Gold/white]

Originally Posted by Steve-W

I have breathers on either valve cover, so can I just close that pipe?

You can block that pipe, but you DO need to have a PCV valve, in some shape or form. THe PCV valve pulls the vapors out of the crank case and burns them in the combustion process. It IS a needed thing. Without a PCv system, oil life is very short, and the oil becomes acrid, attacking bearing metals, ruining engines.
You need one breather and a PCV valve somewhere in the crank case. THe breather allows fresh air into the crankcase, the PCV pulls that air through the crank case along with the crappy vapors produced inside the engine, and burns them in the combustion process...

[Steve-W]

Originally Posted by 68Gold/white

You can block that pipe, but you DO need to have a PCV valve, in some shape or form. THe PCV valve pulls the vapors out of the crank case and burns them in the combustion process. It IS a needed thing. Without a PCv system, oil life is very short, and the oil becomes acrid, attacking bearing metals, ruining engines.
You need one breather and a PCV valve somewhere in the crank case. THe breather allows fresh air into the crankcase, the PCV pulls that air through the crank case along with the crappy vapors produced inside the engine, and burns them in the combustion process...

here's on old picture where you see the 2 breathers on the valve covers.
I do not recirculate any engine fumes


besides..the engine is pretty tired and next year I'll pull it out and rebuild it.
But the road draft tube as I now know it's called is probable the cause of the oil laying on top of the transmission I'll put a tube on it an run it to the side, so I can see how much oil leaks from there