The Official John Lee Jr Thread

[aggie91]

I really enjoy reading your posts, very detailed and the pictures are great.

In the last picture of the scooter, what material is that on the floor of the bed on John Lee Jr.??

[Sharps40]

Unfortunatly, Jr has 1/8" thick square knobbie sheet steel welded to the header, the tail cross piece and several places on what are otherwise solid angle brackets.

Its all over what appear to be very good conditon original bed strips and whats left of crumbling southeren yellow pine.

Its a summer project while I'm doing my DOD furlough days....Crap, I ain't gettin paid for those forced days off...Someone send me some money! Please!

Carefully grind out the welds. Install milled 3/4" thick trex "boards", paint and install the strips and clean up the weld blobs that are on the current angle strips.

For now, I have to live with the big giant chunk of sheet metal drumming down the road and the 294eleven loose bolts and nuts thru all the bed strips rattlin and squeekin!

[Sharps40]

Lets see, the center of the cab (measuring from the inside of the floor plates is 32.5".



Its an old worn floor mat, to be replaced one day, so a couple items stabbed in to show you, Drill at center of the cab...PS and DS mounting holes to be 3 3/8" to either side of center....Now drill two mounting holes, one for each ear on the bracket.



Test fit and kinda wiggly for a couple big bottles of water or soda, so, off to the junk box for a short third leg...mounted on the back of the drink/cup holder and another hole established for the floor mounting ear.



Pretty spiffy, bolted down and no wiggles. And, room for a real short legged gal to pull the seat forward, or scooch the barrel of a spare hunting rifle down in-between the seat and the drink holder on a long trip.





View from the drivers seat, locked and loaded and ready for a ride....all necessaries in easy reach and not spillin on my seat.



Woops, looks like I missed some old French fry gunk in the middle, guess I'll swab it out again before I call it done.

[Sharps40]

Updateing fuel mileage....current settings on the Weber DGEV 32/36 remain unchanged as follows:

Cold Idle: 1200rpm with first kick down to 800 rpm
Hot idle: 550 rpm
Primary Idle Jet: #60 (Large body jet)
Secondary Idle Jet: #50 (Small body jet)
Primary Main Jet: #130
Secondary Main Jet: #160
Idle mixture: 2.75 turns out from bottom
Idle speed/butterfly adjustment: 1.5 turns in from first contact with linkage
HEI timed 18 Degrees BTDC (35ish degrees all in w/no vacuum advance hook up at 3000 rpm)
Plugs gapped at a strong 45 thousands - plugs now burning brown

On this particular tank of gas, my driving was over 75% stop and go/around town. The Power upon opening the secondary up to WOT is noticeably better/faster/smoother with the larger 160 main jet in the secondary barrel (Wonderin if I'm gonna try the larger 165 main jet yet!)

In any event, with a tank down, primarily doing stop and go driving with this heavy truck and small Six, I netted 17.81 mpg! (Thats perzactly the same as my mileage of 17.83 on the last tank running almost all highway on a slightly richer set of jets!)

I am satisfied that we'll see 18+ mpg out on the highways this summer and fall!

Still no pinging, plugs are beautiful. Idle is magnificant. Transition from idle to run to WOT is effortless.

Almost done tweaking this one. Kids cars are in my shop all day Sat for oil/filters/brakes/batteries/tire rotations/coolant etc, but I think between settin up my deer stand and their cars I might find some time to finish up John Lee's fuel system and settle down for the long test....i.e. how's it hold up over time.

[aggie91]

Why the mixture of the to oils in the tranny?

[Sharps40]

Cause I bought synthetic by mistake and cause they were 2 different weights. So instead of goin back and fightn the return line I figured. - Synthetic won't hurt and a bit thicker on a 49 year old trans won't hurt. I run a mix of 10W40 and 20W50 in my worn Chrysler motor to keep the oil pressure up. But for the truck tranny mostly cause I didn't wanna do the return line.
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[aggie91]

I understand, sometimes it is just not worth the trouble...

[Sharps40]

Nope and it quieted it down...so 2 wins, no noise in the truck and no "noise" in the return line!

[Sharps40]

To get ready for the holiday weekend (I already have a call from my Son to assist with his Ugly Vehicle Project....workin on a butchered Triumph TT600) I ordered more of the good Anchor Motor Mounts from Oreillies.

Amazing how much they have cataloged for old vehicles. But rather than pay twice the price + shipping from LMC or Classic trucks for Chinese rubber...good old American made parts as follows.

Anchor 2107 Left and Right Upper rear motor/trans mounts, 2 each at $5.99 per. And, Anchor 2108, Left and Right Lower rear motor/trans mounts, 2 each at $3.99 per. And no freight fees. (I believe the Westar part numbers are EM-2107 and EM-2108 at about the same prices available variously on the innerweb).

I've already replaced the front motor mounts with Anchor brand mounts and am quite happy with them over the past several weeks. I suspect the rear mounts will be just as good.

It does take a bit of digging and cross referencing though. Oreillies does not catalog these in a manner that you can find them on a standard year/make/mod/engine search and when they finally pop up on screen, they do not list for 1965. They list for 63 and 64. Adding to the confusion, check the Anchor part numbers on Summit and they list for the 1965 Chevrolet "K10" with 230 I6 and MT....

But they look perzactly the same in the pics as the 64 283 rear mounts and the 65 230 rear mounts so I'm feeling either confident or at least a bit lucky. We should know in a day or so!

[Sharps40]

Rear upper and lower mounts are in. Old ones were okay but very soft and oil soaked. New ones are firm and
looking good. About as much of a PITA as the front mounts. Not a perfect match for the originals but the fit is
good. Just had to chamfer an alignment hole in each upper mount to guide the pin on the bell housing into place
as the motor came down to rest on the mounts. Once everything was aligned, the bolts slipped in and the new
mounts snugged up solid and secure. Should be good for another 49 years.

Old PS side upper and lower. Release the tang that keeps the bolt from turning.



Back out the bolt, this side is easy....no exhaust in the way.



DS is tight but enough to break loose the bolt and get it out with an open end wrench.



I jacked up the back end to get about 3/8 to 1/2 inch clearance to remove the upper saddle mounts.



The old and the new side by side.



Remove the spacer from the old lower doughnut.



Put the spacer in the new lower doughnut



This pin fits into a matching recess in the top of the new saddle. It helped a lot to chamfer the hole in the upper
saddle with a larger drill to help guide the engine into place as I lowered and wiggled and cussed it into alignment.



The rubber flange on the upper saddle fits snugly into the hole in the cross member.



Installing the lower doughnuts and their lock washer/tabs to retain the bolt.



It also helped to start one bolt in and continue to raise/lower the assembly to line up and start the other side.
A buncha fiddling and cussin as the alignment is not perfect until the engine is on the saddle and then you can't
bend/wiggle/reposition much. Just keep hollerin and eventually the bolts will go in to the bell housing.



Driver side....a tough fit...elevation is barely enough to slip the saddle in with the PS side bolt just started
into the bell housing. But its in, cussed into alignment and snugged into place with the lower doughnut and the
bolt keeper.



All done, I'm happy!

[Sharps40]

I'm told that's a syphon blocker. Glad its gone. My preferred syphon blockers are furry and have teeth and backed up by 000 buckshot.

[Sharps40]

John Lee Jr has a steel bed insert...over rotted wood, loose bolts and serviceable bed skids, angle irons and crossbucks. Time to get it tightened down a bit and see what I need to buy besides trex to redo the bed. Right now I can lift the bed an inch at all 4 corners. The wood rotted and all 8 holddown bolts are loosie goosie.

Unfortunatly the steel bed is welded in so some beads to carefully grind off w/o damaging any good metal...



Just workin around the perimeter with the angle grinder...just enough to pop each weld. I'll clean things up and repaint when I do the bed install.



The last of em loose and ready to lift out the steel.



Good strips, bad wood....I'll clean up, paint and reuse the strips...hardware from the bin at Tractor Supply!



I cut out all the long bed bolts and replaced em with temporary bolts to secure the bed to the frame...should cut down on all the noise...here are the rear most mounts. Same for the other seven holddowns. These will get replaced with heavy duty hardware later...flush mounted...no screws coming up through the bed wood on the redo.







And the steel laid back in while I get busy roundin up bulk hardware, trex and cleanin and paintin the strips.

[62 Barnfind]

Did you keep the wood from your old truck? It would be an easy job just replacing the wood and painting strips.

[Sharps40]

No, the wood sold along with the new strips off of Ol John Lee.

Decided to go with trex and reuse the current strips in John Lee Jr. I have one of Ol John Lee's original 1964 bed strips and I'll put it right down the center of John Lee Jr's new bed during the install....it was the only one on Ol John Lee worth keepin when I redid his bed.

[Sharps40]

62Barnfind...I like yer new avatar. I gotta update mine since I changed out the wheels and tires to chrome smoothies.

[62 Barnfind]

Originally Posted by Sharps40

62Barnfind...I like yer new avatar. I gotta update mine since I changed out the wheels and tires to chrome smoothies.

Thanks, I wish I had more time to finish it. By the time I get back for Afghanistan your truck will be 100% brand new. Love all the new improvements you are making especially the wheels.

[Sharps40]

Well, at this point I'll update ya on the status of the Weber DGEV 32/36 carb conversion. Tuning, specifically, trying main jets has been ongoing.

I tanked up today. 18.25 mpg combined city/highway! Slightly exceeded my hopes of 18 mpg highway. To say I'm tickled is an understatement. I am ecstatic and bubbling sweaty happy not to have to yank the top off the carb and fiddle with the little choke e-clip, (which I twice lost hold of but fortunately it stuck to the tape I cover the carb with each time I open the top) or swap out any more internal jets.

I'm gonna stick for the summer with the 130 main on the primary and the 160 main on the secondary barrel.

I think the last tweaking I need to do is try to get rid of an annoying buzz/vibration that occurs when transitioning from idle to run. The idle mix jet is a bit lean and I have one size larger...so I'll swap it in tonight and try for a slight retune. Hopefully this buzz/vibration is a lean condition (as indicated by the mix screw being turned rich about 1/4 to 1/2 turn than the max recommended for the carb...my current mix setting is 2.75 turns rich and it should be under 2.5 turns rich...so a larger idle mix jet is indicated in any event.)

Now, there is no more rattle behind the seat since I lost the syphon preventer. And I am so looking forward to driving this truck to Hunting Camp in Andrews SC this month for a week of Sporting Clays. We'll really get to vet out the new set up (alternator/HEI/Carb/V8 Radiator) on this 600 mile round trip.

With luck, I'll have time and energy to temporarily secure the steel bed liner (removed yesterday for rebolting the entire bed to frame) until I can do the composite decking at the end of the month. I have a plan to install 5 of these boards vice the 8 required by factory but still retain all 7 skid strips for a factory looking install.

Current carb settings will be updated after I change out the primary idle jet and drive at least another tank of dinosaurs thru it.

Hurray for Chevy, Hurray for Weber and Thank Heavens for Mr. Tom Langdon's advice and counseling!

GoodWife and I are planning a May trip from Central NC all the way to Devils Tower WY. About 5000 miles and GoodWife says, "Get that truck running good cause I wanna do this first trip in John Lee!" What a great Woman!

[Sharps40]

When I worked for the Air Force (Back to working for Green now...Army Strong, Hoo Ahh!) we had a phrase for someone or something that was bad ass.....I think it applies to yer truck and all the work you've done to make it Bad Ass....Yer tuck is, as we would say on the flight line..."Sh-t Hot!" And that's a good Sh-t too!

[Sharps40]

The worst part of the bed repair is done. Cleanin up the skid strips. Not much rust, just on the surface. All of them reasonably straight after 49 years and not short work but done in a few hours with wire wheels and primer and black paint. Drying now and soon, back in place with good artificial wood and all new bolts ready to serve another 20 years or so.

After knocking out all the pressed in bolts. I knocked em out with a hammer, supporting the off side with a socket to keep from crimping or bending the strips.

Here the bottom sides ready for the first kiss of the low speed and the high speed wire wheels.



The low speed wire wheel does the best work on the underside, reaching into the grooves of the channels. I used the high speed braded wheel on the uppers, rips the rust and paint off lickity quik...



Resting comfortably with two coats of prime and two coats of semigloss black on both sides and all edges. Gonna look good in there with the light grey composite decking.

[Sharps40]

I'd plumb forgotten just how much crap accumulates on old steel. And, how much of it comes flyin off with a high speed braded wheel!

[Sharps40]

HA! I got my yearly dose of iron oxide and lead based paint dust and Toluene vapor tonight! I'm prolly gonna fail my bloodwork and physical in the morning!

Composite decking.....sawdust and pop bottles. Stable, less movement, no primer, no paint, color all the way thru, sand out scratches like plastic counter tops, no warp, no cupping, no rot, no peeling, no knots fallin out, no cracks/splits/chips, no splinters if I camp in it, no termites, no carpenter ants and no WoodPecker or Wood Bee attacks.

Since the pop bottle dump in the middle of the Pacific ocean is predicted to take over a million years to break down into basic component molecules again, I figure not having to paint or maintain a wood bed that should look decent for years to come is worth a try. Seen a couple installed in trucks and they look pretty spanky tuff. Runnin the numbers, w/o primer/paint and the expense of hard clear southern yellow pine, the composite decking is about the same price....less if ya figure no maintenance other than an occasional scrub down with a mop and soapy water.

I will install the heat shield over the muff just like I did on Ol John Lee when I pined up his bed.

[Low Elco]

John Lee's lookin' good! Good luck on the trip!

[Sharps40]

Thanks. It'll be hooooooootttt! And buggy but FUN!

[Sharps40]

Messin is fun, so is putting in a good lookin durable bed...here we go. (Oh yeah, total cost...$180.00. I got the boards about half price on sale, $18 each. Pine was about the same and it rots! )

I'll work in the heat shield from Ol John Lee over this nice Thrush Glass Pack as I install the bed.



But first, some more prep. Please don't weld in a bed unless ya do it right, and please if ya do, pull out the old wood and skid strips first. Grindin all them welds is hard work. Specs say put composite lumber on 16" centers, no less. So, I'm adding some braceing where I have a long open spot or to. An angle at the rear where the motorcycle tire always sits.



And an extra crossbuck up in the middle where its got its widest open area. This should keep things rock solid and it gives me a place to bolt in all them bolts that originally just have washers on em and only pull the wood together. Now it'll pull the wood together and be stronger/well supported across the midsection.



After grindin all the weld blobs and priming and painting the angle brackets, header and tail cross buck....



Down to the wood shop. I am replaceing 8 rotted factory southern yellow pine boards with 5 composite boards. This will make a stiffer flatter bed. Now its advertised as 3/4" thick just like the dimensional lumber that's supposed to go back in but its only 5/8". No worries, I have extra supports and now I only need to make the skid strip grooves. I don't have to mill off the 1/8" for the shoulders under the skid strips cause the new boards are already 5/8" instead of 3/4" thick. Cuttin em to width...two each 10 13/16 by 77 1/8....these will be left and right sides. Two boards instead of 4.



I've cut the skid strip grooves in the right spots and check fitting the skid strips. Looks good, a grey just like weathered wood on a cottage at the beach. The right look for this truck I think....old restoration, should have old looking wood.



A better look at the grooves for the edges of the skid strips....now I gotta mark holes for the skid strip that goes next to each bedside and drill out holes for the bolts.





I've worked these new wide boards into the bedsides where before there were 4 boards and started by bolting down the skid strip. I've left the bed to frame bolts loose and did not yet install the angle bracket bolts....straighten up the bed, pry and prod things into place, drop in the skid strip bolts and cinch em down with washers and lock washers.



Once the bed is square, and the skid strips snugged down, I tightened all the bed to frame bolts. Nice clean look, no carriage bolt heads sticking up thru the bed wood and more secure...the bolts can't smush the wood and loosen up cause they are under the wood instead of like factory which were thru the wood. At this point, I drill out the holes thru the angle brackets on the bedsides and dropped in 3/8 carriage bolts....added nuts and washers and lock washers and snugged them all up too. Hard ones are up front on left and right, ya gotta pull the step sides to get to the nuts!



Cleaned up a bit, a nice look. One board instead of two and bouncy rock solid. The truck bounces under my 180 lbs of pork but the bed don't flex anymore than good yellow pine. And, no rot to worry about.





Tomorrow evening I'll mill up one wide board for the center. It will replace two smaller original boards. I'll bolt it in and then fit the boards that go left and right of center and be done. Hopefully done on Friday morning, my first Furlough day....the first of 11 long weekends courtesy of the scheisters in Washington DC.

[Sharps40]

Oh yeah, total cost...$180.00. I got the boards about half price on sale, $18 each. Pine was about the same and it rots!