Working Man's Burbon

[HO455]

First oil change time now I have 500 miles on it. It came out well. No bad things in the oil pan or filter. I did discover that the nice Milodon oil pan I put on it has a draw back. The drain plug has a built in magnet. A super strong cobalt magnet that I'm sure grabs any iron even remotely near it. The down side Is the when removing it from hot oil pan the plug won't drop clear but the magnet sticks in the hole and the hot oil goes everywhere but in the catch pan. And while on the subject of catch pans I am advising against buying the oil drain pan in the photo. It is good idea poorly executed. The pour cap will not seal and it leaks oil. I tried to exchange it but none of the ones on the shelf were any different. Photos of the drain plug and the iron filings on the magnet. No pieces of any concern were present on it, or in the drain pan. I cut the filter open and it looked good too.

[HO455]

I scored some stuff off of a 67 Burban at 205 Auto Wrecking. One of them was an early thermostat housing spacer with the bypass hose. With some help from some friendsI removed the bypass hose fitting and modified a 3/4" to 1/2" bushing to maximize the amount the sensor would protrude into the water flow. Then I installed my existing sender on it and put the sender I got from the wrecking yard in the water neck. I can now compare the difference between the senders below the thermostat and above it. And after a couple of days of switching back and forth I find the sender below the thermostat reads noticeably lower than the one above. Admittedly the lower sender is not in the middle of the water flow but it isn't shrouded by the housing. But even in stop and go traffic it never gets anywhere near the same reading as the upper sender. (The same sender used to read higher when it was installed above the thermostat before I put the spacer in.) The upper sender stays low until the thermostat opens then it jumps up and stays pretty much steady after that. The last photo is of the before set up on the old motor.

[HO455]

Here are the different sender gauge readings.

[HO455]

I had been driving the Burban to work every day (which for the last month has been every day) and now that the floorboards aren't vibrating from the carrier bearing and drive line, the noise from the rear of the truck was much more apparent. I dropped the WMB at Six States to have them go through the rear end. (At the recommendation of a board member. My old rear end expert retired and moved somewhere dry) I wanted to be confident I could hop in the truck and drive to Seattle if I needed to and I wanted confirm if the ratio was a 3:55, as the PO had said, but I had doubts. I dropped it off at 7:30 in the morning and at 8:30 they called me to say there was about 500 pieces of the carrier sloshing around in the bottom of the axle housing and one of the axles were junk. They were unable to pin point why the carrier was disintegrating but the left axle had lost a bearing in the past and the PO had put a bearing saver on the axle to but it was too far gone to work over the long run. He had also put a bearing saver on the other axle but nothing was wrong with it. After removing the bearing saver the axle checked out and was reused. When I asked about the ratio I was told it was a 3:07. (Which helps to explain the lethargic manner in which the truck accelerates) At this point I got lucky in that they had a used posi carrier and a set of 3:77 gears they could put in the truck for me. So now with all new bearings, one new axle.and a new ring and pinon the truck is SO quiet and smooth. With the exception of the posi is very grabby and causes the truck to shudder more than any other posi I have ever experienced. With about 125 miles on it it seems to finally be getting better. I talked with Six States and they had me bring it by and put some more posi additive in the rear end and want me to call then if it isn't better in the next 100 miles. The hard to believe part of this is the old ring and pinon show no damage. I wish I would have thought to get a picture of the remains of the carrier. It looked like it was disintegrating. Just waiting for the posi issue to get resolved before going out and seeing how much quicker the truck is. In addition to everything else the speedometer is now correct or at least very close. Win! Win!

[CG]

I like these kind of threads. Always something to learn from them. Keep up the good work on your burb.

[HO455]

Thank you. I've got more projects still to come. So stay tuned while I ramble on.

[Bramante]

very nice

[HO455]

Thanks! And for anyone who was wondering about the 3:73 ring and pinon I ended up replacing the 3:07's with here is the information from the box. This is a thick ring gear meant to be installed on a 3 series carrier that was designed to use 2:76 to 3:42 ratio gear sets.
And the Posi chatter issue is getting better.

[HO455]

Found a box of parts the shop put in under the back seat in the WMB from the bad carrier. Man I was certainty living on borrowed time.

[HO455]

I've been AWOL as of late. I just finished a 96 day run at work with no days off. With the exception of the rear end work nothing got done on the WMB. I drove it to work every day (except the days it was at Six States for rear end recovery. About 83 days) until the 5th of August. When I fired it up to go to work that morning I looked down and saw smoke wafting out from under the dash! OH #$%&3! Quickly tuned the ignition off and laid on the floor to see if I could see anything. Nothing to see but I could feel some warm wires. So I pulled the negative lead on the battery and hopped in the Blazer and went to work.
Foward to today. I took my old school hand amp meter along with my trusty voltmeter and started looking around. When I turned the key to run the factory amp meter went to 25 or so amps and seconds later the smoke started leaking again. Having a flashlight this time and already being on my back on the floor I could see the smoke coming out of the switch. With further investigation I noticed the purple lead on the ignition switch was warm. The purple lead is the solenoid power and should not be hot when the switch is in the run position. The purple wires run to the neutral safety switch from the ignition switch so I unplugged the neutral switch and checked the wire at the ignition switch to ground and found it ungrounded. Then I checked the purple from the ignition switch to ground for voltage in the run position and found about 8 volts. Not good. I then pulled the ignition switch being pretty confident that it was the problem. Looking at the back of the switch I could see the plastic had definitely been hot and had bulged up. (Photo 1) Checking for continuity between the ACC post and the SOL post I found less than 20 ohms of resistance where there should be none. (photos 2&3) I took the switch apart just to see what was what. I didn't find anything that had fallen apart, but the plastic between the posts was melted away and they were touching. (Photo 4 lowest contacts in photo) My feeling is this would be caused by cranking the starter for long periods of time overheating the contacts and melting the plastic. My removing the old wiring harness and installing the new one disturbed the switch and caused additional damage to the switch.( At least that is my theory. I've never had to crank the truck for any length of time since I have had it as it has always started easily.) After enough bouncing around as I drove it eventually arced over inside when I was starting it. There was one time in the body shop I thought I saw a wiff of smoke upon start up but I could get it to repeat so I wrote it off as dust.
Any way a quick trip to Dan's Classic Chevrolet got me a new switch. (Photo 5) Then some checks on the bench to verify the old one was definitely bad before installation. Now the amp meter barely moves when the switch is moved to run.
So excited to be back on the road I drove across town and took mom to dinner to celebrate.

Posted to the music of the Poges.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fBCiy6Da96o

[markizme]

Originally Posted by HO455

I'm hoping someone can tell me if my glove box door, ash tray, gauge panel, and dash pad were painted this color at the factory? If so what color is it? Thanks in advance.

My 68 GMC is light green and The glove box door and dash bezel are CHARCOAL GREY I believe with ARGENT SILVER trim

[markizme]

Originally Posted by HO455

I've been AWOL as of late. I just finished a 96 day run at work with no days off. With the exception of the rear end work nothing got done on the WMB. I drove it to work every day (except the days it was at Six States for rear end recovery. About 83 days) until the 5th of August. When I fired it up to go to work that morning I looked down and saw smoke wafting out from under the dash! OH #$%&3! Quickly tuned the ignition off and laid on the floor to see if I could see anything. Nothing to see but I could feel some warm wires. So I pulled the negative lead on the battery and hopped in the Blazer and went to work.
Foward to today. I took my old school hand amp meter along with my trusty voltmeter and started looking around. When I turned the key to run the factory amp meter went to 25 or so amps and seconds later the smoke started leaking again. Having a flashlight this time and already being on my back on the floor I could see the smoke coming out of the switch. With further investigation I noticed the purple lead on the ignition switch was warm. The purple lead is the solenoid power and should not be hot when the switch is in the run position. The purple wires run to the neutral safety switch from the ignition switch so I unplugged the neutral switch and checked the wire at the ignition switch to ground and found it ungrounded. Then I checked the purple from the ignition switch to ground for voltage in the run position and found about 8 volts. Not good. I then pulled the ignition switch being pretty confident that it was the problem. Looking at the back of the switch I could see the plastic had definitely been hot and had bulged up. (Photo 1) Checking for continuity between the ACC post and the SOL post I found less than 20 ohms of resistance where there should be none. (photos 2&3) I took the switch apart just to see what was what. I didn't find anything that had fallen apart, but the plastic between the posts was melted away and they were touching. (Photo 4 lowest contacts in photo) My feeling is this would be caused by cranking the starter for long periods of time overheating the contacts and melting the plastic. My removing the old wiring harness and installing the new one disturbed the switch and caused additional damage to the switch.( At least that is my theory. I've never had to crank the truck for any length of time since I have had it as it has always started easily.) After enough bouncing around as I drove it eventually arced over inside when I was starting it. There was one time in the body shop I thought I saw a wiff of smoke upon start up but I could get it to repeat so I wrote it off as dust.
Any way a quick trip to Dan's Classic Chevrolet got me a new switch. (Photo 5) Then some checks on the bench to verify the old one was definitely bad before installation. Now the amp meter barely moves when the switch is moved to run.
So excited to be back on the road I drove across town and took mom to dinner to celebrate.

Posted to the music of the Poges.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fBCiy6Da96o

Soryy for your woes, but thank you for the info. I'm having some similar issues, I now have somewhere to start tomorrow. Your truck is coming along very nicely BTW, I'm sure that you are proud! Thank you again!

[HO455]

Thank you and good luck with your no crank issue.

[Killer Bee]

how the heck did I miss this?! subscribed, might take me a while to catch up though

[Average Joe]

Yowza! 96 days straight without a day off?!! I would go nuts!

Glad you got the switch fixed. I just replaced mine in June. I made it home from a camping trip before it completely died on me.

[HO455]

I was lucky to be at home when it went into smoke mode. Saved me from having to a bunch of "field engineering" to get back home.

[HO455]

The WMB started giving a small backfire out of the passenger side exhaust early last week and by the end of the week it was getting loud and extremely annoying. I pulled the plugs on the passenger side and found the #6 plug fouled. I hadn't driven the truck the last couple of days so l couldn't smell fuel on it but my hope is that it is a fuel issue. I have noticed that most of the time my fuel pressure gauge shows zero and I was assuming it had expired.
I cleaned the fouled plug and swapped it with #8 to see if the problem would go away or at least get better. Upon start up it seemed to idle smoother but I noticed the fuel pressure was reading 6.25 PSI. I adjusted it down to 5 PSI and went for a 10 mile test drive. For the most part the backfire went away. I checked the pressure again went I got back home and it was reading zero again. I tapped the regulator a couple of times and it started reading 3.5 PSI. The regulator is the generic Holley style and it is not giving me a happy feeling. It has no name or number on it so I don't think it is worth trying to rebuild, so I'll replace it. I am not sure as to what I need as the fuel pump is a Mallory Comp 140 which is overkill for the engine. So my new regulator will have to be up to a 12-15 PSI input and a non return set up.

[HO455]

Originally Posted by markizme

My 68 GMC is light green and The glove box door and dash bezel are CHARCOAL GREY I believe with ARGENT SILVER trim

Thanks for replying. I'm sorry I missed this earlier. Do you think your bezel and door are the same color as mine? I'd like to repaint the jockey box door and ash tray but my bezel is in great shape and wouldn't need painting. So I would like to know what color I need to match.

[markizme]

Lemme grab a pic of the door and bezel and I will post them in the morning. I know this is factory paint on them, the truck is pretty stellar as far as original goes except for the recovered front seat. I am almost positive the two colors are Argent Silver and Charcoal Grey. I've restored many Pontiac Rally2 wheels and they come to mind whenever I look at the dash as they were the same colors.

[HO455]

Thanks that will be awesome. Painting Rally II's are a pain. I remember doing a set back in the eighties. I bought about 8 cans of paint trying to match the colors. Got them all done and was so proud that they came out nice, only to be told a couple of months later that I had painted them the wrong colors. I had matched the old faded paint colors. I had no unfaded wheels to color match off of. Now days you can just buy the correct paint. What will they think of next. Those wheels are still the wrong color on my GTO to this day.

[markizme]

Here ya go. I hope this helps and If there is anything else, just ask
Posted via Mobile Device

[HO455]

I got excited by 68SWB4X4's posting about going to a car show so I washed the WMB and headed off to the Beaches show at PIR this afternoon. I got there and found out it had been canceled at the last minute due to the Indy car races this weekend. They were nice enough to give everyone a $25 gift card for dinner just for showing up. Score! But on the way home I started smelling burning oil and seeing wiffs of smoke. I get home and start looking around and I find the passenger side exhaust pipe is dripping oil and the engine is a quart past the low mark. Popping the hood I can definitely hear valve noise on the passenger side that wasn't there yesterday. #$%$&@$!!!! More heartache to follow. Maybe I can trade the gift card for engine parts.

[HO455]

Originally Posted by markizme

Here ya go. I hope this helps and If there is anything else, just ask
Posted via Mobile Device

Hey thanks man! I see your jockey box door has the silver around the outside and the bezel has silver accents which mine doesn't. That looks good. I will have to do that when I repaint mine.

[HO455]

I tore down the engine today and found a broken push rod, a valve tip with a bad wear pattern and no real indication as to why the engine was smoking. Here are a couple of photos but I started a thread in the engine section asking for help getting to the bottom of what has happened.
Photo 1 is how I found the valve train when I pulled the cover
Photo 2 is how I found the push rod
Photo 3 is damage to rocker stud
Photo 4 is the headers right tube oily left tube is showing a cylinder that is running rich.
Photo 5 is #4 & #6 intake ports on head. No sign of oil being sucked from the valley.

Link to the engine section thread.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=1#post8334115

[HO455]

I took the heads to the shop i got the crate motor from. They are tearing them down and will get back me next week. In the mean time I need to drop the fuel tank and find out where it is leaking from. If I fill it above 3/4 I get a fuel smell and I can see signs of fuel on the side of the tank. I suspect it is the seal for the sender, so I grabbed one on the way home from work a couple of days ago.
Dan's Classic Chevrolet has changed hands and locations. Amazingly they have gotten much more convenient for me. I just hope the rest stays the same. Although they no longer stock any used parts that shouldn't be a problem ( they told me who bought all of it). Not that they had much in the way of Suburban stuff.
Started off by wetting the strap nuts and bolts down with some PB Blaster. Then spreading my carpet under the back of the truck I got comfortable and when to it. The two strap bolts came off easily to my surprise. Maybe they have been off before? Anyway I got the tank on my floor jack and removed the straps. The hoses to the fuel fill came off with out any fuss. Which was expected as I put them on last summer, but the suction hose to the fuel pump did not want to come off and I ended up tearing the hose. It too was new as of last summer but it acted like it was 10 or more years old. The stuff we have to use as fuel now days!
Once that was disconnected I raised the rear end with the bags to full and slid the tank right out. I did end up cutting the ground wire for the guage. After getting the tank on a table to clean and inspect I noticed that my leak seems to be from the suction tube being loose in the sender assembly. (Last two photos) As much as I wanted to get it cleaned up and apart the mosquitos were making it difficult to concentrate. So it waits until tomorrow.