Johns 66

[Johns 66]

So I started taking the heart beat out of the ole chevy tonight...my help had to do an emergency repair so I was on my own tonight but that was ok....Got pretty much everything taken off except the exhaust so she should be ready to pull out...not working on it tomorrow...going to church.

But I did pull the carb off as well since it is going to get rebuilt I am going to post some pictures...Tried to find some numbers on the carb to see if it was truly original and didn't seem to find any...maybe someone can chime in if they know about them...One area of concern you will see is that it has some rust under the bottom ...not sure if that is because of the ethanol gas, a leak or ??? I have no clue at this point.

Antifreeze did not look too bad...but I am thinking about sending it to the radiator shop just as a precaution.

[Johns 66]

Here are some of the bottom side of the carb.....not sure if this has anything to do with it running really rich or not but rust cant be a good thing.

[Johns 66]

Today started out with so much promise and ended ....well with some questions....Here are a few pictures of how the day started......Yea the motor is out and surgery will commence in a few.....

[Johns 66]

So after getting the motor out I knew it was gonna have to be cleaned so that I could put the new gasket set on it and get it ready for paint ......So Pressure washed it and started taking things off .......Some of the pictures are part number so that I can preserve for the future and reference them to see how original the truck is. The clutch was toast and the reason it shuttered a bit on take off.....consumable item...no problem.

[Johns 66]

Well then is when the fun stuff started. I took the intake off so that I could get it cleaned and put on new intake gaskets...all is good so far.....Drained the oil and removed the oil pan since I was going to be changing the oil pump as well as the front and rear seals.....This is where things started to change and not in a good way.....The first few pictures look pretty normal...and all looks good...until I noticed the punch marks on the rod caps...hmmmm don't think that is factory...so this bottom half must have been apart......THEN as you see in the last picture one of the main cap bolts "Appeared" to be loose......As soon as I touched it the head fell off.

[Johns 66]

At this point I am unsure what to do...I went ahead and took the heads off to see what the cylinders looked like. I then took some of the valves out of the heads to see what the valve seats looked like.

The cylinders measured 4.0 across, which unless I am wrong that is correct. The valve guides were leaking in some of the cylinders.

So what I thought at the start of the day ended with not knowing which way to go. On one hand the thought of a completely original drivetrain sounded really good, and I could go back completely as it came albeit rebuilt. This motor is a 220 hp motor, probably about 160 RWHP if I am lucky.......decision decisions......

Do I keep it stock or do I change some things? Hopefully someone will chime in with their thoughts on this.

I know there was a 365 hp 327 and based on my limited knowledge the only thing I could think that should be changed is the cam and the heads....I'm not sure if I can grind out the valve seats to put the bigger valves in it or not...I guess the machine shop will be able to tell me that...or should I just find a set of double hump heads and go that route...either way the heads have to be fixed no matter what I decide.

The cam and lifters will have to be changed as well.....lifters look like a saucer on the bottom,

It appears that I will have to rebuild the motor and at this point it probably is the better option because I certainly do not want to do this again in 4 or 5 months...even 2 years....

So my options are to build back stock or build it to the 365 hp specs.....at this point I am unsure what I am going to do.

[Johns 66]

So I shut the garage down and left the ole 66 in ICU awaiting the doctors decision.

[Classic v6 GMC's]

Originally Posted by Johns 66

At this point I am unsure what to do...I went ahead and took the heads off to see what the cylinders looked like. I then took some of the valves out of the heads to see what the valve seats looked like.

The cylinders measured 4.0 across, which unless I am wrong that is correct. The valve guides were leaking in some of the cylinders.

So what I thought at the start of the day ended with not knowing which way to go. On one hand the thought of a completely original drivetrain sounded really good, and I could go back completely as it came albeit rebuilt. This motor is a 220 hp motor, probably about 160 RWHP if I am lucky.......decision decisions......

Do I keep it stock or do I change some things? Hopefully someone will chime in with their thoughts on this.

I know there was a 365 hp 327 and based on my limited knowledge the only thing I could think that should be changed is the cam and the heads....I'm not sure if I can grind out the valve seats to put the bigger valves in it or not...I guess the machine shop will be able to tell me that...or should I just find a set of double hump heads and go that route...either way the heads have to be fixed no matter what I decide.

The cam and lifters will have to be changed as well.....lifters look like a saucer on the bottom,

It appears that I will have to rebuild the motor and at this point it probably is the better option because I certainly do not want to do this again in 4 or 5 months...even 2 years....

So my options are to build back stock or build it to the 365 hp specs.....at this point I am unsure what I am going to do.

Well if I was not concerned about being original I would build it to 300hp. Use a set of double hump heads and a mild cam.
The 365hp engine had high compression dome pistons and had a more radical cam. Just not a engine that I would recommend for a truck.

[Johns 66]

Originally Posted by Classic v6 GMC's

Well if I was not concerned about being original I would build it to 300hp. Use a set of double hump heads and a mild cam.
The 365hp engine had high compression dome pistons and had a more radical cam. Just not a engine that I would recommend for a truck.

Thanks Classic v6 GMC.......I think most say the most HP the better...Talked with Yelmer on the phone tonight..VERY knowledgable man and a super nice guy as well. I am thinking more in your live of just putting a very mild cam in it to give it a nice little rumble, bump the HP up just a little and go from there.

Guy I will search for some double hump heads now......gotta love working on old trucks.

[Captainfab]

A set of 461/462 heads would be nice if you can find a set. The 1.94/1.5 valves will be just fine. No need for 2.02/1.6's. The factory 300 hp 327 cam is quite mild and there are much better cam profiles available these days. When looking at aftermarket cams, keep in mind that any given operating ranges are typically based on a 350 cu in engine. Using a given cam in a 327 will move the power band up a few hundred rpm's as compared to that same cam in a 350.

[Johns 66]

Well after some consideration I have decided to rebuild the motor to around 300hp...
I have also decided to put a 700R4 transmission in it...This truck is going to be a driver, not completely original, but am going to keep it as close as possible. I have also decided to add a power brake booster with a dual master cylinder...Luckily I have a friend who gave me the set up and I am hoping that I do not have to modify things too much...I do not think it will bolt up so I may have to get with Captain Fab and see what we can come up with...anyways here is the power brake booster and master cylinder

I am unsure what this was intended for or if will even work or not so if anyone has an idea..Im all ears.

[Johns 66]

I talked with Yelmer last night for a couple of hours...a GREAT guy and extremely knowledgeable about these trucks...I was so thankful that he was willing to share what he knows.

So instead of putting disc brakes on the truck I am going to see how the power booster does, since I am not building a hot rod truck I think it will be fine...the truck stops amazingly good ....so with in mind I worked on a few things this afternoon....I took pretty much everything I could out of the engine bay so I can get it cleaned up and I also did a brake job on the front brakes.

After pulling the drums off and getting everything cleaned up I noticed that the drivers side outer bearing was toast. also the inner seal was gone as well....I am thinking that this may be the reason the truck pulled that way when the brakes were applied...The wheel cylinders looked good and no signs of leaking so I left them alone. Once I got everything off I rolled it out side and pressure washed pretty much all I could get too...I got a decent amount of crud off the truck but it will definitely need some more cleaning.

The Underneath inner fenders didn't look too bad...a little rust has set in but nothing major...mainly on the cab firewall underneath the inner fender...So I went and bought a bunch of over cleaner and will let it do its thing tomorrow evening after work.....

Anyways here is some picture of what got done to day.

[Johns 66]

Here are a few more...I wrapped the brakes with a plastic garbage bag to hopefully protect the new shoes etc.....when I spray the oven cleaner on the surrounding parts......hopefully this will help a lot.

I did notice that the truck still has the original ball joints on it since they are riveted in.

[Johns 66]

So while I had everything apart I decided to change both the inner and outer bearings and seals on both front drums....I am gonna have to find the inner seals since the local parts house didn't have any but I'm sure its not too hard...I also bought some rattle can paint...I know the drum looked gloss but that picture was taken when it was wet.

I also bought some "Semi-Flat" paint and sprayed the air cleaner after I cleaned it..Since it had the original sticker on the outside I just taped it off and sprayed around it.

I learned yesterday from Yelmer that I do have the original carb and air cleaner but someone cut off the spout to make it shorter...Have no clue why but it is what it is at this point...not gonna change it and it doesn't look half bad sprayed Semi Flat. Ill post some pictures later of all that.

Tomorrow will see what the damage is gonna be from the machine shop....fingers crossed it aint too bad.

[roll_the_dice]

Looks great John. I have had my truck for over 2 years and you are light years ahead of me! I just drive mine and add oil as it burns...haha Seems like you are having fun and that is the main thing! I am excited to see the progress on yours as it goes along. Alabama isn't far from GA...who knows maybe we will see each other rolling down the highway one day!

[Johns 66]

Originally Posted by roll_the_dice

Looks great John. I have had my truck for over 2 years and you are light years ahead of me! I just drive mine and add oil as it burns...haha Seems like you are having fun and that is the main thing! I am excited to see the progress on yours as it goes along. Alabama isn't far from GA...who knows maybe we will see each other rolling down the highway one day!

Andy...I'm sure we can meet up once we get them all fixed up...I appreciate the info on the cluster....I'm sure we can compare notes on this. I'm guessing mine will be here in a week or so. Luckily I decided to pull it especially after I found the loose main cap and broken bolt...very fortunate that the head hadnt come off

[Johns 66]

Well in the previous post I eluded to it...Thanks to Andy who saw it online I have purchased this cluster..I know its not factory original but I think it is cool and just adds something to the dash....Of course I will rebuild it in time or at my leisure.....A lot of great threads on rebuilding this type of cluster. I am going to add the tach on the right side and add a clock on the left side which I think will look really cool.

Motor was dropped off at the machine shop today...just waiting on the damage

[step65]

Nice truck hope things go well at the machine shop. Bow tie Overdrive has a nice kit for hooking up the tv cable on the 700r also they have a nice crossmember so you can use original embrake.

[Johns 66]

Originally Posted by step65

Nice truck hope things go well at the machine shop. Bow tie Overdrive has a nice kit for hooking up the tv cable on the 700r also they have a nice crossmember so you can use original embrake.

Thanks so much I will definitely check them out.

[Johns 66]

Well I am still waiting on the ole machine shop to get me some numbers..I understand that there are kinda busy right now...so no need to rush them...I am sure they will get on it as soon as they can.

Since I have some extra time I started on the engine bay...I had sprayed oven cleaner on pretty much the entire engine bay and let it sit for a couple of days. Last night I pressure washed everything off. I was really surprised at how clean it made everything. It actually took off the paint on the inner fenders and firewall. The surprising thing to me was that it didn't take it down to the metal...It seems that the panels were coated with some silver looking type paint, or dipped in something. In a couple of places that had rust on them I sanded them down and you could actually tell between the coating and the actual metal.

Lastly I rattle canned one inner fender to see what it was going to look like...The paint was Semi Flat paint and didn't do too bad....after it had dried I took a purple scotch brite pad and went over it again, and it really smoothed it out....So since the engine will be delayed for a few weeks I am going to get the engine bay pretty much finished. I am not going to take it apart so I will do the best I can doing it this way...I have to remind myself that this is going to be a driver truck and not a show street rod......

[Johns 66]

I am going to paint the frame with POR 15 semi-gloss, as you can see it does have a little bit of surface rust. POR15 is supposedly the best stuff to kill rust like this and doesn't look too bad once applied...It is extremely expensive but I think it will be worth it in the long run.

The inner fender fender that I rattled canned last night did not look too terribly bad and because it had some rust, mainly underneath the battery box I am going to go back and sand it down really good and apply the POR 15..I just wanted to put something on it last night to keep it covered so it would not continue to rust.

Fortunately I have a good friend who has a blasting box and he has graciously agreed to let me use it...I may go this weekend and get it...While it is not really big it will be perfect for cleaning up the smaller items, especially the items for the motor that I will be painting when I get it back....Thanks Danny!!!!!

[Johns 66]

A little background to this truck and the reason I am building it the way I am. I had a 63 SWB Stepside before that was my Uncle's, after many years of begging he finally gave it to me and I started building that truck...Because I wanted it to be super nice I actually took it to a shop to have the truck built...BIB BIG BIG Mistake....after spending a small fortune the truck never got finished by the shop and I ended up going and getting it.

Lets just say that I did not get what I paid for....As life goes and things happen I had to sell the truck..Quite simply it broke my heart..For weeks and weeks all I thought about was my truck...The many who bought it has been real gracious and has even offered me first right of refusal if he decided to sell it. He has the finances and experience to complete what I couldn't....Once done Ill post some pictures of his truck.....I know in my heart that I would never be able to afford buying back my old truck as he has already spent 35k in it.....but I t will be what I intended it to be.

So as the weeks went buy I had a big hole inside ..I know it may sound stupid because after all its just a truck Right? Not to me it wasn't.

It was the reason I love old chevy trucks...I was 6 yrs old, going down a country road, windows down, smell of spring in the air, standing in the seat ( yeah I know...it was a long time ago) and my Uncle buried the needle...Those ole wore out glasspacks sang a song that day that has forever been ingrained in me...Its almost like a drug in some ways.

Which is why I knew I had to get me another truck, and which is why on the first page you see my Uncle in the pictures instead of me.

I am going to do as much work on this truck myself this time...I learned a valuable lesson last time. I will get everything mechanical and electrical done and hopefully by the end of summer I can have it painted. It will not be a show truck but just a nice driver, a good paint job mind you But the bed and the hood, maybe the doors will be the only thing that comes off of it when its painted.

All I have ever owned are Chevrolets and while I do have a 56 Chevy 2 dr Belair, Im a truck guy plain and simple.

I will be retiring sometime this year and have always wanted to visit all 50 states...I have been to Hawaii already and not sure how about driving to Alaska BUT as they say...Im gonna see the USA in my Chevrolet. This is the reason I am building it the way I am....The 700R4 with a higher rear end gear will hopefully help the miles and miles that I am going to put on her. I may not do it all in one fell swoop but that's my goal....I just don't think it will get any better than that!!!

[Johns 66]

Well, I have recovered after getting the estimate from the machine shop...

It is going to cost me 2000.00 to get the motor rebuilt....He is going to grind the heads and put 1.94/1.50 stainless valves, bronze valve guides, new timing chain, oil pump and screen, new springs and retainers, new cam, pistons, rings etc....do all the machine work and assemble it all....Parts and labor.

I will have at least 300 hp at the crank when they are done, which will be good.

So tonight I started back on the engine bay........More sanding, primer, sanding, primer...you kinda get the idea.....

I bought some rattle can paint from Home Depot called Black Stainless Steel metallic...wanted to see how it was going to look since I couldn't find Charcoal gray...I have to say that it looks pretty good...Ill have to put some more coats on it but the preliminary results are pretty good.

Ill get the rest of the engine bay painted tomorrow...gotta go get some more rattle can action in the morning.

Also started taking the rivets out of the 3 spd manual cross member...boy what a pain that is...but I'm saving the cross member and not just cutting it out...hopefully tomorrow that will be done.

After that then Ill start on the heater box and get it all taken care of

[roll_the_dice]

Looking good John!

[Johns 66]

Well today was a pretty good day with the ole 66...Got quite a bit accomplished, but still way more to do..I got the firewall and inner fenders painted with 2 coats of rattler can which I really like the metallic gray color but am torn about just going back with satin black...since I am painting the motor the original color of greenish blue I am unsure how that in gonna look,,,but I guess we will see. So here are some pics of the engine compartment.

I know it looks splotchy but trust me those are shadows...I finally realized that after awhile.....