What did you get done? Memorial day edition.

[KMK454]

Moved into an apartment in Killeen, Texas.

Started my job as a platoon leader in A Co, 2-26 Infantry.

Been settling in and finding my way around Texas... everything is way too far apart down here, especially considering the gas prices.

My truck is in my parents' garage in NC waiting to get shipped out here. The rear main seal is starting to leak, as is the water pump, power steering, and valve cover seals. It's also been running way rich. Perhaps it's just the carb tune or maybe some vacuum line issues, not sure...

I have some serious work planned for it once it makes it out west...
1. Tune up to fix the rich condition and idle
2. Replace all major seals and fluids so as to zero the truck maintenance-wise
3. Tear out exhaust and headers; coat the headers if they're still good, otherwise get new ones. Flowmaster mufflers and a hidden exhaust exit will replace the cherry bombs and sidepipes
4. Fix the horn
5. Fix the AC and get it on 134 coolant
6. Fresh shocks
7. Chrome the rear step bumper
8. Fix dash clock
9. Fix the lock mechanism on the tonneau cover
10. If there's any cash left over (yeah right), look into a professional paint restoration... doubtful on that one though.

[Ivan D.]

Saturday - went to a party in Grand Rapids, we're sending off my Marine buddy to Iraq. For those of y'all who ain't familiar with MI geography, Grand Rapids is across the freakin state, but I had a good feeling so took the truck (normally I'd take the Lincoln) and it was pulling steady 15-16mpg at 1800rpms and 55mph!!! Now my friend wants to get one too, when he gets back from the desert next year, and I happen to know a dealership near Jackson that specializes in only old vehicles and is full of old Chevy trucks in damn good condition

Sunday I went to another good-buy party, a buddy is going to Texas for the summer to do construction work, so we had a ton of people drop by and hang out, it was good.

Today I worked on a '97 Monte Carlo, it's my friend Odi's mom's car and needed lower ball joints and struts - got the ball joints done (burnt myself pretty good with the sparks from the angle grinder), but struts will have to wait till another time.

[bigblock79]

All I accomplished truck-wise was rideing around the pastue today. in my 79 dd and bush hoging with the MF230 and a 5 foot bushog. i had to go get new set of points and coil. and spend 1hr trying to figure why i lost power on it. but got it fix.

[SSC's76]

I'm not too happy with the powerball. I took 20 minutes to get a shine of of 1/2 of my wheels. By that time the little ball was missing several foam peices.

Friday night I picked up a KZ650 for my brother. On my way home I raced a chevell. I missed the shift into second and screwed my coulmb shifter up and the alternator belt is somwhere down town. Bike is still ok.

Saturday I went over my friends house to put the transmission in his 76 ford project truck. I need to post some pics of that engine It's going to move really good until it blows. He spent $4500 for a 351W aluminum heads all the good bolt on stuff but I couldent convice him to spend $700 more on a reman shortblock. Oh well. We also played with his V-Rod a bit had a BBQ and watched the fight. On my way home I lost my PS belt dident think much of it but when I got home I felt kinda stupid since I dident have any belts running the waterpump. The engine is ok though.

Sunday and today I spent some time getting the KZ running. I kinda went overboard with the seafoam today and it stoped running. My brother got all sad but I'll get it going again just need to drain the tank and change plugs. I still need to clean the huge mess in the garage.

1000th post!

[Ivan D.]

Originally Posted by SSC's76

Friday night I picked up a KZ650 for my brother. On my way home I raced a chevell. I missed the shift into second and screwed my coulmb shifter up and the alternator belt is somwhere down town. Bike is still ok.

Lmao, sounds like something I'd do... Oh wait, scratch that, read it as "something I've done"

[Eyegore]

My wife and I went and visited my brother in Pasadena Ca., on the way back today some guy blew his motor, I was right behind him and so much smoke went through blind. Then a few more miles, van on fire, then a roll over, and highway patrol every two miles, glad i made it home in one piece.

[jdmaffeo]

Fabbed up and welded on my exhaust on Thursday night and left for East Texas on Friday. This was the first time in 2 years that I have ever drove the truck. I made a lot of mods and all of them worked! The only thing I had to do was make numerous adjustments to the carb along the way(since I had rebuilt it). It is better now but still a little off. It likes to bog a little and pop out the carb with my foot in it. I do have to figure a few things out tough. The Tach cluster I put in is way off. I guess that the tach is for a stright 6?? Can I do something to correct this?? After I was on the road for a while the speedo was jumping around. Might be the cable but with my luck it's the speedo itself. I believe the the carrier bearing and u-joints need to be replaced! Once I made it out to East TX, I got it inspected and it passed!!! What a relief! I can drive it now and not feel like a criminal! lol....j/k....Other than that, sat inside and watched a lot of movies b/c of the rain and sinus's killing me. Did manage to get on the roof and clean the gutters and clean all the windows on the 2nd level at my mom's!

[Jim85IROC]

I trimmed the grass that's managed to grow almost a foot tall underneath my truck. I also put the battery charger on the truck only to see that the battery is fully charged even though it's sat there ALL winter.

Tonight if I get ambitious I may pull the truck forward back onto the dirt in preparation for my upcoming dual gas tank replacement.

[bulky]

Helped Dad work on the "Water Buffalo" Sandblasted & painted the rear frame & tank brackets. Aluminum tank is off to weld up a couple leaks. It is a late 50's GMC 550 with a Olds 371ci motor and Allison automatic trans. Just needs a 6" drop and some Alcola rims.....

[bmartin9122]

That is a hard act to follow...

1. Friday - attended Snapka's monthly meet
2. Saturday - rain and lots of it
3. Sunday - installed Mopar remote start kit in wife's 06 Ram
4. Monday - replaced both rubber door seals on 79
5. Tuesday - replaced both sets of window felt on 79

[Captkaos]

I spent all day Saturday trying to find out what the heck is wrong with my Suburban.
http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/sm...?topic=3984.45

The rest of the weekend I just relaxed....

SWEET Progress Mike. You finally going to paint it?

[DirtyLarry]

I had planned to replace my old lazy 4” lift springs with a new set of Superlift 6” springs and install a rear ORD shackle flip on my ’78 K10 but my plans got somewhat foiled before the weekend even started. First the springs showed up Thursday without bushings. Guess, I should have read the fine print. You think I could find leaf spring bushing in Southern CO in time for the weekend? Hell, NO. So, I had to order those. I needed to order a 2” drop drag link to go along with my 4” steering arm anyway.

So, I figured I would start on the shackle flip instead. The old brackets came off easy enough but I could not lift the truck high enough (or get the rear axle low enough) with my Gray pneumatic air jack to bolt the shackles to the shackle bracket for fear the front of the truck would ski off the jack stands into my garage queen 1968 GMC. To make maters worse, I couldn’t support the rear of the truck with the pneumatic air jack over the weekend while I wait on parts because the jack was hanging out of the garage and the door wouldn’t close. Can you believe I have all 8 of my friggen jackstands under this one single truck because Superlift doesn’t provide bushings with new leaf springs. Here is to you Superlift

A perfectly sucktastic holiday weekend in my garage. Got a lot of yard work done though

[Srubydo1986]

I didnt get much done on the truck all i realized is it not being very nice to me. NEw flywheel from gm cost 169 now has 3 broken teeth, starters fried to. So i got a buddy to get me a flywhell for 10 bucks so that cool now for the starter. I have many extra starters but they dont work but theyer teeth are good so im taking 2 to make one.

After that all should be good. But on a good not a did spend saturday 10 am tell sunday 1 am at a pig roast pig weighed in at 210 pounds. It was a blast.

[82c10]

if you are talking about your automatic tranny equipped truck, a new flexplate is around $20 from the local chain parts store

[st1]

I went on a fun run (motorcycle) around the island, it was fun.

[Jim85IROC]

Scratch my prior comment about the battery being charged on the truck. It was just so dead that it wouldn't take a charge at first.

[swervin ervin]

Originally Posted by Captkaos

SWEET Progress Mike. You finally going to paint it?

Chris, I got the whole front clip off of it. I replaced the door hinges with some new ones I've had forever. As we all know, there is no way to get hinges off and on with the fenders on it. I have all the exterior trim off of it ready for bodywork. I just need to get off my lazy butt and go talk with the man.

To tell you the truth, I'm really torn between doing a frame off and just body work and paint. I have gotten back into the work on truck frame of mind and hate to quit when I'm doing so good.

I'm real close to jerking out the engine and tranny and doing things like I really want to do it. Just don't know what I am going to do right at the moment.

[bigblock73]

Originally Posted by swervin ervin

To tell you the truth, I'm really torn between doing a frame off and just body work and paint. I have gotten back into the work on truck frame of mind and hate to quit when I'm doing so good.

I'm real close to jerking out the engine and tranny and doing things like I really want to do it. Just don't know what I am going to do right at the moment.

It was only a matter of time Mike...only a matter of time.

If you are essentially happy with the truck and the parts you have on the truck...and don't plan on changing much...then do your body off resto, now is the time. Cost will be minimal, but the time and your patience will be the biggest investment.

I got soo much crap for taking apart my truck in the condition it was in and doing my resto...but in the end it was all worth it. I couldn't see spending all that money on a paintjob and bodywork only to have a dirty, crusty chassis lurking underneath.

I say tear the '85 down and make it better than GM did 22 years ago.

Bet you still finish yours before Chris finishes his! hahah j/k Chris!

[Captkaos]

I don't believe you, show us some pics

You have wanted to do this forever. I can't really say one way or the other how to go. If you plan to drive it a lot for fun not show, clean up the body and leave the frame off alone.

Now if you got some serious changes that are going to be offset by a rusty frame.....

What is going on in your head, or is it top secret?

Originally Posted by swervin ervin

Chris, I got the whole front clip off of it. I replaced the door hinges with some new ones I've had forever. As we all know, there is no way to get hinges off and on with the fenders on it. I have all the exterior trim off of it ready for bodywork. I just need to get off my lazy butt and go talk with the man.

To tell you the truth, I'm really torn between doing a frame off and just body work and paint. I have gotten back into the work on truck frame of mind and hate to quit when I'm doing so good.

I'm real close to jerking out the engine and tranny and doing things like I really want to do it. Just don't know what I am going to do right at the moment.

[swervin ervin]

My problem is I don't have the patience to do this stuff. I am the kind of person that believes now is not soon enough. I love to tinker, fix and make better. I know I would be much happier with a frame off cause I am a neat freak. I am like you Jeff, can't stand the thoughts of painting it and leaving the underneath all dirty and crusty. I wouldn't be showing it but I also won't be driving it in bad weather either. It will be a nice weather driver, and nowhere near daily. I just changed the oil Saturday and the last change was in Dec, and it only had 300 miles on the oil. But of course a lot of that came from the gas smell problem I was having.

No big changes are planned for sure. Just the typical clean and detail everything. I have already changed about everything you can anyway. One thing I am thinking about is a fuel cell like you have done Jeff. Like I said, I'm not sure yet what I am going to do. It is not hurting a thing sitting in my shop, that is for sure.

[bigblock73]

Mike, need some motivation?

I can send you the before pics if it help.

Originally Posted by swervin ervin

One thing I am thinking about is a fuel cell like you have done Jeff.

I can set you up with a mounting ring like mine when you are ready...

[N2TRUX]

Jeff, that looks soooo good.

Mike even if you don't tear it down completely like Jeff has done you can still do a lot of detail to the suspension. I think if you blasted all the gunk from underneath and sprayed it all satin black you would be pleased with the results.

Keep in mind once everything is painted, it's much easier to keep it clean underneath....

[babyJay]

My sweetie and I were at the indy 500..

Our camp spot in lot 1C

Plenty of Coors on tap..

A KEWL Chevy....

And another...

The Corvette pace car in turn 3

A Chevy HD in action...

That's us in our seats just before turn 3...


It was a good time...lived in Indiana all my life and never been to it!