'66 Custom Camper workhorse project

[pbbelly]

Originally Posted by pbbelly

I have some questions that some of you may be able to answer and save me some trial and error:

1. Will the rear manual crossmember from the '70 fit in the '66 frame?

2. If the answer to #1 is no, will one from the '61 work? I know there are significant differences bewtween '61 and '66 frames in other areas.

3. Will the '70 (manual floor shift) steering column fit?

4. Does the '61 C20 have the same vulcanized rear cab mounts? (it's not like it will be hard to look at that, but it is at my dad's farm and I won't be up there for a few days.)

Here are the answers I've found for my questions above in case anyone ever wonders:

1. & 2. Don't know. It turned out that when I went with the NV4500 I didn't need an intermediate crossmember. The TH400 crossmember worked great with the NV4500, I just had to move it forward some and drill different holes in the frame.

3. It will pretty much bolt in, but the turn signal harness won't plug up. ( I did read that there is supposedly an adapter harness available) I swapped my automatic column for a manual '66 one (4-5-6 Chevy trucks-Anthony is great to deal with!). Since I used the '70 steering gear I was going to have to change or modify the steering shaft. I really liked the idea of a collapsible shaft instead of the death spear that came in the truck, so I used the shaft out of the '70 column in the '66 manual column housing. this made the collapsible section a bolt-in fit.

4. I never looked and never found out one way or the other. After some research I didn't want the vulcanized mounts anyway... I bought a set of frame brackets from 4-5-6 Chevy Trucks and used a set of urethane cab mounts for a 1/2 ton.

[pbbelly]

Weather and a terminally ill relative kept me away from working on the truck until recently. I have been spending a lot of quality time on it in the last couple of weeks though. Nothing that is very photogenic. I've run all new hard brake lines, fabricated brake pedal linkage for the hydroboost, figured out how I wanted to plumb the clutch, rebuilt my donor steering gear among other piddly things. I'll post pictures when something interesting comes up.

[jdl71]

Really liking what you've done so far. Sub'd.

[pbbelly]

Ah, the carnage!

I have been working on the truck a lot lately, but not making a lot of progress.

I bought my 4bt several years ago from a kid whose last name was James and lived in Kearney, Missouri (where Jesse James once lived). I should have paid attention to that omen.

Honestly, he probably just passed on the story that was fed to him and the real crook is the guy that sold him the engine. They story he told me was that it was from a bread truck and that it had been overhauled not too long before the truck was taken out of service. He had plans to put twin turbos on it and put it in something but changed his mind. He advertised it on craigslist and I ended up buying it. It would easily fit into the project I originally purchased it for so it sat in my shop for three or four years until I started this project.

Before I went too far I pulled the oil pan and timing cover to see what things looked like, kill the proverbially killer dowel pin and replace the crankshaft seals. While I was in there I looked at one of the main bearings and one of the rod bearings and they looked good. I did find that the brace on the pickup tube was broken, so I put in a new one of them.

Before I attempted to start it, I installed it in the truck and hooked up the cooling system etc. I pulled out the injectors to see if/how they sprayed. One would not spray at all. I even swapped injectors from one line to anther, but that one wouldn't spray no matter where it was connected.

While I had the injectors out I cranked the engine over on the starter until it built oil pressure.

I got a deal on a set of practically new injectors from a fellow who had bought a set and within 200 miles cracked a head. Replacement heads (and newer model 4bts) utilize 7mm injectors and are less prone to cracking. I don't think 9mm heads are available any longer.

I put the new injectors in and while I was cranking the engine over, bleeding the injector lines, it was apparent that one or more cylinders were down on compression. While I was bleeding the lines it started up and ran on two cylinders. I kept bleeding the lines alternately and it was clear that cylinders #1 and #2 were dead. That made me suspect that a head gasket was blown between #2 and #2.

This morning I pulled the head off of it. Here's what I found:









This is light shining under a straightedge showing the huge gap where the trench is eroded in the block. The head has a similar groove, but it isn't quite as deep.

I'm looking at reman long blocks now. Any way I go I am going to be out more $$$$. Bummer. I really liked the idea of fuel ecomony, but for the money I am going to have to spend I could buy a lot of gas in a gas burner. I have an old 305 that ran pretty well that I could stick in it for little $$, but I don't think I'd be happy with it. I might seriously consider an LS swap if I could do it for less money, but I kinda doubt that possibility.

I must study the problem for a while.

Oh, and I recently scored a 14 bolt rear axle with 3.73 gears in it, which will get my cruise rpm down where it needs to be for maximum fuel economy.

[Captainfab]

That's too bad about the 4BT. Someone must have been running it with the blown head gasket for a while for it to eat away the block and head like that.

[Jeff La]

That's got to be a bummer.

[Lokin4AReason]

sorry to hear about the new(s) =0/

but that is a nice snag on the 14 bolt =0)

[pbbelly]

Well, continuing on the 4BT trajectory was going to be more money than I was willing to spend. I am going to cut my losses on the Cummins and part it out. I should be able to break even. To that end, I went shopping for a low mileage LS engine/transmission combo. For some reason, I couldn't find anything with less than 100k miles. I know one of those would have a lot of life left in it, but I want even more life. In my search, I stumbled across a 1995 LT1 5.7L and 4L60E out of a wrecked Buick Roadmaster with just 48K on it. I have changed plugs, plug wires, opti-spark cap and rotor and water pump. Now I am paring down the wiring harness to eliminate the unnecessary junk. I have sent off the PCM for a reflash to eliminate much of the emissions stuff and change the final drive ratio parameters.

Now I am regretting swapping my automatic steering column for a floor shift manual one!

[pbbelly]

Whittling down the wiring harness on the LT1.

I had Brendan at LT1swaps.com reflash my PCM to eliminate the smog pump, evap, anti-theft etc. He's a great guy to deal with if you are in need of such services. He does a lot of other GM reflashes too.

[Captainfab]

Anything new to post?

[pbbelly]

Nah. I got sidetracked working out some electrical bugs in my buddy's 60' Condor. I finished it the other night and plan to get back on my truck this weekend. On the upside, I used the Condor to replace several burned out lights in my shop so it will be brighter in there this winter...

[pbbelly]

My poor truck has been back-burnered for a while. I lost my 79 year old mom suddenly right after Christmas. My 81 year old dad is lost without her. I've been spending lots of time with him getting him settled in his new paradigm. Things are finally starting to get back to a new normal and I've been able to scrounge some good parts recently and am working to build a lean-to on my shop so I can move my recently acquired motorhome out of the shop so I will have room to work on my truck. The biggest find I've had was a '65 parts truck with a much solider cab than mine. This alone will save me tons of work. It has a lot of other parts I need and the dash is unmolested. (I can't say the same for my original!)