Project Larry - 1964 Chevy

[ronin57]

Originally Posted by Mechanic77

Just something to look at for the oil leak...check and make sure there is a short bolt in the front of the block on the passenger side right where the fuel pump pushrod goes through the block. There is two bolt holes right above each other right above the oil pan on the passenger side, it will be the top one. That bolt hole goes all the way through and if there is no bolt plugging it, it will pour oil out (I speak from experience). Hopefully I explained it well enough

Oh, and if there isn't a bolt in it, make sure to put a very short (1/2" or less) bolt in it or it will hit the fuel pump pushrod and cause more problems

While at the shop this morning I checked on this bolt hole. Sure enough there's no bolt there. Thanks for the tip, I'll get it plugged.

[Mechanic77]

Originally Posted by ronin57

While at the shop this morning I checked on this bolt hole. Sure enough there's no bolt there. Thanks for the tip, I'll get it plugged.

No problem

Just an FYI...late model fuel injected blocks without provisions for a mechanical fuel pump don't have this issue

[blackedoutharley]

What brand of rocker arm was that?

[ronin57]

Originally Posted by blackedoutharley

What brand of rocker arm was that?

1.52 Magnum Rocker from COMP Cams

[Togart]

Nice build...and cool to see the 3/4t disc brake swap...I'm planning the same thing on my GMC.

Hope you get the motor figured out cheaply...it is disappointing when it is one thing after another.

[ronin57]

Here are some more pics of the truck. This series is of the engine compartment. Again, the engine is a 383 Stroker, Isky 270 cam, RHS cast iron heads, Weiland Action+ intake, Edlbrock 600cfm 4-bbl car, rams head exhaust manifolds, HEI distributor.

The brake master cylinder and booster are from the '73 donor truck.

I had an opportunity to get the truck under tow. My youngest son and I are building a 50 chev sedan. He's using it for his Senior Project so we needed to get it to the school for the administrators to evaluate. We loaded it into my trailer and hauled it to town and back...a ~50 mile round trip.

The truck performed well...plenty of power to haul up hills and enough weight to control the trailer. The only concern was the trany (700R4) heated up a bit. I've got an external oil cooler on it and the day wasn't warm. I'm going to have to keep an eye on it.

[ronin57]

...and here as some pics of the interior/exterior.

I put a new steering wheel and some gauges in it (oil pres, water temp, volt, trans temp). My gauge panel ended up a bit bulky. I'll make another one that's more streamlined when I get some time. I left room at the end of this one for a vacuum gauge. The switch under the key fob is for the torque converter lockup. I put in an idiot light so I can easily tell if it's locked up or not day or night.

One other thing I did was to raise the bench seat ~2 inches. It doesn't sound like much, but that 2 inches makes a world of different to my knees. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my commute to work is 2-2.5 hours each way (barring traffic jams). I get there and back comfortably in this truck setup like it is.

This shifter is a B&M StreetRod shifter. It's my understanding that B&M has discontinued this shifter, which is good because it's hard to keep adjust and rattles at certain engine rpm.

The wheels are dirty in these pics, but I really like the look of the eight lugs.

The body picked up some rust over the winter that I'll take care of this summer. I drove this in some pretty harsh conditions - sub freezing temps, rain, sleet, snow, high winds and blowing snow - all the joys of living in the Intermountain West. On that topic, I've been driving 4-wheel drives for the last decade or so, I was a bit concerned about driving a 2-wheel drive in the types of conditions I have to drive in. This truck handled it all great. I never got sideways and really never had any unexpected slipping or sliding despite driving on unplowed highways. I couldn't be happier.

If I can just get the engine to stay together, I'm going to have a very long and happy relationship with this truck.

[ronin57]

...full disclosure... I did put 350lbs in the bed of the truck for winter driving, that really added a lot to the traction.

Also, for anyone doing this conversion, I reused the clamshell motor mounts that came with the '73 donor truck. The engine ended up ~ 2 inches forward and 2 inches higher in the engine bay than the stock setup. In my case I needed to trim the fan shroud and I'll change to a short lower radiator hose next time I replace it. There's still plenty of space above the air cleaner.

[aspiringthomas]

I thought that was a 62 grill also.

[61_FL_Apache]

Looks great!!! Nice work!!

[panelrodder81]

Originally Posted by aspiringthomas

I thought that was a 62 grill also.

It is an older grill actually. Not sure where it came from but when I owned the truck someone mentioned it to me... I think it might have even been earlier in this thread when I first started it.

-Panelrodder