The Government Mule - 62 c20 with service bed

[jcramsey]

Went to the Charlotte Auto Fair a few weeks ago and had my T5 up under my brothers truck when an older gentleman stopped by to ask me if it was for sale. I told him it wasn't and he said he had probably done over 200 T5's through the years. I proceeded to picked his brain for a few minutes and then he handed me his card...it said Langdons Stovebolt on it. It was Tom Langdon himself! I thought that was pretty cool!

I did wind up selling the Camaro T5 in Charlotte and picked up an s10 T5 while I was there. The camaro trans needed some work and I really wanted the s10 shifter location. I ordered a spacer plate last week and an 11" Astro van clutch so I am slowly moving forward on this thing. I quickly mocked it all up today just to give myself some motivation. Hopefully I can set it in the truck next week and begin to work out my motor mounts.

[TJ's Chevy]

Nice!!

[jcramsey]

Wife went out of town Tuesday night so when the baby was sleeping/napping I managed to get the front clip off. For as rough as this truck looks I only had one bolt out of all that I removed give me any trouble. I was shocked.

Managed to run over the rake while I was huffing and puffing trying to push it out of the garage. Thankfully I did have one spare that would fit this truck.

[RDrancher]

But is the rake ok?

[jcramsey]

Originally Posted by RDrancher

But is the rake ok?

The rake made it through unscathed, thanks for checking! :

[TJ's Chevy]

Just as long as the rake is OK.

[jcramsey]

Stuck the 250/t5 between the frame rails to get an idea of what I need to do next....and to also get it out of the garage floor so my wife can park her car in it again.

Leaning heavily towards a 73-88 crossmember swap right now.

[TJ's Chevy]

Fits right in there!

[jcramsey]

Originally Posted by TJ's Chevy

Fits right in there!

Yea...the T5 looks right at home in there!

Also got a day late birthday present from the DMV on Saturday. The title to the truck! It didn't have a title when I bought it, but I had a DMV inspector come out a few months back and she signed off on it and I sent the paperwork in. Its a non-op/off road only title right now, but she said once I get it running and driving to give her a call and she will come check it out again and I can get the regular title.....that might be a while.

[RDrancher]

Looks like it belongs in there.

I've also been thinking about doing the later model front end swap on my boy's '64. Haven't looked into it too much but from what I've seen it seems fairly simple.

[jcramsey]

Originally Posted by RDrancher

Looks like it belongs in there.

I've also been thinking about doing the later model front end swap on my boy's '64. Haven't looked into it too much but from what I've seen it seems fairly simple.

Yea from what I've read, its a matter of drilling two new holes, elongating two holes, and the rest line up.

[jcramsey]

Picked up a finned aluminum valve cover this morning. Came off a Mercruiser Chevy 250 based boat engine.

[TJ's Chevy]

Nice!!! The mericruser covers are nice!!!

[jcramsey]

Found a guy 2 hours away with a 3/4 ton square body front clip so made the drive to pick it up yesterday. He had quite the square body graveyard around his house and had just picked up a nice K10 that I would love to have.

Looking forward to getting the old torsion bar setup out and getting this in. Even came with a power steering box so Ill see what it's going to take to swap that in as well. Maybe just a captainfab bracket?

[1971 GMC SHORTY]

*****en Truck i Have 1966 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Service Box. ordered out of California. Built in back east
utility bed put on in Chicago Shipped Back to Los Angeles Ca

[jcramsey]

Originally Posted by 1971 GMC SHORTY

*****en Truck i Have 1966 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Service Box. ordered out of California. Built in back east
utility bed put on in Chicago Shipped Back to Los Angeles Ca

Thanks Shorty! Hoping I can get it going here soon. Love your 66 utility truck. That low profile bed is sweet!

[jcramsey]

Managed to get the old torsion bar crossmember out yesterday. Pretty straightforward....just had to locate a few bolts that were hidden under 50+ years of oil and dirt.

[namloc]

That is great find and you are movin along.The change in frt. end is good upgrade.

[jcramsey]

Got the new crossmember in and some of the gunk pressure washed off the front end when my buddy brought his pressure washer over the other day. Still need to hook up my steering and make sure the motor mounts are going to work. Feels good to be moving forward.

[rusty76]

I'm late. I forgot you picked this one up. It is really cool. Looking good.

[jcramsey]

Thanks rusty! Hoping to have it road worthy by Spring Auto Fair next year!

[jcramsey]

Huge day today....picked up four 9/16-18 lug nuts so I could get back to roller status Didnt want to spend $32 on an entire set and would much rather have some that matched the rest of the ones I've got on the back instead of these shiny new ones.

I did manage to cut off the bump stops and hang one fender just to keep the motivation fires burning.

[rusty76]

Slowly making progress. Thanks for the updates.

[jcramsey]

Nothing like picking up another project to bring progress to a screeching halt. Found a great deal on a 1 owner 67 International 1000B with 39,XXX original miles needing some love and brought it home a few weeks ago. Wanting to get it running and driving and send it on its way to make a little extra money to put some goodies on the Gov't Mule.

[rusty76]

Those old internationals always seem to have a modern classic look. You taking it to the auto fair this year?