Restoring Rusty

[Titomars]

Originally Posted by 68post

"Joe Dirt"

???

[Titomars]

well look at that the mysterious lubriplate finally made a showing.

[greg64]

Originally Posted by Titomars

who is David Spade??

One of the SNL guys for a number of years.

[Titomars]

Originally Posted by greg64

One of the SNL guys for a number of years.

Sorry that does not help. I have not watched SNL since the 70's.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by rich weyand

Mecum recently sold an original, low-mileage Dodge Daytona hemi for $900,000.

David Spade bought it. <church lady voice> Isn't that special? </clv>

LMAO, that made snot come out of my nose, so darn funny, didn't know you had it in ya Rich

[rich weyand]

Originally Posted by Gregski

LMAO, that made snot come out of my nose, so darn funny, didn't know you had it in ya Rich

Yeah, my friends all call me Mucinex. ;-)

Hey, now that you have the speedo cable and the lubriplate, a little note. If the speedo cable is crushed to a .104 square on both ends, the cable can go in the housing either way. You know how a screw pump works, right? Put the cable in so that the "screw" of the cable, when it spins in forward, pumps toward the transmission. Otherwise excess speedo cable grease and anything (like tranny gear lube) that gets into the cable gets pumped up into the back of the instrument panel.

[Gregski]

can somebody remind me what the heck we ordered this for?

I kid, I kid

It was supposed to take TWO WEEKS but it got here in only 11 days, that's like saying I plan on finishing this marathon in 23 hours and then thinking you set the world on fire when you come in at 20 hours

what? bad example, well that's all I got

[Gregski]

on the way home from work today I decided to pop into O"Reilly's and pick up another speedometer cable, a different one from that junk I got at AutoZone, well they had one but it was the same exact brand, but [wait for it...] for $4 bucks more

So I hit NAPA auto parts and these guys showed they had THREE cables in their "system" well so I say to the guy I'll take the top one on the list the 61" one, he says I'll get you the last one on the list, I say what, why? he says look it's the exact same part number, I go but it says "Lower Speedometer Cable"

anyway sure enuff the $19 dollar "Lower Speedometer Cable" he got for me is the full length cable like my old two piece cable together

just sharing this ordeal with you as you gotta look out for yourself, since nobody cares more about your truck than you do

by the way that poor quality Pioneer speedometer cable from AutoZone is 80 inches long (too long folks wants to hug and melt on the exhaust pipe)

[Gregski]

the new NAPA speedometer cable fits the speedometer like it should, so I took the truck for a test drive (private road)

I ran it one way at 70 MPH and the other way at 80 MPH

then the truck died

I swear I ought to write a column called "Adventures of a Man and His Old Truck"

what happens next is comedy on wheels

naturally I am right in front of a No Parking Any Time sign and a fire hydrant staring right at me with a shadow grin as if to say now what you gonna do looser?

so I recon once again I am out of gas, so I push him to the curb and run/jog home (one mile)

I jump in my other car, take kid to karate, hit a gas station, go to Rusty

ah good I got here before the cops, no ticket, poor 2 gallons in him, he fires right up, I pull in to the closest parking lot, and leave him there so I can take my other car home

get home in other car, jump on sons bike, ride to get rusty (looking like a circus gorilla on one of 'em tricycles)

throw bike in bed of truck, out of breath, jump in the cab all sweaty, HE WON'T START, what the monkey tails is going on Rusty?

if there is one sound I know now, it is the sound a vehicle makes when it has no fuel, I am all like dude, I just pored 2 gallons down your throat, where did it go

check see through (newly installed mind you) fuel filter - empty / dry / de nada

crank a few more times, nothin, remove the air cleaner (I don't know why, guys who know what they are doing do it all the time, so monkey see monkey do, hee hee)

walk around truck see dark puddle on ground right about the area where the transmission crossmember connects to the frame rails on passenger side (don't even say it)

darn, I got a fuel leak - and no tools in the truck

ride sons bike back home - its dark by now

time to get him from karate, ride to get him

hit NAPA to get a tow strap, NAPA closed early, they are getting new floors put in

hit Pep Boys, closed too

hit O'Reilly's get tow strap

Race home...

Honey, honey, have you ever towed a truck before? wanna learn?

well my beloved is a natural, she towed me and Rusty home, and we only broke the 5,000 lbs 25 foot yellow tow strap once

[Motherfrog402]

Originally Posted by Gregski

the new NAPA speedometer cable fits the speedometer like it should, so I took the truck for a test drive (private road)

I ran it one way at 70 MPH and the other way at 80 MPH...

....walk around truck see dark puddle on ground right about the area where the transmission crossmember connects to the frame rails on passenger side (don't even say it)

darn, I got a fuel leak - and no tools in the truck

ride sons bike back home - its dark by now

time to get him from karate, ride to get him

hit NAPA to get a tow strap, NAPA closed early, they are getting new floors put in

hit Pep Boys, closed too

hit O'Reilly's get tow strap

Race home...

Honey, honey, have you ever towed a truck before? wanna learn?

well my beloved is a natural, she towed me and Rusty home, and we only broke the 5,000 lbs 25 foot yellow tow strap once

I think a few of us have had that happen once or twice...or three times. Good news is it's probably an easy fix.

Speedo cable...don't know what to tell you there.

[y5mgisi]

Dang it!

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by Gregski

the new NAPA speedometer cable fits the speedometer like it should, so I took the truck for a test drive (private road)

I ran it one way at 70 MPH and the other way at 80 MPH

then the truck died

I swear I ought to write a column called "Adventures of a Man and His Old Truck"

what happens next is comedy on wheels

naturally I am right in front of a No Parking Any Time sign and a fire hydrant staring right at me with a shadow grin as if to say now what you gonna do looser?

so I recon once again I am out of gas, so I push him to the curb and run/jog home (one mile)

I jump in my other car, take kid to karate, hit a gas station, go to Rusty

ah good I got here before the cops, no ticket, poor 2 gallons in him, he fires right up, I pull in to the closest parking lot, and leave him there so I can take my other car home

get home in other car, jump on sons bike, ride to get rusty (looking like a circus gorilla on one of 'em tricycles)

throw bike in bed of truck, out of breath, jump in the cab all sweaty, HE WON'T START, what the monkey tails is going on Rusty?

if there is one sound I know now, it is the sound a vehicle makes when it has no fuel, I am all like dude, I just pored 2 gallons down your throat, where did it go

check see through (newly installed mind you) fuel filter - empty / dry / de nada

crank a few more times, nothin, remove the air cleaner (I don't know why, guys who know what they are doing do it all the time, so monkey see monkey do, hee hee)

walk around truck see dark puddle on ground right about the area where the transmission crossmember connects to the frame rails on passenger side (don't even say it)

darn, I got a fuel leak - and no tools in the truck

ride sons bike back home - its dark by now

time to get him from karate, ride to get him

hit NAPA to get a tow strap, NAPA closed early, they are getting new floors put in

hit Pep Boys, closed too

hit O'Reilly's get tow strap

Race home...

Honey, honey, have you ever towed a truck before? wanna learn?

well my beloved is a natural, she towed me and Rusty home, and we only broke the 5,000 lbs 25 foot yellow tow strap once

Seriously.. Anyone who is a backyard mechanic or works on vehicles has had this happen at least once or twice!

[Chaplain]

Incredible...

[greg64]

"We're leaking gas?
We are now.
What, you thought you needed another challenge or something?!"

Too bad about the breakdown, Greg. I'm guessing the fuel line got nicked when you were screwing around with the transmission crossmember.

Buy hey, you were up to 80 mph for a while there! Which makes me wonder, with an SM465, how many revs was the engine turning over?

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by greg64

Buy hey, you were up to 80 mph for a while there! Which makes me wonder, with an SM465, how many revs was the engine turning over?

Couldn't tell ya, the tachometer was on my desk back at home, LOL. Getting that installed whilst upgrading my gauge cluster to a 1978 model may be part of MARCH MADNESS, stay tuned.

I am also interested in what it does at a highway cruising speed, I forget what miles per hour something like 70 or 75 where you check how fast it's spinning, know what the heck I am talking about?

[greg64]

Originally Posted by Gregski

Couldn't tell ya, the tachometer was on my desk back at home, LOL. Getting that installed whilst upgrading my gauge cluster to a 1978 model may be part of MARCH MADNESS, stay tuned.

I am also interested in what it does at a highway cruising speed, I forget what miles per hour something like 70 or 75 where you check how fast it's spinning, know what the heck I am talking about?

Greg, what rear gears do you have, and what size tires? I'm now curious what RPM the engine was at, and I'll calculate it.

I like that tach.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by greg64

Greg, what rear gears do you have, and what size tires? I'm now curious what RPM the engine was at, and I'll calculate it.

3.42 - I am pretty sure

235/75 - R15 on the tires

[greg64]

Originally Posted by Gregski

3.42 - I am pretty sure

235/75 - R15 on the tires

That works out to an engine RPM of 3184. Not as high as I thought it might be.

[Chaplain]

In old news, I checked this morning. Small reservoir, big tubing, rear brakes on my truck.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Chaplain

In old news, I checked this morning. Small reservoir, big tubing, rear brakes on my truck.

Thank you Chap, do you recall which chamber is in the front and which one is in the rear?

[Chaplain]

Small chamber at the rear.

[Gregski]

UNBELIEVABLE

So I git home and I figure I better go take a look at Rusty. So I grab a flashlight and crawl under him, he's parked on the street right in front of my house cause we couldn't get him in the driveway last night.

Things look dry as a bone, no leak in the fuel lines that I can see. Hmm I think to myself, I might want to turn him over to git that fuel pump a pumpin a bit to build up some pressure if possible maybe expose that leak.

Low and behold he fires right up, ready to go... like that lazy ol' dog laying by the kitchen table that jumps up when you grab your hat and open the front door to head out, he's right beside you now... where we going, were we going, are we going for a walk, know what I mean

so I shut him off, and wait a minute or two and try again, he fires right up

so I pull him in the garage, and shut him down, then I wait a minute and try to start him again, and he fires right up

so I say fine lemme Lupricate that shifter and put the turtle shell back on, let me put the gauge cluster lense and cover back on (took it off to install the new speedo cable remember) then I do a couple other things and about an hour or so later... he fires right up again, so I pull him out of the garage and park him in the driveway

I don't like the games Rusty is playing I'm guessing the good gasoline I'm pouring in him is going straight to his heads (get it, LOL)

[Gregski]

so which is it is it called a Parking Brake or an Emergency Brake?

either way I replaced the parking/emergency brake release handle with a used one I found at a junk yard, it's all about the little things with these old trucks, and there is a 1/2 ton (get it, C10) of little things to fix on 'em

Note: my old handle had this intelligent metal clip that you can remove and snap back on in 2 seconds, the one I pulled from the junk yard had a god forsaked plastic one that took me for ever to get out and I might have even damaged/mangled it in the process

[Gregski]

Lets find the source of that Pavement Lubrication System shall we?

Man this guy's lost his mind, isn't that Baby Powder? what in the world is he gonna do with that Baby Powder? I don't wanna know... wait what, he sprinkled it all over the back of the motor, the valve covers, the bellhousing...hmmm that's hecka smart dude, where did you learn that?

[Odaroloc]

Very cool man!