Working Man's Burbon

[pontiacvince]

Originally Posted by HO455

Now for the sort of controversial part of the repairs. As posted earlier I have some rust on the cowl where the inlet adapter seal sits. (Photo #1) Obviously the optimal repair would be to replace the rusted metal with new metal. For me at this time that is out of the question. The time to pull the front sheet metal exceeds the amount of time I currently have available. And there would be the dreaded project creep.

My solution is to grind out all the rust I can, (Photo #2) then lay some fiberglass resin and mat over the area followed by sanding (Photo #3). Then I put a light coat of resin over the area to seal the frayed ends of the mat that was exposed by the sanding. Then some paint. (Those two photos didn't turn out to be usable. Whoops!)

Many folks will claim that this won't last a year and the rust will be back. Which is possible but I have had good luck in the past doing it this way. Back in 1984 I recreated the rusted rear quarter panels on my GTO. Back then there weren't any reproduction panels and frankly didn't have the skills or tools to do that kind of job. But I did have access to free fiberglass pipe repair kits that had passed their expiration date. With time and a grinder I dove into the project and 6 months later I had rust free quarters. Those quarters are still on the car today. One side has a crack but that was from towing a loaded car trailer with L60/15 tires through a bad driveway transition. DHOO! The other side is still nice and solid.

30 plus years in the tug boat world has taught me every job has a time and resource limit that has to be met. I am confident the rust has been stopped and will be fine until the time when the front clip can come off and the whole area can get renovated.

I hope everyone is okay with this repair and the logic behind it.

Thanks again to everyone who visits.

Thanks for the heater box tutorial!
I don't have a clue how I got so lucky with my 'Burb. It sat here in the East side for about 15 years, and it came from a guy stationed at the shipyards at Bremerton before that. I replaced my heater core with the one from LMC, but kept the factory one. My box and everything was OK. Let us know how much $$$ to get it re-cored.

[HO455]

The recored heater was not cheap! $185 I believe there is only one shop in the area that does this kind of work anymore. There's a big sign out front that says $195 and hour and $220 an hour for marine work.

I will say that nothing I have received from Wilson Radiator has ever developed a leak or other issue. Unlike the 3 parts store heater cores I replaced in my S10 Blazer in one year. Only one of which was covered under warranty. Which was nice but, it didn't refund my time. So I don't mind the cost as I have confidence it's not going to fail. Especially since it's more work to pull this heater core than a 1st gen S10 heater core.

Segwaying now into installation hiccups. After a bit of struggling I came to the realization that with the proper gasket on the air intake there was no getting the box past the hood hinge as long as the blower motor was in place. And there would no way to get the intake seal installed properly either. So I pulled the blower and got the box in place.

(I have to admit at one point when getting the box lined up and the bolts and it was not falling into place in I realized I had made a dumb move as I hadn't test fitted the box to be sure all the holes were where they were supposed to be. But it eventually lined up and I could breathe easy again.)

With the blower removed I could reach inside and push and prod the seal into place. Once the bolts were snugged up I went to reinstalled the blower and found that there was no way to get the blower past the hood hinge.

To get past the hinge I removed the back 2 bolts on the hinge and slightly loosened the front bolt. Then I closed the hood some and the rear part of the hinge rotated up and the blower was able to slide into place.

Once the blower motor mounting screws were in place I tested the blower to make sure the motor was properly grounded with all the new paint. The grounding was good as the motor spun right up. The problem was that it sounded like a kids bike wheel with a playing card and a clothes pin.

So I pulled the blower and found the blower wheel was touching the motor mounting plate. Somehow the blower had been pushed too far on the motor shaft. Puzzling to say the least as this was the same blower I had been using. I inspected the motor shaft and found that it has 2 flat sides that provide a very small area to stop the blower fan from being pushed on too far. The under side of the didn't look like there was anyway to catch those 2 small flats. (Photo #1) I then pulled the blower fan off the motor that came with the new heater box and I found it had this little stamped metal washer gizmo that prevents the fan from getting pushed on the shaft to far.(Photo #2) Those clever folks at GM! At some point in the wrestling around to get the blower back in I pushed the blower fan an additional 3/16". Without the washer gizmo in place there wasn't anything to keep the blower in place.

This time the blower got installed correctly with the washer gizmo in place and it tested good. Then it was just replace the 2 hood hinge bolts and a bit of fiddling about getting to close right.

The rest was reinstalling the fender well and filling the drained coolant. Then I let the engine idle for 10 minutes and shut it off to heat soak. I did find I had a small leak from the upper hose connection that removing the hose clamp and reversing how it was positioned on the hose solved the leak.

Yet to come my rant about the heater box seals.

[LockDoc]

-
There is always more than one way to skin a cat (or heater box). I think it will probably outlast both of us...

I fixed one with panel glue for gluing sheet metal body panels on. The only reason I tried it was because a friend of mine was gluing quarter panels on his '55 Chevy. I made the piece and took the whole thing over to his place. I figured as long as he had the glue out I might as well try it. It worked out good.

LockDoc

[Accelo]

Thanks for a great write up.
I agree, American Classics in Vancouver, is overpriced on almost everything.

Some of my wife's relatives were Columbia River Pilots.
We have the certificates here. Both are dated 1884 certificates number 2 and 3.

[HO455]

Originally Posted by LockDoc

-
There is always more than one way to skin a cat (or heater box). I think it will probably outlast both of us...
LockDoc

You're probably right Doc.

[HO455]

Originally Posted by Accelo

Thanks for a great write up.
I agree, American Classics in Vancouver, is overpriced on almost everything.

Some of my wife's relatives were Columbia River Pilots.
We have the certificates here. Both are dated 1884 certificates number 2 and 3.

You're welcome. That's cool about your wife's relatives. Back in the days of steam and sail, no radios or other electronics, no dams keeping the river under control, no dredging to maintain the channel, a different breed of pilot for sure.

Have you ever been to the COLRIP office? It's pretty cool with lots of old photos and I'm pretty sure they have a photo of every river pilot since #1. I don't think they actually do tours but with your wife's family history it's likely they would if you wanted to. I work with them almost everyday at work, if you're interested I could ask about a visit.

[HO455]

I've been so busy reconstructing one of my garages and it's carport before the rains start I haven’t looked back here. Now I see I forgot to pass on some some information.

First off is a poor product rant. I used the reproduction gasket set made by Repops. (Photo #1 & 2) I only used the the heat core and blower to cowl seal (Photo #2 the two gaskets on the left side of photo. I believe the rest are for inside the cab.)

All of the gaskets I used were too small and had to be stretched to fit or I had to use silicone to seal the areas the gasket didn't seal as I mentioned above.

The blower to cowl seal ring was about 3/16" too small to fit fit on the blower flange. I tried to glue it with contact cement but it wouldn't stay put. Fortunately the seal is sandwiched tight enough by the heater box that it seems to be staying in place.

The heater core gasket was also too small. It had to be stretched and then glued in place. It was easily a quarter of a inch undersized. Photo #4 shows the gasket taped in place and the arrows show where the gasket should lay. I was pretty sure I would break the gasket trying to glue it in place but I got lucky. I started by putting contact cement on two of the opposite corners and then set them in place. After they were dry I did then glued the remaining corners. Once they dried I glued the remainder down. It worked okay but one corner of the first corners came loose while I was stretching the second set of corners in place and didn't go back exactly where it should have been. (Upper left in Photo #4) but it should work. It's better than no gasket at all which is what I had before. Unfortunately I won't know if it fails. Maybe out of sight and out of mind is okay for this.

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by HO455

I've been so busy reconstructing one of my garages and it's carport before the rains start I haven’t looked back here. Now I see I forgot to pass on some some information.

First off is a poor product rant. I used the reproduction gasket set made by Repops. (Photo #1 & 2) I only used the the heat core and blower to cowl seal (Photo #2 the two gaskets on the left side of photo. I believe the rest are for inside the cab.)

All of the gaskets I used were too small and had to be stretched to fit or I had to use silicone to seal the areas the gasket didn't seal as I mentioned above.

The blower to cowl seal ring was about 3/16" too small to fit fit on the blower flange. I tried to glue it with contact cement but it wouldn't stay put. Fortunately the seal is sandwiched tight enough by the heater box that it seems to be staying in place.

The heater core gasket was also too small. It had to be stretched and then glued in place. It was easily a quarter of a inch undersized. Photo #4 shows the gasket taped in place and the arrows show where the gasket should lay. I was pretty sure I would break the gasket trying to glue it in place but I got lucky. I started by putting contact cement on two of the opposite corners and then set them in place. After they were dry I did then glued the remaining corners. Once they dried I glued the remainder down. It worked okay but one corner of the first corners came loose while I was stretching the second set of corners in place and didn't go back exactly where it should have been. (Upper left in Photo #4) but it should work. It's better than no gasket at all which is what I had before. Unfortunately I won't know if it fails. Maybe out of sight and out of mind is okay for this.

Did you coat both surfaces with contact cement and let them dry to the touch before sticking them together? I installed a lot of formica counter tops in my day and that was always the recommended way to use contact cement. I still use that method on everything I glue with it.

I have also installed a lot of rubber running board covers on antique vehicles and you do those the same way.

Like you said, once you get them bolted up the gaskets can't go anywhere.

LockDoc

[HO455]

Part two of rant. I didn't use the big gasket in the set but I will point a problem I noticed to others. This gasket is larger than the box it is shipped in so the manufacturer folds it up. As a result the foam is crushed and it doesn't recover its original shape when unfolded. (See photos 1&2.)

I forgot to include that I used window seal cord from a box store to seal the fiberglass heater box to the metal parts of the box and the firewall. (Photo #3) Others here had posted they have used it without issue. I would have liked it better if it had been slightly larger in diameter. It just seemed to be some what undersized even though I did see one spot where it excess pushed out I'm not confident it sealed completely. I used the window seal it as it was only $7 as compared to the correct 3M sealant which was $46
at NAPA.

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/MMM08578

This seal cord goes in the groove around the flange on the fiberglass heater box. In the 4th photo you can see the ends of it sticking out (Green arrows.) from under the gray plate over the blower fan. The yellow arrows point to the groove around the rest of the heater box where the seal cord needs to be installed. I believe this is to prevent air leaks between the engine compartment and inside the heater box. The red line in the last photo is a rough approximation of the areas the seal cord goes.

[HO455]

And lastly I started to really fight getting the flapper door cable hooked up while trying to get the heater box lined up with the through bolts from inside the cab. It was looking like there was going to be a whole lot of blue language involved before I realized there was a convenient plug under the dash that once removed allowed me to easily hook the cable up after the box was installed. What a great coincidence there being a hole right where I needed one!

[HO455]

Originally Posted by LockDoc

Did you coat both surfaces with contact cement and let them dry to the touch before sticking them together? I installed a lot of formica counter tops in my day and that was always the recommended way to use contact cement. I still use that method on everything I glue with it.

I have also installed a lot of rubber running board covers on antique vehicles and you do those the same way.

Like you said, once you get them bolted up the gaskets can't go anywhere.

LockDoc

I did coat both sides but, to be honest I think my contact cement was bad or was going bad. It had turned a dark gray color. It didn't want to stick to the gaskets very well. Or maybe I needed to clean the gaskets with a solvent before attempting to glue them.

[HO455]

I did some M&R on the Burban today. An oil change which was only notable by the fact that I have now 50k miles on the truck. How did that happen? Where did I go?

The other chores were to adjust the drivers side door. The top of the door seems to have opened up a bit which is causing wind noise next to my head. I marked the upper hinge before I loosened all the bolts one turn except the lowest one on the bottom hinge. That lowest bolt I only loosened about 1/3 of a turn. The idea is that I could bump the op of the door inward and not loose any other adjustments.

Fortunately it went as planned. I measured the top of the door frame to the cab with a micrometer before and after. I was surprised to see how much movement it took at the hinge (about 3/16") and I only gained 1/16" at the top of the door. (Photo #2) A test drive proved that 1/16 inch was enough to quiet the noise.

The other thing I did was to modify my PVC hose. As of late the truck seems to suddenly leaking a lot of oil. I noticed a bunch of oil in the rear main seal area when I did the oil change and there was oil leaking from the front of the intake manifold above the water pump. After further inspection I noticed the hose to the PVC looked like it was collapsed near the connection at the carburetor. I surmised that if the hose was collapsed then there was no vacuum then that might be causing higher pressures in the block that was causing oil to be forced out. Valid or not it was an easy fix. I bent and flared a piece of 3/8" tubing to make an 90 degree bend then installed it where the collapsed section was. (Photo #3) I took an hour and a half drive to Mollala and back and I wasn't able to see any oil leaking from the intake. (Photo #4) Yea! A win for now but, we'll see what city driving brings.

[LockDoc]

-
Good job! it seems like there is always something to fix.....

LockDoc

[Beach-Burban]

Originally Posted by HO455

The other chores were to adjust the drivers side door. The top of the door seems to have opened up a bit which is causing wind noise next to my head. I marked the upper hinge before I loosened all the bolts one turn except the lowest one on the bottom hinge. That lowest bolt I only loosened about 1/3 of a turn. The idea is that I could bump the op of the door inward and not loose any other adjustments.

Fortunately it went as planned. I measured the top of the door frame to the cab with a micrometer before and after. I was surprised to see how much movement it took at the hinge (about 3/16") and I only gained 1/16" at the top of the door. (Photo #2) A test drive proved that 1/16 inch was enough to quiet the noise.

Well once again, HO455 has hit upon a topic that I have needed to delve into for sometime now…so Thanks! I will be looking through your thread and researching other areas of the forum for any and all door related intel, as mine need the whole nine yards! A while ago, I purchased the door seals and window felt kits, but got sidetracked with other agendas. Now it’s time to R&R the doors (after I learn a thing or two about the process). Thanks again for providing motivation!

Woody

[HO455]

You're welcome but it's shared motivation. Your fabulous interior has shamed me into getting more finished on mine. ( For anyone who missed it here's a link to Woody's interior http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=803674&page=2 )

This the first installment of the rear panel creation and installation project. I laid out the old pieces on some new plywood to get a basic pattern of the parts. Of the three pieces only the passenger side piece is a factory piece and it is from a newer year with parchment scrolled vinyl. (Right side of photo #1)

The smallest piece is something the PO had installed where the spare tire goes. (He completely covered the spare tire storage and didn't carry a spare tire. I'm not that lucky, so I removed the hinges cover over the well and got a spare tire.) I'm going to try and use it with a spare tire. (Photo #4)

After a dozen or more test fittings of each one (And several good sized slivers! Time for some new gloves.) I got the new wood pieces cut out. Then I needed to start deciphering the puzzle of brackets that hold the the panels in place. Somewhere along the way my Burban lost all but one of the the factory metal brackets that hold the panels. Fortunately for me Richard2717 came to the rescue and not only provided photos of how the factory installed the brackets but he also provided me with brackets! All hail Richard2717!!! (Last photo. )

[HO455]

Here are the brackets I will be using. I no long need any of the front parts due to the plates I installed to allow the rear seat bracket installation. (Last photo) The 4 dark green pieces with arrows in the first photo. After I get them cleaned and painted I will show them installed.

I may have to modify the one shown in the second photo to work with the panel behind the spare tire.

It's been a big week for milestones. In addition to passing the 50k mile mark with the Burban, there have now been over 200k views to the WMB thread. (Although this posting is in all likelihood quite late as there was the 5 or 6 months several years back when the view counters were out of service. ) Nonetheless once again, THANK YOU EVERYONE who has passed through! And extra appreciation to all of you who have contributed to the thread

It most definitely keeps me motivated! Now hopefully I will get some days before the new year arrives where it won't be raining and I can get more done.

[3757chevy]

Very cool.

[LockDoc]

-
You're getting there. That's one of those jobs that it seems like you are never going to get done....

LockDoc

[HO455]

Originally Posted by LockDoc

-
You're getting there. That's one of those jobs that it seems like you are never going to get done....

LockDoc

And speaking of that...
On the way home from work Friday the WMB tried to die a couple of times before it actually did. I was only 4 blocks from home at the time when it actually quit. After some quick searching around it appeared that I didn't have fuel. The fuel pressure guage was at zero when the pump was energized. I tapped the regulator and the fuel pump with a wrench and when I tested it again I had about 4 PSI on the guage. It was enough to start the truck and get me the rest of the way home. Once home I continued troubleshooting by jumpering past the fuel pump controller and found that the pump would only run for short periods after tapping on it. My new pump had failed! How annoying!

Since I was in the work bubble I parked the WMB and drove the Stink10 until my first day off which was Thanksgiving. The weather was nice and I was able swap the pump out with the old one (Which I had rebuilt some time ago) before the family all got together. The old pump is running good and we're back on the road again.

It seems like I just replaced the pump and I was kinda of annoyed by the seemingly short life span of the new pump. But after looking back in this thread and comparing the date with my gas record I found out the pump was new on 3/13/2020 and it has been 29,000 miles. So maybe I shouldn't be so annoyed.

After tearing down the new pump I observed that the brushes are worn down (Photo #1 See the brush the green arrow pointing to compared to the brush the yellow arrow points to) preventing positive contact with the commutator. I am also not very thrilled about the amount of wear on the commutator. It appears the copper is soft, as are the brushes.

On the up side the rebuild kit I used for the old pump came with 2 different styles of brushes and the ones I didn't use are the right ones for this pump. Now I just need to clean up the commutator on the lathe and reassemble the pump. I am interested in what the pump side looks like so I will inspect that before reassembling the pump.

It appears if I'm going to keep using these Mallory fuel pumps I will have to plan on rebuilding/replacing them every 25k or so. On thing is for sure I'm going to reconfigure the pump and the fuel lines to make swapping the pumps much easier. Currently the pump is though bolted to the frame and the nuts on the back side are almost unreachable. Thus making what should be a 15 minute job into an aggravating 2-3 hour affair that requires the passenger side rear wheel to be removed and the truck jacked up 18 inches.

And as a side note here is a picture of the debris that was in the pump pre-filter. All collected in the last 29k miles.

[LockDoc]

-
The armature looks pretty cruddy too. How well is the pump sealed?

Good thing you weren't a long ways from home when this happened.

I guess it is pretty good luck that the spare set of brushes will work in this pump though.

LockDoc

['68OrangeSunshine]

I ran a Holley Red pump on my '67 K/10 Sub, ''White Fang.''
Nowdays I still use it as a fuel transfer pump.

[HO455]

Originally Posted by LockDoc

-
The armature looks pretty cruddy too. How well is the pump sealed?

Good thing you weren't a long ways from home when this happened.

I guess it is pretty good luck that the spare set of brushes will work in this pump though.

LockDoc

I agree the armature has a bunch of surface rust and I am going to be looking at using some sealant when I put it back together.

Not much sign of corrosion in other places inside at first glance but once I get it cleaned up I will do a real inspection. For all I know the armature came pre-rusted

The old pump didn't have a corrosion problem but there are some differences between the 140 and the 110 pumps. I think I will look into OE pump options before I dive into re-plumbing the system. Maybe there's a perfect brushless pump out there.

[HO455]

Originally Posted by '68OrangeSunshine

I ran a Holley Red pump on my '67 K/10 Sub, ''White Fang.''
Nowdays I still use it as a fuel transfer pump.

The Mallory 140 pump was on the truck when I got it and the PO told me it was on his race car before he installed it on the truck. I'm not married to the Mallory pumps it just was easiest to replace the 140 with a 110 when the 140 quit pumping. That ended up being the lower bearing on the armature had locked up. So two failures with 2 different causes.

I went with the 110 for a replacement as the engine doesn't need a pump as big as the 140 especially with no return line from the regulator.

Did you use the Holley pump on a daily driver and if so how many miles?

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by HO455

Did you use the Holley pump on a daily driver and if so how many miles?

Yes.
I used the Holley Red pump on my Suburban as a daily driver.
When I bought that truck, it had a garden variety auto parts store electric fuel pump. PO merely bypassed the manual pump on the BBC 454. One night when I was about to give a union sister a ride home, the cheap pump quit on me. She got another ride, but while crawling underneath, I saw that the Mech fuel pump was still on the block, but closed off with dead end hoses. So I connected it and she started up. I got home OK.
A couple years later, I was having fuel feed issues with a belly tank and a stock mechanical pump. Someone suggested the Holley pump. So I went for it the next payday.
I had a kill switch under the dash for a security trick. But I ignored the advised Fuel Pressure Safety switch.
[Power is routed to the pump thru an oil pressure sensor. No oil pressure -- no voltage to fuel pump. Keeps the pump from still running if the engine stops.] Since I wasn't Racing, and insufficient fuel flow on starting was my issue, I didn't think I needed this switch.
Then one day, I accidently poured 5 gallons of diesel into my main tank. The engine backfired. The oil-soaked K&N air cleaner caught fire, a plastic see-thru fuel filter melted open, and my fuel pump whirred merrily along feeding the flames.
Luckily, a couple of guys from my motel ran out with fire extinguishers.
I decided to rent a UHaul F350 box truck, buy a bumper hitch, and tow White Fang back to Tucson from El Centro.
To cover expenses, I filed an accident claim with Farmers'. Really, the only real damage was a toasted air cleaner and scorched carburetor, and burned- thru plug wires. The insurance adjuster thought it was a ''piece of S@$%,'' and totalled it, and they gave me a salvage title. It's been sitting awaiting a rebuild ever since.

Anyway I think I ran the Red pump for a couple years and it worked fine.
After it had been sitting for years, I pulled it to use syphoning gas out of jerry cans into the fuel tank. When it stalled one time, I took the top apart and lost one of the commutator brush springs. By the time I found it, I'd stepped on it. I went to the hot rod shop to try to buy new springs, but the don't sell them. Best they could do was sell me a Blue Holley pump for $35 for parts-- one they'd traded out under warranty because it leaked. I never stole the good Blue springs for the Red pump, I just traded pumps. A slight weep, doesn't matter in a fuel transfer. That's what I use today.
In operation on the Sub, I had mounted it on the inside frame rail, about under the passenger seat. No indicator was needed, the Holley announced its presence when ON by a loud buzz/whirr.

[HO455]

Yikes!!!! That's a terrible thing to happen. Here I am whining about have to get out and tap on the pump to drive the last 6 blocks home.

That's one nice thing about the Mallory's they are nice and quiet. So quiet I didn't know that it had quit.