Working Man's Burbon

[HO455]

I got some time and a window of nice weather and made some more progress on the interior panels.

I made some pointed bolts (Photo #1) and used them to mark the panel where the seat back stop/latch attaches. (Photo #2) Then I drilled the marked spots and bolted the latch to the plywood. After marking the outline of the latch (Photo #3) I cut out the area under the latch.

The clearances for the seat stop/latches are so tight that the plywood would prevent the seat backs from latching properly. So I had to make the cut outs for the latches so they will be able to hold the seat back in place.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by HO455

I got some time and a window of nice weather and made some more progress on the interior panels.

I made some pointed bolts (Photo #1) and used them to mark the panel where the seat back stop/latch attaches. (Photo #2) Then I drilled the marked spots and bolted the latch to the plywood. After marking the outline of the latch (Photo #3) I cut out the area under the latch.

The clearances for the seat stop/latches are so tight that the plywood would prevent the seat backs from latching properly. So I had to make the cut outs for the latches so they will be able to hold the seat back in place.

Nice work. I got a Squarebody fold-down 2nd row seat from the PO when I bought my '67 K/10 Sub, but I never got those latches. I found the back section never folded down flat either. One solution would be to lift the truck body -- it's a 4x4 anyway -- and drop the backseat area floor pan a few inches to allow the seat to tuck fully. It was not a priority then, as it was a work truck. I pulled the back seat and kept the spare 33x12.50x15 [w/8'' rim] there.

[HO455]

Thank you. I appreciate the encouraging words.

When I was looking into doing the fold down 2nd row seats I noticed the later year Squarebody seats don't go flat like the earlier years do. I believe GM made those seats fuller for increased passenger comfort. I went for flat instead of comfort. I believe there's a joke in there somewhere.

I can't believe I don't have a photo of the rear seats with the new upholstery.

['68OrangeSunshine]

That's about how I was thinking it should be -- A jump seat for the pax behind Door #3.

[LT7A]

Wow! I haven't caught up on this thread for a long time. Years. You've gotten a ton done! Honestly, when I read the first few pages a long time ago, I thought that you would get tired of trying to make up for all of the messes the previous owner made. It seems like he had taken everything apart and put things back together half right while stripping the fasteners. In fact for a while there I was thinking this Suburban must have been formerly owned by a stripper, seeing how many volts and nuts were wrecked. You've turned it into a reliable, good looking rig. And you keep cleaning/fixing up one area after another. Well done! I'm not usually effusive in my comments, but this is an epic saga of persistence and resilience.

[HO455]

Thank you very much! I really appreciate those kind words.

I'm not sure how epic it is but I've enjoyed the journey. I'm not pretty or smart but I'm pretty steady. Between the house, the garden, having a job, there's never enough time to do things as fast as I would like. I hear stories about how winning the lottery ruins peoples lives. Man if I won I'd buy my neighbor's house and build a 40x60 shop and spend the rest of my days building cars and making sawdust. Oh and hire a gardener to help the wife with the yard.

I do believe posting to the thread has helped to keep me motivated. I lost a couple of months of good weather last year due to breaking my foot so hopefully I can avoid that this year and get the interior finished up.

Okay I'm done rambling. And thanks again, sir.

[CG]

Originally Posted by HO455

Thank you. I appreciate the encouraging words.

When I was looking into doing the fold down 2nd row seats I noticed the later year Squarebody seats don't go flat like the earlier years do. I believe GM made those seats fuller for increased passenger comfort. I went for flat instead of comfort. I believe there's a joke in there somewhere.

I can't believe I don't have a photo of the rear seats with the new upholstery.

Quoting this post from Nov.

Page 38 post 927 has the rear seats with upholstery

[HO455]

Originally Posted by CG

Quoting this post from Nov.

Page 38 post 927 has the rear seats with upholstery

Thanks I was sure I had posted some. I need a thread manager.

[CG]

With over 1000 posts on this great thread I can see finding past stuff could be and issue

[HO455]

The WMB has been having an off and on again starting issue. Sometimes it cranks slow and other times it I'd fine. I suspected a bad solenoid but before pulling the starter I did a thorough round of testing of the battery cables to be sure I wasn't getting a voltage drop from a bad battery cable or connection.

I tested the battery with a carbon pile tester and it was good. Then I checked both battery cables with a multimeter. I set the meter to the DC volts setting. Then by putting a multimeter lead on the negative post of the battery and the other lead to a clean unpainted spot on the block. The initial voltage was zero but when cranking the engine the voltmeter showed 1.2 volts. A careful inspection showed the bolt on the negative battery terminal was pulling out of the terminal. I did a quick jury rig repair and the voltage dropped to zero.

Inspection of the positive cable revealed no problems with the cable but when I checked the nut on solenoid bolt for tightness the problem revealed itself. The inner plastic part on the solenoid turned freely when I tried to turn the nut. Time to head to the parts store.

['68OrangeSunshine]

The hot rod shops used to sell a USA-made Accel Starter Solenoid that was high quality and rebuildable that would go on any Bendix-style Starter.
Check Jegs and Summit.

OK. Jegs shows Tuff Stuff p/n: 3510.....$29.99

Can't guarantee country of manufacture, but it's the kind I was thinking of.
I have the Accel versions on two of my starters. Been working good for so long, I forgot when I put them on.

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by HO455

The WMB has been having an off and on again starting issue. Sometimes it cranks slow and other times it I'd fine. I suspected a bad solenoid but before pulling the starter I did a thorough round of testing of the battery cables to be sure I wasn't getting a voltage drop from a bad battery cable or connection.

I tested the battery with a carbon pile tester and it was good. Then I checked both battery cables with a multimeter. I set the meter to the DC volts setting. Then by putting a multimeter lead on the negative post of the battery and the other lead to a clean unpainted spot on the block. The initial voltage was zero but when cranking the engine the voltmeter showed 1.2 volts. A careful inspection showed the bolt on the negative battery terminal was pulling out of the terminal. I did a quick jury rig repair and the voltage dropped to zero.

Inspection of the positive cable revealed no problems with the cable but when I checked the nut on solenoid bolt for tightness the problem revealed itself. The inner plastic part on the solenoid turned freely when I tried to turn the nut. Time to head to the parts store.

I'm having basically the same problem with my 2005 Buick Rainier with a 5.3L engine. I put it up on ramps so I can pull the starter out of it in the next few days. The starter is really hard to get to because of the AWD setup.

Good luck on yours and let us know how it turns out....

[HO455]

'68OrangeSunshine;9287622]The hot rod shops used to sell a USA-made Accel Starter Solenoid that was high quality and rebuildable that would go on any Bendix-style Starter.
Check Jegs and Summit.

OK. Jegs shows Tuff Stuff p/n: 3510.....$29.99

Can't guarantee country of manufacture, but it's the kind I was thinking of.
I have the Accel versions on two of my starters. Been working good for so long, I forgot when I put them on.

Originally Posted by '68OrangeSunshine

The hot rod shops used to sell a USA-made Accel Starter Solenoid that was high quality and rebuildable that would go on any Bendix-style Starter.
Check Jegs and Summit.

OK. Jegs shows Tuff Stuff p/n: 3510.....$29.99

Can't guarantee country of manufacture, but it's the kind I was thinking of.
I have the Accel versions on two of my starters. Been working good for so long, I forgot when I put them on.

Thanks for the information. But fortunately for me NAPA warranted the starter. I was under the impression it had a lifetime warranty but in reality it has a LIMITED lifetime warranty. Lots of loop holes in the warranty but when I purchased it I bought it through work and paid cash. NAPA said they only warranted it because I bought it on the company account.

Of course during installation things got difficult. Surprise, suprise, surprise! The machined block the starter bolts to wasn't machined accurately. The immediate problem was the one hole nearest the oil pan didn't seem to be vertical and I needed to file the part of the hole closest to the block to allow the mounting bolt to start and turn freely. More on the mounting block later.

Since my old starter required both shims I added the second set before I tested the starter mounting position. (Photo #1 shows the shim and the bolts to remove to access the shims) However this time when he starter was installed the starter drive gear was too far out so I had to unbolt the starter and remove one set of shims. But now when the starter was reinstalled there was too large of a gap. Grrrr!

Crikey and other interesting words were spoken. So again I removed the starter, removed the mounting block and did a thorough inspection of the mounting surfaces and the shims. There I found that the factory installed large shim had what looked like dried red Loctite underneath it and the holes for the mounting bolts were deformed so the shim was thicker around them. After filing things flat and cleaning all the surfaces I reassembled the starter with both sets of shims and reinstalled the starter and the drive gear clearance was now within specifications. This made me start to think the starter had been previously been returned.

Here is a link to when I installed the first starter some 37k miles ago.

https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...698377&page=19

Moving on to checking the gear mesh clearance is where I came up against the other bit of poor machine work. The old starter didn't need any shims to be in specification. This starter without any shims had close to .100 of clearance. The specification called for between. 040 and .060. Reading the instructions it said to put shims between the mounting block and the engine block only at outer bolt of the starter to close the gap.

I've never had to do this kind of shimming on a starter before but I remember years ago removing a starter that only had half a shim installed and briefly wondering why it was installed that way. Anyhow I started inserting shims and in the end it required a 1/16 and a 1/32 shim stack to get the gear clearance to .0555 (The size of a #52 drill bit). (Photo #2 shows the partial shims I made and photo #3 shows which bolt I put them under.)

I'm not real warm and fuzzy over how things went together but, the starter sounds fine and spins the engine as expected. I guess time will tell. At one point I considered taking it back but when I got it the counterman said it was the only one in stock.

['68OrangeSunshine]

I've been lucky with both the '68 C/10 292/SM465 and '71 Jimmy 350/SM465/NP205 because the bellhousings have 3 parallel bores and my starters bolt up w/o shimming. In fact the front plate of the flywheel pan is bolted-thru so it's a big shim.

I am unfamiliar with the drivetrain you're running on WMB. Looks like automatic transmissions are involved.

That seems pretty squirrelly of NAPA to fudge on your warranty. Most of my ''Lifetime'' warranties were with Checker Auto. When O'Reilly bought them out, they promised to honor existing warranties.
Yeah. Sure. The majority of warranty replacement parts, Dimmer Footswitches, EVRs, Alternators, have been duds. I've been cannibalizing off White Fang for good late '90s or OEM vintage parts.
They did ''buy out'' my warranty on the P/S Gear for my '71 GMC K/1500 Jimmy at about $350 in cash. Then I had to buy a UFO* from RockAuto.
I kept about a hundred. When that P/S Gear goes bad, I'll have to go on the hunt again.

*TimeShare ''realtor'' slang for You F-ing Own it.

[HO455]

When it was all said and done I didn't have to push very hard to get them to honor the warranty. Here's copy of the warranty I don't think they could of argued against covering it.

The Burban currently has a TH350C & a Gearvendor bolted to 74ish vintage 350 SBC.

[HO455]

I was out at Eagle Creek and noticed this street sign so I had to stop and get some pictures.

[dadsburb]

your burb is looking good, makes me want to take mine out for a ride.

['68OrangeSunshine]

In my pipe dreams for White Fang's* resurrection, I've been musing about how cool it would be to have electric windows on Door # 3 and Window #4. Hot day, let the back windows down for the 4-40 upgrade to System 2-40 Air. Yeah, it would be cool.
If it all worked smoothly, all the time, that is.
But dealing with the screwy door and window switch wiring on my recently acquired 2003 Tahoe gives me second thoughts about electric Anything, except headlights.
Keeping the crank-up windows in the front at least.

[*White Fang is a '67 K/10 Suburban that got ''totaled'' on paper by mainstream insurance and stuck with a Salvage Title over 20 years ago. It has the status of a ''someday project''.]

[HO455]

Originally Posted by dadsburb

your burb is looking good, makes me want to take mine out for a ride.

Thanks! The truth is the truck was filthy dirty at the time but I had to take some pictures as the street sign is my last name. It's not a common name and I'd never seen it on a sign before.

[HO455]

Originally Posted by '68OrangeSunshine

In my pipe dreams for White Fang's* resurrection, I've been musing about how cool it would be to have electric windows on Door # 3 and Window #4. Hot day, let the back windows down for the 4-40 upgrade to System 2-40 Air. Yeah, it would be cool.
If it all worked smoothly, all the time, that is.
But dealing with the screwy door and window switch wiring on my recently acquired 2003 Tahoe gives me second thoughts about electric Anything, except headlights.
Keeping the crank-up windows in the front at least.

[*White Fang is a '67 K/10 Suburban that got ''totaled'' on paper by mainstream insurance and stuck with a Salvage Title over 20 years ago. It has the status of a ''someday project''.]

Fortunately I'm still limber enough to reach around and roll the 4th door window down at a stop light. However the 3rd door window has gotten so stiff when I tried to lower it last week I thought I would break something so I gave up. It's nice to get that 4-40 air conditioning. I guess it's time to take it apart for cleaning and lubrication.

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by HO455

Fortunately I'm still limber enough to reach around and roll the 4th door window down at a stop light. However the 3rd door window has gotten so stiff when I tried to lower it last week I thought I would break something so I gave up. It's nice to get that 4-40 air conditioning. I guess it's time to take it apart for cleaning and lubrication.

Makes you wonder how things like that can start having problems for no reason at all.....

[HO455]

Originally Posted by LockDoc

Makes you wonder how things like that can start having problems for no reason at all.....

Being that it's NW Oregon I'm betting it's moss growing in the window channel .

By the way did you get my email?

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by HO455

Being that it's NW Oregon I'm betting it's moss growing in the window channel .

By the way did you get my email?

Thanks for the reminder on the eMail. I hadn't checked it for a few days.
.

[HO455]

First off. Thanks for the help Leon.

Now on to the task at hand. The wiper motor currently in the WMB been giving signs it's on its last leg. Basically it's slower and louder than ever. So I picked up some used ones hoping to find a good one. After testing I found I had a nice running unit but, the problem was that it had a badly rusted shaft. (Photo #1) There's no way any seal installed on the shaft on the left would ever keep water away from the bearing.

So pulled it apart as well as one unit I had that didn't run. That one had a good shaft but a broken brush on the armature. Perfect candidate to donate a good shaft.

Disassembly involved drilling out the factory rivets on the gear box. Once apart it I noticed a marked difference in grease application when they were assembled. (Photo #2) After some cleaning and reapplying grease it was almost ready to reassemble. Prior to assembly the park contacts needed attention so I used a ignition point file to clean and dress the park contacts. (Arrow points to the park contacts in photo #3.) Unfortunately the photo of the cleaned contacts didn't come out.

To reassemble the gear box I used pop rivets. On the rivet that holds the ground strap I scraped all the old paint away before installing. In addition I put a backing washer on the rivet (Photo #4 see arrow) as well as coating the rivet and ground strap with copper seize to ensure long-term conductivity.

I found the pop rivet backing washers at a yard sale a couple years back. I never knew they were an actual thing even though I had used washers on pop rivets before.

Anyway the unit has tested good and a new seal ordered, and then for me to pull the current wiper motor.

[LockDoc]

-
Good job! That will be better than any aftermarket motor.
.