1952 1 Ton Rebuild

[mechanixman]

Well it's been a busy week, so I haven't gotten a chance to post much.
It started off last weekend with garage sale hunting.
Some sweet scores like a dipstick oil heater, (tools are self explanatory), and a couple seriously portable fire extinguishers.

I saw on the "what'd you do with your truck today" thread someone painted their wheels black. I thought it'd be a cool idea to try it out.

I tried to take a picture of the gunk I mentioned earlier, all that I had left (i was too lazy to clean there..YET) was on the thermostat. It was kinda hard to get a decent picture of it.

[mechanixman]

Well I got the head ready to go.
Now I'm waiting for my copper head gasket to come in the mail.

As you can see, the truck is a mess. Turns out drum brakes can get pretty frustrating.

I managed to finally put my 327 together
It looks pretty good. Some new bearings, piston rings, and gaskets. It'll be a slick little motor. It won't be chevy orange, it'll eventually be black and the same blue I've been using on the 216

[Truck Guy99]

Sweet! Keep it rolling!
Posted via Mobile Device

[mechanixman]

Thanks!
That's the hope....er..goal.

[Truck Guy99]

Anything to report?

[mechanixman]

Ha ha Not quite, I'm about to put the new head/gasket on, I'll have to wait till I can head on over to the parts store to pick up some more oil.
I'll post in a little bit

[mechanixman]

Well its been a while since I've posted anything, I had to put this aside and focus on final for a while.
Now that school just finished, I'll try to keep up to date as possible.

So I tried putting on the new head/gasket. Everything seemed to work like it should have. But for some reason it didn't want to fire I know I had spark (and the correct firing order) and gas was flowing through the carb.
On the new head, the rear of either manifold didn't match up very well. The Manifolds sat about 1/4 inch lower then where it should have sit on the head.
While we were trying to start the motor, I wasn't getting any oil to the rockers. So I decided to take the head and oil feed tube off to see what the problem could be. It turns out, I have coolant flowing from that copper oil feed tube.

But I was at the mall last week, and I this caught my eye. Somehow I managed to haggle the price down $6. (Some kid broke off some trim like mirrors.) I took it all apart and sandblasted it.

The official reason for getting it is, I can use this to test the color I want to use for the real thing. We'll see!

[mechanixman]

Well there's the coolant issue I'm having at the moment, It looks as though the oil line runs through the water jacket, but I'm still getting green fluid squirting out. (I did clean it up right after the picture)

I decided to finally take apart the front clip after realizing this won't be on the road for a whiiile.

The old MC was shot, so I got a master cylinder/booster combo for a c10 off craigslist for $40.

The alternator I bought doesn't quite fit the stock mounting points, so after 15 mins at school with a plasma cutter and a metal break, I came up with that nifty little support.

[mechanixman]

I thought it'd be cool if I could try to line up the 327 with the frame rails of the truck to see how it will fit.
I don't think it worked quite as well as I hoped.

[Daze57]

your doing a great job so far keep up the good work and keep us posted !

[Katrina/10]

Is the coolant leaking out of the oil tube?

[mechanixman]

Originally Posted by Daze57

your doing a great job so far keep up the good work and keep us posted !

Thanks! Will do

Originally Posted by Katrina/10

Is the coolant leaking out of the oil tube?

Yeah....it really sucks. Ha ha. I'm still trying to find out how it's getting there. I'm afraid that buying that extra head was all for nothing.

[mechanixman]

Well, it's official.
I'm doing a full fledged frame off Restoration
(I was planning on doing it anyway, but change in plans)

I got the doors off, and managed to pull the whole cab off with just for measly highschoolers.
I'm trying to figure out how I want to mount the new M/C. I'm going to cut the original bracket, anyway so the brake booster fits in the frame,

but can I just use an extension rod, so I can mount the whole unit back a foot or so? I know it won't be great to add brake fluid, but then it won't be wreaking havoc with the trans. How have you guys hooked yours up?
Thanks,
Nick

[NEWFISHER]

Keep at it, choose one area at a time, small jobs so completion of each job is rewarding. Don't look at it as a whole and get sidetracked. A complete can be daunting, but when disected into 100 small jobs, you can do it!
Posted via Mobile Device

[mechanixman]

Thanks for the tip!
Plans as of late,
- I have a friend that might score me a free rhino liner coating for the frame. He's calling it practice . So strip the frame in prep for that.

- Mount brake parts, replumb everything. get it to stop (well).

- start paint prep

- Make a decision with the motor...
On one hand, I don't want to waste money on the 6 when I know I'm putting a 327 in. On the other hand, putting that V8 will be so much work, I kind of just want to drive it first. bahh we'll get there when we get there.

Oh yeah, and have it ready for power tour 2014

[OrrieG]

Long rod works fine (a couple of guys here have done it, but if it gets more than a foot or so you will either need to beef up the rod or run alignment sleeves like used on steering shafts to keep it from bending. I used 1/2 EMT conduit on mine with a nut welded on one end for he booster end and other end fabbed to work with the pedal arm. I move mine back enough to miss the TF floor cross brace. I also used the stock mc mount and did not have any clearance issues with the TH350 trans. Here are a few photos. Note in the finished photo the brake line coils are wrong, I ended up turning them 90 degrees because I could not get them to bleed in the vertical configuration.
Also, I would not recommend installing your final MC until just before you are ready to drive the truck. I started real heavy on my effort in 2007-8 but got slowed down. Brakes was one of first things I did and I am now on MC #3 because the seals start weeping from not being used. I am just going to use the one I have and hope it seals up when in constant use.

[1955 mancave]

nice ole truck looks like you are getting it done, i have a set of NOS gauges for that truck.

[Katrina/10]

Originally Posted by 1955 mancave

nice ole truck looks like you are getting it done, i have a set of NOS gauges for that truck.

Wow

[mechanixman]

Ditto

[mechanixman]

Well i guess it's time for a quick little update.
I got a new dual diaphragm brake booster that fits a little better in the frame rails.
I turned the motor over after I drained the coolant out to see if I actually could get oil to through the pipe. It turned out I was getting basically no pressure because the pipe to the oil filter cracked and was puking too much oil everywhere.

So I buttoned everything to fire again. This gave me a little confidence. But when I went to fill the motor up with water, just so I could run it a little longer, I could actually hear the water dripping down into the oil/oil pan. So I know there is definitely a crack in the water jacket somewhere between the first and second cylinder.

It's frustrating to be rushed into a decision you wanted to make a little ways down the road, but I guess that just makes you want to get it rolling even sooner.
Now, while cleaning everything up, and working on brakes, I'm going to be selling off all my unneeded parts off the truck. Try to make some money for a new trans.

[mechanixman]

Well I got a new toy today.
Not bad for $175
Now I can start working on the MC bracket and replacing the cowl panels.

[65Ch3v3LL3]

Good price on the welder. That's one of the best parts of working on old vehicles is having to buy all the tools to do what you need to get done.

[mechanixman]

Gave the cart a quick paint job,
practiced welding a bit.
(I know this is kind of trivial when it comes to the truck build, but it's pretty exciting to finally have a welder to use whenever you want)

Originally Posted by 65Ch3v3LL3

That's one of the best parts of working on old vehicles is having to buy all the tools to do what you need to get done.

I definitely agree. My dad and I always say "Every project is an excuse to buy more tools!"
Come to think of it....that's probably why we spend 60% of our time at Menards......

[mknittle]

This is a very cool site. You may find it use full. Great videos too.

http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/

[mechanixman]

Thanks, I've been looking it over. It has some really good info. I'm really going to dive into that site when I get a TIG welder.

I got a spot weld cutter today, and got the cowl panel off!
When comparing the old one and the new one, you kinda realize there's not much meat left on the bone.