Jim's 1969 Custom/20

[bollybib]

I neglected to introduce myself in this first post, so I did it later in Post #49.

First Post - April 2, 2011

I decided to start my own thread instead of randomly posting info about my truck in other threads. This should be called a Project thread since I'll mostly be doing maintenance and repair work on it for the foreseeable future (no frame offs or long to short conversions haha). I bought this truck in November 2010, so I haven't had it long. I've been working on it pretty steady since then, taking pics, and documenting my work. So I have plenty to post here even if I don't do anything to it for a while.

I figure I'll start with the pics of the truck that were in the craigslist ad that I found it in, and a pic of it arriving at my door.

CL pics

The PO bought the truck at a lien sale in North San Diego County only a few weeks before I bought it from him. He hadn't even registered it yet. It had last been registered to a John Linford of St. George, Utah in 2007 and was apparently abandoned in N. County (when it wouldn't stop anymore perhaps?). He (the PO) somehow managed to drive it from Escondido to National City with virtually no brakes. But the POs wife said "get this thing outta here" so I ended up buying it from him for what he paid for it at auction, $1,300.

Arriving home

I originally had planned to drive it home. I actually did drive it up and down the POs street while I was checking it out for sale, but it was pretty scary. It ran OK, but,..,.,whoa ! After some thought, I decided to have it transported and damn the cost. Since I had to have it weighed for registration, I had the transport guy pick it up, take it to a certified scale, offload and weigh it ($10), reload it, take it to my house, and offload it in the street ($285). In retrospect, it was the wise thing to do and well worth the cost.

Well, that starts it. I look forward to telling you all more about my truck. Thanks for looking and reading, I really enjoy this site.

[bollybib]

So, now there is this old time-worn truck sitting in the street in front of my house and the neighbors are wondering if it belongs to my gardener (jk). I had to figure out a way to safely drive it into my garage so I spent the next several days inspecting brake related items (and everything else, this is a new toy after all!). I sprayed all the carb linkage to loosen things up and tweaked it a little and got it to start and run "good enough for now". It puked a lot of oil, mostly at the engine oil filter and rear of the transmission, so I kept a pan under it. The master cylinder was full but the fluid was real murky. I tried backing up and braking numerous times in hope that the adjusters might take up some slack, which they didn’t. Finally, I got underneath and tightened up the parking brake cable adjusting nut almost two inches and got some good ol’ mechanical stopping power. So into the garage it went for the next six weeks or so.

At this stage, I wanted to accomplish three things:

1. Get it registered and street legal.
2. Determine the condition of the brakes and repair as needed.
3. Determine the condition of other operational items.

1. Registration


Before I bought it, I had inspected the PO’s lien sale paperwork (and made a copy to refer to) and then spent a lot of time searching and reading regs on www.dmv.ca.gov. Once I thought I had it all figured out, I called their technical compliance people to confirm. I had never bought a vehicle without a title so I was cautious. To get it registered I needed the original lien paperwork, a bill of sale, a weighmaster’s certificate stating the unladen wieght, VIN verification, insurance, and some money for DMV fees. I searched around for several days and finally found a licensed VIN verifier that came to my house to inspect it. He charged me $45 which was the lowest I found, one guy wanted $100 and most others were around $70. I called my insurance company and they added the truck for $39, good until my next regular renewal. Once I had everything in order, I made an appointment and went to visit the DMV. They took my huge folder of documents, okayed it, and said "That will be $274, please". I wrote them a check and they gave me brand new California license plates and a current sticker and I was on my way. They didnt say anything about the old Utah plates. That meant I could keep them and hang them up on the wall with my other miscellaneous plates and emblems and stuff.

As time went on and I cleaned the truck out, I found 96 cents in change (wow, a rebate!). So my total outlay from purchase through registration goes like this:

Purchase price...........$ 1,300.00
Towing..........................285.00
Weigh.............................10.00
VIN Inspection..................45.00
Insurance........................39.00
Registration....................274.00
Loose change found...........(0.96)
Found in seat foam (11/11).(0.07)
TOTAL......................$ 1,951.97

Seems pretty reasonable to start with. It’s all the stuff that comes later that will run this up! I’ve been keeping tab on my expenses related to this truck for my own amusement and benefit. I see a thread now and again where someone asks about costs so I hope this will be useful for some of them.

2. Brakes

I decided to first bleed the whole system and inspect all the lines before doing anything else. I’ll cover this more in subsequent posts.

3. Other operational

Mostly under-the-hood stuff. I started making a list of things I found that needed attention. The list got quite long very fast. I'll post some info on this, too, at a later date.

It's such a cool truck. I like to look at it a lot haha. What kind of fun is this ! ? ! ?

[greenbd71]

Good posting on your truck. I like when poster's put detailed info of all the money that goes into their truck. It will give more respect to the trucks that have been restored and all the work and money that goes into them. Nice truck by the way.

[dmack91]

Looks like about what I did a couple of months ago, except I got a title with mine.

Brakes worked, but I went through them anyway. Good thing too, as I found that the PO, like most people with a full floating rear end, appeared to have never done the brakes. Metal to metal, but it still stopped.

After all fluids and routine maintenance, it has been my around town truck, and it is a blast. I paid $650 for it, and have about that much into everything else.

FYI, parts and machine work ran me around $175 for both front and rear through NAPA. The best thing I did was retrofit a power brake booster on it.

Enjoy the journey, I still am.

[bollybib]

To the afore-posted C20s aficionados:

greenbd71 (Brandon): That's pretty cool about getting your truck featured in a mag. Interesting history on it, too. I see you are the instigator of the "Post pics of your Longbed Trucks!! No short stuffs allowed!!" thread. I had to look deep to find it but I brought it ttt on 3/26/11. Longbeds is a nice general category that brought in a lot of pics, good job.

dmack91: You're my kinda guy, $650 seems real fair to me. You lucked out with a 68, too. If you feel ambitious, maybe you could put up some more pics in your "New Project" thread, they'd be interesting to see. When I decided I wanted a 67-72, my first choice was a 67 or 68 327 automatic. But, you have to pick from what's available and I ended up with what you see here, no regrets. You're driving around in yours, too. I'm not quite there yet, although I suppose I could get by. I do drive it up and down my nice, flat, 600 ft. long cul-de-sac now and again to check out things as I fix them. You're right about the rear brakes being neglected. Keep tuned and I'll show you the mess I found.

[bollybib]

The following several posts describe the work I did on my brakes from November 2010 until March 2011. I divided it into several posts (BRAKES I - VII) because I can only upload five pics per post.

BRAKES I.

After about a week of fooling around in the street, I managed to get the truck into the garage to begin "real work". I suppose I could have just taken everything apart and started from scratch, but I wanted to evaluate the condition of the equipment, identify specific problems, and then do the work that I found necessary in a systematic way.

Checking out the brake lines I found:
Rear system: Rear line kinked at the wheel cylinder connection (WC) on the passenger side (PS). Main line rubbing on exhaust pipe at frame crossover.
Front system: Evidence of a leak at the tee fitting on driver side (DS) (before and after pics). PS hose cracked.
Master cylinder (MC): Very rusty, fluid very dirty (replaced by clean fluid in the pic). A tee fitting at the MC rear port with branch line into the cab.

I sucked the muck out of the MC with a vacuum bleeder. I use the vac thing now and again but I usually have better luck bleeding the brakes manually, so that’s what I did. I bled the rears and watched streams of black gook pour out, but not much air. The kinked line allowed fluid to pass and wasn’t leaking. Once the fluid ran clear, I moved to the fronts. I couldn’t get any flow at all, so the WC orifices were probably blocked. I cleaned all the crud off the tee fitting, put in new hoses, rebuilt the cylinders, cleaned up the backing plates, installed new stuff (BRAKES II), and tried again. I decided to rebuild the old WCs before installing new ones so I could continue to flush and pressurize the system without worrying about damaging new WCs. The fronts then bled OK, but I still had a way soft pedal, so I was probably seeing only MC problems now.

I removed the MC and bench bled it. I made an MC bleeding system with plastic tubing and flare nut/steel tubing fittings. I figured this was a good exercise and I wanted to know that all the air was out of it anyway. Then I reinstalled it and bled once more.

I found that if I pushed the brake pedal down quickly, I’d get about an inch of firmness at the bottom of travel. If I pushed the pedal down slowly, the pedal always sank to the floor. Pumping helped little to none. I then tried this with the MC outlet ports plugged and got the same results. Conclusion: replace the MC.

[bollybib]

BRAKES II

I rebuilt the front brakes first since they were simpler and more familiar than the rears, pretty much the same as a car, just a little bigger. Once I had the drums and hubs off and had my first look, ugh, what a mess ! The adjusting screw on the DS was completely backed out. Both WCs had been leaking (for a long time I think) and the shoes and drums were metal-to-metal. At least I found all the hardware intact and complete. I took everything apart, cleaned the hardware and backing plate, and reassembled using new WCs, shoes, and drums. Although needed, I deferred cleaning and repacking the wheel bearings until later (see the What did you do to your truck today! link, http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...postcount=2007 ).

[bollybib]

BRAKES III

When I removed the MC, I damaged the rear MC-to-DB line. I couldn’t find a seller for this one prefabricated line (lots of kits available, but no onesy-twosies). I also had a kinked line in the rear that needed attention (I couldn’t find this individual piece prefabbed, either). I decided to make my own lines and bought a flaring kit, bending tools, brake line and some fittings. I’m glad I went this route because later I needed to make a pump-to-carburetor fuel line. I bought short lengths of both cunifer and steel tubing so I could experiment. I practiced by making several flares and bends. I didn’t find a huge difference in working the two types, although steel seemed slightly easier and is a lot cheaper. When I made the real line, I checked my bending radii closely and used a piece of 14 gauge copper wire (from a piece of Romex, the kind used in your home, easy to bend to shape) to mock up routing. I managed to get a decent looking, good fitting line on the second attempt. I made the MC line from cunifer.

I bench bled my new MC, installed it, and bled the whole system once again. Considering how dirty the original fluid was, more bleeding (and consequently, more flushing) wasn’t a waste. But, by this time I had made several trips to O’Reilly’s to replenish my supply of brake fluid. I should have bought a gallon right off the bat instead of smaller containers. After a few bleeds, I made a calculation of the approximate capacity of the lines so I would know when I had displaced all the fluid in the line instead of guessing on how many pedal pushes or whatever. On my truck, from the MC to a rear WC is about 4.5 fl oz and from the MC to a front WC is about 1.5 fl oz. (including the common line). Using a plastic bottle with fluid ounce calibration marks on it for a receptor, I could see when I had displaced all the fluid in a line.

A PO had installed a trailer brake system (TBS) [Kelsey Hayes 81739, vintage unknown]. I found the wiring for the brake warning light had been modified and a hydraulic line had been added from the MC to the TBS controller in the cab. I first made a sketch of the existing wiring and then compared it to the schematic in the Service Manual. Then I removed the entire TBS system and got the wiring back in order. The brake warning light then came on like it should on Start (which it didn’t do before). I couldn’t get it to light up on Run when I’d hit the brakes with one bleed screw open. I tried opening both front and rear and I tried tapping the DB with a hammer, too. The internal shuttle that acts as a differential pressure switch must be stuck. No biggy for the moment (add to The List).

When I first contemplated doing this work, I realized that I hadn’t bled brakes in many years. Since that time long ago, the Internet arrived. So I looked at a lot of howto’s (and howto NOTS!) on YouTube, this site, and elsewhere. I thought these two were informative and entertaining.

YouTube - Bleeding the wheel cylinders

YouTube - Road Test # 1.. Brakes Work!

At this point I had decent brake pedal so I fired up the truck and made a few tentative moves to back out of the garage. It felt OK, so out I went and parked it in the street. The fronts were doing their work now and it was the rears that needed help.

[bollybib]

BRAKES IV

The rear brakes were more interesting because I was unfamiliar with the construction of the rear axle and wheel hub/drum assemblies. I had been acquiring service manuals, reading posts on The Board, watching YouTube, etc., so I was learning. I like to study-up beforehand on a project to so I can overcome the inevitable mistakes and unforeseens that occur without panic. I like to work through the whole sequence of work in my head a few times before turning a wrench. The unfamiliar becomes the familiar by the time I actually do the work.

I needed a lock nut removal tool to remove and install the wheel hub so I bought one. If I had to replace the drums (very likely), I would need a press to remove the wheel bolts to separate the drum from the hub. I started looking around for a shop press. New brake shoes and cylinders were readily available, but the drum was a different story. I located a few sources of new drums, many of them expensive, I thought.

At last one day mid-January 2011 I had enough ducks in a row to start work. I moved the truck onto the driveway so as not to clutter the garage any longer and also have enough room to slide the axles out. I did one side at a time, starting on the DS. The DS hub and drum assembly was a little stubborn to slide off the shoes, but otherwise, no difficulties. Confidence level up, I decided to replace the kinked brake line while I was at it. I made the new one with steel tubing. The rear hose looked OK so I decided to leave it alone for now but it is something to keep an eye on (add to The List). The worst part was cleaning out all the accumulated crud, red Utah dirt, and so on (not quite as bad as the fronts).

[bollybib]

BRAKES V

The reassembly of the shoes and WCs went OK. Here’s an interesting note. I bought the rear WCs from NAPA; one made in USA, the other in China. Guess which one had a casting interference with the hole in the backplate (it wasn’t China). A little grinding and all was well. The brake line was a challenge to fabricate, but I took my time and got it the first time. I made a short-handled brake line wrench to get to the fitting mounted inside the axle bracket due to restricted swing room (I’m working under the truck with everything in place except the spare tire). I found the keys to success (for novices like me) to make good brake lines are: practice a lot, be very patient, make lots of trial fits, and get the fittings aligned as accurately as possible so you don’t have to force anything when you screw them together.

I pressure tested the system now and again by pushing the brake pedal down and holding it in place with a clamp. A few minor snug-ups of fittings here and there was all I needed to get it leak free. The tee fitting at the front stayed dry (and still is as of this writing) so maybe the fitting was not secure to begin with or the source of the leak was elswhere (from above, perhaps).

The bearing cups looked worn, they were concave. Other than their shape, they looked fine. I ran a lot of new gear oil through the bearings in the hub rather than clean them, good enough for now. I decided to later replace the bearings at the same time as the drums and do it all at once. A future wheel hub project, basically (add to The List).

[bollybib]

BRAKES VI

I started a thread about some of the problems I encountered with obtaining new drums "69 C20 Rear Brake Drum" ( http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=443837 ). The DS drum was pretty chewed up, and both drums were worn at least to the wear limit (as close as I could measure without having large diameter calipers). I thought I could have it turned for the time being since new drums wouldn’t be available for several months so I wouldn’t tear up the new shoes. I had two guys try to turn it on the cheap, one got it OK, but I decided to just leave the PS alone, it wasn’t worth it. But on the plus side, I learned how to disassemble and reassemble wheel and hub assemblies on a 1969 Chevy ¾ ton truck (and how to use my shop press that I decided to buy).

[bollybib]

BRAKES VII

So back together it goes. First, I drained all the old gear oil and reinstalled the rear end cover. See the What did you do to your truck today! links, below.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...postcount=1724
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...postcount=1751

I removed the knockout from the slot in the drums so I would be able to access the star wheel adjuster after all was reassembled. I put in new wheel seals and sealed the oil deflector to the hub before I pressed in the wheel bolts. Sliding the 50 or so lb. wheel and hub assemblies onto the axles without mangling the seal required a bit of strength and concentration. I slid the axles back in with their new axle gaskets. Finally, it was all reassembled. I took it for a drive up and down the street. Wow! It would actually stop if I pushed down on the pedal, what a concept ! My foot felt insecure on the pedal because the rubber pad was missing, so I got one and put it on and it felt a world of difference.

Conclusion

Here is a list of the parts and materials that I needed to do the work I’ve described so far, tax and shipping is incuded. Most parts are from O’Reilly’s or NAPA. New rear drums (est. $150 for both) and rear bearings (est. $310 for all) will add to this total later.

Front shoes, hoses..................................$...46.73
Front drums, WCs, brake fluid.......................120.27
Rear shoes, WCs, ¼" steel tubing...................97.78
Master cylinder (Bendix 11331)......................39.59
Diff’l gasket, rear wheel seals, axle gaskets......31.81
Front wheel seals.........................................6.49
Flare nuts..................................................10.90
6' ¼" dia copper/nickel tubing........................19.51
Wheel bolts................................................10.83
Brake pedal pad............................................3.95
Gear lube ...................................................14.13
Brake fluid..................................................21.70
Black RTV....................................................4.34
Mineral spirits..............................................33.46
TOTAL..................................................$..461.49

The following is a list of tools that I bought that I needed to do this work. The only tool that is specific to the truck is the lock nut tool, all the rest can and will be used for other things.

Lock nut tool (OTC1929)..........................$...28.99
Flaring tool (KD41860)..................................46.14
Tube benders (HF)......................................28.24
1/2-3/4 drive adapter..................................11.95
7/16" Combo Wrench.....................................6.51
7/16" Flare Nut Crowfoot................................7.00
1-1/4" socket...............................................7.06
Shop press (HF)........................................219.65

TOTAL..................................................$..355.54

At this point there are a couple of things I want to accomplish before venturing off my street and cruising around in general traffic; get new drums on the rear, and work through a few tuning issues I’ve identified. The brake line that is in contact with the exhaust pipe will wait until I get to the engine compartment (I may be able to bend it clear if I’m careful). But I can operate my truck safely now, good deal !

[dmack91]

Quite a write-up. Nice progress.

You will be to the DD stage before you know it.

[bollybib]

TY dmack, DD by summer i think (fingers crossed)

After exhausting myself writing up the foregoing story of the brakes, here is something less demanding that I did recently (April 2011).

Leaking Speedometer Gear Housing (Part 1 of 2)

As expected, I find leaks. One of the worst was coming from the transmission. Drips were coming off the rear support crossmember and the extension housing was very wet. I crawled underneath to investigate and took a lot of pics of the "before" situation. Most of the leaking was coming from the speedometer gear housing, with enough flow to keep the surfaces clean near the leak.

After "studying-up" on the housing assembly and parts availability, I cleaned the area around the housing to avoid introducing dirt when the housing came out. The housing was easy to remove, just unscrew the cable, remove the retaining bracket, and twist and wiggle the housing out of the hole. Watch for the driven gear, it may or may not stay with the housing on the way out. I like the pic below. Look at the contrast between all the external crud and the clean-as-a whistle interior. You can see the driving gear, too.

( reminiscent of a bleeding wound, isn't it ? )

[bollybib]

Leaking Speedometer Gear Housing (Part 2 of 2)

I counted the number of teeth on the driven gear for reference; 40 teeth. The numbers on the housing indicate it is for a driven gear with 40, 41, 42 or 43 teeth (1st pic below). I took a look inside the housing so I knew what I had to deal with parts-wise and then put it back in. It goes in easy, too, the gears engage with no effort. Just make sure the O-ring surface on the transmission is clean. Then I drove around a little so I could verify the leak without all the crud obscuring things (2nd pic below).

................

I only needed two parts, the outer O-ring seal and the inner gear shaft seal. I assumed the gear was good. If I still had a leak after a new seal, I'd get a new gear. I tried getting parts at O’Reilly’s but ended up with wrong parts so I found a specialty vendor online to order them from. When the parts arrived, I removed the housing again and installed the new seals. The gear seal is held in by a spring retainer that is held in place by the spring force only, the bore is smooth. The seal is all rubber, no metal ring. The O-ring is straightforward. So everything is easy to remove and replace, just be careful not to scratch the aluminum surfaces.

Old seals................New seals

O-ring....$..1.50
Gear seal...1.50
Shipping....7.00
Total......$.10.00
(from PATC Transmissions http://www.transmissioncenter.net/sp...____va.htm#400 )

I replaced the housing, filled the transmission and drove around a little. A few days later, so far so good; no red puddles on the ground like before.

I cleaned up around the pan and external devices on the transmission where leaks usually occur and I am watching for additional leaks.

[bollybib]

IGNITION, FUEL, & CARBURETOR (Part 1 of 3)

This is stuff I did from the time I bought the truck in November 2010 through May 2011.

I inherited the following setup from the POs:

Carburetor………....…Edelbrock 1406 5180 (Weber), (5=1995, 180=180th day of year)
.......................... Base stamp: 110 300 2, Base castings: 17A, K
...........................Ref. Carburetor Date Code: Telephone call to Edelbrock Tech Line 800 416 8628
Intake manifold….….Edelbrock Performer

Cylinder heads……..World Products S/R I-052, 10508CHM7, 1=shift, 0508=May 8, CHM =internal code, 7=1997
...........................The heads were produced by the now defunct association between World and Dart.
............................Ref. World Products: http://www.theengineshop.com/product...f_file-221.pdf
............................Ref. Dart: http://www.dartheads.com/tech-articl...ds-and-blocks/

Ignition…………….....MSD6AL, Part No. 6420, Serial No. 254642,
........................... Date Code H7 (June 1999, I had to call MSD to decipher this code)
Distributor………..….HEI type, HO3282, 8M7, manufacturer unknown
.......................... (Mfg date M=Dec, 1997 or 1998 most likely)
Spark plug wires…..Accel 8.8 Silicone Plus-Spiral Core-RFI Suppression
Spark plugs………....Autolite 145
Battery………...………Kirkland Signature 4/09, CA 1000, CCA 795, Group Size 34

I started by replacing the spark plugs, the distributor advance weights and bushings, cap and rotor (the old stuff was really fdup see below). There was no fuel filter so I installed one. I replaced the PCV valve and both valve cover grommets, got new air filter gaskets, and a new air filter. The alternator belt was down to its last thread so new one there, too. Everything I replaced was in very poor condition or missing. I adjusted the timing and idle but the DS idle screw wouldn’t respond. I moved the vacuum advance to the full time port on the carb and then it responded.

Once I was able to drive the truck around a little I found it hesitated on acceleration. Also, when I accelerated and then immediately braked hard, it would begin to stall and was difficult to keep running. The carburetor was suspect. I could see by looking down the throat that it was pretty damn dirty in there.

I’ve never had an Edelbrock, so I studied-up again. I started with the Edelbrock Owners Manual. Edelbrock recommends 5.5 psi fuel pressure but I had no idea what pressure I had. I bought the components needed to get me there; carb inlet pipe with provision for a gauge, a pressure gauge, and a pressure regulator, all Mr. Gasket because they were readily available at O’Reilly’s and are relatively inexpensive (some say cheap, don’t buy that stuff, but they’re OK by me so far). I first checked the fuel pressure without the regulator installed and watched the gauge waver violently between 7 and 10 psi or so. I then installed the regulator, adjusted it, and got a nice steady 5.5 psi. My installation looks a little strange but it doesn't leak and is secure (as I work toward full Shade Tree Mechanic status).

I bought an Edelbrock rebuild kit and new floats. I figure first time around stick with the original vendor’s parts. I had read in here that their floats tend to leak and Edelbrock mentions stalling in connection with float adjustment, hence the new floats. I tried making a few adjustments without actually removing the carburetor, none of which eliminated the problems. However, I did notice small changes in driving behavior every time I adjusted something which told me that I was on the right track.

[bollybib]

IGNITION, FUEL, & CARBURETOR (Part 2 of 3)

I removed the air horn and found that the floats were way out of adjustment but they did not appear to be leaking. The accelerator pump assembly looked worn but there was no apparent damage. I cleaned a little and adjusted the floats, then reassembled. I noticed a bit of improvement in both acceleration and stalling behaviour (placebo effect maybe) so I decided to move on and rebuild the whole feelthy mess.

To familiarize myself with all the parts, I spent some time reviewing exploded parts diagrams and pics I found online. I made up a clean place to work with a lot of space to keep all the parts in order. I took a shi†load of pics during disassembly for future reference. I decided to use lacquer thinner to clean the parts so I bought a gallon along with a few aluminum baking pans to wash the parts in.

The disassembly was straightforward and required only a basic torx set, screwdrivers, and something to handle the tiny spring clip retainers. I did the air horn first; disassemble, clean, and reassemble. The screen at the farthest bowl inlet had captured a lot of particulate matter.

Then I did the main body. Doing it one section at a time like this kept the number of loose parts more manageable. I found a lot of debris in the bottom of the bowls. Once dry, I brushed out a large part of Utah (sandy particles, see pic below). The pump check ball was stuck in the bore but came out with a few taps on the bottom of the carb (hmm).

As I removed the parts, I placed them on my table in their relative positions so I would’t go crazy trying to put it back together later. I used two cleaning baths, one to wash most of the crud off, and another, cleaner one for a second cleaning and then blowing out of the internal passages. I used a toothbrush and a set of small tube brushes to clean in around and through. I washed out an awful lot of dark brown stuff.

[bollybib]

IGNITION, FUEL, & CARBURETOR (Part 3 of 3)

Update 5/17/11: I let the lacquer thinner evaporate from the aluminum pan you see in the previous post. The pile of dirt you see below is what was left at the bottom of the pan. The outside of the carb was pretty clean, so almost all of this came from inside.

Once I felt everything was clean and well blown out, I reassembled and adjusted everything following Edelbrock’s instructions. I set the carb back in the engine, gave it a few cranks to get fuel , and it fired right up. I felt an immediate difference, it was breathing ! After a few tweaks on the screws I took it for a drive and it ran pretty decent with no hesitations or stalls.

It ran so good I decided to be bold and took it out on a couple of short journeys without problem (the first trip was to the gas station haha). I got the truck all the way up to 55 mph, too, eeehah. It drives bi†chen, I was gettin off on sitting way up high, moving two and a quarter tons of steel down the highway. It feels pretty peppy for a heavyweight, it shifts good and with the 4.10 rear it gits. I’ll ignore gas mileage for the moment so I can stay happy !

I had been wanting to load my surfboard in it to haul it to the beach for a surf for the longest time, so I did that, too. When I arrived to my local spot, my buddy checked it out and said, "My dad had one of those trucks". hahaha too cool. There was a nice, glassy, combo swell that day, waist high or so, and just me and two of my buddies out, I was so stoked !

It looks like I got the carb problem worked out (it could use more fine tuning I’m sure). But after my short trips I discovered a lovely pool of gear oil on the pavement beneath my rear end. I redid the cover side not long ago and it is still dry, so it looks like I’ll be replacing the pinion seal next (I hear it is a tough nut to crack that pinion nut is). I also have miscellaneous engine noises and a broken muffler connection that are on the agenda. On and on it goe$.

Distributor cap, rotor, alt belt……..$.33.68
Advance weight kit…………......……….12.50
Spark plugs………………………..........….17.31
Fuel filter , hose, PCV valve……….....15.75
Fuel pipe, fitttings …………………........15.13
Carb inlet pipe & fitting………….......…27.17
Fuel gauge, tstat gasket…………….....18.47
Spring clips (Pomona)………………........1.00
Fuel pressure regulator, hose……….…35.87
Carb rebuild kit……………………….........40.74
Carb floats……………….……….........…..17.39
Lacquer thinner……….………….......…..19.58
Aluminum pans…………………...........……8.12
PCV grommet………………….............……3.05
Air filter gaskets, PCV grommet…….....5.09
Air filter (on hand, a freebie sorta)……0.00

Total…………………………............……$ 270.85

[bollybib]

COOLANT and TEMPERATURE SENDER (Part 1 of 2)

Before I start on another long-winded ramble, I’d like to thank everyone that has ever posted to this site. I’ve found hundreds of gems of information and advice in here, there are so many to thank, so THANK YOU ALL ! (I hope I didn’t leave anyone out).

I did this in April and May 2011.

The coolant needed to be changed. The temperature gauge wouldn’t move out of cold. With a fully warmed up engine, it moved slightly but sat solidly in the cold range all the time.

I removed the pipe plugs in the block, flushed the system real good, and replaced with new coolant and distilled water. The old coolant was surprisingly clean, unlike everything else I’ve seen on this truck so far. I replaced the 180 thermostat and 13 lb radiator cap with a 195 and 16, respectively (closer to spec), all this with negligible results on the temperature indicated on the gauge. My fan clutch was wobbling on the shaft so I replaced it with a new thermostatic type, also with no change in indication.

[bollybib]

COOLANT and TEMPERATURE SENDER (Part 2 of 2)

I tested the sender and found that it was 2.4 kohms cold and around 400 ohms at 212 F. With the sender connected to the gauge wire and grounded, I stuck it in a soldering iron for toomuch heat and watched the gauge run full range (stop, don’t peg it, dude) so I knew the gauge and electrical were working. I found some info on an appropriate sender at http://gmcmotorhome.info/engine.html#sender. The NAPA Echlin site catalog has the tech specs on resistance vs. temp but it's a huge .pdl and doesn't always DL. I bought a NAPA Echlin TS6469, the cheapest one I found on eBay. The existing sender was mounted in a 3/8 NPT hole in the cylinder head. The TS6469 is ½ NPT, so I installed it in the intake manifold. I didn’t have enough clearance at the thermostat housing so I installed it on the opposite side, abandoning my heater hose connection for the time being. The wrap on the OG sender wire is thrashed but I secured the wire better than it was. I get a decent indication on the gauge now, a little below halfway when fully warmed up. I’ve driven it a couple of times since changing the sender. The gauge hovers around where you see it in the pic below so I’m good with it.

The total below surprised me a little but at least I didn’t have to buy hoses or a water pump, and the radiator looks to be in good shape.

Coolant (2 gals)….…$ 23.90
Thermostat………….....13.04
Radiator cap………….....4.34
Fan clutch………........35.88
Temperature sender..10.45
3/8 NPT plug………....…3.03
½ NPT plug…………......3.80

Total……......……….$.94.44

(P.S. I took the day off from stressful truck repair duty and vented here all day instead)

[bollybib]

MISCELLANEOUS FIXIT STUFF

I'm trying to stay focused on engine, drivetrain, and chassis mechanics. But now and again it’s fun to work on "shiny stuff". These are a few things that were broken, missing, or that I wanted to have some fun with.

* * * * * Wheels* * * * *

When I first saw the truck, I had thought that the wheels would look good once cleaned up. I ended up cleaning them over a period of several months while I worked on the brakes. They were scratched and pitted by corrosion in many places. I didn’t worry much about finish niceties, so I went at it with rubbing compound, lots of water, noscratch scrotchbrite sponges, a small pick and a touch as light as possible. They came out OK, a lot better than before.

It was also a PITA to take them on and off the truck @ 8 nuts/wheel. This was due to the lug nuts being 13/16" stock type so the socket rubbed against the wall in the lug recesses. I found some ¾" Gorilla nuts el cheapo-est on eBay again and bought 32 of them (two Mustang’s worth). Using a ¾ socket, I had clearance so no more binding; lots easier. I didn’t have a suitable lug wrench to keep in the truck, so I made one up with a nice looking Williams breaker bar I found at the swap meet and ¾" deep socket. I thought about getting some center caps, but they would be too shiny I think. Besides, I kinda like the exposed vintage wheel mechanics ( http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...4&postcount=10).

I had no idea who made these wheels. I meandered and searched thru the 67-72 threads for pics of 8-lug wheels. I found a couple of pics of trucks with wheels that look similar to mine. special-K identified them as Alcoas. See the last pic in this post ---> http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...6&postcount=62 . Mine will never be that shiny. special-K also mentioned that Alcoa screwed these up once upon a time ( http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...10&postcount=5 ). I was curious, so I searched and found this historical recall notice on http://www.gmcmotorhome.com/tech/alc...all/index.html. I didn't find any roll stamp on the inside of my wheels like the recall notice says so I guess I can sleep nights now.

UPDATE 6/3/11: I finally got around to cleaning the inside of the wheels. Underneath the caked-on crud and tucked away in a spoke recess I found the manufacturer's name, PRIME USA. So they aren't Alcoas after all.

UPDATE 6/8/11: I contacted Prime Wheel in Gardena, CA on 6/7/11. They were able to identify my wheel as their #112. They are 16 x 7.5 wheels. They told me that this wheel was discontinued in the early 90s. On Prime's web site in the History section, it says that Prime started producing aluminum aftermarket wheels in 1989 and became an OE supplier in 1994. So my wheels probably were produced for sale sometime between 1989 and 1994.

My tires are Firestone Steeltex Radial A/T LT265/75R16 with a 198 date code (May 1998).

* * * * * Grille * * * * *

The grille was crunched in on the PS. The headlight was broken and the front turn signal lens damaged. I took out the grille, straightened it, repainted the horizontal bar stripes, and repaired or replaced the other off-kilter stuff.

New turn signal lens:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...postcount=1787

The grille insert was cracked and broken in several places. I couldn’t find any material identifying marks on it. I tried a few adhesives, but ABS cement seemed to grab and hold best (I think I read about that in here). I mended it with flat stock I cut from an old wireless router case (ABS). I cleaned the area to be mended with acetone, sanded it lightly, and clamped the glued flat stock on overnight. It all held firmly but time will tell if it is a good mend or not.

The bumper was bent forward and down a few inches on the DS so I coaxed it back into place with a long L-bar I made from unistrut in combination with a comealong. I finished up the front end by painting the headlight bezels and installing a shiny new slim license plate frame.

NOV 2010 - - JAN 2011


* * * * * Other Small Fixits* * * * *

1. Missing cig lighter, non OG wiper blade, broken steering column clamp - - - I found all this stuff in the Parts Board (what a great site this is !) i-got-em-an-put-em-in.

2. POS exterior rear view mirrors; missing inside door handles, escutcheons and lock knobs; PS window regulator roller broken - - - Got new stuff from Classic Parts of America and put em in ( http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...postcount=1687 )

3. The ignition cylinder had been drilled out, no door keys - - - I had a key guy make up an NOS E keyway cylinder and two keys using the same code as the door cylinders

4. Turn signal flasher and dome light not working - - - I took a trip to O’Reilly’s

$. The Damage

Gorilla nuts……………....……$..56.64
Breaker bar…(Pomona)….……..8.00
¾ deep socket………………..…..6.51
Headlight……………………......…11.95
Turn signal lens (OG eBay)...20.00
License plate frame…………...…6.51
Lighter………………………..........12.00
Wiper blade………………..…......12.00
Steering column clamp………..…8.95
Parts from Classic………….....107.68
Keys and cylinder…………….....45.00
Flasher & dome light……….....…9.22

Total…………….............……$.304.46

I spent a lot of time rubbing out the paint. Most of the cab is the original saddle and white. A lot of the bed has been repainted and there is a bondo repair on the PS rear wheel well. There is rust thru on the DS cab outer rocker, the PS cab corner, and a little at the DS vent. Lots of other miscellaneous dings, holes, and bends, but nothing major.

The only missing trim piece is the paint line strip on the PS cab. The trim is banged up but could probably be straigtened to look OK. I took some Testors black semigloss and touched up all the scratches where it should be black and it looked a lot better. A little elbow grease and touchup paint can make a big difference in looks and doesn’t cost much.

That should just about cover everything I’ve done up to now. At this point I’m into it close to $3,300. I was prepared to pay that much or perhaps a bit more for a truck right off the bat. This way I get a truck + all the aforementioned fun for the same price.

The next thing is to take care of the rear end leak. I’m planning on removing the bed for access (and to expose the worms in the can). While it is off, I’ll decide what to do about the exhaust and I’m considering 2" lowering springs to level the truck out. We’ll see. One thing at a time.

Thanks for reading,
Jim

[76kcfdeng]

Jim, nice write ups on the work you have done. Looks a nice truck to start with. At least yours is on the road. Stay after it and enjoy!
Glen

[R&K's71]

Good looking truck great progress as well. Keep up the good work

[dougminton]

You're makin good progress. looks good.

[bollybib]

Originally Posted by 76kcfdeng

Jim, nice write ups on the work you have done. Looks a nice truck to start with. At least yours is on the road. Stay after it and enjoy!
Glen

I’m pretty much a stock guy, so I think I can minimize the down time and keep driving it while I fix stuff. Like you, I wonder if anyone reads my junk but me. I check the number of views now and again so at least I know if people are looking or not.

I enjoyed your build thread. It looks like you have the ability to tackle whatever you want, a nice big shop, all the necessary equipment, and a lift, too! funfunfun

Originally Posted by R&K's71

Good looking truck great progress as well. Keep up the good work

Thanks for your comment. These trucks are so versatile, people do anything and everything to them. This site proves it. I hope you can get to yours soon and show us the pics. Good luck.

Originally Posted by dougminton

You're makin good progress. looks good.

I was trippin on those wheels you cut in half and widened haha. Thanks for your comment.