Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

I bent a push rod and so went off to the junkyard and pulled a new set of matching ones :

Attachment 1367547

You can see the one bent one there , need to do some serious cleaning before using these .

I yanked them out of a 1980 G/10 van , the engine was full of crud :

Attachment 1367548

It looks like they used cheapo paraffin based Dino oil and never changed it :

Attachment 1367549

One of these push rods was so gunked up I had a heckuvva time getting it out .

I also went back to the 1968 C/20 I've been harvesting hardware from and they'd taken the V-8 engine out so I scored all the correct original motor mount to frame bolts & nuts plus some of the original tranny to engine bolts and lots of misc. 3/8" hardware they left scattered about .

All in all a good day , after that I ha to pull the dash out of a 1988 M-B W-126 , what a job that was ! about a million fasteners and I couldn't break / cut anything as Ineed to put said dash into my Brother's car :waah: .

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Theres a reason that pushrod bent. check the rockers at the cylinder of the bent pushrod to make sure the rocker wasn't riding off center on the valve. check rocker ball, and rocker itself for cracks or uneven wear. Have fun cleaning!!!!!!

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Thanx Joe ;

Yes , the push rod bent because the engine tipped over on the engine stand , denting the chrome rockerbox slightly : Attachment 1367592

I'll replace them all because I don't like mis matched parts .

I thought I had a thread on this engine job but couldn't find it .

it's getting there bit by bit , a lot of wrong & gone missing hardware .

As far as cleaning , how's this :

Attachment 1367597

This is the inside of the oil pan when first I removed it ~ I'm a firm believer in BLISTERING HOT regular oil changes .

The gunked up blue engine was the junkyard one .



The inside of my engine :

Attachment 1367598

I have lots of photos of the engine and parts but not sure if they belong here or elsewhere....

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

That's some clean pan Nate. How many miles on that engine?
Myself, I have always changed the oil filter along with oil and my engines stay cleaner inside for it. Filters are too cheap not to change it every time is my thinking.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Yes , that was the inside of the pan when I took it off , didn't even wipe it clean yet .

I have no idea how many miles on it , I've had it for ....? 5 ? years now ? .

When I bought it in Texas , it took most of a CASE of oil to get it to Los Angeles and it'd foul spark plugs in 150 miles .

I converted it to OEM HEI and opened the spark plugs up to .070 , the plugs still come out oily but it doesn't smoke and runs great ~ you DO smell the burnt oil if you're behind it though .

Here's the oil screen , notice only three tiny bits of crud :

Attachment 1367602

When I removed the dented chrome rockerbox (I didn't like it anyway and am sorry it got dented as I figured to give it away , someone would want it and can still have it fi they want to bang the dent out) , this is the clean top end I found :

Attachment 1367603

You can see : NO accumulated sludge nor the normal crispy junk .

Yes , you CAN ' drive your engine clean ' and it takes nothing more than regular HOT oil & filter changes .

ALWAYS change the filter ! I can't imagine anyone wanting to leave a quart of dirty oil in the engine......

If you do regular hot oil & filter changes , you can use Dino based oil and cheapo filters too .

I normally use synthetic oils but this thing burned so much oil I was using the basic 40 W " on sale " house branded oils .

FWIW , this engine didn't leak and I kept it sharply tuned and made sure the PCV valve and all those rubber grommets here & there were in good shape , they're under $ 10 each in the " HELP ! " aisle at any FLAPS .

This old truck is the one I outran many Sports Cars in during Road Rallies .

Many more pix , just ask .

More FREE Parts
 

OBTW : in addition to the chrome rockerbox I have the chrome side tappet covers.... they're O.K. , covered now in CHEVROLET ORANGE paint that'll be easy to remove .

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Built a rolling cart and got the replacement long bed off the floor so I can work on it and give the wife her parking space back.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Installed timing cover and harmonic balancer
http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7ac4d87d.jpg
http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/...ps40d235ea.jpg

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/...5AD401B93C.png
Ordered these today .. Going with a 20x8's & 10's. Now just gotta wait 6weeks for them to get here

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Rebuilt my door hinges, hung my rust free OEM doors, pulled the seat and carpet out. Now I can start on fixing the rust in the cab.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Jacked it up. Pulled the motor and transmission. Pulled the 457 Eaton dually rear end out. Installed the new 14 bolt full floater dually rear end. Pulled the entire front suspension out.
Wish I could say that was all before noon, but no, took my tired old butt all day and dragging the last hour or so.
Couple pics of todays work.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Got 'er up and running. New 350, junkyard 4 speed to replace the turbo 350. not a bad swap, but it did take awhile and cost many monies. I'll put some pics up tomorrow.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Those will look sweet!:metal::metal: Good choice. I was considering them, but didn't want to sell my near new 15" tires for a new set. :uhmk:

Lots Of Good Works Here !
 

THANX for the up dates and great photos ! .

Seeing them helps keep me motivated .

I am still sore from lifting the TH350 tranny a few times Thursday , I seem to remember them being lighter when I was still 35 years old...... :waah: .

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

TruXedo lo pro tonneau . 20 min install and fits like a glove. Solid product.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Finished up the engine cross member and A-arms today. Have a few things on the way and a couple more things to get cleaned up and painted to get the front end back together. Still have the rear end housing to work on, but have everything else for back there, so I'm getting closer to having a roller.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Pulled the 79 donor front crossmember out and got it installed in my 68. That 1 ton crap is awful heavy. Took all day.
Got Homer back on all 6 tires and rolled over to the cherry picker. Ready to put on new motor mounts and exhaust manifold in the morning and stab that sucker back in where it belongs.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Dont know a whole hell of a lot about these trucks yet, but looking at how the sway bar is mounted to the A-arms on that one ton set up Im seeing that nothing Ive looked at for mine looks like it mounts the same... My A-arms have the two holes for mounting the bushings, but I cant find a sway bar that mounts like this. Any ideas? I know yours is a stock set up, but why cany I find that?

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Got my new cab mount bushings installed today. Now I can do the final adustments on my doors... only to pull them back off to do my rockers and rust repair on my cab. Will get some pics up soon.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

today and yesterday I installed drop spindles and disc brakes. still have to install brake lines and power booster and lower the rear more. the lower ball joints did not want to go in for nothing. I have a snapon ball joint press and it was a pita to get them in. ended up braking the square part right off my snapon ratchet. ended up getting the last one in with a autozone braker bar and cheater pipe.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

I would look at a 73 t 87 truck/suburban. I put one of those donors under a 63 GMC and it has one.Is yours a 1 ton?

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Its a 1/2 ton but the A-arm looks the same with the same holes for the bushing mount on the lower A-arm

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Put new cab mounts under the truck and Put the motor and transmissions back in. Pulled off the broken motor mounts and exhaust manifold.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Yeah I think the 73-87 1/2 ton chassis is what you want. I have two of them in my yard right now. Both have the sway bar.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Thank you. I appreciate that and will look into it.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

What did that seat come out of? Did it need a lot of adjustments to the floor? Very nice look to it!

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

There's a trick to the fuel pump rod... should be a bolt on front of block that doesn't look like it holds anything. Take it out push rod up and put longer bolt in. This will hold rod till you're done . just don't tighten enough to scar rod,and don't forget to put original bolt back in.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Got this update from american racing.. Can't say enough about the company and highly recommend.. http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/...020CC2400D.jpg

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Finished my bed wood kit finally

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Bare with me I'm not familiar with reposting and if this is the correct way. I only remotely hooked up the LED's to see how they looked. I haven't started the truck yet but getting close but did notice the headlight bulb was loose and could cause a problem down the road.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Worked on Running boards and lower rear fender. Getting better, glad I went all steel for the rear fenders.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

That truck is awesome!

Should be in the next expendables movie:metal:

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Beyond awsome ! .

Movies tend to beat up your vehicles , I've rented some over the years and watched others get screwed .

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Built the first piece of my flatbed, if everything go's right I might have it ready for powdercoat by the end of next weekend.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

I might do alittle more grinding, the radius on my end caps don't match the radius of the 1/4 wall tube.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Started the headache rack today, I went with a rounded look by making 8 bandsaw cuts about a 1/4" apart to bend the tube, then welded the cuts and ground them out.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Ground out and sanded smooth, The small pits I'll tig weld with silicon bronze.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

You did it right. Yes its true the bulbs are not mounted very well but I didnt have any trouble the couple months I drove with them. The truck is in pieces now. Only issue i really had has not getting a good solid beam... I guess thats a fairly big issue when they dont do what they are supposed to do though. I'll probable go with something else when i get that far in the build.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

Did nothing today on my truck. But as I was cruising through Austin, Nevada, saw a very nice 68 C30 Dumptruck sitting along the freeway for sale. Thought about turning around and checking it out. But, I had 6 hours to go in order to get home and already short on time. Next time, I'll stop.

Re: What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II
 

What color are you going to paint er? She looks sweet:metal: