68 C50 Looongbed pickup build

[Advanced Design]

Ok I found the overhaul procedure and have copied it. Please check your pm's.

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Ok I found the overhaul procedure and have copied it. Please check your pm's.

Done, and thanks again!

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Ok I found the overhaul procedure and have copied it. Please check your pm's.

Got it, thanks!

Richard

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by rkn463

Got it, thanks!

Richard

That old snail mail sure took its time getting there. Hope the info helps!

[rkn463]

Apparently I took some time off. I'm not sure what happened, I guess that I just got so danged slow that I was embarrassed to post how little progress I made. Did you ever have a task that you thought would take a couple of hours that ended up taking days? That is what happened with cleaning and painting brackets. Honestly I'm ashamed that this stupid, pointless task took so long. Keep in mind this truck will be a working ranch truck, there are no plans for a flawless body and paint job. Why I spent so much time cleaning and painting what hardly anyone will ever see just reinforces my suspicion that "the boy just ain't right."

Enough self analysis, now on to the little bit of progress: when I last posted I had just installed the repainted intake and valve covers. Here are a few pics to catch up including a before and after and one with the carb and air cleaner back on. An interesting note (with no photo documentation) when I bought the 89 it had a new Edelbrock performer carb. The truck still had the choke knob on the dash so I assumed that he had bought the manual choke version. Along the way I was frustrated that there was no fast idle with the choke on but I assumed bad gas problems from sitting around. When I dug down to the carb it turned out that he had bought an electric choke carb and disconnected two small linkage rods to "convert" it to a manual choke. One of the rods that was supposed to engage the choke butterfly was laying on the intake the other one that was supposed to give it fast idle with the choke on was just dangling. Sooo. I bought some clips and reinstalled the linkage. I hope the electric choke works, I'll find out when I get it running again. OK enough for this post.

-Richard

[rkn463]

Next it was time to attack the brackets (all that pointless stuff I mentioned in the last post) First was the alternator. The A/C bracket attaches to the alternator bracket so I pulled them both and took some reference photos so that I could put them back together properly. I cleaned and painted the alternator brackets and used a scotchbrite pad to clean the case. The pulley and fan were so crappy looking that I painted them too. In a hurry I put them back on with the paint still wet...

Next was the A/C bracket - the factory setup incorporated one of the AIR (smog) pumps into this bracket so I marked a cut line, removed the ear, ground the remains smooth and painted it. Unfortunately I was in too big of a hurry to snap a pic. You will be able to see it in a later post.

-Richard

[rkn463]

In the midst of all this we had rain, a lot of rain. This time of year is supposed to be dry here in our part of Texas. Dry, windy and hot - with dry windy hot air. Instead we are wet, humid and if you can believe the number on the thermometer much cooler than normal; it just doesn't feel very cool. All this to say that with all of the moisture in the air we are getting some really beautiful skies and I had to take a shot of the fluffy clouds!

Back to the truck (and caught up time-wise) this last weekend was power steering pump time. As I mentioned before, everything to do with the PS system was leaking BADLY. I was able to get a seal kit for the pump cheap from Autozone so I looked on YouTube and found a vid that helped me build the confidence to tear in to it. Here are some pics showing how grungy it was, one of the pump out of the case and one blown apart. Also a shot of the degreaser I am using. I forgot to mention that the previous weekend I assembled my new parts washer... Can't say that I'm overly impressed with the degreaser but them again I always washed parts in gasoline in the past.

The pump was not as intimidating inside as I expected. Whereas I spent hours doing this one I think I could knock it out again in an hour or so. As usual a lot of extra time cleaning and painting brackets, case, etc.

Out of room for pictures in this post...

-Richard

[rkn463]

Two more pictures and I'm done for now. First is the engine with the brackets and accessories painted and bolted back on pulleys painted, etc.. And second is one of those moments that is both sad and happy. Sad because I said goodbye to my 2005 Duramax, happy because that money will likely go toward a life-long dream of owning a Corvette. I was probably 5 years old when one of my older brothers showed me a picture of a vette and I wanted one ever since, that means I've been waiting approximately 48 years! I'm hoping to get a C6 with relatively low miles (50 to 60 K). Not sure yet if I will go for a Z06 or not. Anyway, my trusty 300k mile 04 Silverado gas burner is still my DD and the C50 will be my ranch truck.

Thanks for checking in folks, I hope to have more progress next week.

-Richard

[notchbackgta]

Originally Posted by rkn463

Apparently I took some time off. I'm not sure what happened, I guess that I just got so danged slow that I was embarrassed to post how little progress I made. Did you ever have a task that you thought would take a couple of hours that ended up taking days? That is what happened with cleaning and painting brackets. Honestly I'm ashamed that this stupid, pointless task took so long. Keep in mind this truck will be a working ranch truck, there are no plans for a flawless body and paint job. Why I spent so much time cleaning and painting what hardly anyone will ever see just reinforces my suspicion that "the boy just ain't right."

I can totally relate, it made me laugh out loud, for real

Originally Posted by rkn463

Can't say that I'm overly impressed with the degreaser but them again I always washed parts in gasoline in the past.

Usually you use solvent in a parts washer, not a water based degreaser, that may be your issue