What did you do with your truck today, Part 3

[rollenhard]

Getting truck ready for local car show this weekend

[nvrdone]

sweet lookin ride. where's a build thread??

[NorCalGal]

Damn show us more pic of that sweet truck!

[MARTINSR]

Oh oh oh damn that looks nice!

Brian

[MARTINSR]

Got the tank going in, went to the hardware store and got all the bolts, made a spacer for the front one in the frame, looking good!

Brian

[MiraclePieCo]

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

Got the tank going in, went to the hardware store and got all the bolts, made a spacer for the front one in the frame, looking good!

Brian

Unique mounting - side tank in rear frame quadrant. Cool.

[rollenhard]

Thanks For The Complements. Sorry No Build Thread

[Black_Sheep]

Heading to the MSRA Back to the 50's weekend, Friday at 4:30 am...

[oldman3]

Mark, enjoy the show it's a great one...Jim

[Black_Sheep]

Originally Posted by oldman3

Mark, enjoy the show it's a great one...Jim

It is, I don’t think I’ve missed more than a couple times in the 46 years it’s existed. We have Moms memorial service this morning so we won’t get there til sometime this afternoon

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by Black_Sheep

It is, I don’t think I’ve missed more than a couple times in the 46 years it’s existed. We have Moms memorial service this morning so we won’t get there til sometime this afternoon

Your mom recently passed? So sorry to hear, that's never easy. Prayers going her way.

Brian

[Black_Sheep]

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

Your mom recently passed? So sorry to hear, that's never easy. Prayers going her way.

Brian

Memorial Day weekend Brian, thanks for the kind words

[evilokc]

today I did a couple of things on my todo list. ive been meaning to install some ground straps for a while as my truck has none. every now and then the motor will continue to turn over when the key is off. that's a ground issue. ive also wanted to look at my timing .the truck runs fine and starts great to. I feel like its missing some power though. a year or two ago my brother and I timed it by ear because the starter was dragging. its a gen 1 sbc and normal initial timing would be between 12-14. mine was at 4. I moved it to 10 and the motor smoothed out and the rpms went up. I moved it to 12 and again the rpms went up and the motor was smoother still. I revved it a few times to see if it was going to ping but it didn't. I adjusted the idle and took it around the block. it was a crazy difference in power. it felt really smooth too. I went back to the house to gather my stuff to run some errands. when i started it the starter dragged. I ran my errands which was about 10 miles with two stops. the starter seemed to drag a little less as I went on. im not sure how that works. i did notice a pretty good increase in power and smoothness. the truck felt fast. idle was already good but it improved. i got home with a bolt to go in the alternator bracket and a ground strap for the starter. i was so impressed with the difference some timing made that i decided to adjust it from 12 to 14 btdc. that's still in the normal range. my battery is in the bed floor. so i hook the timing gun to the alternator. i started the truck and i saw sparks. i reached in and turned off the truck but it kept turning over with the key in the off position. more and more sparks. i ran over and the clips for the timing gun were glowing. i pulled it off. the truck continued to turn over. i pulled the bat cable off and it went to sleep. i installed the ground strap, removed the alternator. i wanted to check on it since there was so much heat by the wires. sure enough one had burned through. fixed the wire and hooked the battery back up. when i turned the key i got power but it didn't even try to turn the motor over. im going to put it on a charger tonight but im pretty sure i fried the battery. i hope the ground strap stops that from happening again. so today my truck went from running okay to really well to not at all.

[MiraclePieCo]

Originally Posted by evilokc

today I did a couple of things on my todo list. ive been meaning to install some ground straps for a while as my truck has none. every now and then the motor will continue to turn over when the key is off. that's a ground issue. ive also wanted to look at my timing .the truck runs fine and starts great to. I feel like its missing some power though. a year or two ago my brother and I timed it by ear because the starter was dragging. its a gen 1 sbc and normal initial timing would be between 12-14. mine was at 4. I moved it to 10 and the motor smoothed out and the rpms went up. I moved it to 12 and again the rpms went up and the motor was smoother still. I revved it a few times to see if it was going to ping but it didn't. I adjusted the idle and took it around the block. it was a crazy difference in power. it felt really smooth too. I went back to the house to gather my stuff to run some errands. when i started it the starter dragged. I ran my errands which was about 10 miles with two stops. the starter seemed to drag a little less as I went on. im not sure how that works. i did notice a pretty good increase in power and smoothness. the truck felt fast. idle was already good but it improved. i got home with a bolt to go in the alternator bracket and a ground strap for the starter. i was so impressed with the difference some timing made that i decided to adjust it from 12 to 14 btdc. that's still in the normal range. my battery is in the bed floor. so i hook the timing gun to the alternator. i started the truck and i saw sparks. i reached in and turned off the truck but it kept turning over with the key in the off position. more and more sparks. i ran over and the clips for the timing gun were glowing. i pulled it off. the truck continued to turn over. i pulled the bat cable off and it went to sleep. i installed the ground strap, removed the alternator. i wanted to check on it since there was so much heat by the wires. sure enough one had burned through. fixed the wire and hooked the battery back up. when i turned the key i got power but it didn't even try to turn the motor over. im going to put it on a charger tonight but im pretty sure i fried the battery. i hope the ground strap stops that from happening again. so today my truck went from running okay to really well to not at all.

Wow, scary.

And yeah, bad grounds will cause some incredibly weird electrical anomalies.

[MARTINSR]

That is scary! My brother recently had his hood prop rod fall onto the battery and the battery melted a hole in it sitting there on the firewall! This is his 39 Ford that he had in the seventies and sold in 92 and now bought it back last year. Two different guys owned it and did some stupid things, this hood prop rod was one of those things. He had it a very short while and hadn't noticed that the rod was long enough to do this. It fell off the little clip on the rad support rod when he was driving and fell on the battery!

Yep, he shortened it a few inches and no it can't do that...hmmm what an idea. LOL

Brian

[cmayna]

Had my truck earn it's keep yesterday by bringing home a couple loads of fir bark for the yard.

[rollenhard]

Nice Truck cmayna.

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by cmayna

Had my truck earn it's keep yesterday by bringing home a couple loads of fir bark for the yard.

I love it!

Brian

[Clay54]

Originally Posted by MiraclePieCo

Wow, scary.

And yeah, bad grounds will cause some incredibly weird electrical anomalies.

Yes, grounds or the lack of them can cause crazy things. In the mid 70"s, I swapped a '55 Cadillac engine for a '69 327 in my '54 AD truck. When it came time to turn key for ignition the temp gauge immediately went to "H". Engine is not running and has not run for several weeks so why the hot temp. Bottom line, main ground strap was not attached from engine to frame and the temp tube was acting as that ground. Finally figured it out before it melted that tube. Clay

[Black_Sheep]

Drove my truck to day 3 of the Back to the 50's in the rain. When the rain finally stopped I got it wiped down, kicked back and watched the world go by...

[Black_Sheep]

Then some guys stopped by to look at the truck and give me one of these...

In case you’re unfamiliar with Top 100, they visit 10 shows during the year and select 10 vehicles at each of them. By the end of the show season, they’ve awarded 100 winners.

[nvrdone]

bet that makes you grin from ear to ear. congrats

[Black_Sheep]

Originally Posted by nvrdone

bet that makes you grin from ear to ear. congrats

It sure does, and I hope it motivates the guys here that are working hard on their own builds. Good things can happen for us "little guys" too...

[oldman3]

Congrats Mark, hard work does pay off...Jim

[MARTINSR]

Before I ran off to a day wine tasting with the family I got out for my five minutes on the gas tank so I can get it mounted, should be able to get it in epoxy primer tomorrow.

Brian