Same old

No truckin time lately. I did drive it out of the driveway and parked it on the street today. The first time I have moved it since Tuesday.

Once it wasparked out there I noticed the usual leaks and a new one. The fuel line is leaking at the connection to the fuel pump. And I think it is leaking at the fuel sender, in the cab, too.

Of course, in the grand scheme of truck things...  The wheel paint and pretty hubcaps might not make that much difference.

Bling Bling

Today I finished painting the truck wheels.  A cheap project that looks like a cheap paint job. Two cans of paint from Walmart, $1.88. One hour of prep time. A couple of hours of dry time. And my swap-meet treasure hubcaps installed. What a great look.

Of course, this tire is the only one that I plan on keeping. So I painted the other wheels without masking off the tire. So now all of the other tires have nice silver side walls. Classy!

Oops

Tonight I had a few minutes to play with the truck, so I tried to find a couple of small things to mess with. I noticed a pin sliding out of the gear shift lever. As it was the pin holding it to the steering column, I decided to hammer it back in.

And guess what. It was not the thing to do. Now I can barely shift into first or reverse. And I can't get the pin to slide back down, either.

Oh well, I live and learn. Just not backwards or in first gear.

Milestones.

We hit two major points this weekend, one cool one a little worrisome.

First the good news. The odometer now shows 45323.9 miles. Therefore I have driven the truck more than 100 miles. 100 miles of uninspected, unlicensed and uninsured fun! Hopefully all of those items will change before another 100 miles clicks by.

We have come along way since that first mile.

And now the news that bothers me. I am officially $1000 into the truck. It still may not look like much but I am quickly running out of small things to repair or replace. The worst part of this is that the stuff that is left is mostly going to be expensive. Stuff like body work, paint and repairing the bed floor will all come later and drive that total cost way up.

I'm such a hoser

Saturday afternoon I finally got around to swapping out the radiator hoses and the heater hoses. Since getting the truck running again back in June, I have known that I needed to change these.

AutoZone only had one of the radiator hoses and the heater hoses in stock, so I installed everything I could. Later I stopped at Advance Auto and picked up a lower hose. While I was there I decided to pick up a new thermostat, too.

The thermostat was one of the first things that I replaced on this truck. And I bought one just like the one I removed, a 165 degree thermostat. This time I put in a 185 degree thermostat. I'll see if I notice any difference in performance. One change already, I wasn't sure my temp gauge worked, because the old thermostat kept the needle pegged on the cool side. Today it was moving towards the normal range, but still on the cool side, even after idling for an hour more.

After getting the new radiator and heater hoses installed, I filled the radiator to check for leaks. Quickly I noticed the lower hose on the heater core was leaking like crazy.

Sunday afternoon I pulled the heater core out and cleaned everything up. I must have pulled 10 pounds of junk out of the heater box. Guess the farm mice found a way in there. I am considering not even having a heater, since I don't use the truck in cold weather and the internal parts are all really rusty anyways. After I priced the core at AutoZone, I decided to do without it for a while. I reinstalled everything except the heater core and the heater hoses.

I used a short length of the old heater hose to make a bypass from the water pump to the block. One guy on the truck forums suggested that I just plug the water pump and the block and ditch the hose completely. I might look into that if I really decide to lose the heater.

Best of all. Nothing is leaking. From this repair at least.

Oil pan? Still leaking. Rear differntial leaking? Youbetcha. Rear Tranmission seal still leaking? Well for some reason that one stopped leaking when I changed the oil in the trans. Dunno.

The only hassle I encountered in this repair was pretty easily handled. I had to remove the hood to get the heater box off of the firewall. Evidently you either have to pull the hood or the passenger fender. I dropped one of the bolts and never found it and one was already missing, so now the hood is sitting even worse than before. When I replace the bolts, I'll try to get it lined up better.

A little inspiration is all I need

I have not ventured out to truck in a few days. Too busy to mess with anything else right now, I guess.

Anyways, I read in our local paper that the city is stepping up efforts to tow abandoned cars from neighborhoods. In the past they have concentrated on cars sitting on the roadway that were obviously not drivable. Our neighbor had an Isuzu towed, after it sat on the street for at least 2 years.

Anyways, now they are towing cars right out of driveways. And all it takes is a neighbor complaint. The police department tags the vehicle and tows it 3 weeks later if it is inoperable, my truck isn't, if it has expired inspection tags, the truck's expired in 1992, or if the license plates are expired, the ones on the truck expired in 1969 AND they were never registered to this truck!

So I am thinking that I might need to get to work on my ride. Or maybe I'll just hide it in the garage or the backyard.

Add all that to that the fact that I don't really think the city ought to be able to tow something out of my driveway, and this might get real interesting if one of my neighbors complains about the truck.

Me next

The Talker and I took a truck ride last night before dinner. A couple of blocks, just checking out the neighborhood. When we got home, the 20 month old Princess had been crying the entire time we were gone. "No Daddy, MY truck ride."

I could not resist, so she and I went for a ride on the other side of the neighborhood. In total, the kids and I probably rode 5 miles or more.

The wife? She rode in the truck a while back, and that ride ended in a walk of shame. For some reason she hasn't been begging to go again. (But she did chaperone the kid's ride last weekend. I forgot about that sucessful ride.)

TruckinDaddy, chauffeur

I took the kids, one niece, one nephew and two cousins for a truck ride after lunch yesterday. The Boss Lady climbed in with us, to chaperone all of the kids in the bed of the truck. The Princess and The Babysitter rode up front with me.

We cruised our street and one street over. Could not take it too far away from the house, but everyone had a lot of fun cruising, anyways.

I'll try to post a picture, soon.

Tire time is coming

I am getting really close to getting the truck to pass the safety inspection. A little more wiring repair (it has to have a license plate light on the rear plate) and some brake adjustments will get most of the problems out of the way.

But I have to put new shoes on the truck, too. I still have one of the tires on it that I brought it home on. Two of the other tires came out a junkyard, when I bought some wheels. The 4th? My old spare from the minivan. 4 tires, 3 sizes, 4 different makes. Classy!

The dry rot is obvious on the three old tires, so I know they have to be replaced first. But I am trying to decide what to do.

I could go buy some new cheap tires at Walmart. For about $200 I could have 4 brand new tires. Or I could find a decent set of used tires. Might be out $100-$125 this way.

Then there is my grand plan. The tires on the minivan are junky. They are safe, but we have had lots of problems with several sets of these tires. So a while back I started thinking about putting new Goodyears on the minivan and moving the tires that are now on it over to the truck. Total cost for this plan, about $400, maybe $425 if I have to pay to have the tires mounted on the truck wheels.

This might be the best option. The minivan gets new rubber and the truck gets decent tires that should last a long time, with as few miles as it will be driven. But these tires are smaller than I really want on the truck. And it might look a little silly.

The sacrifices I have to consider making for the family...

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Haw!

The kids and I went for a ride down the street this afternoon. The Talker was sitting in the passenger seat and The Princess and I were snuggled into the driver's seat belt.

When we started driving, The Talker screamed Yee Haw! At the top of his lungs. This child is a city kid. I don't know where he learned to do it so well, but he can yee haw with the best hillbillies.

I had no choice. I laughed at him and yelled yee haw right back. Then The Princess threw her own into the din. Then it just didn't stop. We were an old truck cruising, screaming happy bunch of fools. Quite a site to see. And hear.

After we got home a neighbor told me that he could hear the three of us yee hawing from five houses away, as we were going around a corner. Now that is a yee haw to be proud of.

Yee Haw!

Truckin again

This afternoon I received a fuel sender that I bought from a guy in Virginia. I mailed him the check last Tuesday so this was pretty good turn around time.

I had no plans to work on the truck today. But I could not resist installing the new fuel sender and getting the fuel system plumbed again. While I was at it I moved the fuel filter closer to the tank. Someone told me that my installed location might lead to vapor lock, because it was too close to the fuel pump. Since I don't know any better, I moved the filter.

Once I got everything buttoned up, I could not miss out on taking a quick cruise. Sitting on my milk crate, I made a couple of runs down the street. I only had a little gas in the tank, so I kept the cruising short. I dumped 5 gallons in the tank tonight, so maybe the boy and I will take a ride Tuesday.

After seeing the neighborhood, I reinstalled the seatbelts and the seat. The Talker had fun bouncing around in the truck when I was finished for the night.

Almost as much fun as I had on my first ride in a couple of months.

Brake line update

I guess I did a decent job on double flaring the brake lines. I found two places that are leaking. One might be due to a bad joint that I made, but the other leak was between the brake hose and a block that just needed to be tightened up some more today. Hopefully I can get the brakes bled sometime next week.

Then once my fuel sender arrives, I can put Marge back on the road. Or rip her drivetrain out. I haven't decided which I should do next.

Cool truck sighting

The kids and I were pulling out of the Costco parking lot after lunchtime and we got passed by the coolest looking medium red 68 Chevy longbed stepside. He even still has the original hubcaps on it. I have two sets of these non-reproduced caps in storage right now!

The only major difference between our two trucks, except that his was nice, awesome, red, and running and mine is a rusted out beater that hasn't seen a street in two months., was the side mounted spare tire. Which did not have a hubcap on it...

I ended up in a turn only lane, so I could not stalk the guy. Next sighting, I will chase him down. I want to see more of this cool old stock ride.

It did not have any obvious evidence of old decals, but it might have been an old fire truck. I guess this because of the red lights on the roof and the searchlight mounted in between, with the control handle was up on the center of the cab ceiling.

My great uncle's farm truck had a search light mounted on the roof just like this red truck. I always thought it was the coolest thing about his farm trucks.

Now if I can just find that red truck again...

This makes six 1967-1972 ongbed stepside Chevy trucks that I have seen since getting my truck home. Mine, this red 68, a green and white 71 or 72, a medium green 69 or 70, and two I saw at a swap meet last year. But one of those might have been a GMC...

Internet Parts

I stopped at five chain auto parts stores yesterday, looking for the rubber pieces and fuel sender. No luck at any of the stores. I made a deal on a truck website for a used fuel sender. I still need to order the rubber parts for the tank install, but I am getting closer to putting the interior back together.

I wanted to run the engine a little yesterday morning since it has been sitting for a month. After checking everything out, I could not get the engine to fire. I was tempted to call around and ask my buddies to suggest a solution, but I diagnosed the problem myself. It seemed to be getting no fuel. The fuel filters were not dirty, and the line to the carburetor looked pretty dry. So I decided it was time for a new fuel pump. Seemed like the logical solution. And it turns out that I was right! A first time for every thing? After I installed the new pump, the truck fired up quickly.

When I bought the fuel pump, in May, the parts store had two in stock. A $12 pump that had a 3 month warranty, or a $14 pump with a lifetime warranty. I guess that was a good $2 spent, because the store swapped me for a new pump and I was out of there in 5 minutes. Without spending any more money!

Which is nice, because I noticed a new leak yesterday. Now the rear differential is leaking. I think it about time to remove the driveshaft and fix the oil seals on both ends.

Hey Rick, how do you pull the driveshaft out?

All hooked up

I got the last of the rear brake system hooked up this afternoon. I'll have to read up on bleeding the brake system before I add the fluid and know for sure if my new lines will work.

I think I got the oil pan leak fixed tonight. After I removed, cleaned and reinstalled the SureDrain plug, there was no oil dripping from the usual spot. I'll check again in the morning, just to be sure.

Finally, I cleaned the gas tank some more, tonight. I kept knocking crud loose inside the tank and then I would rinse it out with some clean gas. The last couple of times the gas was pretty clean when I dumped it out. I'll try this again tomorrow, too. If the gas comes out clean a couple of more times, I'll reinstall the tank.

I won't be able to completely finish that job this weekend, though. I will have to get a new floor/fuel line grommet and a fuel filler grommet along with a new fuel sender. The grommets were destroyed during removal, and the fuel sender is trashed.

Rear brake plumbing almost complete

The last hose I needed for the rear brakes arrived today. When I picked it up at the auto parts store, I was worried that the connections would not match up to the new replacement line I installed. Both ends looked too big. No worries, though. The new hose attached tot he new lines perfectly.

I was having trouble getting one of the retaining clips back into place. So I disconnected the frame rail brake line. The clip went in easily, but now I can't seem to get the connection to tighten up again. I'll have to revisit that this afternoon.

Want to get everything tightened down today or tomorrow, because I hope to bleed the brake system this weekend.

New brake lines

I spent a lot of the day underneath the truck, installing new brake lines to the rear brakes. I could have bought a set for the entire truck for about $150 plus shipping, but I wanted to try making the lines myself to save a little cash.

I still need to buy and install the rear brake hose. Once that is done, I'll find if my efforts were worth the trouble. If it leaks when I add the fluid, I might still be ordering a complete set of lines. I bought the lines for about $30 and the double flaring tool and bender for about $15.

One of the lines had metric fittings installed on it, so I ended up back at the parts store this evening, buying another line, and spending another $5. Then it was just a matter of remaking the line to match the first one.

Of course, this line was the line with the most complex curves on it, the line along the rear axle that serves the driver's side brake. In the end, the first line looked a lot better than the second. But the second actually connects to the rest of the system and should work.

This morning I thought I had defeated the oil pan leak. But I didn't. When I was finishing up the brake lines, I saw a nice spot of oil under the truck. I was going to address the rear oil transmission seal today, too, but if the truck is leaking from one place, it might as well leak from two (or more).

No help this time

The Princess gave up on helping in the garage. After the wife got home, I headed back out to tinker. I finally decided to tackle the oil leak on the truck. I stripped some threads on the oil pan a while back. I have a plan to fix the leak, but I need the oil plug out and the surface around the drain to be clean and dry. So I started with half an oil change today?

What's that, you ask? . I have all of the oil drained and the new filter installed, but I won't finish the repair until this weekend, so the truck will sit a few more days dripping oil.

Which really is not that big of a deal, seeing as the gas tank is in the garage, right beside the bench seat and the rear brake lines are currently hanging on the bike rack. This truck would be sitting all weekend, even if it had oil in the engine.

Tonight I spent some time organizing and cleaning tools. I am learning a lot about the old truck lately. But I still have the same low level of organizational skills. After getting all of that done, I spent a few minutes listening to a little Willie Nelson and fixing up The Talker's Shrek scooter.

My right hand girl

This afternoon, while the boy napped, The Princess and I worked in the front yard. Mainly she played with a doll and a toy stroller while I gave the minivan an oil change. Before I started I set the box end wrench on the front porch. After I showed it to her, I told The Princess that I would need it soon and that I would appreciate her brining it to me when I asked.

When I got ready for the wrench I asked one time and she was right there, wrench in hand. Of course, she wanted to keep the wrench and give me the doll, but she had the right idea and her timing was perfect.

Learning as I go

I found out that my truck does not have a proportioning valve on it. What I thought was the prop valve, the junction of front and brake lines right after the master cylinder, is in fact an electric switch that lights an idiot light on the dash, if either the front or rear brake lines lose pressure.

Odd, what I learn when I actually pull out the repair manuals.

I got the sumbitch

I spent the entire afternoon underneath the truck. After another 4 1/2 hours working on it, I got the rear brake lines removed. The line running from the proportioning valve, under the engine and to the passenger's side frame rail was in great shape. Maybe due to being buried under 2 inches of oily crud for no telling how many years. After I got all of the muck off of the crossmember and off of the steel line, I reinstalled the one good brake line.

It went back in pretty smoothly and should give me a good point of reference to make sure I get the other lines installed properly. The rest of the rear lines are really rust and weak. I do not think they are worth reusing.

The only casualty, besides my knuckles - since the scarecrow is wearing my work gloves, was the rubber line that connects the main line to the smaller lines that service each rear brake. I was working around that hose, but eventually I realized that the line is 38 years old and not worth saving. Once I cut through the hose, I made much quicker progess, too.

Dirt Dauber habitat (aka The rear brakes)

Here is a picture of the driver's side rear brakes as soon as I got them opened up. I quit counting when I knockewd 40 nests out of there. The passenger's side was not as bad.

The good news, once I got most of the nests and dirt out of there, it looks like all of the parts are still in place, 37 years after installation!

I give up

I am going to remove the entire rear brake line set. I am not sure that I can separate the lines without a vice and a lot of cussing. So tonight I started removing the lines from the proportioning valve and the master cylinder. The line between the master cylinder and the prop valve does not have to come off, but it is a 6 - 8 inch line.

If I end up replacing the rest of the rear brake lines, this one should not cost very much, right!?!

The biggest problem with the new plan, under the engine I need to get to the clips holding the lines to the frame. And they are buried under some of the worst crud on the truck. Looks like a lot of scraping is on tap for this weekend!

Brakes to Grime

I planned to remove the rear brake line this afternoon. This was to be the third attempt and I would not surrender until the dang thing was off of the truck.

PB Blaster, heat, flare nut wrenches... threw everything I had at these 37 year old compression fittings. They won. The line is still attached to the truck.

So I pulled the front wheels and took a flathead screwdriver to the caked on crud and muck on the front suspension and frame parts that I could reach. I worked for two hours scraping anything that I could get to. Afterwards, I had another huge pile of crud under the truck. Since the truck is not drivable this time, I guess the pile will sit there, under the heap, until the next big rain.

While scraping, I tried to add up how long I have spent scraping under this truck. Best figure I could come up with, more than 10 hours, but less than 15. And I think another 5 hours would get most of the crud off of the truck and into the pile underneath.

Brake question

I just had a question about the emergency brake, but I don't know the answer.

If there is no brake fluid getting to the rear drums, will the emergency brake still work? I know that there is a fluid leak on the main line. So I know there is no fluid at the rear brakes.

Could this keep the emergency brake from holding? I thought the emergency brake was purely mechanical, so that you had brakes in case of a loss of brake fluid.

The manuals don't say.

Emergency Brake non repair 101

I pulled out the repair manual today and decided to tackle the Emergency brake. It has to work in order for the truck to pass inspection.

After making the written adjustments, with no change in performance, I decided to open up the rear brakes. Did you know that dirt daubers will nest in brake drums? I have photographic proof to post, someday.

Nothing seemed to be obviously out of place or missing inside of the rear brakes. But I still did not manage to make the emergency brake hold.

It's not about the pay...

When I finished working on The Boss Lady's car this weekend, I started cleaning it out. I found $1.03 in loose change under the floormats and seats. I would have added that cash to my truck fund, but I bought a soda instead.

Besides, it was kind of depressing to think that I worked on the car for 10 hours and all I got out of the deal was $1.03 in sticky change.

Right idea, wrong vehicle

Since the whole family is gone for the weekend, I wanted to work on the truck, but I spent all day working out some bugs on the wife's car.

Tomorrow I may mess around with the emergency brake on the truck. Or I just may take a nap.

Fuel line install

I cleaned up and re installed the fuel line. I did not find a suitable replacement for the missing clip, but it is one of four, the other three are holding the line tight and in place. I'll keep looking for another clip, but for now, it is good enough.

While under the truck, I switched up the install for the inline fuel filter. Now, the gas line after the filter makes a much less severe curve before the fuel pump. I was worried that the sharp turn might be restricting fuel flow. By using a longer section of fuel line, the curve is hopefully less restrictive.

Still trying to decide what I want to do about cleaning the fuel tank. I may try to clean it up myself, soon. Then I'll just need a $30 fuel sender and float set-up to be running a complete and clean fuel system.

Got it!

I swapped a set of truck wheels for some miscellaneous parts. So i have gotten busy the last couple of days, swapping out old parts for different old parts.

But the biggest move of all on the truck, is that I FINALLY got the fuel line removed from the truck. It was easy enough, save for the last clip holding the line to the frame. I mesed with that clip for an hour last night and for an hour this afternoon.

Turns out it was just a clip, through the frame, like all the others. But this one wrapped around the line and doubled back on itself. Plus it was really hard to reach. Not real sure how I'll get another clip back in there, but I'll worry about that another day.

Truck?,

What truck? I haven't had time to look at any trucks? And I sure haven't had time to disassemble any trucks.

Maybe if I quit my job.

Oh yeah, never mind.

Truck Update

I have not made any real progress on the truck, since getting most of the fuel system removed. I still have one rusty steel line to remove from the frame, but it parallels the brake line that I need to replace, so I'll remove them at the same time.

Since getting the tank removed, I have run the engine once. I hooked up a fuel line and filter to the pump and ran it straight into a can of clean gas. I can't drive it this way, but at least I can keep the truck running and starting.

I also made a few calls about getting the tank cleaned and sealed. There are a couple of radiator shops here in town that can do it. $75 to get it cleaned and another $75 to seal it seems to be the going rate. Unfortunately, all of these shops are on the far side of town, 20 miles or so from here. Eventually I'll have to make a special trip down there to drop off the tank.

Gasoline Dump

This afternoon I planned to get the old gas out of the truck tank and into gas cans, so that I could haul it to the city hazardous waste collection site. The main problem I had involved getting the gas from the tank into the cans for hauling.

So ignoring most common sense and safety, I dumped the gas into a 10 gallon bucket that we used to wash cloth diapers in. Then, I was going to pour the gas into the cans a little at a time with a funnel. The gas was really cruddy looking and I did not want 8 gallons sitting in a bucket for too long. But while I was getting ready to transfer the gas, I noticed that the rust and junk was settling quickly.

After a few minutes, I siphoned off the top 5 gallons and I poured it into a can and then into the minivan. Hey, we won't be driving this thing for more than a couple of years, so what can it hurt, right? Most of the rest of the gas went into a 2 gallon can for use in the lawn mower. But the last gallon, and all of the crud at the bottom of the bucket, went into a smaller gas can. That one will get dropped off at the city chemical waste site along with my 10 gallon diaper bucket.

Introducing the gunky gas into the minivan was not a perfect solution, but no one spontaneously combusted, so I consider it a successful afternoon.

Tired of the crud

I decided to pull the gas tank out of the truck this afternoon. The removal went pretty easily, except that I ended up destroying the filler grommet and I cut the rubber grommet where the gas line passes through the floor of the cab. Both of those pieces are cheap and easy to find, so I was not too upset.

I thought I was low on gas and that it would be a good time to get the gas tank cleaned and sealed. Turns out, I have a lot more gas than I thought. But it is really gunked up with rust.

Racecar Man and I tried to filter the gas out of the tank and into gas cans, but we gave up, after straining a few gallons through several layers of cloth diapers. There was so much rust that our diaper-filter would clog after just a few seconds.

I am going to price having the tank cleaned and sealed at a radiator shop. The DIY supplies seem to cost anywhere from $20 to $60. A new tank costs $200 plus shipping with a new fuel sender and float for the fuel gauge. Before I do anything with this tank or order a new one, I am going to look around a little, to see if anyone around here has a used tank in good shape.

Boat Update

I don't wanna nother blog and you can't make me start one, so the boat stuff is going right here, for now. But I grabbed BoatinDaddy on blogspot, just in case.

I have been looking online for info about the bigger boat. It is a mid to late 60's Texas Maid, Fleet Model. It is a 14 ft fiberglass V Hull with a 1965 Mercury 20hp outboard hanging on the transom.

There you have it. All I know about boats in one short post.

Running on empty

I am trying to run the truck out of gas this week. I put a fuel filter on a week and a half ago. It is getting clogged already, with rust and crap out of the fuel tank. I am going to put another fuel filter on and hopefully I'll get a lot of the gas out before I remove the tank.

I want to read up on cleaning the tank and sealing the insides before I reinstall it. But when I do that, I have been warned that it will need a new fuel sender set-up, too.

I am also debating whether or not to remove the heater from the truck. As far as I know, it is functional. I know it needs all new duct work and the slides don't seem to move through a full range of motion. Plus, I don't plan on going too far north in this truck, so I'll doubt I'll ever use the heater. If it is too cold to ride in, then it is also too cold for yardwork or fishing.

Even if I do remove most of the system, I'll likely leave the controls in the dash, though. Otherwise everyone would ask me why is there a big hole in the dash. And I'll have to think up some witty answer. I already have to say "You put your weeeeeed in it..." every time someone asks about the hole where the cigar lighter should be.

By the way, magnets stick to the gas tank.

Bigger Boat, Better Price

I went out Monday to look over another boat. I guess this one will be making it's way home eventually. Just have a few thing to do before I bring it home.

The perfect accessory for a fishing truck

Back in this post, I told about getting the truck one step closer to being my fishing truck. Today, we took a huge step in that direction...



A neighbor was selling this beautiful aluminum boat in a garage sale.



Like everything around here, it needs a little TLC before The Talker and I can hit the water, but it looks like it was made to ride around in the back of my fishing truck!

TruckinDaddy

My older brother and most of his family stopped by today. They were in the middle of 10 hour drive and needed a place to let my Nephew run for a while.

Bro also got the run down on the truck. After I took him for a ride, he climbed behind the wheel and got to experience the lack of power steering and power brakes for himself.

By the time we got home, we both had big grins and had shared a few laughs. He last drove the truck when he was about 15 or sixteen, more than 20 years ago. Just for the record, Bro is only the third person to drive the truck since I got it home.

Blame the wife

She has worked at least 75 hours already this week. So no time for the truck, except for a quick drive down the street last night. The wife and kids were out walking, so I picked up The Talker and we rode home, after doing a couple of donuts in the cul-du-sac.

On a roll

This week I have made several trips down the street. Not feeling too brave, though. I have not ventured off of our street, or gone out when the Mrs. isn't around to bail me out.

But we are incident free, since installing the new fuel filter. Which is good, because walking home sucks.

Sold the wheels

A guy off of the 67-72Chevytrucks.com forum wants to buy the slot wheels. Assuming the money order actually comes this week, I'll get them shipped ASAP, so that I can pile some other crap in that spot on the garage shelf.

Fuel filter, take 2

I ran to the parts store this morning and grabbed a couple of $2.80 fuel filters. The clear ones come with an extra filter insert for $10. Think I'll stick to the biggies for now.

And the filter was definitely needed. The old one was clogged with crud and liquified rust. But the small filter in the carb is still pretty clean, so the primary filter is doing it's job. Lesson learned. Truck has gas, won't stay running, check the fuel filter.

The rust does not surprise me. But it's source might. I assume there is some rust in the tank. It is not leaking, but it did sit with gas in it for 12 years. Also I bought some rubber fuel hose, to replace the hose from under the cab floor to the steel line on the frame. While I was swapping the lines, some gas spilled out of the tank. It was clear and not rusty.

Could that mean there isn't rust in the tank? Dunno. And if the tank is not rusty, then I guess it is coming from the steel line between the new rubber hose and the new fuel filter.

Either way, I spilled some gas on my chest and arms while I was tightening up the new hose. The gas burned like crud, so after a quick shower and a test drive to the end of the block and back, I called it a successful day of truck repair.

Truck, what truck?

I have spent no time on the truck this week. I walked by it a few times yesterday, just to make sure it was still in the driveway.

The city is hauling off old cars that are sitting on the street. If a car has expired registration or inspection stickers, then it is subject to being towed off, 10 days after it gets tagged by the police. That way the owner has a little time to take care of the car, first. Of course, the truck is in my driveway, so it should not be a big problem.

Our crazy neighbor had a 90's model Isuzu Trooper literally drug off, because it had been parked on the street for two years and the tires rotted off of it. A dead give away that a car is not being used - when ivy vines start growing around and into the car. I just thought he was making an SUV shaped topiary out front.

I have heard of a couple of cars getting tagged sitting in a driveway. I can only assume they were blocking the sidewalk, so the police could tag the car even in a driveway. Otherwise, there should not be a problem. But our driveway is long enough to get 4 full sized cars completely off of the street and there are no sidewalks on our side of the street.

Add to all of that, the truck is parked at the front of the driveway, 20 feet from the street. But if an orange tag shows up on my truck this week, you'll hear about it. And so will our local police. 'Cause I plan on doing a whole lot of whining if I have to clean out my garage to fit a truck in there.

Not the gas

Last week I thought I was out of gas. The truck stalled out and once I gassed her up, we drove home. I was a little surprised, since I have put gas in several times, a gallon or two here or there, and I have only driven 60 miles in the five months since I have had it home. The truck has also idles for a few hours in the drive way during that time.

Still, if I have added 15 gallons of gas, and only driven 60 miles, then I am getting exactly CRAPPY miles to the gallon.

After a little family drive the other night that ended with pulling the truck home, I am now convinced that I was never out of gas in the first place. There is some other fuel problem. Possibly rust in the tank.

I installed a fuel filter a while back. This weekend I'll remove it to see if it is clogged up. Hopefully that is all it is.

Hey you, wanna buy some wheels?

I am selling the slot wheels that I bought a while back. I decided that I really want the original hubcaps that I bought last spring, so I'll be keeping my stock wheels.

The whole city wants to help

I blogged elsewhere about some suggested improvements for my truck. And I don't feel like typing it all again, over here...

Also, The Odometer has been updated.

Cruising

Took the 68 out for a quick drive this evening. After walking home the other night, I did not venture far. Just a couple of trips to the far end of the street.

But I drove the whole way there and back. No Walk of Shame for me tonight.

NOW I am convinced

that the gas gauge does not work. I had to take my second Walk of Shame Wednesday evening. Luckily, I only had to walk 4 houses when I ran out of gas. Actually, I ran out up the hill, but I was able coast most of the way home. Plus, it was a gorgeous night for a walk.

So I borrowed a gas can, emptied that one and one of my own into the truck and made it the rest of the way home without problems. Except the problem of explaining why 10 gallons of gas in the truck ended up costing us almost $100.

It really is simple, I had to go to the gas station since both cans were bone dry. So while there, I filled up the wife's car. $35 gone. Then I decided to gas up the minivan and refill the gas cans. Another $60 gone. But that got both cars filled and 10 gallons into the truck.

Kind of sad, $100. And the gas gauge still does not work.

Truck ride!

I pulled out of the driveway last night and cruised the neighborhood for a little while. And again this morning. On the way home today the truck stalled. It restarted easily and I got home without any other problems.

I don't know what happened. Probably driver error. I was pulling up a small hill and it acted like it was not getting gas. Could be almost out of gas. The gauge does not seem to work. Hopefully that is all it is.

I am seriously considering tearing into the rear brake lines. I want to remove the busted one and see if I could make a replacement for it myself. I can buy one for about $30. A cheap flaring tool costs about that much. But I need to replace fuel lines, too. If the same flaring tool will work, it would be cheaper in the long run to do it myself.

No time for truckin

I have been too busy to work on the truck in the past few days. But I have started it several times since installing the battery. Mainly because it will start on the first turn of the key.

And I want it to keep doing it.

Yep, just as I suspected...

Somehow I managed to kill the old battery from the wife's car. No problem, though. It had a pro-rated 7 year warranty and I had a $20 Autozone gift card.

So this evening I took the wife's battery out of her car for one last time. When the truck started perfectly the first time, I cruised the hood for a few miles. Then I swapped cars and headed out to Autozone for a new battery.

Not a bad deal, I guess. The old battery was three years old and the gave me $20 back on the warranty adjustment. We originally paid $36 for it. Kind of like battery rental for $12 a year.

Since I already bought a new battery for the wife's car, I grabbed one that is actually intended for the truck. Bigger battery, more amps and it has a pretty red top. Guess they want people to think that I am rolling with a $150 Optima under the hood.

What now?

The new voltage regulator is in. The alternator checked out, OK. The battery was good two weeks ago, and I have kept it on a charger for a while, but the truck wont' start.

It will, one time, right after I pull the battery off of the charger. But then, If I try to restart, it won't without a jumpstart.

I still made a couple of short trips in the neighborhood this weekend. And for the first time, I got stranded. Luckily, only two blocks from home.

Say Huh?

Number 8 seems to be OK. Number 5 is a little gunky, though

Another week gone

The truck has sat, untouched for a week. I bought some rubber washers the other night, so that I can mount a new voltage regulator. I have not bought the part yet, maybe Saturday. Then we should be back on the road.

As far as I can tell, the voltage regulator is original to the truck. I guess it was time for it to die, after 37 years.

One for the psych text books

Ever say something that ends up being much more revealing than you intended?

This, from a comment I made on the last post, was one of those times for me...

I am great at taking things that work fine and breaking them and repairing them so that they work much worse than they originally did!

There is a lot of truth in there.

Voltage regulator

I am going to have to order the rummber grommets for the voltage regulator. So the truck might be sitting for a while. Only $3 for all of them, from the first catalog I saw, but it would be about $10 in shipping for purchases up to $50, so I might as well order a few other things, too.

I tried to remove the ignition lock cylinder again today. No sucess. I have spent at least 5 hours jerking around with this thing. I want to install a new one that came with a matched set of door locks. Right now the doors don't lock. Hopefully I can figure out what is wrong with them while I am installing the new locks. But I don't want to do that until I get the ignition key replaced.

Electrical system progress

The 37 year old alternator tested fine. Good, because it cost about $40 to replace. Next I am going to pull the voltage regulator. Better that it be the problem because it cost $13 to replace.

Now if I can just get the damn thing off of the truck. The rubber grommets that hold it to the radiator support are proving to be difficult to remove. Especially since I don't know where I could get some more if I trash them during removal.

While I had the alternator off this morning I cleaned the bracket arms and everything else that I could get to easily with the alternator out of the way. A little oven cleaner and elbow grease did a lot of good.

Now the driver's side of my engine is lemony fresh, thanks to the Wal-Mart oven cleaner.

BUSTED!

Now that the weekend is here, and the family is heading out of town, I should get to have some fun with the truck. But not this weekend.

Something happened between the time that I bought a new battery for the wife's car and finally installed her old one in the truck. Now the truck won't run without being jump started.

I am thinking it could be the alternator, the voltage regulator or the battery itself. I'll have to read up on it this weekend, because I have no clue.

Broke down

no, not that kind. I am trying to promote marital harmony around here, so I finally broke down and bought a battery for the truck today. Actually, I bought a battery for The Boss Lady's car at Costco and I am leaving her old one in the truck.

Until now, I have been pulling her battery out anytime I wanted to run the truck. So just about every time she gets in her car she needs to reset the clock and radio. Yeah, I could do it for her, but it IS her car, you know...

Maybe just in time, too. When I got everything buttoned up on the truck, I turned the key and got nothing. A quick jumpstart with the minivan got it started and it seems to restart fine since.

Good enough for now.

Not quiet as bad, close up...

And they look even better from inside of the truck, where I can't see them while I am running the roads.

They are ugly, I tells ya

There are no words to describe how bad the new whitewalls look on my beautiful truck...

New Wheels, Again

After our zoo trip, The Boss Lady talked me into taking a quick run up to a Chevy truck junk yard that we pass when we go to The Queen Mother's house. But they always seem to be closed on those trips.

Within 2 minutes of getting out of the car, I was 50 buck poorer, but I had two stock wheels that would bolt right onto the truck, unlike the wheels I bought online, a while back. These wheels are white. I'll repaint them silver, eventually.

The big bonus of the deal, they had tires mounted still. I wanted the guy to take the tires off, but he said he could not do it then. Once we got home, I tried to see how bad the tires really were. Both are holding air and in much better shape than I first thought. Of course, a brick would make a better tire than what was on the truck yesterday morning. Yes, I have been riding around on this, the whole time. Or should I say 'hole time'...

The only downside to the new wheels/tires? The 1 1/2 inch wide white wall. I can't even describe the look. Especially when only the fronts have the stripe and the rears are still rolling on tall mud grabbers. I'll get a picture for you.

Odometer update

The Odometer has been updated.

For the record, I think when I talked to Rick last night I told him that I had driven 75 miles or so. I was wrong by more than half. So you still might have driven your truck further than I have driven mine.

Cruisin'

Made several short trips around the neighborhood this weekend, between rain storms. I tweaked the idle a little more, too. I had it where it sounded great, but it was hesitating a little on take off. Now, it is idling faster, sounds a little rougher and does not hesitate.

And unlike my usual method, of trying to fix something by seeing how broken I can get it first, once I got the idle set I left it alone!

Neighborhood run

Thursday morning, the boy and I got the truck started with no problems, so we went for a neighborhood cruise. While we were out, we saw Racecar Man and his family, so they hopped in and rode a loop of the block with us.

The Talker loved the ride, because all of the kids and Racecar Man rode in the back of the truck. They were not even disappointed that we were only going 15 miles per hour.

Too much rain today

for a ride or working on the truck. But it was cooler than in the past weeks, so I spent a little time cleaning the garage and straightening tools.

Big fun.

Gas run!

Lots of running around in the neighborhood today. A bunch of small trips and one memorable trip to the gas station. I was going to borrow a 5 gallon gas can from a neighbor, but he wasn't home. And by my estimation, it was only a couple of miles to the gas station, so off I went. I was feeling brave since the wife and kids were not around to bail me out if the truck broke down or the cops were not amused by my sweet ride...

When I left the station I was worried that my gas gauge might not be working properly. But then I remembered that my $5 bill had only bought me a couple of gallons of $2.15 per gallon gas. So the tank still might not have enough in it to get a good reading.

The station is less than a mile from our house, but since I drove side streets instead of the major route, it took me about 20 minutes and 6 miles to get there and back. Very exciting!

The Talker and I took a ride this evening before bed. We went up to the park and back. He really wanted to stop and play, but I wanted to make sure we did not have to walk home in the dark if we broke down, so we headed home. Without breaking down.

Clutch Going Bad?

Of course I knew it might. Since I assume it is the original clutch, it is not unexpected in a 37 year old truck. Still it surprised me a little that Racecar Man thought the truck might need a new clutch soon.

Then I was reading over at Rick's place. And once again, he posts about a car problem 1500 mile away from here and mysteriously one of our cars ends up needing the same repair in short order.

Thanks again, Rick. By the way is David's dog limping? 'Cause mine is, and I thought y'all might know what happened?

The Odometer

BEGAN work with 45232.2 miles.
NOW reads 45800.4 miles.
TOTAL 568.2 miles driven.
PER mile cost $3.52.

PARTS off of at least 18 different trucks.

Most of it is still the original farm truck.
The right fender and door skin came off a junkyard truck.
The visors and seat belts came from a 1968 junkyard truck.
A couple of small engine parts came off of a 1970 junkyard truck.
Two of the wheels came from a junkyard in Waco, TX.
The mirrors and door handles came from a swap meet.
The side reflectors came from a 1972 Blazer.
The hubcaps came from a swap meet.
The replacement bed came off a 1968 Anniversary Edition truck.
The battery tray came out of a 1968 GMC in Temple.
The wiper motor came from Minnesota.
The washer bottle holder came from Minnesota, also.
Two fuel senders came from a guy in Virginia.
The rear brake lenses and 1 reverse light lens came from Virginia, too.
The other reverse light lens came from California.
The master cylinder cover came of a 69 Chevy from Leander, TX.
The cigar lighter delete plug came from Illinois.
The hood letter badge set came off of a couple of trucks in Pennsylvania.

40 different streets
2 trip on the highway
12 trips out of the neighborhood
30 miles, the longest trip was to downtown and back
3 Walks of Shame, thanks to a dead battery and a clogged fuel filter

Only two repairs have been done at a shop.
The drive shaft was rebuilt at Austin Drivetrain.
The BRAND NEW tires were installed at Discount Tires in Austin.

I'll update this post as the stats change, to come back to this post click on The Odometer on the sidebar

Check out the sidebar

I added a section to the sidebar, titled The Odometer. Several stats that you might find interesting over there.

Or not.

Edit:

I changed it up, to make it easier to edit. Click on The Odometer on the sidebar to jump to the stats post

Timing is everything

Back when Racecar Man helped me get the engine running again, we got the timing set pretty easily. And the truck was running fine, especially for a vehicle that had not run a dozen years. Afterwards, Racecar Man remembered that we should have disconnected the vacuum advance before setting the timing. Since the truck was running OK, we left it alone.

But then Wednesday the truck was hard to start and it was not idling smoothly, so I decided to tackle the timing today. And after just a few minutes and a minor adjustment, the truck runs completely different. As it turns out, we were about 15 degrees too far advanced.

So this afternoon I have cruised the streets in my easier idling, quieter and more powerful truck. I am amazed at what a small adjustment in timing did for this engine. Racecar Man even got to take a drive. He may not have been the first passenger, but he will now go down in history as only the second driver since the truck came back into service.

Saving money left and right

When I add in the miles I drove today and the cost of this morning's fuel, we are now down to only $112 per mile.

Rolling through the neighborhood.

The truck sat for more than a week without being started. So this morning I decided to make sure she remembered what to do. Alas, she had forgotten already. It took me a while to get the truck started. I suspect that I ran out of gas last time and it took a little cranking to get fuel to the carb.

Once it was idling, I went for a quick drive but the truck did not seem to be running as smoothly as before our week apart. Racecar Man confirmed this when I cruised past his house. This afternoon I was planning to tinker a little and I was going to check the timing, but Marge must be slowly remembering how to be a truck.

She started on the first try and purred like a kitten for The Talker and I to take a drive down to Racecar Man's house to deliver some swim towels this evening.

It is SOMETHING, at least

Yesterday I rolled the windows down in the morning and back up when we left the house, because it looked as if it might rain. If only I had left them down, it actually would have rained....

And this morning I put a Cabela's sticker on the rear window. So the truck is now one step closer to it's ultimate role as my fishing truck. Also at Cabela's yesterday, I saw some rod holders that I want to mount inside of the bed walls, so that I can carry six or eight 8 foot rods without having them rattling around on the bed floor.

Once the truck is road worthy, I'll decide how I want to mount them. They will need to be removable, so I am thinking about using some really strong magnets.

Have you seen my truck?

Because I haven't.

This is the first time since I brought the truck home that it has sat for an entire week without me touching it. I was out of town for several days, but mainly it is too freaking hot out there to touch metal and I don't have decent enough lighting to work at midnight.

So she might sit until October at this rate. Or should I say at this temperature...

Cruising the hood

During the last few days I have hauled six different people in the truck. Never more than a block or two, but everyone has made it safely to their final destination. Actually, The Talker and I drove the truck a couple of miles in one trip the other day. We even left our street for a block or two.

For the record, I have now driven the truck 7.3 miles. Considering the money I have spent on this thing so far, that comes to a little less than $125 a mile.

Making the new wheels work

I never thought to ask about the length of studs needed to mount the new wheels when I bought them online. And as it turns out, they need to be a lot longer than stock. Crap. Good thing I haven't bought tires yet.

The stock wheel studs are 13/16 of an inch long. I am guessing that I will have to replace them with studs that are at least 1 1/2 inches long. I have never taken the drums off of this truck and I have no idea how hard it is going to be to swap out all 24 studs. But I bet it will be a pain in the butt. Plus, the drum hub is a lot smaller than the wheel center. I don't even know now if these will work at all. Double crap.

And I want to make sure that I will still be able to use the original style wheels and hubcaps later on, too. If not, I might see if I can find a buyer for these and keep looking for a decent set of original equipment wheels.

Anybody need a good deal on 6 lug slot wheels? I can hook you up.

New Wheels Are Here

I recieved my wheels today from Wisconsin.  They are not the ones I thought I was getting, but they will work fine. I left it up to the seller which ever set he wanted to part with since he was making me a great deal on them.  A little cleaning and they should be good to roll with new tires.  In a few months.

Battery, maybe not...

I found my discount card, but now, I am not heading to AutoZone anyways. I might need the $40 for something else.

Might mean the tires have to wait a little while, too. And the brakes, too? Maybe so, but who really needs them anyways.

Battery Day

I was heading out this morning to buy a battery for the truck. This entire time I have been pulling the battery from the wife's car when I need to start the truck. And at least once I have moved it by jumpstarting it without having a battery in it.

But my shopping trip is on hold for a while. I have been keeping up with a frequent buyer's card from Autozone for two months. Today would be my last purchase before I get a $20 discount. But I can't find the @#$*)(@ card.

I saw it last night. Right by the bread box in the kitchen. So if you find an Autozone card with 4 punches already on it, can I have it back please?

Wheels are rolling

As of yesterday afternoon, My new/used wheels are in transit. They are traveling Parcel Post through the USPS system, from Wisconsin, so it will take a few days. I am betting on a full week.

Hopefully they will fit great and look OK on the old truck, too.

Running the roads

My grandpa used to say you were "out running the roads" if he thought you were wasting time away from home. So The Talker and I went out to run the roads this afternoon. Did not really turn out like I expected, so I dropped the boy off at home and made a couple of more loops around our block and the next.

I am still stuck to our street, since the truck is neither street legal nor insured. Plus, either direction away from our street leads to some steep hills and I am not skillful enough with this old truck's clutch.

And then there is that whole not having rear brakes or decent tires thing...

De ja Ebay

Another set of 1968 truck plates, unissued this time, same result as last time. And the real pisser, it was the same guy that outbid me as last time.

Stupid PowerSnipe. No I won't provide a direct link, 'cause they suck.

Edit -

I contacted The Collector. He got screwed on these, the seller said he won't sell them for less than $250. So I am glad I wasn't involved. I take back the bad things I said about The Collector.

New plates, almost

I almost had a new set of 1968 truck license plates off of Ebay. I was the high bider until 4 seconds left in the auction. They were a good deal, guess that is why the other guy wanted 'em.

Ode to the American Farm Truck

I promised a picture of the steel that I removed from the bed floor, a while back.  I finally got around to it today.  Aren't you glad you waited?

New wheels to the rescue

Thanks to one of the dudes over on the Chevy Truck Forums, I will be getting a new set of wheels for the beater.

The check goes in the mail today, so it will be a while until we are rolling in style, but the wheels are definitely going to be the best looking part on the truck.

I started out looking for stock steel wheels, but these were too good of a deal to pass on. I might have to keep looking for some nice original wheels, though. I need something to put my nice hubcaps on.

While I am waiting for the wheels to migrate south from Wisconsin, I'm going to attempt the brake line replacement. Then, we will need decent, yet cheap rubber for the new wheels. Then...

Think it is time for new wheels?

Check out the valve stem.  And wanna know something scary?  This was the front passenger side wheel until an hour ago.  It is only holding air because it has an inner tube inside.

And this is what we have now

I took The Talker for a ride on our block. That was an awesome Father's Day present for me!

Back at the farm (This is what I started with)

It is a lot cleaner and running, now!

Pictures

The last few pictures I posted should be working, now. Sorry for spoiling your fun. But hopefully you can go back and see the pictures of my first drive. Let me know if they won't work.

The Greatest Mile

Here are a couple of pics of the drive yesterday. The first one was taken a while back, before the drive. And this picture, I took this morning.

Thanks to the wife, for the title of today's post. And for putting up with the old truck addiction.

And for giving Father's Day some real meaning.

First Drive!

Thanks to Racecar Man spending an entire afternoon in my driveway and a new carburetor, I drove the truck this evening! Here is another view.

It was only a few hundred feet up the street, but it was still a drive. Except, of course, the parts where I was rolling backward because I had stalled the engine. And that happened a couple of times, while I was trying to figure out the three on the tree transmission.

But give me a break, I was driving up a hill. I got the truck turned around and parked in the driveway. But of course, I could not stay away after such a short first run, so I tinkered for a while, and drove it to the other end of our block and back home.

Later, I was heading to the far end of the street to drop off a vacuum cleaner, so I threw it in the bed and drove to Racecar Man's house and back. Three trips, no mechanical failures. What a day!

There is still a lot to do before the truck really gets moving again, (like rear brakes), but the to-do list got a lot shorter today.

Wanna come over and take a ride?

Carb day cometh

This evening, I went over to Advance Auto Parts and finally did it. I plunked down the cash to buy a new carburetor. I found the best deal in town on a rebuilt unit, so I jumped on it. I also got a nice surprise, when they told me that it would be delivered to the store Saturday afternoon. I though it would take several days.

Hopefully the install will go smoothly, and this truck will be running again next week. But just in case, I saw Racecar Man and told him that I am going to install it Saturday night or Sunday afternoon. He knows that I am generally in over my head on this project, so I might end up with a little help on this project.

SCORE!

Yesterday, I struck out. But I was not too discouraged. This morning, I headed out to another junkyard. Nothing there, but I did not find this out until I walked the yard looking for "the yellow 68 Chevy out on the left side". Never found that truck. The closest I got was a 74 that was yellow. And it was sitting on the right side of the yard. And it was a Ford.

I haven't been on this side of town in a while, but I remembered there were a few yards, so I kept cruising. Nothing at the next lot, but the counter staff knew that, so no time wasted. They sent me to another, a half mile away.

This place had a white 68 3/4 ton sitting next to a green 69 or 70 1/2 ton. The white truck has the same blue interior as mine. It HAD seatbelts that looked like they were seldom used. It also had decent looking visors.

The seatbelts and visors were the score of the day, but the rubber horn button retainer is a close second. I grabbed a couple of other small parts and hit the road. A lot lighter in the wallet, but with a big grin and some grease on my face.

I am going to think about buying the front end off of this truck. The fenders, inner fenders, grill and bumper are all nicer than mine. I don't know if it will fit my truck, though. If it will, I might have to drag The Boss Lady out there to see what a great deal it is. Especially when you consider the time that it would take to repair mine.

Or maybe she will let buy it if she does not have to go.

Nuthin

I took an early afternoon trip over to the nearby junkyard to see if they had any 67-72 Chevy trucks. I wasn't even sure if they would let me out in the yard, but I grabbed a set of tools and the digital camera, just in case. They would let me in the yard, no problem, but they sold their 67-72 Chevy and GMCs for scrap a few years ago. Dang. I felt a little better when he said it was only a couple of 1/2 ton trucks and couple of 1 tons, but they were all picked over.

The manager told me about another yard that might have some. So I might head over there in the morning. But it was 100 degrees out there, so I decided not to walk the lot today.

Homeless batteries welcomed

The entire time I have had the truck, I have not had a battery for it. When I need one, I pull it out of one of the other cars. Last weekend I saw a battery sitting out on the sidewalk at my neighbor's house. It was sitting right by the street so I assumed someone had done a quick battery replacement and stopped mid-job. I can appreciate that.

But neighbor mom came over to ask if I knew anything about the battery. She had no clue why it was sitting on her sidewalk. Since neighbor dad is a longhaul trucker, and he just left for three weeks, I told her I would pick it up and get rid of it when I bought a battery for the truck.

"DING" the bells went off. I set the battery in the truck tray. A perfect fit. I pulled out the battery tester. A good volt reading. I hooked it up to the charger and this morning I'll go have it tested at Autozone. Says it is a 550 CCA battery. If it is really a good battery and it is powerful enough, then I am one step closer to having the truck move on it's own power.

If it is not a good battery or it is not powerful enough then I'll just swap it when I buy a new one. Or maybe someone will drop me a better battery next door.

8Y 2619

I got my new Farm Truck plates in the mail yesterday. SWEET! They are super cool. Actually, I was a little disappointed when I opened them up. They are a little rougher than I thought, based on the EBay pic. The Boss Lady came up with a great idea, and as usual, I followed her advice without hesitation.

I washed the plates and put a nice coat of paste wax on them. Now they look great. Ok, they look about the same, but a little cleaner and they are more shiny.

Don't know what I'll do with them, but I like them. Which is the exact same thing that The Boss Lady thinks about me.

10 W What the hell?

Friday morning I was all set to get a little accomplished with the truck. I mainly planned to attack the oil leak. It started leaking after I changed the oil a couple of weeks ago. Since I am still trying to make sure there is no gas in the oil, from the bad fuel pump, it was not a total waste.

But it is now leaking worse than ever. Racecar Man suggested that I might have cross threaded the drain plug. Bummer. But he also had a possible solution. I could install an oil drain, like the Fram SureDrain. I am going to go pick one up and install it, once the oil all leaks out of the pan.

Bed Pics

Unlike the cherry bed that poor Brianna is probably still waiting for, MY bed is finished. OK that is a lie. I should say the truck bed is DONE. But not complete, done as in worn out... And it only took 37 years to get it done...

When I got the steel out, this is what was staring back at me. Not much wood left. And the steel strips that hold the wood in place are gone, too. Hopefully the supports that bolt to the frame will be good enough to re-use, but none of the other floor structure will be. Here is another look at the tailgate end of the once-upon-a-time-bed floor.

If you look close, there are several spots where you can still see the original blue paint on the wood and the bed strips. I don't even want to know what is in that paint. Especially since I did all of the destruction yesterday wearing a goggles, gloves, blue jeans and my Birkenstocks.

Here is a look at the installed wooden floor. I cross braced the underside of the wood, so the The Talker won't fall through if he decides that he just has to dance or jump around in the truck bed. And there is a better chance of that happening than of Brianna ever getting to sleep in her pretty bed.

40 pounds lighter and 2 plates cooler

Here are the 1968 Farm Truck license plates I bought off of Ebay. I can't license the truck with them, since it won't be a farm truck any longer, but I could not resist for $10.

And the 40 pounds? I cut out the steel bed floor today. No pictures. The digital camera is missing in action. The wooden bed floor was better than I expected until I started poking around with a hammer handle. At least 80% of the remaining wood fell out without me applying any real effort. Every thing on the bed floor will have to be replaced but that is not a surprise. The surprise was that this only took an hour. I thought it would be a much harder project and I wanted it done before Bulky Trash Day, on the 27th. Now I have to store a giant rolled up piece of jagged steel for a few weeks. If it could not give you tetanus, it would be a cool piece of yard art. When I find the camera, I'll post a pic of 'Ode to the American Farm Truck'.

I already had a piece of plywood covering the bed floor, trying to make sure The Talker did not cut himself on the rusty steel. Now, the plywood is back, screwed to a 2 x 4 scrap wood frame to help keep the boy from falling through.

After finishing the destruction, I pulled the truck to the front of the driveway so that I could clean up the mess and the greasy stain underneath. I brought it too far out and when we rolled it back a few inches, the passenger side rear brake line burst. To this point I have not even looked at the brake system, so I guess this is a not-very-subtle reminder that there is more to do after I get the truck running.

After I scrub the back half of the driveway again, I'll put the truck back. Then I can scrub the brake fluid stain off of the front half of the drive.

High Dollar Belt

I went to NAPA this afternoon to pick up a carburetor base gasket. I have already learned, the hard way, that they sell the best gaskets there. While I was there I grabbed a few other things. When I got to the car, I realized that I had just spent $15 on a fan belt. I thought it sounded a little pricey, but I don't want to be without a fan belt.

So I headed across the street to Autozone, where they had the same belt for $4. A quick trip back to NAPA and a little bit of humility later, since the counter guy was annoyed at having to process an instant refund, and I was on my way.

After 10 minutes at home the belt and a new PCV filter are installed. And I am a couple of steps closer to needing that carb for real...

Parts hunt

I have not had much time to work on the truck lately and I don't expect to have much time in the next week or so. So I am spending a little time trying to track down some parts that I know I'll be needing soon. Mainly, I am looking for the manual choke cable and another carburetor.

Hopefully I can find these cheap online, but no great deals, yet.

Timing is everything

I have been reading up on getting the timing set on the truck. Hopefully once the new carb is on in a few weeks, it will fire right up, without leaking fuel. But I have a feeling that it is not going to be that simple.

I had to pull the distributor off a while back, because I dropped a piece down inside of it. It all went back together easily, but I did not realize I was screwing up the timing when I pulled the distributor.

With new spark plugs and wires, points, condenser, rotor, cap, ignition coil, battery, battery cables, a new fuel pump, a starter that checked out OK, and the shiny happy carburetor installed, this bad boy SHOULD start pretty easily once everything is setup properly.

I did find a couple of things that I have to double check when the rain stops. I do not remember checking that the points were making contact with the distributor shaft when I installed them. Also, I have already tightened the fan belt a couple of times, maybe, maybe too much tightening. It really should be replaced before I go much further.

This weekends progress is brought to you by mom...

My parent's were in town for a couple of days. Sitting at breakfast Saturday morning my dad and I were talking about the truck. My mom slipped me a few bucks to work on the truck.

I always listen to my mommy, so I ran like a scalded cat to the parts store. Thanks to The Queen Mother and Autozone, the truck now has a new fuel pump, another shop manual and a new ignition coil.

I also bought a new set of wrenches at Costco. They are not top of the line, but they are better wrenches than I am mechanic, so they are way better than I need. But the wrenches I was using are total crap. The set came with a new socket set and a couple of pairs of pliers, too. I don't know if these are better than what I had, but I suspect they are.

After working on the truck, I started straightening up the garage and re-organizing tools. I did not want the new tools to be scared of the giant pile of tools in the garden wagon, so I finally put all of them away. I pulled a few useful pieces out of a couple of old junky tool sets that I had in college.

I am setting up The Talker's tool box with the leftovers, so that he can help me out in the garage. This afternoon I am going to setup a board with some screws and bolts on it, so that he can practice and play workshop with me.

Fuel Pump and Ignition Coil Install

When I changed the oil the other day, I got a surprise. Lots of gas in the oil. Evidently the truck needed a new fuel filter. While I was at the parts store, I picked up a new ignition coil, too. Both are now installed. I also added an inline filter and new rubber gaslines before the fuel pump. I decided to leave the steel line to the carb alone for now. I might replace it when I swap out the carb next month.

I also rigged up a manual choke assembly, but I need to order the correct replacement, this one does not fit exactly.

Even though the carb is still leaking a little, I tried to fire up the engine this afternoon. I was hoping to run it for just a couple of minutes. But it would not start up. I think the timing is really off. But the new fuel pump must be working because the small leak at the carb was a gusher in no time. The plan to fire the engine died quickly, before I really got FIRE in the engine.

Battery box install

25 days after I pulled the remains of the old battery box out of the truck, I finally got the new one installed. Everything bolted in pretty easily, except two of the lower bolts on the radiator side. I think the radiator will have to come out to get them fastened.

When I removed the bolts, I was able to slide a box end wrench between the radiator and the tray. But I don't have enough room to get my hand in to get the bolts started, so I attached the four that I could get to, and called it a night.

This weekend I was planning on working on the fuel pump and ignition coil, but it is raining like heck. Happy Memorial Day weekend, enjoy some TV time. Except that the satellite won't work during the storm, so it'll have to be DVD movies.

By the way, am I the only one who gets really excited when blogger finds no spelling errors in my posting?

And Again

I walked past the truck today.

Several times.

It did not whine or cry or refuse to nap, like the three children inside the house.

God, I love this truck.

Parts List

Last night I only had a few minutes under the hood. So I pulled the ignition coil off and removed the nasty old air filter. Both of these are on the shopping list for the next trip to the auto parts store.

I took a good look at the fuel pump. Should be a pretty easy swap. The pump and the fuel lines are all easily accessible. Nice!

The Revenge of the Oil Change

While the gunk was gushing out of the oil pan this afternoon, I got a souvenir, a huge oily stain on my nice clean driveway. Luckily, I managed to contain the mess to under the truck. So it should be a lot of fun to work underneath the truck until I get it moving again.

After watching the fluids pour out, I headed out to buy some oil and a filter. The filter on the truck is no longer available but I got the filter that replaced it. No one at the parts store seemed to know that. They were insistent that the new filter was the right one and that I must have misread the number off of the old filter.

After checking with the 67-72ChevyTrucks.com forums, I installed the filter. I shopped for oil at the auto parts store, but I ended up at Costco to buy.

The truck will not be getting a taste of the $5 a quart, Mobil One that goes into the van. It did get a nice drink of Shell 10W30 that Costco had for $1.10 a quart, though. And at that price, it will be drinking more of it in the future.

I got some advice that the fuel in the oil was likely caused by a bad fuel pump. So I added 'Fuel Pump' to the list of things to get done before the truck runs again. And if I am changing that, I want to put in an inline fuel filter and change the steel gasline to the carburator. So those were added to the list, too. But 'Oil Change' got crossed off of the list, so in the end, not a bad day. I made a little progress and did not spend much money.

N A S T Y

Oil Change day. Started great. The drain plug was not seized to the pan and the filter was not too tight to remove. But once I got the drain plug out, everything got ugly in a hurry.

Instead of a stream of funky old oil oozing out of the drain, there was a gusher of gas smelling, almost water thin black liquid. And a lot of it.

The oil pan should hold 4 quarts and the filter should hold another. When I drained this crud out of the pan, I got 7 liters out. I know it is 7, because I had to put it into three, 3 liter Dr Pepper bottles, since it was overflowing my oil drain pan. Filled two bottles and 1/3 of the next. 3+3+1=7, see.

I don't know what caused this, could it just be really old oil? Could it be bad engine parts? Other ideas?

CarDomain Site

I set up a CarDomain site last night. You can check out some pictures of the truck over there, but right now I don't think there are any pics that have not been posted here.

Hey, lay off, I had a hard 1/3 of a day at work...

I did manage to get outside for an hour and fiddle with the ignition lock. No success. And I don't think my truck even has an ACCESSORY position. It won't turn counter-clockwise for anything. Even if you cuss at it.

But I can definitely feel the spring in there.

Best case scenario

I am trying to make little steps of progress on the truck. Eventually I'll have to deal with some of the bigger issues. So I am starting to think about everything that the truck will need to 1. Run, 2. Stop, 3. Drive safely and 4. Look better.

These are the things I plan to do for each category. More things will be added as I realize something I forgot or something breaks along the way.

1. Running Engine - I am going to need the new carb, a new set of radiator and heater hoses, a new fan belt, a fluid change and radiator flush, a tune up and getting the timing set. Then I will work on anything else that needs attention

2. Stopping - A complete brake job is in order, along with a new set of wheels and tires, The original wheels are completely rusty and I hope to find better used ones. The tires are trash, but if they wheel fit (That's a pun!), I might move the old ones off of the van and put new tires on it.

3. Driving safely - The truck will not be driven much at night, but I am going to put new bulbs all around and I am thinking about LED tail lamps. Brighter lights could not hurt anything. I also need to get the gas gauge rewired and replace the license plate lamp. The windshield wiper motor is dead, I'll have to replace that before I can pass inspection. And new seat belts with shoulder harnesses will eventually be installed. But I'll have to modify the cab a little, so regular lap belts will be installed for a while.

4. Looking better - I never really though that the spray can paint job would make the truck look great. I am just hoping that it will fend off the rust for a while. Eventually the truck is going to need some considerable body work. Lots of dents to knock out, the doors need new skins, also the bed floor is shot and I want to go back to a wooden bed.

Lot more to be added, I am sure.

Production numbers

Rick pointed out the original production marks on my firewall, from this picture I posted yesterday.

See the white letters on the top left of the photo? CE10904. That is my trucks model number and it was written on the truck as it rolled down the assembly line. They kept the production line straight on what they were building, since they were building lots of differently equipped trucks on the same line. In this case it meant a 2 Wheel drive, V8, 1/2 ton, Longbed Stepside.

And those marks are the main reason that cleaning the engine is going slow. I want to make sure they stay there. Heck, this writing has been on the truck longer than I have been alive.

Here is a close-up photo, from when I first found the. I snapped a picture to try and figure out what they meant.

I thought I had blogged about this earlier, but I could not find the post. Sorry if it is repetitive. So sorry if you have read this before. My apologies if you think this blog posting is repetitive.

Busy day in the driveway

I have been scraping and knocking gunk off of the engine since I got it home. Today, I stood back and realized that it is starting too look pretty good. Believe me, there is a long way to go to get the old girl all cleaned up, but it is nice to see some progress. Here is a pic.

And just so I can remember where I started with this truck, here is the first picture I took of the engine, back in February, while it was sitting in the mud out at the farm. Yes, those are corncobs. I found at least 20 in the engine bay. A few even made the 45 mile ride home.

And just for grins, here is my blog entry from back then.

Before I got everything re-assembled for picture time, I installed new spark plugs and wires and a new cap and rotor. I also got the points gapped properly. I think.. We will see if this helps it run, once I install a decent carburetor.

While you wait for that to happen, you can oogle a couple of other engine pics. Here is one. And here is another.

And if you would rather google my engine, go here.

Busy Saturday

Went over and helped a guy swap out his cab on a 69 Chevy Truck this morning. One stubborn bolt kept progress pretty slow until lunch time, but by 3:15 we had the new cab sitting on the frame and the old cab sitting on the trailer. It was a pretty cool project and I was able to check out a lot of mechanical things that I have yet to locate on my own ride. But hopefully my cab will remain attached to the frame for a long time. This was a big job.

I was thinking about heading to pickup some parts this afternoon, but maybe we will do it one afternoon this week. Instead, I cleaned a little more under the hood. I seem to have the best luck with an old screwdriver and a high powered blowgun attached to my air compressor. After scraping, I can just blast some pretty good chunks of caked on mud and grime right off of the block and body.

I tried to swap out the ignition for the new one I bought a few weeks ago. I read online how to remove the old one, but have evidently forgotten everything I read. I could not get the old one out. Will try that another day, after some online searching.

I stated removing the carb again, but got sidetracked when I remembered Car Night out at Home Depot. So the whole family loaded up and we checked out the cars and a few trucks. Highlights - A 1955 Chevy Cameo Truck, A 1972 Chevy Shortbed that I have seem at another show and a 1956 GMC that still has good looking original paint and an original spare tire. It originally belonged to the guy's great-grandfather.

Weekend plans

The truck will hopefully be getting a little attention on Saturday. But it might be the wrong truck. Saturday I am going to help a guy swap his cab for one that is in better shape. I am really interested to see how much work is required to pull this off. And I don't want to miss a chance to see it without goofing up MY truck.

Saturday afternoon, I am planning to get in touch with Sis. She is hopefully holding some truck parts hostage for me. Though, I have forgotten to call since the guy dropped off the parts with my brother-in-law. Every time I try to call, it is too late in the evening. Hopefully there is a battery box sitting at Sis' house that will be mounted soon in the 68.

Another day, another try

It has been a while since I tried to get the truck running, and I am quickly gathering a large pile of parts in the garage. Since I am starting to get worried that I might misplace a part, or forget how things go back together, I got under the hood and re-installed the carb, battery and plug wires.

The good news: the new battery cables that I installed seem to be working fine. All of the electrical is working great.

The bad news: the truck would not start.

The worst news: even though I re-tightened and double checked everything, the carb is leaking like crazy. So I will definitely be getting another carb. No sense in beating this leaking horse to death.

I got nothin'

I have not made any progress on the truck this week. That is unless you count as progress rolling the windows down yesterday morning and back up last night.

If you do, then I was busy yesterday.

Roadtrip, almost

The Talker and I almost took the truck on a trip tonight. He wanted to pretend that he was driving to Steve's house. And since I am a good daddy, I wanted to make this trip a reality.

No, the truck is not yet running. And I would not let a three year old drive it anyways. When he is six, maybe...

See, Steve lives right across the street.

If I had shifted the truck out of gear and moved the 2x6s that are blocking the tires, we would have been at Steve's house in 12 seconds.

But we did not go. We stayed in our driveway and dreamt of a day when we can drive the truck over to Steve's house.

Yep. That'll be sweet.

The old battery box is outta here

I have made a deal to buy a battery box out of a 68 GMC that is bring converted to a drag race truck. He is removing all extra metal from the truck and relocating the battery. I am hopeful that I might score a few extra parts when I go to pick up the box. My truck is going to need another radiator support someday, it would be nice to find one soon.

I spent an hour tonight removing the side rails of the original battery box. I managed to get everything removed without breaking any of the bolts. This far, I have only broken one bolt on the truck. That was back when I removed the busted mirror head from the driver's door mirror.

After I got the side of the box out, I was able to scrape and clean a lot more rust and grime out of the engine bay. After a half hour, I lost interest and took the boy for a bike ride.

Two Longbed Stepside Trucks and a Comet

These were the only two I saw this weekend.

This one is a 1969 GMC. It was already sold by 10 am on Saturday morning. Here is another view.

This one was not for sale. I am not sure what year it is. It was sitting on the backside of an exhibitor's booth. Looks like it still a regular driver.

And here are two views of a Comet. I dont' know what year and I doubt they came with this much engine, originally.

Pictures from Saturday

A picture of the new hubcaps. They are not getting installed yet. I'll keep them in the garage until the truck is back on the road.

And here is a picture of a hillbilly pull cart, made from a center console out of a suburban, a couple of steering wheels, and a long handle. Don't miss the gear shift lever used for a front prop!

Swap Meet Lessons

KB and I met up this morning to go to the Pate Swap Meet. I picked him up at 6:30 and we were there at 7am. The parking area was open, but most of the vendors seemed to be sleeping off Friday night, as evidenced by lots of beer cans and at least one nearly empty bottle of Jack Daniels, sitting right in the middle of a sales booth.

So we cruised the Car Corral, the main area where ready to drive cars are sold. Most of these guys just leave a spec sheet and price on the window and a cell phone number. It was cool to check out all of the different cars.

Car Corral Highlight - a Mazda RX7 convertible, with a blown Chevy 350 under the hood for only $11k and change. Thankfully the owner was not around. He would have cried with all of the guys standing around laughing at his herd work. There were several nice 67-72 Chevy and GMC trucks, but no Stepsides, not even a Shortbed.

We hit the main swap meet area about 7:30 and started walking the full length of each aisle, at least 1/2 of a mile. There are about main 15 aisles and lots of side streets. We walked the entire place in 4 hours. And that included about 45 minutes of backtracking to find a guy who had some good original equipment door handles for $5 each and some great 68 fenders for $75 each.

I was planning to come back and buy the door handles, but we never found him again. THE LESSON OF THE DAY – If you find a needed part that is good enough to use on your truck, buy it when you see it. SECONDARY LESSON - Take enough cash, so that if you find a dude practically giving away rustless original equipment fenders, you can snatch them.

After giving up on door handle guy, we started walking the main aisles again. I found a couple of good deals at a commercial booth, Outback Truck Parts. I got a replacement chrome gas cap for $11, an OK deal - about the same price as NAPA. I also bought a lockset for both doors and the ignition for $25 with original style keys, a GOOD deal - $10-25 cheaper than most of the other parts catalogs I have checked. And probably made in the same factory as the others.

I was ready to give up, since I had blown the budget already. But it was a nice Saturday morning and neither KB nor I wanted to get home too early. So we kept cruising.

A few streets from the end, I found THE DEAL OF THE DAY – $10 for a set of original 1968 Chevy ½ ton, 2 wheel drive hubcaps! They are pretty hard to find and not reproduced. I have long ago given up any hope of finding a complete set. I was hoping to fine one or two decent ones this weekend. Remembering THE MAIN LESSON OF THE DAY, I snatched them and we headed out. After walking the last three aisles.

And that is when I learned THE FINAL LESSON OF THE DAY – Just because your neighbor tells you that the swap meet is too large to walk in one day, does not mean that it can’t be done, just that it shouldn’t be done. He is an old man, and not trying to dare you or challenge your youthfulness. So listen to him. Especially if you wear crappy shoes.

Off to the Pate

As soon as TBL get home this afternoon, we are off to the Pate Swap Meet. This is one of the largest car swaps in the country. After dropping off the family this evening, I'll be out there by 7:30 AM and I hope to walk the whole thing.

Lots to look for, not lots of $ to buy, but hopefully I'll learn something about my truck along the way.

The things I want to look for:

1968 Truck License Plates
Seat belts with shoulder harnesses
A Manual Choke Assembly
A good deal on a Rochester 2G 2BBL carburetor

The things I really will end up buying:

A parking pass
A Dr Pepper
A hotdog

Battery tray, short version

I posted a few minutes ago about a battery tray replacement. Hopefully that post will show up eventually, and I can take down this shorter version. 'Cause it was a good post.

Original battery tray in many pieces due to rust and battery acid

Repaired with wood and bailing wire at least 12 years ago

I tried to replace the now rotten wood. Broke it all to hell. Cussed. A lot

Guy emails me on the Chevy forum that he has a battery tray setup for $20 out of a 68 GMC

Gotta drive an hour away to get it, to the town my sister lives in

I will be going up there to get it soon. But only because she has finished her move to a new house

Actually, this seems to be a better post. So maybe I'll leave this version online.

A few steps forward, nine letters back

After two extra trips to the parts store, I got the battery cables reinstalled and I replaced an in-line fuse holder that had a broken fuse wedged inside. I did not take time to trace the wiring to see what this fuse was protecting. I realized the old fuse was not going to come out, so I spliced in a new one. For the time being, I am using some crimped connectors to repair old splices. Eventually I want to make more permanent repairs to the wiring.

After success with the cables, I decided to try and remove the hood emblems that spell out CHEVROLET. I have not really wanted to do this, but there is no way that the hood will look OK in it's new paint without it. It was a bad idea. I broke the first letter I tried to remove. The emblems cost about $30 plus shipping for the replacement set. The damage was done, so I went ahead and removed them all.

The good news, I only broke seven of the other letters. If anyone needs an original E for a 1967 or 68 Chevrolet truck hood emblem set, I'll sell you one. For $75. Shipping included.

After I finished the necessary moping around - complaining about breaking the emblems off of my hood, and a little more wet sanding on the hood, The AtHomeFamily headed out to Car Night at Home Depot. Funny thing, I noticed that neither of the 1968 Chevy trucks out there had hood emblems, either. I guess I started a fad!