Pate Swap Meet treasures

I drove up to the Pate Swap Meet this weekend in Ft. Worth. I always enjoy roaming the miles and miles of old cars and car parts. I went several times with a cousin when I was in high school. And I have gone the last three years as a car-guy in training.

The deals were not as great as the last couple of years, but I saw tons of 67-72 Chevy trucks and oodles of parts. In years parts have been a little hard to scrounge up. Also, I think I am getting better at spotting parts or my truck from a distance, which saves some time. If you can check out what the guy across the aisle is selling you can move along quickly if he isn't selling what you need.

This year I found a replacement glove box brand new for $5. They usually sell for $10 but the $5 I saved almost paid for my lunch!

I also bought a center seat belt brand new. It is not an exact match, but it will be surely safer than having the kids share a belt. The truck only had two belts originally. The belts that are now in there are at least the third set that have been installed. Which is odd, because I can't imagine that my grandpa actually ever wore a seat belt. When I got the truck it had mismatched blue and brown belts. I found the complete blue set that are now installed, because I could not stand the mismatched belts. Marge deserves to be dressed up nice!

I also bought a light for the inside of the cab. The original one is broken and the lens is missing, so Marge got a brand new reproduction for $10.

I already installed the light and the glove box liner. Maybe Sunday I'll remove the seat and install the new seat belt. I'll have to drill a couple of holes in the floorboard first, though.

My 2006 recap

My 2005 recap

Now we both (don't) know

To the person who emailed about getting brake fluid stains off vinyl seats...

I've got no idea. Do you know how to get the smell of 40 years of funk out of my truck, short of taking a match to Marge?

Car Night prep part 1

This afternoon The Talker and I started getting Marge ready for her car night debut on next Saturday night. We finished up adjusting the front brakes and got the old brake fluid drained and new fluid put into the system.

While I was working on the brakes, The Talker would help me by holding down the brake pedal while I got the air out of the hydraulic system. It was a small thing but he was a big help. With the bleeders that are on the truck now, and the equipment I have, I usually have to get one of my friends to hold down the pedal while I bleed the brakes. It was awesome to get it done today with The Talker's help.

After we finished up I washed Marge and got her nice and shiny. Well, as nice and shiny as I can get her, anyways. Since she sleeps in the garage, I should not have to wash Marge again before Saturday night.

I need to get a few more things done before Marge's debut. And hopefully The Talker will help me out with those things, too. My plan right now is to take him with me to Car Night on Saturday evening.

Car Night hunt

In the past there have been several different locations where old dudes hang out to show off their cool old cars and trucks. I used to go several times a month during the spring and summer, back when the old dudes met in a Home Depot Parking lot. But the crowds got too large so HD asked the guys to move on.

Of course, if you ask the old guys they will say it did not work because the teenagers showed up in their "ricer cars" and started showing off in the HD parking lot. There was some of that, for sure. But there were also lots of dudes with race ready Chevys and Mustangs that sat and gunned their 1000 horsepower engines for all the world to hear and smell. I imagine Home Depot got plenty of complaints about both of those groups.

The last I heard there were two places where the car guys were hanging out on Saturday nights. So I went searching for them tonight. The first place is an auto parts store that fancies itself as a speed shop/hot rod shop. But the parking lot was empty. Stop two was the parking lot of an abandoned grocery store. No dice there either.

On my was home I saw a couple of cars lined up the parking lot of another shuttered grocery store. Viola! I found the mysterious roaming car night. Of course, I was in the Saturn, so I parked well off to the side of the lot.

There were a couple of mini trucks, four or 5 corvettes, a 34 Ford Hot Rod and a handful of Subarus. (Would that be Subari?) The highlight of the night was one gorgeous 72 Chevy SWB. Solid red with the cleanest stock 350 I have ever seen. I have seen this truck once or twice around town at other car night events, but by the lack of scratches on the bed, I don't think anyone will ever see it hauling bags of cow manure home from Home Depot.

Anyways, the weather was too cool tonight for anyone to hang out very long. I was in out of there in less than 15 minutes. Next week, spring should actually be here. And I am already planning to take the truck to her first Car Night. I better hurry before they leave me behind again.

We might make a car guy out of him yet

Tonight I pulled the truck out of the garage for the first time in a couple of weeks. While The talker was taking his bath, The Princess and I rode around the neighborhood. Then they switched.

While I was cruising with the The Talker, Marge let out a hellacious squeal When we were turning around on a cul-du-sac. When we got home The Talker told me "OK, now let's find out what that noise was all about."

He was really disappointed when I told him we did not have time to find out tonight. It was too close to bed time and too late to start a major overhaul of the brake system tonight.

Learn CPR. You might save your daughter's life.

I am taking a quick break from the usual silliness and whining that inhabits my blog. Also, this is going up on all the blogs. Sorry for the repition, but it is the only important thing I've had to say in a long time.

Tonight we went to our first AAA minor league baseball game of the season. We were having a great time, hanging out on the left field berm. The kids were going crazy. And they cheered when an 8 or 10 year old girl near us caught a foul ball that the left fielder flipped up to the crowd.

Less than 5 minutes later that girl was unconscious and not breathing. We have no idea what happened. EMTs made it around pretty quickly. But not before the girl's dad had to start rescue breathing. She was out for several looooong minutes. Not just passed out from excitement, mind you. This was blue all over, motionless on the ground not breathing.

How scary is that? Your kid is having a great time and then a couple of minutes later she stops breathing.

When we left the park the girl was sitting upright with loads of attention coming at her from the Fire Fighters and Paramedics that had responded. Looks like she was lucky, She has a hero for a dad. Here's hoping I never have to be my daughter's breath.

So anyways, here is a quick online CPR reference. Please review it in case it has been a while since you took a class. Then please, please, PLEASE take a class to get more familiar with CPR procedures. Go here or go here to get help finding a class in your area. I'll be looking for a refresher course in the morning.

Brake check

Last weekend I spent some time under the front end of the truck. I am starting to realize that the front suspension ans steering systems are in serious need of attention. The ball joints and tie rod ends all look to be shot, but I'll wait for a little more experienced advice before I start replacing anything.

Anyways, I way pretty sure that the front brakes had never been opened up. After I got the wheels off, I found some rivets that held everything in place during factory assembly. So it looked like they had never been serviced.

I ground off the rivet heads and pulled the drums off. No big surprises inside, except for a huge number of wasps nests that fell out of the passenger side brake drum. I tried to clean everything up and look for any obvious damage. Once I was satisfied that everything was still in place and the brake shoes looked OK, I installed a better set of drums that I had and closed everything up.

I still need to work on the adjustment a little bit. The brakes are pulling to the left a little bit now. But I'll save that for another weekend. Like this one.

Truck run

This weekend turned out to be great for trucking. I cruised the neighborhood on Friday. Sort of a shakedown run, to see if there were any problems looming. Everything was fine on my short drive.

Saturday I drove the truck over to The Talker's first soccer game. marge is the perfect vehicle for a soccer coach. Especially if your team wears the same color of blue as Marge. The Talker and I rode home together after the game. We managed to take the long way home, so that our ride would take a little longer. More bonding time for the boy, his dad and their truck.

Saturday afternoon I drove out to Costco to pick up some potting soil for my container gardening. After that I hit the highway for a few miles. This is only the second time I have cruised on the highway in Marge. And the first time was only because I forgot there was no service road available.

After a stop at the garden center, marge and I headed home to finish up this year's veggie gardens. She headed back into the garage after a quick unload. Just in time, too. It started to rain a little while after I finished up.

Ride done

No breakdown, no walking. Just me, driving a 39 year old truck.

Good times!

Get outta my way

I am de-junking the bed and going for a truck ride. Be back later.

Sitting in the garage

I had the truck out last week to deliver an onion to a neighbor. Since then, nothing.

We have been busy getting everything planned out for vacation, so Marge has been lonely. But she makes a nice staging area. As things are packed for good, we have been loading them into the bed of the truck. And when it comes time to actually pack the Saturn, we will be able to work right off of the truck.

Soccer season starts March 24th and I plan to drive Marge all the time to The Talker's games.

Ride!

Took the truck out on Saturday, to go fishing. No worries on thedrive, but by the time the boy and I got to the water, the winds were so strong, we only rode in our boat for a few minutes.

I did notice that the truck cranked Saturday morning without me touching the choke. That is the first time I think it ever fired up without the choke at least being partially cklosed.

There once was a man with a truck

who parked it in the garage.

And it was still there a week later.

Hood Letters

Thanks to a member of 67-72Chevytrucks.com, I have finally replaced the letters on the nose of the hood. They are in rough shape, so they look right at home on my truck.

'Cause she wanted to trash it herself a few months later

I found a file disk today that had a bunch of short videos from my first drive of the truck.



There are a few more over on my YouTube page.

8.4177376798025363860754106732488 mpg

It's better than last time, but I think I'll just stick with "almost 15" when the wife asks.

Lube job

I went over to Harbor Freight yesterday, looking for a couple of cheap tool boxes. I am really bad about finishing (or stopping work on...) a task and then letting the tools pile up on the workbench. Or the dryer. Or on top of the deep freeze, in the back of the truck and when things get really bad, in stacks right on the garage floor.

I thought if I divided up my tools, I would be able to get stuff put away easier. Plus, I wanted to divide I wanted to find something small enough to slide under the seat of the truck, so that I would have the necessary tools with me when I am out in it.

I had no luck finding what I wanted, but I picked up a few more tools, including the much delayed purchase of a grease gun. I borrowed Racecar Man's 6 months ago and it is still here. But it is loaded with grease for wheel bearings and I have no idea how to clean it our well enough to run some chassis grease through it.

HF had one on sale and they had chassis grease on sale, too. Once I got home I started hitting any grease fitting I could reach under the truck. Actually, I only got to the driver's side. The truck was in the garage and I did not feel like moving it into the driveway to work on it.

Saturday I hope to finish up the passenger's side. Then I'll report back if it makes a difference in all of the squeaks and groans on the old truck.

After I finished up with the truck, I picked up AND put away every tool I could find. I am sure there a few more. In fact I saw a pair of bull nosed pliers in the bathrooms drawer a couple of days ago. And I have no idea how or when they made it in there?

He thought we would be driving a Hot Wheel

My college buddy reworked a picture of my truck. He took it from this:

to this:

When I showed the picture to my five year old son, he asked when we could take it for a ride. I think he was a little sad when he peeked into the garage and saw blue old Marge sitting there.

Thanks for the chop, Redneck Mother!

As close to a convertible as I'll ever get

The passenger's window has been stuck in a fully closed position for a while. Recently the driver's side window hung up when I rolled it down. Now it is stuck fully open. This afternoon I decided to tackle the windows. My hope was to have two working windows in short order.

After messing around with the passenger's side window internal components for a while, I decided to see if I could at least get it to roll down. After some urging and encouragement with a pair of vise grips, I got the window to roll down. Now it matches the driver's side. Both are stuck fully open.

Since the truck lives in the garage, and I don't have to drive it in bad weather, I decided it was OK like this for a while. Heck, I already took off the windshield wipers, when the wiper motor quit working last year. So we don't go anywhere in the rain in this thing. Besides, summer is coming and it will be too hot to roll up the windows soon, anyways.

And here are a few pictures of our redneck convertible

8460N

I hope I never forget that number. What's it mean? It is the AutoZone parts number for the rear pinion oil seal. I searched all over this morning for a replacement for my leaking one. After striking out at three parts stores, I gave up.

I had wanted to have the part on hand so that I could pull the old one and install the new one at the same time. Instead I came home, hammered the old one out and took it with me to match up.

Finally found one at an AutoZone about 15 miles from where I started.

Once I got home the install was pretty easy and straight forward. At least until I dropped one of the u-joint retainer nuts into oil drain pan I had in place to catch differential fluid drips. Then I got to spend a few minutes funneling oil into another pan, and hoping I would catch the nut when it oozed by.

I did indeed and I finished up the install in short order. The Talker and I have taken the truck out for a test drive and the rear differential does not seem to be leaking. Hopefully they are right when they say "third times a charm".

Edit: 2/4/07 5:00pm
After another test drive and another twenty four hours, still no leaks...