Here are some headers that I purchased, an intake manifold,
a intake manifold water heater, "Header buddies", & chrome valve cleaner.
I also have purchased a chrome air cleaner which will be installed with these.
I'll probably put the valve cover and air cleaner on now and do the headers
and intake manifold over the winter.
Here is a power steering pump that I purchased. It is suppose to fit my 250 6 cylinder. At some point I would like to install it along with a REZ conversion kit and get the easier steering. Maybe that could happen this winter as well. I'll take pictures as I do this.
Well, alot has transpired in the past year. I put new tires on the front (255/70-15) I have the Goodmark fenders installed on front. I purchased a 3speed overdrive transmission and have it installed and boy do I like that. I can cruise at 65 mph and the RPM do not get over 2000. That is sweet. I am currently saving my pennies (literally) to purchase cast iron headers from Langdon Stovebolt Engine Co. I want to have a true dual exhaust system and see what that sounds like. So, one of these days I'll make that purchase. I have purchased a stock intake without the exhaust to use. I also have stocked up on some Goodmark parts while I had the truck business going for use on my truck as I rebuild it. So, gradually it will be transformed. In the meantime I drive it when I can.
Well, last Saturday I spent some time taking the front fenders off my truck. I'm going to replace them with the fenders that I purchased through my company from Goodmark. I'm doing it for a couple of reasons. First, because my old ones were rusted and bent up pretty bad. Second, so I can see how the new ones fit so I can answer that question of potential customers. I got them off and found that there were a couple of parts that needed to be transferred from the old fenders to the new ones. I'm in the process of doing that. I cleaned them up and took the old rubber seals off and am waiting for some warmer weather to paint them. There are some "clips" that fasten these in place that could stand to be replaced. I checked all of the catalogs that I have collected and no one shows them. I'm going to check with the local Chevy dealer to see if they can get them. Where else to get them, I'm not sure...Here are some pictures that I took of the truck after I got the fenders off.
When we got back from Iowa last night the wind was blowing pretty hard. I discovered that the wind had blown my temporary car port over for the second time. I may have to junk this thing and get a better setup. Needless to say it is getting a bit frustrating.
Saturday after our truck club meeting, I had Autotire put some 275/60r-15's on the back of my truck. I like the way they look and fill the fender well up. I also had them check the balance of the front two tires. Ever since Kennedy Tire put the tires on the wider rims it felt like they were out of balance. Autotire said that both were badly out of balance. They balanced them for free for me. Now no more shimmying. So, now I have 235/75r-15s on the front mounted on 15x8' steel rims with chrome original hubcaps and 275/60r-15 on the same rim on the back. The 275's are a bit shorter than the 235's. I may change the front tires for shorter wider ones one of these day, but for now this will do. The trim rings that I had were getting pretty rusty, so I took them off. They were so bad that I don't think I'll put them back on. I kind of like the look without them. It shows off the hubcaps more, I think. I'll post pictures of the new tires soon to show the difference. I hope in the next month to swap the 3-speed transmission for the A833 4 speed o/d. I also want to put the Goodmark front fenders on to replace my rusty bent ones. This will also tell me how they fit and look.
Well, it has been a while since I put an entry in this journal. So, I thought I would do so today. Not much has change on the truck. I purchased a portable carport to park it under over the winter. I purchased sides for it. Everything went well until we had a windstorm. It blew the thing down on the truck. Jonathan and I spent most of a Saturday getting it back up and off the truck. The only damage to the truck was a bent radio antenna and a scratch on the hood. In the process of getting it back upright, I found that I had it parked too close to the end and the material for the end cap had rubbed some of the paint off the hood. I'll have to get some primer on it as it has developed some surface rust. I may try to do some repair on the hood and then primer the whole thing. We'll see what we decide.
I also took some of my bonus money and purchased some items for the truck through my truck business. I purchased front fenders, inner fenders, and the radiator support. These are all rusty on my truck. I'll save the old pieces and if I ever get a mig welder I may try my hand at some patch panels. I hope to put the inner fenders and radiator support in storage and install them whenever I replace the engine with a V8. In the meantime I will put the fenders on and run with them on. They are coated with EDP paint, but I'm thinking I should primer them. So, I'll probably get some epoxy primer and do them with the hood. That way they would all be the same and should last until I get ready to paint the whole truck. This will be my first attempt at painting body parts. So, it will be an learning experience.
Last Friday I took the New Process A833 transmission to Twin City Transmission. They advertized that they would do a free inspection of the transmission. I called and they said that they would look it over and give me an evaluation of it. Monday they called and said that it looked good. The gears were good and there were no metal shavings in the case and that the bearings were smooth and looked to be in good shape. They stated that they would not be afraid to put it in and run it. So, I picked it up and brought it home. Now to begin the process of installing it. I painted the bellhousing over the winter. The biggest thing to figure out now is the shifter. I purchased one earlier. It will work but the shifter stick is not in very good shape and it does not seem to shift smoothly. I'm not sure what to do with it. I have tried to get the shifter stick out, but have not been able to. I have another stick that I would like to replace it with. I'll continue to work on it and see if I can get it out. I would like to start the process of swapping the transmissions soon as my truck club has some drives planned for the summer and I would like to be able to drive it on these trips. I had better get it started soon if I'm going to make those trips. I'll try to take some pictures of the process to document what I run into when I make the swap.
The shifter that I bought for this transmission off the internet came today. It looks like it will allow me to put a shifter together for this transmission. The shifter has a grease zerk on it so the whole thing is pretty greasy. The handle is pretty rusty and the knob is in sad shape. But the mounting bracket and the shifting rods are there and look in good shape. I'll clean it all up this weekend and see what I think. I got the Comp + shifter that I have out and it looks like it will fit on the bracket. So, if that is the case, I'll probably use the Hurst shifter and handle with the original bracket and rods. I'll see what I think after I get it all cleaned up.
Here is the bellhousing that I purchased in August for this transmission. The opening is big enough to receive the bearing housing on the A833 transmission. I was told over the internet that I would need this. They said that the opening on the 3 speed housing would not be big enough. So, I'm going to clean it up and paint it.
Well, after sitting on the transmission thing for a while, I decided to go ahead with the A833 transmission since I had it and the bellhousing in hand. The Hurst installation kit for the Saginaw would not fit this transmission. I checked with the local Chevy dealer to see if they carried the shifter that was in these trucks originally. I was told that it was no longer available. So, I ordered one from Hurst for it. Hurst does not list an installation kit for this transmission in a Chevy truck. One of the guys on the internet said that he used one for putting the Mopar version of this transmission in a Mopar car. So, I ordered it. However, when it came it would not work. The shifting rods were not long enough and the bolt pattern on the transmission where the shifter mounts was not the same. I emailed Hurst to see if they have one for the transmission that I have. I'll be sending the other one back and will replace it with the correct one if they do. If that doesn't work, I may rethink my decision to go with this transmission. The original 3 speed with overdrive might look pretty good after all.
I was able to sell the Saginaw 4 speed on eBay to a local buyer so I recouped my money there. I have the 3.07 rear-end also sold. It is waiting the payment and then the pickup for shipment to wherever the buyer is. Also on eBay, I sold the Hurst installation kits that I had for the Saginaw; one for a Camaro and one for the pickup. What I got for both of them was about what I paid for the pickup installation kit. So, I have recouped some of my money from these purchases.
If I choose not to go with the A833 transmission, then I'll probably sell it and the shifter that I have and try to recoup some of the money that I have tied up in it.
Well, I was able to get to the swapmeet in Springfield this past weekend. I did not find any buys like I did last year, but did enjoy the day however. As my dad and I were walking around dogging rain drops, we stumbled upon a trailer of transmissions. As I looked I noticed that some of them were 3 speed overdrive transmissions and then realized that they all were 3 speed overdrive transmissions. I got to talking with the owner about them and found out that he buys any of them he can find, checks them out to make sure they work and then sells them. He has one in his 1964 Chevy pickup behind a 327. He says it runs great. His price is $225 for those that he has checked out and confirmed that they work and $500 for one he rebuilds. He is from Coweta, OK, which is near Tulsa.
I think I'll hang on to the A833 for now as it is unsual. I might take it to some swap meets and see if anyone is interested. If they are then I've made some money. If not I'll hang on to it for a while.
Well, I was able to get home in time for the delivery of the transmission. It was a heavy package. I got it unpacked and checked it out. I expected it to be in a wooden crate, but was just wrapped in cardboard with newspapers stuffed in it to keep it from moving. It was packed pretty good. It leaked some fluid, but not too much.
It has two of the three shifter arms on it. So, I'll have to get the other one. I'm thinking of ordering the installation kit for it and then using the shifter that I have for the Saginaw. It is pretty close to being the same. The reverse arm on the shifter is a little bit different, but I think it should work. I was surprised to find that the transmission measures the same in length as the Saginaw. I thought it would be shorter. I thought that the Saginaw was longer than the 3 speed and that I would have to shorten the drive shaft. Someone on the internet said that they replaced their 3 speed in a 66 Chevy truck with this transmission and did not have to change the driveshaft. We'll see what we find out when we start to make the swap.
I was told that I would need a different bellhousing as the opening needed for the bearing housing is larger than the three speed. I measured the one on the Saginaw 4 speed and it is just under 4". I measured the one on the A833 and it is just over 5". So, they were correct. My dad has one that the Saginaw was bolted to when we found it. He is bringing it to me this weeked. I have a hunch that it just might be what I'm looking for. Otherwise, I'll look at the swap meet that I'm going to in Springfield this weekend. More on this as we progress.
Now to sell some of the things that I purchased for the Saginaw; the shifter installation kit that I got with the shifter and the one I purchased to put that transmission in my truck. Then the Saginaw it's self will be sold along with the 3:07 rearend. If anyone is interested in these items, email me at the address at the bottom of this page.
The A833 transmission that I purchased over eBay is suppose to be delivered today. I'll be curious to see exactly what I purchased. Hopefully it will be in good shape and worth the expense. If I don't get home before they try to deliver it I'll pick it up tomorrow.
Well, if you have been following this journal, you know that there have been alot of discussions about transmissions. The truck has the original 3-speed on the column. It works fine, but coupled with the 3:73 rear end gears it is not much for driving on the interstate and with first gear unsynchronized it makes city driving challenging. I purchased a TH350 automatic thinking that would work, but was advised not to. I lost $50 on that deal. I purchased a Saginaw 4-speed for $100 and then got the shifter and installation kit which was another $150 or so. The only problem with the Saginaw is that it would require the driveshaft to be shortened as it is longer than the 3-speed. I gave some thought to a T-5 out of a 2 wheel drive S-10, but decided that would be too much modification. I had read some discussion a couple of years ago about the New Process A833 that Chevrolet put in some of their early 80's truck. It is basically a 3 speed with overdrive. It was also used in Mopar products.
Last week my interest in the A833 transmission was peaked when I read a discussion on the Inliner bulletin board concerning this transmission. Seems there is a gentleman in Georgia that put one of these transmissions in a '66 Chevy truck behind a 292 engine and loves it. He said that it was a direct bolt in for the 3 speed. No driveshaft modifications, no speedometer cable modifications, and the shifter missed the bench seat without any problems. So, I contacted him and ask some more questions. After hearing from him, I decided that I would see if I could locate one of them. I checked online at a used parts search engine and found some ranging from $200 to $400, but none were close. I got on eBay to see if there was anything like that there and found one that was priced at $95. I placed a bid on it and won the transmission for $137+. The only thing that scares me with it was that the picture did not show up on eBay so I'm not exactly sure what it looks like. Hopefully, when it is delivered, I haven't been taken. I'll post pictures of it when it arrives.
So, once this new purchase arrives, if it is a good transmission, I'll put the Saginaw up for sale and try to get my money out of it. I've been told that I should be able to use the shifter that I purchased for the Saginaw on the A833 transmission. Hopefully that is the case and I'll not have to get a new shifter. Who knows the original shifter might be included with the transmission.
Hoping to get two wheels that would match the ones I have on the back, I picked up a couple of wheels from Tom Meyers in Oklahoma back in November. They were both 6 lug wheels that would fit Chevy trucks. They were both 15x8 inch wheels. However...they were not a matched set. One had a back spacing of 4" and the center hole measures 3 and 1/2 ", which is what the ones I currently have on the back are. The other one had a back spacing of 5" and the center hole was 3 and 9/16". When you put this last one on the axle there was alot of movement because the center whole is too big for the spindle. So, I still needed one more to have a set of 4. The guy who sold me the first two, Smitty, was looking for a couple more for me, but never could find them at a price he thought was reasonable. I ran into him at a swap meet in March and we got to talking about the wheels that I purchased. He felt that the odd ball one was probably a Ford wheel. He told me that he had one that had just come in on a frame that he purchased. He said he would try to get it to me. Well, I kept calling and it never got up here. Finally, last Tuesday I went and picked it up. It probably cost me more in gas to get the wheel than I paid for it. But I finally got it. It matches the other three that I have. I spent the past two days sanding, priming, and then painting it. Tomorrow I'm going to have Kennedy Tire put my front tires on these rims and put them on the truck. I'd like to have them on the truck for the club picnic on Sunday. Got to make some progress you know...
Smitty tells me there are a couple of reasons these wheels are hard to find. First, they were produce for only a few years. Most 4x4's of that era had the rally wheels. Second, the dirt track racers like to use the Chevy 6 lug rearends in their race cars and these wheels would allow them to put large racing tires on the back of their race cars. So, they gobbled up any of them they could find. I'm going to keep my eye open for them and pick them up whenever I see them at a reasonable price.
Once the wheels are on, I'm going to work on getting the Saginaw 4-speed transmission and the 3:07 rearend put in the truck. I'm torn as to whether or not I should do these together or do them one at a time. On the one hand it would be nice to do them one at a time to make some progress. However, to get the ease of driving totally accomplished, I need to do them both. So, perhaps I'll tackle both at the same time.
For the transmission change, I have to shorten the drive shaft. I called a local driveshaft shop, to get an idea what it would cost to shorten and balance it. He said that it would be around $58. That's not too bad. I had him tell me how to measure it so that I could do that right. He said it would take a day or a day and a half to do it.
Then when the transmission is in and while the drive shaft is being shortened, I'll tackle the changing of the rearend. First, I have to clean it up and get it painted. At the same time I'll check it out to make sure that the gears look good and the bearings are in good shape. If all looks good, I'll then swap it out.
My goal would be to have it back on the road by the 18th of July when the club drives to Lebanon, IL to an ice cream shop. That may be a bit agressive, but it is a goal. I'll see what I can do to meet it. I'll try to take some pictures of the progress and put them on here.
I received the shifter from Victor. When I got it all cleaned up I decided that the installation kit that was with it was from a late 70's Camero/Firebird application.
So, I ordered the installation kit that Hurst manufactures for my application. when it came I installed it on the transmission to test fit everything. Everything fits fine except for the u-bolt that goes around the tail housing. I may have to get a longer one as this one is just a bit short.
Now to get the rearend cleaned up so that I can install them together. I think my goal is to do it sometime this summer perhaps.
I received an email from Victor stating that he shipped the shifter to me yesterday. So, in four or five days it should be here. I took the Saginaw to my woodshop and opened it up to look inside. All the gears look in very good shape. The only on that has any problems that I can see is the reverse. There are a couple of chips out of a couple of the teeth. I don't think it will be a problem if I'm careful with it and don't try to hot rod it. While I had it there I also cleaned it up. I wanted to get the "orange/red" paint off it and paint it a different color. I tore up a cheap 4" angle grinder in the process. It stripped out the gears. I guess you get what you pay for. I painted it black for now. It was a bit colder than the directions said you should paint, but I wanted to give it a shot. This is a daily drive truck, so it is not going to be judged for perfectness. I may give it another coat on the next warm day that we have.
Over the years I have come into the possession of a couple different A/C units for potential use in my truck. The first was an underdash unit that the previous owner said he purchased in 1965 to put in his work truck. All that he installed was the condensor. The rest has never been installed in anything. I think everything is there except for the compressor. Here is a picture of what I purchased.
The second unit is one that my dad got when he was fixing up a 1961 Chevy pickup several years ago. He discovered that it would not fit as it was for the 1964-66 pickups. So, he gave it to me in case I wanted to use it. I have the underdash part of the heater/air conditioner as well as the outlets that go where the ash tray currently is. I do not have any of the under hood items. Here is a picture of what I have.
Now to decide which if either of these I want to use. I'm kind of leaning toward the underdash unit as I think it is in better shape. However, it might be cheaper in the long run to purchase one of the new units made for these applications. If someone offers me enough money for either I would part with them.
Well, before Christmas I sold the TH350 transmission that I purchased a while ago. I sold it for half of what I gave for it, but at least I got rid of it. I'll have to learn my lessons about purchasing something before knowing all of the facts and knowing exactly what direction I want to go.
Periodically, I have been looking on eBay for a shifter for the Saginaw 4 speed that I purchased a while ago. As you know if you have followed this saga, I purchased a shifter for it about a year ago, but decided that it would not work after I got it. Luckly, the guy I out bid was willing to purchase it and I only lost the cost of the shipping. This time it looks like this is the exact shifter that I need. It was in a 1967 Chevy pickup that had a Saginaw 4 speed in it. In the picture it looks to be in good shape. It includes the installation kit as well as a couple of different shifter sticks. One of the sticks seems to be the one that came with the original shifter for Chevy trucks based on the picture and the drawing I found on Hurst's website. I got it all for $71. I'll know if I got a good deal after it arrives and I can look it over. Here is the picture that was on eBay. I'll include some better pictures once I get the shifter. I'll need to come up with a boot for it and perhaps a reverse switch. The ad said that the shifter rods might not be the correct ones, so I might have to replace them too. We'll see. Hopefully it will be a good purchase. Then to get it installed it installed on the transmission and then the combination installed in the truck along with the 3:07 rearend. Maybe I can do that this winter or spring.
Well, I got the grill installed with the new headlight bezels. Looks pretty good for and old farm truck, if I do say so my self.
The bumper brackets finally came. Here they are after I cleaned them, straightened one of them, primered them, and gave them a coat of black chassie paint.
I could hardly wait to install the bumper. I did it this past Saturday morning. Here is a picture of the finished product. Looking better all the time.
I picked the truck up and it ran great. I drove it to the ATHS show Saturday without a problem. So, I have it back. Still waiting on the bumper brackets. Sure wish they would come so that I could install that bumper. Patience...patience...
I installed the destributor last Saturday. I had a difficult time getting it in exactly like the old one came out. In fact it was a bit off. I got it running and then set the timing. The miss is STILL there. Monday I called Durham's Auto Repair and made arrangements to take it to them after work. Today they called me to say that they had it fixed. When I asked what they did, he replied; "We adjusted the air/fuel mixture and set the timing. We drove it and it pulls out real good." Hopefully, I'll be able to make arrangements to pick it up today after work. If it truly is fixed then I should be able to finally drive it and go to the ATHS show this Saturday in it.
Speaking of that show, in the bulletin boards on Stovebolt.com there has been several times when the members there have gathered at ATHS shows. Since there is one in the area I posted a message asking if anyone was interested in attending from the website. There is a gentlemen there that is interested. We are going to meet and drive together to the show. I have asked my club membership and Virgil is the only one that I'm aware of that might do it. At least, I should be able to drive my truck.
The rear bumper brackets are suppose to be on their way. Larry said that they should be here in 5 to 7 days. So, I'll probably drive it Saturday without the bumper as I took the step bumper off already. Can't wait to see what it looks like when the new chrome rear bumper is installed.
I called Harold about the wheels and headlight bezels last Friday. He is still trying to locate the wheels. He said that he had the headlight bezels on hand. He said that he would send it with a guy who was coming from Arnold to put some tile in his bathroom. I picked them up yesterday and will be mailing a check on the way home. I'll get those installed before Saturday. Should look very nice, from a distance.
I purchased a rebuilt distributor today. Autozone was the only store that had it in stock and they were cheaper. It has a lifetime warranty to boot. Hopefully I'll get it installed this weekend and get to go for a drive. I'm shooting to go to and ATHS truck show next Saturday.
Well, this past weekend, I spent the better part of Saturday trying to figure out where the miss is coming from. The first thing I did was to take the plugs out and do a compression check again. All of the cylinders are in the 175 lbs. range. I think the bleading off mentioned before is from not getting the guage seated properly. So, it seems that everything is fine there. I had purchased a new rotor and distrbutor cap, so I installed them. A quick start of the motor revealed that the miss was still there. About the only thing that I had not checked was the Petronix electronic unit that I put in the distributor to replace the points and condensor. So, I decided to put the points back in and see if that made a difference. So, out with the Petronix unit and in with the points and condensor. A quick start of it revealed that it missed worse now than with the Petronix unit. So, back in with the Petronix unit. Well...now what?
I called my dad, who is my teacher on these kind of things, to see what he thought I should check next if anything. As I described for him all of the things that I had checked, he asked me if there was any slop in the distributor shaft. Funny that he should ask that....when I was putting the points in I noticed that when I adjusted the points to get the gap set that the shaft moved quite a bit. I even took my hand and moved it to see how much slop there was. It seemed to move from 1/8th to 1/4th inch. He feels that is very likely what is causing the engine to miss. That would explain why the points made the engine miss worse. So, one day this week, I'm going to pick up one from a local parts store and install it to see what happens. I am hopefully that this will finally be the answer to the problem. But, I have thought some other things were the answer only to be dissappointed when it wasn't. So, I'm causiously optomistic. We'll see...
I finally got the linkage to work, but the truck has a serious hesitation problem. I tried rotating the carburetor as Tom suggested, but that did not help. I finally gave up and sent it back. I purchased a remanufactured carburetor from Auto Zone and put it on. However when I got it on I have a serious miss in the engine. I took the carb off and adjusted the float level as well as checked it over. But when I reinstalled it I still have the same problem. Then I got the old carb that I took off and checked it over and reinstalled it. I thought that it might be the reman-carb as there was alot of black suit out of the tail pipes. But that did not change it. I had checked the compression level and all were around 175 lbs. I'm going to double check them as it seems that a couple of them bled off when I stopped cranking the engine. I pulled the plug wires while it was running and it seems that number 1 and number 2 do not affect the miss. So, perhaps something is wrong there. I'm going to do some further research on my own, but may have to take it to a shop to see what the problem is.
On a Sunday in July, I went to a car show in St. Charles. There was a very nice restored 1966 Chevy pickup. I remarked about the truck to the owner and he asked if I was in need of a grill. At first I said no that I had a good painted one. Then I asked if it was a chrome one. He said that it was an original aluminum one. He had taken it off to replace it with a chrome one. He said that there was really no problem with the grill. I asked what he wanted for it and he said $20. I about fell over. I took his name and phone number and said that I would figure out a way to pick it up. He lived up near Troy. So, on my way back from taking the kids to meet my mother-in-law one Sunday, I dropped by and picked it up. I had to take the headlight stuff off my old grill and put it on the "new" grille. But that was no big deal. While I had it off I primed and painted those pieces. It was minus the headlight bezels. I contacted Harold Smith from the truck club and he is getting me a set of them for $35. While it was off I noticed that one of the adjuster nuts was broken. I started looking for how to get them. But with a minimum order of $20 and these only being a couple bucks. I wasn't sure how to do it.
I had heard about a swap meet that is held in Springfield, MO each August and decided to go this year. I thought that I might be able to get the headlight adjuster nuts and screws there and not have to pay shipping. So, Jonathan and I went down there. Sure enough H & H Classic Chevy Parts was there and I purchased the headlight adjuster screws and nuts as well as the headlight bezel screws. Then we proceeded to walk around to see what else was there. We came to another supplier for Chevy truck parts and he had a chrome rear bumper for '63-'66 fleetside trucks for $50. I have drooled over them at shows and online, but the price is always more than I had at the time. They were usually over $100. So, I asked about it and he said that the reason that it was marked down was because the bolt holes for the license plate holder were not punched in the bumper. In this batch of bumpers that he got, 5 of them were that way and he was told to get whatever he could for them. This one was the last one he had. I bought it on the spot. I asked what the brackets for it ran and he said $75. I decided to see if I could find them cheaper perhaps a used pair. Later, I went back to H & H and bought bumper bolts for that bumper as well.
I am also looking for two more 8" steel wheels for the front of my truck. I have two on the back and would like to on the front. Hopefully, Harold will be able to locate a couple more of them.
Another mary-go-around that I have been on is in relation to a front sway bar. One of the items that I needed to try and get the Holley carb to work was a spacer to lift it up a bit. Chevy Duty was the only place that had one listed for my truck so I decided to order it. I had saved up some money for a sway bar and saw that they had one pretty cheap. I asked if it had all of the mounting hardware and I was assured that they did. (You know where this is going, right?) When it came it was just the sway bar. No hardware. Plus the spacer for the carb was not in the package. I shipped it all right back the next day. Then I ordered the sway bar that I really wanted to buy. It was one from
Early Classic. They had everything included for the installation. So, that came and I have it installed.
While the truck was undrivable, I also put on the Custom cab flags that I purchased when I got the 3:07 rearend.
Another item that I did was to put a stereo in. I had a stereo that I took out of a van before I traded it in that was just setting around. Now it would not fit the dash and I did not want to cut the dash. So, to figure what to do. I purchased some speakers for in the dash, but could not get them in place with all of the stuff under the dash. So, I built a console that extends from the dash to the floor. I mounted the stereo in it and then the speaker below it with some bowtie cutouts covered with black material. It is then attached to the dash lip with some small bolts. I'll put a picture here as soon as I get one.
So, I have a better looking truck (alumnium grill, custom cab flags, and chrome rear bumper), radio to listen to tunes on, and a better handling truck (Early Classic front sway bar). But it will not run correctly. I guess there is some consolation in that, but I have sure missed not driving my truck this summer. I have got to get it fixed so that I can drive it before the weather turns.
4/24/03
I tried several speed shops in the area and none thought they had what I needed to create a linkage for the new carburetor. So, I emailed Tom Langdon to see is the linkage kits he advertises would work. He responded that he had one that was just for a single carburetor that is not listed in his catalog or website. He will ship it to me on Monday. After I get it installed it should be ready to go. Not going to make the weekend shows that I had hoped to, but I'll attend them without my truck just to show support and to see what other vehicles are there. I will post pictures of the new carburetor and linkage when I get everything installed and working.
4/21/03
I ordered a Holley Weber progressive carburator from Tom Langdon and Stovebolt Engine company. It arrived last week and I started installing it on Saturday. I got it installed except for the throttle linkage. I'm going to have to do some work getting that to work. I have everything else hooked. I did started it briefly, but shut it off when I discovered a fuel leak at the output side of the inline fuel filter. I'll pull that off and see what the problem is and get that fixed. I will probably stop by Route 66 Hot Rod Parts this week and see if they can help me figure out how to do this. I would like to have it running for this weekend as Southside Christian School is having a car display and our club is having a joint picnic with the Gateway chapter of ATHS. The carb came with a water operated choke, but I bought a kit to convert it to a manual choke as the original carb was. I also bought some brake line and made an new vacuum line for the distributor so that I could keep the original as it was should I ever want to go back to the original carb. I'll post a picture as soon as I take one and get it developed.
3/26/03
Well, I shipped the shifter to the buyer and it arrived sucessfully. I lost a few dollars on that deal, but not too bad. I have a buyer for the Turbo 350 coming today to look at the transmission. Hopefully, he will take it off my hands. Then to sell the Saginaw and the spare rearend.
I have started looking for a t-5 transmission for my truck. I located one at a junkyard in Hillsboro that seems to be what I'm looking for. I emailed them to get further information about it. I may see if they will swap transmissions with me and maybe even the rear end. I don't know if they will, but thought it was at least worth a try. I also found one on ebay that sounds interesting. But it is a 1990 and I think the speedometer is probably electric. I emailed the seller to see. Shipping might be to much to make it worth bidding on however. I think I'll keep my eyes open and see what I can locate locally. One of my club members has a t-5 for sale, but I think it is from a car so the shifter would be on the end of the tailshaft and thus would to far back for practical use in my truck. This same guy put one in one of his trucks and just bent the shifter. I'm going to check it out and see what he did to see if it is doable in my truck. I really think this will make the truck much better to drive.
3/6/03
The shifter arrived last Friday. After unpacking it and looking it over, I decided that it would take to much work to make it fit my application. I made a hasty decision and now have a shifter to show for it. I called the person that I out bid who had expressed an interest in it to see if he still wanted it. He called me back a few days later to say he did. So, as soon as we make contact and he gets my address I'll have a buyer for it. Lesson learned? I hope so!!
So, that leaves me with a Saginaw 4 speed manual transmission, a Turbo 350 automatic transmission, and a 3:07 rear end all in an attempt to improve cruising speed and get better gas mileage. For what I have tied up in these failed transactions, I could probably have purchased an S-10 5-speed transmission and been done with it. As of today, I think I'll try to sell these items and get a 5 speed to put in it. Hopefully, I can get out of them what I have in them and maybe a little bit more. I might hang on to the rear end just in case...
2/19/03
Well, now that I have a Saginaw 4 speed transmission for my truck, I must come up with a shifter for it. I started looking into it and it seems about the only option is a Hurst Competition Plus shifter. When I started pricing them, I discovered that they are quite expensive. About the cheapest that I could find was in the neighborhood of $260.00. Through some of the bulletin boards that I frequent, I found out that a company in Arizona has converted the Hurst shifter to look pretty much like a regular 4 speed shifter that was in the granny low toploader transmission found in these trucks. However, the price is in the $260 dollar range and it is not the "look" that I was striving for. I was told that I should check on ebay to see if I could find one there cheaper. Well, I started looking and found one that I bid on. It was a shifter out of a 1968 Chevy Impala car with a bench seat. The seller stated that they thought it came off a Saginaw transmission and looking at the linkages, I came to the conclusion that it probably did. So, I started bidding. It was at $44 when I started. I ended up being the top bidder at $71. So, I mailed off the check for it yesterday. As I did some research yesterday online, I'm beginning to wonder if it will work. Seems that this shifter mounts to the crossmember on the car and not to the transmission as the Hurst shifters do. So, when I get it I'll have to see if I think it will work or if I can make it work. The person that I out bid emailed me and wanted to know if I would sell it to him. I told him that I was going to see if it would work on my truck and that if it would not I would contact him concerning it. So, I may be able to unload it if it doesn't work for me. I probably will learn a lesson here to be sure of what I'm getting before I bid. Oh, well....that has been the story of this truck. Some day I'll learn.... I hope!!!
eBay shifter - first eBay purchase.
12/30/02
My dad told me during a recent visit that there was a running gear with a cab on it that he wanted to get from his neighbor. He had paid for all of the 1960-66 Chevy/GMC truck parts that the guy had. This was noted earlier in this journal. These were the last items that were left and the owner wanted to know if we still wanted them. There was another cab sitting on the back of the frame where the bed should be. One of them had a good windshield and a good back window. He thought there was a 4 speed transmission out of a Corvette sitting loose in one of the cabs. But the current owner said that he wanted that transmission. Dad wanted to try and get these items towed to his property before the current owner got rid of them. So, while we were there for Christmas I suggested that he and I go and get them. When we got there the back window had been broken, but the front window was still in tack. It is not cracked however there are some marks from a wiper that did not have a good blade. We could not find the transmission that he thought was laying around. There was one in the frame bolted to the belhousing. I crawled under it and discovered what looked like a car 4 speed transmission. We chained everything down and headed for home. Because of the snow we could not get it towed up into the woods with the other things we have stored. Dad suggested that I take the transmission out and see what it is and take it home if I wanted it. So, we did. When we got it out we descovered that it is a Saginaw 4 speed transmission. The shifting levers are not on the transmission and there is no shifter. So, I'll have to look into those items. I cleaned it up a bit and brought it home. I'll open it up one of these winter days and see what it looks like on the inside. I am planning to sell the TH-350 that I purchased earlier from a club member and use this transmission instead. Whether I keep the current rearend or use the 3:08 one is still to be determined. A free Saginaw 4 speed is just to hard to pass up. Here are a couple of shots of it.
Saginaw 4 speed transmission.
I, also, told Harold Smith that I want 2 more of those 8 inch steel wheels for the front. I think I'm going to go for a bit more of a "hotrod" look. Probably more of a "retro hotrod" look as I'm going to keep the hubcaps and trim rings, but with the 4 speed it will be a bit of a hotrod approach.
11/26/02
Langdon's response was that I would not be happy with the TH-350 and the 3.07:1 rearend. So, I have been doing some rethinking of that direction. I have gone out to some of the bulletin boards that I frequent and printed off the discussions concerning changing to either the T-5 transmission out of an S-10 or the NP A833 transmission out of an early 80's C-10. The T-5 is a five speed transmission with the fifth gear being overdrive. This transmission would require a different clutch, some modification to the input shaft, and a different yoke on the drive shaft in order to fit, but these don't seem to be that great a problem from what I have read. The A833 is a 4 speed with the fourth gear being an overdrive. On this one it would slip in using my current clutch setup. The difference would be the floor shifter. Which way I go probably depends upon which I find first and what the price is. So, now I have to decide if I want to sell the rearend and transmission. Probably the transmission for sure. I might hold the rearend for a while to see if it might be desirable later.
10/22/02
Jonathan and I went and picked up the transmission from Bill. It needs to be cleaned up. I think I'll clean it up and put new fluid and a new filter in it and then I'll put it in the truck. That way I'll discover the condition of it and will know if it should be rebuilt or not.
TH350 transmission.
I wrote to Tom at Langdon's Stovebolt and asked him the following questions;
"1. flex plate - What flex plate should I use? Do I need to find one from a 6 cylinder motor or will a V8 flex plate work?
"2. torque converter - locking or non-locking? What stall speed? I'm looking for a comfortable driving vehicle that will haul an occasional load.
"3. kick down - How do I connect this to the original carburetor? Will a Lokar kit work? Or should I search the junkyards for one?
"4. transmission cooler - Since my truck was not equipped with an automatic transmission, the radiator does not have a transmission cooler in it. Can I just install a remote cooler for the transmission, or do I need to change the radiator, also?
"5. shifter - While I would like to use a column shifter, I'm not sure if I can find one within my budget constraints. So, I'll probably look for a cheaper after market shifter or one from the junk yard.
"6. exhaust - I'm going to have to change the exhaust because I had the exhaust pipe split down by the transmission and the passenger side runs under the manual transmission. That will have to change with the change to the automatic transmission. I would like to split it for the sound. However, that costs as well. I have considered having the current one split. I found a place called Kansas Kustoms that would do it. That seems to be the cheapest route to go ($160). Any thoughts?"
I'll be interested in his thoughts or input to these questions. I'll begin to collect the parts that I need to make the switch over from the current transmission and rear end combination to the to one I have purchased.
10/17/02
Another member of our truck club owns S & S Classic Trucks. He specializes in '67 - '72 parts, but can get other parts if we tell him what we want. I put in a request for 15x8 steel wheels that would accept the hubcaps that I have. He brought them to our club meeting on the 12th and I had the tires that were on the wheels that Chris Brussati's dad gave me mounted on it on the 14th. I like the look. I'm trying to decide if I want to get two more for the front or not.
Bill offered me the transmission for $100. I'm going to go look it over on Saturday and purchase it if it meets with my approval.
New wheels for the back.
10/08/02
A member of my truck club purchased a parts truck for the truck he is working on. This truck had a TH-350 automatic transmission that he did not want. At first when he offered it to me I said that I did not want it. But after some consideration, I have changed my mind. I have agreed to purchase it if the speedometer is cable driven and not electronic driven. I'll make plans this weekend at our club meeting to go and pick it up. That coupled with the rear end purchased earlier should make "Scat" easier to drive around town and on the interstate. Now to get the other pieces that I will need to make the swap complete.
7/24/02
While in Iowa over the 4th of July, I saw a couple of truck owners at the Goodguys Heartland National event that had made their own tonneau cover out of plywood, lumber, and tonneau material. One was just a 2x4 frame with a plywood top covered with tonneau material. This one was just propped up by a couple of 1" wood dowels. The other had a frame made out of 1x4 covered with plywood and material. This one had cylinders attached to it that helped hold it up. I decided that I could make one also. So, I came home and bought 2x3 lumber and a couple sheets of 3/8" plywood. I called Bailey Upholstery and he said that he could get me the material and padding that I needed. I made the frame out of the 2x3's and then attached the plywood to the frame with screws and liquid nails. I primed the top of the plywood so that if it got wet before it was covered that it would be protected some what. I turned it over and put some polyurethane on the underside so that it would look better and be protected from moisture. I made some supports for holding the cover up out of 1/2" conduit that was left over from making the flag pole that I made. I formed a hinge from parts that I scrounged up at the hardware store. I also got a broom holder to hold the other end of the support. These can be sat on the bed or in the rear stake pockets. I picked up the tonneau material, the 1/4" pad, and the adhesive for the pad from Mr. Bailey. I glued the pad to the top of the plywood. I stapled the material over the pad and plywood with staples. It turned out pretty good and is much cheaper than purchasing one. Here are some pictures of it being made.
Tonneau cover.
7/9/02
I got the engine cleaned up and painted. It looks very nice. I decided to go ahead and paint the inner finders to make the engine compartment look better. It turned out pretty good.
5/13/02
I picked up the 3:07 rearend this weekend form Brad Loftis in Gainesville, MO on the way home from Branson. The Lord held off the rain until around 7 pm so we were able to get it without getting soaked. The rearend looks good and appears to be what he said it was. It fit in my trailer, but worked it's way done and was really compromising the tailgate. So, when I stopped for gas I moved it so that the one brake drum hug over the front edge. It traveled fine the rest of the way home. Now to clean it up, check it out and paint it.
This is a 3:07 rear end that I purchased to replace the 3:73 that is currently in the truck.
I also purchased some "Custom" cab trim from him. However, I failed to see if he had the retraining strip. I'm going to email him and see if he can send them to me. He is suppose to send me pictures of a chrome grill that he has. I don't know if I'll purchase it or not.
Anyway it was a "profitable" trip to Branson albeit it a bit busy and hectic.
4/9/02
I have decided to purchase that rear end. It is located down near Branson. We are going to meet mom and dad there in May for the weekend, so I'm planning to take the trailer along and bring the rear end back then.
Dad said there was a 1965 Chevy 3/4 ton LWB near him that had an automatic in it. He was going to see if it could be purchased and if so how cheap. He would like the bed off it and I could use the parts relating to the transmission for switching my truck to automatic. We'll see if it is reasonable.
I purchased a kit to clean up the engine. I hope to do that soon so that I can get it cleaned up and looking better. Hopefully the next week or so.
In March our club went to a truck show in Farmington. There were 6 of us there and we got the club participation award. And believe it or not I got a plaque for my Arkansas farm truck. I think there were more plaques to give away than trucks. So, I lucked out. Oh, well….I still got one….
I also decided to install the weather strip around the doors to cut down on the drafts. It will be a while before I get the rust repaired and at that time I'll purchase new ones. Much less wind in the truck, but the doors are hard to shut. I may have to adjust them a bit to get them to work better.
1/9/02
When I got the chrome valve cover and the side covers from J.C. Whitney, I was so disappointed in the quality that I sent them back the very next day. If I order some, I think I'll order them from Clifford Performance this time.
I also contacted someone from the internet who had parts for these trucks to see if he had a rear end with 3:07/1 gears. He did and wants $150 for it. He is in southern Missouri. I don't know if I'll do this or not. I really don't have the money at this time to do that. There is still a part of me that would like to put and automatic transmission with overdrive in it. That would make driving easier and have overdrive for better gas mileage. Still working this over in my head…..
12/31/01
As I close out the year, I have just ordered a couple of things to do this winter. I ordered an engine cleaning kit from Por-15. I want to detail the engine compartment before the cruise/show season so I won't be as embarrassed to open the hood. I want to clean and paint the engine as well as the inner finders and perhaps the underside of the hood also. I will also paint the wheels black to help set off the hubcaps and trim rings more. I also ordered a chrome valve cover, chrome oil filler cap, and chrome side covers. I'm hoping that will dress up the engine compartment a bit. I think I will also put the weather stripping around the doors. I'll probably leave it off the bottom so that I can show it to a body shop for the rust repair. I think when I get the valve cover and side cover gaskets, I may get a rear seal for the transmission so I can replace the current one that is leaking before the summer of driving. I will also change the oil and lube it at this time. I'm hoping to get the cleaning all taken care of so that I can do the painting when the weather warms up. I also need to replace the intake/exhaust gasket as it is leaking. That will be done at this time.
7/30/01
I took it back and they put an asbestos gasket in place of the metal one they were trying. They pointed out to me that there is a exhaust leak between the manifold and the head. So, one of these days I'm going to have to take that off and put a new gasket on. On the way home from that repair there was a noise like the pipes were coming in contact with something. I thought it was the spare tire carrier, but found that it was the back of the cab. I took it back on Wednesday, 7/25/01 and they made some adjustments with a pry bar and it took care of the problem. So, now except for the leak that was there before they started, it is working as intended. It does not seem to be that noisy to me. At idle I can't tell much different. When the engine is under load I think it makes a little more noise. But not that bad. I'll have to see if I think performance and economy have been improved or not.
It is dieseling when you shut it off sometime. I may have to do some adjustments of the carburetor and/or the timing, etc. to try and get rid of that.
7/23/01
Well I went and picked up the truck on Friday. When I started it there was an exhaust leak. I brought it to the attention of the guys there and was told that because of the way they had to fix the pipe it leaked but would go away after driving it. I had never heard of that, but accepted it. I drove it all weekend nearly 200 miles and the leak is still there. I'm taking it back today after work to have them fix the leak. Other than the leak, I like what they did. They routed it a little differently running the pipes outside the front of the trailing arms and then in to put the turbo's up out of the way of the driveshaft. Originally it ran across the front of the trailing arm to the muffler which was very close to the drive shaft. The turbo's are farther away from the driveshaft than the original, however, they are closer to the wood in the bed. We'll see how that works out….more to follow after I take it back to them today.
7/16/01
I took the truck to A-1 Mufflers in Crystal City Friday. I picked them because their yellow pages add mentioned Flowmasters. I am looking to split the exhaust and having duals that exit in the stock location behind the rear tires. I discussing with them what I wanted to do, they told me that the Flowmaster would not fit and that they would recommend splitting the exhaust where it crosses over the front of the trailing arm and putting two glasspacks on it. They quoted me a price of $280 and I set the appointment for today. Well…at my truck club meeting Sunday, a couple of the members suggested that I give another guy a call. So, I called him today. I told him what the other shop was planning to do and he said that was crazy. He thought it would sound real funny with the glasspacks because it would be unbalanced. He suggested splitting the exhaust up by the engine and running it like regular duals after that. He would do all this and put two turbo mufflers on for the same price. So, I'm going to take it to him Thursday evening so he can do it Friday. Thank goodness for the club…..
6/7/01
Dad called me sometime before vacation to tell me that he thinks he found the rest of the factory air conditioner that I have the vents to. I was planning to sell the vents, but now with this development will not break up the set. I need to call the guy who wanted to buy the vents to let him know that I'm not going to be able to sell them.
5/1/01
I made some changes to my truck this past couple of weeks. First, I purchased a Petronix Ignitor to convert my distributor from points and condenser to electronic. I believe that it is running better. The difference I can see is at idle. It was missing some at idle before, but that seems to be going now. It is suppose to provide better fuel mileage and more power. Time will tell I guess if that is the case.
Then, I spotted a guy on Chevy Duty's bulletin board who had some hubcaps for sale. It turned out that they were 4 original chrome hubcaps. He told me to make him an offer, which I did. He accepted my offer to purchase them for $100. I received them on 4/25. I immediately put on a couple of them and then put the other two on when I pulled the truck out on the weekend.
This past Sunday I went to the swap meet at Riverport. My purchase was a set of trim rings for the truck. I put a couple of them on when I got home and it sure improves the look of the wheels. However, I think I may take the time to paint the wheels to help them look better. I think I will paint them black to help set off the chrome hubcaps and trim rings.
In the next week or so, I will be getting a new exhaust system put on. The reason is that I found a leak in the tail pipe. I knew that the tail pipe was getting pretty close to the end of it's life. This just confirmed that I need to replace it. I want it to have duals, so that is what I will be looking to have put on. The two options that I see is to have a muffler added that has one inlet and two outlets, thus getting the dual look. Or to have it split under the truck and running down each side with a glasspack on each one. I don't know which I will do. Price may have something to say about which I do.
Bill Engel gave me the name of a friend who is a body man in St. Charles. So, sometime I'll take my truck out there and see what he could tell me about repairing the rust on the cab.
This is a picture is from May 2001.
1/12/01
I sent off for mini triple gauge set from JC Whitney and heater blower motor and heater water shut off valve from Jim Carter Antique Truck Parts today. I'll install them when they all are returned. I'm getting anxious to do things on the truck, but am having to curb that push and do what I can for now. I probably could start dropping in on some shops and see what they say the rust repair would cost. I might start doing that in the near future.
I keep changing my mind on whether to keep the 6 cylinder of drop in the V8 that dad has. I think I will list the advantages and disadvantages of each today while I work.
1/2/01
I drove my truck on our Fall Color Cruise in October without a problem. I have driven it some since, but have not gotten it out of the garage for the past month or so because of the snow on the ground. I have started it a couple of times just to keep it limber for when I can drive it. I don't know if I'll be able to drive it to our January meeting or not. It depends upon the weather and whether or not there is snow on the ground, but more importantly if there is salt on the roadways.
I am considering purchasing some gauges for it as the temp. idiot lights do not work. At least the cold one does not come on. So, I am not sure if the hot one does and do not want to have a problem with the engine to find out.
I talked with dad over Christmas about using the 305 that he pulled out of his '79 Chevy in my truck. That might be an option down the road when the 250 gives up the ghost. We'll see….
10/20/00
I got my truck back on the road this week. After spending 3 nights getting the front brakes rebuilt and putting in a new battery, I had it inspected Monday and got the tags caught up the same day. I have been driving it a bit each day this week. Today I drove it to work. My purpose was to see if it would run fine for an extended period of time. It did fine on the trip in.
8/21/00
Dad was here this past weekend to help me with some repairs on the Walsh house. While he was here, I told him about my trouble getting the emergency brake cables off. Well, he had them off in 10 minutes. So, now I have to get the brakes back on and the front ones fixed so that I can get it back on the road.
6/26/00
My brake cables did come, but I was not able to get them on in time to take the truck Saturday. I am hoping this week to work in the evenings and get the brakes done so that I can perhaps get it inspected when we get back from vacation.
6/20/00
Dad was here this past weekend for Jonathan's birthday. On Saturday, he helped me put my seat back in and put a seat cover over it to protect it. I worked on the rear brakes. I got everything back together, but we discovered that the parking brake cables are frozen on the driver's side. I ordered replacement cables yesterday from Chevy Duty. They should be here in a day or two. When they come I'll have to take the rear brakes apart to install them.
I had hoped to have it inspected and back on the road by Saturday, but am not sure that I will be able to make that happen.
6/15/00
I haven't added anything here for a while, so I'm going to try and catch this up.
I picked up my seat on the 3rd of this month. I am hoping to put it in this weekend and try to get my truck past inspection next week so that I can drive it next Sunday. I also have the parts to rebuild the brakes, but I may wait to do that after this event. That will give me a month to get that done.
4/24/00
I cleaned the inside of the cab some on Saturday in preparation of putting the gas tank in my truck. I am going to purchase some new clamps for the inlet hose. I think I'll pick them up on the way home today. Once the tank I in I will turn the truck around and start working on the brakes and try to get them done. I also need to extract the bolt that we twisted of in getting the seat out. I want to have it already for the seat when the seat is done. I am hoping that I will be able to put the seat in and drive it to our May picnic at St. Francis State Park.
4/18/00
I called Bailey Upholstery and he wanted to show me the seat. I went by last week and there is a spring on the end that was broken. But he thought that he could sleeve it and make it stronger than before. So, I told him to go ahead and do it.
I picked up my order from Chevy Duty on Friday from UPS. So, I have that and can tear into the brakes on my truck one of these days. I am planning to put the gas tank in first and then start on the brakes.
4/10/00
I canceled the back order of the left foot well from Golden State Pickup Parts on Friday. I forgot to see what they are going to do about he amount that they owe me. I may have to call them and see.
I ordered the brake parts that I need from Chevy Duty on Friday. (The order was mailed on Friday, 4/7.) That should arrive later this week and then I would like to work on my truck some and get it back in running order again.
I took the seat to Bailey Upholstery to have him refinish it on March 31st. Hopefully it will be done soon.
I painted the gas tank and will be installing it in the next day or two, I hope.
3/20/00
Dad brought my seat up that I purchased from B&T Truck Parts. I'm going to drop it off at Bailey Upholstery on my way home today.
We are going to go pick my truck up from Anton's tomorrow. I'm going to wait on the rust repair for a while. In the mean time I will drive it as it is and get some suggestions from other shops that do this kind of repair.
I'm going to take $1000.00 from my bonus and do some of the mechanical repairs, starting with the brakes.
3/6/00
I talked to dad on Saturday and he is planning to bring my seat up when he comes. He is planning to bring it on the back of his car. Then I can take it to the upholstery shop for recovery. Hopefully, it will be done about the time the truck is in the rust repair shop. Then I can get the inside of the cab squared away and fixed up pretty good, at least for now.
2/29/00
I got a letter and pictures from Rodney Stromlund yesterday. It sounds like he has quite a collection of parts for Advanced Design truck. I am passing his name along to the members of my club.
2/28/00
I talked to dad on Sunday and he went over and purchased the seat from B&T Truck Parts. So, it is his possession. All I have to do is get it up here and get it recovered.
I stopped by Anton's on Saturday to have him put my truck on the schedule for him to repair. He said that he had just taken in a couple of other orders in the recent days. He said I should have come a couple of days earlier. He did not say how long it would be. So, I e-mailed him last night asking what he thought the time table would be. I also, asked if it would save me any money if I purchased some of the patch panels that I think I need. I'll be interested in his response to both questions. If it will be most of the summer before he gets to my truck, I may go ahead and put the gas tank and seat in and drive it for the summer instead of leaving it in the garage all summer.
2/24/00
I'm glad that I didn't call Paul back yesterday. I called B&T Truck Parts of Siloam Springs and explained to Dave what I was looking for. He said that he happened to have one. He had it in his truck and had it recovered, but the vinyl tore. So, he took it out and replaced it with a seat out of a 1988 Chevy pickup. I asked if he would sell just the bottom, but he did not want to be left with the back by itself. I asked what he would have to have for it. He said that he gave $150 for it, had it recovered, and used it for 3 years. He said that he would take $75 for it. I said that I want it. We talked about shipping it, but felt that the cost might be to much. So, I'm going to beg of my dad to go over, pick it up, and bring it up with him in March. I'm going to make that call in the next couple of days.
Doyle Bailey called me today and wanted to know if I wanted the other seat back. Since I was purchasing another seat. He said that I might want to move my truck or need to get it inspected or something. As a matter of fact it does need to be inspected in March. He said that he would leave it covered up outside of his building for me to pick-up. I'll put it back in and try to get it running again so I can get it inspected in March. I'll drive it that way until I can do the next step.
I think I will concentrate on the mechanical side of the truck instead of the cosmetic. I can do the mechanical stuff for the most part.
2/23/00
I called Doyle Bailey yesterday to tell him that I was going to pick up my seat, but he said that he had materials already on hand plus the phone calls that he had made and that I would need to pay for those. Well, that changed my thinking a bit. I'll need to go ahead and fix the seat so that I don't loose the money. He said that he had 15 or so other numbers of places to check for leads on seats or springs.
When I got home I called Paul Owen who is the Tech Advisor for 1960-1966 Chevy trucks for the National Chevy/GMC Truck Association, and asked him if he knew of anyone who had those seat springs. He told me that they were manufactured until about 8 years ago and that they are no longer available. He said that what I needed was the "custom" seat from that year. It had zigzag springs across the bottom rather than the straight spring with a coil at the end. It had 6 inches of foam on the seat. This was a much better design that would last a lifetime. What I have is a "standard" seat and is a poor design. He said that he had 2 or 3 of the "custom" seats left and would sell the seat part to me for $75 + shipping. He didn't think shipping would be to much.
I, then, called the salvage yard that Doyle had given me the number for. I explained to him what I was looking for. He didn't know if he had any of the "custom" seats or not. He was going to look today and I'm to call him this afternoon and see what he has.
I, also, put out some e-mails to various parts places on the internet to see if any of them have used "custom" seats for sale. Along with that I put a want ad on the "Swap Meet" page of Stovebolt.com web site. We'll see if any of these feelers come up with anything. I will call today and get the numbers that Doyle has and see what they are and contact them to see what we find. However, I am looking for a "custom" seat only. I will not purchase a "standard" seat even if it has good springs in it.
I have half a notion to just call Paul back and say ship me the seat. But, I guess it won't hurt me to do some calling around here for a couple of days and see what I can find.
2/22/00
Doyle Bailey called me last week and said that he has been unable to find the springs needed for my seat and gave me the name and phone number of a guy who is suppose to have some seats for sale. I think what I will do is pick my seat up and put it back in the truck as it is. I'll keep looking for seat springs and/or another seat to replace the one that I have. I'll take the money that I was saving for the seat and use it to do something mechanical for the truck such as rebuild the brakes.
We were at mom and dad's this weekend and dad have some parts for my truck. He has the fender that I need and 2 inner fenders that are not rusted. So, I won't have to keep looking for those. He also got two doors, two more fenders, a hood, and another inner fender that he needs for his truck. All that for $50. There is still two windshields, a small rear window, a gas tank, a short wide GMC bed, and an instrument cluster, that he is going to get at some point. So, he found a gold mine....when you consider what you would have to pay for those items from one of these suppliers or even Richard. I'll have to get dad on the look out more often
1/24/00
I stopped at Custom Metal Works on Friday and talked with Dave. I had hoped to get Norm as that is who Jim mentioned. But that didn't happen. When I showed him the pictures, he gave me the impression that he wasn't sure that they could do the work. He definitely hesitated and said that they would not know until they saw the truck. That did not give me a lot of confidence in their ability to do what I need to have done. He said, and I know this is true, that they would not be able to really know until they had seen the truck. I was really hoping that I would not have to do that at least not until I had decided who would do the repair for me. If I take it to them I will probably have to put the gas tank and seat back in so that I could drive it around to have it looked at. However, all I need to know if they can do rust repair, if they can create panels if they need to, and what they charge for such work.
Also, I went by Bailey Upholstery. I had a question about my seat. Is the end spring on that seat different than the other springs on that side of the seat? I wanted to know that so that I could respond to Richard if he has a seat that would work. The only problem with a seat that Richard might have is that it is an old spring and how long with it last? Doyle showed me that the end spring is different. The part that goes from the back to the front of the seat is round on the end on and flat on the other springs on that side. He told me that you cannot weld that spring steel so that is not an option. He did say that he could fix it if he had to. It might not look to good from underneath, but it could be done. We might have to do that. As he was checking the springs on the seat he discovered that there were 3 other springs broken that he did not know about. He had not been checking on those springs. He was going to check his catalog when he got home and see of those are still available. He is going to call me and let me know what he find out. I have not heard from Richard yet on the condition of the seats that he has. Hopefully, I'll hear in a few days from him. I told Doyle about what B&T told me about an 80's Chevy pickup seat fitting. That might be what I have to do if we can't find the springs or repair the seat sufficiently.
The saga continues...........
1/21/00
I called Richard last night to see if he had a seat that did not have broken springs in it. He was going to check it out this weekend and let me know. He thought that one of the two that he had did have broken springs, but he was not sure about the other one. We chatted a bit about the truck. I told him that I had stopped by a shop that does rust repair and that the price nearly scared me to death. He said that I might have to find a "shade tree" body man to do it. I would love to, but I have to find that guy. I am going to stop by Custom Metal Works today after work to talk to them about it. Jim Dement has suggested the guy how lives on Arnold Tenbrook a couple of times, but I haven't gotten the nerve to drop in on him. I called Jim today to see if he knew his name or if he could find it out for me. I left a message there.
The internet source for springs for my seat is not a source after all. Their seat has the same spring broken. I thanked them for responding and taking the time to look.
1/20/00
I stopped yesterday at Anton's Auto Restoration to talk to him about the rust repair on my truck. After talking to him about my situation and showing him my pictures, he took me into his shop to see some of his work. He has some very nice cars that he was working on. There was a custom '50 something Mercury and a custom '50 something Ford that he is working on. Both were very nice. He showed me a door off a '50 something Mercedes that he is working on and pointed out the "butt" welding. He said that there are not many people who can do that type of weld these days. He prefers this type of weld to that of "overlap" welding, because of the potential of getting moisture between the metal and therefore the potential for rust. He also had a '80 something Mercedes that he was doing some rust repair on. He had to make the panels for that replacement. They were also restoring a Toyota van for someone. It is he and his son who make up the work force. They do not do estimates because they never know what they will find once they start taking rust off. They charge the work by time and materials. They keep a time sheet for each vehicle that they are working on and that is how they bill the project. Their hourly rate is $65.00 per hour. While I would love to take my truck there and have them do the work because I think they would do a great job, I don't know how I can afford to have them do it. I think the repair that I need would probably cost me at least $1,000 or more depending upon what they find once they start removing the materials.
I am going to stop by Custom Metal Works hopefully tomorrow and talk to them about the work and see what they charge, if they would give me some kind of rough estimate, what kind of weld they do, how long before they could get to it, etc.
Jim Dement has suggested that I talk the gentleman who lives in the third house from Telegraph on Arnold Tenbrook. He does some body work in his garage, but I don't know if he does rust repair or just general body and paint work. Sometime I'll have to get up the nerve to stop and ask him. I may see if Jim or the owner of D&D Auto Repair will give me his name so I could at least have that when I contact him.
I may have to put the gas tank and seat in the truck and drive it for a while until I can afford to have the rust repaired. If we had not ear marked my bonus and tax refund for our new appliances, I might try to use that for this repair. I guess I'll have to start praying and asking God how I can do this. I was hoping that someone from my club would offer to give me a hand, but none have been forth coming. I don't know how guys in my truck club afford to do this. Do they just charge it and pay interest? Do they have income that they can just devote to this? How do they do it? If I managed our money better, could I afford to do this? I don't know, but it is kind of frustrating to want do to something, but not be able to do it yourself, nor know any one who could do it for you, or be able pay to have someone do it for you.
Bailey Upholstery returned my calls and left a message the other day. He has been out of town for several weeks on family business. He has not been able to locate a supplier for the broken springs that we need. While in PA, he was given a contact for them, but so far nothing confirmed yet. I had a response on the internet from a message I put on the bulletin board on Stovebolt.com. I responded to them explaining what I need, but they have not replied yet with whether or not they have what I need and/or what they want for them. I plan to call Richard one of these days to see what he has in the way of seats. He said that he had some, but whether or not they will have the spring that I need or not I don't know. Maybe I should have just put a temporary seat cover on it for now and got some of this other stuff taken cared of first.
1/5/00
When dad was here during my recuperation time, he told me that he was getting some parts off some trucks that he had located. He thought that he had a right front fender that would serve me well. He said that he would fix the fender up and prime it for me. That would be great. He also thought that he would have some inner fenders that were not rusted that I could use to replace the ones that I have. He was going to strip them of whatever he thought would be helpful; windshields, dash gauges, hoods, fenders, inner fenders, doors, etc. He will be starting a pretty good stock pile of things there for our trucks.
12/30/99
In a response to a request I put in the newsletter, Jim Stange suggested to me that I might check with a place called Custom Metal Works. It is on Bayless close to the corner of Bayless and Lemay Ferry. He had some cab corners put on there and Norm the owner was very reasonable. Jim sent me the phone number and address, so I'll have to give him a call and see what we can do.
Wayne Kull told me about a local place where you can get patch panels for old cars and trucks. I wrote them a letter and they sent me come copied pages that showed what is available. I could have gotten what I needed from them I think. I'll check their price in the future as I need other items.
12/6/99
I purchased an air compressor on Saturday. We were at Sears to purchase a dishwasher and I decided to purchase an air compressor. They had one for $200 - 10%. It is the bottom of the line, but I think it will do what I need it to do. At least I hope it will. I will try to get it put together this week and see how it works.
In talking to Wayne about patch panels for my truck he said that there was a place in St. Louis that has those panels. So, I have written a letter to see what they offer and what exactly they do. Wayne also said that his body shop could put in the panels for me. I'll have to pursue that further with him to get the specifics from him on that. I'd like to know what they charge per hour to do this. I wish I could do this.
I have ordered some patch panels for my truck from Golden State Pickup Parts. Hopefully when they come I will know more about where I'll get them put in. We are still having trouble locating the springs that I need for my truck seat. I need to be more active in looking for that. I want to call Richard and see what he has as well as B & T since they came up with the bumper guard clips for me. Maybe this week I can do this.
11/22/99
Red brought my gas tank back Saturday. It is all cleaned out and has a red sealer inside it. Now I want to clean the outside and paint it with the paint that I purchased for it.
He looked over the rust on my truck. He said that it wasn't to bad, but where it was located made him nervous about doing it. So, I didn't push it. I will see what I can come up with in my club either by a member or by a referral from a member. I also plan to check with Wayne Kull and see if he has any experience in this area. Red suggested that I get the patch panels that I need and then see about having someone put them in for me. So, that is the direction that I will go. He did suggest that I would not need to get the floor pans. So that will save some money at least. However, it will cost to have someone put the panels in for me.
I called Bailey Upholstery to see the situation with the seat. He is having trouble locating one of the springs that is broken. I took over a catalog that I had that had a spring listed, but I don't think it is the right one. He is going to call the place and see what he can find out. Dave Dotson may have one, but I would be surprised if the seat he has doesn't have the same spring broken. If we can't find it Mr. Bailey may have to make the spring. I may call B & T to see what they would have. I put out some e-mails about it and they probably will not be read until today. So, there may be some answers back this evening. I also put a notice on the Swap Meet area of Stovebolt.com. Maybe something will turn up.
11/8/99
Saturday I took my gas tank over to Red. The shop that did his tank is not open on Saturday, so he was going to take it some evening this week after work. We talked about the rust situation with my truck. I tried to explain where the rust was and the condition of it. After talking about it, I stated that I would like for him to come and look it over. I would like his assessment of the situation. He said that when the tank is down that he might bring it to me and then look at the rust condition of my truck. He asked if I had 220 in my garage, because his welder is a 220 amp welder. I don't, but Cheryl suggested getting it run into there and see if he could then come and help me. I'll have to see if Todd Whaley can give me an estimate for it. If Red doesn't help me with it, I'm not sure how I get it replaced. However, there is probably someone in my 'following', as Red calls it, that has this ability.
In talking with him, it came up that an air compressor would be a very useful 'large' tool purchase for my shop. I am going to keep my eyes open for one and see if I can find a good used one somewhere to purchase. It would sure help in the working on my truck. I might even have dad be on the look out for one.
11/1/99
I spent much of Saturday morning working on my truck. Cheryl was gracious enough to let me do that. I removed the inside mirror, the visors, the gun rack, the door weather-stripping, and the sound deadener on the floor. I wanted to get all of the sound deadener off the floor so that I could see the rust condition of the floor board. I did not find any new rust areas except for on the passenger side. There was some surface rust in a valley in the floor. It had a space in it, but the spacer came right up where the driver's side one did not. I checked out the floor supports and the back one's are bad, with the passenger side being almost non-existent. All of them need to be repaired and from what I can tell I will probably have to lift the cab to do that. If that is the case, I'll replace the cab mounts when I do that. That way they will be replaced and be able to last a while.
Now, I have to figure out how to clean the inside of the cab and how to get the residue of the sound deadener off the floor. I am going to take more pictures, hopefully get the gas tank repaired, and see if Red can come and look it over and let me know how hard it would be to repair the rust areas.
I was planning to use my stock purchase refund to fix up the cab. Cheryl had made a comment that it was okay for me to do that. However, last night when I mentioned that she did not remember it. I'm not sure what to do here. I have already committed to have the seat repaired and that is a good chunk of that refund. With the repair panels that I need, plus the paint, the rest of it could go very fast. We will have to discuss it at some point. I'll have to find a good time to do that. The sooner the better. Before I have committed to much money to it.
I'm also not sure where I'll put the seat when I get it back. I'm sure it will be done before I get the cab ready for it.
Jim Carter has a paint for the interior that I will probably use. He also has some kind of painting system that he sells that they say is good to use with their interior paint. I plan to call them and see what that is all about. That might be how I can paint the inside without a air compressor and paint gun.
10/26/99
I have been thinking much about my truck and the rust that I uncovered. It seems like I shouldn't cover it up and go on. Seems like I should repair it correctly. I think I'm going to try and get the courage to see if Red could come and look it over and let me know what he thinks. I would like to see if he could give me some assistance in getting it repaired, but I'm afraid to ask. I think he would be willing to do it however. The other thing about this is that once you get started fixing it will be hard to stop. If I could limit myself to the cab for now, I might be able to afford that. The problem is that I don't have the proper equipment, such as metal cutting equipment, MIG welder, air compressor, spray gun, etc. I probably shouldn't have started this without the equipment, but maybe someone in the club will have what I need and let me use it. That someone might be Red. My timing of this might work out in the fact that Red and I might spend some time working on this and therefore get to 'develop' our relationship. Who knows it might be timed for such a time as this. I wrote a note on his newsletter about his e-mail address, but also about what I was doing on the truck and that I would like to get his opinion about the rust that I uncovered. Maybe he will respond to that note and make an offer of assistance. We'll see..
10/25/99
Dad was here this weekend and I asked if he would help me get the seat out of my truck. We took it out and then took it to Bailey Upholstering. We talked about what I wanted done and came to a decision. He is going to have the seat and back covered with a cloth material. He will put pleats in the areas of the seat where the driver and passenger sit. Vinyl will be on the edges of the seat. I picked a beige color for the seat. He said that it would be ready in 3 to 4 weeks. The cost will be right at $300. I can't wait to see the finished product. Dad then offered to help me take the gas tank out as well. So, we proceeded to take it out. We also took out the floor mat and the white pad underneath it. In cleaning it out we found more rust than was apparent beforehand. The worse is on the passenger side. I knew that there was a problem in the floor area, but we discovered that in the corner behind the seat is also rusted badly. I'm not sure how much of this I will be able to repair at this time, but in the future I will have to repair it. The gas tank definitely needs to be cleaned out. There is much rust inside it. So, I'll take it over to Red's one of these weekends and drop it off where he had his repaired. So.....I am on the road to getting the inside of the cab cleaned up. I just need to keep at it and get it all ready. I also need to decide what to do to the rust places. Maybe I can get Red to come over and give me his thoughts on the matter sometime.
10/22/99
I have decided not to purchase the engine and transmission from Mr. Brusatti. I don't need them now. The engine that I have is still in good shape. I have no good place to store them. I want to use the money for the interior instead.
I think that while dad is here this weekend I will see if he will help me remove the seat from my truck. I may see if he can give me pointers with some other things.
10/13/99
My truck was not driven except to get it out of the garage so that I could clean. I hope to begin taking apart the interior so that I can get the gas tank cleaned out an sealed. I hope to do some of the rest of the interior as well.
Robert Brusatti is going to sell his 283 and the 4-speed transmission. He has the pair priced at $300. I said that I was interested and would come by and look them over, but I'm having second thoughts about that. I may not go that direction after all. We'll see. I don't know. We'll see what I think after I talk to dad and go and look at it.
9/20/99
I drove the truck on Saturday, 9/18, to Hillsboro for a tractor display. It made the trip with no problem. Later that evening, we took it to the store to get some soda for supper. On the way home it did the gas thing again and stopped on Telegraph behind our house. A gentleman stopped and towed me into the parking lot behind my house. Sunday when we got home from the parade, I went over and once it pumped up gas it started and I was able to drive it home. I will not drive it again until I get the gas tank boiled out and sealed. I called Red and told him the situation and checked that when I get the tank out I could bring it over and we would take it to the guy who did his and get it taken care of. So, one of these days I will start taking things out of the cab so that I can get to it. I will take the seat out and recover it. (I am toying with the idea of doing this myself, but the eases thing would be to take it to Bailey's that Phil Ierardi recommended and have him do it.) I want to fix up the inside of the cab while I have it apart. I want to try and put new window seals on while I'm doing this. I'm hoping that I can get dad up here to help me with that when the time comes.
I talked to Red about the meeting we had. He said that he had intended to come, but instead took his drag car to the track to see if he could sell it. He has met someone up there who has a couple of '54 Chevy trucks that was going to come with him. He said that the guy was interested in what we're doing. He asked when the next one is so that he could put it on the calendar. (Some thoughts: It all sounds very good, but I'm not going to get my hopes up to much. If he comes, he comes. However, I don't need him to attend to continue what we are doing. There are plenty of guys who seem to be interested in having a club whether or not he comes. I would love for him to be involved, but I'm not going to pressure him nor be too disappointed if he doesn't come. I'm just going to work on our relationship and try to develop the friendship. If he participates, he participates. If he doesn't, he doesn't. This is probably easier said than done.)
9/7/99
Since we are not going to Arkansas this weekend, I am going to try and go to the show at Fox High School this weekend. I think I'll see when Jim Dement is planning to go and see if he wants to drive there together. I'll probably even copy the other guys with e-mail in the club at the same time and see if any of the others are interested.
9/2/99
Paul Larini e-mailed me about the overdrive transmission. He offered to sell me his rebuild one for $500 in exchange for the one dad has. I responded that although it would be nice to have it in the truck, I could not afford to do it at this time.
8/27/99
In response to an ad that I saw in Pickup 'n Panels In Print I wrote a letter to a Paul Larini about rebuilding the 3 speed overdrive transmission that dad has. Paul has one for sale and stated that he could rebuild one. So, I wrote and asked him some questions about it. We'll see how he responds if he does. It would be kind-of neat to get that 3 speed overdrive fixed up and put in my truck so that it would cruise better.
8/9/99
I mailed off an order to Chevy Duty for some things for my truck. The main reason for the order was taillight lens gaskets. However, I ordered a few other things for the interior of the cab, which I will hopefully be using this winter.
8/6/99
Chris said that his dad hasn't decided what to do with the 283 yet. So, I'll keep my eyes and ears open.
When I took the truck through a car wash recently the tail/brake lights quit working. I checked it out yesterday and found that the gaskets around the lenses were shot and water got in and blew them out. So, I am ordering some new ones. I am also ordering; windshield weather-strip, rear glass weather-strip, rear lock bead installation tool, door rubber seals, super weather-strip adhesive, gas tank filler neck grommet, gas tank filler & vent hose, gas tank to floor pads, gas tank sender unit gasket, & 2 license plate frames. I am ordering them from Chevy Duty because they seem to have the best prices.
I got a call from Jim Knight this week. Seems that there was more to the show in a room in the hotel. The association had a booth set up there with some items for sale. He said that he was there taking pictures and getting stories. I wish I had been a little bit braver and asked some questions and found out there was more. Oh, well, next time I'll know. He said that they were disappointed in the turnout of trucks as well. Thought it might be because it was such short notice. He said that even the host club only had 3 trucks there. That's kind of sad. I told him that I didn't see any of the Kansas City trucks there and I expected to see some of them there. He thought that next year the club in Dallas was going to host an event. That is a bit farther away. I doubt that I'll be able to make that. He said that my newsletter was very good, which was nice to hear. We talked for a while about the club and things to do. He suggested that I contact the club in Dallas. He said they seem to have a very active club and might give me some good information. I think I'll form that letter today and see what kind of response I get from them.
7/30/99
I e-mailed Chris yesterday to see what his dad had done on his truck. He said that it was just a rolling chassie now that had been sanded and painted. His dad had purchased a TH-350 transmission for $25 and was probably going to buy a new small block 350, because he really wanted a 350 to replace the 283 that was in the truck. His dad wasn't sure what he was going to do with the 283. I asked what he thought his did would want for it because I might be interested in it for mine down the road. He said that he didn't know, but that he would ask him. So, who knows I might just get a 283 after all...hmmmmmmmmm........
7/28/99
Cheryl told me that Red had taken his truck Sunday to a local show and came home with a trophy. Not surprising in the least. I'll have to be sure to add that to the article about his truck.
7/27/99
We went to Red and Tammy's on Saturday. His truck is very nice. I hope that someday mine will look about half as good. We took it to the races. It was fun to ride in it besides just looking at it. I got my first taste of drag racing live. I learned a lot about the sport. I met who Red helps and was invited to come back anytime.
I mentioned a couple of the things that I have to do on my truck. The first one was the green tailgate that has some of the spot welds coming loose. He said to bring it over and we'd drill them out, clamp it and he'd weld it with his mig welder. Then, I mentioned about his gas tank that was done very nice. He stated that a local guy had done it for $65. I told him that Gravois Radiator wanted $300 for it. He said that when I was ready to do it to bring it over and we'd take to the same place and when it was done he'd pick it up and keep it until I came and got it. It is worth the drive to do that. I talked to him about the seat cover that he put on and he kept saying that it was something that I could do myself. I'll have to see. I think I'll still have the guy in Arnold give me a price. Then, I decide what to do. We also talked about my transmission situation. He said that he had a 3 speed out of an Chevy Nova that he would give me if I wanted it. Sometime when I'm over there we'll get it out and figure out what the gear ratios are and see if it would help me any.
When I got home I checked out my truck to make sure that is was not damaged again. As I looked at the wing window I found that whoever got into it attempted it several times before they were successful. There were 3 or 4 places where they had put a prying object in between the window and the frame. The frame is bent in each location and the window is chipped in two places. They even went so far as to try to cut the hinge of the wing window. After this discovery, I decided to file a police report. I will be doing this as soon as I can give them a call and be assured that I'll be there for a while. That will probably be on Friday. For now I have parked it in front of my house and leave the porch light on each night. Whenever we leave town again, I will be parking it in the garage.
7/19/99
When I got home from work today, I noticed that the passenger side mirror was all askew. Upon further inspection, I discovered that the passenger side wing window was open and that the door was unlocked. When I opened the door I discovered that the Tach had been monkeyed with and it was pointing down and rotated clockwise on the steering column. I looked in the glove box and did not see anything that was missing. But this did not set well with me.
7/19/99
I got a call from Patrick's Antique Auto in AZ today at work. I had sent a letter a few weeks ago following up one that I had not received a response to. He was very defensive about it and repeated that he would help me whether or not I spent a dime there a couple of times. I didn't respond to any of those jabs. He gave me a few bits of information; 1. He told me that the number of the teeth on the rear end gears is stamped on the pinion shaft. So, if you take that out you can tell what gear ratio you have. 2. He suggested putting either a 700-R4 automatic transmission or a S-10 5-speed in my truck to make it more driveable. The R4 has 30% overdrive while the 5-speed has 25% overdrive. I think the automatic would be perfect, if I can find one that I can afford.
7/8/99
At the June Rally, Philip Ierardi told me about an upholstery shop that he uses here in Arnold. Yesterday I drove by it to get the correct name and the phone number; Bailey Upholstering. I called it today and left a message. He called me back and was very nice on the phone. He said that he and Philip were going to have lunch one of these days when they can make the time for it. So, they must be pretty close buddies. I am going to take it over there some Saturday to have him look it over and give me an idea what it would cost to fix it right. I am hoping to have this done this winter, sometime.
7/7/99
I went to the "1999 Nationals of Pickups 'n Panels" while we were in Iowa for the July 4 weekend. Boy what a bummer that was. There were only 12 trucks in attendance, no truck vendors, and no one from the national office. It was really disappointing. I sent an e-mail to headquarters stating my displeasure and disappointment. It will be interesting to see what, if any, response I get. It was just way below my expectations.
7/1/99
I think I am done working on my truck until winter is here, unless something happens and I can't drive it. I think I will be saving up money so that I can redo the interior over the winter. That is the next step I think. At least get the seat redone and the gas tank boiled out. I would like to put new rubber weather stripping in it, paint the interior, repair the holes in the floor, get new insulation/sound deadener, and a new rubber mat. We'll see how much I can save until that time and what time I have to work on it.
6/21/99
On Saturday, dad took off my old bumper and helped me install the chrome bumper that I purchased from Richard. It does look good. Almost too good for the truck. It will look a lot better once the rest of the truck is cleaned and painted later down the road.
Dad, Grandpa Stadsvold, and I went to the Cruise in Festus. I put flyers in a 193? something Chevy pickup as well as a 196? Chevy pickup. A 196? GMC drove out before I put the flyer in his cab. Oh well! I, also, put a flyer on the door of D&D Auto Repair behind our house. They are working on an "Advanced Design" pickup at that garage. I started to go over there in the afternoon, but there was a crowd that had gathered and I decided to not do it then.
I talked to Red last night and it sounds like he will come over on Sunday. I am not sure if he will drive his truck, but I hope he does. I have a picture of his truck that Cheryl brought for me to look at. It sure looks nice.
6/7/99
We were going to go to Red and Tammy's this Saturday, but realized that Bruce's men's prayer retreat was the same day and he was going to proceed. So, since I had committed to that first, we are going to ask for a 'rain check' from Red and Tammy. I'm really struggling with this. I really want to go to Red and Tammy's, but I believe that the right thing is to honor my commitment to Bruce. Oh, well.............some other time.........hopefully.
6/3/99
While at mom and dad's this weekend I learned a few things that I have mentioned above. 1) It appears that dad is going to use the 350 that he has to rebuild and put in his 79. He is planning to rebuild that truck so that it can pull a lightweight 5th wheel camper that they want to purchase. So, I will not be able to use the motor. I'll have to decide what I want to do next. Keep the 6 or upgrade to an 8. 2) I had sent Richard a letter asking him if he had any front fenders. He told me that he didn't think that he did. Dad said that as he looks for parts for the 'old camp truck' he will keep his eyes open for a good fender. He said that Rodney Strumland knew of a gentleman who had a few '60's GM trucks out back that might have what dad is needing. Dad will see if there is a fender that will meet my needs.
4/27/99
I haven't done much with my truck. I plan to take the topper off this week. I have an ad running in the paper this weekend in an attempt to sell it. I hope that someone will want it and take it off my hands.
4/15/99
I am having trouble with the truck starving out of gas. It happens typically after I have driven it for a while on the interstate. It will start missing, sometimes it even backfiring and eventually quits. I replaced the coil, condenser, and the fuel filter in the carburetor. I also added a fuel filter in the line between the fuel pump and the carburetor. Once when it quit while we were moving, my dad discovered that I had installed the fuel filter in the carburetor in backwards. At that time he, also, blew out the lines with the pressure from his mouth. It worked for a while. Then, it did it again. I took it to Turpin Auto Service and what they did was blow out the lines with air pressure. They feel that there is rust in the gas tank that is clogging up the inlet screen. They said that I should drive it for a while and then bring it back in for them to look at the gas in the filter and see if there is rust in it. There is a dark color liquid that is collecting in the bottom of the filter. I'm not sure what that means. I talked to Gravois Auto Radiator. They will boil it out for around $100. If it needs to be coated it will cost around $300. I am driving it for now. We'll see how it turns out. I may have to breakdown, take it out, and have it boiled out. It might give me some piece of mind.
3/1/96
I purchased my 1966 Chevy truck from my grandfather, who purchased it new.
Return to Top of Page
Return to Truck Page
Return to Home Page
Refer any questions about this page to:
Mike Kelley
