OK I admit that muffler will go! I did ask the original owner about it and his response was simple, this was a working truck that carried grain from the field and they were always concerned of starting fires. I guess they decided this was a good solution to sparks. I’ve got a few holes that need patched including a hole on the passenger fender that looks like someone backed into a pole or something so I'll be able to sort this.
Update 10/20/2019 I had the weekend to kind of work on this project. Before I started anything, I took a ton of photos to capture the way the vehicle was when I got it and have some reference photos if needed later. This has been invaluable to me on past projects. I also did a quick mechanical evaluation, clutch is frozen, no brakes, motor is not frozen and trans will go into gear, radiator has no fluid I can see, everything appears to be there and hooked up. Sadly, the best condition of any restore I’ve gotten.
Before I decided what direction to take this project I wanted to see if the motor would start. Pretty straight forward stuff here. Checked the oil and looks good with no signs of water. I removed each spark plug, checked it’s condition (All looked good except one that had a little oil residue on it), squirted PB Blaster into each cylinder and let that sit for a few hours. Checked the distributor and cleaned the points and checked I had some gap. Looked over the electrical and noticed some issues. Under the hood the wire from the alternator was completely burned up. The two wires to the plug on the alternator looked fine. I opted to disconnect the alternator completely. Also, all the wires that run the front clip were burned up. I opted to disconnect these also. Behind the dash everything looked good. The previous owner did tell me it was converted to 12v negative ground so I hooked up the battery and didn’t see any smoke. Quick test of the starter and it turned over. I dumped some gas directly into the carb and it started right away. Small victories are still victories!
Next step was to clean the cab and engine bay. I hate working on dirty things. At some point there was mice living in it. I got all the nests and poop out and took out all the floor covering which consisted of a bunch of carpet remnants and thin rubber. I also took the bench seat out and cleaned under it. As far as the engine bay I used 4 cans of engine degreaser and a lot of water. Things are looking better, and the cab is in very good condition. Looks like all the metal is usable. There is no through rust anywhere I can find probably due to the climate in western Nebraska and the fact that all the glass was intact and vehicle closed up. The height of the vehicle I’m sure helped also.
Next steps. I’ve ordered a carb rebuild kit and will be taking the tank out for cleaning both the remainder of the cab and the tank itself. I’ll also flush the fuel lines and see if we can get this thing running. I’m also going to try and unfreeze the clutch by pushing the truck with the tractor in gear with clutch in.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the update. Very soon the weather will change so this project might slow down. I haven’t had a chance to move it into a bay yet and depending on what happens with the engine will decide my plans. I’ve attached some clean photos.
Last edited by Phak1; 04/01/202512:21 PM. Reason: Weird characters
