On Sunday she fired, on Monday she moved (fantastic birthday present), and yesterday she hit the road and did ~20 miles. ITS ALIVE!
I sat down and started last Thursday afternoon with an assembled crank, head, and trans and didn't stop until last night, 12-16 hours a day grinding away on the old girl. And here she sits! Since she was apart, I went ahead and did a number of things as well:
- Overhauled the SM420. New bearings, new synchros, the whole shebang - All new heavy clutch and throw out bearing - All stainless brake lines front to back - 100% new brakes and wheel cylinders on the front - New master modified for the high pressure return of the 12.75" hydrovac - New thermostat and hoses - New motor mounts. Took forever to figure out that the 292 uses standard V8 motor mounts. Yup, the info took forever to find so ill state it here again. The 292 uses V8 motor mounts. - New fuel system to include filler neck and filler neck grommet - New diaphragm on the vacuum shift - New primary wiring done. Still have to rewire the rest of the truck but that is easy and I can tackle that in my one barn/shop
- Original 292 bored .040 over - New cam - New oil pump - New lifters - New valves and valve seats - New rockers - New push-rods - New timing gear and chain - New points distributor
She has the original water pump as '64 292 water pumps cannot be had, so one of the coming mods will be migrating to a '65 water pump and the necessary changes it will bring. She has the original exhaust still temporarily until I can get a shop to do the mandrel bent stainless with a glasspack. The Napa I was using continually fell short, and never sent off my hydrovac for rebuild, so its back on the truck so I can get her back to my farm and then I personally will make the calls and do the work to get it refreshed.
I opted to stay with points for simplicity and the ability to fix on the roadside. Ill upgrade to HEI later, but for now I want to learn points inside and out so I can always fall back on it when/if needed.
The newly rebuilt Rochester carb I purchased (I refused to send my old on in) flat does not work. Even at the lowest possible adjustment, idle is maintained at 1500 rpm and the throttle jets are all screwed up as it takes 5-6 seconds after release of the throttle for the carb to actually throttle down. Quite frustrated, I yanked the sucker off, pulled out the old Rochester, slapped it in, adjusted the vacuum advance and mixture screw while backing out out the idle screw and voila, that 292 just purrs. The the throttle jet is just a bit sticky as she hesitates momentarily under heavy throttle from idle, but that's a tinker job "for tomorrow."
All that's left is the rear axle and drive-line. I have new wheel cylinders for the rear, new carrier bearing, new u-joints, and new seals. The diff needs flushed and inspected as she still will not shift from 3 hi to 4 lo and it is not a vacuum issue, so it is something mechanical in the rear end.
I know i've said it before, but again, a MASSIVE THANK YOU to this forum and those of you here. The wealth of knowledge is indispensable and a direct reason that as a young guy with zero experience or family background in auto-anything, I was able to figure this out and do it all myself. The things I have learned in this process, both on parts and old GM engineering, I am actively applying and helping others with nearly daily at this point. And im looking for my next big bolt now! (hopefully a '59 Spartan 100)
