Arf! Hello, all. I just bought a 1951 Chevy 3600 pickup on ebay. It's 750 miles away in Edmonton, Alberta. We went up there to conclude the deal, and found the auld girl not up to a trip of that length on a tight schedule, so we arranged transport and she'll be home in the next week. She's bone stock, original, and apparently always worked and never neglected until sometime in the last decade. I need to find a computer weenie to show me how to post pix, so, for the moment I hope the text will do.
Please allow me to establish my credentials: I've had stovebolts before. My longest (and best) association was with a '53 3100 which I bought for $400 in Klamath Falls, OR in 1978. Drove that one home (600 miles), went over the undercarriage (spring hangers, brakes, tires, kingpins, bearings, everything) and worked it for six years with one breakdown; replaced the melted 6V generator with a $40 rebuilt 12V alternator from someone's shelf. Discarded the regulator, changed out the bulbs, coil and condenser, but left the starter because it still worked - better than ever. I expected it to be next, but it never failed. In 1984 I thought a small reward for service rendered was in order, so I drove her to a bodyshop and told 'em to make her prettier. They did.
Well, about two years after that, she was rammed while hauling topsoil for my father by a brand-new buick driven by a . . lady . . who ran a stop sign at high speed. She (the truck) was written off by the insurance company.
I should have fixed her anyway. I know that now. I've missed her terribly in the intervening years, and I trust that this new, older replacement will be a worthy successor. "Epic I" had been repowered by a 235, but this new girl - to be dubbed "Epic II" - sports her original 216, along with the factory's idea of appropriate gearing. 4.56-1, is it? Too low for today. Will I have to change out the whole axle, or is there a 3 to 3.5 available for the original carrier?
-Mark
