The Stovebolt Site Forums The Side Lot Southern Bolters Heritage Days at Minter Farms, Fayetteville GA Sept 20-21-22, 2024

So more on "My Day" from Friday. I had been working hard to get "Thor " ready for this trip, everything from brakes to ignition and carb. I changed out the points distributor for an HEI, the Truck ran great, but had a oil leak at the shaft. I opted to take the Truck to where I work and deal with the leak there. Justin (my Son)and I left the house about 10:00 AM. Once onthe road I realized the front passengers side brake was dragging bad, the Truck would only do about 30 mph. We limped along and made it to work. I put "Thor" up on stands and pull the brake caliper apart. The caliper slide( threaded stud the caliper slides on) was bottoming out and not allowing the caliper to release. I turned the outer shoulder down on the slides and the caliper would now release fully.

The oil leak was another issue all together. The HEI is not original to the 235, the base doesn't seat like the points distributor. I had tried a gasket, that didn't work, swapped for an "O" ring,that didn't work either. I had some "square shoulder " seals at work and tried one of those. Now remember each time I changed the seal I had to remove the distributor. The " square shoulder " seemed to seat better, not prefect but better. Back on the road around 12:30 PM..

I drove about 10 miles and stopped to check on the oil leak. The leak was still there just not as bad, I snuggled the bolt down again and made the decision to headboard Fayetteville. The truckwas running great. We were running about 60 mph @ 2800 rpm, just cruising along. We had plenty of honks and Thumbs Up. That's when the fuel pump quit...

I managed to get the Truck turned around and pointed towards home. I broke out some tools and started diagnosing a fix. No such luck, the pump was toast. A call to Linda and rescue was on the way. Justin stayed with "Thor " and I went to get the4x4 and trailer.

I made it back with trailer and as luck(My Luck) would have it the winch didn't work. Out came the chains and "Come A Long". "Thor " was loaded and we headed to the house. About 5 miles later thecheck engine light on the 4x4 came on followed be a huge backfire. We made it to the shoulder of the road and it fired right back up. Another 10 miles and it happened again, only this time we were dead on the side of the road. A call to my BIL and an ignition module was on its way. While under the hood I noticed the rear chamber on the 4x4's brake master cylinder was empty. I had been on the brakes hard to get us stopped and apparently blew a line. We added more brake fluid and changed the ignition module. Back on the road forthe10 miles left to home.

I pulled in the drive at 6:00 PM. Threw our bags in the trusty Yukon and went to Fayetteville. I had had enough and was just ready to be there. I dropped my bag in the Hotel room just before 11:00 PM. The day was done and the adventure behind me.