Hi All,
Well, I'm just about to give the '51 GMC another try (yeah, I'm the guy who went done the driveway backwards with no brakes - see Gallery/1951). Got all the brakes completely redone - master cylinder, wheel cylinders, flex hoses, brake lines. Everything that was on the truck was rusted into junk. Lines looked good on the outside, but when I bent them they broke - rusted on the inside. Lesson there, for sure. Got functional emergency brakes. Final bleed and I'm good to go. Recored radiator is waiting on a support to arrive from Mother Trucker - then back together the front end goes.
Here's the problem - I don't have a functional temp gauge in this truck. I've flushed the block and replaced the thermostat with a new 180 (yeah, I drilled the 1/8" hole - thanks to oldgmctrucks.com). Still, I won't have any good way of knowing how hot the engine is running once I crank it up. Any advice out there on this?
Another thing -
http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/GREAT site. Tons of shop manuals online for free. Don't know if this is common knowledge, but it should be.
David Bush
