Hi All,
I'm the guy who went down the driveway backwards in a '51 GMC with no brakes and survived - check the link below my signature if you've not read the story. I took the second trip in the truck Tuesday and had to report. It was a nice day here in Atlanta – temp got up to about 57 in the afternoon – bright blue sky. Second time she’s been on the road in quite a while (bad luck if a cop sees this).
http://s456.photobucket.com/albums/...ction=view¤t=LicensePlateSmall.jpgFirst off, I’ve got to complement Larry Isgro on some beautiful work rebuilding my carb. It’s so pretty I kind of hate to put it on the old truck. It looks a little bit of out of place.
http://s456.photobucket.com/albums/...ess/?action=view¤t=DSC_1495gmc.jpgAnyway, the first time I drove the truck was December 15. Since then the gas tank’s been pulled and boiled out and the carb’s been rebuilt. I also replaced the old fuel filter.
I pushed her out of the garage into the driveway and pulled the block drain and the radiator drain – I’d left it in the garage full of water after flushing it out the first time. Thanks for Ashton51’s suggestion to pull that block drain and snake it out with a wire. I did it on Dec 15 and it really cleaned the crud out. Just like happened to you Ashton51, I again got crud out of the block this time – not stopped up, but lots of suspended stuff. I flushed with clean water and worked it with a stiff wire again until I had clear streams from block and radiator. Then I put in two more jugs of Prestone Fast Flush and filled it up.
http://s456.photobucket.com/albums/...ogress/?action=view¤t=CabSmall.jpgInteresting thing here. I loosened the sender on the head for the temp gauge to vent the system while I filled it up. I ran the hose a bit then stopped. I could hear air whistling up past that loose fitting. I kept adding water until I got a bit seeping out there, then tightened it back up. That’s a good tip for venting your head when refilling the cooling system on a GMC engine. Wish I could remember who talked about it on oldgmctrucks.com – sorry – but it probably saved me from engine overheating and possible damage. That and the info about the 1/8” hole drilled in the flange of the thermostat are the bits of info you just don’t get out of a shop manual.
It was time to go. I put a small splash of gas down the carb throat and stuck the air cleaner on. Full choke, step on the starter. She spun over 3 or 4 times and sputtered – I patted the gas pedal and she caught. Still no exhaust system, so pretty loud out of the shorty stack off the exhaust manifold (exhaust is soon on the list). Larry’s carb was just as advertised, put it on and fire it up. Nice work, Larry.
Notwithstanding the freshly rebuilt carb, I’ve still got some missing at idle. The truck seems to be getting good spark but runs unevenly. The next two things for me to get to are checking the timing and adjusting the valves. I also still wonder if the short exhaust stack may cause a problem by having no back pressure. I let her warm up until my cheapo replacement temp gauge showed 120 or so, and down the driveway of danger we went. Brakes are working great (fortunately) – really solid.
Again, the truck ran solidly when I put it under a load. Pulling hills in 2nd gear it didn’t miss a beat – no skipping or missing. Loud, but running good. If I got up to 25 or 30 and “floated,” neither accerating nor decelerating, but maintaining speed, the engine sputtered and stumbled. It’s not nearly bad enough to make you think it’s going to die, but it’s not right. Still, it was a beautiful day and I was out driving that puppy.
I was making a hell of a racket and having a fine time. The tires are so flat-spotted it feels like riding in a buckboard (that’s what happens after about 30 years of sitting). I got 2 miles up the road to the stop sign to go home and decided to go to the gas station instead. I’d got my brake light working while the gas tank was out, so I was feeling all legal (yeah, right).
Made it to the station with no problems other than a lot of bemused looks.
http://s456.photobucket.com/albums/...ogress/?action=view¤t=DSC_1499.jpghttp://s456.photobucket.com/albums/...gress/?action=view¤t=Cab2Small.jpgI put 5 gallons of gas in the fresh tank and checked everything. Nothing was leaking, oil looked clear and clean. Turn the key, step on the starter, fired up and off we go. I didn’t have any problems going home and managed to back up the driveway this time, although I still spun tires a bit – good news is that the clutch is strong.
I let it cool completely, then drained the cooling system again. This time I didn’t get any more rusty crap out, so I put in some rust preventative and 2 gallons of antifreeze/coolant.
Next up I could do timing & valve adjustment, but I think I’m going to get her up to temp and dump the oil hot, then drop the pan. I want to get a look at the oil pump pickup screen and at the bottom of the oil pan. Since I’ve never done that before, you can be sure I’ll be looking for pointers from all of you.
More as it develops,
David Bush
