Wow... you dredged up an old post.
How's it coming, eh? Well let's see, the 283 isn't what the engine was/is. That's just what the intake came off of. It is a 327. And yes, I still like the engine.
Hadn't done anything to it except put a few miles on it since 2004 until this summer. This summer I decided to fix it up enough to make it a daily driver without any major mods. Drive it for a year, and get a better "feel" for what I want the end result to be.
So, I wanted to get the cab corners and the holes in the roof patched, look over the heater/defrost situation, and give it a basic paint job to prepare it for winter.
That was the plan, but it has grown since then.
In the process of removing the fuel tank, I discovered that the fuel was old and no good. I've learned a hard and invaluable lesson there. I'm still working on tracking down all of the problems that putting that old gas into my '84 GMC truck caused. Yikes!
GREAT learning experience, if you know what I mean...
Anyhow, when I'm not trying to get the '84 to run WELL again, I'm still working on the '61. I got all the rotted wood out of the bed and cut off the bolts holding the bed to the frame. Still can't remove the bed because the stepside wheel wells are "trapped" by the wrap-around bumper. There's only four bolts holding the bumper on, but they are tough nuts to crack. LOL I spray more PB Blaster in there periodically, but so far there's no movement. Can't quite get the angle grinder in there to make short work of it, so... waiting for my husband and I to work on that together (once our work schedules cooperate).
Meanwhile, took out the dash cluster to look it over. None of the gauges worked. Haven't found any OEM ones yet. Am thinking of putting different ones in and updating it a tad, but haven't decided yet. (Did however find the ones I would update to if I go that route. Very awesome looking ones from a '66 IHC truck. $20 for the whole cluster.)
I'm removing the mid-seventies radio that is crammed in so tight it has all the heater cables pinched.
That will leave a very ugly hole in the dash, but at least I can have heat.
Neither my husband or I have done any autobody work before, so working on the cab corners could be an adventure in of itself. And the holes in the roof? If I didn't want to keep a "clean" roof line, I'd buy a spotlight and fill the hole that way. But... I just can't quite picture that. So, we'll have to see how that comes out as well.
The most reassuring thing is we have two friends who will come up and help me paint the truck. They have a compressor, paint gun, and experience.
wheww...
Since the whole old fuel issue, I'm replacing the fuel tank, sending unit, lines, and will be rebuilding the carb. Hopefully, that will fix why the truck had been running a bit rough and smelling like gasoline.
With any luck that will all be completed by Fall. And then we'll see what else needs to be done to get it to pass inspection.
Well, there it is. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I'm learning a lot. And I'm working on an old truck. That was always my dream, so I'm happy. ... when I'm not cussing. LOL
Thanks for asking
P.S. I found two "Apache 20" side hood emblems. So after the paint, she'll be "dolled" up it.
