The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Well, it's in the garage. Now what???

Good morning! My son and I purchased a 1952 Chevy 3100 last week. We are both so excited. And terrified. True greenhorns here. Mechanical experience limited to working on dirtbikes (two stroke top end rebuild and a bottom end rebuild thanks to a detailed Youtube video!) Other than that, we fall into the high will, low skill quadrant.

Truck didn't have a key when purchase so not sure if motor runs. Seller indicated it hasn't run in several years. I have found that it has a 58-59 235 in it. We have since had a key made for it so one step down, many to go.

I read the Bringing a dead engine back to life here and was going to proceed accordingly. On Saturday, I went and bought a siphon pump to attempt to siphon out any fuel. Either the hose wasn't long enough or the tank was empty. So, before I go any further, should I pull the tank and take it to get it cleaned, etc? We are hoping to make this a daily driver. Should I look a just buying a new tank? In cab or underbed? We have a very limited budget but safety trumps.

Aside from the tank, what other steps would be recommended? It was converted to a 12 volt. The battery that is in it is corroded at the terminals. Should I hold off buying a battery for now and just attach a charger/starter when attempting to turn over?

My son and I look forward to learning from everyone on this forum. I'm sure we are going to make a lot of mistakes along the way, but hopefully, they will be of the "laugh about it later" type.

Thanks in advance!

Ron and Ryan

First: Welcome to the Bolt! Second: Buy a shop manual available fro m sellers Jim Carter, etc. Third: Take it slow. Fourth: Be safe. Lecture over.
Under the cab you should see a drain petcock extending through the floor that is attached to the fuel line running forward to the fuel pump. Disconnet the line(hopefully it still has the short flex line) at the petcock, use a catch pan and open the petcock to drain any old fuel out. You can somewhat, but not thoroughly, clean the tank by pouring fresh fuel into the tank, say a gallon, and drain out rust particulates that way. It is even better if you remove the petcock for the clean fuel draining. A ore thorough cleaning can be done with the tank removed obviously. But, the point is to first get the engine running isn't it? I would buy a new battery. Good Luck.

Ron/Ryan:

Congrats on your purchase, I too have a 1952 that I am nearing the completion on a 3+ year restoration. My advice (FWIW):

1. attempt to charge the battery. If it takes a charge, clean up the corrosion and use it. Most likely you will need a new battery.
2. Crawl under the truck and you will see that the fuel line enters the fuel tank from the bottom. The fitting at the bottom of the tank has a shut off valve and drain plug. Attempt to drain any remaining fuel via this plug. My guess is that the tank is going to have rust. Pour some new fuel in the tank and see what comes out of the drain hole (if not plugged solid). Go from there. New tanks are readily available, but ensure you purchase a tank that has the proper SAE pipe fitting. Foreign sourced tanks have a metric fitting (not good). I kept the original fuel tank. Believe it or not, inside the cab makes good protection of the fuel tank in case of collision. Not many stories of people burning up in these trucks from back in the day.
3. Some basics before attempt to start. Drain oil and replace. Pull valve cover. Remove distributor and cut handle off large straight blade screw driver. Chuck the screwdriver shank in a drill motor insert in distributor hole ensuring the screwdriver engages the oil pump shaft. Spin the oil pump clockwise until you see oil at the rocker arms/shaft. Remove plugs and oil the cylinders (I use fogging oil). Let it soak a day or two. Ensure the engine is not seize by turning the engine manually (either at damper or with screwdriver on ring gear teeth). With plugs still out, ensure the starter motor will spin the engine. If so, button everything back up. If not, repair the starter motor/bendix. Pull carb and rebuild it. Attempt to start the engine. Hopefully you got base timing close and it fires right up. If it spits but wont catch, adjust timing. My engine sat unused for 20 years and fired right up after I did all of the above. I rebuilt it any. Don't worry about coolant and just run for a few minutes to ensure it works. The engine wont have time to overheat.

Good luck and keep us informed.

All it takes to work on these old trucks is the will, some common sense, and the properly placed question. The skill will come fast as these trucks are simple to work on and to understand.

If it was my truck I would replace the fuel tank, sending unit, and fuel lines to the carb. I know that's going to cost you a couple hundred bucks, but it may save you some head-ache later on. I drove my truck for five months with a gas can strapped to the inner fender untill I could afford to replace the original tank. In fact, a temporary gas can could be used untill you get the engine running. I would spend my money on the engine first.

If your battery holds a good charge and tests OK, then clean your teminals and make sure you have a good conection at both ends of your cables. However, if the battery has been in the truck these past few years as it sat, I'd imagine it's no good or won't be for long.

Keep at it and keep us updated.

Congratulations, a lot of fun and hard work to come.

The most important thing is to evaluate the truck and determine exactly what it is going to need.

If your ignition switch has a little handle at the bottom, look at the key opening. If it is vertical or to the right, try turning it. These switches can work without keys, vertical is off, to the right is on. With a key in, turn to left and remove to lock.

Evaluating the engine is the first priority. forget about the gas tank.
1. remove the spark plugs (mark wires) and spray a lot of WD-40 or similar into each cylinder and let it set.
2. clean the battery terminals. If you live in a place where it freezes in the winter and it wasn't in a heated garage the battery is junk. borrow one from something else or buy one.
3. drain and refill the oil.
4. check the coolant. if it is empty, fill it slowly and have a pan ready to find the leak.
5. remove the air filter and disconnect the gas line from the carb. and stick the end in a bottle.
6. key off, spark plugs out, some rags on the inner fender to catch the oil from the plug holes, crank the starter. if it turns over, crank until you see the oil pressure gauge move.
If it doesn't turn, try to move the engine by hand. If it doesn't move, engine is frozen.
7. put the plugs back in (clean), clean the points with some 400 sand paper or points file, pour a little gas down the carb, key on and see if it fires.

If it does go have a beer, it's a great day.

Thank you all so very much!!!! I have been on other forums (motorcycle mostly) where the members are not very kind to the new/inexperienced. I (we) can't thank you enough.

As I proceed and have followup questions, should I start different threads or just keep adding to this one?

I'll check out the fuel lines, drain petcock tonight after work. I'll also take out the batter and try to give it a charge. Pretty sure it's toast though.

General questions as you go along are fine here I think, but we have a stern moderator, but a nice guy, , who will redirect your questions to appropriate site forums as he sees fit. Sooo. It may be better just to post specific questions in specific forums here,ie,engine in Engine, body in Body,etc. I'm sure you get the idea. Another thing we all, and I do mean all, like is pics of your project. Besides being entertaining it really helps bolters to understand your question or problems as you proceed. I see your profile says computer geek,sorta. So pics should be EZ!

New questions should be asked in a new post in the appropriate forum.

Welcome to the fun.

before step one take a bunch of pictures of everything
when you think you taken to many...take some more.

Great advice has already been given so I will just say welcome Hill Boys and enjoy your new (old) truck!



I've seen that on other forums as well...which is stupid because ALL of those unkind members were once newbies...

Haha! I started that on Saturday. I took a bunch but haven't looked at them yet to see how they turned out. I will definitely take a bunch more. And then some more!

Are there any diagrams or pictures to show how to do this?


How do you crank the starter without the key?

Whatever you do have fun! Lots of great resources here!

There should be a button on the floor to the right of the accelerator pedal. Pushing it with your foot will engage the starter.

Right. I thought the key in the on position allowed the starter to turn. Is that correct? The reply that I was questioning was "key off, spark plugs out,...crank the starter." How do you crank the starter with the key off? I was assuming there was some way of doing that under the hood.

There was no connection between the key and the stomp starter. Very simple system.

Relax and take your time.

Yep, the starter will turn the engine over whether the key is in it or not. It won't START without the key, but it will turn over.
As mentioned, you can go with a temporary fuel tank just to get the engine running. You can even set a gas can on the ground underneath it and run a hose into it from the fuel pump.
Good luck, and keep us posted.

Oh boy. The Hills are alive with the sound of ... Stovebolt!

Here is where we've set up the photo album. Ron can add more there. I should send him the link to photos info, too.

This is great. We may be able to watch yet another one from the get go! Neat.

Enjoy the days, boys.

Peggy

Gotcha! Thanks for the clarification!

Welcome, You are now starting a new addiction with no turning back. Hope you forewarned your wife/ G.F. One more tidbit of advice In these forums, The only DUMB QUESTION is the one not asked. We were all there at one time in our lives . Good Luck , have fun and "Lets Get er done" Jerry

Thank you! Really looking forward to it. I hope down the road I can look back at all the dumb questions I asked and laugh. I will most definitely share what I have learned to those following in out footsteps.

Well, looks like karma may have already run out for me. I crawled up under the truck after work to take a look at things.

Here is the fuel tank connection.

This doesn't appear to be the one several have referred to with a drain valve etc. Any ideas on what this is and can I still drain using this? Also, any thoughts on the "moist" area above it? I am assuming the tank leaks and that is rust coming through? No smell of fuel in cab though.

The other thing I was interested in was finding where the flywheel was so that I could turn it to determine if the engine is free. Someone said to remove the "cover" and I wasn't sure where this was or how difficult it would be to remover.

Well, here it is! ! I am assuming it should be covered? What issues am I facing with it not being there?

The shut-off valve has been replaced with a farmer rig. As soon as you pull the hose it will drain.

It doesn't hurt anything to run without a flywheel cover.

Thanks cletis. I'm probably drawing unnecessary conclusions, but I wonder why the flywheel cover is not there to begin with. We'll find out more this weekend.

On a side note, I read a post you made a while back about using the Motors manual. Is this what you are talking about?

Motors Manual

I think I have a 58-59 235 in there now. Would this book cover that or would I need to find something else?

They're really nice to have. I've got a couple of different ones that I've collected over the last 40 years but I find that lately at best you end up kind of like taking a crap shoot for information. So many of our old trucks have had different engines from different years and then things change. I use one book more for general info and rely on the collective knowledge of my fellow bolters for what I've forgotten over the years. You would not believe the knowledge that can be gleamed from this form. Sometimes you'll get some heated discussions going on and through this process I'm 100% sure there is nothing that can not be answered. So don't be afraid to ask your questions, in the appropriate section, and the answer will show up. Larry

The flywheel cover was there to protect the flywheel from dust/water, and to allow someone to inspect the interior and/or gain access to bolts on parts inside.

I like Motors Manuals but I'd also have a 1958 Chevrolet Truck Shop Manual and, if appropriate a ( a 1959 Manual Supplement). Both are available on CD.

My guess on why the flywheel cover is missing is because it rusted out and someone tossed. The covers tend to collect a lot of grease/dirt that holds water and the covers rust out from the inside out. I had to throw mine in the trash. Bought one off Ebay and after media blasting was only marginally better. There should be two covers...one is more of a plate (vertical) and one a bowl (horizontal/bottom).

Good luck with your project.

Cool, thanks. Hoping to find to most noob friendly manual(s) I can find. We have several Yamaha dirt bikes. Yamaha supplies a service manual with them and are very descriptive of the take down/reassemble process. Diagrams, etc.

I guess I need to pull the starter off in order to find the date stamp of the motor to know which year I have. The casting code, 3738307, indicates 58-59 (assuming it's a truck engine). I also read somewhere that the horsepower on the 1958 was 145 and 1959 was 135 so there must be a difference in the motors between those years.

Thanks. I was connecting dots and figuring that the motor is seized and someone else was trying to turn it over using the flywheel. Hoping to find out for sure this weekend.

I looked online a little and have found non metallic covers. That sounds like something I should stay away from?

Thank you Larry. I'm going to need it. I don't know anyone locally that can help show me the ropes in person. Wish I would have started something like this years ago when my father-in-law still lived near us. Oh well. I'll try to attend some more local cars shows and see if I can meet some locals.

My guesses as to to why it is missing:

1. It fell off after not being tightened properly
2. It was not put back on because it was forgotten or misplaced.

Yes, that is the manual I like to use. But like Tim stated, I also like to use the factory service manual in conjunction. I like to read through both before I ever get my hands dirty to get a better idea of what I'm getting into.

Wow, this is just perfect help ... well, I think so!

Our little neighbor buddy (16) is wanting to get an old truck. He's an ODSS member for starters and has a KC Retunion to-shirt (off to a good start, eh?)

This will be a good thread for him to read to give him an idea of what's ahead. He's a Mennonite, so ... he can tell you about buggies! Like the Hill Boys, he has a lot to learn. Me thinks he'll have a lot of help!

This is great. Keep it coming.

Peggy

Meaning it's okay to try and start the engine without it, but needs to be replaced before use - He doesn't want dirt (sand) getting in the gear.

Thanks for the clarification! I don't think I'll be driving this any time soon. Assuming that I can get the motor running, I have to address the issue of the brake pedal going straight to floor. I think I might have to name the truck Fred (Flinstone...foot brakes)!

Ran home at lunch, pulled the spark plugs and injected some Marvel Mystery Oil into each cylinder. When Ryan gets home, he is going to clean the battery terminals. We took out the battery last night (it's from 2002) and tried to hook a charger up to it. Nuttin. So, we will head over to Walmart in the morning and pick up a new battery and some oil for the oil change.

In addition to the exterior door lock being installed on the passenger side door, we found out last night that the battery cables were flipped (pos/neg neg/pos). I hope that's the end of the backwards surprises!

Exterior door lock is on the passenger side from the factory. Many threads about it just do a search.

Seriously? Why on earth? I tried a couple of different search expressions with no results (or unrelated results). Anyway, I put the lock on the driver side.

Found one....

https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=858265&page=1

Give a man a fish...

The truck may have been positive ground from the factory.

I don;t know for sure that year.