The Stovebolt Site Forums The Side Lot Old Dominion Stovebolt Society (MD, VA, West VA, DC, DE and PA) Found the locals...

I didn't see this sub before I did my intro up at the Welcome Center.

I'll keep it short. New to forum, buying '66 GMC 'Big Bolt'. Going to refurbish and transform into a Food Truck. In Frederick for sleeping and wrenching.

Will operate in MD & VA. So look forward to Spring 2015 if you want some smoked local foods served to you from a '66 GMC.

Looking forward cruising the local subforum here and maybe run into a few of you all when I get the truck running under it's own power.

Welcome to the Stovebolt

Looking forward to seeing your truck!

Mike B

Smoked food and db at all Odss gatherings. I like where this is headed. I also like the vintage of the truck. Welcome.

Photos

There are some photos of how she's sat for the past 25 years at least. Soon she will have a new home on asphalt for the winter while I start grinding away on her.

Cheers

Welcome from the Frederickburg (VA) contingent!

Love the truck.

Jim

Welcome. Like your truck, cause it'll hold a lot of food and db!

Not too far away from you, in Lovettsville, VA. Give me a holler if need a hand.

Seen it 3 times now, what is "db" shorthand for on this forum? All I can think is decibel or da beer.

I'm sure I'll have a duh moment when someone answers my question.

I'm thinking after hanging with these guys a couple weeks ago it's "Devil Backbone" beer.Larry

I missed out on the road trip to the Devils Backbone gathering because I was at work but I did find a six pack of DB in the local store by the house.

Bread
.

Enjoi don't be afraid to ask for help. Many of us like to get our hands dirty on someone else's truck.

Oooh. This is sounding a lot like my old Landy group of gearheads. In due time I will put out the Hamfisted-Overdrive sign for a gathering of the wrenching sort. Clearly beer and bbq provided for ambiance reasons.

Got to haul this beast out of the PO yard sometime this weekend or next and then the true fun begins.

Out of curiosity, anyone on here running a 305V6? Thats what I believe to be inside (have not checked head stamps yet). I am needless to say, underwhelmed by the numbers provided by the 305, considering the amount of kitchen equipment I plan to install.

You and J Milliman need to link up. His fire truck has, what I think, is that number-whelming 305.

Enjoi, welcome to the Stovebolt Universe! That V-6 model has the very desirable PLAID valve covers, when you clean up the engine wash them carefully.

Oh, db or DB = Devil's Backbone, a Virginia beer brewery.

I read on 6066guy that the plaid was after getting service back in the day. Looks likr either this truck never required such service or maybe it is not a 305c. The valve covers are dirty and red (mayne orange) but definitely not plaid.

god I would love if they were plaid though.

Yes. I have the 305 in my 65. As an engine in a big truck it makes a better boat anchor. Start looking now for a 351. Either way these big v6 motors have torque but get it with horrible fuel consumption. I did the Holley carb upgrade and it helped. The stromberg is not optimal.
We can talk more. I'm on my phone and typing is hard

Those big, fat, meaty fingers.

enjoi, I've heard a couple stories on the plaid valve covers.
One is that the OEM were running some engines as an experiment due to the "heads" and to distinguish them from other engine that went into vehicles they put the plaid valve covers on them.

...another tale I heard was that when the dealers did warranty work on the heads they put the plaids on so they would know the work was done.

Not sure if any of it is true...someone else may know the story. I'd Google it to see what I could find but I'm getting sleepy!

About 3 years ago there was an "original" GMC Suburban (55 I think) that had the plaid covers on from the factory. I have picture of them somewhere.

Ya'll have a great weekend.

Enjoi -- More feedback now that I am back at a normal keyboard ... (as Mike says ...)

Anyway, I have a hard time seeing you make money driving that 305-powered behemoth around daily. At 19,500 GVW (same as my '65, by the way) and powered by a 305, my truck has the same nimble get up and go as a drunk Hippopotamus on ice. Just giving you some shock treatment before you get too far into this so you can make some big decisions armed with info before those big decisions also get pricey and hard.

If you proceed with this truck, think hard about pulling the engine and installing something more powerful and modern like a crate 350 or something like that. I don't know how hard/easy the 350 swap is with these trucks, but running the original 305 in a daily driver big truck is not a good way to go in my opinion.

The next big thing to check are the wheels. The wheels on my truck were the original Firestone RH-5 center splits -- the dreaded Widowmakers. Not all multi-piece wheels are deadly, so check to see if you have the center splits. Take a close up of the rear wheels and we can tell you. If you *do* have the RH-5's, and the truck has been sitting a long time, don't air up the tires! Those rims are dangerous and will need to be replaced. Again, if you are planning on using the truck as a daily driver for business, you will want to find some single piece wheels and go with radial tires. Cost for that is going to be around $3K (I went with new Sumitomos for the steers and recapped Michelins for the drives).

With the Holley 300 upgrade (and removing the governor), my truck will cruise at 65 MPH on good roads. It doesn't get to 65 very quickly, especially heavy, but it will eventually. Meaning that the rear axle gearing should be fine unless you have lower gears on yours than I have.

Bottom line -- The minimum things you are looking at on your road to turning that into a daily worker.

1. Do not rebuild that 305 if there is anything wrong with it. Yank it and sell it to a pickup guy. Put the money into a better/newer/bigger engine.

2. New wheels and tires.

The rest should be the usual. If your hood is rusted, Hambone can fill you in on how to find a better one ...

And one last thing -- the center grille bar ... if you want to replace yours, Jim Carter (look in our Links section) has a nice used stainless one in his used parts dept. I saw it last September when I was out there. It was sweet. Needs a little TLC but it would look beautiful on the front of anyone's truck.

For more info, stay in touch and catch up with us. Hambone is the resident expert on 60-66 trucks, Sweet is the expert on engines, tuning, etc. Grigg can weigh in on gearing, wheels, etc. The rest of us have varying degrees of expertise in other areas. Mainly, though, we're all pretty darn good at drinking beer.

Glad to have you aboard!


John

"Mainly, though, we're all pretty darn good at drinking beer."

I like that quote!

Don

and the song

I had a 22hr day yesterday so I am just now getting to a keyboard.

Thanks for the replies and info, looks like I am in a sort of luck with the above warnings.

After reading about the 305's ratings I had already set the wheels turning to the tune of either 7.3 diesel out of an early 90's Ford or 5.9 diesel out of an early 90's Dodge.
Measurements on then engine bay say I've got plenty of room to work with, so once I yank the 305 and drivetrain I will have to clean mounts off the frame and finally make my decision.

For the rear axle possibly a Dana 60. But once again, I wanted to get down and do some more measuring before I pull the trigger.

Of course I'll have to call my buddy Tom Woods for a custom DC drive shaft but that's small potatoes compared to the rest.

Glad to hear you say push the 305c to a pickup guy because that's where I thought I could off load it.

And big THANKS on the warning with the rear tires, the still seem to hold air, but I'll probably sit the whole truck on jackstands as soon as I get it to the lot and yank the wheels. Will have to investigate them to see if they are worth a scrub to sell or whether they're scrappers.

Hood does seem to have some rust, so once I smack it with a ball hammer on a few spots I'll know better, after I yank it off as well. Tabs on the grill also are eaten away so I will probably go after that sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet piece of chrome.

Now if only the weather would cooperate with me I could get her out of the grass without making a mud pit...

A Dana 60 will be quite undersize for the weight of the truck. A Dana 80 at a minimum, possibly something a little larger would be ideal. Something about the same physical size and weight rating as the original.

What sort of timeframe and budget do you have, its beginning to sound like a whole lot of work and expense with a disesl conversion and all on top of a truck restoration.