The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Re: What did you get done on your 'Bolt today?

Since my last post I have gotten a tremec 3650 5 speed. Bought an adaptive bell housing and a hydraulic throw out bearing. Aquired another running 292 engine for mock up. This way I can sent the other one off to be built. I had my steering column shortened 4" to accomidate the 57 steering wheel and turn signals. I restored a 57 steering wheel. I rebuilt my steering box. Also bought an aluminum radiator with electric fan.

I attached a xmas wreath to the turd's grill. He's soooo excited. Ready to go cruzin' around town to show it off.

Xmas Wreath

Ground the valves and seats on the cylinder head of my 235 donor engine and reassembled... ready to go.

Removed the hood, pulled the radiator, fan, water pump, etc. off the existing 216 and squirted PB Blaster on all the bolts and screws holding the front clip on. Plan to begin removing front end next week and pull the 216 out with bell housing and transmission in one unit. Meanwhile, put the truck on a lift and the king-pins checked out OK.

I pulled the fuel level sending unit, had to use a dremel to cut new slots in half the screws. Old sending unit is corroded horribly, ordered a new one from LMC. Put a chain in the tank and added Dove and water. Sloshed to clean, dumped, repeated. Seems pretty good now.

I installed new u joints in the 1 ton, flipped the ring gear, changed starter bendix, reinstalled. Put in the new pressure plate and clutch, installed transmission, installed driveshaft. Then, removed the brake and clutch pedals and installed new bushings. Hooked them up and adjusted free play of clutch.

I also started removing the ball joints on the c10. I got the top left done.

It was a busy day. 😃

Bought everything I needed to install the weatherstrip on the door. Total cost? More than $750. Of course, that's including the welder, gas, wire spool, welder cart, flap discs, sheet metal, and extra Dremel implements

Got the bottom part of the passenger door cut out and welded back in. Took my time since it's my first time welding sheet metal. I think it turned out pretty good. It won't win any welding competitions or shows, but all in all, I'm happy with it. On to the driver's side door and installing the glass back into the passenger side! Pics are in my signature link below.

f18delta, when I do something I usually ask myself is it "acceptable" and will it "serve the purpose". I think your OK on both accounts....and just think, you'll have all this experience for the next bolt!!!!

Finished a good application of Meguiar's Gold Class. Tried a few black waxes in an effort to hide Shelley's many flaws but none of them seem to sparkle the way MGC does. Cell phone pics are the worst way to show off a wax job but here's a couple anyway.
fender
front end

looks good, I use their product and always like the results,
Old Green truck still looks very good.

One of the ongoing challenges since I restored my ’36 Chevy PU in the early 1970s is finding something that matches the SAE 160 gear oil that was specified for the transmission “back in the day”. This matters because the primitive 1932-36 Chevy Master car and pickup 3-speed transmission has a small 3rd gear synchronizer that works poorly at best and becomes worse with less viscous oil.

It really bad with SAE 90 gear oil, a little better with SAE 140 and slightly better yet with so called “600W” oil that is not a gear oil at all but is a steam cylinder oil. I’ve prepared 2 different transmissions with new synchronizers shimmed to the middle of the specified 0.025” — 0.035” end play and new shift forks and they behave identically.

Pressing on I tried Mobil “600 XP460” gear oil with an ISO viscosity of 460 and that was actually worse than the “600W”. This oil is available in gallon quantities but the next step up in viscosity in this Mobil oil, XP 680, is available only in a minimum 5 gallon quantity, too pricey for a quick experiment.

Looking further I found that Lubri Plate has an ISO 680 oil packaged in quarts and Lubri Plate themselves and others sell it in 1 quart quantities. So I just got a couple of quarts of this oil to try. Its SAE viscosity is approximately 250. It doesn’t appear to be vastly more viscous than Mobil XP460 so maybe these viscosity numbers are not linear.
On a quick drive this morning of only about 5 miles the shifting did seem improved, but it was a pretty cold morning, about 40 degrees F. Only a longer drive where everything gets up to normal operating temperature will be conclusive. If anyone is interested in the results of this experiment please let me know.

Two years ago I stumbled upon an original 230ci PS pump and brackets complete with fittings. That was a VERY GOOD DAY.
Today I did a mock up installation and all went well. Swapped my alternator pulley to a 2 groove pulley but it will need to be shimmed a little. See pics on my BLOG entry 12/3/16 HERE.

With the deadline rapidly approaching to moving the old girl out of my mom's garage and into either a storage unit or preferably into my driveway, my son and I tried and failed to get the windshield installed. I did get a rather nice gash on my thumb for my efforts though. I'll be calling the pro's in to see how much it'll run me to have them install it instead. I did get the driver's side door removed so I could cut the rot out of it too. Was able to get the bad part cut out and the patch cut and rough shaped as well. I learned a lot doing the passenger door, so I'm ahead of the game already. Should be able to get it fit with all the cleanup on the inside of the door done as well tonight. Might be able to get the inside sprayed with some primer and near ready to weld by tomorrow night. This 8 hour thing called a job seems to be getting in my way more often than not right now.

Scott, be sure to check the local ordinance about working in your driveway. Some towns prohibit you from doing anything other than "routine" maintenance in your driveway. Don't want Heina towed away.

I'd put her in the garage if I were to do anything major. As far as they know, I could be wiring up the entire truck and I'd tell them that I was checking the tightness of the wires to see if I needed to take it in to get the wire stretched at the dealership.

I've already taken a poll of the neighbors and they either wanna come help me out or just be there when I'm working on it so they can see what I'm doing. They're another reason I will miss this specific neighborhood when we move out to the lands of no HOA's.

If you need pro help installing windshields I would try to find some old glass guy from another century to do the work. That worked for me.

I did the same thing.

Got one coming out Saturday. He's not old, but he does own the glass shop.

Way to go Scott there is more than one way to skin a cat. Sometimes you just got to pay up.

Got the driver's side door ready for paint and weather strip. Looked a lot like the passenger side door, so no additional pictures of it. Also got the storage unit ready to go Sunday so I can move it in and keep it closer than 20 miles away and outside.

Driver's side door is back on with weatherstrip even! Didn't get the passenger side door completely put back together, but did get the weatherstrip on. Still need to get it aligned so it will latch completely. Windshield is in as well. Best $50 I've spent so far. Even the pros were having fits with it. Made me feel better watching them struggle as well. Got Heina moved into a storage unit yesterday. Everything was going well until we moved the original rear end into storage as well. Offloaded it and had it standing on one wheel. Went to put it completely down and my hamstring popped. Still feeling that one today and figure I will be for the next few days at least. Next up is moving all the parts into the storage unit and putting them on as time and weather permits.

The only folks that can install glass on the old trucks with ease are those that regularly installed it back in the day-and those folks are rare as hen's teeth.

No progress on my donor 235ci engine, but...!

While it's on a lift, replaced the left front leaf spring which was broken. Removed the front bumper and chiseled the bolts and screws off the front clip. Front clip now completely loose and ready to lift off. I'll have a couple weeks off for the holidays during which I plan to spend several "dedicated" days on at least getting the old 216cu engine and transmission out.

On vacation for a couple weeks, so... spent 2 days in the shop making progress.

Removed the front clip from my '46, pulled the engine and transmission in one piece. Inspected the U-joint and yoke. The yoke looked rough, so I removed the one from the back of the donor '51 Chevy sedan PowerGlide, mic'd it and the drive shaft half of the yoke is identical... slipped it on the '46 drive shaft and into the existing bushing to confirm. Fit perfectly despite the bushing for '51 and later being a different part number than the '40 through '50... concluded the difference must be in the OD of the bushing; anyone know for certain?

Being the tool-ophile that he is, my paw-in-law produced the tool for extracting the Okie bushing after several minutes of digging around in his tool cabinets (yay!). Purchased spark plugs for the 235 and ordered replacement clutch disc and pressure plate (clutch didn't slip at all, but the rivets on the disc were bright from wear and the pressure plate was scored).

Spent the last half of day 2 cleaning up parts-pieces.
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How about a few pictures of that 46

My rebuilt 235 finally sparked to life today, only ran a few seconds as no rad or cooling yet, but one step closer. Oh 46 Chevy 1/2 ton.

Here are a few I took before I decided to replace the engine. Of course, it's in a few pieces, now!

http://s1382.photobucket.com/user/gduran4/slideshow/

I completed the rebuild of my 1 ton's rear brakes. I diassembled, cleaned the pieces and reassembled. The shoes were new , but the PO did not clean anything! The cylinders were grimy, rusty and gooey, so I cleaned them. Installed new rubbers, and lubed them up with some Dot 4. I am extremely lucky as the original drums are in fantastic shape. No egging, no monster grooving, no crack/glazing. Nice. It does have very minor grooving but I'm not convinced it warrants turning them. They'll last for my intended driving. Rear brakes done!! Next, remove rear springs, remove overloads, check bushings, lube reinstall. Progress is so much fun!

I had the same installation on my PS on top but moved it to the bottom Incase of leak and start a fire. just an observation.

Great looking old stovebolt.

Over the past 2 days , I have taken the rear springs out of the '40 , disassembled the springs and added another leaf (2nd longest out of a spare spring pack) reassembled everything and took the truck for a test flight this afternoon.
It sits just a little taller , maybe 3/4 inch , but feels much more stable on my trip down a nasty gravel road , I have expectations that it will improve the stability of the truck when the camper is on board .

This past week I have changed the final drive ratio in my '50 4100 from 6.17 to 5.43. The gear replacement is done and the differential is ready to re-install back in the axle housing, I just haven't got to that part yet. Hope to get that finished this weekend.

Got a major, shocking surprise...finally attempted loosening of door hinge pillar bolts, and none of them snapped off! Got them all out one by one, lubed and reinstalled until such time as I decide to replace the hinge pins.
Then also discovered proper striker plate adjustment not only includes up-down and in-out but that angle is critical as well. Wow, don't have to slam them shut anymore! And suddenly, hinge pin replacement isn't so critical anymore.

The last few week ends ,I have spent some time on my 46' . I have been working on front motor mounts. I put IFS on ,so the motor mount is no longer there. 1st attempt was a fail. The engine was to high in the front and the back of the engine was against the firewall when I moved the cab into place. Last night I mocked up side mounts that I modified after buying from eBay. I have one side done and ready to weld. It looks like this is going to work.

I have both engine mounts done. I drilled the engine block and put water pump adapter plate and water pump on. I also drilled the crankshaft so I could tap it to hold the harmonies balancer on. I will have to get a tap to finish this. All in all I got a lot done today.

Worked on the exhaust system replacement. My truck's a 65 and the regular auto parts companies still actually make some (not all) parts. In the case of exhaust systems, Walker. Went with Walker SoundFX muffler- not loud, but you can hear the old 6-banger run. Nice sound you don't hear much anymore. Plus the tailpipe fit nicely. About $150 into it. Did the work myself.

Taking a spair engine apart got 10 of the lifters out, lettig two of them soak in marvel mystery oil, will try tommorow for thd last 2.

For the first time in 18+months...heat!

I had bypassed the bad heater core some time ago and Santa brought me a new one.
Simple pleasures......and warmth!

My wife went to her art studio--so we heated the oven, Washed the valve cover on the 235--used SOS---put it in the oven then painted it GM Orange--boy does it look good--2 coats...