The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks '62 C-10 Restomod build begins/ends

As regular readers will remember, I’m trying to follow Achipmonk’s (Alvin) advice and do at least 15 minutes each day on the truck. Yesterday I did a bit of painting under the hood to make things look a little more presentable. Just rattle can paint without doing a lot of scraping and cleaning. Today I did some bolt cleaning and painting using a silver cast rebuilders paint. The mail carrier dropped off 2 rolls of header wrap, so tomorrow’s project involves rubber gloves and eye protection along with a tub of water to keep the fiberglass particles under control. Later y’all.

Grandkids put a hold on getting the headers wrapped. All was not lost. 700R4 transmission is here. New seals and torque converter. I have to install a new kickdown cable and do something with the internal computer stuff so I can get OD. New 4 row aluminum radiator with shroud and electric fan ordered yesterday. Parts list is getting smaller.

It has been so hot here the past few days that a few minutes each morning is all I can tolerate. Parts have been coming in all week and more arriving next week. Mounted the transmission onto the engine stand and drained the fluid this morning. New filter, TV cable and kickdown kit by next weekend. I hope to have the engine and transmission in the truck by the middle of August. Maybe I'll catch a break and my son will find some more time to help out. Progress is slow but it is happening.🛠

Awesome exiting. Wish I could help. But you are farther than Walmart. My max.
My grandson is in OK. training with Hilti. Should I have him come over?

What are you talking about hot? You are 89 right now, we are 112...........our low tonight will be 89. But it's dry heat. 89 is winter. I'll take 89 right now.
My hamburger is almost done on the truck hood. No energy used to cook but you don't get that smoke flavor.

If he's interested in old trucks he's welcome anytime as are you. Temp is not bad today but the humidity is rough. Just came inside from servicing the 700R4 and putting a deep dish finned aluminum pan with drain plug on. New TV cable this morning. Tomorrow morning it gets a bath and coat of paint before being stored away until I get the motor in place. I've done my 15 minutes for today.🛠

Way to go Martin. You know I'm keeping time on ya!! It is amazing what that time does. I have a young man I'm helping with his jeep and after making him promise to "do the time" he is amazed. He called me today and met me at Chic-fil-A to brag and let me know what all he got done.......now for the 15 minutes tomorrow?!

Today’s project was to wash the 700r4 with soap and hot water to get all the dust and residual ATF off in preparation for paint. It’s now F@&d blue (it’s all I had and it was free) and clear coated. Kickdown kit will be here on the noon Fedex run and since it doesn’t require any tear down to install I can put it on without disturbing the paint. Hey Alvin I did 30 minutes today.

Photos in next post hosted by Tim Lederman. Thanks Tim

Photos for Martin are attached, below:

Made a little progress this week in spite of the heat/humidity making it unbearable after about 9am. Working outside with no shade is a bit hard on this old man. Getting soft in my advanced years. Transmission is painted and the lockup kit is installed. This morning I put the freshly painted 168 tooth flex plate on the block. Put in 2 new alignment pins (thanks to whoever reminded me) to position the transmission on the block. Installed the new freshly wrapped block hugger headers with a bit of help from Ms Kathy. She used to help her dad O/H engines when she was 8-9 years old. Bottom line is, the engine and transmission are ready to install in the truck. For safety reasons I will wait for my son to get the time to come help. Hope to get them in this next week. 🛠 

This morning was nice and cool but still a bit humid. I went out and put the angle adjuster on the Cherry Picker and lifted the motor. Could not get it high enough by about 1 1/2 inches. The arms and rollers on the Picker won't go under the 4 post lift brace without raising the lift about 5 inches. Went inside and rounded up Ms Kathy for help. By pushing on the front of the motor i was able to swing it up enough to clear the hood/radiator support while Ms Kathy slowly lowered the Picker. Slid right into place and it appears that there will be no clearance issues. Bolts in the motor mounts and support under the back of the pan. Began to heat up, so called it a day. Hey Alvin, I think I'm over my 15 minute limit, what should I do now? 🛠

...take Ms Kathy to the Sonic and buy her a root beer float and have a milk shake yourself.

DISCLAIMER: I recommended at LEAST 15 minutes a day. (got to read the fine print!) but can do more!

Your really doing a good job and I'm sure others will use your build in doing theirs. Your "gitting r dune for surr"

Photos below courtesy of Tim Lederman, thanks again Tim.

You are welcome, Martin

Transmission is under the truck on a stand. Hopefully my son can get a little time soon to crawl under and shove it into place. This morning went to TSC and bought new bolts, washers and lock washers for the install. New chrome brackets for the alternator and P/S pump are on order as is the new starter and mounting/shimming hardware. Cleaned up a bit around the work area and found the bracket I needed that mounts to the intake manifold for the throttle cable and TV cable. Didn’t know I had one so that saved me a couple of bucks.

My 15 minutes today was painting and installing the 3 pulley assembly on the crankshaft. Starter and P/S pump brackets arrived in the mail this afternoon. That's it for today. 🛠

Well, progress' although slow, has been steady up until today. I've been fighting the transmission install for a week now. I don't have a transmission jack and due to some medical problems I cannot get down on the ground under the truck. I managed to rig up a system using a furniture dolly and an old wooden cabinet. I picked up the 700r4 with the cherry picker and set it on top of my contraption. Then lowered the lift down slowly making adjustments as needed for spacing. I then took ratchet straps and slung the tranny from the frame rails for added safety. I had to lift the tailshaft up and over the torsion bar crossmember and slide the tranny towards the rear a bit. Then lowered some more adjusting and moving here and there. went back to it this morning and started feeling around for the clearance from the tranny to the floorboard and tranny tunnel. I had 1 inch of clearance and 4 inches left to raise the tranny. Yup, won't fit without changing tunnels or lowering the motor. Either way progress is stopped for now while I regroup and figure this issue out. Everything was going so well, this is a real bummer.

Got the transmission tunnel removed this morning with help from the grandsons 6 and 8. Removed the seat and carpet yesterday. Really hated to do that. I thought I was done with the interior. Seems like what’s thought to be a fairly straightforward project always snowballs. It appears I may have to trim the toe board a bit too.

While waiting on my son to free up some time to crawl under and raise the transmission into place, I figured it was necessary to trim up the toe board above the transmission tunnel. Based on photos from Coilover and comments from 52Carl, I took some measurements and sure enough it had to be cut. Marked the cut and got out the trusty 4 inch angle grinder with a cutoff wheel. Made quick work of the sheet metal. Tape measure shows plenty of room for the bell housing and the top mounted Lokar shifter. Rain on the way so work is over for today. 🛠

Well after 2 failed attempts to synchronize schedules with Terry B, I gave up. Build was getting too far behind. Ms Kathy and I went out this morning and I rigged up a way to sit on a rolling office chair and put the low lift transmission jack on the rolling cabinet I put together a couple of weeks ago. The 700r4 was already slung under the truck in the general location it needed to be. I sat on the chair while Ms Kathy lowered the lift to my working height (don't try this at home) using each safety stop to check my surroundings and the placement of the jack. Finally when the position was right, I pushed and wiggled the transmission into place. Ms Kathy would reach in behind the tires to feel the alignment pins and finally it moved in enough to get two long bolts into place. This stabilized it enough for me to feel comfortable wiggling and pushing harder. Got it in far enough to get two of the regular bolts into place. Then began rotating tightening each side until I could remove the long bolts and replace them with the proper bolts. Four bolts in and tightened down and the rear of the transmission supported on a crossmember. Began to heat up and Ms Kathy's COPD was bothering her, so we cleaned up and called it a day. Finally some significant progress to report. 🛠

Not much time to work this morning. Put in and torqued the rest of the transmission bolts. The drivers side motor mount bolt was 1/2 inch too long thus hitting the exhaust collector. Pulled it out and cut 1/2 inch off then re-inserted it. Wiggled my fat fingers up between the collector and the mount and eased the lock washer and nut into place. Tightened it down then tightened the passenger side mount.
Torque converter bolts are next on the list but I'm out of blue Locktite so that will wait. Fabrication of a rear transmission mount is on the short list. 🛠

Very short “to do” list for this morning. Put in the 3 torque converter bolts, used blue Loctite and set them at around 35 lbs. Measurements for the driveshaft made with Ms Kathy’s assistance.

Well, Terry B found an hour of time this morning after I had packed it in for the day. So went back out and got the hood put back on and the Lokar Nostalgia shifter installed before he had to leave. More progress.

Worked on fitting the new Fiberglass transmission tunnel and cutting the hole for the shifter. Quality piece and fitting went smoothly. Painted the water pump and pulley and after a couple hours drying time installed them. Engine is starting to look normal again.

Today’s 15 minutes was installing the starter. Had to run a clean out tap in the bolt holes. Went over the time limit by 5 minutes. The parts pile is getting smaller.

Spent a few minutes installing an aftermarket klaxon type horn. Fabricator (son-in-Law Greg) dropped off the rear transmission mount. Painted it and in the morning I will drill the mounting holes in the mount and truck frame.

Saturday was transmission mount day. Spent two hours drilling holes and getting the mount into place. Centered up the tailshaft and put in the bolt. Motor and transmission is now set in their final spot. Power steering pump and alternator next up. 🛠

Installed the power steering pump while it was cool this morning. Little wiggle here and there but it went on easy enough. By 8:30 it was getting uncomfortable, mostly humidity. Next will be the alternator.


Photos below courtesy of Tim Lederman, thanks Tim

#1 is a wooden mock-up of the transmission mount
#2 is the finished transmission mount installed
#4 is the power steering pump and water pump installed
#3 is the Lokar shifter installed on the 700R4

4 photos are attached

Rain/thunderstorms in the area this morning. Nice cool fresh air but heavy rain soon. Installing spark plugs was the goal this morning. Gapped them and put anti-seize (aluminum heads) on the threads. I had forgotten how much fun it is to work around headers. Between the sockets and open end wrench I fought them into place. Thought I was going to have to pull the passenger side header but managed to get a couple of fingers in there to get the plug started. Another job finished. 🛠

Parts ordering/buying was today's project. Over the next few days my goal is to get the engine dressed out ready to run. Not planning to start it, just have it ready. Ordered the Holley 750cfm 4bbl and associated hardware. Fuel pump, plug wires, senders for oil pressure and water temp, oil filter and throttle bracket. Ordered the driveshaft yoke for the 700R4 so driveshaft can be fabricated by Precision Driveline out of OKC. 🛠

Holley 750cfm carb installed, fuel pump installed, radiator installed, temp and pressure senders installed. Oil filter in place and thermostat installed. Measurements taken for the driveshaft with the yoke in place. Might get to OKC to get the driveshaft ordered today. That's a list of this weekends projects completed. Rain for the next few days so my outside wrenching will be limited. 🛠

Made it to Precision Driveline in OKC this morning and ordered the driveshaft. Took them the yoke and measurements and a detailed sketch of the shaft and how I took the measurements. Should be ready in a couple of days. Rain has limited my outside work. 🛠

Small break in the rain this morning so I took advantage of the cooler air and finished replacing the rubber rear transmission mount and did the finish torquing of the nuts/bolts under the truck. Driveshaft is ready at Precision Driveshaft in OKC so I'll pick it up Monday. Installing that will get me 95% done under the truck. Plug wires put on the plugs and run to the HEI distributor but I'll have to wait until I get the engine back to TDC to see where #1 is pointing to finish the install. Billet alternator bracket should be here in the afternoon mail. List is getting shorter. 🛠

Got the billet alternator bracket and installed the alternator. Picked up the driveshaft early this morning and prepped it and painted it. Installed it just before noon. Taking advantage of the cooler weather. Engine is ready for belts and hoses, oil and coolant. Trip to FLAPS tomorrow morning.

Two runs to the Parts Store and the belts and hoses are installed. All the new pulleys lined up properly and the install was pretty straight forward. Found a molded lower radiator hose that just needed to be trimmed a couple of inches and used a flex hose for the top. The fan install didn't go as planned. The fan hit the alternator so a 1 1/2 inch spacer is on the way. That will put the fan blade about 1 1/2 inch away from the radiator. I have a fan shroud i can put on if needed but with a 4 row aluminum radiator i hope it's not needed. Heater hoses were cut to length and put in place at least until the box is pulled for the Vintage Air unit. Getting ready to head out for my 15 minutes today.

Fuel lines run from tank to the dual lines going into the carburetor. Inline fuel filter after the fuel pump. The fan spacer arrived today so that's on the to do list for early tomorrow morning. Had to stop and take time this morning to put a new battery in the Harley. 🛠

As promised the radiator fan (Derale flex fan and Derale 1 1/2 inch spacer) was installed this morning. Spacer fit perfectly and Ms Kathy started the bolts while I held everything in place. All the fan belts were re-tightened. I will ask Tim to post some more photos when the Big Storm out his way slows down a bit. Off to a car show about 60 miles away this morning to pick brains and get ideas. May meet up with 46Sparky if he's there.

Go ahead and send them, Martin.

Were have been spared.
We will have some more rain/thunder storms and maybe medium winds, for another 4 days, but, no serious problems around us (NE NC).

My NC-state mates south and west are still getting hammered - and the flooding is awful in many of those areas.

progress - nice

Photos above courtesy of Tim Lederman. Thanks Tim

Yesterday was diagnostic day. I had been going through the testing procedures prior to wiring the O/D lockout switch permanently in/on the dash and could not get the actuator to click when applying power to the hot lead. So up on the lift and pulled the transmission pan. Lo and behold the actuator and the internal wiring harness were gone. Mystery solved and parts on the way.