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The headlight housings were original to the truck. I cleaned and painted them so they look new. What I did replace were the rings that hold the headlight bulbs into the inner buckets and the bezels. Those I got from Classic Parts

I have not seen those housing for sale but you can post that you are looking for them in the “Truck Parts Wanted” forum in Stovebolt.

5/16/19: In the interest of safety, after reading several post on Stovebolt Forums, I decided to install a fusible link wire in the 10 ga. wire that goes from the starter hot lead on the solenoid starter switch to the negative side of the ammeter. I bought a 14 ga fusible link wire that had a 3/8” ring terminal already installed. That left one “Western Union Splice” as suggested by a fellow “bolter”, to make the connection. I practiced first on some scrap 10 ga and the end of the fusible link wire that was too long. I didn’t get anywhere near 10 wraps on each side as suggested but I do believe it is a sound connection.

Phak1,

Do you have solenoid or foot operated switch?

Checked attached pic.

xfiles

I have a foot operated switch. I see the confusion. Its not really a solenoid that is mounted on the starter but a switch.

Ok, Where are the wires head to from the switch?
One goes to battery, one goes to ammeter, 3rd wire goes to where?

The third wire was a quick and easy way of supplying power to the horn relay.

Got it,
Pretty slick

5/27/19: I wanted a temporary bed to drive around with this summer because the existing bed needs a total rebuild including the bed front sheet metal, cross supports and blocking, not to mention all new wood, so I opted to wait until I do the frame off. I picked up a sheet 5/8” exterior plywood and a couple dozen 1/4”x2” carriage bolts. The 5/8” was chosen because none of the supports were in their correct positions so I adapted it the best I could to fit without spending too much money on a temporary bed. The plan was to center the plywood in the 50” wide bed and fill in the gaps with some custom moulding I’d make with a pressure treated 5/4x6. I fit the plywood, drilled 1/4” holes for the carriage bolts utilizing the existing holes in the cross beams, drilled additional holes in an existing 1x1x1/8” angle iron that is connected to the front bed panel (due to the bottom of the panel being rusted out), and another set in the rear cross brace (both going to be replaced). I then coated the top and bottom with some left over stain from a previous house project that just happened to match.

The next day after the stain had dried, I installed the plywood in the bed. All went according to plan but was a few carriage bolts short. The last few days have been brutally hot with temperatures near 100 degrees with high humidity, so any laborious work must be done in the morning or the evening, when it cools a bit. I took the afternoon off to go to the not so local “Blue” big box store (a 45 minute drive), to procure the missing carriage bolts and some caulking to fill any gaps prior to the final coat of stain. When I got back it had cooled quite a bit so using my portable table saw, cut up the 5/4x6 PT board to fit the gaps. After several cuts and an equal amount of trial fittings, the moldings were done. Some light sanding, a coat of stain, another day to dry and the moulding would be ready to install.

I installed them using construction adhesive. I didn’t want to add any more holes to the bed sides then necessary, so I opted to glue them in. After letting the adhesive set for awhile, I taped off the sides of the bed and caulked the gaps. While I waited for the paintable silicone caulk dry enough to stain, I turned my attention to installing the missing carriage bolts.

I previously procured some D-Rings from Amazon to install in the bed to be able to lash some items down that I may carry in the future. I installed them using the four corner carriage bolts.

I applied the second coat of stain to the molding and touched up any marks I made during installation. The bed, although temporary and not original, looks good and is now functional.

5/29/19: I installed my headlight relays that I bought on eBay, (4) 60 amp relays with pigtails for $13 (I only used two). I tapped power and a ground from the alternator and I decided not to hide the relays for a few reasons. First I didn’t like the idea of the relays being exposed to the rain they would receive in front of the radiator core and figured they would be better protected on the inner fender. Second, I wanted to keep the pigtails as short as possible without adding another splice, and finally, I plan on doing a full frame restoration after I work out all of my mechanical issues to include a new harness complete with a fuse box so I don’t know where they will be permanently located.

The existing 6014 bulbs are much brighter and I feel allot better not exposing my brand new $50 headlight switch to the higher amperage, not to mention eliminating the high amperage under the dash. I added an inline 40 amp fuse at the alternator. Safer and brighter, all good! Another success!

Phil, congratulations on the "relay-success".

I assume the relay provides both a hot/power lead and a ground lead (most relays provide both)?

If so, I bet the relay solved your dimness problem by providing a good/clean ground. Many years of oxidation/rusting/painting decreases/eliminates the good/original ground through the chassis and sheet-metal connections/grounding. Around 1955-2nd/1956 (I think), a ground wire was added/included in all lighting circuits.

Your solution is the best/easiest solution on our old trucks, unless we are doing a total restoration, where-in we can clean-up/shine-up and "protect" with antioxidant goop on all of the body/metal connections/paths from a good ground to the light housing-screws.

The screw you see in the picture to the left of the terminal block, is a common ground. I took a ground directly from the alternator to that screw and everything else (lights and relays) is grounded to that screw.

5/30/19: At this point, our truck is ready to put her on the road. We will be going back to upstate NY next week with our 1952 Chevrolet 3100 proudly in tow. I will register her in New York and hopefully work out all of the mechanical issues, some known and some I’m sure to be discovered. I’m so looking forward to driving her, taking her to a few car shows and general tooling around town.

Wintering in South Carolina, we don’t have a garage, only an 8’ x 8’ shed that is packed to the hilt with yard equipment and carpenter tools used to make repairs and improvements to our winter home. This leaves little space for the mechanical tools needed to do the some of necessary repairs that our truck needs. It also means the I am working on the grass with only a temporary 10x20 canopy for my shelter. Although any work under the truck is allot more comfortable with grass on my aging back, I’m also exposed to the fire ants that are in abundance here in South Carolina. In New York, I have a garage to protect me from the elements, a cold concrete floor free of fire ants and most of the tools that I need to perform these repairs.

6/7/19: The journey to New York went rather well as we arrived with no issues, no surprises and the 52’ in the same condition as it was when we left South Carolina. It was rather long, about 950 miles in which we broke up into three days. The intent was try to get home in two with the realization that it may take longer, trailering an additional five thousand pounds. I rented a U-Haul car transporter that came with a little sign “55 MPH Max” posted on the front of the trailer fender, written backwards so it was readable every time I checked the side mirror. This created a constant battle that I was fighting in my head. Push down that accelerator and you’ll get home quicker, but every time I checked the side mirror, I’d see that ominous little sign warning me to slow down for safety’s sake.

We didn’t leave quite as soon as we had planned as our very good friends and neighbors invited us to eat at a local restaurant the night before. This did cost us some valuable packing time that we ultimately left for the day we were leaving. My wife and I are both retired so it doesn’t really matter if we leave a little bit latter as long as we’re not traveling in the dark. My old tired eyes don’t see as well in the night as they used too, so I try to avoid it as much as possible.

There’s allot to do when closing up a house for six months so we didn’t end up leaving until close to 1PM. Traveling thru South and North Carolina was a breeze. We clocked in about 400 miles that first day making it to Fredericksburg VA. Our confidence that we could do the 550 miles left on day two, quickly got squelched. My wife, my trusty navigator, informed me of a backup on I81, a route we usually take to avoid the intense traffic on I95 between Richmond and New York City. Living upstate in New York we find that I81 is a much nicer, more scenic and less stressful option, especially pulling an extra two and a half tons. We usually crossover from I95 to I81 in Fredericksburg VA via Rt. 17 to I66. This backup on I81 was just north of the I66 interchange and the delay at this point was over an hour, promising to increase by the minute. We decided to take some secondary roads to avoid this delay. In the past, using Google’s not so trusty map app on my wife’s phone has taken us thru some of the more rural, and sometimes dreadfully slow roads when taking detours. Google didn’t disappoint this time either. My wife and I have a theory that Google is somehow payed to route traffic into the local business sections. It seems that given a choice to use a bypass road or business section, Google will always chose the later. We did manage to avoid the backup after about two additional hours on the back roads of Virginia. Fortunately that part of Virginia is beautiful. Did we save any time? I would like to think we did, however I don’t really know.

Feeling smug that we outsmarted some of the traffic south of us, we quickly ran into two additional delays in Pennsylvania that squelched any thought that we could get home that day. We didn’t want to arrive home in the dark, then have to open up a house that had been winterized and closed up for six months. That involves turning on all of the utility’s, not to mention unpacking the truck.

We settled for making it to the New York border, staying in a hotel we found in Binghamton. We found a nice BBQ restaurant just across the street, with good food and craft beer. Life is good!

The next day we had about 160 miles to go, roughly a three plus hour trip. On a previous return trip to NY, we were greeted with a broken copper water pipe I failed to drain properly. I did this repair myself but it still cost us roughly two hours before I could cut in the water. I keep a running list of everything I need to do, to properly winterize my house, so hopefully I learned from my mistakes. I turned on the water and everything went fairly smooth with the exception of one shower mixing valve o-ring failure (not my fault) that I isolated with the supply valves. A minor problem I could deal with at a later date. Everything else, refrigerators, furnace, hot water heater, etc., I was able to get started with no issues.

The next day, which was Friday, I got our Ole 52’ Chevy off the trailer with satisfaction that we successfully transported her 950 miles with no issues.

Now some of the issues that I was not able to address in South Carolina could now be fixed with the resources available to me, in my shop affectionately called “Hak’s Alley Garage”.

Nice write-up, Phak1

Congratulations on a successful trip.

A couple of comments:

"We usually crossover from I95 to I81 in Fredericksburg VA via Rt. 17 to I66."
This is indeed a slow-down point (most of the day, every day of the week). Your "work-around/ride-around" is a good option/solution.

"On a previous return trip to NY, we were greeted with a broken copper water pipe I failed to drain properly."
We moved from VA to upstate-NY (Castleton-on-Hudson) in 1978. We did not know about northern "deep freeze" over the winter. Stupidly, we shut off the heat and went to VA for Christmas (a very cold Christmas on the east coast).

Luckily only a few copper water pipes burst near the outside basement walls. We found them quickly after we turned on the heat. But, they were a surprise for us Southerners.

The other slight freezing damage was all water drainage traps under sinks cracked and leaked. We lucked-out - no toilets cracked. My NY friends laughed at our ignorance (and, quickly helped me do the repairs). They said "why do you think that people with large trailers blow-out their pipes, empty water heaters, and put anti-freeze in toilets/traps"? Of course I said 'you do"?

We had two -30 nights during our 35 years (just below the Adirondacks).
We never lowered the thermostat below 50 degrees after that mini-disaster.

Oh yes, nice looking truck - congratulations.

Nice story. I usually treat that "55" on a uhaul trailer as a guide or suggestion. I want to run a water line to my garage, but I would have to dig a pretty deep trench to keep the line from freezing. (or maybe run a hot water pipe out and back to keep the cold water pipe from freezing?)

You would be better running heat trace on the line covered with foam insulation. It’s self regulating so you wouldn’t have to worry about it. In NY that’s what they do for the water supply line in trailers where it exits the ground and attaches to the plumbing.

Great write up Phil.
Hearing stories is the best of the forum, most of us really enjoy the read and can relate.
Merry Christmas.
Steve

Thanks Steve! I’m grateful for the feedback!

6/9/19: Now that we got her home, I want to fix some of the butchery previous owners had incurred. I’d like to change out the long shaft 235 water pump to a original 216 pump with a relocation adaptor plate. I’m trying to find out what harmonic balancer was installed so today I took measurements, and then snapped a picture. Ugh! It looks like the wrecking crew installed this one. It appears that it is not fully seated and was installed with a BFH and a “Git ‘er Dun” attitude as evidenced by the hammer marks on the hub and rivets. In addition it appears that the cast iron balancer is cracked thru, maybe a slip of that BFH. I just got her insured and was looking forward to putting her on the road. I can’t imagine the damage that might occur if that cast iron balancer came apart while driving. This repair just made my top of the must do list.

The whole fan belt setup on this truck is screwed up. It started when they installed the 235. Butchering the radiator support, the hood latch panel and the lower splash pan to move the radiator forward for clearance. They further complicated the issues when they added the alternator. They mounted the alternator with a threaded rod and nuts without a sleeve so it bent under the strain. In addition to the flimsy mount, the adjustment arm was too short so they extended it by adding two stacked thin pieces of flat stock, another short slotted bar and a couple of bolts and nuts (four pieces total to make one). How resourceful! The alignment of the pulleys was so poor I don’t know how the belt stayed on. I’m not even sure if the belt size is correct as it rode down into the pulley and measures 7/16”.

I had planned to straighten out this mess but I thought I had a little more time. I plan on buying the alternator conversion brackets which will address the alternator mounting issues. Also a new water pump with 5/8” pulley, a 216 fan, a new alternator pulley and finally a 5/8” V-Belt. Time to hit the ole “Inter-Web”, a term I robbed from Richard Rollins from the show Gas Monkey Garage.

Boy that is a mess. Shame on whomever did that carnage, certainly not to be proud of.
The balancer needs to be thrown in the garbage, since you are going with a relocation bracket and stock 216 pump try and find another 216 balancer so it will spin the water pump at the correct speed. I have installed three relocation brackets from pre68 Dave and they have all worked out well. I would remove the radiator and core support and that will give you the room to drill and tap the block for the relocation bracket.
I have also had good luck buying parts from the filling station, their orders go out usually the same day. check them out they are a dedicated bunch there to our cause.

https://www.fillingstation.com

6/17/19:Last week I was able to order a new water pump, the alternator pulley and the water pump relocation plate but was not able to resource a new harmonic balancer. I have been wanting to go to Adler’s Antique Auto’s in Stephentown NY, a place that specializes in AD trucks, since I first spotted it searching the internet several months ago. It was just under 2 hours away and the place did not disappoint. It is a treasure trove for us Stovebolt addicts. Acres and acres of glorious rusty AD trucks in various degrees of decay, truly a Stovebolters “Heaven”. Even my wife was impressed. As a amateur photographer she’s had a long love for rusty old pickup trucks. She was busy snapping pictures while I talked to Bob Adler, the owner who has been there since the 70’s. He is a very knowledgeable soft spoken gentleman and at times I could hardly hear what he was saying. Wanting to hang on every word the man had to say with over 40 years of living and breathing every aspect of an AD truck, was difficult at times. I told him what I was doing and that I needed a harmonic balancer with a 5/8” pulley, a fan for a 216 and a clutch inspection cover and he said he had them all. His filing system is in his head, so off he went to collect parts. He runs a cash only business which I didn’t know so off I went to find an ATM. When I got back about twenty minutes later, he had everything collected except the balancer. He said to follow him and out we went to the yard, first checking a old rusted out VW bus. He didn’t find correct balancer there so we went to his two car garage by the street. He dug on a shelf and pulled out a box with 3 correct harmonic balancers, one NOS and two used. I choose the later as the NOS he valued like gold. The one I chose also had the hand crank lugs, how cool is that! My 52’ has a hole in the lower radiator splash pan and a dimpled grille to allow the use of a hand crank. I suspect my 52’ may have had that style balancer as original equipment on the old 216. Now I’ve got everything but the hand crank. I can’t imagine having to start the ole gal like that. It’s tough enough to crank it over with the fan just to get the timing marks lined up.

We returned to his shop where we completed the deal. Toting my box of treasures, my wife couldn’t help to comment about the smile on my face. I didn’t tell my wife what those rusty, greasy old parts cost. In this case, “Ignorance is Bliss”, for me at least!

The pictures of Bob’s place were taken by my wife!

Yes, Bob’s place is Stovebolt Heaven.

And, Bob is The Expert.

I use to live about 20 miles from his “museum”.

I use to love going to Bob's Stovebolt heaven...glad to hear he is still around selling parts...

MikeC

Does Bob ship items?

I don’t know. He told me the best way to contact him is by e-mail and he said he doesn’t always answer his phone. There’s a link to his e-mail on his website.
http://www.adlersantiqueautos.com

6/24/19: I stripped down the front of the truck to install the water pump relocation plate and all the other parts associated with this mod. Starting with removal of the latch plate panel, then I drained and removed the radiator. When I removed the grille, I discovered that it wasn’t bolted in, aside from the bolts I removed from the latch plate panel. In addition, the radiator support wasn’t attached at the bottom, allowing me to lift the whole front sheet metal assembly.

Removing the existing water pump, alternator and associated brackets went easy as did the removal of the harmonic balancer. I don’t have the proper removal tool, but since the balancer was shot anyway, it didn’t matter if It was damaged any further. I have a three jaw puller so I used that around the outside of the balancer, a no-no normally, but it worked and it’s off. On to the oil seal. My seal had been leaking as evidenced by a small puddle on the cement floor so it needs to be changed. I used a small three jaw puller with the jaws inverted and was able to pull out the seal successfully without any damage to the cover.

I pre-fit the new 52’ 216 water pump and relocation plate. The two countersunk holes in the plate did not line up perfectly with the water pump. When I tightened them they would offset the other holes slightly. I can’t say if it was the new water pump I purchased from RockAuto or the relocation plate I purchased from Ebay. I figured that I could tweak the holes a bit to get them all to line up.

I installed the plate with the water pump attached to the block and used a transfer punch to mark the holes. After removing the plate, I drilled with a small bit to help keep the larger bit on track. I followed with the 5/16” bit marked with tape 3/4” from the end to keep me from going too deep. This went relatively quick, maybe a total of 5 minutes per hole. I then tapped the holes with a 3/8”-16 starting tap followed by a bottoming tap. This also went fairly quick.

I reinstalled the plate and attached water pump to check the alignment of the holes. The new tapped holes were off just enough that I couldn’t get the bolts in. They were only off a small bit so I enlarged the holes in the plate by 1/32” which solved the problem. I didn’t have the silicone I needed to finish the water pump relocation plate installation, so I spent the rest of the day cleaning and painting the new “old” harmonic balancer and fan blade I obtained from Bob Adler’s Antique Auto Parts. The area of the hub where the seal rides is worn slightly and after posting on Stovebolt forums I decided on sleeving it, so I ordered the sleeve.

The radiator support wasn't attached to the frame?? Yikes.
So based on all the things you have said including bashed on balancer, on your truck you have pretty much figured out you are going to have to go through everything to check for this kind of hideous workmanship. I think you will have no problem getting your truck sorted out so it can be a really fun safe vehicle.
A friend just brought me his engine because his 235 was making noise, look at what I found on all the intake valves... His PO obviously was related to yours. BTW, great writeups keep them coming they are very helpful for others.
Steve

Are they just assembled wrong or are the rockers the wrong style?

I agree, the PO’s must be related.

Believe they are 216 rockers on a 235, still researching

7/6/19: I installed the harmonic balancer today and it went pretty well. I went to the not so local plumbing supply (a 45 minute drive) and got a 1-1/2” coupling, 4” nipple and a cap to match. The existing Woodriff key was beat up quite a bit but procurement of a new one proved to be more difficult than I anticipated. NAPA didn’t carry them and kid behind the counter at Advance Auto looked at me like I was from outer space. There was an older gentleman working there that formerly worked at NAPA and said Tractor Supply carries them. TS did have them but they were in such a disarray and none were in their labeled place. Half of the plastic packages were empty. Unfortunately they did not have the right size, so I settled on one that was the next size up figuring I could grind it to fit.

After the 45 minute ride home, I chucked the coupling in the lathe to face it off and turn down the OD to fit inside the rivets on the balancer, assembled the three pieces and my driver was set.

After comparing the oversized Woodriff key the the old one, I decided to clean up the old one and reuse it. It would have taken me far too long to get the new one to fit.

I spent allot of time fitting the key to the shaft and the balancer and cleaning up the shaft and crank snout. As a career machinist, I know you only get one shot to get it on the first time correctly, so preparation is key. After carefully measuring to ensure the proper fit, I oiled the new shaft sleeve then slid the balancer on engaging the key. The moment of truth arrived. Using my newly made balancer installation tool and a 4 lb. mallet I drove it on until the sound changed indicating the balancer was seated. It didn’t take nearly as much force as I expected. Five or six good solid hits and it was seated.

I continued with installation of the water pump and relocation plate. I had pre-fit the pump to the plate and had given it a nice satin black paint job so installation should have been be a snap. That wasn’t the case and I needed to tweak the holes again as a couple of the bolts were difficult to get started. The rest of the job went easy. I aligned the alternator, installed and tensioned the fan belt and finally installed an original 216 fan to complete the package.

The final misalignment between the balancer pulley and the water pump pulley was about 1/32”, which I believe is acceptable. I reinstalled the radiator, the new preformed radiator hoses (had to trim the ends to fit) then filled the radiator with coolant, reattached the battery and started her up. Music to my ears as she purred like a kitten. I still have the grille, latch plate to install but it’s late and tomorrow is another day. Another success! To me this was a big success!

The last picture is what it looked like when I got it.

Phak,
If you want to drill the end of the crank and tap a 7/16" fine thread in there for a crank bolt retainer, I have a fixture with drill bits and tap- I can let you borrow, send it out USPS priority tomorrow.
Steve

The balancer has the ears for a hand crank. I thought about doing that but decided the hand crank was to cool to remove. There is also a hole in the lower pan in front of the radiator and a dimpled grille. Technically I could get a hand crank and start this engine. I have a hard enough time turning the engine over with the fan to get to TDC. I couldn’t imagine trying to start this with the hand crank, especially with it’s higher compression ratio. I would have had to machine down the ears to accept a flat washer and decided I didn’t want to alter this original part.

At this point the front end is already buttoned up, but I really appreciate the offer.

7/7/19: My grandson, who is turning 15 this month, is visiting us for the summer and has shown an interest in restoring cars and trucks. His Dad and him have dreamed about getting an older Camaro and restoring it as a father/son project but finances have long stood in the way. This spring, I invited him to help on our project during his stay with us. He was very excited about helping. My grandson is good natured and always willing to help, and I am thrilled to be his mentor.

When I originally removed the grille to gain access to the harmonic balancer I discovered that the two radiator mounting bolts attached to the frame were missing the nuts. This made removing the grille easy as I was able to lift the front clip to get the clearance needed to get the bottom of the grille to clear the splash pan. After installing new nuts and securing the front clip that was no longer the case. With my new enlisted “Wrench Fetcher”, we needed to remove the front splash apron. This is attached with the bumper bolts, sandwiched between the bumper and the brackets, so the bumper needs to be removed. The nuts were rusted really bad. An impact doesn’t fit it the space so we used a breaker bar and six point socket . After soaking soaked them with PB Blaster, we successfully removed only one. At this point, removal of the whole bumper assembly is our only option. The impact removed the bracket to frame bolts fairly easily and we lowered the assembly to the ground. Now that we could use an impact on the bumper with we were able to remove three more bolts. The last nut was so rusted there was nothing for the socket to grab on to, so I cut it and the bolt off with a wafer wheel. A new bolt and new nuts were in order.

The front splash apron was pretty beat up so I spent some time beating it back into a better shape. The tab that attaches it to the bumper bolt in the middle had broken free from its two spot welds and needed to be fixed. I prepped the tab and its associated mating spot on the splash apron by grinding then mig welded it on. Testing my weld job, it snapped right off. Three try’s later with the heat and feed set properly, it’s finally on. Taping off the patina that matches the rest of the truck on the top of the apron, I sprayed primer on the repaired area. After its installed I don’t think it will be noticeable.

When I was cleaning the bumper brackets, I noticed that the two didn’t match. The drivers side leg was bent in more than the passengers side. I temporarily installed the brackets on the frame and sure enough the drivers side was bent in. Removing them, I put the bent one into my vice and tried to remove some of the bend. These are original brackets made of spring steel so I didn’t want to use heat if I could avoid it. Beating it with my BFH, I got it close. Being a perfectionist, which at times is a curse, I needed to get that last little bit so in the vice it went. Sometimes in the heat of the moment I tend to get too wrapped up into what I am doing so I had forgotten to don my leather gloves. Well one more heavy swing of that BFH and the bracket popped right out of the vice and hit my middle finger. Yeow! The pain! OMG, I can’t believe I just did that! Well, its not broke, no trips to the hospital, a quick trip inside to clean it up a and a bandaid, and it’s all good. OMG it still hurts! Time to call it a night!

7/12/19: We went out to yard and estate sales today, something that my wife and I share a common interest in. Over the years I have picked up some pretty good bargains. A couple of years ago, I bought my Craftsman 12” lathe (made by Atlas) for a $150. The only issue with the lathe was it needed to be cleaned, lubricated and adjusted. It came with a three jaw and four jaw chuck along with a milling attachment. After working on South Bends and other quality lathes during my career as a machinist, the Craftsman is not in the same ball park by any means but it works really well in my home shop, and allows me to do things I could not otherwise accomplish without it.

After pounding out the bumper apron on the concrete floor yesterday, I told my wife that I really needed an anvil or at least a 1/2” steel plate mounted on my workbench that I could beat on, something solid and heavy. Today, at an estate sale, I ran across a 18” length of railroad track that I was able to pick up for five dollars. I plan on forming a anvil horn on the one end and squaring the other end. At least I can now throw it on my workbench and have something heavy (over sixty lbs.) and solid to beat on and I’m not bending over on the floor, a big plus.

I received a couple of firewall to fender rod supports from a fellow “Bolter” today, which I was missing. The hood to fender alignment is terrible. The hood is currently touching the drivers side with a 1/2” gap at the front on the passenger side. While I bolted the radiator support down, I pushed the support over to the drivers side as much as the bolts would allow and it was still not enough. I’m hoping the support rods will correct the problem. I was able to blast all the parts including the rods, give them a coat of primer and paint. Ready for installation tomorrow, I hope!

That is a great find! I have been looking for a blacksmith anvil from Tennessee to Maine, the cheapest I have seen is $300.00.

I have a piece of rail, about 24" long, been beating on it for years. An anvil would be great but as 63'C-10 said $$$$. I guess the old steel rail will need to do for now

You never know what you might find at a yard sale. One day I might come across an anvil at a reasonable price and buy it. Until then, I have something to beat on!

I have beating on a piece of 1/2" flat stock for years, it is bolted to my workbench, works like a champ.

Somebody say Anvil?
That is another addiction I have and may have a few.

Don

7/13/19: Today with the assistance of my grandson, we installed the bumper and bumper apron. We first installed the bumper arms with the bolts hand tight. When we went to install the bumper and apron, the holes wouldn’t line up. We then loosened up the brackets and then installed the bumper and apron aligning bolt by bolt. Once we got all the bolts installed we tightened them snug. The whole bumper was not centered to the grille. We loosened the bolts on the bumper to get the bumper to slide over to no avail. I even hit it a few times with my BFH.

At this point I decided that the installation of the firewall to fender support rods might help the alignment problem. We installed the passenger side first, pre-setting the length. The rod had quite a gap having to wrench it tight the last 1/2”. The drivers side presented a different problem. The front 5/16” bolt was missing. Taking a better look I noticed that the previous bolt had been sheared off in the fender. I looked on the back side and it was flush. The engine side was recessed slightly but not flat so getting a drill started on center was going to be a problem. I used a die grinder with a 1/4” rounded bit to at least give a chance at getting the bit centered. To make a long story short, I did manage to get the remainder of the bolt out, but had ended up drilling off center so a nut on the backside was in order. Another thing to fix during my frame off resto. The drivers side rod fit perfect but made no difference on the alignment. The front end seemed to be much more solid with the rods installed.

There are too many factors in the alignment of the front end, that I decided we should accept it as is, until I can get a grasp on the alignment procedure. We finished tightening the rest of the bumper bolts and frame bracket bolts.

A few weeks back I bought a clutch inspection cover assembly from Adler Antique Auto Parts. A bit pricy but my only source to quickly obtain the cover. At this point, I am ready to get the “ole gal” registered and start enjoying driving her so I needed to get the covers installed. Over the last few days I blasted them in my new HF blast cabinet and painted them. That was next on the list to get installed. While I was under the truck, I had wanted to see if the clutch fork pivot retainer spring was still there maybe just dislodged. I have an issue where the clutch fork won’t completely disengage the throwout bearing from the clutch fingers causing it to spin when the clutch is fully disengaged. Having previously determined that the fork pulls away from the ball, I wanted to see if the retaining spring was still there. Using a small inspection mirror and a flashlight I was able to see that the spring was in fact still there. In any case the transmission will still need to be pulled at least enough to remove the clutch fork to see what the issue is.

I also noticed that the clutch pedal rod where it engages on the petal was really worn. The hole in the pedal arm was worn too. I welded up the worn spot on the rod and fabricated a oversized plastic bushing on the lathe for the arm. My Grandson who has never seen such an operation was fascinated. I reinstalled the clutch pedal rod and we made an attempt to adjust the clutch. The proper adjustment only worsened the problem of the throwout bearing failing to totally release. I set the clutch with more free travel in hopes it would help pull the bearing free of the clutch fingers. At this point my Grandson and I installed the covers. The two screws on the back of the cover were a real bear to install due to the fact it was located just over the rear transmission support. Fortunately the cover was slotted so we could install the screws first, not having to struggle with both. Tightened the bolts and we were done for the day.

I asked my grandson if he was enjoying wrenching on the truck and He said he was. I can’t think of a better way to spend time with my grandson!