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I fell in love with these old AD trucks a few years ago. I had a 55.1 that I wish I'd had kept, thinking I'd find a better one. Well, popularity of these old truck grew, and now getting harder to find.

I found this one on Craigslist a few weeks ago. Turned out it was only 10 minutes from work. Good solid KS truck, and nearly all original. Has taken a good barnyard beating, but is otherwise intact. Motor is not stuck. Missing a few parts here and there that was robbed off, like emblems and deluxe heater. Oddly, the truck has 2 heaters. Maybe someone can fill me in on that. Also came with original 15" wheels. Which I knew was an option, but kind of hard to find.

Plan is to get it running, braking, mobile....as cheap as possible. Wish me luck.

Nice find. If you can not find the original emblems there are repops readily available everywhere.

Looks solid. Good find.

Those emblems are available, probably originals from other 'Bolters, or like olezippi said, repops from about any of the usual suspects ... er vendors.

I'm assuming the 15 inch wheels you're referring to are on the tire that's peeking out of the bed, because the wheels mounted on the truck definitely aren't originals.

Good luck with your project.

Nice looking project. I am already thinking of an AD project when the 6400 is done.

Yes, original wheels are in the bed. One has enough surviving paint to correctly pin stripe it back.

Still working on getting it running right now. Had a couple stuck lifters. 75psi on the outer cylinders, and only 50 on the 2 center cylinders. May be enough to get some fire out of it. Once it warms up in a few weeks, the plan is to pull it outside and try an official start. Still have to reinstall the carb, fuel pump, fresh oil, plugs, wires, etc. I do have the starter working and turning over fine and shows to have oil pressure.

If I know I can get it running and reliable for around town driving (small town of 2500 here), I'll restore the interior, but in some reclaimed wood for the bed, round up some matched tires, and use it on the farm.

chrispy good for you. These old truck were meant to be used and worked. You might try throwing some marvels mystery oil down the spark plug holes of the low compression cylinders. Just in case the rings are gummed up. It wont hurt anything. Good luck and keep us posted.

That's a solid looking project. The 2 heater thing has me scratching my head, maybe the PO was cold blooded. If the you let the MMO set in the cylinders for a couple of days it should like Brian said loosen things up, it's going to smoke you out once it's running. If that still has things stuck you can use a 50/50 mix of diesel and ATF, fill the cylinders and just roll it over a couple of time over a few days, again it's going to smoke you out when it starts. Good luck.

Good luck. Well looks like you already had good luck. You found a pretty cool truck.

Some progress.

Rebuilt the master cylinder, replaced left front wheel cylinder and hose. Inspected the rest of the brakes. Did a rough bleed of the system and appears to be working OK for barn yard driving....if I make it that far. I did buy all new wheel cylinders and rubber hoses, but thought I'd wait on that labor until I know it runs.

Carb rebuilt, valve cover and side cover degreased. Sprayed the valve train and lifter valley down with carb cleaner and MMO. Still pretty grimy. Probably a life of non-detergent oil.

Next stop. Ignition testing and installing new fuel pump. The gas tank had a hole, so will siphon from a can.

If it runs, then its on to a new gas tank. Check radiator and water pump/cooling system.

Poor man has poor ways! LOL.

@TUT_59 "50/50 mix of diesel and ATF". Thats my dads favorite formula for getting things unstuck. Used several times buying old stuck JD Model A and B tractors. Soaked for a week, did a little pull starting, and they all broke loose and ran!


Update today: Bought truck in middle of January. Here it is end of February, and IT RUNS! Surprising well. Too bad we can't post videos here.

Got to work on the cooling system next. I do see the freeze plug on the block, under the carb, has a hole in it. Sooo, JB weld, for poor mans way, or hassle with changing out the plug in a nice tight spot. I guess I could go with an expandable for a temp fix.

You are welcome to post a link to a video.

I made some more progress over the weekend and thru the week.

Wire cup brushed the cab floor, part of the fire well, and has tank area. Ruff & dirty style. Rolled on some rustoleum primer, will follow up with black & spray with dark bronze rustoleum that is similar to original color. Same for the seat frame.

Took off the dash components, head bows, door & front window trim for bead blasting and repainting. Will also be sanding doors for repainting.

Received some new stuff from Carter Truck Parts, in Independence, MO, near me. Had stuff right away. New wiring harness, weather strips, bed mount kit.

Also pulled out some old deck boards I kept off the house. Will make for a decent..and cheap...bed floor. I got the strips out, cut the boards to length and will work on getting the thickness and edges trimmed correctly for the bed strips.

Before pics. Got lucky with a pretty clean floor pan.

Rainy weekend will keep me from progressing for a few days.

Well, between rain, wind, and more snow...not necessarily in that order, we are back into some decent weather to get things done.

Rolled on rustoleum black on the floor for a final coat. Blasted and paint all the dash trim, window trim, etc, with Rustoleum Dark Bronze. Not a perfect match, but after covering with semi-gloss clear, I was happy with the results.

Restored the seat frame and lower spring assy, (not pictured).

Refired the motor with a quick fix of some chewing gum over the holes in the freeze plugs to see if it would run longer than 2 minutes. It worked..sort of, till it warmed up. Ran for 15 minutes and really smoothed out without a misfire or hiccup. Very happy about that. Now...about those freeze plugs & lack of oil to the rockers. Partial tear down of motor needed to happen. Rocker arms were completely plugged with muck. Oiling holes and insides of shafts were a mess. After removal, found galling on the shafts and chucked them up in my buddies lathe for some smoothing over with emery cloth.

New interior kit & rubber/window kits on the way.

Those shafts look pretty spent to me. You can buy new shafts on eBay for 94 dollars with free shipping.

I don't know if you have this diagram of the oil path to rockers. Notice that one connector is sweated into the block. If you can't clean the line or you twist/break the line you have to replace it. Kits are available. Unless your next step is to rebuild your engine, don't worry about replacing the rocker shafts. Try to get oil to the rockers. Chances are the rocker arms and pushrod ends are worn as well. One of the old time tricks was to install an external lubricator and dribble oil on top of the rockers.

If you buy a new metal tank, built like the original, you want to run non-ethanol gas. After several months Ethanol (corn gas) will break down to gas and water. It will rust your new tank even if you use additives (given enough time).

216 and 235 blocks are known to build up rust in the water jacket at the rear of the engine. I would drain and flush the engine block and the radiator. The rear petcock may need to be removed to let the rust sediment out.

Two types of heaters. External and recirculating.
The cores in both eventually rot and start leaking and typically caused the floor board below to rust.
The solution was to "horse shoe" the heater hose back to the water pump/thermostat and bypass the heater.
If you really had to have heat, scab on something that works.
On a farm, these trucks were treated rough.

@buoymaker, i had squirted brake/car cleaner down the tube when I took the rocker arms off the 1st time. By the sound of it draining into the pan, I think its clear. Last time it was running, it showed some oiling trying to happen. The weep holes were trying to dribble, but nearly all of them were plugged up. I think they will work properly now.

Today, I'll be visiting with a my brothers neighbor who has a 53 and has offered to give me the 216 out of his truck, for parts. It has a cracked block, but has many spare parts I could use....for just in case.

Make sure, when you do run the engine, that you get all of the weep holes on the rockers to weep oil, as that is the lubrication for both the push rod ends and the valve stems.

If you search the forum you can find information on how to run the oil pump directly without running the engine.
This will really get the oil flowing. It's a good thing to do for rebuilt engines as well.
I made a tool from a length of rod ground down to a screwdriver-like point similar to the shape of the end of a distributor shaft.
Chuck it up in a hand drill. You have to remove the distributor, but before you do, make a witness mark on the housing where the rotor button is currently pointing.
Also, label each plug wire for correct position. Beware that the distributor can be reinstalled 180 degrees out.
The shaft of the distributor has to drop down into the notch of the oil pump. Sometimes they can be a bit finicky.

Check the oil pressure when the engine is hot. Could be the engine has worn bearings preventing oil from getting to the top.
Jerry has excellent comments here: https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/1279466/Searchpage/1/Main/186494/Words/"216+oil+pressure"/Search/true/216-oil-pressure.html#Post1279466

I suspect you have read about the 216 mains having babbitt bearings and the "art" to rebuild this part of the engine requires old time experience.
It can be done and is more expensive.

Wire cupped the seat frame and got it painted along with the bottom springs. Still have top springs to paint. Seat covers/cotton kit is in.

Sanded some on the dash and back of the cab. I hope to have the glass out and put the upper inside of cab in primer and atleast 1 coat of paint, this weekend. Crazy weather here in Kansas City has been crazy windy and cold again.

Also started working on the gages. New decal set, cleaning, steel wool on the bezels, and a satin clear to preserve the peeling paint on the inside bezels. Decided to go with a 12 volt system w/generator, since I have one available for free. I'd like for to look period anyway and don't expect this truck to make it much outside of town putting around doing errands and on the farm. With that said, I'm adding installing a new 12 volt fuel gage along with a new temp gage. Both happen to be bad.

This past weekend, my dad and I headed to Boonville to pick up a brush hog that he found online for sale. Ironically, the happened to be from our area and had lived here for 20 years. Upon entry to his property was this awesome yard art! I really want to go back for the tail gate. Ironically, it doesn't have hardly a flaw or rust in it and still works fine. Been parked since 84. There was a 63 4-door Falcon that was a few yards away that has been there for just as long.

A little more handy work. Still waiting a few misc. pieces, like the needle/epoxy drying. Some clean up and decals for gages & installed the bottom of the seat cushion.

A couple of coats of paint inside the cab and door.

Love it! I love doin projects on the cheap. Less money and a little more labor is always easier to enjoy when you look back on it.

Every piece gets you one step closer, love your project. It's a same about that Jimmy, the body looked pretty solid, makes you wonder why it was parked....

That yard art looks saveable too bag someone shot the hood and windows out

Unfortunately, that tree couldn’t just be cut down without damaging the bed. You would need a crew to climb the tree, cut and lower it down one limb and a portion of the trunk at a time or maybe a crane. The cost to do that lately has been astronomical!

Your gauges look really good! I still have mine to do.

Mine came with two heaters; the standard deluxe on the right, and a boxy looking one on drivers side that said "car heater."

Please post photos of your two heaters. As you posted, there was no truck heater available for mounting on the driver's side

There were actually two Chevrolet-truck accessory/optional heaters: in 1951, they were called Recirculating type and Outside Air type.

So the drivers side was all hooked up and in when I bought it. The passenger side is missing as of right now, but was able to locate one thru here. The guy I bought this truck from said he sold the emblems and heater out of it. I'll get some pics here shortly.

Here is a factory option manual I recently purchased showing some of the options available for cars/trucks for 51.

Finished the seat cushions.

Finally got the dash primed, painted, and cleared this weekend. Took quite a bit of sanding to get all the surface rust, dirt, and grime off the dash to lay down a respectable coat of paint. Turned out OK for a Rustoleum job. Will be threading in some new wiring, switches, and the rebuilt gages soon. But will first take the front glass out, clean, and reinstall all new weather stripping, channels, etc. I'm keeping the original front glass, since it's in good shape But the back glass and right door was all damaged and a kit for all the rest was reasonable enough that I'm going to replace the rest with new.

For those with original 50/51/52 216's, I have a question on throttle linkage:

The bell crank was missing off the block when I got it. I never could find an accurate picture of a correct 51 linkage setup. A buddy gave this bell crank claiming it off a 216, but most I've seen were slightly simpler, not having the lever/adj. screw in the center.

Does this look correct? The rods are my originals. Only the bell crank is what's in question.

Thanks
Chris

That linkage looks like it’s for an automatic transmission. I’m posting pictures from the FAM of both setups.

Well, working on the truck off and on when its not raining or hot and humid. But, I did discover why this old girl was probably left to die next the barn on the farm. While removing/replacing the rear wheel cylinders I noticed that the rear seemed a little noisy, like there was no lube in the housing. A quick look a loo, and sure enough NONE! I pulled the cover, and are sure enough, completely dry and the passenger side carrier bearing was wasted.

During disassembly, I found another issue: The retaining pin was actually broke, which put me in a real pickle. If I couldn't get the pin out, I can't get the axles, carrier, etc, out. Which means locating a replacement rearend.

Luckily, with the help of my buddies lathe, I made a bushing/drill guide from a cheap bolt to run a left-handed drill bit thru and luckily, the pin made it out pretty easy.

This project has had allot of ups and downs. Currently, had issues with water in the engine. Changed out oiling tube, since they were prone to cracking, still had water in oil. Finally just added K-seal, and was able to seal what ever was leaking. Which I suspect is a crack in the head.

Brakes are up, all new lines, wheel cylinders, etc. Will try and get glass in over the winter.

Taking advantage of a nice weekend to finally drive this old beater for the first time. Hot wired up and gas tank strapped to the front bumper. I'll finish wiring over the winter. Procrastination paid off. Scored some new tires mounts on 6-lug wheels from a buddy for $250. Keeps with the more is less theme. Unfortunately, engine has a bit of a knock. I suspect a wrist pin. May dive into a little further, but do have a 235 available for a simple rering/bearing job. So, guess we will see how long this 216 lasts.