The Stovebolt Site Forums The Side Lot Old Dominion Stovebolt Society (MD, VA, West VA, DC, DE and PA) RVA

Checking in, pretty quiet in here. Any bolters near Richmond? I'm in Chesterfield. Reviving a '47 1.5ton.

I agree, it is quiet in here. Close enough from somd. Welcome

That looks like a nice truck Captain. I'm sort of close to you. I'm 25 miles west of short pump at Hadensville area. I hope you can meet the whole idea gang sometime. A great group of guys that I have enjoyed hanging out with on many occasions !

Yeah, what Hardshell said!

To get this crew together, all you need to do is say "Beer" and "food" and then make sure you have enough parking

That *is* a nice truck that needs to join the line up one of these days.

Probably the next time we are all going to get together (at least that's on the schedule so far ...) is at the Tri-State Show in Winchester, VA at the end of Sept. Things are usually quiet through the dog days of Summer but here and there we try to do things.

I'd offer free fishing trips out of Breton Bay on the Potomac River, but that would be misleading ... the fishing is bad in the river and we usually end up just taking a slow boat ride around St. Clemts Island ... or racing Roache to Cobb Island and back ... We have done the breakfast tour of Colonial Beach before ...

Have beer, and plenty of parking! 😁

Perhaps I should amend my statement above -- Make sure you have *plenty* of beer...



Now that we have that settled, time to pick a date!

Why is that NH person chiming in?
Didn’t he abandon us??
( desertion of his homies )

Maybe, maybe not. I may show up in weird places at weird times.
Maybe I am playing in the local of my trucks and if that is true, then I belong in both places.

Jim -- Do not let Hambone's games of truck locale loyalty, North vs. South and such other of his machinations as he may from time to time indulge himself in distract you from the matter at hand... (snap snap snap!!! (sound of fingers snapping)) Focus, James FOCUS!!!!

Beer .... in Richmond ..... with a new ODSS member .... truck to check out .... fellow 'Bolter to help...

THESE are the things that matter, not Hammie. He's too busy up in hoity toityville hanging with the Beautiful People.

Um.... where were we?

Did someone mention beer??

John
ODSS Attorney General

“Ya know”, a beer in Richmond ( or wherever for that matter) does make for a good distraction from my 3rd month of weekends on the total gutting of ( the Mrs. ) old kitchen and the refurbishing!
Thank god, that I needed supplies, or I wouldn’t have the “ol girl out” at all! ( just to clarify, the truck!)
I think they call it paybacks? ( you got your truck that you so desperately needed,Blah, Blah Blah............... and I’ve been waiting 25 years for what I wanted! )
They ( aka. The wives )just don’t get it
I haven’t even ( thou maybe a good thing ) seen anyone from the Northern contingent!

Fer serious, if yall wanna come over this weekend and help me pull this head, unstick the valves, replace the broken rocker and bent pushrods, and get this thing back together? I'm in Chesterfield. Plenty of parking, no nosy neighbors, bring a dog if it's friendly. I have 3.

Man, that sounds fun. Unfortunately, I have commitments these next two weekends. Hopefully, some of your Virginia brothers can make it over there ...

John

Did you get your truck going Captain ?

My side gig is event production, so the week of the 1st-8th was devoted to the race. Then my dog came down super ill with an autoimmune disorder and spent a week in the ICU in DC getting blood transfusions and dialysis. Haven't gotten to do anything truck related other than pick up a 19.5" rim to test fit on my rear drums (nope) and snag some old but decent 8.25x20 traction tires from the local pick-n-pull. Hope to get started on putting the engine back together this weekend though.

Short notice update: D'wife will have me doing some 'round-the-house stuff today, but hopefully I can at least open the garage doors this weekend.

So if yall want to come by tomorrow, or next weekend (whatever) the immediate to-do list on the truck is as follows:

>open the complete gasket kit, and install new valve o-rings. Install polished valves back in head.
>pull spare pushrods and rockers from parts engine. Replace broken rocker on #2 cylinder, reinstall rest of valve train.
>reinstall head on block. hook back up manifolds, water pump, etc. Remember that we forgot head gasket. Repeat.
>Scrape side cover gasket off, install new. Install new M8 splugs. Verify timing.
>Wire up 12V alternator.
>Devise a plan to patch the drain hole that was punched by junkyard staff in the behind-the-seat fuel tank I found out of a '62 C60.
>Devise a plan to mount and plumb this tank, even if only as a temporary solution until I find a tank to go under the bed.
>Replace choke cable
>Try to start this bastard?
>Remove all old junk tires from stock lockring wheels for disposal. Wirebrush and paint wheels. (7)
>Remove junkyard find 8.25x20 tires from C60 wheels (4)
>Make incredibly bad decision to just reuse the old tubes. Install 8.25s on my wheels.
>Discuss axle swaps that will get me a modern 8-bolt lug pattern. Argue about keeping truck as close to original as possible. Decide upon nothing.
>Drink all the beers.

Your plan is all wrong.
Beer should be at the top of the list. Pacing is the key.

That sounds like a fun and reasonable list.

Carl, to be fair, it's a list, not an itinerary. Start whereever you like.

My bad. I read your post with my beer goggles on...

Valve train polished, reassembled, new head gasket, bent pushrods replaced... melted the pertronix coil (maybe i should have known better), replaced with a badic model, new plug wires. Fuel to carb verified but it only fires on ether. Carb has been rebuilt with the kit from classic truck parts. I get a squirt in the throat when opening the throttle, but im not otherwise sure it's properly carbo-latin'.

Double, triple, quadruple check your distributor to make sure your rotor is pointing at #1 tower on the COMPRESSION stroke. Then do the same to points gap. Fuel, compression and spark (at the right time) is all it takes. Good luck.

Yep, roll it over by the fan until the ball bearing in the flywheel is at the needle in the bell housing. If I'm leaning over the drinker's side fender facing the engine, the rotor is facing the plug farthest from the block- in this case about my 5-oclock. Set points gap with feeler gauge to whatever the google machines told me. ZAP remember that I left the ignition on. Ouchie. Replace cap, 1-5-3-6-2-4 on the plug wires, going clockwise around the cap. Wire from key switch to + terminal on coil, wire from - terminal on coil to aft terminal on distribulator, wire from forward terminal to adjacent panhead screw on side cover.

I did pick up a ballast resistor today but fell asleep on the couch before I could get it installed and the dog told me to throw the frisbee.

Just rolling the engine over til the ball shows up is not a guarantee that you are on the compression stroke. Remove #1 spark plug and place your thumb/finger over the hole. Rotate until your thumb/finger is blown off the hole. You are now basically at TDC on the compression stroke. You can fine tune a tooth or two until the BB is lined up if you want. Now where is the rotor pointing to? If #1 plug tower, your good to go, if not reset the distributor.

Well, as I was unable to get a thumb in there to seal the plug hole up, I thought I'd throw the ol compression gauge on and see what I'm really dealing with.
#1: 70
#2: 0
#3: 87
#4: 112
#5: 100
#6: 0
.
So, it's worse than I thought. I guess Ive got some deciding to do - keep pouring money into this engine, or find a diesel to swap in.

You need to ask the forum Moderator to move this discussion to the Engine Shop Forum. Much more help available there.

Last time I ventured out of this local forum and into Electrical I ran into some pompous jerk. I wanted to stay in here for the purposes of finding local in-person eyeballs.

A little thin skinned? It won’t be any better here with the ODSS.
If you find a response offensive, contact the moderator and it will get deleted.
The Stovebolt moderators will not permit any bashing or rudeness.
Constructive ideas posted in a non bashing tone is welcome.
We are all here to learn and share ideas.

Don

Capt, you realize those “pompous jerks” can read and answer in this forum too. All Stovebolt forums with the exception of the Moderator Forum are open to the public. By conducting all your business in this specialized forum you are limiting yourself to just a few people. These Side Lot Forums were not intended for the more technical stuff but to allow folks to socialize with others in their general area. It’s your thread and you can do with it as you wish, just trying to give you a hand.

Not thin skinned at all. I just don't get my jollies looking down my nose at people asking for help. To each his own, I guess.

Figured it out. Tappet adjustments were cranked down so tight by the PO that several of the valves weren't even closing. Adjusted them all per Deves guide. Everything is now 105-115 and it pretty much fired right up. So I dropped the pan, cleaned the sludge out, painted it, and will be gluing that back on later in the week. Next I get to rewire this entire thing 🤪 because I did manage to let a little smoke out of the harness 😬

I admire your progress Captain ! I went through so many set backs and catastrophes before getting my truck set up to handle road trips and being reliable. Not to mention, a small fortune in extra $ spent. If you need a wiring harness replaced, the 6 volt harness is heavy enough wire to handle going to 12 volts. Just some food for thought, however, make sure you add fuses if you are using the old style 6 volt harness. (Speaking from personal smoke experience)

Another suggestion, Skipper ... Why don't you come up to Winchester next weekend and meet all of us? Even better if you can bring your truck (on a trailer?) The ODSS will be there almost completely. A lot of institutional knowledge to tap into while staring at the campfire .... Meeting, and getting to know, the people behind the screen names is never a bad thing ...

Please join us.

hardshell- I'm going to 12v, and am tipping every last bit of wire out. It's badly rotted and was already letting out some smoke. I installed a continuous duty solenoid to power on a bladed-fuse style power distribution panel in place of the old glass fuse setup.
.
john- trust me, I wish i could. The wife has already set the weekend up with other social obligations.
.


•head cleaned up and reinstalled with new head gasket
•valve train reinstalled with broken rocker and three bent pushrods replaced
•tappet clearances set
•new fuse panel installed, continuous duty marine solenoid installed, new wiring from starter through key switch
•ballast resistor added to ign circuit ahead of new coil
•plugs and wires
•oil pan dropped, scrubbed, painted, reinstalled with new gasketry
•oil filter housing removed, stripped, painted, reinstalled with new canister filter
•valve cover, side cover, oil filler/crank breather all stripped and painted
*
now if i can just get this carb dialed in...

She's mobile! fuel tank installed behind rear axle, modified receiver from my '00 F250 to fit, 2 new front tires and four used rears mounted, found some new turn signal lenses, got a bunch of other bits to install:
door weatherstripping, starter boot, new steering wheel and horn button, shift boot, even got a repop tailgate, hinges, and chains... because I want to build a pickup bed. Which leads me to my next question:
Who's local? I'd like to come take a look at your factory bed and take some measurements. Anyone?