I had the engine rebuilt at a local shop. The guy running the shop had quite a reputation of knowing the straight sixes. He did an excellent job. I had him put on the original harmonic balancer so everything would match up. I put the original 6 volt flywheel on because i wanted to keep the starter with the floor pedal. I used the original 6 volt starter even though I'm converting it all to 12volt.
I got a new short water pump and had to also get an adapter plate for it to work on this engine. There is no way I could get by with a longer water pump because the fan is right up against the radiator as it is. There is no room for any change. I also used the original upper radiator hose and thermostat assembly.
Between the original manifolds and the spare one, I chose the best one. They both had cracks. I took it to a local welding shop to repair it. After repairing it, he milled the mating surface flat. This caused a gap between the intake and exhaust manifolds of around 1/8". I drew up a spacer plate in Autocad and had a machine shop make it with a CNC plasma cutter.
Last edited by Farmdog; Mon May 15 2023 02:28 AM. Reason: Fix spelling and wording
I blasted the rear part of the frame. I did the same treatment as I did on the front section.
I struggled and struggled trying to get the shaft that the pedals pivot on to come out. I thought it was a press fit and I could pound on it to get it out. I didn't want to go baliistic and break something. I did a bit of research here and found that there is a roll pin holding the pivot shaft in place. Once I found that (it was hidden in gunk), I was able to drive it our and the shaft came out nicely. I was able to clean it all up. It was pretty hard to move the pedals before, there was a lot of old dirt and rust in there. I don't think I could have gotten them working well again without taking it all apart.
I rebuilt the transmission (basically cleaned it out). It didn't really need much. I cleaned up the case and powder coated it. I also got the bellhousing cleaned up and painted. I assembled some of the pieces.
1970 Chevrolet C10 - Grandpa’s- My first truck.—in progress to shiny 1972 Chevrolet C20- Rusty- the puzzle box lid for the C10. 1950 Chevrolet 1300- in progress to shiny. 1962 AMC Rambler American- my wife’s
Parts trucks- 1951 GMC 9300 1951-GMC 9430 1951- Chevrolet 1300
The heater was attacked next. I don't know if it's original or not. I totally disassembled it. There was a mud dauber nest I had to clean out of the heater core. Some of the shafts that the flaps were on were worn down where they went through the housing and rusted pretty bad. I tried some muriatic acid on the flaps and the fan blades. That seemed to work pretty well dissolving the rust. I then washed them off good and dried them thoroughly. I media blasted the heater housing. To replace those worn and rusted shafts, I carefully ground the welds and old shafts off the flaps. I used new 1/4" rod and welded them in. Once I had everything cleaned up, I powder coated the pieces.
On reassembly, I put in new rubber grommets and springs. I also was able to source a new motor. I just cleaned up the nameplate as best I could without destroying it. Fortunately, the original knobs were in good shape, so I reused them.
It actually came together quite nicely. I like working on a small section of the project like that to be able to feel like I'm making progress.
I took the rims to a local company to have them blasted and powder coated. They did an excellent job.
The previous owner had some drive tires that he just gave to me. I was amazed at how good they were, that saved a bunch of money. I had to buy a couple of new tires for the front. When i went to get them mounted, I had to buy a few of the flaps ( I think that's what they called them ) and a few new inner tubes. They ended up looking really good.
I got the engine and transmission mounted. I got a few of the engine accessories mounted. As the transmission sat, I found that it was leaking oil. It was leaking through some of the bolt holes. So I took it apart and sealed all the bolt holes. The seals seemed to be holding ok. So far it's still dry on the outside, so that's a good sign.
I had several carburetors so I chose the best looking one. I ordered a rebuild kit for it. I completely disassembled it and cleaned it up. I put in the new parts and reassembled it. I got it installed on the engine. I removed the governor and didn't reinstall it. That changed some of the connections, but nothing I couldn't adjust for.
