The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts FNG with a '56 bolt checkin in.

Right on good to hear. I would like to see some pictures of that radiator. I am sure I will have to do something like that to mine. That big block is going to need a lot of cooling. Speaking of the big block I got my foot in my mouth by rushing my machinist, it's done now and I haven't the cash yet. I paid half up front and got a few jobs done that should will pay soon. But still I feel like a HEEL for rushing him and then not being ready my self.

Boy, been wonderin' when we'd here from you again! Good to know you're still in the game. Can't wait to hear you're "on the road again".

Here's a question for you: I finally got my 216 mounted on an engine stand - only took two weeks; did I mention I'm clueless?! - got her flipped over, pan off, looked at the soft underbelly of the beast. My buddy immediately spots an oddity in the number 3 rod bearing: There's what looks like a two-inch long piece of thin copper, sitting cockeyed under the cap, kind-of poking out at opposite corners.

Being clueless and all, I'm not sure what it is, but it doesn't seem like a spun bearing, it's too thin. It seems more like a "spun shim", only I didn't think shims were that big, and my buddy (he's a Mack guy) doesn't think they used shims, though I'm pretty sure they did.

Anyway, I know I'll find out what it is as soon as I get back to it in a few days. Just wondering what it sounded like to you.

Keep postin' . . . you're givin' me a clue.

-Michael

Hevy> I was gettin nervous about what it was gonna cost me and my available funding. THEN, Bank of America called me to let me know they were attempting to shaft me on a loan payment arrangement they never bothered to contact me about. So now I have 1400 more than I thought, and I paid off BofA & told em to get bent. Hopefully I'll have word on the head & block today tho, we'll see.

Mike> Oh yeah, still here & hangin on by my teeth. I wanna get this girl back to the dance in a bad way too! Have found that if I get it together I can make a fair amount of change hauling things to the dump for locals.
As for that oddity in the #3 cap, sounds like someone did a quickie fix on a knocking rod and it's come loose, kind of like a shim but worse. Go on down to Ace & get a sheet of copper, cut & cram, simple temp fix (they never seem to be temorary tho) that one can do with the engine in the truck. The real question will be what needs to be replaced to fix it? Thats the fun part!

You can see a radiator photo here , looks awful purdy too.

Stopped by the machine shop today, he hasn't done anything since the block & head were pulled out of the magnaflux machine. Says tomorrow he's gonna see how far the worst cylender needs to go before it's clean, may be sleeving at least two of them.

As for the head, he's waiting for me to get intake valves for him. I found a set of exhuast valves for $8/ea on Ebay that were perfect. However I got thrown for a loop on the intakes. they were listed as NOS for the 270, couldn't tell when I got them if they were exact matches as they were wrapped in 50 y/o comsmolene dipped paper and hard as a rock. Got them clean after a couple days in some B-12 Chemtool tho. Looked great, but while the head and shaft are the proper dimensions, they are about 1/4" too short & only have the retainer groove where the ones I had have the retainer and seal grooves. Thinkin they are for a smaller 6 is all, once I figgure out what they are I'll list them on Ebay, no real loss there other than time.
Sooooo, now I need to find a set of IN valves and soonest. Only set on Ebay thats correct is a lot of 5,... Does me NO good when all 6 of mine are shot. Lovely.

Good luck with the valves. The Rad looks good. How much more efficient is it suppose to be?
Well I am off the hook too, got paid from one of my bigger jobs today, so I headed to the machine shop to pay up and bring her home but it's not done. Guess the ball is back in his court. Oh well still need a bell housing and haven't pulled the 261 out yet.

Hevy, I could swear I saw a bell housing on Ebay yesterday, cant recall if it was for a 6 or 8 cyl tho. You ever offload your six, if not do ya wanna?

I think the valves I bought on Ebay are for an earlier 270 since I found identical items on another auction listed for the early 270's. Same seller has a set of 5 of what I need listed as later 270 valves, probably gonna have to buy them & do some praying that we can salvage one of the old ones.

The mad scientist called me about my generator yesterday, so today I went out & collected me freshly refurbished jenny. It lookes great too, everything has been cleaned & refinished, all new hardware, & from what he says it pumps out some serious juice.
Two items out of four, starting to get there.
Now, if I could just find the right flippin valves!! ugh!

Man, gettin this engine together is gettin to be a major pain. I'm trying to find a new 270 block thats in better working order than mine. Even if I have to pay a few hundred it will be a bargain compared to what it's gonna cost to have 2 sleeves installed in my block. I'm also interested in possibly changing up to a 302 since parts are MUCH easier to find for those.

Was driving my the local junkyard & spied a early 60's dump truck like mine in the back. Nicer box on it, but looks pretty complete, will be going to eyeball it & maybe see if I can scrounge some parts, still need some wheels to replace my two split rims and one bent rim.
I'll get a couple pix & see what they'd let the truck go for, not holdin out much hope as these guys dont generally sell complete vehicles to the public. Assinine rule, but whatever,...

I got the front wheels & drums off yesterday. Decided to cheat & pulled the whole thing off at once & took the wheel & drum to tire shop for seperation.
I dont think I can use the same trick on the rear end, but then again the two wheels and drum together are gonna be HEAVY! If I use my motorcycle jack to maneuver them it should slide off, just dunno how the axle comes apart since someone liberated my shop manual,...

The front brake shoes & drums look really good, the right side had been changed in the not so distant past, but both brake cylenders were rusted in place. I doubt they have worked for several years, hence the low wear rate. However, they look to be a 3/4" or 7/8" bore, & I coulda swore they were supposed to be bigger than that. Either way, they need to be replaced so I'll get the correct size & be done with it!

Some new images to share of the current state of 'Tater. Pic of the nose all stripped down

And here's yesterdays damages in work. Had to remove the hub, drum, & wheels as one unit so this is kind of a "how-to" series on takin apart the rear hub.
I started by pulling the hub cover off, and pull out the drive axle.
Once thats out of the way you can see the outer nut and locking tabs. From there you want to bend the tab back, and loosen the locking nut with a spanner wrench (or a hammer & punch like I did). Remove the nut, locking tab piece, and loosen & remove the inner nut, and finally remove the thrust washer, as seen in this photo.
Since I'm doin this with the wheels still on, this is what was tricky. I jacked the truck up enough so I could fit my motorcycle jack under both tires and take the weight off the bearings. Since I had plenty of clearance around the brake shoes, it rolled right off , easy as you please.
Loaded the whole thing up & carted it off to the tire shop to be dissasembled.

Have some light heat cracking in the rear drums, but like the front there's not alot of wear and the shows look really good. Unlike the front wheel cyclenders, the rears look like I just need to hone them a little, some light pitting & the rubber parts look pretty new. On the right side anyway, ran out of time & didn't get the left shoes & cyclenders off before the shop closed. Gotta wait till Thursday to get back to it now.
I did bring home all off the wheels, drums, & hubs so I can clean them up & apply some paint as needed, so I'll be busy enough over the next two days.
Fun stuff!!

Hey Freq2002 in your search for engine parts you may want to check with EGGE OBSOLETE ENGINE PARTS found them in an article in the new June addition of classic trucks called the old six fix where they are building a 235 Chevy six.

But it looks as if you are making good progess anyway.

So I was cruisin around on Craigslist & found some guy advertising a '52 GMC inline 6 with 4-speed toploader trans. He wasn't real up on what it really was, just guessed the year & thought it might be a 250cid. I figgure what the hey, I can go look at it & see if it's what I need, maybe get lucky & find something I can use for trade or part it out & get my $$ back.
Grabbed a list of casting ID info, look at the block casting #'s, & lo & behold, it's a 270, AND it's the right year series! Sweeeeet!! It had been modified to fit in some beat up IH panel van/camper, but it's all there. Looks like I could pop it in & start her up a is. It even has a vac-advance distributor on it I might use it for some comparisons as far as average milage goes.
Needs a bit of cleaning and some love of course, but I'm optimistic that between the parts I have and this I can have a motor back in the 'ol girl by the 19th. I'm gonna go tear it down for an internal inspection & swap parts as needed to configure it for my truck. After all that, I'll have some extra engine items I can clean, refurb, & offer for sale/trade.

As for what I have been up to, I completed the brake rebuild, still need to replace the front wheel cylenders tho. Wheels are cleaned & painted, all I have to do is bleed the brakes & adjust them properly.
I also just gutted the entire wiring system and am going to completely rewire it from end to end. Just debating on whether I want to get a new fuse panel from painless wiring, or if I wanna repair the original fuse panel. Any fuses at all would be a step up tho, this old girl didn't have ONE!

Hey Freq2002 good to hear you found the parts you needed. I jest rewired my 64 from scratch and if I had it to do again I would have used the harness I have here for my 56 and ordered another for it. I had thought about it at first but decided that it was too much harness for the rusty old 64 and did it from scratch. This ended up costing way more in the long run. If I was you I would call E-Z wire about a third the price of Painless and the quality is really good friendly fast service too. Looking forward to seeing you on the road with your old girl.

Oh BTW ez wire can be found at www.ezwiring.com . How about that?
Just fix this link it gos to the right place now

Thanks Hevy, I'll look at thier stuff. I was thinkin Painless just for the simple fact that I have one of thier 12-circut fuse panels in my Volksrod and it was real easy to wire in, esp. since I did it all from scratch.
Normally I'd say a harness would be the good route to go, but since I have all the materials on hand that I need, AND I'm a cheap bastage,... Yep, I'm gonna wire it from scratch with aircraft grade wire, yet still debating wether I want to dig up my supply of fabric wire loom or buy some outright. No matter, I'll be busy for a few days cleaning up this old engine and getting it configgured for my beast. Keepin fingers crossed I didn't just by a grenade,...

Spent last couple days workin on the new engine, & did find out the guy wasn't exagerating. I can plainly see that the pistons are just recently broken in along with a competely redone head, the rotating assembly is somewhat tight since everything actualy fits like it's supposed to.
So yeah, lookin at what I'd spend to get my old block in this position,... $900 was a good deal!

I still have it torn down and I'm getting it repainted, swapping parts, & ready to re-assemble once I get a gasket set for it. Once I have the gasket set, I'm gonna put the bell housing on & drop the short block into the truck before final assembly to make life easier on my aching back!

Here's a pic of freshly painted motor waiting for assembly.

Hey looking really good you may have it going for the August Pacific Northwest Stovebolt Rally. Sure would be great to see you there. I will be rolling on mine again as soon as I make the tax man happy.

Just a photo update. The motor, almost ready to be hung.
Finished up mounting the alternator, oil filter, and manufacturing all new stainless steel lines for the filter & valve train. Hopefully they dont leak, or I'll go back to copper, much easier to work with hand tools at least!

Yep, should have it in the truck tomorrow evening if all goes well.

However,...
I cant find my oil drain plug. It's HUGE, larger than 3/4", so I dunno how I could miss it. Kinda sucks, no idea what size it is and lookin like I may have to use a Mickey Mouse rubber expansion plug if I cant find it or a replacement. Joy! :p

Really nice motor picture. I like that color as it looks really clean. Nice work!

Looking too good to bring Mickey Mouse in to it. Nice job I am starting to get truck envy. I am thinking I should be back in to mine here soon.

I like the color better than the light tan or grey they used on fleet engines. Was just pokin around & found "General Motors Blue" paint by Duplicolor.
The pan & valve cover were done with POR15, adds some durability to the finish and smoothed out to a very nice gloss finish.

What I found interesting is I was going through my old parts and found that my coil seen in the photo comes in that exact same color. It's a 12V Bosch Blue coil, turns out a bit more power than the stock AC coil and matches the paint to boot!

I'm dyin here!
Being an industrial model, the oil pan on the opriginal engine had an oversized plug in it. It's 7/8's I believe, just know it's bigger thna 3/4,...
Either way, I seem to have misplaced the plug and cannot find it anywhere! Being it's an odd size and even odder thread pitch (almost seems like it's metric,...), I am stuck!
Pan from the newer engine has it's plug, but is all bent up. If anyone can help me out here, I'd appreciate it!

Welcome to the 'bolt.

You are in the right place here with that big ton truck.

-W

Freq2002, I live in your back yard and have a 56, 6500 chevy that I just purchased a few months ago. I'll be posting a message introducing myself to the forum shortly. If you get a chance, I live in visual distance to the North entrance of Sea Plane Basin, actually next to the Tree Farm. Give me a shout at [email protected] and we can introduce our selves and see our trucks.

OK, update time:
Found the right oil plug at a place called Motor Trucks over on the mainland, even got my parking brake shoes relined pretty cheap thru there as well. Place is pretty good source of bits & pieces, and it's right down the road from John Deeere, another of my fave odds-n-ends stores.

Have the entire drivetrain installed, needs a couple minor bits but it's operable. The current focus is completing the new wiring harness, all of which is now complete except for the rear lights & trailer recepticle.

Turned over the engine to test the starter, but not going to start it up until I finish reassembling the radiator core support and hook up the radiator. Even so, I am itching to shoot some ether down the carb and fire it up for a second just to hear it run.

Still have a rear end oil leak, and a small leak on the back side of the trans, but "so far" things seem OK. Still need to replace the front brake cylenders and the remaining original brake lines. While I am confident that I can stop this beast with the shaft brake just I dont want to do it unexpectedly, again,...

Overall, she's almost ready to hit the road!

Been makin a load of progress on the truck. have the electrical system almost complete, just need to clean up the wiring under the dash, wire the switch for the 2-speed rear, and wire the rear lights. I was happy to find that the
voltage regulator turned out to be good. A bit of cleaning and some paint for the cover and it's charging just fine.

Have a shot of the front end before I completed running the wiring and mounted the radiator. Makes a lot of difference when attempting to reach things!

Here I have a shot of the forward tin and core support almost done after I had it running and did leak checks.

So yes, I started the 'ol girl up today. I had the timing right on the button and she started right up with some ether. Once it drew some fuel from the tank and primed everything it started right up without any choke and idled great.
However, I noted on my checks that there was no oil pressure, no oil in the guage line,... So I killed it and started poking around, finding no oil pumping anywhere. Turned out the dizzy had not engaged the pump like I thought it had! :o Saving grace there is my attention to detail AND the fact that I drizzled the top end with Lucas Oil like I was frosting a cake, so it was still completely soaked up there and in the lifters.
Soooo, once I corrected all that I got the whole thing together and started her up again. Of course the timing was all hosed up, but once adjusted it sits & purrs like a kitten. A 8,000 lb kitten, but you get the idea.
Since the engine was running I gave the brake pedal a push, and you can hear the change in RPM as the vaccum changes from the HydroVac movement, one more small success there!

So yeah, you might say I'm pretty jazzed about this, pretty durned happy to say the least. Too bad the shop is closed Tues & Wed tho,... *sigh*

Oh man great to hear she's going can't wait to hear about the first drive.

I found out a couple interesting tidbits about oil bath air filters today:
1. Just coz it came with the filter housing, does not garantee the proper fitment of the filter canister. I discovered to my dismay that the reason my engine seemed to bog down when I hit the gas was the air filter was sitting too deep in the housing, allowing enought air for a good fast idle, and nothing more!
2. with a little quick thinking and a freind with a spare filter that just happens to fit in the housing, you can convert an oil bath filter to paper element in a few minutes!
Interestingly enough, you dont notice it unless you look reaaaaal close.

Otherwise day comprised of welding on exhaust hangers, refitting radiator hoses that did not like being moved when I correctly installed the core support springs under the X-member (& cleaning susequent mess, twice).
Only thing keeping me from driving it around the compound for giggles is the lack of an adequate seat. Kinda sucking for one since I found that the '64 seat is 4" wider than the '56. Ack!
Anyone need a seat? :p

Hey Freq I just so happen to have a 64 with a very uncomfortable seat. I also have a seat frame in that 57 parts truck defiantly would need a recover but I think the frame and springs are good.

Well wilya lookit that!
Looks like I'll be makin a trip to the sprawling metropolis of Roy next week Thanks Grant.

OK, trip to Roy next week then! :p

ANYway,... Have all the electric done but the 2-speed wires off the shifter, need a plug or something for those. But it is nice to have all my lights working again, adjust the brake switch and get a horn that makes an actual sound & I'm golden!

Had to rebuild the levers for the PTO & ram, looks as tho the PTO rod had been broken off a couple times. Just how hard do ya have ta pull on this lever thingy before ya finger out ya need to feather the clutch anyway? Duh! Got that in and hooked up, filled the ram with fresh fluid, and if I remeber to get gas tomorrow I'll fire it up & see if it still dones that neat up & down thing dump trucks are supposed to do. Would be nice anyway,...

Gutted the brake system downstream from the Hydrovac stem to stern, all the lines came out and the front cylenders. The lines were pretty sound, just wanna be safe rather than sorry!
Unfortunately, the flex lines & wheel cylenders ate all my $$ till the 1st. I'm leavin the country for a couple weeks around then, so looks like the old girl will have to wait for that 1st drive till late August,... *sigh*
As if that isn't bad enuf, the local car show is the 11th & I'll be gone for that too, 1st one I've missed in several years.

Photo update:
Here's a look at the modified air filter after refitting for paper element filter. It's just a 1/2" taller than the oil bath filter, but then the one I have isn't the correct one anyway.
Overall, looks good, works better.

Front view with the lights on and the bed up. Pump isn't leaking and the ram went all the way to the stops w/o a problem, so far anyway.

The ram seems to be in pretty good shape overall.

So what model paper filter is it?
...or if anyone else knows the model or perhaps one that fits better?

Actualy, I duno what part number it is. Just a WIX filter one of the guys at the shop had around, said it was for a Mopar 6-cylender tho.

You can always cross reference them by size too. Measure the lid diameter (Should be about 1/2" narrower than the housing), and the depth of the housing from the step and you should have the right fit. Could take yours in and try a few out too, may come up with a better fit than I did anyway.

Back from Guam, & glad to be someplace where I dont have to chew the air again!
Now, to get these brakes done and get her on the road again. Time to go scare some people!

Between working way too many hours and geting this ol beastie up and runnin, I've been purty busy round here lately!

-Got the brake lines all fabricated and installed. Did buy two prefabs, and of course one of them leaks on the drivers side where it goes thru the frame into the front flex line,... Guess I'll scrap it and bend a fresh line myself.
-All of the electrical short of the wire from the Hi-Lo switch going to the speedometer ratio adapter is complete. Even added a rear utility light and have the roof beacon wired in.
-Fixed the dripping rear end cover and have it filled up.
-Original bench seat is beyond repair, rails are the only part not destroyed by rust. Until I can get one that fits or modify my '64 seat, I picked up a single bucket seat from a '90 Jeep Cherokee and bolted it to the floor.

-And today, today I drove the old girl out of the shop and down to the gas station and back!
She's old, she's slow, she smokes like a chimney, but she's movin under her own flippin power durn it!!!

Have to adjust the brake light switch, it's not shutting off, and tinker with the carb. Smokes a bit too much and feels like it's bogging down. Thinkin I may need to play with the jetting a bit or my timing. Seriously looking at using the vac-advance dizzy I got from the donor motor to help even out that power curve.
Rear end is off a few degrees, think I may have a sheared guide pin in the main spring. Have to alighn the leaves and lower the axle a bit to check. Would be nice if it didn't crab SO much!

Either way, I dont care, it was really fun to drive her!

A silver blazer: "Wix Filters" part #42011

Hey Freq I do have a seat for you the best way to get a hole of me is to call me when you have the time and see if I will be around. Sorry I am so hard to pin down but my days are very unpredictable.

Hevy> I feel ya brother, you'd think with a set job my days would be more predictable, but as an old shipmate of mine once said "Of course I feel that my squadron is behind me, I feel em back there all the time!".
Yep, fun times,...
I'll give you a yell soon, we're gonna "Do the Puyallup" this week.
_______________________________

As for an update, we're pullin a 15 hour day today, so no workie on truckie. Got the heater hoses routed yesterday, & was gonna do the brake light switch today. Guess it will all wait till Monday when I hope to get the springs lined up and check the guide pins, then it's time to check her out of rehab for a while.
Need to talk to the ol retired chief that lives across the road & see if he'd mind me parkin 'Tater on his lot next to his tractor. They make a good pair, I even offered to buy the tractor from him. Has a front loader on it, get a lil utility trailer and I'd have the makins of a small load haulin business!
Gonna

OK, broke 'Tater out of the shop today. Drove her home and enjoyed every bit of it, even tho se was givin me some greif halfway there. Seems the carb is WAY too rich, may be float level or bad needle valve. I dunno, just know I was goin up a slight incline and it sounded like it was only hitting on 3 pistons. Sounded much better when I got it leveled out and up to speed. Still starts up good and idles nice, should be much better when I get the carb rebuilt and install the vac-advance dizzy. At least I hope so!

So! New photos!
Rear quarter view
Generation Gap
bed up from rear
Engine right side
Engine Left side
Inside the cab

Spent a few hours cleanin her up today. Buffed out some of the haze and added some wax, looks much better now!