The Stovebolt Site Forums The Side Lot Midwest Bolters Association Wrench-O-De-Mayo at Mongo's Garage

Wasn’t there a spring event at Mongo’s last year? Wrench-O-De-Mayo or some such thing?

Yes Nathan it was called Wrench-O-De-Mayo like you said. I did not go, but GDad did and posted a report with pictures.
I have not heard any talk about it yet this year.

Don

Nathan, There is another Wrench-O-De-Mayo event in the works in May. The KC Genuine Chevy/GMC Truck Club meets next Sunday and I think Steve (KCMongo) will let us know the details. Will post about it in the MBA Side Lot forum as soon as I have more details. It's open to anyone that would like to attend and you can either grab a wrench and get grubby or supervise from the sidelines, although you may take some ribbing over that - LOL!

Thanks Dan for the update. Now I ask that somebody move this Wrench de Mayo talk over to the MBA threads.
We are way off topic.

Don

Hey Don, this is a great spot to reintroduce, Kevin's How to Report of Post (a HOW TO: that's in the Shortbus). If you "flag it" here, the SoBo moderators will be able see it and move the discussion.

That's very nice of you to offer help in shipping from Carter's. Bolters Helping Bolters.

Hmmm... Not sure what happened with the flag. I moved this thread Don, less your initial post which still is in SoBo. Sorry I didn't PM everyone on this second part of the thread. Moving them from one place to another was enough. I'm guessing some MBA folks will also jump in here.

My fault for sending Don’s original thread down a bunny trail! Thanks, Mods, for cleaning up my mess.

Thanks Peggy! I’m sure there will be more talk about a spring gathering at Mongo’s Garage.

Don

JW ... oh, you were helpful in bringing it up. Good time to get it the discussion started.

Just a little update. Had lunch today with Steve (KCMongo) and George (Wrenchbender Ret.) and we discussed the planned upcoming Wrench-O-De-Mayo event at KCMongo's Shop. Steve said he has the flier drafted and will share it soon. Date is Saturday, May 11th 2024 with start time yet to be announced, but expected to start fairly early in the morning and last all day.

As of now, only 1 truck in the lineup for being worked on, so if the goals of brake repairs and possibly an engine restart after a long sleep are accomplished that will leave more time for socializing and telling story's. There will be lunch and beverages, just not defined yet. Open to anyone that would like to come as mentioned before. Will update as more info is available.

Hey MBA-ers. The Wrench-O-De_Mayo is the end of this week, ja? Do you have any more details you can share with us? Or is is posted somewhere else?

I have a tentative meeting with Steve (KCMongo) tomorrow. Hope to have an update with more details after that.

An update on Wrench-O-De-Mayo after getting together with Steve (KCMongo). As of yesterday, we have confirmed that KCMongo's shop will be open for Wrench-O-De-May festivities beginning at 9:00am on Saturday May 11th. The Genuine Chevy/GMC Truck Club of KC has rescheduled their monthly club meeting to Saturday to coincide with the event and all are invited to come turn wrenches, enjoy the club lunch meal and meeting, or just sit back and enjoy good company for the day. No flier to post this year as Steve has been a bit on the busy side - no surprise there!

For anyone wanting to come join in, but hasn't yet been to Mongo's Garage, you can locate it at:

800 S. Delaware St.
Independence, MO

Yesterday's get together with Steve included my 14yr old granddaughter behind the wheel of my truck, steering it out of the garage while I pushed to get it prepped for loading onto Steve's trailer. Loading, transporting and unloading went without a hitch as pictures below show it in stages from home to the shop. If all plans are successful, I will have fully functional brakes once again and a running engine. Yahoo

After a break for some Mothers Days celebrating today, here's a follow up to yesterdays Wrencho-O-De-Mayo activities at Mongo's Garage. Things kicked off at about 9am after an hour spent getting tools and materials set up in the shop. We had a total of 4 vehicles on the "Project Board", with the greatest amount of work planned for my truck, but included some routine service work on Bolter George "Wrenchbender Ret." 1972 Cheyenne Super C10. Also in the mix was "Maa's" '88 Silverado for air shocks and "Tim's" 1924 Model T for a bunch of work since there was space and the T was already there - LOL!

George's truck oil change and service checks went lickety split and the air shock install went real quick too (so quick I didn't get any pictures ). On my truck we started with the front brakes, replacing all the soft lines, wheel cylinders, shoes, springs and hardware. The drums where almost brand new and the only other activity in the front included cleaning and repacking the front bearings before getting them all back together and the bearings and brakes shoes adjusted properly.

We got the rear brakes all torn down, finding the hard lines across the axle needing replacement and took a break for grilled burgers and hotdogs for lunch provided by the Genuine Chevy/GMC Truck Club of Kansas City. Lunch was followed by a short Truck Club meeting before we got back to the brake work. Pictures below are just some of what I could take while elbows deep in the work. More in my next post.

After lunch and the Truck Club meeting, we got back at the rear brakes. Steve and Dave M fabricated new hard lines for the rear axle, got them installed and with the help of Tim S got the rear brake installation done and adjusted. The rears got all new wheel cylinders, shoes, hardware and the recently resurfaced drums. While they were busy with that, I replaced the master cylinder after a quick bench bleeding. At this point we had all been crawling/laying on the concrete floor for many hours. As none of us are spring chickens anymore, we decided that since we didn't have a pressure/power bleeder, there just wasn't enough low crawling energy left amongst us so full system bleeding will wait until anther day.

That left us with the still to be done "engine" tasks. With the help of Steve, Dave M, Tim S and one other Truck Club member we were able to get most of the engine stuff gone through, including an attempted first start after hooking up a portable fuel tank with fresh fuel. That led to going through the ignition system as we had little to no reliable spark. Replaced the condenser with one of Bolter Jon G's "Alternative Condensors", confirmed plugs/cap/rotor/points good as all were nearly new when the engine last ran. Coil checked out good so the coil and plug wires got a good testing with a multimeter. Turned out the coil to distributor high tension wire had an issue which Steve resolved by removing the offending end clip, cutting back the insulation and wire and reinstalling the clip to restore full continuity.

With all that done and the repaired wire in place, the engine started on the first try!!! Ran the engine for about 1 minute and oil pressure was right where it needed to be and no evidence of leaks or other issues. Shut it off and then restarted after a couple minutes, again on the first try. If I hadn't been sitting behind the wheel pushing on the foot starter, I would have been jumping up and down for joy. I had to settle for a little fist pumping and thumbs up to the rest of the guys.

To all the Bolters and Genuine Chevy/GMC Truck Club of KC folks that helped make this day awesome, many heart felt thanks!

Anyhow, here are the rest of the pictures I have. Steve had a friend taking pictures and videos of much of the work, but we will have to wait for him to post those once he gets them downloaded and set up. Will put all this in a saving place so I can eventually add to my DITY Gallery post at a later date. Hope you enjoy!

Nice! I’m jealous᠁.

Pretty fancy work there, with the rock guard on the rear brake line.

Nice 👍

Thanks for the update Dan!

How long has it been since your truck ran, Dan?

Nathan, the last time the truck was on the road running under its own power was in May 2011. Was when I was driving it home from getting it re-registered that the master cylinder failed while pulling into the drive way and barely missed ramming the garage door. Parking brake saved the day. Then life got in the way for a long time... But all is definitely looking up now!!!