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Are you installing a new heater core?

No, the original one was good. I tested it for leaks and cleaned and painted it. I guess I lucked out.

Found the heater emblem that was missing in action and got that glued on, as well as the decal for the defroster lever. I think I'm going to test the heater core one more time before I install that.

Was that the emblem that was on there both my round heaters have a different style of emblem .Could be the Canadian heaters had a different one . Looks nice 👍

Here is the emblems that are on mine they say gm but one was blue (faded)and one red. The blue one came out of a gmc and the red one was purchased by itself so unknown .

That emblem was one purchased from Jim Carter. IIRC, it originally had a decal type emblem on it. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the heater before I stripped the paint (and emblem) off it. But the emblem on it now does match the one on Brad Allen's heater that was also the green color that mine was. LINK
I tried matching the green color, but was unable to do that and settled on the dark bronze that matches pretty closely with other heaters. Here's a couple pics of the defrost nozzle area before I stripped it.

Yes I can’t remember the colour of one ,I painted it black but the other one is also that green that is a hammer type and a nice colour .I don’t think mine has the square indent in the center were your logo is .

May 2026

Got the rebuilt and modified engine set in place. Having some issues firing it. See Here.

Trying to get it back on the road for the show circuit and playing with it.

May 2026

Got the engine starting issue sorted out. A number of issues, like being 180 out on the distributor, and #2 and #4 cylinder wires swapped. Started an run for just a bit (no radiator in place yet.) Sounded good.

While the front clip is off, decided to correct the crappy fit of the driver's side fender to the cowl. The top bolt where the fender attaches to the cowl was too far outboard, so caused some serious gap-osis. So I cut a slot and tapped the front edge of the cowl panel in a bit (probably 1/4"). Welded it up, ground it smooth and repainted.

Also working on little stuff like installing the heater, exhaust system, flywheel cover, etc.

[on edit]A friend came by to help this afternoon and we got the heater bolted in (needed a spotter on the engine side of the firewall to get things lined up. Got the exhaust pipe and muffler in place. Tailpipe needs a tweak to fit right - will probably take it up to my muffler guy to have him do that. We also got the front clip set back on and most of the bolts loosely installed. Still need to install the rods from the firewall to inner fenders before I check the hood fit, but expect it to be good. My driver's side fender now fits MUCH better. I'm happy I took care of that. A chilly wind picked up and decided to knock off for the day. Getting close to being back on the road.

Looking good Kevin! I wish I had metal working skills. Your modification looks great.

Won’t be long now—you’ll finally be out there enjoying the fruits of your labor! It looks absolutely fantastic. I really hope your engine woes are officially behind you so you can just enjoy the ride. Here’s to many more shows and drives for years to come.

Congrats, you’ve earned it!

Finished up the few things that needed fixing after a test drive on Tuesday
Installed defrost hoses on heater, Final timing (was off far enough to cause overheating,) Topped off coolant, Valve lash adjustment, Checked voltage regulator (charging OK).
My wife rode along on a shakedown run to the end of town and back on the freeway (got up to 60 MPH, but dancing around a bit from fairly high winds). She took a couple videos, but nothing worth sharing (she got a good view of the heater - LOL! I doubt that she'll be producing any blockbusters soon.) Last item is wiring the heater switch - but saving that for later - enough under dash work for the day.

Got a few car shows coming up that I'll be attending.

Kevin - Glad to hear you got "ARC" back on the road. Looking forward to seeing some pics from your upcoming show visits. Glad to hear your wife got to go for a ride along and am sure if you give her another chance (while not riding - hahaha) she can produce a blockbuster video or two. It's is lots easier when the camera operator isn't getting shaken down along with the truck - LOL! Okay - I'll quit while I'm behind.

Well, that didn't turn out well. I made a ~80 mile round trip in the truck and when nearly back home, noticed the engine knocking. But I did get the exhaust pipe installed. After tearing into it today, it turns out two rod bearings were down to the copper, and beat up bad enough that they didn't fit in the rod cap correctly. My apparently self-inflicted wound was trusting that the rod caps hadn't been filed down and not checking the bearing clearance. The two crankpins are grooved as well, so the plan is to take the crank back out to the machine shop to get reground. I'm just stimulating the economy by buying more parts. And practicing rebuilding engines. Moral of the story - Check EVERYTHING!

Here's some pics of the carnage.

Dang it! At least you know the problem and can fix it.

OMG, Kevin! This is with you newly rebuilt, upgraded to full pressure engine?

Ouch, that has to be a kick in the .... - just when you were getting ready for your relatively shortened truck show season.

Oh no hope this the final ouchie.

Yes, this was with the 235 crank. I was hoping that the crankpins survived and I could have just replaced the rod bearing inserts. But that hope was pretty well dashed when I got a look at it.
Missing my first show today. Don't know how backed up the shops crank grinder guy is, but I'll guess it'll be at least a couple weeks before they can have it back to me.
I definitely learned my lesson on this. The first time, when the babbit rod burnt out, I trusted that the PO had set the clearance properly. Like I said, the second time was self-inflicted when I didn't check clearances on the rods, but trusted that with a newly ground crank and new inserts, clearance would be fine.

The crank has been reground to 0.030 undersized, and bearings are on order. Took the stripped block and rods out to the machine shop yesterday. Will deliver the bearing inserts out to them as soon as they arrive and have the professionals assemble the rotating assembly. Will hopefully have it back together for the big show the first Sunday in August.

I did the same thing with mine. The shop I took it to was highly rated so for an additional 200 dollars, they assembled it so all I had to do was put on the head and the manifolds. I bet it saved me a couple of weeks assembly time, plus they guaranteed it to boot. To me it was a no brainer!

Sounds like good news Kevin!

So since the machine shop hasn't gotten my short block done yet , I took a little time and wired up the heater. I bought a NOS switch that supposedly controls the fan speed and wired that in. A fun time under the dash getting the ignition switch out to connect to the accessory terminal. A few days ago I cleaned up the little switch ID panel and put some white paint in the lettering, sanded that off and hit it with some clear coat. A little disappointing that the lettering is kind of hidden below the dash, but it'll do. I may move the switch a little to the left to get it to a flatter part of the dash, but my vacuum reservoir is close by. The clamp for the switch is a little funky.

Another upcoming task is to redo the passenger side wing window. It was either cut too small or I set it too deep in the frame (the driver's side is fine.) That along with replacing the door panel that got wet and warped.

I am sure there were different variations of were the heater switch went but mine was a toggle switch and was mounted under the dash under the light switch side of the steering wheel ,I don’t think it would help though in seeing the heater print as it would be in a simular spot.

I thought about using that cigarette lighter plug spot just above where the switch is now but without that panel that say "HEAT". That would have gotten the wires up behind the dash. But it's not a big priority. If it works where it is, I'll go with it.

My '51 has a toggle switch under the dash, to the left of the steering column. It's a one speed set up obviously. Yours is much nicer Kevin.

Don't worry about being able to read the wording, you never look at that when using it anyway.

I need to redo my switch bracket as I have three elements, heater fan control, wiper control (electric), and defrost cable and they are too close together. They work but a little hard to get my fat fingers on any one of them.

Talked with the machine shop late last week and they wouldn't be getting to my short block assembly till Thursday 7/16, so it'll be a scramble to get the truck put together for the big car show on Aug 2. They do lots of work for the drag strip crew, so pretty busy this time of year. While moving my enginless truck around (got the driveway sealed), I noticed that the driver's side wing window gasket was damaged and it wouldn't seal. So that and the passenger side wing window which doesn't seal either will need some work at some point. Will probably wait till after the engine is back in to deal with those.

I am betting you will be ready for the02 aug deadline you do excellent work and looking forward to seeing your truck up and running for many years .You have already had your share of bugs and now it’s time to roll down the highway.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Kevin.

Another little bit done. I originally got tags for the starter and generator, but screwed up when stamping the number on the generator tag. A while back found a set of 3 tags and gave it another go on the generator. I messed up slightly on the "0" but calling it good enough. Just another little touch on the truck while waiting on the engine work.

I have some of those tags. How do you find out what numbers to use? I think you can put them on the starter and distributor?

I have an original tag that was on the starter and used that number on it. The generator didn't have a tag, so I used the number from a picture I got from someone's post here on Stovebolt. The tags have a spot for part number and serial number, although I think in the case of the generator, the 9G11 is a series number rather than a unique serial number (not enough digits, IMO.) My distributor didn't have any holes for the attaching drive screws, so didn't put one on it.

Don't try to stamp them freehand. clamped the tags between a flat piece of steel as a backer with an aluminum angle to rest the stamps against to keep them in line. It's still tough to get the digit spacing correct. Every time they're just a touch too wide.

Generator PN's can be found HERE and on the following page. Or feel free to use the numbers I did.
The attached pic is of the original starter tag.

That’s cool that they have blank plates available for the generator and starter .

HERE is the best deal for them IMO. A set of 3 gives you one to screw up (assuming like me, your distributor doesn't have the mounting holes.) LOL!

On stamping the numbers - I got a new VIN tag and stamped the numbers with a little kit I have and ruined it quickly. I took my new replacement tag to the trophy shop and they made it look nice for $10. If I do the smaller tags, I'll do the same so I don't end up with a mess. Kevin, Yours does look more authentic though.

Got my short block back today and got started reassembling. Installed the crank gear, camshaft, and oil pump with pickup. Found out I'm missing a timing cover gasket and no one in town has one, so I ordered one from Amazon to arrive on Tuesday. I think I'll make the Aug 2 show.

Great news! Sending you some good luck!

X2 for tossing some extra "good luck" your way Kevin!

Looking forward to hearing it goes smoothly from here.

Another session of assembling the engine. Got the head on, valve train installed, put on the QT adjuster screws and adjusted the valves. Installed the pushrod cover and touched up the paint that the hot tank at the machine shop took off. Waiting for paint to dry now.