The Stovebolt Site Forums Project Journals Project Journals 1953 Chevy 3100 - Restoring the Basketcase

A great milestone to be sure. I can relate to the engine complications while doing some initial test drives, mine went through a period of stalling at stop signs then a period when I had a significant hesitation on accelleration from idle.

I'm sure you will have it out and about and discover more "opportunities" over the coming weeks but getting it moving under its own power is a great feeling.

WICruiser, what was the problem? How did you resolve the issue?

I pretty sure that the problem was self inflicted, timing was aparently more retarded than I thought and when the vacuum advance dropped out (it was ported) the timing would drop bak too much. Unfortunately my distributor (cheap Chinese aftermarket) has apparently failed so I am waiting on a replacement to try again to get things moving forward.

My plan is to get the new distributor installed with the timing set at about 32 BTDC all in and change to manifold vacuum for advance. Once I get that resolved I will need to reset the carburetor idle speed and idle mixtures that will hopefully make everything good (fingers crossed).

After you get your replacement distributor sorted, I would be looking for one that was made it the USA!

Carburetor is not being replaced (Holly) but the distributor is. Grey Ghost, sorry for highjacking your build thread.

Hey Everybody, a quick status update. I found several vacuum leaks that were contributing to my engine quitting on me when driving. The first was a split rubber hose on the vacuum gauge itself! I had the gauge mounted on the radiator so I could see it when working on the engine and had never removed it. It's gone now.... Second leak was around the rearmost intake runner, where it mounts to the head. I was able to tighten the manifold mounting bolts and eliminate that leak. However, the engine still didn't run well. I did some reading of old posts and convinced myself that the Rochester BC had developed a vacuum leak. Since I already had a Carter YF2100 in reserve, I decided to do a swap. I replaced the gaskets and pump and then installed it. It does bolt straight onto the intake, but the accelerator rod from the original carburetor didn't align with the Carter. So, back to me trying to make my hands bend a rod in the shape that my brain says it needs to be.... What an exercise in futility! Let's just say it took me waay more time to do than it'll take any of you. However, it is now done. I set the carburetor settings per the instructions and fired the truck up. Moving from an automatic choke to a manual one is a learning experience. Fine tuning both the fast idle and normal idle is proving to also be a challenge. I got a little closer to correct today, but the engine is still running rough. I'm thinking that the timing may need to be adjusted with the new carburetor. I won't touch that until I get the best tune that I can on the carburetor. Anyway, I feel confident that the new carburetor is an improvement over the original style Rochester. Time will tell. One last note...when I took the Rochester off the engine, I found streaks of dried fuel running down from the airhorn screw holes that were on the valve cover side. I'm guessing if fuel could somehow get out, air could get in.

If you suspect a timing issue I would tackle that before worrying about getting the carburetor tune perfect. Timing should be relatively independend of the carburetor issues provided that you can run consistant rpms in the range where base timing is set.

Hey Everyone,

I took the truck for a quick lap around my street and had my wife shoot a video. This is the link to the video. I can view it on my phone (it is native to my phone) and my wife could see it in the link that I sent her. However, my laptop is having trouble with the video lagging. If it doesn't work, let me know and I'll try something different. I did this test drive before making any further adjustments to the YF2100. At the end of the drive, I could definitely smell something hot. To me, it smelled like brake shoes or clutch material. The smell was strongest around the rear of the truck. While driving, there were definitely some pops in the exhaust. It moves...but I've clearly got some more work to do. Thought and/or suggestions?

It Moves!
Your wife is a better videographer than mine for sure. She only got a video of the heater LOL!

I'm seeing some smoke that looks like oil burning out the exhaust.

The video worked for me. I've seen Berryman B12 Chemtool wake up some pretty stuck rings to cut down on the smoke, so that might be something to try. Seafoam might also work. Might just need to be driven. Great work!

Video worked for me also. Great to see it moving and agree it looks like oil smoke coming out the exhaust, perhaps more as it ran longer.

During the timeframe prior to this event did you treat the cylinders or fuel system with anything that may be burning off?

Yay for a successful test lap and video of the event. Works fine for me too.

It's a mosquito fogger - lol! I couldn't find any details on engine work other than the posts related to the oil filter, carb and vacuum leak. Was this engine rebuilt, or a used engine that hasn't been looked at inside yet?

The oil burning could be from lots of possible sources. Too hard to tell without more info/background on the engine itself.

So glad to see your truck moving under it's own power. I'm hoping to get mine out there and have a similar video soon.

Hey Everybody,

No engine work has been done by me! I actually know nothing about this engine other than I got it from the salvage yard during the cash for clunkers program. It was pulled out of a 1961 Impala. Being a car engine, it has hydraulic lifters. That's the sum total of what I know about it. And yes, no mosquitoes in my neck of the woods! 🤣

Hey Everybody,

Time for a quick update. The front clip is back on the truck! Other than treat some of the underneath rust, I did nothing to it. All of the original dents are untouched. They are survivor badges of honor for a truck that is planned to be driven. Up next? Radiator and oil filter. The original radiator had developed a small leak when I drove the truck around in my video. The original bypass oil filter was for the 1961 Impala that this engine was originally in. It did not fit when the front clip was put into place. The inner fender hit it. I thought about moving it forward on the intake manifold (originally it was mounted in the center), but the Fenton headers are in the way and I want to keep them. So, I'm switching to a spin on bypass filter. I found a Wix filter (51050) that has the restricted orifice built into the filter itself. It does not fit on a standard oil filter bracket, so I bought the correct one (Wix 24755). I also found a brass fitting that has the 1/16" orifice. Seems they are made for aftermarket turbos. I'll install the brass fitting on the return side of the bracket. Between the two, I think my oil pressure should be ok. I will have to make a bracket to hold everything. I've got an idea in mind and will show everything once it is done and in place. After the radiator and oil filter, I'll need to do the front end wiring and add the headlights. I have all of those parts in hand, so it's just a matter of working through the punch list. I've attached a pic showing the front of the truck and her current status.

Looking good. I understand and agree about the original dents, I have several of my own.

Inching ever closer.... Details when the wiring is done. Oy!

You’re making good progress, keep up the good work!

Hey everyone,

Time for a major update. Lots of stuff completed and lots of stories...it's me, there has to be stories. I'll break it into major sections.

Radiator

The radiator is in. It is a Champion radiator. I had a heck of a time finding hoses that fit. I couldn't understand what the problem was and one day decided to go to the company website and discovered that this radiator is for the V8 engine, not the 235. That explains why the hose necks were the wrong size. I have zero idea how I got the V8 version. The part number is the same for both, with the added "-6" for the 235 version. I've been storing this radiator since 2018, so I didn't bother trying to make an exchange. Since my engine came out of an Impala, the thermostat housing was already sized for the larger hose. Getting a pre-formed upper hose was easy. While I was changing out the housing, I went ahead and put a new 180 degree thermostat in and am starting fresh in that regard. The lower hose was a total goat rope. Long story short, I sparingly used the heat gun and warmed up the radiator end of the hose. Once warm, it actually slid right onto the radiator. Tightened up the band clamp and Bob's your uncle! The water pump side was already sized to fit. Hopefully, it holds and doesn't shoot off under pressure or burst. If it does, I'll look for a reducer and cobble something together. While the system was drained, I added the heater hoses. Those fit into the factory location with no fanfare. I also added the thermostatic switch to run the electric radiator fan. I decided to add the fan since the mechanical fan sits very low in relation to the radiator. I decided that I did not want to remove the water pump and add the relocation plate at this time. The pump is working, so I thought it best to let sleeping dogs lie. Given that the radiator is new and sized for a V8, I'm curious to see how the low mechanical fan performs. If the coolant gets too hot, the electric fan should do the job. If the electric fan comes on all the time, I may remove the mechanical fan and just use the electric. Time will tell.

Wiring

I decided to use relays for the headlights and electric fan. I'm not sure of what the advantage is, but everything I read pointed in the direction of using them. I hate to admit it, but this time I was going along. The wire harness that I bought years ago included directions for using them, too. Unfortunately, there were written errors in the wire harness instructions AND the relay instructions! It caused me days of delays while I tried to figure out what was correct. Learning this on the fly has it's downsides sometimes. Ultimately, I figured it out. However, before adding my headlight bulbs, I measured voltages at both headlight plugs for both low and high beams. The relays worked, as did my wire harness and headlight switch. The relay for the fan is also wired in, but I can't test it yet, as I still need to install the oil filter. Earlier, I had added a battery disconnect switch. I did this less as a theft deterrent and more as a battery saving attempt. It bothered me that the stomp starter was always hot, even without keys in the ignition. The disconnect solves that problem. It also gives me a convenient place to access battery power for the relays. The pics show a pretty significant rats nest of wiring. I really tried to keep it under control, but the relays really add to the mess. The excess lengths of wire indicate my lack of confidence in figuring this all out. (If I had to cut things out, I'd still have enough length to re-terminate wires.) So, the connections are all made and tested (except the fan) and everything works as planned. I'll try to corral the wires into some kind of neatness, but I'm keeping my expectations realistic.

Summary

I'm getting real close to being done. Next week (I never get time on the weekends...) I'll start the spin on oil filter installation. Bending the lines will be the challenging part for me. Figuring out the bends is always a mind bender. Today, when I snapped the pic of the headlights, that was the first time that I had seen that on my truck. When I bought it, the truck was still 6v and I did not have a battery to check out stuff like that. I have to admit, it feels really weird to be this close to being done with the "restoration."

Mike - Looks like great progress and am sure the head scratching was just so much fun - lol! (rolling eye emoji goes here)

You probably already know it, but maybe not, so I wanted to offer a tip I use when creating hard lines. Get a coat hanger and bend it to use as a template to figure out where you want the lines to go. Once you're happy that the lines will run where you want, then use the finished template to form the lines.

The process has sped up line making for me, with fewer do overs.

"Done" is a relative term to a phase in your project where you transition from the building stage to the forever keeping it capable of being driven/used stage.

It's a great milestone.

I fully understand about the wiring although in my case the extra wire is all under the dash and generally out of sight. I have had to try and trace some wires through the excess loops, etc. under the dash making me wish I had done a better job in that regard but then I move on and forget about it.

I spent weeks working through the wiring on my truck after using a 12-circuit universal kit from Speedway that didn’t match my configuration very well. Like you, I didn’t want to cut wires only to discover they were too short, so I cut everything long. Any excess length—and the circuits I didn’t end up using—were neatly coiled, tucked up, and secured under the dash. It stays out of sight unless you’re looking up from the floor, and it keeps the installation clean while preserving flexibility for future changes.


The only way I could reliably keep track of every circuit was by creating a diagram that listed the color and number of each wire. Having that reference saved a lot of time during troubleshooting and made it much easier to stay organized as the project evolved.


You’ll also be glad you used relays on your headlights. I installed relays before I tore my truck apart, and the difference in brightness was significant—truly night and day.


Finally, if you haven’t already, adding wire loom in the engine compartment helps neaten everything up and gives the whole job a more finished look.

Hey Everybody,

Time for a quick update. The spin on oil filter is installed and the lines were made and installed. I used the "wire trick" to map out the bends. It got me close to what I needed. After getting close, I needed to do some final adjustments to get an exact fit. Pic is attached. For the oil filter mount, I used the pic from "the other website" as as inspiration. I used 1/4" plate steel and cut it from a cardboard template that I had made. It is pretty robust and I think it should hold up well. I also added the plastic wire conduit and cleaned up the look of the engine compartment. I've still got wires going pretty much everywhere, but it is what it is. So...I'll do an oil change before testing everything out. Currently, the spin on filter is dry. I'll fill it up when I do the change. I also plan to crank the engine (with the coil disconnected) to bring the oil pressure up before starting it. I know the lines will take a second to fill up and I want to make sure everything is ok before starting it. The cranking will also move the fresh coolant around (and into the heater core). I'll top the radiator off, too, before starting. Then, I should be off to the races! My plan is to start the engine and let it idle and come up to operating temp. I want to check all of the new connections and the new electric fan before setting out into the neighborhood. If I find any leaks (oil or coolant), I'll address them before driving. Once I've driven the truck in the neighborhood and am confident in everything working as it should, I'll put the hood back on. After driving it, I'll post an update here and give all the details plus hopefully some pics. I'm also planning to do a "before and after" slideshow to attach to this journal. I'll close out the journal then and add some final thoughts. I welcome all that have read my journal to comment, good, bad or indifferent. I know that I horrified some and fascinated others. I'm interested to know what you all think.

Sounds like a plan.

You may want to tack weld the mounting bolts to the plate as the heads don't look to be accessable with everything mounted.

Put me in the fascinated column.

Hey Everybody,

Quick update time. I followed the plan that I outlined in my last post. I attempted to fill the spin on oil filter prior to installing it on the mount. I'm using the Valvoline VR1 20W50 as my oil, based on reading some posts in another thread. I had set the bottle in the sun while I was doing some other things, so it was warmed up when I got around to the truck. It poured easily out of the wide mouth jug, but barely flowed through the 1/16" restrictor hole on the filter! In fact, I made quite a mess when the oil surged out of the jug and splashed onto the filter. So, I just sat there staring at the oil not going into the filter. After about 5 minutes, the oil that sat on top of the filter finally seeped in, but I had reached the end of my patience. So I spun the filter into place after wiping it down, disconnected the coil wire and set about cranking the engine to try and fill the filter. It took a while, but the pressure gauge started registering pressure. Then it went up, then it leveled off. Time to fire the engine. Well, not so fast, partner! I have not mentally adapted to the Carter carburetor that uses the manual choke. The original Rochester carburetor was an automatic choke version, which only required pumping the gas pedal once to set it. After cranking the engine to fill and pressurize the oil system and then forgetting to set the choke, the engine would not start and I ended up flooding it. Bigly! By this point, I was out of time to work, so it had to sit. The other thing that I found out during this session was that the electric fuel pump was barely working, if at all. Normally, I can hear it. This time it was just a faint sound. Today, I went back out and gave it another try. The electric fuel pump does not want to run and fill the carb bowl from the momentary switch. I can kinda hear it, but it is very weak. So, I set the choke and cranked anyway. It took a second, but the engine roared to life. I say it that way because at the very moment that it fired, my neighbor was walking by and the sound of the split exhaust and dual muffler made her jump! Anyway, I let it warm up slightly, adjusting the choke as required and then pulled the truck out into the driveway. My goal was to turn the truck around and let it run up to operating temps to check for leaks and operation of the parts that I had recently installed. Turning the truck around went well and I pulled it into the garage facing inwards with the exhaust pointed out. I let it run. It took quite a while to reach 180 degrees, but eventually did and I checked the upper radiator hose and found it was hot. So the thermostat was working. The electric fan is on a 195 degree switch. It took a really long time to get to that temp. So the mechanical fan was doing some work, even though it only covers the bottom half of the radiator. Having a brand new radiator was also helping, I'm sure. While the truck was running, I worked the headlights. They were nice and bright! Then I noticed a leak inside the cab! I went around to the passenger side and there is a puddle of coolant on the garage floor! Time to shut things down, which I did! Long story short, I did a poor job of installing the hose clamp on the heater hose. It was on the wrong side of the bulge that holds hoses in place, so coolant was seeping out around the hose, dripping down the firewall, hitting the cutoff switch and flowing into the cab and down to the floor! Holy crap! As if that wasn't enough, one of the fittings on the oil filter also had a leak. Not nearly as bad as the heater hose, but one that I'll need to address before running the engine again. On the positive side, the oil pressure was at 30 lbs and steady throughout the run time. I also noted that as the engine came up to temp, the amount of exhaust smoke was reducing. I'm excited to get these issues fixed and get it on the road in the neighborhood to see if that is repeated when I'm driving it. So there you have the good, the bad and the ugly! Next up, leak repairs...and possibly a new fuel pump! I might wait on the pump and see if it breaks free while I'm driving around. I dunno!

I know that’s exciting. We always have minor bumps ahead of us !

Great progress even if there were a few hickups along the way. Looking forward to your report on the drive around the neighborhood.

Hey Everybody,

Time for a major update!

First, a quick update on fixing the leaks. Bottom line up front, they are fixed. Back story, I really had to flange down on those heater hose clamps to get a seal! The oil leak is down to a slight bit of weeping around one fitting. I can live with that.

Now the real news! I did it! I drove the Gray Ghost down the street! Made it up to a whopping 24 mph! Holy cow, she started wandering all over the place!!! Smoked like a 3rd world factory! Anyway, here's the video of the Gray Ghost driving!
All in all, pretty exciting!

That's the quietest AD truck I've ever heard. Where's the fan whine and valve racket?

The valves are easy to explain. The engine is from a car, so it has hydraulic lifters. It has always run very quietly. The fan is a mystery. I'm not sure what they normally sound like, but there is one there and spinning! The two sounds that I heard were the engine rpm's, which I use for shifting and the whine of the transmission gears. It'll sound weird, but I really like that whine! These gears sound different from any other manual transmission I've driven. They sound heavy duty, or something, but definitely different! I'm hoping to try a longer drive tomorrow. Assuming everything goes well, it'll be time to put the hood on and wrap things up, from the project journal perspective.

Mike the drives sounds I hear in your video are normal, at least in my experience with my '51 when I was last able to drive it (pre-main bearing failure ). Glad to see the progress on your project!

Ya, the fan is more of a roar rather than a whine. Probably with the hood off its a little quieter. I was really just making a joke but the hydraulic lifters sure make it quiet.

Drive was pretty cool - sounds like great progress!

Well, the difference 48 hours makes can be dramatic.... I started up the truck this morning and wanted to go to the front of the neighborhood, which is a little over a mile away. Pretty much nothing went right. The truck was idling very rough and sounded off. After letting it warm up some, I started off. I got to the other end of the street in the video and noticed that the truck was running very poorly and was absolutely belching smoke everywhere. So without hyperbole, I'd say it was smoking on the order of 10x what it had been the other day! So, I did a u-turn at that intersection and limped home. Straight into the garage. Now for the subjective part. To me, I thought the smoke was less blue and more white. I also noticed that it dissipated very quickly, unlike the smoke from the other day. That blue smoke kind of lingered. Clearly, something has gone wrong. My current thought is to pull the plugs and see if one (or more) of them looks clean or washed. I did check the oil and can't see any evidence of coolant in the oil. I'll also check the radiator to see if the level has dropped significantly. As luck would have it, I topped off the radiator before starting out today, so I have a good idea of the level before driving.

Please offer suggestions for diagnostic purposes. I can use the insight right about now.... If you all think a video would be helpful, let me know and I'll try to get one tomorrow morning. Sigh. I guess my project journal might have some legs left, after all.

Blue smoke is oil
White smoke is water
Black smoke is fuel - too rich mixture.

Pull the plugs. If they look like they've been steam cleaned, you have water in the cylinder.

Make sure there isn't water in the crankcase. It will be on the bottom of the dipstick as a white blob or creamy coffee looking stuff.

Crack open the oil plug and see if water comes out if the radiator is significantly lower than it was.

Start it up and run it with the radiator cap off. Are there bubbles or oil or anything else in there besides coolant?

I'm leaning towards a blown head gasket but you'll have to check a lot more closely.

Roger that, Otto. I'll report back when I have more information.

Here's what I know atm. I pulled the plugs. All looked like the pics of plugs EXCEPT #5. That plug was also covered in soot, but was wet looking. My initial thought was that #5 could be the source of the burning oil and blue smoke. I wiped the plug down and think the wetness was likely oil, but maybe it could have been coolant/soot mixed? I checked the radiator level and it was definitely down some, but not overly dramatic. I tried to have about an inch of coolant above the tubes. Today it's about half of that. Bear in mind, I topped off the radiator moments before starting the truck and doing the very short drive. So maybe 15 minutes of run time including warm up time. Some of that coolant could have filled up the system after the previous hose leak. I checked the dipstick for cloudy oil (pic attached). To me, it looked normal. I also checked the underside of the valve cover cap. Nothing odd there. I haven't run the engine yet, but I guess that's the next step. I'll try to get some video of the exhaust? Also, I haven't opened the drain plug to look for coolant, yet.

What else am I missing? Oh yeah, why is there so much soot on the plugs? Too rich? Oil burning in all cylinders?

Water/coolant will not show up on the dip stick other than an increase in oil level (water settles to the bottom).

Soot on the plugs looks more like fuel than oil to me but its hard to tell. Any chance that the carburetor was flooding causing very rich mixture resulting in the poor running and soot?

Coolant level is a difficult measure of coolant loss into places it doesn't belong. A coolant system pressure tester will help identify if there is a leak and where it may be.