The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Progress on the 64 GMC

Some good progress on the 64 GMC it’s running sweet I had an Edelbrock Performer kicking around the shop so I put it on. When I got the truck it was leaking water all around the intake so I figured what the he!! That Performer just been taking up space for years.
Need to fix the brakes. They are a little weird seem to work and stop fine three out of four times. When they decide not to work the peddle goes to the floor like it had lost all the fluid. When it dose this you can pump all you want and nothing. Let the truck sit ten minutes and they will work fine three maybe four time again. Anyone have any ideas? When I brought her home she had no fluid in the master cylinder. I found a line (for a trailer brake unit) that had a break in it. So I eliminated it added fluid tried to bleed the system and seemed to get no where. I moved on to the motor work and when I got the truck running the breaks magically seemed to work. I thought this was strange but figured that it was cause the hydo-vac had vacuum. Hope someone here can give me a simple solution. The transmission is also in need of a rebuild. It growls really bad in first gear and it takes all a guy has to hold it in that hole. Seems to be fine second third and forth. I took a few more pictures of her and they will be on my Web Shots page. I told my self I wasn’t going to get as carried away with this one as I have with the 56 but it’s tuff. Maybe I need an intervention! Na that’s dumb I don’t have a problem. Do I?

Ok got the brake problem solved. Turns out that it was air in the system why it was intermittent I may never know but they work good now.
Pulled the transmission from the truck it was in pretty bad shape I found so I am swapping it with the one from the 56.
Got new light boxes for the rear, have a friend coming over to help rewire it this weekend. Then it will just be a flat repair insurance license and tonnage away from being put to work hauling bark and shavings for horse stalls. Then I will direct my attention back to the 56 so I can get her on the road.

Hey, Grant, congrats on working brakes! Nice to be able to stop. NICER to be able to GO in the first place, but stopping is definately a bonus. ;-)

I'm trying to absorb as much of others experience as I can . . .

What are the details on your transmission problem? What turned out to cause the grinding, and how did you know? I've never opened one up, in fact, I was pretty proud of myself for being able to pull the shifter out of the '44 tranny I'm about to remove!

Well Mike it was pretty obvious that the transmission was bad with the first short drive. It wouldn’t stay in low and made a terrible sound. When I pulled the top off it I found that first gear on the countershaft assembly was missing about half its teeth. That is the small gear on the bottom shaft at the rear of the transmission. I also found a bad carrier bearing on the drive shaft. So that went out for new u-joints a bearing and balance.
My simple wiring job turned into a four day complete rewire. Wow now I see the value in the easy-wire loom I got for the 56. Oh well my friend Jim did a beautiful job and the truck now has amenities that it didn’t come with like courtesy lights and a good sounding stereo. We also added a CB radio and a new electric brake controller. But constructing a wiring system from scratch will nickel and dime you to death.
Well all in all give me two more days to get her on the road. I have to have the seat reupholstered too before I am impaled on a spring.

"When I pulled the top off it I found that first gear on the countershaft assembly was missing about half its teeth."

Yeah, I reckon that's a pretty good indicator of a bad tranny! LOL

As far as seat springs go, I'd say the seat is ultimately the most important part when it comes to a truck's drivability - both the truck's, and yours!

Sounds like real progress . . . I'm impressed, and envious. Thanks for the update. Best of luck.

-Michael

Well Northwest Drivelines still has my driveline said it should be done by the end of the week. That’s five days now :mad: .
Today I put new 1X3 oak cushion strips on the frame for the box to rest on. That took some time, had to counter sink the carriage bolts and drill holes about halfway though with a ¾ forcener bit for all the rivets in the frame.
Also got a new short speedometer cable the one from the two speed shift too the speedo. And put the PTO back on.
On another note I stopped to see the progress on the big block for the fifty six should be bringing it home next week .
Well by for now I am going to go surf the site a bit and go to bed :p .

Well the 64 or the big ugly as I have affectionately started calling her worked a 5 hour day hauling bark today. She preformed well hauling three full ten yard loads for a total of 231 miles at 77 mile round trips.
Her only flaw is her 5.2 mile per gallon mileage that is an average for the hole day. I was however able to hire her out for $55.00 an hour so she is still able to turn a profit at forty-three.
She is scheduled to work tomorrow barring we don’t get rained out. The development that we are working in will not let us work in the rain do to mud getting pulled out on to the asphalt and the contractor doesn’t want to pay for sweepers. And this is rainy Washington.

Here is a few pictures of the new rear lighting and one of the frame cleaded up.

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2634766050096773078xQzAEF

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2456941660096773078qZLQUV

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2559633880096773078IQMBFS

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2751323230096773078MgLFEi

Well the Big Ugly has been working for me for two weeks and has preformed flawlessly. So today I am going out and giving her a good floor with some gray boat carpet that I have had kicking around the shop.
The 496 stroker for the 56 is done but I have to make some more money too bring it home. I have been spending like the word was coming to an end. Have picked up some good jobs and the work keeps rolling in so hopefully I won’t have to put another notch in my belt before some of the money starts to come in.

I didn't know it was as e-z as over spending to loose wieght. Something is wrong here, I spend but the belt still only gets longer. :hammering:

great new hauler Grant!

that 56 sister truck (2 ton flatbed, same color as his hotrod dump truck) that we both missed out on has found a new home in Castle Rock Wa.
chris (seller) made a couple of nice comments on his ebay ad saying that you'd helped him get the brakes operable and that he'd thanked you again for your assistance. that's the stovebolt way!
kudos to you my friend. i know chris was very happy.
sure wish that truck had gone to you though.
cheers,

mike

Big ugly has treated me well so I had to reward her with a little face lift. Got all new headlight adjusters and hardware so I pulled her grill and blacked out everything behind it. Disassembled the grill sanded and painted it. I will reassemble it tomorrow then straiten and paint her bumper. If I keep going like this she will need a new name. :p


http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2511038850096773078mmuGai

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2913006640096773078oFAZCQ

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2650134700096773078FiyALC

She got new tires and wheels today, no more tubes! Just like the 56 she now has 10.00 22.5s same ribbed steers and waste hauler lug drives.
Sure looks and drives better. I thought it drove nice before but it's like a new truck now.
Here are a few pictures with the new treads.
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2620335470096773078dwBCSW
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2851092910096773078EtsNUf
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2496548880096773078YEfKAO
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2517733560096773078LsvZrP

55$ an hour!!! don't even get that much for my tandem dirt trucks around here. Told a guy 30$ an hour for my single axle dump the other day an he said it was too much. Must be nice.....

It's getting $60 now a 4 axle here brings $100 to $105 7 and 8 axle truck and trailers bring $120 to $135. The truck burns more fuel than $30 sound to me like those guys don't want to get there work done because at $30 you’re paying to work.

The format is scewed up posting it here but here is one of my fliers
Grant’s Hauling & Excavating
Specializing in small loads 3 to 10 yards up to 8 ton a load

Delivered Materials price
Ground Covers, loads to 10 CY 3 CY min.
FineBark $28 CY
Medium Bark $23 CY
Others on request
Most rock and soil Products up to 6 CY loads
Trucking Hourly rate $60
From start load to dump finish and return
Plus any dump fees.
Excavation work.
Trenching, Dozing, Site prep., Foundation holes, Landscape,
Rock walls, Ponds and water features
Excavator Hourly rate $90

Here's how I seem to have come out on my tire and wheel upgrade.
The wheels are Accuride P/N 28160 they are 22.5x6.75 and the tires are 10.00x20s they are 40" tall. The original tires and wheels where 8.25x20s and where 38" tall. The truck drives much better now and it seems to have picked up 1&1/2 to 2 miles to the gallon in fuel mileage. I think this is from a combination of going from bias to radials, the bigger diameter helping the gearing and a lighter tire and wheel combo.
The change was not cheep almost three grand but I use my truck for business and the improvement in reliability alone was a must and the fuel mileage and drive are an added bonus I am more than happy.
I didn't go 19.5s for two reasons one tire choice there aren’t as many tire available in 19.5 and two my 56 runs the same tires and that makes things easer.

Ok yesterday I set out to put the new motor in Big Ugly but as you know one thing leads to another and pretty soon you have half a dozen cans of worms opened. fist off I reassembled and recammed the motor that I had pulled from my 71 Chevy one ton. I gave it a Comp Cams Duel Energy 255 and added a set of their High Energy roller tip rockers. http://inlinethumb45.webshots.com/42668/27...S600x600Q85.jpg
If you remember it has been my plane to put this motor in Big Ugly for the better part of 6 months when I first thought that I had blown her motor up after over heating her really bad. Well I had gotten as far as pulling the motor from the 71 tearing it down and inspecting it but the old motor http://inlinethumb43.webshots.com/44458/27...S600x600Q85.jpg
kept right on going , it had very low oil pressure and consumed more than it’s share of oil but had good power. Well beings as the two motors had all the same casting numbers I had assumed that they would be the same well they are not. It doesn’t matter as far as the swap goes but I was hoping for it to be a great core it was still going with good power but I didn’t want to have a rod let go and junk it out. You see the motor from the 71 is a four bolt main a forged crank and 2.020 valve heads but as it turns out Big Ugly just had a run of the mill 350 two bolt cast crank 1.94 heads I could really care less if I had sent a rod though the block. http://inlinethumb03.webshots.com/42242/23...S600x600Q85.jpg oh well
Next I decided that I wanted to use the exhaust manifolds from the 71 because it had had new exhaust when I quit driving it and the head pipes to the back of the cab http://inlinethumb31.webshots.com/10974/26...S600x600Q85.jpg
would work great on Big Ugly then I would only have to get new mufflers and have tailpipes made. This was a great idea till I found that the left manifold from the 71 dumped right on the clutch linkage so this took some fab work if you look at the picture you will see where I cut off the leaver that goes to the clutch arm and welded it back on where it will clear the manifold and down pipe. http://inlinethumb17.webshots.com/41168/22...S600x600Q85.jpg
Then while I was cleaning her under hood I found she had a broken bell housing two out of three of the bolt holes that hold the starter on were broken http://inlinethumb32.webshots.com/33567/22...S600x600Q85.jpg
But I have another it has a bigger pilot hole but I also have an adapter ring that takes up the space between the pilot hole on the bearing support on the transmission. If you look closely you will see where I have glued the ring in with Lock Tite. http://inlinethumb16.webshots.com/42959/21...S600x600Q85.jpg
Well this is as far as I have gotten and you can see my excessive compulsive behavior is taking over and gets worse with every can of worms that gets opened up LOL. When it is all said and done I will have one good running and good looking drive train wrapped in a rusty pile of sh!t LOL oh well it has been a good truck.

mmmm! new motor in the 64' guess i need to find something big to haul! might be time to close the deal on those GMC motorhomes.

I wish I could get the truck in the shop it's raining today and I sure need to get this thing back on the road. I missed a day working on it yesterday had a job interview out on Fort Lewis for a position as a mechanic working on Stryker Brigade vehicles my business has been so slow I am going to scale it back and do it part time till the economy picks back up. I think the interview went great but they didn't have any start times for anyone as of yet Well looks like I am just going to have to get wet today I may have even picked up a job digging the foundation hole for the guy who interviewed me he's building an new house

Oh BTW Thanks to 10 micron for turning me on to the job opportunity I think I will fit right in there.

your welcome! did they call you back today? if not bet they call on monday.

Ok no it's not in yet I have run into one thing after another but I have done a lot of detail work on the motor and I think I have all the problems ironed out now and I took a few picture so here you go.
http://inlinethumb13.webshots.com/43980/2319701060096773078S600x600Q85.jpg
http://inlinethumb44.webshots.com/42411/2032538140096773078S600x600Q85.jpg
http://inlinethumb37.webshots.com/41316/2513753800096773078S600x600Q85.jpg
BTW please excuse the mess in my shop

Motor is in the truck only got to work on it for a couple hours so it is just bolted to the bell housing I will probably finish it up Saturday I hope.

Well it is 7:15 on Sunday here and just now starting to get light out the motor is running but ahs a few minor things that need attention before I can run her. Upon the initial firing I found a pretty good leak at the thermostat housing that I could not get stopped, the flywheel is hitting the tin cover and the new motor mounts that put the motor and trans at the proper angle cause the PTO’s shaft to contact the drive line brake. All the problems are minor and nothing that stopped me from completing the 30 min. cam brake-in. I got a new thermostat housing to solve that coolant leak and will go out soon to put it on and fix those other minor problems. Yesterday I put some temporary muffles on her, they make for a pretty leaky system but their only purpose is to get it to the exhaust shop for a proper job. I have a pretty full plate today and one of the things on my list is to take the tractor and tiller to Mom and Dad’s and help prepare their garden area for the winter and I plan on using Big Ugly to do this. I wanted to take some video of the start up but never found a video camera and it was dark out anyway, but my digital camera will take short 30 sec. video so I will try that today and get some short clips for you all.