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Hi, got a 52 3100 for christmis got the 216 running and it sounds great , do You start with the frame or the cab ? I have restored harlys , but have no idea how You find out what color the truck was or the int color . need help , Pete

Check out over here in the Tech Tips to maybe get an idea of where you're going to start.

Welcome and congrats on the coolest Christmas present a person could ever hope for

Congrats on the awesome Christmas present. That's a lot better than a tie or new socks! Got any pics? Gotta have pics!

Probably the quickest way to get an idea of the original color is to look at the firewall (if yours has already been restored once that may not work). My observation has been that most folks don't paint inside the engine compartment unless they're doing a restoration. Of course there will be exceptions to that rule but that's my $0.02 worth.

On the interior color I know that there were standard colors (a champagne color for at least awhile) but I don't know if they stayed with the same colors for an extended period of time. Right now I'm planning to paint mine the same as the exterior but that may change. I'll just have to wait to see how long the process takes and how much things cost.

Thanks, the firewall is dark blue , rims are green , int. looks like a lite gold . Where is the best place to get replacement body panels . Pete

Kind of depends on what you want to do with it. Are you planning a full restoration, hot rod, or do you just want to drive it for a while? When I bought my '46 in 1985 I figured I'd drive it as it was and gradually work my way up to restoring it. I'm still driving it with the same paint that was on it in '85 and I've never taken it out of service for more than a month or two during that time. I'm just saying time can sneak up on you. I did get all the mechanical work finished over the years and I really enjoy the truck. I've just started on a '51 GMC that's been sitting for over 30 years, guess you could say I'm hooked.

If you've not driven a truck of that vintage much, drive it some if it's capable of it. Personally, I don't mind slow acceleration and a lower top speed, but you may find you do, especially if you're used to bopping down the blacktop on a Harley. If that's the case, you may want to modify it some. You've got a 4:11 rear end that will really limit your top speed. Also the babbit pounder doesn't like high revs. I went with a Patrick's 3:55 and am running 7.00 x 16 tires. With that combo I can cruise at 62 pretty much all day. I've also got a '54 235 insert bearing engine (my original block was cracked so the decision was made for me to change out the motor). These are either concealed changes (the ring and pinion) or period changes (lots of people switched out the babbit pounders for insert bearing engines in the '50s and '60s). They make the truck much more drivable on a daily basis, but don't alter it too far away from what it originally was. Personally, I'm not a hot rod fan, but it's your truck and you can do with it what you want. Different strokes, you know.

Good luck with it. This is a great forum for questions as is oldgmctrucks.com. Much of your truck will interchange with GMC, except engine, grille and a few other things.

David Bush

Can not drive it, it needs work , plan on restoring , also going to keep it stock dont.need to be anywhere fast just going to cruise. Same thing I do on my harly got older and injoying more.

You're after my own heart there. When I'm driving the truck I enjoy the trip sometimes more than the destination.

Got brakes? How long since it's been run? Pictures?

David B

its was 10 years since it was running , do not know about brakes , some marvel mistery oil in spark plug holes and hand cranking for 5 min. and fresh gas and it started right up . Needs alot of T.L.C. and a big hammer. I got the time to do it ,Pete

Tell you the truth, I'm learning a lot about bringing one back from the dead by being on these forums. I've already been saved from myself several times by some helpful folks here. If I can pass along anything from what I'm doing on my '51, let me know.

I've had to do a total brake system replacement. Stayed original - seems to be working fine. Radiator needed to be recored. Just got the gas tank boiled out (lesson learned there - man, that thing was full of crud). Carb off for rebuild. New rear axle oil seals. Typical stuff too, like points and plugs, dist cap and rotor, condenser and new plugs (R43s for you?).

I need to flush my cooling system one more time, then get it hot and dump the oil so I can pull the pan. I understand that those pump filter screens can get clogged up with sludge. Want to see for myself.

Good luck with your project. It's fun, ain't it?

David Bush

Congratulations on your Christmas present. Santa was never that good to me so i had to get the truck on my own!

If you have it running and it has a muffler, you will be able to tell some things about the motor. You can see if it puts out blue smoke and also listen for bearing knocks. Sometimes it isn't necessary to rebuild the motor.

In general, on my truck, I tried out everything mechanical that I could, excluding the brakes. The brake lines had rotted off so there was nothing to test. I did put the rear up on jack stands and tried all the gears.

Good luck and have fun.

I also plan on restoring my truck. Been doing research for a year to get my game plan down and saving money, since it is my daily driver I dont want the truck to be down too long. Therefore since it is driven daily I wont be doing a frame off but I still want it to look like new. I will be going with fresh paint inside and out, minor body work,new weatherstripping and such. I can do all the work myself execpt the paint, better leave that to the big boys.

Hi, engine runs good and no bad sounds . Do You happen to have the new oil filter nos for My motor ? advance auto parts can get the filter but they show 3 of them . Thanks Pete

There are a number of different sizes and styles that were used on that motor. The oil filter was an add on. You could open it up and get the number from the filter. That number could be used to cross reference to whatever brand you are buying.

I looked no # and parts store can not give Me sizes I might just order all 3 and than I would know # , I thought somone would have the new #s for the filter or site would have a cross referance page . Pete

Pete52,
you can get cross reference data from sites like this:

http://www.wixfilters.com/productinformation/index.html

Just Google a Filter make with the words oil filter.

Wow cool Christmas present.

Original colors are cool and the firewall is the best place to look as said earlier. But the choice of a color should also be something you like too. (My truck was originally Blue, however, the history (been in the family for decades) was as a hand painted green truck with a hand painted mustard color in lieu of the champagne interior. So we painted it Green/black but used the original interior color because we liked it. We decided to keep the "white" grill and bumper.. not the original colors but something that pleased my wife.

Have fun and do what makes you happy. Everyday I see my truck and smile, so I know id did it right :-)

I am going with the blue I found a paint shop, sher. williams that has the original colors in 52 . Got the right oil filter and going to run My 216 to temp tomorow . I will try and get pics on here but not the best on computers. Pete

way to go pete, welcome aboard, ask away
take lots of pictures and post them to any number of sites, webshots, photobucket
http://photobucket.com/
to name two. you can link those to this site and keep/ ask us questions when you need help, get stuck, or finish something.

the firewall is the best place to look as said earlier.

actually if you look under the hood hinges is a great place to ID the original paint.
everything on CT's truck was gone, stripped down, worn away, zilch, nada drop of original paint. just a butcher job.
she's almost done. so it took 5 yrs.

wow where do you start. how much doe ya got?
you should access what's wrong w/ what you have first.
safety items first
then.... open your wallet.
tranny?
electrical?
Don't sweat the small stuff. start collecting what it is you think you're going to need once you see some light and HAVE A PLAN.
label it and squirrel it away till you get back to it. take pictures as you take things apart so you will have some idea of how it all goes back together. then more pics when each thing is done

if you start w/ the cab you're going to lift it off or just leave it on the frame. there are all sorts of rubber pieces you'll need to change out. do you like the color it is now. sounds like the dash is original color. do you want to blast the exterior?
are /is there bad body areas. i'd probably start w/ the cancer ridden spots first.
how's the frame?

''''''''I will try and get pics on here but not the best on computers''''''''''
there's an page called >> IT shortbus department
https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=24&page=1

Climb aboard the IT Shortbus!

Thanks it looks like it was blue , dark blue so thats that. I am going to pull cab off in spring , started engine today , changed oil and got new filter from NAPA it turns out it has a L5 oil can with a NAPA filter # 1010 its 3 3/4 inch wide by 4inches long, so anyone that has a L5 can can use this # . The gasket was wrong size but easy to make one. Run her for 45min, ran great . I need to start buying body patch in parts does anyone know who makes good fitting parts. I want get some parts ready for spring. Thanks Pete

Pete,

Hello and welcome. I probably can't help you much as I'm kind of worthless on computers, too, and my philosophy of restoration on trucks is the same as for bikes: Make 'em work for a few years, and earn their paint. That is the process I am in on my '51 1-ton pickup, Epic #2:
[IMG]http://inlinethumb30.webshots.com/44253/2078187180096215731S200x200Q85.jpg[/IMG]
This next one is a gag pic of Epic #1, my old 1953 1/2-tonner, gone now and working on a farm somewhere in the mountains not so far from here (British Columbia, in western Canada)
[IMG]http://inlinethumb26.webshots.com/41241/2946605290096215731S200x200Q85.jpg[/IMG]
If you left-click on either image, a bigger one will come up in another window and you'll be able to see more detail: for example, #1 was backed into a semitrailer loaded with that lumber. Looks real enough from afar, though, don't it? I had that truck for eight years, and for the last two she was very shiny and pretty.
Now, they say to post links instead of images on this site, because images take too long to load for folks with slow, uh, net thingies. If you post a big picture they'll change it for you and grumble the same old tune.(Sorry, Cletis.) But so far I've had no luck posting links, and little pictures like this one, they leave alone for some reason. Now, I also do not know why the word links shows up on your screen in blue and underlined, because I surely did not make it that way. If you left-click on the blue word you'll get a whole 'nother screen you might find interesting. But if you don't, then click the "back" button at the top left corner of your screen and it will put you back here. Another thing I know is this: Photobucket is a better picture hosting website than Webshots, which I am still using even though I have a few pics on Photobucket and somewhere in my plan is to change 'em all over. But like I said, I am no more than a wannabe computer weenie, and I might die that way.


Now, you will see from all my pics that I am no stickler for accurate, museum-quality restorations. I like machines that work, and I like to make 'em so. Maybe one day I'll get better at this computer, but for the moment nobody is upset at me (I think) and I have other priorities.

Nice Trucks, this is going to be My frist truck , build nice, but I am not going for the all original stuff , do not have the money.I am going to have buy some reproductin parts , it just has to be reliable .Work on the body and frame original paint colors on ext. and int. I have a good engine and trans already . Thanks Pete

Hi, I see You did alot of work on that truck , nice truck, do You think I should start on sand blasting and redoing the frame frist or do the cab work first? Pete

Restorations are usually done starting with the frame, hence "frame-up restoration". I hope you can stand being away from driving it though. If mine had tires I'd strap some wood to the frame to sit on and drive it to work

Not mine, GMCdp.

Pete, I think you should start with the brakes, suspension, tires and steering. Then lights, mirrors, wipers, gauges and like that. Then you should drive it for a year or two, and decide which direction you want to go next. But it is your truck, not mine.

If he's going to be working on the brakes, suspension, tires, and steering, why not blast and paint the frame?

I agree, though, about driving it for a while, first.

Then again, I didn't think about having to pull the engine and body. I guess when I did mine, it was so bad I blotted it out from my memory.

Thanks, it was not drivable when I got her. So it truns out that the Guy down the street just finished a 51 on his He did the cab frist , but everthing I read said to do the frame first , and it made sense . So now when I finish the frame ,I can have somwhere safe to put things like the engine and cab as I finish them and it will be better to paint the cab ent. and ext. on the frame. I am in the next couple weeks start getting some of the body parts, and all the parts for the frame, brake , king pins ,lines, already have somone to do sand blasting Ill do my own painting , Pete