The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk got some truck time today!

So my garage is not heated. I've been longing to get out & work on the truck all winter, but I hate the cold worse than I hate not working on it.

Well - Yesterday new door glass arrived & I couldn't resist any longer.

I got done up in my cold gear & headed out. After an hour or two I had the new glass installed & I was ready to take a drive. My wife had a list of groceries so off I went!

You know for a 52 year old truck it starts & runs really nice - even in the cold!

I did notice however there was a lot of gas fumes in the cab. If I am going to keep this truck much longer I'm going to change the tank to under the bed.

I wish I could get mine out even to go to the store I'm hoping to be done somtime in march.Have fun.

Pete

You will get there! Keep hope alive!

I drug this one home last March & it had not run in 15 years. I'm more of a get it running & drive it guy than a tear down nut & bolt restore type of guy.

Good luck with your truck.

Glad you got to work on your truck.
Why not change the neoprene hoses on the filler tube and make sure the hose clamps are tight.This should take care of your gas fumes.

I guess I could start with the easy stuff - but honestly taking the tank out of the cab makes room for the new seats I want to put in. Seats with seat belts.

Though - new hoses could work until I get around to the tank. How much do they cost?

Looks like $6.75 for the pair with out clamps at Jim carters.
fuel filler hoses

It's in the high 20s tonight and my garage would be cold as well. However several years ago I bought a 5 gallon propane tank with a burner. This keeps the garage warm, at least close to where I am working.
On Thursday I wire brushed my vent windows that I have been busy rebuilding. Yesterday I sprayed them with a rust converter/primer. Tonight I painted them with a gloss black. Tomorrow night another coat of gloss black. Monday a coat of clear.

If you have gas fumes in the cab,you have a problem.Somehow you have a bad connection,or something is not hooked up I correctly.For years the in cab gas tanks worked out just fine.Now I see that many of you posting here want to relocate your gas tank to an under the bed unit,which usually turns out to be a costly operation.And it is usually money poorly spent.I have two old Chevy trucks,a 55 and a 65 and both are heavily modified,and yeah both of them still have the in cab gas tanks.No problems here,as they are hooked up correctly and work just fine.If you have fumes start checking things out,the tank itself,filler connections,and gas gauge hookup.

Ok you bunch of Winter Pansies, I gotta tell you all about this. I stopped over to Pete's (pete52) to have lunch with him a couple of weeks ago. He was, as he has been most of the winter, out in the garage, with the big door open and no heater just working away as happy as a lark in his Sorel’s and a pair of gloves with the finger tips cut off so he could feel his way around the icicles. He was showing me what he'd been up to recently and after about a half hour on the concrete me feets were bout froze solid and I couldn’t feel tell whether my fingers were moving or not. Well I finally pried him away and off to lunch we went, great old BBQ joint but it took me half way thru my sandwich to thaw out and get my glasses unfogged, by the way Pete, thanks for lunch.
Pete also started on his ’52 last March if I understand him correctly. He’s done a frame off restoration mostly by himself and he’s just about ready to get her on the road. She’s been all redone with new paint, new glass and everything and most of the reassembly has taken place out in the coooooold, cold garage this winter. Now that’s what I call devotion, I only wish I had that much enthusiasm. I’m dragging into the forth year and I’m not a tenth as close to being done as he is. Maybe I should quite BS’n on the Bolt and spend more time out in the coooooold, cold garage!!!!!
Great job your doing there Peter, we gotta do lunch again sometime, WHEN THE WEATHER WARMS UP!!!
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Look at it as a hobby Denny. You get through with your truck and your hobby ends. Then you'll just have to start another one.

Pete you are a better man than I am. At least today was sunny so inside the cab was warm.

By the way - I flushed the tank this summer - there are no holes or rust or anything. I checked today - no leaks or wet spots. THe vent tube & filler tube appear to be just fine - connected & tight. Could I be getting gas fumes from under the hood into the cab? I'd hate to move the tank & then not solve the problem.

also - the truck has no fluid leaks at all - not a drop of oil or gas. Could it be exhaust??

I just saw that LMC truck has a complete tank kit with sending unit, straps etc for $200. That is awful tempting. I'll put it at the end of my list. That way more important things are taken care of first & if I still have the truck when I get to it - I'll give it a go.

OK I've been to three posts this evening and they have all said something about the gas gauge hookup.Now is'nt the gas gauge an electrical connection and what would that have to do with a gas smell in the cab?????

The flange where the gas gauge sender mounts down into the tank from the top is about three inches in diameter and has a rubber gasket under it. This can leak if it's dried out or just plain missing.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

That is what I would call the sending unit. LOL

Hey midget,you definitley want to check your hose clamps. I had the same problem with my'57(gas fumes)so i pulled the seat up,took off my cover and found the hose that came off the tank was loose.I tightened it up and no more fumes.Good luck and enjoy the ride.

Roy

You guys in the cold are making me feel like a little rain and south wind is no reason to not go out and work some. I have lots of small jobs to do that don't cost anything. Maybe not as fun as getting good deals on ebay but one step at a time gets it done right?! I can drive mine now, just have to work on the steering box as it is hard to turn. ( I thought it was normal but someone else thinks it is way too hard to turn), Also have to recover a seat with a cow hide I bought for 60 dollars. And adjust the brakes as they pull to the left--hard! Okay thanks for the wakeup.

I'd be out there in the rain - it's a freaking blizzard here now (I think that covers most of the US).

I checked the hose clamps - they are tight - I will check the sending unit now - I flushed the tank this summer & only drove with the windows down until the other day - I don't remember if I had the gasket or not. I hope its that simple.

I like that model of your new --old --truck. I had a chance to buy one in perfect condition for 350 dollars --after counting my paper money and my piggy bank silver money I had only 300 so never had the guts to ask the guy to go lower in price--course that was in '71! Now you know the rest of the story--as they say. But I always rued it cause the guy who bought it got it for only 250 and I had to watch him drive it to school as i was working on my ford all the time up to my earlobes in oil!!

Last week I took apart and brushed down the vent windows. Friday I applied Loctite Rust Encapsurlator; yesterday I sprayed them with black satin, and today with clear gloss. I'll skip tomorrow to let them dry and Tuesday or Wednesday I'll begin the reassembly.

Today I drove the '54 burb to Grand Prairie to the local Inliners meeting. It's about 150 miles round trip.

While driving through Weatherford my heater motor wire shorted out on the ranco valve and filled the cab with smoke. I turned the heater switch off and it stopped the damage.

Then going through Arlington I noticed I needed gas real bad so I took an exit and ran out of gas. I coasted around the corner and stopped at the pump.

I got back on the road and shortly thereafter the alternator quit working. The temp wasn't rising so I kept on to my destination.

I had an enjoyable breakfast with the Inliners then moseyed outside, lit up a Cuban, and popped the hood. I found a wire broken off at the terminal.

I drove it home that way. Then I put the battery on charge and put a new terminal on the broken wire. Fire it up and the alternator works.

Next I rewire the heater motor all the way back to the ignition. Hooked it up and turned the switch. The amp gauge went to 50 discharge and the heater motor groaned. Looks like time for a new motor.

All in all, I had a great time playing with my old truck today.

Yeah its good to get right after those little problems and not have to go back and try to piece a whole array of troubles. Its like an archeological dig if one waits too long trying to figure out where you left off!

I wish I could have got to working on my truck this weekend. I woke up to it snowing. I work outside enough as it is so the truck waits till it warms up.

Snow everywhere today; my propane tank has gone empty. I just picked up a new one and have it running to warm the garage. I'm still working at overhauling the vent windows and have finished painting and installing the rubber on the passenger side main frame. I'll install the other side rubber and start on installing the glass. I would rather drive in the rivets but I'm still waiting for my order to come in from Chevy Duty. I had all the misc. parts like rivets, bought them over a year ago but can't find them now. I would council anyone doing a restore/rebuild to not order any parts that you are not going to use more than 2 months ahead. Unless you are more organized than I.

It is sure tempting to get stuff while the getting is good. Like body parts etc. But stuff can get in the way sometimes of actually getting things completed. Or hide other parts. I did some moving of engines around in the shop today---normally easy but a soft gravel floor on a slope makes it a tad harder. I have alot more room to work now though.

Snow? Nothing here. Guess I'm lucky. It was 52 degrees today and I am in Canada. No snow at all this winter and my spring flowers are all in bloom.
As to your gas tank I think its safer where it is. And the gasket at the sending unit is often the culprit.

you must live on the west side of the island then my inlaws got snow and they are in alberni