The Stovebolt Site Forums Welcome! Welcome Centre Newbie getting a 1954 3800

Hi all! I just joined stovebolt but I've been a long time lurker. Anyway, I'm flying out Wednesday to pick up and drive back my new (to me) 1954 3800. She's stock with the small exception of bucket seats and the big exception that the previous owner put in a 350 (the original 235 is in the bed though). The story behind why I'm getting her is that about a year and a half ago, I was about to buy a 53' 3100 but then I decided I'd rather get married instead so I used the money I had saved for the truck for a ring. Low and behold, I've been married 10 months and found this beast and my wife says go ahead with a smile (gotta say, I hit a homerun marrying her). Anyway, it's going to be an adventure. The ole girl (the truck not my wife) still has her original 5.17 in her so I'm expecting no more than 50-55 for a 1,000 mile trip home (I live on the real Eastern Shore of Virginia). I think this is going to be one of those "I can't believe I did that" memories. So that's that, can't wait to be a new tonner.

Welcome to the Bolt New_Ton_4bt. Sounds like a fun trip and the memories will last for a life time. Take pics and keep us posted. Good luck.

Thanks and will do

Welcome new ton. As much as we joke about it, family always comes before old trucks. Good that you have a new wife and now a new (to you) truck.

Hope the gas prices don't go up on you as you drive that far with a 5.17. Enjoy the scenery as you see the USA in your Chevrolet. Good luck!

Leo

Have an awesome trip, and pics, yes, pics.

Yeah, that'll be the fun part. I'm estimating 12mpg for just over 1,000 miles at 3.40 a gallon so 1000/12*3.4=283 bucks. The good news is that I found a 1971 HO72 third member ratioed at 4.11 and it just shipped out today (from Colorado) so it'll be waiting for me when I get home. That'll help with mileage after the fact. :-)

Is there anything I might want to check before doing this haul? I'm figuring I need to check the transmission and rear axle fluid. It uses SAE 90, at least that's what I think. Thanks!

how have you got on

have you got ,her, home yet

would love to see some photo,s when you do,,

best of luck
.mike.

Ok, so things didn't go exactly as planned. I got down to Memphis and bought the truck. I drove around for about an hour to check her out. Ran like a dream. At that point, I'm like what the heck, I'll drive her back. Got extra fluids and was about to head out when wham, she dies. As far as I can tell, I think I have bad gas and gunk in the tank. She'd more or less sat for a year with a half full tank. So here I am in the middle of Bartlet, TN with a stalled truck in traffic. I call around for a tow and am looking at a 200 tow for a 3 mile drive. Then the police show up. At this point, I think I met the nicest cop in all Tennessee. He helps push my truck out of traffic then got me a tow for almost a quarter of what I was going to pay. Then he drove me to the airport - 45 minutes away! I'm looking now to get the truck towed back to VA some time next week. Anyway, I can't wait for her to get here and let this adventure continue. Oh, btw, here are some pics. I'll post more once she's here.
http://s1124.photobucket.com/albums/l568/randomlydazed/

Any idea why it 'died'? A small block V8 is very easy to figure out. IF it was bad gas, draining the tank and adding some fresh gas would be cheaper then a tow bill and airplane ticket.

Keep us posted.

This much is true, but the problem I had was that I was 1,000 miles from home without a real good place to work on it. The fuel filter and carb looked clean, so my best guess is that it has rust in the tank. I'm chalking this up to an expensive lesson learned but I should hopefully be getting the truck up here next week.

Welcome to the Bolt!


Cliff59