Up In Smoke

After being closed up in the garage for a few hours today finishing up the exhaust, it occurred to me that I had gradually generated a significant amount of smoke while I was welding.  Upon opening the door it looked like a scene from a Cheech & Chong movie.  No wonder my eyes and throat were burning.

The exhaust is done and I am pleased with how stable it is.  Time will be the test to see if it stays put.  The parts are all Summit parts: 2.5 inch mandrel bends and 2.5" Summit Turbo mufflers.

Here is how it sounds:  Watch on Youtube

Merry Christmas Anniversary

Merry Christmas all!  It was exactly 30 years to the day that my parents gave me the keys to this truck.  Details to that day are written here.  Who would have thought that I would be working on it 30 years into the future.

Cold Weather Progress Day 2

Ran a 5K this morning and put in about 5 hours of work in on the truck.  I robbed a IPVR off of the '69 and it worked!  Afterwards I tacked on the mufflers, turn downs, and hangers, then removed the whole mess and welded it all up.  Doesn't seem too productive, but the time spent re-positioning in my garage soaked up a lot of time.  All that is left now is putting the 2 exhaust units and fabricating 2 mounting tabs for the hangers.  Of course I forgot to take pictures of it all so you will have to wait.

Cold Weather Progress

It was another wet and nasty day.  With all the Christmas stuff done, there wasn't anything standing between me and progress.  It was in the low 40's this morning so I cranked up the new heater and brought it up 20 degrees in 20 minutes.

My first order of business was to find out why that dang fuel gauge wasn't working and determined that the instrument panel voltage regulator (IPVR) is bad.  There might be one in the donor truck but I wasn't willing to go out in the cold rain to get it.  So on to the exhaust.

In small increments of time over the last couple of weeks I managed to get some of the needed angles cut to get the 2.5" pipe to the back of the cab and get one set of hanger mounts made.  Today required a tremendous amount of patients that paid off.  Working with the door closed on the garage is like working in a closet but the heat was worth it.

Bolt it on and take it off was the process and it happened about 5 times for each side.  My focus was to get good clearance and have a position at the back of the cab to mount the mufflers.  By mounting the mufflers under the bed, I am hopeful that this will help with the noise reduction inside the cab.

I picked up some generic exhaust mounting bands from O'Reily's and made the brackets for them out of 3/8" hot roll steel that I had left over from another project.  So far I am happy with the result.

Not so "Winter Wonder Land"

As some of you may have heard, North Texas got clobbered with ice last week.  Temps were in the 20's and what looked like 2 to 3 inches of snow was white ice.  When I walked across it in our yard and didn't leave a foot print or even so much as crack the surface, I realized that my work in the garage wasn't happening without some heat.

My Dearborn propane heater wasn't getting the job done so after some quick research, I found this guy and ordered it on Amazon.

The Mr. Heater Propane Convection Heater does quite the job.  I got my garage up to 82 degrees today and had to turn it down.  So if your question is "what have you done to the truck?"  My answer is that I heated it up to 82 degrees.

Wires, Lots of Wires

I didn't report the 2 days I put in last weekend.  Who the heck wants to see wire scattered all over.  It got real cold on the 23rd and 24th of November so I set up a wiring workbench on the dining room table.  The diagrams were enough to send you to the optometrist so a trip to Kinko's netted some blown up versions.  

On the 25th we headed out for Thanksgiving in west Texas and spent the week with family and friends.  Today I was able to focus on the wiring again to check things before installation.  So far the dash lights, head lights, parking lights, and starter all work.

Picking on one thing at a time seems to net the best result.

Exhaust-ed

Saturday started with a 5k at 6:30.  I worked all day on the truck and called it quits at 10 pm.  Then I found out my in-laws were in route to have a beer.  At 4:30 am Sunday morning I got to bed and woke up at 7:30 am.  So the Exhaust day began being exhausted.  This is also my exhaust "ed"ucation, if playing with words is fun for you.

In the pictures below, I am fully aware that my path for the 2.5' pipe is utterly outside the normal standard of routing an exhaust system, but I want it out the back dammit!  As I said yesterday, this may be scrapped.  So for you exhaust critiques out there, I am fully prepared for the onslaught of "positive" comments and suggestions of how to make this right.

Back Under the Bed

The Friday night quiet was ended when the 351w started up with open headers.  It runs surprisingly well given how old it is and that I almost destroyed it by trying to over heat it.  Apparently 3 gallons wasn't quiet enough for the 3 row radiator to fill the engine for circulation.  Long story short, I bought another gallon of Evans and that did the trick.

The serpentine system, clutch fan, power steering, power brakes, and water pump all seem to work.  Outside of a lose transmission line that was tightened, it is drip free.

Now that the engine is running, it is back to the gas tank.  We pulled the bed off and got the gas tank out.  Lowering the truck caused it to tilt backward so I lengthened the tank frame closest to the cab.  There also was the issue of the bumper bolts.  One of them needs a nut on the inside of the frame which is trapped by the gas tank.   So I welded a nut in place.  

The exhaust has been a mental challenge.  It drove me nuts the rest of the day and I have found a very unconventional way to do it.  It is the only thing I know to do and if it doesn't work, I guess I will chalk up the adventure as a stupid tax and run it out the side.  Other than patch jobs, this is my first full system to build.

Monday Night Action

There was just a little activity to report tonight.  The drive shaft was completed today so I took the opportunity to pick it up from Fort Worth Gear & Axle and pick up some Evans coolant from the distributor close by.  Got the shaft bolted in (perfect fit) and filled the radiator and transmission with fluid.  It's almost read to start up!

Making the Connection(s)

Because the exhaust is still playing out in my head, I decided to make all the connections possible to get the motor running:

1.Ignition System

2. Engine Oil

3. Fan and shroud installed

4. Tighten pit-man arm bolt

5. Fix a leaking brake line T

6. Install alternator harness

Doesn't sound like a whole lot but the ignition system and shroud took most of the time today.  The ignition system's coil wire was too short for were I wanted to place the coil.  It was located at the front in the spaghetti mess of wires and connections.  I moved it to the back of the engine to get it out of the way.  The coil wire was long enough so why not?

The shroud came from the donor truck as well and I quickly noticed with a little modification it would fit pretty well.  A run to Home Depot was necessary to get a piece of aluminum angle to make the bracket.  It fit perfectly.   

Doug and I installed an "engine compartment gauges" to monitor the motors vitals.  The gauges on the dash panel are "idiot" gauges.

Now its time to figure out the exhaust...  What a mess in my head.

Vroom Vroom

As I began my morning working on the truck (after a 5k), our 80 year old neighbor walked out into her back yard and shouted VROOM VROOM!  I must admit that have been concerned with all my banging around and total focus on this project.  I guess the neighbors are ready for it to be running as much as I am.  

The transmission lines were the priority today.  They went together smoothly and not one piece of tubing was wasted.  That is credited to all the practice on the brake line project where feet of tubing was destroyed.  The goal was to keep it simple and allow access for the started to be removed.   Goal accomplished.

My 2.5" exhaust kit came in from Summit and I am at a loss on how to accomplish this one.  I read some where it is best to start at the rear and go forward, so after hours of staring and mocking up the bumper with the exhaust exit points, this will be the strategy.

Busy Bee Makes No Honey

The morning started with a trip to the Busy Bee.  It was definitely a good morning to be there.  Just about the time I was going to leave, another 2 or 3 cars would pop in.  Good folks, coffee and cars.   I got there at 7:00 and decided this was cutting into my work day when I realized it was 10:00.

This was one of those days that gets to the point where you are afraid to pick up something else to try to install it.  Almost every part bought on Saturday outside of the 3/8 fuel line was returned.  Spent the entire day to get these things done:

Fuel Line
PCV Line
Brake Booster Line
Vaccum Advance Line
Both  Power Steering Lines
The Bottom Radiator Hose.

Any mechanic with a scratched knuckle and a chipped finger nail knows that all takes about 2 minutes to install all that, but inject 4 trips to O'Reilly's today and you won't be working a pit crew.

The biggest problems came from the power steering and radiator lines.  I still haven't found a top hose for the radiator and the transmission lines aren't working because the flare nuts are too short to seat the line.  The power steering is solved (until we start it and find out otherwise).   I used a part #71878 with some modifications and twisting the connection on the gear box end.

I didn't like the Lokar dip stick tube I got from Phoenix Transmissions.  It looks cool but not my type of gadget.  A stock 351w AOD stick and tube is in order so the hunt is on.

Renato's '53

Patricks '54

Wow! A lower radiator hose.

OMG! Power steering hoses.