Jeff Balazs

Dennis; You are bumming me out. Seems like a crying shame after you had such a nice trip with it. Adventures like yours and Dolly Dodges to name a few, have been a great source of inspiration to me. I sure hope it finds as good a home as it so obviously has had. Jeff

Karl; Someone else is going to have to give a more definitive answer on this. It was probably painted when it was rebuilt though. I do know that some shops used a specific color while others used whatever was at hand. You talked about the punch marks they made on the pistons.......this is a very old school practice. This could be a sign that one of the old masters' built your engine. A real blast from the past. The last time I saw marks like this was when I rebuilt a 265 SBC back in the early 70's. It had lightened .050 over speed equipment pistons made during the late 50's marked this same way and polished connecting rods, etc.... It was a pain to find some of the parts for even back then. Sweet little motor though....too bad it was mated to a "slip and slide" (powerglide) tranny. Jeff

Karl; You are welcome. It is amazing how much stuff there is inside the cooling jackets. After I flushed with the freeze plugs out and using a power washer....then I took the head off. There was still a lot inside. I fished several ounces out using a magnetic wand! After I reassembled I flushed once more to make certain I got it all. Sounds like you have a very decent engine. Good luck with the rest of the process. Jeff

Marc; Yes I will have to run a set of wheel adapters. I am staying with the stock 15" wheels so clearance issues kind of make the decision. Jeff

Here are a few photos of the Grand Cherokee rear axle swap. It is a pretty easy swap....most of the work was in fitting larger lug studs and reworking the brakes. My buddy Jon had the old axle out and the new one in ....in 2 hours. One more item off my punch list................. Jeff

Tim; Yes.......and I am pretty certain my judgement was seriously clouded when I started on this truck. But I am making progress.....I think? Hank I will get some pictures soon. I have to move my warehouse / truck shop out of the space it has been in to another space...after 3 1/2 years they finally have a tenant moving in Jeff

The Grand Cherokee axle is in......Yeah!!!!! And the Drive shaft worked out just as it was....Yipppeeee. Oh Boy am I getting excited.....12" rear discs...:D:D I ordered Charlies conversion kit for the front so once this is all in and plumbed up it should stop really well. This is the only significant modification I am making to the truck. I started off by replacing the entire original braking system but got to thinking that traffic in the LA Basin just does not allow for marginal brakes so...I will have a fresh set of wheel cylinders, a unopened original type master cylinder and new brake shoes etc.....If any one is interested I will make you a deal or we can do a trade? Jeff

Mark; Well we are doing a trade. He is helping me with the truck.....and I will build him one of my Craftsman style entry doors. Win-Win for both of us. Jeff

Yes....even here where it is pretty darn dry .... the plain steel ones get rusty fast. Jon had some stainless tubing lying around so I didn't even have to ask. Can't wait to hear it. Jeff

True enough. My buddy Jon is going to have it in his shop this week to install the grand cherokee rear axle. He made me a 2" stainless head pipe a while ago and I thought while it was in his shop we might as well fit a muffler. Jeff

That's too funny Moose. When I got the truck it had a section of head pipe and a tailpipe but no muffler. From what was left I could not tell if the muffler was 30" or perhaps 36" .....It was definitely longer than 22" though.....but it may not have been the original? Jeff

Hi Paul; I am with Dave......put the carb on and run it before you start messing with anything else. It makes it very hard to diagnose issues when you make too many changes at once. Assuming your distributor is in decent condition I doubt there is much to be gained by fitting electronic ignition. It's been my experience with other "soft tuned" low compression engines that they really seem to run best with the stock ignition system. Of course the system does need to be up to spec. Fitting an electronic ignition that was designed for another engine can be a real can of worms. Things like a different spark duration from what the original system produced can often lead to other tuning issues and even do damage. Also when they crap out.. and they do...it isn't as easy a fix as changing a condenser or resetting points. This is just my take on things. And admittedly I go out of my way to avoid total reliance on electronics. There is something to be said for the simplicity of the stock set up and the ease of repair it offers. To me it is a big part of the fundamental appeal of these trucks. Just like the cable operated choke or the lever operated fresh air vent. Dead nuts simple and not likely to break. Jeff

Really? That short. I would have thought at least 30" Jeff

Hi Guys; What was the length of the stock muffler fitted to a 3/4 ton ? Thanks, Jeff

Hi Paul; Lacquer thinner may work. If not you should get one of those gallon can set ups with the parts basket and commercial grade fluid inside. Any of the auto parts stores have them.....and they work great for quite a while. When it comes to fuel systems.....cleanliness is King. Jeff

RRRRR...RRRRRR......RRRRR LOL Or maybe it is mounted on it's own trailer. Jeff

Hank Have fun fishing......remember to play nice.....and take a nap or you won't get to watch Sheriff John. Jeff

Hey Paul; There are a couple of very helpful You-tube videos for when you are ready to re-assemble...... just search Carter B & B carbs. 108 sucks. Humidity is awful here......went to beach for dinner last night. Today was miserable......but now that I have had several Long Island Ice teas.....not so bad. Hope you have been enjoying your runner. Jeff

Hey Paul; As much as I hate to admit it .... ........ Hank is right. I just went through this the other day with my wiper switch. I took it apart and cleaned it carefully and BINGO! it works just fine. Jeff

Hey Karl; You may not need to do a full rebuild .... but there are some tasks I believe should be given serious consideration at this stage. Especially if you don't know the history of this engine. I just went through this with my engine. I got very lucky as I discovered that my engine had been fully gone through, run for a short time and then left to sit. Even though it was in pretty decent shape it had been left with water in the radiator.The cooling passages were full of crud and there was a fair amount of sludge in the oil pan and valve gallery. I would if I were you...Remove the water pump and inspect the distribution tube. Flush the block while you are at it. Pull the head and oil pan. This will allow you to get a much better idea of what condition this engine is actually in. You can't really tell what you might have without doing this. If it is all good get a gasket set and button her up. Chances are you are going to find a few things that require attention. I replaced a lot of fasteners and trued up the manifolds. Hope this is helpful. Jeff

First Class job as usual Mark! Jeff

Now there you go.....The Duke was all right!!! Got to talk with him once aboard the Wild Goose back around '74. Great Guy....they don't make um like that anymore. It's funny although he made a million westerns my favorite movie of his is Blood Alley. Jeff

Hey Hank; That would be nice. The whole bent frame thing really threw me for a loop. Wasn't prepared for that kind of effort. And Jon has been busy with his own work....so. But we are finally down to the last few "adjustments". Once we are done with that and some cosmetic repairs it should start moving forward a lot quicker. In the meantime I have the body about 80% down to bare metal. Still need to get some blasting done then we will see what this thing is going to look like in Tan. I am going to leave some of the dents, dings and creases as testimony to it's being a 60 year old truck. I know that is not your style but to my eye a truck this old has earned all it's battle scars and they should show. I will be very happy if when I am done this truck looks like it came off an old cattle ranch. Jeff

Progress on my axle swap is moving forward. Fitted new rotors and calipers to check wheel clearance. Looks like a 3/8" thick spacer plate between the rotor and the wheel will give me the clearance I need to run the original wheels. These disc's are 12 " diameter so it is a tight fit with the stock 15"wheels. Need to find a set of proper caliper mounting bolts....no luck yet on these. The Grand Cherokee Dana 35 rear axle is about 1/2" wider than the stock axle so no real issue there. Should wind up with about a 1 1/4" wider track in rear. The Jeep axle accepts the original U-joint perfectly. This axle has a shorter distance between the center of the axles and the u-joint yoke by about an inch as compared with the stock axle. Looks like the stock drive shaft will reach fine just as it is. We have just about finished straightening the frame. All that is left now are minor adjustments and cosmetics. Whew! I really was not sure we could do this ourselves. Hat's off to my buddy Jon who is a real metal working ace...and the hydraulic rams..etc that made this so much easier than I ever expected. With any luck the frame and axle swap will get done in the next week or so. Jeff

Mark; You can drill those holes with the bed assembled. The metal cross members on the underside of the bed have holes that have to line up with the mounting points on the frame. You can use a center punch or a forstner bit of the appropriate size to mark the center of each hole. Then drill a 1/16" hole up from the underside. Now your hole locations are marked and you can finish drilling and / or countersink like I did for the main mounting bolts. Jeff