John-T-53

Paul - might be a good idea. Water gets in from the window and will stay soaked up in all that bedding material, and do it's work on the sheet metal!

That's correct - you only need strips of the Dynamat to take the "tin can" out of the sheet metal. Foil-backed jute then can be laid over the entire area. The only place where I wouldn't use the jute would be inside the doors, and maybe the roof, where moisture can enter or condensation can collect.

Don - I didn't know about this story before. Was the fat guy with the cigar Randall?

You can also find hubcaps on Ebay - there's a few on right now. Since a lot of folks selling them don't know what they're from exactly (other than a Dodge), I've found it best to search for "Dodge Hubcap". You'll get a lot of results but it's easy to spot the one you want, if it's there.

You can use the stock pressure plate and cover, just need to get a disk to fit the splines of the input shaft. Mine happened to be a Ford input (and gears), which was 10 spline, 1-1/6". The original was 11" dia. I simply called up Tennessee Clutch and told them what I needed. I think GM inputs are 16 spline? That's a guess - count 'em! You'll need a custom pilot bushing too. If finding a 10" disc to fit your splines poses a problem (I'm sure it won't), another option is to have a new hub pressed into your original disk - this can only be accomplished by a highly specialized clutch shop though.

Rare parts shackle, w/ dust seal. One came with the metal cups and one without. When I inquired about this, they said they were "phasing out the cups".

Wow, Davin, you've certainly got the mother lode of shackle mounts! Roberts lists new mounts for the rears too: http://robertsmotorparts.com/truck_parts.asp?Action=search&c=Trucks+%2D+Suspension+%26+Drive

Agreed. The shop needs to have bearings in hand to spec out the crank before grinding. .020 bearings should be available. The higher you go (smaller the journal) they get harder to find.

Thanks for the mat info - that's a good source. Lots of cool stuff on there!

I hate the look of "armoralled" tires, or worse yet the "wet" look. Natural looking clean rubber is all you need.

GM (S-10, Camaro, firebird, Astro Van) T-5's are getting harder to find these days. With a GM case you can bolt directly to the bell housing after drilling new holes. A 3-speed bell housing is preferred; with a 4-speed housing you have to fill holes with weld and re tap, which is very difficult. You can use a Ford T-5 too and there's an adapter plate made for this: http://home.comcast.net/~tcbass/t5.html But the GM case is a cleaner way to go.

Looks great. Where did you get the mat from, and is it hard or soft rubber? I like the look of the pyramid pattern. Back up to the mid 60's? I heard from my Dad who is back there for a class reunion right now that it was just snowing a couple days ago...

This sounds like a really cool trip and hope to do too someday soon. My Grandpa drove to California from Delano, Minnesota in the early '30's in a Model T. I think he said it took them about a couple weeks - top speed something like 30 mph. Many dirt roads. He told that story many times, and I'll never forget it. We're fortunate to have all this land, free to explore, and full of sights, where making a trip across it will always be legendary.

It's at Sequoia High School, gates at 8:00 am. Anybody going tomorrow? I'm still on the fence, but if I'm sucessful at dragging my rear outta bed early (usually I'm not), will take the truck down there for the day... I cruised by this afternoon and saw the yellow panel that was at Tim's BBQ already there!

Jeff: NAPA's line of Echlin ignition parts they have for our trucks are quality parts and work fine. Sometimes the rotor may be a lil' loose on the distributor shaft, but there's a spring on its underside that can be pried out a little if necessary. It's good to check the spring tension of the points like you did to minimize point bounce. After putzin' with the points, tighten everything down snug and double check your dwell angle to make sure it's within specs. Then, do the timing. Make sure all plug leads are clipped in tight to the dizzy and on the plugs. Look for shorts. With a timing light, and the vacuum advance disconnected, you can do a check of the ignition and see if it's missing or firing abnormally. Is the coil new? If not, do you have a new one to swap out for comparison? (a bad coil once caused my motor to miss here and there). With an advance timing light, you can check the advance curve of the dizzy - do two separate checks for the centrifugal advance and the vacuum advance. The advance specs are in the shop manual, but I think it's about 18 deg for vacuum and up to 22 deg for the weights. As with any engine, ignition timing is critical. The more time invested in your ignition system will result in better performance, reliability, economy, and more power. Getting the spark delivered at the exact right time throughout all conditions of an engine's operation is something that has not changed in the design of internal combustion engines from day one. A breaker point system no doubt has it's limits, but works just fine for our flatties when installed and adjusted properly. Keep up the good work and fill us in as you make progress!

HWY 50 through Nevada - the loneliest road! That would be cool. Might be smart to pack a few extra cans o' gasoline!

I like this idea. Merle, now you're gonna make me crawl under my truck again! Any ideas on a source for these? Thanks,

Try your best not to enlarge the holes in the frame as you drill out the rivets! I used fine thread 3/8" bolts, grade 5, with split lock washers and locktite. They're holdin' up so far....

I was in the same predicament with my hangers but lucky to find a set from Hank / Davin last year (Thanks again, guys). I wanted to rivet them on, but went with bolts instead. Good luck in your search!

I haven't seen Dave around on the new site yet, wonder if he can find it? I agree, he always had a lot of good wisdom and wit to share with us.

I see the king pin bearings are made by Trayer - so NAPA is sourcing quality for these...you're in good shape. Trayer makes parts for Rare Parts too. Yep the front left shackle bottom bushing is LH thread. I think that's the reason... if bushings get loose they will end up rotating in the eyes or the hanger which will wear rapidly. L = driver side. R = pass.

This is another justification for the front left cab mount being hard rubber. it can't be allowed to move too much.

So what's .040 under, the mains, rods, or both? In the previous version of my engine, I once ran a crank with .030 mains and .050 rods. Bearings get increasingly hard to source the lower you go. In my (new) crank guy's opinion, .050 was the max you should take these to. The old engine had problems that I wrote about on here a few years ago, which kept recurring until I decided to completely tear down and rebuilt it last year. The problem was the crank: It was cracked in several places, had crappy journal to edge profile radii, and one of the main bearing caps had a locator tab broken off from the start (which I didn't notice the first time). This led to rod bearing failure twice. I can't say it was due to the reground dimensions, but they may have been a factor. Who knows? It would be worth it to look for a better crank, to compare. You can source a "plug n' play" crank from Motor Warehouse in Sacramento for about $500. Compared to the cost of regrinding your old crank, plus shipping to LA and back, it might be comparable. But less time.

Automotive glazing compound (made by 3M) is an absolute must between the rubber and the body openings. Applying a sealer between the glass and the rubber is optional, but recommended to get a more water/air tight seal. The local glass shop recommended RTV, or better yet urethane for this. If not, water will migrate in between by capillary action and tend to pool at the bottom of the rubber glass channel. Not a huge deal, tho.

Wow, Mark, you're the man! I will be in contact with some cable orders in the near future! Thanks,