Jim Shepard

Great! Leave it at your folks and then PM me their number. I''ll give them a call when I get back. I live in Wilton, which is about 12 miles southeast of Elk Grove. Thank you very much...

Keven, Thanks. I might need one. I have the later by-pass style with the extra bumped-out water passage. I won't be around on the 23rd, but I can have you drop it off at my son's house. We can haggle over price via PM...

Cost is relative - to how much you have. Someone like Jay Leno could buy this and not even squent...

Well, here's the latest: a small crack in the head just under the driver-side bolt in the thermo housing. At first I thought I needed to tighten the bolt but after doing so, the crack appeared. I think this is a fairly simple fix but I'm really bummed about having to remove the head again after just having replaced a blown head gasket. It sure would have been good if these two issues had appeared at the same time. The truck gods are not kind...

How 'bout a photo of what you've got?

Ok, but it seems like I just did this... Anyway, here is the 'original' look - all black. This is a Horkey kit and the workmanship is superior. I had the skid-strips powder-coated.

I forgot to mention that I have a three speed on the column. Maybe a floor shift would have caused me to make another decision. I think Merle has a floor shift with FD. He might have a different perspective...

I have recently pulled and installed my motor twice. I chose to pull it out with the tranny attached because I didn't want to drain and remove the gas tank and cross member (which you otherwise have to do if you have fluid drive). If you pull off the nose and radiator its a fairly simple procedure. My sense is also that its much easier to get the flywheel, clutch and tranny back on if everything's out on the floor...

Ok Jeff, here's what I did. Since the air filter I'm using doesn't have the rubberized caps, I cut a circular piece of flat rubber and inserted it in the top of the cleaner housing. I don't know if you can see it, but that's the round black thing laying in the front in the first photo. The second photo hopefully givers a clean shot of the inside. I think I just used snips and pliers to gut the top part. I didn't do anything to the bottom part and the paper element just slides down over the "cone.":)

I'm off for the weekend. I'll do it next week...

I decided to convert a second cleaner I had. I still have the original that came with my truck. I did this because I had read of the supposed efficiency of paper elements, plus I had a couple of mechanics tell me the newer paper elements are better. The filter I'm using is a Car Quest #88192, which is made by WIX. I drilled two rows of holes around the housing to get better breathing. Anyway, here's what I did.

I'd bet Tim has a couple of these "lying around."

I've pulled/installed mine twice in the last several months. I found it easier to pull the motor with the transmission attached. I also pulled the nose off and removed the radiator. If you want to remove the transmission before pulling the motor, you have to remove the fuel tank and crossmember that it's bolted to because you can't otherwise slide it far enough back to disengage from the motor. With the crossmember and tank removed the transmission will slide all the way out and the motor will be a little lighter and more manageable. I suppose one could take the motor out and leave the bellhousing/transmission in, but I just found it easier pulling the whole thing out.

That is one nice truck!

Tim, buddy... how could you ever contemplate I was speaking of you?

Ah, therein lies the question...

OK, I guess if Merle can post another photo of his truck, then I will too. It is a "new" photo, though:rolleyes:

I've got an old friend who is a mechanic and was trained by his Dad back in the 40's (who was also a mechanic). He says his Dad trained him to start with the closest wheel and work toward the farthest. That's the way I did it the last time and, frankly, I don't know if I can tell the difference...

Here's a couple of my 'pride & joys.' The first is a Sun diagnostic kit I purchased in about 1970-71. I think it cost me about $100.00, which was a lot of money then. Fortunately, my wife of a couple of months didn't know me quite as well as she does now. The second is a Marquette engine analizer from the 1960's (I think). It was given to me by a friend, who said it worked when he parked it in his barn about 15 years ago. I've been told by a couple of old timers that it was a good company back in the day. I haven't actually used it yet - I've only had it a couple of months...

I did a Horkey bed when I first restored my B2B several years ago. I bought the oak, skid strips (which I powder-coated), bed bolts, and fender bolts. Everything fit perfectly and I'm still happy with it. It's not a "work truck" and that's the only down side - I rarely put anything in it. I elected to go original with oak and black paint. It's got 4 coats of Cabot's black deck stain and 3 coats of spar varnish.

Holy crap, John! You are on one hell of a trip with that truck... Jim

I heard this from several "old-timers" and ran half and half (water/soluable [grinding oil] oil) in my B2b for about 5-6 years with no ill effects. When I overhauled the motor this year everything looked good, especially the distribution tube. I thought it might be good for the water pump also. The only down side was it weeped through the heater hoses. For that reason alone I decided against it after the overhaul...

Sure enough, the gasket blew between 1 and 2. Got it fixed, torqued bolts to 75 and will start it up today and re-torque. Damn that head was heavy!

I made this when I had to remove my tube. Fortunately, it came out pretty easily, but I think it would still work with a problem tube. As was said before, you need to "hook" the slots at the top of the tube.

Well, I had just under one month on my new motor and everything was running sooo nice... Yesterday after stopping to fillup at the local Shell station, I started it back up and it sounded like crap! Like it was running on 4 pistons. Pulled over to see if anything looked obvious. I did notice a little back fire through the carb when accelerating. Drove home under hardly any power. Today I did a compression check and no. 1 and 2 cylinders had no pressure. 3 through 6 all at 110psi. Looks like I blew the head gasket between 1 and 2.