Jeff Balazs

OMG That thing is amazing! I really ....really like the way it looks. Jeff

Tim you are the Man!!!! Sure wouldn't have been that easy if I had made the suggestion. Jeff

Davin; Ok then the blue truck is much as I expected to see. It was the arrangement on Pop that was totally unexpected. I suppose both of our trucks have their tight spots. On mine it is around the starter. Not the greatest access especially with the Cherokee M/C and adjustable proportioning valve I added when I fitted disc brakes. I may some day look at relocating the M/C up to the firewall and fitting a different brake pedal. I really don't care for the arrangement as it is and the pedal adjustment leaves much to be desired. It is funny too as the clutch pedal feels perfect.......but for some reason the location of the brake pedal feels less natural to me. Jeff

Can't we all just get along? Certainly the W, B & C series trucks share some commonalities. Beyond that I couldn't say. I do know that this has been a very strong forum from the standpoint of being helpful and generally friendly. To me it seems a good idea to make others with similar trucks feel welcome. Especially if they don't already have a home as effective as this forum has been. Jeff

Thanks Davin; Oh that is interesting. It looks as if your blue truck must have a cross steering arrangement very similar to what we have and the Pop truck is radically different. I look forward to hearing about the driving experience once you are done and can compare them side by side. I wonder how different it may feel and if the turning circle and steering effort has been affected? Either way having the steering gear on the "busy" side of the engine compartment must make certain access issues even more of a challenge than we face here. Thanks, Jeff

Some progress. Flushed the radiator again. This time it was pretty clean. Should be good from here out. I took the carb apart again and focused on the step up piston. It appears to have been hanging in the up position which made it run rich. I spent some time cleaning the bore and put a slight bend in the cross piece which seems to have cured the binding. The truck is running much better now. No gas smell at the exhaust. Pulls away from a stop in third nicely now. So perhaps I finally found the problem I have had from the get go. I let it idle for about 20 minutes and the temperature never got above 165. I recently remounted the mechanical fan and it is definitely more effective than the electric pusher fan ever was at idle. We have another heat wave due next week. Temps in the high 90's........so I am all set to give this a good test. Jeff

Davin; Wow! The steering box and linkage arrangement on your truck looks very different from a North American truck. I guess I was just expecting to see a mirror image of one of ours. I don't know about anyone else but I would like to see more photos of how it is all tied together and works. Very interesting........ Jeff

Another thing you might want to check is to see if you have the correct gasket between the carb base and the manifold. The kits come with 2 different types......and you want the one with the slots which allow the vacuum circuit from the manifold to the step up piston to function. Jeff

That is great! When is the big day? Jeff

It may not be as bad as you think. I would try to get it running better. Maybe the carb is ok but you have a restriction in the exhaust? Try taking some vacuum readings and see what that shows. If it has been sitting a long time anything is possible. It could be stuck valves.....or rings or it may be something else. There should be strong clues in the vacuum readings you get. I would try addressing as much as I could and get it running as best as I could the way it is. Could very well settle in after some running time and a few early oil changes. I know mine has. Jeff

Oh Paul...... There could be a whole forum dedicated to figuring out what make you tick......

I bought and started my truck project less than two months after my Mom passed. So Davin I really do know how "therapeutic" one of these projects can actually be. I plan on using it to make the run up to Big Sur to spread their ashes at the place they honeymooned at and loved so much. Jeff

Ditto. It is all good. Jeff

James; I have been struggling with an intermittent situation with my carb for a while now. I believe this step up piston may be sticking sometimes in the up position on my DTG1. Thanks for sharing your experience with this here. After several attempts to get this resolved I finally feel like I know what to focus on. Jeff

Hi James; This has been an interesting thread. I wonder how common this problem is with the step up piston bore? When I had my carb apart recently I noticed this piston seemed to be binding a bit. I wonder if the bore could just be lightly honed? or if it should really be sleeved? Jeff

It is a mechanical seal. You can do a search and see photos here. Hth Jeff

Davin; Been thinking about you. It is very good to have something positive to focus on at times like this. You and your family can be very thankful that Pop didn't suffer for long. My Dad had a crippling nerve disease the last 12 years of his life. None of the pain treatments had any effect on it. But he was too tough for his own good and hung on despite what the doctors predicted. It has been five years since he passed and I still can't bear to think about his last few months. So be thankful. A light gray color might be very nice looking. I am a big fan of lighter colors as you already know. We had a hot spell last week and I couldn't be happier with my color choice. Stays nice and cool to the touch when parked out in the sun even though we had a full week of high 90's. Got to like that. Really looking forward to watching your progress on this project. Jeff

Ditto. Your truck is soooooo cool. Thanks for sharing. Jeff

Well said. I think the real trick is to get the underside of things protected. The stuff we can all see is much easier to deal with. Wax or some other clear coating can be maintained fairly easily. Heck a few coats of good old Johnsons paste wax would probably be adequate. I would be more concerned with the underside of panels, fenders etc. Perhaps this may require a good cleaning and some form of undercoating? Also like any of these trucks there are potential leak spots which should be carefully addressed if you do not repaint. Jeff

Davin Very sorry to hear of your fathers passing. Please know that we are thinking of you and your loss. Pop is a great name for your project. I look forward to following this thread, Jeff

Since it seems like we are going to have a blazing hot summer here I decided to put the mechanical fan back on the truck. I had forgotten how much air it moves compared to a electric pusher fan. The difference is substantial. I suppose I can use both if I get stuck in traffic and things really heat up. I am going to flush the radiator and engine one more time and then closely monitor the temps and starting conditions. If I have a another episode of hard starting when hot then I will fit the composite heat shield / carb spacer I have made up and see how things fare. There is a pretty good chance that it won't happen again now that I have better air flow and my fuel mixture and pressure straightened out. Jeff

Robert; Welcome. There are quite a few C & D series owners here. You will probably get some help with this. The parts situation for old Dodge trucks is a bit of an eye opener. It is not horrible though.....stuff is out there you just have to know where to look. I see parts for the polys on Craiglist from time to time. You may also do well networking with folks you meet here. Also I believe there is a vendor out of Colorado who focuses on the C series and later trucks. I don't recall the name but it may be in the links section here. Jeff

Tod; Ya Mon........it's blazing hot here in OC....... 97 and Sana Ana winds. It appears we are going to have a really hot summer. Your hard starting issue is very different from the one I was having. Mine had nothing to do with the fuel pump as I had deleted the mechanical unit and rerouted the fuel line to keep the supply cool. Still it is good to consider this issue as it is obviously a concern for many of these trucks. I Think there are maybe 2 or 3 different ways this problem can manifest itself. I haven't had much time to revisit my study of this. In the interim I have fitted a Pertronix ignition system. I had also been having a bit of trouble starting when cold. After several sessions of carb removal and adjustment I discovered that my idle linkage setting was causing the hard starting. A couple of small adjustments have cured that. It seems that setting a 1 bbl Carter B & B for maximum vacuum readings may not actually be the best way to set this up. I have a slightly lower vacuum reading at idle now......but she sure starts and runs better. And here I was thinking something was seriously wrong with this carb....... Jeff Jeff

Oh man that's too funny. Jeff

Another thing you can try is resetting the idle up a bit the next time you get it started. Try adjusting the linkage (idle stop) up some and use the idle mixture screw to dial it down if necessary. I have found that the idle settings have a direct effect of how well these engines start up. I believe it has to do with the velocity of the mixture being drawn past the throttle plate and how well it draws atomized fuel as opposed to droplets. I think the Carter B & B carbs are particularly sensitive to this condition. Jeff