Jeff Balazs

Seems to me that I have read somewhere that railroad rails make a dangerous anvil. I recall that they can shards flying as they are too hard. I don't remember the source or the specifics. Jeff

Looking good. I wouldn't worry about artificial deadlines. A good job takes as long as it takes. I have all sorts of people pestering me about mine. I tell them all the same thing. It ain't done until I say it's done. Jeff

Or you could do as I did after reading a myriad of horror stories regarding these pumps and put a full time vane type electric pump back at the tank and dispense altogether with the mechanical pump. No fuss....no muss......and no chance of raw fuel finding it's way into the crankcase. Jeff

Amen

Tim.........like minds? I did something very similar with a potted smoked meat. It was too funny. Hopefully we have not taken Paul too far off course .....with this discourse. Paul keep at it. We all want to see the Phoenix rise again. Jeff

Yes that is true he was on PBS for years. I have his cookbooks and make several of his dishes. It is finally chilly here.....so it is just about time for for a big pot of Jambalya ala Justin. Good stuff......warm you to your toes. I garontee! Jeff Ever had possum crossaints? Hmmm Hmmm.

I am not familiar with those other folks...will have to check them out...but Justin Wilson had to be one of the greatest American storytellers of all time. His account of the drunk who could not 'unclimb his bar stool" and then proceeded home via the railroad tracks " I don't mind all them steps but those low handrails give me hell" never fails to put a smile on my face. I don't know when I have laughed as hard as when I was listening to him spin a yarn. And he had about a million of them. Jeff The next dog I get is going to get named after one of Justins' story characters. Fido spelled : PHYDEAUX The great duck hunting dog that walked on water to make the retrieves. When his hunting companion asked him "did you see that ?" The response came " I know and I am so ashamed.....that dog never did learn to swim"

Paul; Life is generally better when we are laughing. And if we can laugh at ourselves and our follies then so much the better. Of course I am not telling you anything you don't already know. Your resilience and good spirit are a testament to that. One of my all time favorite people was a Cajun comedian named Justin Wilson. Not being from that region of the country it took me a while to understand his unique version of our language. But once I did Man was he funny!!!! One of the things he said often was " the mainest thing in life is for people to laugh" And I totally agree with that. Jeff

Mike; Yep. And sometimes when you do find something you really need you gotta strike like a rattler. I have found out the hard way what happens when you hesitate. Won't make that mistake again. Depending on what you start off with as a basis for a project it can be a real challenge to do one of these trucks without buying the makings of 2 or 3 trucks. I managed to find a fairly complete truck and didn't have to go this route. But many of the project trucks I have seen on C/L as an example are far from complete and buying another truck for parts is almost a given with some of these. Jeff

Did you get it?

Thought so. There is a Pilothouse transmission on C/L right now.....Azusa. The thing is if you are patient there are some deals on it from time to time. It is how I found my truck. One thing I have noticed is how stuff seems to come in waves. There will be nothing or the some old stuff and then all of a sudden there will be a cluster of listings. Also don't just search year specific. I have seen early pilothouse trucks listed as late as 1956 as an example. Also I have had pretty fair luck using Ebay......got several nice items for fair money. Once in a while there is a little bit of stuff at the Long Beach S/M and at Pomona. But you got to wade through a ton of Cheevy parts man. Then of course there is always the classifieds here. Guy's like Tim (48 Dodger) and Mark (GGdad) may be able to help with some of the stuff. The real key is being patient and keeping your ear to the ground. These trucks take a bit more owner persistence than some of the others.....but it is worth it. Jeff

Hi Davin; It is interesting to see the difference in the rear section of the cab floor and cab back. Knew it had to be a totally different arrangement......just didn't know how much. Evolution hey........different continent...... different beast. Must be a pouch there somewhere. Jeff

2 1/2 years after my experience with one of these.......and I finally feel bested. At least I didn't have to drill a hole in the block. Boy did I get off easy Jeff

Oooooh that is nasty. Looks like it spent some time at the bottom of a pond. Was that the $40 4 speed in LA ? I doubt there is much worth saving there. Good luck on the engine. Jeff

Paul; I know you have a sense of humor.....and with all the ribbing you get here that's a good thing. Laughter heals. Look at it this way. If we didn't care .........we might let you burn it down again. And the poor old Phoenix probably won't rise a second time. Jeff

Tim......trust me he got his out. He is still out on the loose isn't he? Jeff

Plymouthy.......you can believe what you want but I am pretty certain that poor cat had nothing to do with it. And I am not a cat person. Under this particular set of "circumstances" I think crimping is by far the safest way to go. We just need to come up with a way for Paul to complete this job without introducing any potentially dangerous heat sources. Seems to me I have seen a product called liquid electrical tape........ Jeff

Ah-huh..... but in this case it is the who that the Fire Dept is frightened by. Considering everything I think crimping is just fine Paul. Maybe you can get the firemen doing the daily drive-by to do the heat shrink for you? Jeff

Don; I bet the Fire Dept would want a full team to be present when he starts wielding a soldering iron.

Paul; I don't see any heat shrink tubing on all those connections........ tsk...tsk....tsk. On second thought your local Fire Dept. probably doesn't want you using any potentially dangerous heat sources. Jeff

For any of you fluid drive owners who are interested the upgraded Federal Mogul bearing set is SB 890M vs CA 855M for engines without a fluid drive. As far as I know the only real difference in the set is the composition of the rear main bearing. Hope this is helpful to some of you. Jeff

Matt; It looks nice in the photos......can you get any more before you drive up? Does it run? If you buy it post plenty of photos and don't be afraid to ask questions. Best advice I can give you for a stock truck is get the manuals and stay involved on this site. Jeff

Matt; If you want bone stock then it would probably be best to start with the least molested truck you can locate. This can be tough but they are out there. The 53 might fall into that category?......but it is a little hard to tell from those 3 photos. A while back I looked at a very clean rust free and original runner. It was nice and would have made a wonderful true patina driver without too much work. The asking price was around $8000 and I think $7000 cash would have bought it. Was it worth it? In my mind knowing how much time, money and effort goes into bringing a basket case back to life......yes. We don't have much to go on but that 53 might be a deal at $3 to $4K. It all depends on the over all condition and how complete it really is. If you are pretty much set on a Dodge then you may want to pick up a copy of the book on B series trucks by Don Bunn. Hope this helps, Jeff

Congrats Bill; That has to make you feel good! I thought I caught the smell of singed hair yesterday...... Jeff

Hi Guy's. Thanks I am glad you like it. Don; I was quite surprised to find out about these bearings the way I did. I had read and re read through all the threads I could find on bearing replacement and never saw a word about these up graded bearings for fluid drives. I even called Gary Roberts and he didn't seem to know anything about this subject. Any way from what I have been able to garner the rear main bearing is the only one in the set that has a different composition. And I suppose if you think about it this make sense. With the added weight of the fluid drive so close to the rear main it would almost certainly have to cause additional wear on that bearing over the standard arrangement. I suspect it is something that was discovered as these engines started to go in for rebuild and this bearing was Federal Moguls response to a need for something better. Ed; You might be right. I know he has owned a few but he is by no means a Mopar only junkie. I met Vic years ago through our shared love of AJS and Matchless motorcycles. The day I first visited him he was rebuilding and making missing parts for an old Hispano-Suiza. Not too many folks get called in to do that. One thing I have found out over the years is that if you can name it.... he has either had one....worked on one or knows where you can find it. A truly amazing guy with a ton of talent. I felt very fortunate when he offered to help me with this little job. When he said it was a good job .... I know it is. Paul; I didn't re chrome anything. Some of it is NOS and other items were just cleaned and buffed out. The knobs to the left of the wheel are all new and control stuff I added like an electric cooling fan and the additional running lights. I knew about the under dash pod for the heater controls but really didn't care for how it looked. As I am going to use this truck until I drop I decided I may as well have it the way I wanted it to look inside. It does have a stereo that is tucked under the dash on the drivers side. It is just hooked up to play from an Ipod. Jeff