Los_Control

Seems all the products today are made for aluminum radiators .... I bought some and was considering it .... my honeycomb radiator was leaking and I would never pay the price to repair it. Then I got to thinking about the good heater core .... I was not going to take a chance with it. Sad as it is to say, if you have 3 soft plugs leaking now .... I wonder what the water distribution tube looks like? Or even what temperature the engine is running at now? Or how much crud has settled behind the plugs. Might be a good time to fix it correctly.

That's the point I failed to make. Several days ago it was in the 80's .... it is cold for a few days here and 40's by Friday, 70's by Sunday. A wise man would have just waited a few days and put the tires on then .... I'm not that man. Like a kid, I just had to see what the freshly painted wheels & tires looked like installed. Yeah agreed, @B1B Kevendoes great work, I have seen it. Since I just want a driver, I'm afraid if I installed a set of Kevin's gauges, Then stop for gas ... people would gather from miles around to admire His gauges ... My 5 minute gas stop would turn into 15 minutes To be honest, I just want to learn to do these things myself. Part of the hobby that I enjoy.

Thanks for the tip @Merle Coggins .... I have a bad habit of, if I can not do it myself .... it probably does not need to be done anyways. ..... Seems like in the past I have seen the decals for sale on Ebay, need the ones for the gauges also and still need to find a donor to repair the temp gauge .... gauges will be a future project. Goal now is to get it to a driving project, and can work on things later in turn of importance. Was 28 degrees out there this morning, only getting colder from here. I did get the 2 tires mounted and swapped around so both on same side for a look see. Now I'm 100% certain I can live with the tires on all 4 corners. I want aggressive for the rear, not so much for the front ... I think these will fit in the middle good enough for a Hound Dog.

@Veemoney thanks for the tip .... I just never thought about using clear .... is funny also because while searching for a color to spray ... I chose almond thinking it would not be as harsh as white at night driving .... I noticed 2 cans of clear and I was trying to remember what I bought that for .... never thought about using it on the dial face until you mentioned it Trying to clean the dial face with windex and a cloth, around 40mph paint started to come off ... so I just stopped there. It is what it is at this point with clear sprayed on it. Typical Fred error .... the speedometer works backwards There is a brass stop that the needle/spring would rest on ... i installed the cup on the wrong side ... easy fix. Running my drill clockwise, the needle sweeps to the right and all the way around to 30mph using my drill ... needle is quite smooth, just backwards. If I run the drill counter clockwise, the needle moves left to the 0 where it is stopped from going further. So I need to adjust that ..... And I can only assume the speedometer cable from the transmission turns counter clockwise? This is how I learn ..... 🙄 Just saying I took the speedometer apart because the needle did not move running the drill clockwise ... I never tried counter clockwise. Wheels are painted, tires mounted tomorrow and maybe wiper blade frames will be delivered tomorrow

Thanks for the kind words .... being the youngest in the family it is expected I suppose. While I have seen the same thing around me, I have always been spared from extended outages. My thoughts are, I live on the same street as city hall, courthouse, police department, post office .... few blocks away is the hospital, fire department .... I feel if they can keep some power going, they will keep my grid going for the city offices. Actually the weather is not quite as bad, since the wind went away ... it is cool in the 40's today but can dress for that. I have 2 wheels now ready for paint and tomorrow will be 60+ and can paint for sure ... they are wiped down and ready to spray and inside in my office warming up. Also want one more coat of paint on the steering wheel before I call it finished. Today I was able to work on the speedometer .... it was sticky and not doing well. I have 2 and took one apart last week and the shaft was broke. So now I have the 2nd one apart and cleaning it .... I feel confident using the best parts from 2 speedometers I should have something that works. Not really happy with the dial face .... old and faded, it is readable and as long as it works good .... fits the style of the truck. Paint on Monday, tires installed on Tuesday, also Tuesday I have wiper arms being delivered and need to fit new rubber to them and install. Wed, Thurs, Fri will be too cold to work outside, and can get the speedometer assembled and working. Wife been on my arse to fix the washing machine .... I bought the parts for it over a year ago 🙄 Starting next Saturday is back into the 70-80's again .... I want to be driving this truck in May ... even as slow as I am, I should be able to do that if I keep at it.

Maybe I should add .... if you took some round rod and bent it to shape, then some flat steel and welded them together ... you could make some that would actually work and not break when stress was added to them. Would be a afternoon project with paint and actually have a working product.

I have to admit, never really thought about those. Usually the ones I do see have been broken off from use .... unless the $24 ones are better? My truck has holes drilled in 4 corners for eye bolts .... they seem to be fairly strong and what my truck had installed back in the day. I'm considering going D rings routed into the floor of the truck myself .... not period correct but very useful. The hooks in the photo, if you connect a ratchet strap to them, then apply any pressure .... right where they transform from straight to curve, you pull the curve back and they break because they are pot metal or whatever ... not steel they do not bend. I get it, you have a show pony not a working horse and the hooks are just for looks .... When I see those hooks I just remember how cheap they are and how easily they break.

FWIW, thought I would add this here for my own purposes. Lost my brother to cancer yesterday ... he was a character. I remember when he worked for union pacific railroad. He always wore this dirty greasy jean jacket ... He was dropped off out of town and would walk track to inspect for any repairs that needed to be done ... if a foreman came by, he looked like a hobo walking along the tracks and would leave him alone. He later went to work for the county and did several jobs ... mainly running equipment, backhoes and such ... seemed mowing the sides of the roads on the tractors where he was just left alone to do his work was what he enjoyed. Pretty smart guy also, he bought cheap property all over .... NM, TX, WA ... He always bought vacant lots adjoining a water source like a lake or river .... property value always raised, but with no improvements there were small taxes. and no tenants to deal with. .... I respect him and will miss him. Lost my sister to cancer also and was sent this photo from a niece ... Both of them together. He was a character .... even in the hospital he had to have his hat and glasses on.

OK @bkahler made a update .... I better post one also This is it .... I had the passenger headlight bucket wiring finished .... I installed that bucket today and the marker light and properly ran the new harness to the driver side ... And I quit for the day. Have a storm blowing in something fierce ... will be a week before can get back outside and work on anything. Weather is too bad to paint ... so no new tires installed .... spring is coming soon

I was looking at one time and iirc, a 1951 Suburban had rubber pedals but it seemed the pedals were flipped 90 degrees and ran straight up and down instead of side to side. .... but the shape looked the same. That was about 10 years ago ... glad you reminded me

Sounds great. Seems obvious you were serious about wanting one .... when you find the right one the price is kinda secondary. I bought mine from a facebook photo and paid for it to be delivered before I ever saw it in person. Because it was the exact year I wanted, I knew what and where would need to be fixed typically .... I may have paid too much, but I'm totally fine with it now. If I'm correct on predicting the future and the economy will improve, probably about the cheapest you will ever be able to buy the truck .... good on you for snagging it up and saving it. Different areas of the USA demands different prices on used trucks .... In the rust belt, finding a 2010 truck that is not a total rust bucket for under $10K can be difficult. In Texas, I bought my rust free 1991 chebby step side with 350/5spd for $2k and been driving it for the last 9 years. Now the fun begins. If it were me, I would add some marvel mystery oil or 50/50 mix of ATF/acetone to the cylinders and let the rings soak. You have cast iron rings and some sort of aluminum alloy pistons ... dissimilar metals and the rings tend to stick to the pistons after sitting for some time. Common to have low compression on first start up because the rings are stuck to the pistons and not sealing as they should. .... just because it turns over freely, I would still soak the cylinders. Keep us informed on how it is going ... winter blues here, seems it will be another week before I can get outside and do any work.

WAAA!!! rubber foot pads? I want some ... where did you get those from? I did not think the B series had them. Curious how you bled your brakes? .... I generally use the wife to pump the pedal for me. With the seats out .... was not going to ask her to sit on a bucket and pump the brakes 🙄 Nice to have the truck indoors to work on. I really enjoy the carport in the summer time ... February not so much. So I too do what I can when I can .... while it is warm enough today, extremely windy and miserable to work in. Then way to cold next week to do anything ... starting next Sunday will be back into 70's-80's again and April is usually pretty nice ..... Maybe next week can get my speedometer working.

There is a lot of force there .... when mine finally popped loose, the dog bone handle of the puller flew 3' and hit the side of the house. So even though the drum is secured by the nut ... the puller handle is not .... probably best to stand to the side and not in front of it. That was the driver side, when I moved over to the passenger side it came off really easy compared to the driver side.

I'm guessing it is original. looking at some different trucks, I found one that was under the tail light and 4 others that were in the middle.

The Carter B&B carburetor is correct. In 1950 the heater was a option and usually installed by the dealer or owner ... not sure what year factory started installing them The plastic sheathing on the tail light wires I believe is not original ... I have the same on mine just out of convenience and availability. To me the tail light bracket might be home made .... the light appears to be to close to the body ... I dunno No idea if the signal stat light is OEM or not ... whats on the other side? I would say it is good quality and equal to OEM .... mine the cases are plastic and would prefer something metal like those are. While my brackets are home made also, they mimic the original and hold the light away from the body, not rubbing on it. DCM sells new brackets ... I'm just too cheap to buy them 😛