Los_Control

I know this is not concourse restore, as a old carpenter, I sure love oil. Is so easy to work with. You will get dinged for points if you put it in the show. Oil is just so easy to work with, just hose off the old dirt and brush on a new coat. The oil actually soaks into the wood and protects it from weather. And then add more oil as needed. Seriously, wash your truck and then add some fresh oil and take it to the car show. Looks like a brand new bed wood again. ooops, got some on the shovel strips, go ahead, metal likes oil also. Just let it dry, you wont be getting oil on everything you haul. While paint, although it is correct for the truck. It is a covering over the wood. The weather gets to it and it eventually fails and needs replaced ... You have to scrape and wire brush loose paint, you get it on the shovel strips and will look like crap. I simply would refuse to paint the wood on my truck, but that is just my opinion. The only thing I do not agree with Jerry on, I would not use linseed oil on the truck. I would use it on my wooden handles for my tools, shovels etc... I would get a better quality oil for my truck so it would last longer. And Jerry could do that, just go right over the top of the last coat if he chooses to do so. While paint does look nice when done, it is just so needy for future maintenance. Since I cant get the sikkens with cetol D here, $60 a gallon. I am now trying the penofin on a few projects as others from this forum suggested. $30 a gallon.

Working on my off topic sbc chevy 350 today. And I have a mystery to solve. I want to ask if any of you great people here come across a situation like this First off, the motor runs awesome and does not burn oil. You can be rolling 30 mph and goose it just by accident ant and break the tires loose. Just saying, the motor is in good condition. When I bought the truck, it had been sitting for awhile and was sold as a driving project. The exhaust tip was light brown. I knew that motor was running right, one of the reasons I bought it. I probably have 6k miles on it in 2 years, and have changed the oil 3 or 4 times ... just trying to flush the engine. Also changed all the other fluids. The issue I am now facing, if I let it sit and idle for long periods, it starts to burn oil and smoke. If I stop for a red light, is a non issue. If I run into a traffic stop on the freeway because of road construction, then it will start burning oil. Get past the construction and within 1 mile it no longer smokes. Until the next time you let it idle for extended periods. The only info I can find on this problem, either a clogged pvc system, or sludge built up in the motor and clogging the return ports in the heads. Causing overflow and burning out through the cylinders. I am open to suggestions, right now I am guessing the frequent oil changes has knocked sludge loose and clogged the return ports. Now I am thinking to try seafoam or marvel mystery oil in the oil and do a 5th oil change. I have both on the shelf just wondering which one to try. So my question is, if I do have sludge blocking oil ports, which product would work better? Or does anyone with past experience have a opinion on what to do with this issue? I remember when I was a kid working at the gas station, I mixed atf in with motor oil and cleaned up a sludge'd up engine.

Pretty sad story. My first mopar was a 1957 something or other ... it had a hemi in it. I was only 12 years old, I just cant remember the model. I was mowing lawns to earn cash, I had a old yamaha dirt bike I worked on and swapped the running dirt bike for the car.(think the owner wanted $35 cash for the car) The car actually ran, but had a leaking radiator and a cracked exhaust manifold that needed replaced. At 12 or 13 years old, it was pretty cool to have my own car sitting in the driveway. I think it was a cornet, it was a big 4 door with tail fins. All us kids could hang out in it and make var000m var000m noises. Times were tough back then, my brother inlaw was going to scrap his 1963 lincoln, This was a running driving car. He offered to trade me straight across. The 57 weighed more then the 63. Now my $35 car was a 63 Lincoln. Think I was 14 or almost 15 by then ... still a long ways from 16 and a drivers license. Somehow my brother inlaw ended up swapping me a1965, 2 door impala for the 63 lincoln, And later he blew up the 327 in the impala. Broke ass bastard ran out of gas, and while begging they gave him 104 octane race fuel to get home. Sure sounded good, right up to the b00m point. After this point, I had a driver license a 1969 mustang fastback and no longer did deals with my brother inlaw. I still got a few stories, I let them slide, the 1968 GTX was fun also the old 61 D100 truck, the 73 Plymouth satellite I left the fender on a guy wire. I really should not drive mopar ... taking my wifes 1993 dodge on a 200 mile trip tomorrow for a medical procedure.

Without knowing the exact project you are working on. I was just talking 2 days ago to a friend in Sweden, And he is building two different Triumph motorcycles to flip. And he has a spare 3rd engine that is factory 110 hp. From what I see, these little cars are basically running what I would consider motorcycle engines. I would not want to drive the finished product, sometimes it is fun to think about. Just like a flathead pilothouse, start upgrading horsepower and nothing else works any more ... it is a rabbit hole.

just a guess. This may be the first time it has ever been apart. Somebody in the past tried to shove some sealer and silicone into a hole to stop a leak. Back in the 1980's, a old dodge with a flathead 6, that's what I would have done ... I may even tried to weld em closed if I had access to a welder. Today I feel different, back then these old trucks were just about as backwards as you could find. Nobody was actually going to spend money on one to repair it properly. Why they are so rare today.

You going big block on that? see the drive shaft tube is in place

WOW!

If you look at the difference in the color in the second photo. Looks like to me that it was leaking on the top where it looks like rust. I would say you found it. I once had a friend who had a older chevy with a exhaust leak. The truck was perfectly quiet, but every now and then it when letting off the gas and coasting to a stop. The 6 cylinder engine would make the loudest backfire noise that ... you needed to carry TP when driving in the truck. It turned out to be a tiny leak at the exhaust manifold. Just saying the leak is kinda like a musical instrument, depending on the leak the sound it will make. I think you found at least one issue.

good point, I checked it earlier and it jacks up the chevy with no effort. Then let it down. Just did the same and then let it sit, and it did leak down within 5 min or so. Then I open and close the valve a few times and tried again, seems to be holding now. Let it sit over night. Think I will probably drain the fluid out of it and replace, then clean it up, replace seals that look like they need it. Maintenance seems to be a lost art any more. I admit to being dumb enough to change the oil in my lawn mower and sharpen the blade twice a year. I even change the oil in my worm drive skill saws .... Most people today just run things til they quit and replace them

Just got to love good tools. What was also fun was meeting the guy, He advertises a paintless dent removal on his shop where I picked up the jack. But in the shop, looks like he does a lot of painting and detail work. He also has a few nice cars he built. A 29 ford sedan pure hot rod, sbc no fenders etc, a late 60's Ford of some sort, 351 Cleveland motor both 100% finished and beautiful. Then a 70 boss mustang fast back that needs everything. Has a extra Cleveland motor for sale ... obvious he is not trying to beat people up to get a dollar. Just happy to meet a fellow car guy that lives close.

Been wanting to buy a decent 3 ton floor jack, been kinda hesitating, because I also need to get a bit of concrete work done to really use the jack properly. I only have a bottle jack and the factory scissor jack for my wife's car at this time ... I need a decent jack. Today on facebook market place, a garage sale was posted just down the street from my house, they listed a jack for $50. Figured I would just go grab it for the price. When I got there, I was a bit surprised, it is a 4 ton Napa jack. You can lift a big truck with this thing. He has a shop and claimed for awhile it was all he had, now he bought a 3 ton and the big one just gets in the way. Give me $40 for it. I suspect it will be the same for me, cant beat it for $40, but the size does make it awkward in my small space.

I blame the small block chevy engine. Not sure if chevy every had a positive ground car. while most all car manufacturers did use positive ground. Some claim that the positive ground helps prevent rust, Not sure if there is any significant difference there. If true we should be grateful My Uncle told me this was true, there seems to be some scientific facts to back it up. But for the sake of everybody to be consistent with each other, we needed to go one way or the other, not both. And GM seemed to be the big kid on the block at the time, they were not going positive ground. So everyone else went negative ground. Even though positive ground was reported to be better. Again the GM analogy comes from my Uncle, but it made sense to me.

Pretty fancy stoofs for a hood prop, in 1949 we did not use washers

Just to add to it, back then we had terrible roads, was dangerous to drive over 50 mph anyway. The cars did have 3:73 gears and they could, just does not mean they should. And we did rebuild our roads and add free ways etc ... since then. But at the time, 50 mph was plenty fast for a farm truck. Today driving the same truck at 70 mph, will be a challenge if not everything is in tippy top shape. King pins, tie rods, steering gear box, brakes ... it just was not designed to drive at that speed. So upgrading the rear end, leads to upgrading the front brakes leads to .... It is a rabbit hole you can climb in and not find your way out again .... although pretty basic. Why you need to decide what exactly you want, before you start modifying.

The 4 speed was a option for these 1/2 tons, seems the 3 speed was common. I wonder if they both have same final drive? Also I wonder what tire height you have, seems a 29" or 30" tire .... I bet you could get 55 mph from it. In a short burst. Your goal here is to keep the rpm under 3600 rpm. There is much discussion about using 3:73 or 3:55 as the better gear ratio. You can swap in a older jeep cherokee or ford explorer to get this ... the mods will be to grind off the existing spring perches and weld on new ones. Now you can cruise 70 mph while running 2k-2500 rpm. You get modern brakes, you get a newer style E-brake setup, I really do not see this mod as a terrible way to go. Stock you get to drive 50 mph and sucky brakes, but it is only original once ... what are you after? Here, the two lane to the next town the speed limit is 75, everyone drives 80. Does not matter if I do a rear end upgrade or not, still going to have to pull over to the shoulder and let others pass. Mark me as un-decided in Texas.

Mine is 26 oz, But the metal on these old sheet metal parts is thick, the metal on the tail gates is thicker. The dent in the center section of my hood was right at the curve where the ornament goes, maybe 1" deep. Pretty sure I had to use my ball peen hammer to get it close, then considerable time with a body hammer and dolly to finish it ... may not be perfect, but with paint it wont look bad. I can only imagine the force it took to create the dent. I just cant imagine how that force was applied though. Some angry person with a base ball bat comes to mind. ? If you have dogs, you probably have a old quilt they chewed holes in, lay it down on the work table to protect your paint. I would not worry about creasing the metal though.

My truck has a couple of dents. One of them was on the center piece of the hood. I could only guess that there was something that dropped on the hood ornament and created the dent. Which would mean the original ornament was broke and has a replacement. After pounding out the dent and prepping it for paint, no bondo going in it, I assure you, you wont crease the metal trying to center punch a hole. You may need to use your 3 pound sledge to dimple it. Pretty sure I will need a 20 ton press to remove the small dent in the tail gate.

It is looking good. Just be proud you got er did. I still get things done, just have to laugh at myself for the amount of time things now take me. Took me a week to rebuild the driveline and fix brakes on my daily driver, then another week to replace the ignition switch and turn signal switch. But got er did. Today starting on the wifes car, oil change, clean the iac valve and wash and vacuum. We need it for a trip on Monday. So far I have the hood open Just do what you can and enjoy the process. don't worry about the time.

I apologize for going off topic on wood. Think my point was, as a finish carpenter. Kind of like a production environment. We may be setting kitchen cabinets this week, going to pre drill a zillion holes. Really not needed to use a punch. If you do slip and start in wrong position, very easy to stop, angle the drill and correct your mistake. Next week would be hanging doors. Again pre-drilling a zillion holes and just not needed. 4 bdrm, 3 bath, bedroom closets, hall closets, 3 exterior doors We do this everyday Wood is forgiving. You marked the hole location with a pencil, place your drill bit on the mark, then push the drill. You just indented the wood using the drill. But I will use a standard punch for special projects on wood. Learning to work with metal, I can see a real use for the spring loaded punch. I can see myself setting a punch in position, raise the hammer to smack it, and punch slides on the metal out of position. The spring action would cure this I would guess. While a old school punch would not slide on wood, and work fine. A spring loaded punch would be improvement on metal Yesterday was my Ahhh! moment, I still see no use for the spring punch on wood, sure it works fine though. But think metal is different. just my humble opinion.

That's interesting, as a carpenter, for a few years all I did was finish carpentry .... those spring loaded punches seemed like a joke. We all laughed at them. I do use punches all the time though. Working with wood, I have several sizes, the spring punch seemed to come in one size. Quite often I could just use a drill bit of small size and press it into the wood to create my own punch. Fast forward to metal, it is a whole different world, I may actually have to pick one up and try it out. For wood I would say don't waste your time, for metal I think it sounds like a great idea. New tool time

Look at the number on the pad above the generator, then look it up here on this site. http://www.t137.com/registry/help/otherengines/otherengines.php

6 volt positive ground, a large amount of solutions to a fix for what ever issue ... is a better ground. Bad lights or slow cranking ... first thing to check is the ground. Why not just eliminate that option? And this is the last time I will post in this thread. My opinion is more ground is better, do whatever you think works for you.

I just think the extra connections today, are from past experience of failed connections of yesterday. My post states I only have 1 ground connection from the battery to the transmission. And it works. But if that connection fails, I have no backup. I Think but do not know, that the extra grounds added to cars were for a backup in case the original failed. Rust and corrosion can cause the failure ... but if you have a few connections, not just one wire will leave you walking. adding extra grounds to the wiring, kinda like adding disk brakes. Not original but it is better. You need to decide what level of restoration you want to achieve.

the bead of the tire, the rim is 15", but you need a lip around the wheel to hold the tire on. While the 15" will be consistent, the outside lip holding the tire on can change depending on manufacturer. The bigger the tire, like a semi truck tire, they have a bigger lip, but the diameter of the rim is uniform for everyone..

I think the first problem, that hood ornament does not belong on a 52. I could only suggest you pm me and I could swap you a 52 hood ornament Good score you have, I love those. If you look at the original mounting holes, they are slotted so you have some adjustment back and forth. IMHO, if you measure and drill and nail it, you did better then the factory.