Los_Control

Obvious it is those fog lights in the front causing the rear end issues ... take them off and send them to me There is a special tool/puller used to pull the drums off these old tapered axles. You can pick them up, I bought mine from ebay. A lot of people do swap the rear ends in these old trucks. A 3:73 from a jeep or Ford explorer works well. You would need to replace the spring perches on the axle and a few other things. Simply because people do swap rear ends, it may not be to hard to source parts or a complete rear end. I would use the correct tool to remove the drum, access damage and a fair chance you can keep & fix what you have, find spare part or just swap a modern rear end in. If the price is reasonable, what the pic shows it looks like a good project. Does the motor turn over by hand or is it stuck?

I have had 2 busy days, dinner is cooked and people are fed ... I need to rest and eat later. Not big on presents for Christmas ... or just a tightwad. I know my wife birthday is Dec 8, as a child growing up 5 brothers/sisters. Often her Birthday was passed over and combined with Christmas ... I tend to pay more attention t her on her B-day then xmas. She told me she wanted to spend x amount of money on her self this year ... perfect, buy your own gift .... she offered to buy me some new jeans to replace the pair I caught on fire grinding welds A few days ago a friend called up, needed a ride to the dollar store to buy a heater. I thought he would not get a decent heater from there. Sent him over my garage heater and said Merry Xmas. I have been wanting a propane heater anyways. Christmas Eve morning, got a call from my neighbor. I know he lost his job as a EMT about 9 months ago. Sure he has been dealing with depression, possibly ptsd as is a marine. He reached out to me and asked for some help, needed a ride home from the hospital. I think he finally hit bottom and ready to get back on with life. I have been taking care of him and a long battle ahead. Just happy to have my friend back. All in all I think was a fine Christmas for me. I hope you all had a great day also.

To bad you so far away, would buy your old bumper ... looks cherry compared to mine

Los scratches chin mumbles weeeel .... I asked this question awhile back ...and there are some really smart people here that told me yes, no, maybe. See I wanted the 3:73 out of the suburban & put them in my 49 dodge pickup. Seems I was told the only issue might be the splines on the axles. Seems some years used different splined axles and what you can do if yours are different, take the parts needed from one pumpkin & swap to the other so you can use your original axles. In your case, you may be able to swap the axles also if you find this issue I dunno, My truck rear end was actually 2" wider then the suburban. I could not swap axles. Long story short, compare the axles/splines when you remove them.

The rings will/can stick from sitting for several years without running. Good chance with a few heat cycles the rings on the low cylinder will loosen up and compression will rise to match the rest. I have similar issue with mine, #1 cyl was 75, #5 was 90, rest were over 100. I kept adding marvel mystery oil in the cylinders let it soak and then run it. Now the worst is 95 & rest are over 100. I have not yet started driving it. Was told driving the engine on the road in a decent rpm range will help the rings seat more then just idle in driveway.

Cough .... I think dwell is over rated. If important they would have made it adjustable like a cheby distributor? Just yanking your chain. With the chevrolet distributor you could open the window and adjust the dwell. No other car manufacturer offered that .... WTF? Was dwell not important to them? Just a pita to remove the dizzy cap and adjust the points from 12k to 16k to 20k & back to 13 to adjust the dwell. Now that you got it set just where you want it ... next month with points wear it will be different. I know I know ... put yer trailer queen back on the trailer. I will pull out my match book to set the points and skip the dwell

Pull #1 plug then remove the small pipe plug on #6 cyl. Rotate the engine by hand holding a finger over #1 Or a small piece of tissue paper works. When that cyl is on compression stroke, it will blow off the tissue paper or you will feel the air on your finger. Stop! Take a long wire, 10" or longer and put it into the pipe plug hole. now rotate the engine back or forth to get the #6 piston at top of stroke. Both #1 & #6 are on top of stroke at same time, #1 will be compression stroke ... you felt the compression escape the plug hole, #6 will be on exhaust stroke. Now you can drop in your distributor with rotor. Try to at least have the rotor pointing somewhere near 7:00 0'clock ... may be 5 or 8 does not matter It is where it is. Just saying if the rotor is pointing at 12 0'clock, rotate it 180 and have it point at 6 0'clock. Thats what I did, now my wiring is just like factory, except the wires are moved one position counter clockwise ... easy to remember for future reference. Now put on distributor cap, where the rotor is pointing, that is where #1 plug wire goes. 153624 clockwise around the distributor cap. Couple things to think about. The pipe plug could easily be blocked with carbon. I used a nail and gave it a tap with a hammer and cleared it .... not a great idea. It worked though. When I felt compression escaping the pipe plug hole, I knew 6 was near TDC and installed my distributor with rotor pointing to #6 plug wire and installed the rest from there. I never removed the #1 plug to install the distributor. Not as exact finding top of piston stroke, but close enough to know where the rotor is pointing and where the #6 wire should be installed. The reason why I offer this, when I knocked the carbon loose it was sitting on top of piston ... after I corrected my firing order problem, the engine fired right up ... that carbon got caught under the exhaust valve and ran badly for about 45 seconds until it got sucked out. This could have damaged the valve or valve seat. If I had the chance to do it over, I would have left the carbon alone not removed it. Which means you would not get to use wire to determine the piston travel. But thats ok, you can still figure it out.

If the last person who installed the oil pump followed the directions, it would be at 7:00 . Mine is at 6:00. You really need to find tdc on compression stroke and then install distributor. You need to put the engine in time on tdc when installing the oil pump, in order for distributor rotor to be pointing at 7:00 It will work fine as is, you simply need to find tdc and install wires accordingly. I fought mine for a couple days expecting 7:00 to mean something .... it does not.

recently I drew a diagram for a rear fuel tank bracket .... feel free to share it.

Did you ever figure out what bolt pattern you have? I read earlier you said was cheby disk brakes and 5 on 5.51/2 wheels bolt pattern. That would be a Ford bolt pattern. Cheby & large GM had a 5 on 5" bolt pattern. My 1991 chevy 1/2 ton truck has a 5 on 5" bolt pattern, older cadilacs pontiac, buicks etc ... 1949 dodge B1C had the 5 on 5" bolt pattern. The 5 on 5.5 1/2" was a old Ford wheel bolt pattern. Old cars and 1/2 ton trucks used it from the 30's up into the 1980's or later Just suggesting to clarify what rotors and wheels you have, would not be GM with the bolt pattern you stated.

Seems brake springs are a surprise .... I am quite amused when I found these springs in a bucket of oil I use to soak & lube things. I remember the springs on my rear shoes were to short, I wanted to replace them. .... Did I? I do not remember buying new ones ... feel like Gomer Pyle, Surprise ... surprise ... surprise. Gona have to pull the rear drums back off to find out why I have 2 extra brake springs ?

I have learned this year to keep a tight zipper on my mouth ... every now and then I read a post and I tug on the zipper to be sure it is secure

I do not think I am a snob, I think if you have someone that will paint it for you, good for you. I also think that a 70 year old car you will find less & less people willing to work on it. At this age, it is a matter of love we are forced to learn and do the work ourselves. Or pay big bucks to have a restorer paint them for us. I am a noob when it comes to paint, same time I think I can learn and do something satisfactory. I have for the last year ask the most ignorant questions on this forum about paint. I am no specialist. Today I am maybe 1/2 way through my paint and have no questions to ask ... just work to get it done. I guess you need to ask yourself what is the limits of your acceptance of paint. Remember the model T fords used a paint brush on assembly line. Can you use a $15 hplv spray gun from harbor freight and do better then a paint brush job? Can you do some of the basic metal replacement needed for these old cars? Like it or not, basic rust removal and metal welding, painting is part of these old cars ... same with tune up and brakes. You can do the paint yourself, just need to ask for some advice as you go ... or pay big bucks for someone qualified to do it for you.

Not sure what size factory did for oil gauge lines ... 3/16 sound reasonable. Where it goes through the firewall to gauge, they did use a flexible rubber line to prevent motion & leaks. Other then that, was just standard size lines for basic oil gauge.

years ago when I was a manager in a retread tire shop. I looked on in awe as they replaced a brass screw block on a $250k machine. Like a dumb ass, I asked ... why are you using brass to replace that? The engineer explained, the brass block cost $2k to replace, the screw shaft cost $5k to replace. The brass block is a sacrificial piece for the machine. Just something to think about when replacing parts on our old cars. Nylon or brass, just think about future issues.

That is above the passenger side ... no idea about on the drivers side ... 2 trucks had air ride plate while never saw a plate on drivers side. I need to add, on drivers side I do have a dome light ... I always thought it was a after market add on ... who knows?

is the air ride seat instructions

Pretty difficult to picture the possibilities of a "new" muffler being installed and clogged. May be possible people search out a NOS muffler, I dunno. I have never seen someone asking for one. I cant imagine a new muffler clogged unless they have a major mouse infestation. A dented muffler causing the restriction ... I can understand that .... no way the mechanic could install it without knowing about it. Something still stinks here ... I just hope the op gets the car home soon and we can start giving honest evaluation of whats going on.

Grease has worked for me ... hydraulic pressure is amazing.

I honestly do not have a wish list for a vintage car. I only have dreams for trucks. A old 20's-30's might be nice. I think my 49 has all the modern comforts needed. If & when I get my truck on the road to daily driver status .... I would like to get my wife a car ... maybe not exactly vintage but what a beautiful car. slant 6, automatic, ps, pb, ac .... would run forever.

As far as I know, these engines were made for usa auto's/trucks up to early 1960 or there about. While for other countries and industrial apps, they were made up to the mid 1970's. Hard to say what transmission/bell housing it has. Might be better to show pics of them if thats what you want to know about. It came out of a interesting vehicle, I had to google it to see what it was ... saw some that were made in 1973 ... I wonder what transmission they did use? I would guess the bell housing will only bolt to a flat 6, while the trans would bolt to a newer 70's 80's mopar engine/bell housing. Could be a rare hard to find bell housing for those with a flat 6 wanting to convert to a modern trans? Welcome to the forum.

I am married, Not often I have a dollar bill. I like dragging a white business card through them, seems I always have one of them. Is amazing how much grease and dirt you pull from the points after cleaning them. And the white card or paper it shows up. When you do it one time and see the dirt you pull off them, you will always remember to do it every time. When I was a youngster and had a no start issue after doing a tuneup including new points, a oldster showed me the trick and my truck started right up.

Looking good .... when are you going to add the man door inside the big doors for easy access? You sure been working hard on that and put it together quickly!

I love it. As others suggest really not needed, but very cool if you have the room for it. They were the cats meow when our old cars were not so old. I would give it a good cleaning, tune up. Make sure all wires, hoses, connections in good shape. A nice bath and a wax job, I would be proud to use it I had purchased a old sun machine years ago, I was really after the coats 40/40 tire machine and bubble ballancer, the sun engine analyzer was part of the package. I played with it, was cool but really outdated 30 years ago and when someone showed interest I sold it. Today I might not be so quick to sell it.