Looks good Ryan!
There is finally light at the end of the tunnel. It feels good, doesn't it?
I would go monochrome if your looking at high rechroming costs. Pitted or
rusty trim would have to be stripped anyway.
Tom B. '57 Stepside 3200
-----Original Message-----
From: Border,Ryan [SMTP:rborder@fcxena.fc.hp.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 1999 2:49 PM
To: oletrucks@autox.team.net
Subject: [oletrucks] 55 2nd (wanna'be'rod) update
Well, on the 4th of July, after laying dormant in my garage for several
months, my 55 2nd finally rolled again.
I finally got the new wiring harness installation completed. There were a
few final puzzles to sort out, including trying to figure out how to make
the tail lights work properly- the included instructions
had directions for GM, Ford, and Mopar steering column harnesses; but
nothing for an "oletruck" with an aftermarket simple switch for the turn
signal indicator. In the end, the solution was a small "logic box" designed
for trailers, that sent the current to the proper bulbs with the associated
inputs.
The truck refused to fire up initially. It was acting like a bad ballast
resistor- it would seem to fire, until I took the current off of the starter
solenoid. When I bypassed the ballast resistor, the
starter would spin, but not engage; obviously something wrong. I had doubts
about my installation of the ballast bypass wire- and sure enough, when I
disconnected it from the starter, and bypassed the now toasted ballast
resistor I could get it to fire.
Well, sort of. After much diagnosis, it turns out that my points weren't
opening. It took at least an hour to diagnose this, but with a little
adjustment there, I got a strong spark, and the truck started right up.
Strange thing is, I wasn't mucking about in the distributor- perhaps I
smacked it while working on the oil pressure plumbing (pulled instrument
cluster for re-wiring) or something.
One of the poles on my (Mallory) coil was also completely stripped. I ended
up having to solder a the distributor wire onto it... but I think I dumped
too much heat into the pole in the process- as some clear fluid (melted coil
resin?) appears to have efluxed from the housing. It's still functioning-
but I'm not at all confident that all is well.
I replaced the ballast resistor on Monday, but doing so made the truck run a
lot worse. It's really rough now. I suspect it has something to do with
my "eyeball" points adjustment. Would this indicate my point gap is too
wide or too narrow? (reducing coil voltage making it run rough). Anybody
got a good guess at the gap or dwell specs for a generic 350 circa ~1972?
Also, the truck had left a big puddle of what I thought was engine oil in
the drip pan (I mean big). Funny smell to it though, and it turns out that
it's tranny fluid (it's brown like engine oil though, with sort of a sulfur
smell). Dip stick was reading high (cold) so I hoped maybe it was just
overfilled. Nope. Sure enough, lost the tranny on Monday. Let things
cool, and limped it to the nearest gas station- dumped a quart of ATF in,
and some stop leak; and it was fine. The extra load from the now working
torque converter, coupled with the rough running engine left it barely able
to idle though... still needs a lot of help. Runs really strong when you
put your foot in it :-). It is also dripping oil, when running, from (I
think) the front seal on the oil pan. Unfortunately, the only way to get at
this area will be to pull the whole engine out... PO welded in a BIG
cross-member as the motor mount.
It was great to get it going again, but all in all, rather discouraging to
still have so many (seemingly serious) problems to sort through.
On the bright side, every electrical component seems to be working. This is
a huge improvement. The instruments all work; with the exception of the
ammeter, which I simply chose not to wire (don't like sending that much
current up under there). And the heater core doesn't leak. And everything
under the dash is painted and very tidy. And the dash is painted. And
everything is fused. And the hood is painted. And all the suspension and
brake work (last project) seems to be working OK. And I can drive at night
now. I have brakelights, I actually think I'm legal now. Probably need
mirrors to be totally legit.
A lot of progress, but a lot of work in front of me to turn this thing into
more of a driver...
Put a new pic up for your perusal:
http://home.earthlink.net/~rborder/truck/rfq_9907.JPG
Don't worry, when complete the whole nose will be purple. First body
project had to be the front fenders (both rusted out so bad that the doors
couldn't be opened, and otherwise pretty much just beat to hell).
There's just a base-coat of yellow on them- at the time I had yet to decide
upon a paint scheme. Just going to drive it for now, sorting mechanical
bugs out, but the next project will probably be pulling the
front sheetmetal off again, and getting the rest of the flames done. Need
to solve some door clearance problems though, so as not to scrape fresh
(finished) paint off the back edge of the front fenders.
The chrome grille and headlight surrounds are rougher than the picture makes
them look. I have a painted set in good shape, which I'm considering using
(painted purple) for a monochrome front end. Rechroming would be
expensive... Opinions?
Ryan.
55 2nd 3100, Colorado USA
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
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