More stuff.

I've been pretty busy with the old truck lately.  In my last post I had put on a couple of new headlights that are a considerable upgrade to the stock ones.  I got such a good deal on them that I went ahead and got another set for the high beams.  They rock.  I also got around to putting that new exhaust on.  I bought it what seems like a year ago and only just got around to doing it.  It was, of course, not with out it's challenges.  I took the truck over to a friends house to take advantage of his space.  The old home owners association dislikes my truck enough without having to see me going at it with a sawsall.  So Andrew and I cut out the old exhaust and got everything cleared out.  I couldn't resist firing it up without the pipes on it just to see what it sounds like.  It was really loud.  We spent a day crawling around under and around the truck and had just about got it all done.  Then I had the bright idea to give the pipe under the drivers side a jiggle to see if they were tight enough.  And there was the beginning of the problems.  That jiggle broke the antique exhaust manifold that's been on there for ever.  Long story short,  I broke the drivers side, the passenger side had a stripped stud and, I eventually found, a crack.  So two new used manifolds from craigs list, a lot of laying under truck, a bunch of new grade 8 bolts and some new gaskets and the truck thumps.  I'm guessing I gained about thirty horses and whole lot of additude.  Grandpa's old truck that once was reluctant to do fifty-five is now happy to clip along at 70.  All in all, I'd say it's been a success.  I made a recording of the exhaust sound before we made the swap, and I'll make one of the after now that it's all done and post it.  You can hear it for yourself.



I also, thanks to the old guy truck network,  came up with a new set of wheels for it.  Three inches taller, two inches wider and a lot more shiny.  Check it out.

I'm not sure what Grandpa would think of these, but I like them.

Head lights

I've always thought it would be cool to have an old ride that has the nice new upgraded headlights that have the bulbs you put in the back like on new cars.  I researched it and found a pair.  ebay, 40 bucks.  they look sweet.  Pics? Of course.

I'm so going to get another set for the high beams.  I should probably polish those bezels.

Committed now.

It's official, I've begun the stripping of the trim off of the old truck. I'm sure old Grand Dad is frowning somewhere. I've been looking at many a pic of restored trucks and it seems that most people are in favor of my desire to have a cleaner exterior. I'm not sure if it's all going or just the upper set. I've started with the uppers and plan to leave the rest until I'm sure what to do. Unfortunately now that I have the trim off, I've got lots of holes in the body of the truck. Interestingly there are more on the left side than on the right. It appears that the passenger door has been replaced (which I knew about), and possibly the passenger side of the truck bed (which I didn't know about). Both of those parts are missing all of the holes because the trim was applied using stick on clips. who knows when or for how long. Here are some pics. you can compare them to pics in previous posts.

Some stuff.

It's been quite a while since I posted anything. Let see, what's going on with the truck... I got some new exhaust pipes for it. So I'll be going to a dual exhaust system over the two into one that's on the truck now. If I ever get the time that is. That'll make it sound better at the very least. It's been "summer" here so I haven't been doing much. I did get some time in on the motorcycle. It still doesn't run though. maybe I'll add updates on the bike to the blog now and then.

Oh! I remember something! I bought a Pertronix ignition kit to replace the points in the truck. I've never been one to adjust the breaker points on my old rides, so I thought this might be the thing for me. So far so good. It' starts well, and the miss is gone unless a spark plug wire rides the exhaust manifold. I don't know about the fuel economy as I haven't really kept track of it since I've had the truck. It seems like it's better. But that's just based on what I feel like it's getting. So nothing really scientific. I like the replacement. It's one less thing to have to worry about and maintain. I'm thinking I'll start doing some body work. First thing, Those rocker panels...

High Voltage

So Dad gave me a hi output ignition coil when I got the truck. Initially I didn't put it on because it had this weird extension thing on the top that did not match what was in my truck. Any how, I finally got around to installing it. I found that if you put a plier on the top of the coil and pull real hard that modified top comes right off and your Mopar coil turns into a Delco coil. For years and years Grandpa had been trying to get rid of a miss that has plagued the old truck. He had the heads rebuilt several times. He did carb rebuilds, and new points and maybe even a new distributor. He never upgraded the ignition from stock though, and that may have been the problem. As of right now the miss is gone. Not only does the engine run smoother, it accelerates more smoothly and has more power. I'm gonna modify the distributor to get rid of the points in the near future. Once that's done I shouldn't, in theory, ever have to worry about the ignition system again. It's amazing how inefficient these engines were back in the day.

A Little Drive.

Prior to the big heater core swap, I drove the truck up to Dad's place to help him put his 51 back together. It was the first big trip on the new carb rebuild and manifold swap. I must say it ran and drove pretty well. The old truck seemed happy. Dad says that my grandfather would be very happy to see, and hear, how well the thing is running these days. I hope so. Old GM trucks seem to be the McDowell family legacy. I'm itching to put the dual exhaust on to replace the stock two-into-one system that's on it now. I'm saving my pennies to get the Summit racing manifold back system. I've opted to stay with the manifolds because cheap headers aren't worth the time it takes to put them in, since you have to pull them out again and again to try to keep them from leaking. I also heard that the old buck horn manifolds flow almost as well as headers any way. I'll save a bit of cash on the headers and get better mufflers. Maybe...

Warm air

The truck had been mysteriously "using" water. I replaced the heater core. I swear there were new life forms growing the box that the core is mounted in. It's all cleaned out now though. And, the blower motor, having been lubed and cleaned, stopped making that horrible rattling noise. The worst thing about putting a new heater core in a 70 GMC truck is the fact that you have to pull out the passenger side inner fender to get the thing out. I realize that it's something that I need to be aware of, but I was happier when I didn't know how much rust was in the body of this truck. It's warmer now though.