MPG

Took the rig out to dads yesterday with a 1 ton truck on the car trailer that only had cab/fenders, no windshield, drivers door hanging half open-basically a heavy, wind blocking, MPG hog.

my 52 gmc got 16+ empty not towing and i didn't track towing full so would guess in the 13-15 range-it did real well and had good power with 250 inline 6.

my 69 Chevy van with TONS of power(307 V8)got 11 towing or not, empty or not, irregardless of speed. LOL!

my truck didn't have bed, hood, bumpers, headlight trim... basically anything that helps smooth airflow. Also fulltime 4WD in use.

I drove aggressively and gave no consideration to MPG and over a 45 mile journey I got 12.5 with the 4x4 loaded half the trip and like this coming home;

Its kind of a 'dog' power wise and that may be helped with carb tuning but I'm a little disappointed with the power-especially towing. I do have 4wd now and that's nice but I'm going to be exploring power boost options. maybe a supercharger?

---------
factory oil change program.
Seems you just add oil every tank of gas and change filter once per year. the valve cover shape and hold-down attachment is the WORST! This is my updated, stiffer, better sealing surface valve cover and it leaks so much-the car trailer got 'decorated' =(
the red circle shows the POOL of oil that has leaked out of valve cover.

a little more function in progress.

new cast alum(click on picture)valve cover installed but still leaking. OEM was 'expletive' design and its pretty much a constant oil change system... leaks that bad. the fix is drilling/tapping holes in head which I think is a great idea and should have been done from day one BY THE FACTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
good friend Mark K. supplied the matching breather in the top of valve cover to match my PVC adapted K&N air filter.
if you look closely you can see my hold-down bracket, the new temp switch for the elec fan relay(works AWESOME!) and the new sender for my elec temp gauge-i have all 4 gauges working now but i think gas gauge needs better connection somehow as level doesn't seem right.
...hmmm...

the 2 holes on left are for 4WD indicator light. i guess i didn't get pics of the EXTENSIVE!! modifications i made to the stock cluster. few hours and 45$ in gauges now instead of $600 just for that one cluster...

this is the modified SBC valve cover hold-down made to fit the HUGE stud on the jeep motor for the valve cover. turns out i didn't make it strong enough so after bed is more nailed down i will re-make out of heavy by large plate and get that gasket to compress and hopefully stop the leak. =(

pile of crossmembers, front of bed i just cut off, and the rusted bed wood strips. wood LONG gone.

inside of mocked up bed. I love Vise-Grips and Bessey clamps!!

rear view with pipe clamps and 2x4 mockup. it will sit about 1/2" higher and I still have to cut another 2" off front of bed. wanted to take little nibbles at first.


drivers side running board installed. first time i have ever NEEDED a step to get up into a vehicle.

this is my trailer tilted at 25 degrees. I will be able to go up to 60 degrees if i want with the airbags on the truck bed. i don't feel the need though and will probably limit it to less than 30.

Moving out

this was yesterday in the sunlight for the first time.

this is what a rednecks yard looks like.

and this is how you utilize every part of a donor rig(temporary lights-aren't they pretty! =/~ but they plug in so super easy. real ones will be OEM look 54-59 stepside with super bright LED mounted on rear of utility boxes.

take these 2 used 10,000 GVW rated ford hitches from CL$35/each, cut the top off one and the bottom off the other, weld together

use the OEM ford MONSTER bolts and mounting plates

generous use of a plasma cutter, die grinder, and welder and I've got a new flush-mount, HD hitch. Finally a truck in my life again-its been a long 30 days since towing ability!
amazing how that floor gets dirty so fast! gonna use it as a truck tomorrow. as it sits its just barely over 3,300 pounds and a little squirrelly. adding hood, bumpers, bed, air tanks, 2nd battery, winch and side boxes should help along with LF upper ball joint(dreaded task)

the garage has new space

havnt seen the floor from this perspective since oct.

Planned and unplanned replacements

I planned this one.
Its to cure the interminable leaking of tranny fluid from the stock stamped steel factory pan and over torqued gasket.
this one adds 2 quarts capacity, is MUCH stiffer in the gasket flange area and will help dissipate heat faster both from the cooling fins, great area, greater volume, and its cast aluminum.
This one was planned.

I put 6 quarts of fluid in new trans pan. When I started the motor to be able to shift tranny in all gears to make sure fluid was at the proper level, I had the great fortune to observe the water pump puking water all over the floor.
BLECK.
so BACK out came the radiator, fan, belt off... and the grimy old one. This replacement was NOT planned. I had to chase all over town to get the right WP for a price I was happy with(not going back to 20th street fake napa-ask me if you want an earful)

And since I was in there I replaced the OE 195 thermostat with a 180 just because.

9 quarts later(and still a bit shy) its all back together and running fine. My last little bit of hardware is to get the manual choke operating properly-I need to find the right one.

Getting closer

Pics may not show it but progress has been made.
Wiper motor I’ve had in a box since 1997 was finally installed a week ago. It didn’t work properly-it had too much swing and was binding arms. I called the manufacturer and they at first assumed I did not know what I was doing or talking about. Finally they told me to ship it back and they would fix.
Being impatient, annoyed, and handy-I looked at another one I had of newer vintage and noted it said 110 sweep on it. I took it apart and discovered it was quite simple.
So regretfully-I pulled the motor BACK out of truck and took it apart to find it was on the 120 sweep hole.
I swapped to 110 sweep hole, put it back in and WA!-LA!...

Today I cleaned the back of the truck off and bolted on temp 81 jeep tail lights... ugly but functional.


I dinked around with throttle linkage and finally got the drag out of it and got about 95% throttle travel instead of the previous 60%. good enough-its not a racer so I better not need 100%...

Bought OEM neutral safety/backup light switch and replaced along with seal as it was leaking pretty good out of tranny. Now I have backup lights and with the wire hooked up-I can only crank in Park or neutral. VERY GOOD.

The shifter linkage was SOOO super sloppy that I had about 20 degrees of shifter travel before gear change. The shift shaft out of tranny had good leak too so I replaced that seal. I welded and re-drilled hole in shift arm and got 10 degrees of slop out. Then I thought I had to add 0.030" shim with welding to the bracket on shift shaft but after weld/file/repeat to get it perfect I realized that a bolt was missing. Tacked bolt in place, tightened and now I’m down to a mostly acceptable 1-2 degrees of slop. I still cant get first gear manually but if I need tranny to hold in first-I’ve got worse problems... LOL

Ordered a deep cast alum trans pan as the final step to eliminating all the excessive tranny leaks. the OEM stamped steel pan was just leaking sitting there. lost 2-3 quarts since Oct. !!!!
That should arrive Tues? wed? and then truck will drive out under own power. I've mocked up front bumper to best visual height and location. DMV says I have to re-weigh it so I’m gonna do that after its motivating on its own as today my GMC(first truck) drove away with a new owner.

THINGS LEFT:
turn this pile;

into a copy of this;

while making it look OEM to 1950.