1956 GMC panel truck - POS to RatRod in one year.........

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The maintenance trick for the heat riser valve back in the day was to give the counterweight a wiggle every time you checked the oil. Keeping the unit moving freely greatly extends the life of the spring. They usually didn't require much more maintenance than that - dead simple.

What??? You never used GM's special Heat Riser Valve Lubricant.....!
Worked great to release rusty fasteners too, I remember the smell to this day.

Great thread BTW, reminds me of all the hours I spent on a similar GMC owned by a friend, installing a 350 Olds engine in it.....back in 1974.

Count me in.

Maybe over the summer both our projects will be in the same place at the same time,,,,that'd be a cool photo op.

Keep up the good work.

Here's something to shoot for

Super crappy photo of my old sedan delivery. This was a 52 Pontiac and Canadian made with a combination of Pontiac and Chevy parts.

Very cool!!!

Jeez-louise - you weren't kidding aobut the bits falling off. Are both the headlights taped in? I suppose they weren't bright enough to worry about aiming them anyways..............



Thanks for digging that up -

The tape would get wet and the headlights would fall right out onto the street.

Not according to Red Green.

But I tought that chrome looked familiar, after all I learned to drive on a 57 Chevy PU, 4x4.

Got my starter motor back from Wild Auto Electric in Barre, VT - They took my starter apart,checked it all over, replaced the solenoid, rebushed the drive gear pinion, and shot a *really* thin coat of paint on it. Looks great, and only cost me $44. I was astounded.



The machine shop doing the driveshaft called - it's ready!.........

The "thin" coat of paint on the starter provides a good patina.

Fuckin !

been snowmobiling with my Dad, who is up from FLA. Haven't made much progress, but a few things are coming into place.

got some more primer on -



yesterday, I tangled with the door latch + remotes on the d/s rear barn door.

this is the center latch, that uses pivots + link rods to activate the upper + lower door latches. The two square blocks pivot and the link rods thread into them. It was all frozen, and both link rods broken.



broken link rod -



the threads are #10 x 24 - pretty small.

cut the threads off, weld on a piece of machine screw. The other end of the link rod has a large pan-head screw head for adjusting, and cannot be easily duplicated.



lower latch was frozen on one side, and the attachment arm was broken.

welded that up.





I had to drill/tap one of the lower retaining bolt holes.



I got it all back together + functioning, the bottom of the door where the lower latch bolts in had rusted badly, letting the latch move around. Welded a small patch in, and now it is secure. Scored a p/s barn door check strap assembly off ebay, mine was mia. The rear doors are now working good, I may not take them off.

That is looking great! Nice work on the paint and door hardware!

Jim

Damn. I just got to the last post on the last page and I feel like someone just put poop on my cupcake.




Good stuff MZ....can't wait for more.

here we go, this afternoon - ripping into the bottom end, changing the oil pump + rear main seal.

old pump -



new pump - melling stock volume/pressure



oil screen/pickup reintalled -



I'm going to change the cam and timing gears for new ones -



the camshaft is worn in a few places. it's outta here!



fuel pump lobe -



lobe with wear -



rear main seal is next -

Chassis and body are looking great ! Noice work, great choice. Subscribed!

lifters are out!




pulling the cam gear off -



pulling the crank gear off



new crank gear on -



rear main seal out - 1/2 of it anyways.



new main seal 1/2 in -



the other half going in -



all in, a dab or two of rtv to seal the halves together -



new cam gear on new cam -



lotsofassemblylube - and it will be good to go in!



easy!!!!! slow!!!!!!!!



all in - make sure the dots line up w/each other!

Looking good!