What's this thing

As time goes by, I try to learn as much as I can about this project, be it restoration processes, assembly methods, techniques, anything. One of the more difficult things to wrap my head around, however, is literally what's sitting in the garage. That's right, I'm talking about the truck itself. Sure, I know generally how it works and what it's supposed to look like, but the truck is made up of a lot- a whole lot- of non original parts.

Some things I knew already, like how to decode the VIN number (that info is in the front of the LMC truck catalog) and that the rear fenders came from a '68 (or at least the side marker light on them did, as the year is stamped on them). There's also secondhand information. I was told (or heard) that the engine in the truck when we bought it came out of a '76, and the engine in the parts truck was a '72, and that when dad had it rebuilt, the top half of the '72 was mounted to the bottom of the '76. I have no idea if that's true or not, but that's the assumption I've been going off of when looking at parts. I've tried finding the casting numbers and looking them up before, but I don't think I ever found anything conclusive.

With any older vehicle like this, which many, many people have had their hands on, it's important to figure out just what is under the hood before buying parts. Of course, there are no records at all of what happened to this truck before my dad bought it in 1997. I have actually been able to find out some things, though.

New rotor in foreground, old cap and coil behind

I replaced the distributor rotor a few years ago, but the old one had "86 Buick" hand written in sharpie, which was a good clue. I looked up the numbers found on different parts, and this seemed to be consistent. This is very different than what was in the truck originally- this one has the coil built right into the cap, delivers more spark power then the original system, and does not use the old style points. These are good improvements, so I plan to keep this distributor. There's even a place I can hook up a tachometer if I so choose, and indeed I will someday! I was able to take the old one into the parts store with me, so that was helpful.


 

Parts truck transmission- Saginaw 3-Speed (probably)

The transmissions I have were a bit more difficult to identify. I had to go largely off their appearance to figure out what they are.  I'm pretty sure the parts truck transmission is a Saginaw 3-speed (a unit that has synchromesh gears), and the one in the truck is a Muncie, which doesn't have synchromesh, and I'm not sure it has gears anymore. It seems that putting the parts truck unit in would be an improvement, but I don't know exactly what I have, and the casting number search is inconclusive. (There's too much grease and grime on the one in the truck to read the numbers. My asssumptions are based on what I found at this site and ones similar to it.)


 (To see how a 3-speed transmission works, watch this video - you may want to skip to 2:52 if you already know how levers and gears work. And then this video about synchromesh- this one takes a few views to really get, but it's the best explanation I've found.)

The case is similar with my alternator. When I replaced a bad one back in 2007, I upgraded to one with a higher amperage output. Unfortunately I had no idea what it was, only that it worked. Turns out that it's a 12SI internally regulated 78 amp unit. What that means is that the new voltage regulator I put on with the new alternator is redundant. The new wiring kit which will eventually get put in will take care of that. Here's something I didn't know before- those fans on the front of alternators pull air through the unit from the back instead of the other way around. Something I never really thought about before.

Disgusting.

The differential / rear end is so coated with grime that I couldn't find any numbers where they should have been. At all. That's going to need a thorough cleaning once the bed comes off. It leaked when we got the truck and it still leaks now.










So now that I've thoroughly bored you with parts of the truck you don't care about (and admittedly, I've written about them here mostly for my own record), I'll share with you one more bit of info I've uncovered. The info plate on the drivers side kick panel has been painted over a few times, and probably can't be restored. However, I was able to read the original paint code. The truck's factory color was:

Light green. Not that I'm going to abandon my blue and white scheme, but it's interesting to know that.



One more update: I cleaned up that flywheel cover from the last post, but I failed to take a picture of it before I put it in the attic. Maybe another time.

Still Making that Patch Panel

Correcting a small error in fabrication, then fixing another one.





BONUS! As a reward for reading my blog instead of just watching the YouTube videos, you get exclusive content! This time, it's a picture of the greasy flywheel cover I pulled off the bottom of the truck!

Don't touch it.

I realize that photo isn't much of an incentive, but I felt like I had to do something, since I haven't written a whole lot for the last couple of posts.

Clutch Still Broke and Fender Repair Continued

Last Saturday, I tried "adjusting" the clutch some more to get it to work, to no effect.

So then I started working on that patch panel for that '68 stepside fender.






I learned some things. First, I learned about thr necessity of providiong additional lighting whebn shooting video under the truck.

The second was stuff to look for when bending a patch panel- which I'm still trying to work out. I'll post my conclusions when it's all done.

Man, it's really greasy and gross under that engine/transmission!

Follow Up to Last Saturday

In the aftermath of shifting everything around in the garage on Saturday, I've spent a good deal of time this week starting to clean up and organize the garage. Again. As those of you that know me well can attest, I've got my hands into a lot of different things. And of course with those things come, well, things. Parts, equipment, tools, and just stuff. And you also know that I have a hard time throwing stuff away that might still be of use. It just seems wasteful to get rid of something for the sole reason that i just don't need or want it anymore. Now being married has forced helped me to start to see that this really isn't always optimal. Now, maybe if I lived in a huge house with a six car garage and a dozen sheds and a barn, or something like that, It wouldn't be an issue. Though it probably would. It doesn't take long to expand enough to fill the space you occupy.

That being said, I've started talking a good hard look at some of the things I've got in the garage, on the porch, and in the house. And not just truck stuff, but all sorts of things. If I'm going to get serious about this project, I'm just going to have to make some changes and try to gear toward that. Of course I need to hang on to all my tools- most of them will (or might) come in useful for the restoration, but I also still have a house to maintain and improve, boats to build annually, and I'll be moving on to other projects if when the restoration is done. I also sort of need clean clothes, and since the garage is the only really suitable spot for the appliances that make that possible, I guess those won't be going anywhere. I've got a large amount of wood- scraps, boards, panels- that probably should get sorted through. How much lumber am I ever going to use? Always more, since I seem to keep having to go to the store for it, but I digress. I guess it's just a case of having the size and shape I need. The same is true for the pile of metal I've accumulated.

Enough about that. Suffice to say, I'm rearranging the garage and storage areas to prioritize the restoration project.

So let's actually talk about the truck. I spend most of my available Sunday mornings searching craigslist for truck parts, before the wife wakes up. This week, I struck gold. Check it out:

I picked up this brand new, never used replacement gas tank and sending unit for $75! Those were some of the parts I had on my list that I've shopped around for, so I can tell you that I would have paid $200 for this setup from the different parts vendors. The tank still had the coating of rust-protectant oil on it from the manufacturer! I'm going to maybe toss some of those silica gel packets in it or something and probably put it in the attic for safekeeping.

A lot of people that restore these trucks mount aftermarket gas tanks under the bed and block off the hole where the fuel neck was. I'm sure a lot of folks do it for the convenience of the extra space behind the seat. Other people are scared to be riding around with up to 20 gallons of volatile liquid in the cab with them. While the extra space might be nice, I'm not afraid of the gas tank, since it's been there all this time (in my truck and so many others) with no problem. That being said, that may make unloading my old tank a bit difficult, since replacements are readily available and people like to move them. If any of you are interested, though, let me know.

The same guy who sold me the tank also had this:

If you take a look at my last post in September, I show where the louvered cowl piece behind the hood had some damage. This guy had one that came off a '60. Two of the little dividers are a bit bent out of shape, but that's a much easier fix then what I was looking at before. I'm pretty sure you can't even buy these aftermarket, so I was pretty happy to come up with one.

I told myself I wasn't going to mess with the truck until I got the garage cleaned up (and a list of other household projects that have been waiting for me). But yesterday I went out to try a little test. If you'll recall, Saturday when I tried to roll the thing out, I could not get the truck into gear. I haven't crawled up underneath to pull the flywheel cover and take a look, but I thought that maybe, just maybe the clutch plate is just stuck to the flywheel or the pressure plate.** So I thought, maybe I can break it loose by putting the truck into gear, holding the brakes, and hitting the starter. I put the truck in first and turned the key. Then I put it into reverse and tried again. I rocked it back and forth like that a few times. Sadly, it didn't work. I guess that means a trip underneath. Fortunately, in cleaning up I assembled my new creeper. It was still in its box from a few Christmases ago, but I needed the shelf space for tarps, so I decided to hang it on the wall instead.

So, sorry to ramble on about more personal kind of stuff, but I thought it would give you some insight into where the project is at right now. Hopefully my next post will have more actual content.

Oh, my Christmas list went out to my family this week, can't wait to see how that works out!



**- If you have no idea what I'm talking about, rather than re-invent the wheel, there are several videos on YouTube that explain the components and workings of the clutch. I recommend these three:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BaECAbapRg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfjGohWy-OU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd-XHCTS0iY

Kick Start- Sort Of

It's time to get this project into gear! Yesterday I had some friends over to help get moving again. The plan was to get the garage cleaned up a bit (which I tried to get done in advance, with some success), start the truck, pull it out, then clean everything out of the truck. Also on the schedule was to pull out all the parts I've collected and make a complete list. Feeling ambitious, working on the rear fender from my last video was also tentatively on the schedule.

So We moved everything out of the garage necessary to get the truck out. it started right up with no problem . . .




But then I could not put it into gear! Any gear! It was acting like the clutch wasn't working at all. We tried to adjust the clutch linkage- the clutch has a mechanical linkage (as opposed to cable operated or hydraulic)- but the adjusting nuts were frozen onto the rod. So we came up with a creative solution-

Using a ratcheting tie-down strap, I pulled the pivot arm back far enough to get the linkage rod out, shoved a pile of washers onto the end of the rod and put it back. This significantly improved the feel of the clutch pedal, but unfortunately didn't fix the problem. I was going to add more washers, but the linkage happens to be right next to the exhaust pipe, so we decided to move on to the inventory while everything cooled off.
We started cleaning out the truck, and after a few minutes pushed the truck out of the garage to clean everything out of it. Once the truck was cleaned out, we went over it to kind of look at what was wrong with it.

Mockup layout of floor panels. More metal here than in the actual floor

After this video, we finished up the inventory and called it quits. We came up with a list that's three pages long! Turns out I have a few duplicates, so I can get rid of some of it to save space. We also laid out the new floor pieces I've collected so far to try to get some idea of how they go together.Still missing a few pieces, but Christmas is coming!





Overall, we managed to clean out the truck, inventory all the parts, break the truck, make a video, and manage to have some fun doing it. A pretty good day, I'd say.

Special thanks to you guys who came out that day- Mike, Bryan B, and Gabri