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

Checking the Hood- Accident Damage

I was messing around in the garage today on another project, and it bugged me a little bit that the hood didn't quite sit right on the truck. Now all the body panels are going to be adjusted into place once they're put back on after refurbishment, but I wanted to see if something was messed up. The most noticeable thing was that the hood seemed to sit a little higher than the cowl vent behind it. Was the hood domed somehow? was the cowl too flat? The hood came off a different truck, a 20 series (mine is a 10 series), could that make a difference? I adjusted the hood and managed to get it this close:
 

 As you can see, there's still a fair amount of gap. In the horizontal plane,I can adjust it to be pretty close, but in the vertical plane it's still way out. During this process, I discovered why:

The cowl is bent downward. Looks like I'll need a new one of those, then. Maybe this one can be straightened, but I'm not sure I wouldn't be better off just replacing it.

I'm not too worried about it right now, but at least I have an idea where the problem lies. That accident all those years ago really did a number on the passenger side of the cab. I'm not sure I've ever described the damage in this blog. My intent is to make a video blog entry with a thorough assessment of all the truck's problems, so I won't get into much detail here.

The accident kind of caved in a bit of the firewall on the passenger side, mostly where it was weakened due to rust.

Hard to tell in the photo, but this rocker panel is slightly buckled, making the door opening slightly smaller. Probably one reason the door doesn't close properly.

This is the back of the cab. At the moment of impact, either the cab jumped back or (more likely) the bed jumped forward to cause this bit of damage. The bed isn't secured to the frame particularly well.

Fender Follow Up- A Few Words About Paint

In my video post, I mentioned "compatibility problems" in reference to the self etching primer. Some primers and top coats don't get along well, as something in their chemical makeup will cause the top layer not to adhere to the bottom layer. The self-etching primer in a can, from what I've been told, does not have this problem, so any future primers will go over it and not fall back off.

I probably could have used any primer to protect the metal, since it's probably going to get sanded back off in the future anyway.

I did some investigation of the fender you saw in the video. As I mentioned, those fenders came from a '68 truck, so their history can only be discovered by what's under their paint. I sanded down a small spot just to see what was there. I went all the way to bare metal. Here's what I found, from the metal all the way up to the blue paint my Dad had put on:

Black primer
White (probably the factory color)
Grey (primer)
Blue (pretty familiar)
Red Primer
Green (a thin layer- a scratch coat perhaps?)
Red Primer
Grey Primer
White (paint job at time of purchase)
 Blue (no primer beneath blue- inexpensive paint job)

This fender has a rich color history.

So that's ten different colors. Adding a new color on top of an old one usually isn't a big deal, but if the paint layers get too thick it can make them crack, split, or more susceptible to chipping. I'll need to evaluate the cab and see how much paint is on it. Looking at the truck's number plate, it was light green when it rolled out of the factory. Who knows how many layers are on top of that. For this fender, I may or may not go back to bare metal, but I think for the parts that end up on the truck, I'll strip it all the way down to at least the factory primer, should it prove sound.

Video Blog Test

I shot and edited this video last night as a test to see how a video format is going to work. I'm not sure I like the idea yet.

Check it out, and please let me know what you think in the comments section here.

Your opinion counts. Too long? Too Detailed? Not enough background information? Need more music? Too Boring? Should I give up and stick to the traditional text and photos?

Do NOT be afraid of offending me. If you hate the video and will never read my blog again because of it, at least let me know why so I can improve in the future.

A Long, Hot Summer

Courtesy of RockAuto

Obviously, there haven't been any posts over the spring and summer months. Such is the nature of a project that you work on when you can. There's been little change. In March, I received a few more parts- a pair of outer floor pans (they go just inside the rocker panels) for my birthday. Evidently I didn't take a picture, but here is the stock photo.

They are actually the same length.

The rocker panels I bought at the auto swap came in, and Nick was kind enough to pick them up for me. Some odd optical illusion causes one to look longer than the other in this photo.


So I've started thinking about working on it again. Sure the days are getting shorter, but what good are longer daylight hours when either it's too hot to breathe or the mosquitoes are swarming?

Since I've taken a long break, before I get started again I stepped back and took more of a big picture view of things. The last relevant thing I was working on in earnest was getting the garage cleaned up. I made a lot of progress at that time, but the state of the garage has been in constant flux, as projects have ebbed and waned over the course of the spring and summer months. I'm now back to having the place pretty clean again, and this time the back porch is in pretty good shape too. That's important since I use it for storage.

So the big picture view. I've been watching a lot of videos on YouTube, and in the process got a feel for the number of manhours this sort of thing takes. I believe that, if I started now and put in all of my available spare time, that I could be "done" in close to two years. I sort of doubt that I'll be putting that much time in just based on past experience, but it's something to shoot for. Maybe I'll be "done" in time for the truck's 50th birthday.

I've got a few more projects with October deadlines in front of me, so the plan is that I'm going to start again in earnest at the beginning of November.

I put some thought into the order of operations. Rebuilding the floor would be easier with the front body panels and the bed removed. Cleaning up the engine and swapping the transmission would be a lot easier with the front body panels removed. None of this would be a problem if I had a lot of storage space, but as always, room is at a premium. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but I have two sets of correct rear fenders for the truck, and one set from a '68, and between them they take up a lot of space. So the plan is to work on them first, maybe patch them up a bit so I can sell them. That would free up some space and add a bit of money to the truck budget. After that, I'll pull the front end and do the engine/transmission work, and put the body panels in the bed (those which will fit). By then I might be able to source a new place to store things, so I could pull the bed and move everything out of the way. Otherwise I'll make do and work around as I can.

As I said, I'm planning on starting this in November. I'm considering switching over to a video blog instead of this. I feel like I can include more information in a video blog. Plus I've been having some trouble with this one, and I'm pretty much sick of HTML editing.

So stay tuned.