Oh so far behind.....

Time flies. That's it. It does. Everything is catch up....

With the engine and trans out it's time to clean, then clean again. Maybe add some paint.






Add headers, gaskets, rebuild carb, more paint and we are almost there. You can't not stop cleaning and painting....and add a new SFI flexplate to replace the offending piece.





Cleaned, painted, fixed and back in

Long Time, No Post

Remiss in my duties as a blogger, I continue this story, albeit behind in time. 

The parts just kept falling off the C20 in an attempt to figure out what the problem was. First go round involved getting under the truck and figuring out why there was an oil pump and a bunch of rod bearings laying in the truck along with a pan gasket.



Well that would be because they had started to diagnose a rod knock but gave up. After checking all the caps for torque and throwing a battery on it, it would do nothing but click when trying to start, a breaker bar wouldn't turn it over either. So I whipped up some engine/bolt unsticker out of acetone and transmission fluid and filled the cylinders.



When that didn't work.......well out comes the engine.

And onto the stand to see what's up but first let's show the "rod knock" that these Chevies are famous for. They tend to bust up the flexplate if the convertor isn't shimmed correctly, happens quite often with crate engines.





It still wouldn't turn over with a breaker bar so I loosened all the rod caps and it would spin over, interesting. Next I pulled them one at a time and what I ended up finding is a few new bearings but the culprit as to why it wouldn't start again? One of the new bearings was .010 oversized which would lock up the crank when torqued correctly. 

Finally, the reason this had sat for 12 years.

Parts start falling off

As part of the the clean up parts need to be removed, so it begins





Can't beat clean windows especially with probably 20+ year old tint








I got lucky on the bed with a bunch of leaves and a rubber mat it could have been a mess



Stay tuned for more parts falling off.....

The project is home

So with work travel interfering I could not pick the truck up until Memorial Day, several weeks after it's purchase. I hated the wait, but bright and early with help of my neighbor and his truck we towed it out of the field behind the house and got it home.

First a few more pics as it sat







And finally home







After a little cleanup, I can't stand working on nasty, dirty stuff






After a quick wash down I ran the buffer on part of the fender and door, should polish up and look okay, after all it is just a parts hauler.

The new victim, I mean project....

Not as if I needed a new project to work on but I can always rationalize it when I find one.

I have driven by an old Chevy truck in a backyard for the five or so years since we bought our house, just a few blocks away. A few weeks ago the house had a for sale sign in the front yard, owners clearing out the house, and I decided to stop to inquire about the relic in the backyard.



Turns out it is the original owner that bought it new in 1973 and to throw him an offer, it would have to be moved hours away otherwise. He ended up throwing out a completely fair offer that I jumped on and then I heard the story. Bought brand new in 73, originally a 454/th400 truck but it had the transmission rebuilt and a new Chevy crate 350 installed for his son to drive. After 13K miles it started to have a rod knock, Chevy wouldn't warranty it, and they parked it. The inspection sticker is from 2002.....

Long time, no posts.....

Not that I have a following but I have been lax in updating my car exploits. Lax, a fancy word for lazy.

Updates for all!

The Cherokee. 

The Jeep was finished up with an added 52" light bar and it passed Texas inspection after I logged enough time in the computer after being disconnected.




The problem came after it was to make it's inaugural debut for hunting season open when some unseen but very worn parts reared their ugly head when hitting 60mph. The dreaded death wobble. IT was so bad that you couldn't even drive out of it. So back in the garage it went and the front conrol arms were pulled.

They may have a problem





After that fix it drove much better with only a mild shake around 65mph that you can drive right through on a "closed course" to 100mph.

Doing work at the lease.






The Road King

The Road King made it's annual run to Pennsylvania with the new vinyl and back down to Georgia to make another run to The Dragon along with some bouncing around west of Atlanta.









Currently it is back to a single color while I pick a new color to wrap it with



The Malibu

Even more primer and the start of bodywork











Also started cleaning and painting any and all small parts








That should get the old up to date and I'll start a new post on the new!