Maybe I shouldn’t say sludge, between the rockers and most of it is very clean, what fell in was like a paper thin crust that was stuck to the inside of the valve cover, when I banged the valve cover a lot fell off and in.
another way is to check out your wear parts ,u joints ,brake parts ,steering parts. orig or aftermarket. trans linkage can tell a tale too. nice rig either way.
I've done the shop vac thing like squirrel said. Get the shop vac going & slowly s****e whatever **** you want off with an old flathead screwdriver, razor blade, or whatever other s****ing device you like. **** the **** up as you s****e it off. Then go over it with some clean rags dipped some kerosene after. Works great. If you don't like kerosene dip the rag in some marvel mystery oil or something of the sorts. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Also don't run the motor until you've changed the oil. I once started a car before changing the oil & because there was so much **** inside the oil pan & plugging up the oil pickup screen the psi actually collapsed the pickup screen like a tin can. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Yes, change the oil before you run it. Sludge in the pan is the first thing the oil pump will circulate. Maybe warm the bottom of the pan with a light bulb beer you drain it to melt the **** in the bottom. This thing predates clean oil and real filters.
I would pull the oil pan and make certain the pan and pickup are 100% clean. Some of the old flathead fords had a plate you could remove to access the oil pump screen without dropping the oil pan. I just noticed my 1940 D4 cat has a big square plate for accessing the oil pump. Too bad the GMC don't have one.
I strongly agree with Old Wolf on pulling the pan, based on prior experience with engines from that era that have sat unused for a long time. One example, I bought a ‘53 Buick 263 and when I pulled the pan it had severe sludge in the bottom that had compacted from sitting. Would have prevented oil pickup supply. The price of a pan gasket and a couple hours work are inexpensive compared to the damage that could be done and, in any case, the sludge needs to be removed. Ray
The pictures are of a 1940,s farmall tractor. It had been setting for quite some time. and I pulled the pan before attempting to start it.
Back years ago I used to get a unknown engine and just start it up. and over the years Ive ruined a few that might have been serviceable. Now I do things I wouldn't have back them. I never try and start anything with the stale gas that's in the tank. I gravity feed the carb. I will sometimes tear down and regasket a engine. I always pull the oil pan and make certain it and the pickup screen is clean. I pull the valve covers and make certain the valves are all operating. I will do a compression test. and sometimes hook a air fitting in the spark plug opening. with both valves closed and 150 pounds of air pressure. if there is a bad head gasket or cracked head you will get bubbles in the radiator. leave the radiator cap off or you could burst the radiator. The tractor the sludged pan is from is now back in service. I changed the oil after about a hours running. and it was dirty. I use shell 15 W 40 and the tractor smokes a bit if you let it idle for a long period but doesn't drink oil or foul spark plugs. I always soak the cyls for several days. and never use starting fluid. WD 40 works as good as starting fluid and doesn't dry out the cyl walls. ive also used 24 volts on ones I couldn't pull start. I sometimes after soaking the cyls I will leave the spark plugs out and hook to the wrecker and put it in gear and pull it down the highway a couple of miles. loosens everything up . builds oil pressure and emptys the cyls of the diesel and trans fluid I was using. For me waking up a zombie engine is great fun
I agree.I have a 1919 Es*** engine that I know would start but not having any extra parts and no source for parts I will make sure I do no harm. Well until I get it is a car.
Wow, thanks for all the tips. Most of it seems like common sense but in a hurry to make it run I probably would have just made a start attempt. I will def pull the pan, is there any benefit to pulling the heads and doing gaskets? Seems like most logical thing to do is the compression test and check to make sure the block or heads aren’t cracked before I get to deep into that engine. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
You can crank it over and see if the valves look happy, opening and closing like they should. If you are planning to use the engine, and have it a long time, you might want to go ahead and take it apart and work on it now. But if you want to go have some fun with the truck, you might want to just do enough to get it running safely, then you can get the rest of the truck working enough to drive it around, then you'll get a better idea of what work it needs, and whether or not you want to keep it all original. I'd go ahead and get it running first. But I'm kind of weird, like that.
Mainly make sure the oil and screen are clean, fresh fuel, hope the carb isn't gamed up. Check the plugs and points. No brainer stuff. What type of oil filter does it have? New fuel filter. Keep an eye on the oil pressure. It may be a good runner with minimal effort. The clutch and brake pedals don't seem really warn. It may be low milage.
You have really recieved some good advice here. Me, I'm in the get-it -running-and-enjoy-it camp. Also, Jeff Bradshaw used to be on the napco4x4.org forum quite a bit, under the screen name "Elderly Iron". He is really sharp on GMC's, and knows his NAPCOs pretty well also.
Those Pontiac GMC's have a canister oil filter. however the filter isn't the exact same as a Chevrolet v8 canister filter and is hard to find. I used the aluminum adapter from a Pontiac 350 engine on my 55 287 and converted it to easy to find a spin on type filter. There Is a U tube video of that Jeff Bradshaw -Elderly Iron dood starting up a 59 389 engine. Its quite entertaining but some of the things he did I don't recommend. Like starting it up on starting fluid and not pulling & cleaning the oil pan. I think he was planning on putting the 389 in a truck that had a broken 347? The 55 287 doesn't oil the rockers thru the pushrods like the later Pontiacs. there are oil p***ages in the rocker studs. Later heads cams lifters pushrods intakes and dist can be swapped on to the 287. Just check that the valves are all moving freely like squirrel recommends and do a compression test. Ive got a book on Pontiac engines by a guy Named Jim Hand that covers everything about all the engines from the 287 thru the 455. Your truck with the granny 4 speed can be made faster by installing a higher geared rear end. With the granny low it will still pull just fine and have a slow reverse. my 66 gmc has a SM 420 and dana 44 rear with 336 gears and it pulls just fine and will run 60 at low RPM. There is a trick to shifting from granny low to second without clashing gears. You double clutch. You press the clutch and pull it from granny to neutral then release and then depress the clutch and shift to second. You probably know that but It might help someone?
From the same "era", GMC had a Fleet version of these trucks. They had a steel mesh grille, and the Chevrolet dash (I like that dash over the big, flat GMC). What was that "model"? I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
The Fleet model of GMC was the 100, I think. From 1958 or 59. I saw another one of them last week, I've seen at least half a dozen in my life, that I remember, and folks say they're rare
I think they had a one off version called the Palamino. It had fibergl*** bed sides and lots of chrome ect. Ive seen pictures never saw one in person.
Here is a little update on the history of the truck and the wonders of social media. I looked up the company on the trucks door and it is long gone. Through Facebook I found someone with the same last name though and sent a message and sure enough the owner of the truck was her great grandfather. She asked some more family and her grandmother remembered the truck and her father using it in the 50s and 60s to haul gl*** to jobs in the Medford Oregon area. She said she doesn’t remember it after that so that’s where the history ends at this point but they are going to keep an eye out for pictures etc. that might include the business or the truck. It could make sense it being low mileage if it was only used in a small area for business use. If I stayed in my town every day it would take me awhile to accrue 22k miles on anything. Amazing the power of social media and cool to hear a little about the guy that made a living with this old truck. I felt a little weird for asking but she thanked me for the pictures and the conversation piece for her and her family. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Another question I have is if this truck is a deluxe cab, I’m thinking it is because it has big window, radio and armrest on driver door. Any other distinguishing features? Also the rear bumper, it’s a diamond plate and fits well to the profile of the truck. I tried to do some research into “options” for 55’ but haven’t had much luck yet. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The GMC trucks are a bit fancier than the Chevys, so the normal "deluxe" and "standard" rules for Chevys probably don't apply. Radios and heaters were common dealer installed items, so that doesn't really tell you much about what model it is. There were a whole bunch of diamond plate step bumpers made for these old trucks, mostly by small companies or welding shops, as far as I can tell. The original factory bumper is stamped steel and very curved, like the front bumper. Anything else, is not factory, it's aftermarket.
My '59 Chevy longbed has a bumper identical to what I can see in the picture, it has been thoroughly stress tested though. Truck was sold new in Evanston, Wyo.
My 56 ford Pk has one of those Diamond plate rear bumpers. The factory chevy and GMC bumpers where like Squirrel stated stamped steel like the front bumper is made from. I think LMC truck has the stock type bumpers in chrome or painted steel.
That's a really cool GMC. It should be a deluxe cab truck. It has a chrome grill, bumper and the deluxe instrument cluster. If it was a standard cab, the grill and bumpers would be painted. The instrument cluster would be painted a sort of hammer tone grey, instead of the aluminum. The rings around the gauges would be white instead of chrome. By the way, I own it's younger brother......A 59 GMC 100 series. As far as I know, the 100 series only referred to being a 1/2 ton, regardless if it had the "Fleet Option", or not. Mine came out of a Dalhart Texas junkyard. Originally was a six / 3 speed. Now it has a 326 Pontiac V8, Muncie 4 speed and a 1960 Catalina rear axel.
What'd you do with the six? It would have been a 270. One major supplier of those bumpers was Barden and were often a dealer option. Barden bumper
It would have been a 270, they didn't put the 302 in pickups, and they quit making the smaller sixes a few years earlier.
I remember some of those diamond plate bumpers being a dealer item , had the dealership name stamped or engraved somehow. Sent from my LG-TP450 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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