I wanted to post these pics below of the cab door. I thought it was cool to see the company logo as well as the phone number.
This is a really awesome project ya got going on over there!! Growing up I've been up my dads bum and he's a Mack guy call me brainwashed but I love them!!!! It has alot of potential good luck I look forward to seeing your project develop!!! Here's a pic of my dads B-Model that's he's had since before I was born I dream of restoring to the state in which it's been in my heart lol cheesy but pretty awesome truck!!! good luck Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
Quick update. Still waiting for the father-in-law to come over and help. Decided to pull the generator off and clean it up. There were a lot of dirt dobber nests inside and it was very dirty. I pulled the end off, and blew it out real good with an air hose. The bearings appeared to be good and tight, and the brushes looked fine, so I didn't disassemble it completely. I polished the commutator with some fine sandpaper and greased the bearing. I also cleaned the bracket up and put it back on the truck. The fan belts were obviously junk, so I took them off. I will replace them whenever I get the engine running. Here are a few pics below.
I noticed 4 bolts on the side of the block that appeared to hold something on at some point. Anyone have any ideas what is supposed to go here, or what might have been there?
Low Blow, Man now THAT is a truck! It's gonna look great no matter how you finish it. Once you get it started I'd be SO tempted to go rent a portable steam cleaner and get those 50-75 year old barnacles off it. But I suppose, they're the only things preserving what's left of the paint, etc. Just putting in my vote for a nice flat bed for it at some later date.
Yea, I keep a putty knife and a plastic bucket near the truck at all times. When I am thinking about what to do next, I find myself picking up the putty knife and scraping grease and grime off this thing. I'm definitely considering a flat bed.
I pulled the distributor cap and plug wires off today. I have never seen this type of set up before (which doesn't say much, because I haven't seen a lot). The cap has threaded inserts where the plug wires screw in. I believe that the cap is ok. The plug wires, however, are past gone. After trying a couple of parts houses, I ordered a universal plug wire set for a 6 cylinder. I will make up the threaded ends using the existing tips. The rubber boots that go over the threaded tips were also in pretty good shape. So, I cleaned them up and will re-use them. See pictures below (and pay close attention to the "poor boy" parts washer!!
I also pulled the coil off today just to clean it up a little. At this point, I am not worried about getting everything super clean and painted, but I still don't know if the engine is going to run. I am however, trying to get things ready to try and start it this weekend. I did make up a new wire that runs from the rotor base over to the coil. The insulation was gone from the other one and it was almost bare wires.
I decided to pull the carburetor as well to see what the inside looked like. The truck has been sitting idle since 1995. It was not as bad as I thought. The floats were not stuck, which was a good thing. The screen was pretty nasty though and there was some gummy old fuel clogging the drain plugs. I am not going to rebuild the carb at this time. I just want to clean it up for this weekend to see if the engine is going to start and run. Once I know that, I will pull it down again, and thoroughly clean it. The gasket did come apart on me when I took it apart. No chance of finding it in a hurry. So, I bought some gasket material and made one myself. I posted pics below of the gasket outline, but not of the gasket after I cut it out. It was my first time to make a gasket and I was pretty embarrassed at the result. The good news is, the gasket covered the surfaces and didn't cover any holes!! That is where I am at this point. The plug wires will arrive in the morning and I will make them up tomorrow. I will put everything back together and look forward to hopefully cranking on Saturday.
Oops, I forgot to post this pic of the screen once I cleaned it. I meant to put it in the rotation of pics above. Sorry.
You should go ahead and clean the points, set them to .016 to .018, put a little dab of vaseline on the distributor cam, and a few drops of oil on the felt under the rotor. Also verify the whether the coil is a 6V or 12V, it should be stamped on it somewhere. A good hot spark and some fuel will probably bring it back to life.
A good set of sharp Exacto knives are the best tool for making homemade gaskets. There's absolutely nothing wrong with making gaskets. Spend much time working on oddball old stuff, and you'll learn that it's a necessity. I've made gaskets for everything from pony motors to electrical control panels out of everything from cereal boxes to mud flaps. Cereal boxes can make a pretty decent gasket in a pinch. Keep practicing, you'll get better. Another bit of advice: track down some bullet shell casings of various calibers, they work really well as poor mans punches for making the bolt/screw holes in the home made gaskets. A .22 shell casing for machine screws, .45 for 1/2".... you get the idea. A .45 casing also works great for making the nice inner radius rounded corners. Looks like you're on your way!
Awesome old Mack. Have you considered setting the cab on a long wheelbase Dodge 1 ton dually diesel chassis and then build a bed to match the cab?
Ok, so I picked up the universal set of plug wires today. I go to strip back the insulation so that I can expose copper wires. Guess what? No wires. Just a bunch of soft fiber material. That was not going to work for this application. I need the wires to fold back over the threaded tips. So, I returned the wires and started my search for copper core wire. Five stops and no luck. Finally, I try the tractor place. They only had a wiring kit for a 4-cylinder. They did, however, have copper core wire that they sold by the foot. They also had the boots and connectors. So, I got the parts (for only $2 more than the universal kit that wouldn't work) and headed home to make the wires up. Pretty simple. Pics are below. My father-in-law is coming over tomorrow and we are going to try and fire the old girl up. I'll come back at some point tomorrow with the results.
Great Truck! Good Luck with the Fire Up... I love the Old Mack trucks, they are "Hot Rods" in their own way.
Nice work! Hope it fires well! I'd think about trying to reproduce that company decal for the side of the door!
Quick update: My father-in-law came over to help as was the plan. We set the points and made sure that we were getting fire to the coil. Check. We put the cap back on and ran the new plug wires. We checked to make sure we were getting fire to the plugs. Confirmed. Next, we pulled the electric fuel pump and tested it to make sure that it was working. Nothing! It was then time to go to my son's football game. So, after the game, I ran by the parts house and picked up a new 12V electric fuel pump and some fuel line. I am going to try and get to working on it again today and hopefully have it started by days end.
Sorry for the late update. I have not been able to start it yet. I rigged up the fuel pump and am getting fuel to the carburetor. I am just not getting the engine to spin fast enough to start. I haven't really had time to mess with it much in the last week. I'll get back on it soon, though.
Well, I guess the title of this thread should be "His Mack, Your Thoughts?". It's time to close this one out. I made a deal with Kevin (Locomotive Breath) on the old Mack. He picked the truck up from me Saturday morning and had it running on starting fluid that afternoon. I received this video link last night. It really made me smile. The truck is definitely in better hands now. Thanks, Kevin!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QABnkOqy3eA
The Jalopy Journal
