Wow...thanks guys. I hadnt realized so many people were interested in this little thread. Again, thanks. A update...timing. Being from the era of "everything is fuel injected" and "I have to many teeth to completely understand carburetors and distributors" this truck is a HUGE learning curve for me. First the spark advance. As you have gathered, my main partner in crime on this old truck is my dad. Hes one of those good, all around guys who could be dropped off in the middle of a forest and in 6 months would have built a city. I wish I had inherited some of his brains. After complaining repeatedly about the lack of power on the 235, we were tweaking the carb one night, and he said, "I just found your problem." This, honestly, was the first time I had ever heard mention of a "spark advance." And of course, as anyone with a project is completely aware, led to several more days of tinkering. Finally, we got it to move with the vacuum off the carburetor. This lead to the second thing in recent Sam history: The timing. Thank goodness for this board and others. I did learn that if a engine decides to backfire, and is out of time, bring a change of pants. Holy cow...scared the devil smooth out of me. My daughter was convinced she had been shot. My wife and son were staring slack jawed at the old truck. Pa, who had his head under the hood, on the distributor side, looked out at me grinning...lol After finally getting him in time, Pa was convinced that he was still "a tooth out." Understanding a little about how the distributor worked at this point, I still could not understand how just "one little tooth" could cause him to lose so much power. In the midst of all this, Sam's water pump gave up the ghost. I figured a quick call to the local parts store would be in order...then they quoted me $120! I knew there had to be a cheaper way, but I needed the pump off. I started out trying to take the water pump out with the radiator in...after 2.7 hours of working up a powerful urge to kick something, I took the radiator off. 10 minutes later, pump is off. While it was off, I flushed the block, radiator, soaked..er..washed everything and pondered my next step. After doing some research on Google, and talking to Five-Oh, I realized the engine was out of a 53 Bel Air. Napa store had one next day for $53ish. Finally, last Friday, I took off a little early to install the water pump. I was making great progress, and was about to put the radiator in, when Pa pulled up. He pointed out that the fan blade was not sitting flush with the pulley, then promptly grabbed a wrench, tightened one bolt and broke the head on it. I had prior obligations that evening and the next day, but when I got back out Saturday evening Pa had everything in order and was just waiting for Monday to get some new bolts for the fan. Monday (Yesterday) I filled the radiator, let him idle for a while, and drove Sam. All in all, in second he "seemed" *****y, but as soon as you put him in 3rd or 4th, all ***** was gone. At dinner, Pa said "I still think you are a tooth off on your timing." So, right after dinner, we went back out, and advanced the timing one tooth. I started him, and he fired right off. Pa said, "Let me drive him..." We pulled out on the road, and as he shifted I could tell a 100% change in that old 235. I drove him home last night and that old engine was running like it had new life in it. Today, I drove Sam to work and on open road, 55 was easy to hit. He has the granny 4 speed and closed drive shaft, so 55 is about ALL you will ever get out of him. But now, this truck is running like a champ. Hes got his share of things to be fixed, and his to do list is always there, but man, its fun to drive. One thing that cracks me up still is all the rubberneckers. Older folks in Mercedes...guys in work trucks, kids in cars. Its like they all get a smile when they see this old farm truck rumbling down the road. I know I smile when I am the one driving it.
Glad to hear you got ole Sam running smoother. I'm sure that increases the driving pleasure immensely.
I really enjoyed reading your posts. I cant wait until I can get one of these trucks to wrench on. Theyre some of the best looking mid century trucks out there! Can't wait to see more progress.
I figured up the miles I drove yesterday in this old truck. 55 miles from when I topped it off. I topped off the tank again this morning, and came out with 13.8 MPG. Considering when I started out, it was 5.5, this is a huge improvement.
Glad that everything is moving in the right direction still. I really like how your posts are written in a narrative style. and the way you are going about getting the truck on the road and working out the bugs as they come instead of a full on build. It keeps the excitment up.
The patina on the floorboards shows all kinds of color..grey on gravel, green over gr***, black on asphalt...
After my good news about the much improved gas mileage, I decided to take a few minutes during lunch to snap a few photos of Sam today. Enjoy...
I hope this is HAMB friendly. A little off topic from Sam, but it has the "Keep Motivated! You Can Do It!" factor. Plus, its a barn find, AND a 1940's model...read on. Sometimes, I am awestruck by the story's of planes that come through here. (I'm a airport bum, I bum rides off all the guys that fly out of here, and in Eastern Oklahoma) Maybe its a customer that has just bough a new jet, or a P51 that has just got out of a complete restoration, or the little man taking his last "all over the US" flight in his Cesnna 150. Those are the kinds of stories that still make me look forward to coming to work after 10 years here. Today is one of those days. Its been a quiet day due to the rain, so I was pretty surprised when a Piper Cub pulled up outside. I hadnt heard him call in, (I found out later why) and let me tell you, this Piper was beautiful. I've seen a few cubs in my 10 years here at the airport, but never one like this. If I was guessing, I would say it looked like it had just rolled of the showroom floor. And I was right. The story of the plane itself was even more amazing. After sitting for 59(!) years a young man bought it, put 3000 hours back into the plane totally restoring it to factory original, then flying it for the first time. The cowling is even the original cowling! Jared, the pilot, had spend hours on every detail of the plane, with the sole intent of bring it back to factory original. He wanted it to look just like it did when it rolled off the ***embly line. Every sticker was just like it was when it was new, every decal, every placard, every nut, every bolt. This cub was factory new. This sticker was made after they found a 1949 prop in a attic, and was able to replicate the sticker. All the black on the original sticker had disappeared, leaving only the other colors. It even has the 3 holes in the end of the prop to allow moisture to "weep" out (see picture). And the reason I hadn't heard him call in? Well, no radio. Partly due to the fact that it didn't have a radio in it, and partly due to the fact that 6 days into this cross country he hit a little bit of turbulence, and everything in the ****pit went up, and the radio went out the open door never to be seen again. Several links follow: http://rangerairfield.org/barn_cub/years/ The story of the cub (with a few pictures) http://rangerairfield.org/gallery/ (Flash required) Click to Screen 2 (bottom right side, then on The Barn Cub -- Discovery Now I realize I cant do justice to a story like this, and the thousands of smaller stories that go into making a plane like this happen. But this plane is the result of 3000 hours of dedicated work. And pulling a total basket-case of a plane out of a barn and making it come back together and then enjoying it like it was meant to be enjoyed...now that's priceless right there. Oh, and starting when you are 22, and finishing it up and enjoying it when you are 25? Thats even better. My hats off to Jared.
Sweet. You know, it's one thing to redo an old car or truck......if it quits, you can get out and tinker with it. I'm thinking it's another level of confidence in your skills to redo a plane, since it might be a bit difficult to get out and tinker with it if it quits in mid-cruise.
This still OT. As an aircraft mechanic, you got to admire his patience tomake it "all" right, not just part of the way. I teach my students that with planes it is all or nothing. You don't want to have any regrets, "If I had only...". Mark
I agree. Planes are a 100% effort, and I admire people who put that much into them. Back on the topic of Sam. This is how you make a temporary speedometer:
He's drivin' the fool outta Sam...and that's hard to do with Minnesota68 in the truck. From what he's been telling me, it's been mainly maitnance while we keep an eye out for a good donor car to make Sam a little more highway friendly. Last picture he sent me of Sam showed him sleepin' off Thanksgiving dinner in the cab.
HAHA! Awesome. I can tell you as much time as I have spent with mine you might catch me sleeping it it one day.. Thanks!
I just watched the video again of the first drive. So cool. I can't wait until I can do that with mine!
Man, I havent posted on here since May. Sorry guys. Another plug for Sam's facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/samthe52chevy I update that with pictures and other stuff related to Sam. But heres whats been going on: I have been driving the fire out of Sam. And enjoying him. My original goal was to get him driveable, and do just that. I wanted to enjoy the feel of a old truck. Some people "get" it right off, but most are more worried about when I am gonna paint him. This past week we had a lot of family in town, and after a few rides in Sam, I converted them about old trucks. Here's a few pictures: I love driving backroads. And this picture was a result of such a drive. We found this old bridge, and I thought it would be a perfect photo opportunity. Here are the results: My buddy five-oh named his truck Rusty, so I thought this picture was appropriate. More coming...
In July, five-oh brought his truck (Rusty) over, and we got to get Sam and Rusty together for a photo op. five-oh originally owned Sam, and wound up finding and selling Sam back to me. So to get both of our old trucks together was a treat for both of us. A few of Rusty by himself:
Wow, love the pics. My wife & sister-in-law are photographers and they want me to hurry up and get my 51 back together so they can use it as a prop. Everybody loves an old truck!
Man- you've gotta teach me photography when I can afford a decent camera. You and Paul are killing me with the pics...
The Jalopy Journal
