New Old Truck

DRove mine today. Rio has a leaking front tire. It was 29*when I left gr house with no heater. Yeah.... I’m fixing that tire tonight or carrying an air tank. 

Cousin_Eddie said:

759NRNG said:

Pssst.......thatsnownnebago,I hear that Cousin Eddy is fixin'  to move his C10 stepside in march of next year......check it

I've been driving the truck a bit lately while my Miata is apart. Every time I drive it, the sale price goes up a little bit. If we have a mild winter here in Texas, and I keep putting miles on it, come March no one will be able to afford it.

I need to be on the mailing list when that goes to market. I doubt I can afford it by then, but I still want to lust and cry when it's gone. Holy hell that thing is NICE!

And it's broken again. Pulling onto my road, the right front brake hose let loose. Not a surprise to be honest. They were pretty rotten and I had planned to replace them with some Russell braided lines anyway.... just not NOW. On top of that, the radiator is done. LEaking from multiple spots (left tank, 2 spots in the core).  That one I wasn't expecting just yet. 

So.... go full boat silly and buy a nice aluminum with fans and shroud or use my current fan and use a parts house OE replacement? 

Something like this or this?

EDIT: MAybe this?

Yes right away......Merry Early Christmas to yooooouuuuuu

New shiny pieces arrived yesterday. 29x18 3-core aluminum rad and russel braided lines for hte front hoses. Should be large enough to keep it cool. If not.... I likely ended up on the surface of the sun and engine overheating is likely the least of my worries then.

apparently I got something done yesterday. 

ok maybe two things. 

So I learned the new radiator was about 2" taller than the old one. That made the pretty chrome top hold down plate useless. So I had to make a pair of new brackets that bolt into the top of the radiator. They turned out pretty well, needs to be taken back off and paint them so they don't rust. 

Hoses were surprisingly easy. Until I realized I was out of brake fluid. Also clearanced the inside hub of the front wheels because the hub size was too small. 

FINALLY! Got it back on the road yesterday. fluids bled, caliper replaced. Test drove. Much better. Brake pedal was still a little squishy so I rebled it. If today was going to be like yesterday I wanted to drive it in. Sadly, the temps dropped 30* over night and we have flurries. Nope. staying warm and comfy. 

Saturday was at the Tire Rack getting tires for the new Forte. Also picked up a pair of 255/40/17 RT-615K+ tires. They are also nice and warm in hte computer room. 

Quick update. drove the truck up to my codriver's house on Saturday. about 45 miles. Ran great. Brakes are still a little spongy but getting better. I still think the master may be shot. We got the rear axle straight. 3/4" on the left side rearward. So everytime I'd shift and hit the gas, the locker would lock and try to steer me into a ditch. No longer. YAY! Got the driver's harness mounted properly. I decided to hold off on the passenger one and just find a standard 3-point belt. A.) the wife hates the harness and 2.) the sheer terror passengers will feel while I'm all safe and snug. On my bench seat. Yes.... 4-point and a bench. WINNING!

Also got the exhaust firmly welded up off the axle and the p/s pump now has 2 whole bolts holding it tight after we welded the bracket together. 

Going to need to get a pressure and return hose for the p/s and likely a pump before it's over. When it stops leaking I know I'm out of fluid and that is getting old. Cooling system seems to work well? It may have air still. Occassionally it'll creep up to 200 then go right back down. Still climbs to 210-215 before the t-stat opens (160 in there now) but once it's open seems to be fine. 

If it's popping up to 200 on occasion that sounds like a bubble, that could also be the 210-215 temp before it opens. Every mechanical temp gauge I've had on an SBC always moved around more than any of my late model vehicles, even ones with an SBC/4.3.  I've had poor luck with the 160* stats, done better with the 180* and then just let it run at wherever it seems to like to run. As long as it doesn't get cranky and loaded up 200/210 doesn't bother me too much.

I will say this, I ran water in some stuff for a while, never again. Such poor results compared to actual green coolant. 

The gauge is electric Dakota with an electric sender in the drivers side head. It had a mechanical gauge that did the same thing before. 

Now, I'm not a selfie kind of person. But I thought this was appropriate. IT's 70*, and I'm driving my truck with harnesses installed right and an axle that is straight. Running like a raped ape this morning. 

Also, the cooling wierdness was likely bubbles. after the last few drives I've had to top off about a quart or two except the last one. The drive in, it reached 180ish, and settled in and never moved. Before it would have hit 200+ 2-3 times before going back down. YAY!

I’m smitten. First interstate run and 75 was nothing. 2100rpm and 40lbs of oil pressure running 180*. Happy. 

3.9” shorter and a full 9” tread width. 

New Treads are good.....hey what oil filter are yu runnin' ?  

In reply to 759NRNG :

It's a Fram.... seriously. It was the only filter they had in stock at the time and I already had the old one off. 

I can't get over how WIDE the 255/40 is. That's an 8.5" wheel and it almost looks a tiny bit pinched. I was curious if I could squeeze a 275/40 onto these for the rear but I don't think so... at least not comfortably. 

Bobcougarzillameister said:

 

 

I hope you don't find it offensive me mentioning this, but I want to throw it out there.

1) Your upper ball joints are installed incorrectly. The bolts are in wrong. The bolt head goes underneath the balljoint and the nut and washers goes atop. Notice how the ball joints came with thin head bolts (compared to typical bolts). That was done on purpose. When the dust boot is filled with grease and pooched out fully, the tails of the bolts will abrade the rubber and damage them as the suspension cycles. That's why the bolt heads are shorter than normal. You install the bolts the opposite way and the thin bolt heads give extra clearance to the rubber boot. Most ball joints include a little note in the box specifying this.

I crawled under my truck just now and snapped a poor potato pic to add another 1000 words to my rambling.

2) The brake line is intended to be installed below the upper control arm, not over it. That's the way GM did it and they even included a bracket to bolt it to the upper arm. My hoses are not braided like yours, they are Wagner stock replacements. In the past builds though, I did use braided hoses and I had to harvest the brackets off the old rubber hoses to be able to bolt them in correctly.

As an added note, you have to somewhat bend the hard line end part of the brake hoses when you install drop spindles on these trucks. It's normal and done no matter what brand drop spindle is used. The drop spindles often mention this in their instructions somewhere. When you bend the end of the hard line correctly and bolt the hose to the upper arm, the suspension can cycle fully and steering swing to and fro and the brake hoses will be safely tucked into place and not rub anything.

Again, here is a potato photo of my own truck.

I hope my making mention of these things doesn't hurt your feelings. I've been an Airframe and Powerplant mechanic for 24 years and little details like these cause guys like me to lose sleep. I tend to fuss excessively over the small details.

Because of the drop spindle, youcan't put the hose under the arm. It moves the caliper too far upwards for any hose to clear the UCA. This is almost 3" spindle so the caliper bolt head is damn near flush with the bottom of the control arm.

And all this vexing is the reason I went with dropped lower arms......

Bob the REAL oil guy. said:

Because of the drop spindle, youcan't put the hose under the arm. It moves the caliper too far upwards for any hose to clear the UCA. This is almost 3" spindle so the caliper bolt head is damn near flush with the bottom of the control arm.

I have installed many sets of dropped spindles. My picture above is a 3" drop spindle. You absolutely can install them that way, as seen in my picture.

My caliper sits higher than your picture. With the russel lines they’re not long enough to go under. 

As for the ball joints I didn’t like them sticking through so i cut them off. The install pic in the box showed them going down. Grinders are awesome for making things permanent. 

I also have 2” springs in there too I wonder if that is making it harder for the short Russell lines?

They are tiny compared to the old ones. It’s dark and the garage is full so no full pics until tomorrow.