Build thread for the 72 GMC, finally. Thanks John!

Yank!

It was easier the first time I pulled it out seven years ago. Now I am all worried about the amount of underhood restoration that's going to be required to bring it up to the standards I have set for the rest of the beast.

Big clutch looks great (11/5" OD?)

Grime, bent alternator brackets, spark plug separators looking all icky and bent.

Note the sweet one piece oil pan gasket I put on seven years ago. It didn't leak a drop. Also notice the scrapes on the seven year old orange paint. When I did this, I had no engine stand, so I had to sit the engine down on the pan to tighten the bolts. Classy!

Grime, but a new HEI distributor on there

Grime, icky looking brackets and heat shields. Check out the starter though. It's actually the original Delco innards in a new repop nosecone. It's always worked perfectly.

Nasty!

Previously unseen rust spot (below the "8")

Mess of wires and other grime

That's a used radiator support, hence it looking clean.

Small cracks in the bottom of the fiberglass housing here

More grime

The hood is heavier than you would expect, and yes, I put it there myself. That was not the smartest thing.

The bellhousing has a date to be repaired, but it's as if the previous owner (of it, not the truck, the bellhousing came off of a 85 Diesel Chevy) thought that greasing the inside of the bellhousing was required maintenance. It's sitting in a water/purple power bath that, as far as I can tell so far, is succeeding wildly at making it wetter. I'll probably pick up a can or seven of Gunk and try that.

You should find someone with a hot water pressure washer.

I had a mild heartattack and thought that this picture was of oil on the clutch.

Then realized it was your shadow.

Super clean and a harbor freight stainless wire brush. It'll clean anything

Dusterbd13 wrote: Super clean and a harbor freight stainless wire brush. It'll clean anything

Here's the secret.

See that engine? It's already been out. I took it out seven years ago, while I was driving this thing daily. It went out, got cleaned, and went back in on a weekend. Pre-child obviously.

So, this is cleaned. This is wire-brush and degreaser cleaned. I am hoping that I can do better this time. Before, there were literal balls of grease falling off, over an inch in diameter.

Also check out that massive made in the US hoist!!

Very happy to see this moving again. Also that it is an elbow grease and not much money stage.

NOHOME wrote: Very happy to see this moving again. Also that it is an elbow grease and not much money stage.

It's "honey, you can totally escape from the madhouse for a few hours tonight, but on the way home, stop at Tractor Supply and grab me three cans of Gunk, please!" stage.

You were as giddy as a kid opening a gift from santa were you not?

I love the look of genuine mirth from your wife.

Mad_Ratel wrote: You were as giddy as a kid opening a gift from santa were you not? I love the look of genuine mirth from your wife.

She has that look roughly 80% of the time I am speaking.

I think we all have that feeling.

Though with my wife being 8.99999 months pregnant I've been getting more of a purely pissed expression lately.

I.e. she was less than pleased when I sent her another f100 link that I want.

The last few nights have not been mountain movers. I have sprayed, bathed and scrubbed stuff. The big thing was yesterday, though, and it's not really totally part of the truck.

I finished installing my 220 Vac outlet in the garage. It had been there, and the wire was in the attic, but that's it. I was pretty scared to do the rest. As of last night, the compressor runs. I'll button it all up pretty like and then I am theoretically ready to spray stuff, at least from an air supply perspective.

Nohome: If your offer is valid for long-term use, my thought was the spray Catywampus first to learn some tricks. I would not build a booth nor do too much prep work, so I am ready to do that as soon as the temperature allows.

Thanks!

tuna55 wrote: The last few nights have not been mountain movers. I have sprayed, bathed and scrubbed stuff. The big thing was yesterday, though, and it's not really totally part of the truck. I finished installing my 220 Vac outlet in the garage. It had been there, and the wire was in the attic, but that's it. I was pretty scared to do the rest. As of last night, the compressor runs. I'll button it all up pretty like and then I am theoretically ready to spray stuff, at least from an air supply perspective. Nohome: If your offer is valid for long-term use, my thought was the spray Catywampus first to learn some tricks. I would not build a booth nor do too much prep work, so I am ready to do that as soon as the temperature allows. Thanks!

Go ahead and get it sanded primed and blocked. You don't need a good gun for any of that.

What you do need are some of these things: (and the sandpaper that sticks on to them)

As a matter of fact, it this first paint job is about learning to do the second one well, then learning to use the Durablocks will be the main lesson. Good news is that it is not hard to block a car, just a lot of work. Mind-numbing, soul-shattering work. If you have OCD leanings, you will go mental but end up with a great result. Did I mention the dust?

NOHOME wrote:

tuna55 wrote: The last few nights have not been mountain movers. I have sprayed, bathed and scrubbed stuff. The big thing was yesterday, though, and it's not really totally part of the truck. I finished installing my 220 Vac outlet in the garage. It had been there, and the wire was in the attic, but that's it. I was pretty scared to do the rest. As of last night, the compressor runs. I'll button it all up pretty like and then I am theoretically ready to spray stuff, at least from an air supply perspective. Nohome: If your offer is valid for long-term use, my thought was the spray Catywampus first to learn some tricks. I would not build a booth nor do too much prep work, so I am ready to do that as soon as the temperature allows. Thanks!

Go ahead and get it sanded primed and blocked. You don't need a good gun for any of that. What you do need are some of these things: (and the sandpaper that sticks on to them) As a matter of fact, it this first paint job is about learning to do the second one well, then learning to use the Durablocks will be the main lesson. Good news is that it is not hard to block a car, just a lot of work. Mind-numbing, soul-shattering work. If you have OCD leanings, you will go mental but end up with a great result. Did I mention the dust?

Agreed to most points.

I have the paper already.

However, I do not intend to do much blocking of Catywampus. I do intend to drive it to work Friday, and then back to work Monday, but painted a different color. I'll probably rely on stripping the hood and scuffing the rest.

In other news, the compressor is really done. It's installed, the wiring is done, and it runs.

Sort of.

I need to learn how to set the shutoff pressure switch. Right now, it either isn't working, or is set higher than the safety valve. It started blowing down at 130psi or so last night, with the compressor still running.

Ideas?

Nothing much to show, but Tunakids #1 & #2 and I were out in the driveway today with the engine, the front of the truck, and the bellhousing. Days of Gunk-ing, Purple Power-ing and soaking have done exactly nothing. Today we went to town with scotchbrite, rags, stainless brushes, brass brushes, nyln brushes, and pretty much it looks the same as it did before we started, but with lots more grease everywhere on the ground and on us.

Perhaps it's time to borrow/rent a steam cleaner? The last time I had it out, I used a pressure washer. This is very good for moving grease around, and making things, and you, very wet. Pretty much everything I have tried is variations of the theme "Transfer the grease from the truck to the brush/sponge/kid", which is productive, by definition, but not very much.

Tried simple green full strength? I am continually amazed at the ability of this stuff to break down and remove old engine oil and dirt in my engine bays.

EastCoastMojo wrote: Tried simple green full strength? I am continually amazed at the ability of this stuff to break down and remove old engine oil and dirt in my engine bays.

I always assumed that Simple Green would be pretty much the equivalent of Purple Power. I'll try it if it's flat-out better for some reason, though.

tuna55 wrote: Perhaps it's time to borrow/rent a steam cleaner?

I know it's kind of crappy, but can you haul this stuff to the car wash? The tire clean, combined with the hi pressure soap will, in my experience, handle any greasy stuff.

Yeah was just going to ask, put it on a trailer and haul tot he local power wash.

If you have a trailer but no car to haul, gimme a call. I'm bored of watching panthers whup some bird ass.

actually if you dont mind helping me lift the cap off the truck we could power wash it today.

Castrol superclean is markedly better than either purple power or simple green.

Did you just try call me Tuna? No answer when i call back.

Hey thanks for the offer Luke. It wasn't me calling just now though. A large part of what needs cleaning is on the frame and crossmember of the truck itself, so hauling everything to the car wash isn't really practical.

Is castrol superclean that much better than gunk as well? I'll happily buy something which will work but I (and Tunawife) are getting sick of spending Tunacash on stuff that doesn't do much.

This is why I was considering a steam cleaner. I think it was in the Exocet thread that it was demonstrated to be like magic. The machine was over a hundred, but I've probably spent $50 on chemicals and brushes and gloves and such.

In reply to tuna55:

Cheap oven cleaner should strip it to clean steel. Wear gloves though.

Tuna, does your garage slope outwards?

take your biggest pot, boil some water with some degreaseer in it. When it's at full boil take it into the garage and pour it over the parts. should take off a large portion. Even better if you have a turkey fryer since it'll heat a lot of water quickly.

Heck, if you have a backpack weed sprayer, fill it with the hot water and some degreaser. pump it up, spray it on. might give it some more force.