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

Interesting thoughts.

http://www.wastemin.com/discuss/index.php?threads/industrial-degreaser-performance-ratings-how-the-top-15-degreasers-stack-up.6/#.VpxJG-w8LCQ

Light reading on degreasers.

In reply to Mad_Ratel:

No slope, and the driveway slopes towards the house. Pushing the truck out and spraying with hot garden sprayer seems to be a reasonable idea though.

Sick wife means: Homeschool Dad, work-from-home Dad, lots of extra laundry, night time cleanup, and sleeping on the couch (very contagious and yucky stomach thing).

She's almost better, and the degreaser and brushes and such I just bought are coming tomorrow, so it all works nicely. Tomorrow, we get dirty! Or maybe Thursday. We'll see.

Tried this stuff:

http://oileater.com/industrial/cleaners-degreasers/original-formula/

It's super safe and super effective. I brushed it everywhere last night with my new brass brushes. Tonight, the brake lines and leftover fuel lines come out to make way for a good scrub and painting - if it ever warms up enough.

I have to get the bellhousing clean enough to bring to the repair dude, it's going to get hot and I don't want to make a big mess for him.

Glad you finally got something that worked! I hate that part, trying to get the grime off always sucks.

tuna55 wrote: Tried this stuff: http://oileater.com/industrial/cleaners-degreasers/original-formula/ It's super safe and super effective. I brushed it everywhere last night with my new brass brushes. Tonight, the brake lines and leftover fuel lines come out to make way for a good scrub and painting - if it ever warms up enough. I have to get the bellhousing clean enough to bring to the repair dude, it's going to get hot and I don't want to make a big mess for him.

how much of the '16 snowmageddon has hit you ?

wbjones wrote:

tuna55 wrote: Tried this stuff: http://oileater.com/industrial/cleaners-degreasers/original-formula/ It's super safe and super effective. I brushed it everywhere last night with my new brass brushes. Tonight, the brake lines and leftover fuel lines come out to make way for a good scrub and painting - if it ever warms up enough. I have to get the bellhousing clean enough to bring to the repair dude, it's going to get hot and I don't want to make a big mess for him.

how much of the '16 snowmageddon has hit you ?

We have an inch or two now. I can't get to work because of tires and sloped driveway (it's a good fuse to blow and keep me home) so I will work from home today. Unfortunately, it also makes pushing the truck into the driveway and spraying it off with a hose pretty impossible.

I had a bunch of errands to do last night, so we'll target tonight for more cleanup.

All I see are wet roads right now. (At St. Francis Hospital.)

Here is the view of Catywampus and the van in the driveway right now.

Mad_Ratel wrote: All I see are wet roads right now. (At St. Francis Hospital.)

Tuna said: We have an inch or two now. I can't get to work

Oh that I could stay home for an inch of snow! Anything less than 2 feet around here is considered an annoyance not an emergency.

NOHOME wrote:

Tuna said: We have an inch or two now. I can't get to work

Oh that I could stay home for an inch of snow! Anything less than 2 feet around here is considered an annoyance not an emergency.

I lived that life for a long time, and then I moved!

no plows, no snow tires, laptop, company supplied laptop...

Totally clear here at the hospital. Trees have some ice.

Dad said that our house has some ice on the driveway but the neighborhood street is clear.

It's time for this guy to see some action

I can do it inside!

And all the parts take a bath overnight in the sink while I order a float, since I accidentally bought a rebuild kit without one.

Tunawife is awesome for not smothering you in your sleep for soaking a carb in the kitchen sink.

This might apply.

Gentlemen use the dishwasher. What are you, some kind of savage?

In reply to NOHOME:

She said no to the dishwasher, oddly enough.

Oh that's not your pic. Ok. I saw a Rochester that got cleaned up into a Carter, and was like "what?!"

In reply to SkinnyG:

Mine indeed stayed a quadrajet after cleaning.

It is a weird quadrajet made by Carter though.

Finished cleaning last night. It was grimy. Ordered a float too.

I got the carb back together as far as I can without a new float.

And I actually have been getting lots of work done, though it's all incredible boring. The engine has been in the driveway twice getting cleaned. The bellhousing has been scrubbed down three times in preparation for me bringing it to work, to get it repaired (without getting fired). The engine compartment has been cleaned three times as well. It's still nasty.

I am being literal here, every piece of steel had at least 1/4" of grease coating it. Crossmembers, brackets, bolt heads, motor mounts, water pump, starter, everything. "Grease engine compartment" was a step in the 30K service. There must have been a zerk fitting installed on the hood. It's silly. Here is what the engine and its compartment look like as of this afternoon.

Make the APT adjustment "externally" adjustable, if it is not already. Marvelous for fine tuning cruise mixture.

Spend three hours cleaning, brushing, cleaning, brushing, cleaning, and what do I have to show for it? A lot of grease on my face. Sorry for no pics, but rest assured that I am doing stuff. It's just really boring stuff.

I actually really enjoy the cleaning and painting process.

Dusterbd13 wrote: I actually really enjoy the cleaning and painting process.

Come on down, I'll buy the brass brushes!

The bellhousing is not weldable. My expert welding team, whom I shamelessly borrowed from work (where you have to be a really really good welder to get a job and keep it) tried and failed. Apparently the old cast aluminum had soaked up too much clutch dust and grease over the past 30 years, and it's just too dirty to get any real weld quality. Additionally, I majorly warped the face, they were having trouble pushing it all together flat again, even with heat. Here are good pictures:

So I have four options.

1: Buy a new bellhousing
1A: Buy an aluminum bellhosuing from a (I think) 1985-1987 chevy diesel pickup 1B: Buy a steel drag race type bellhousing and take the weight and ugliness and expense hit to get the 'multiple bolt pattern' benefit

2: Create or buy a boss with the right thread and weld it to the transmission front, cutting a clearance hole for it through the bellhousing.

3: Create a steel plate, maybe 3/8" thick, and use it as a spacer between the bellhousing and the transmission, welding a steel boss to that to put the threaded hole in the right place, cutting a clearance hole for it through the bellhousing.

4: See if I have the thickness required to drill and tap the transmission for the ball end, cutting a clearance hole for it through the bellhousing.