Rosie: a '62 GMC Carryall my Aunt left me

Mr_Asa said:

APEowner said:

Recon1342 said:

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Ignition first, then carb ONLY after the ignition is good. 
 

It's way too easy to chase your own tail otherwise...

Yes, however, in this case Rosie needs carb work.  Both because shes been sitting and because you can hear it in the videos.

Out of curiosity, what specifically are you hearing?

Lean sneeze when you try and give it throttle.  As Recon says there's clearly some ignition stuff going on as well.  None of this is concerning.  It's basically maintenance needed after sitting and neglect.  It runs pretty much how I would expect it too.  Actually, it runs better than I'd expect.

I don't think I've mentioned it but I really love this truck so I hope I don't come across as bashing it.

APEowner said:

Mr_Asa said:

APEowner said:

Recon1342 said:

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Ignition first, then carb ONLY after the ignition is good. 
 

It's way too easy to chase your own tail otherwise...

Yes, however, in this case Rosie needs carb work.  Both because shes been sitting and because you can hear it in the videos.

Out of curiosity, what specifically are you hearing?

Lean sneeze when you try and give it throttle.  As Recon says there's clearly some ignition stuff going on as well.  None of this is concerning.  It's basically maintenance needed after sitting and neglect.  It runs pretty much how I would expect it too.  Actually, it runs better than I'd expect.

I don't think I've mentioned it but I really love this truck so I hope I don't come across as bashing it.

Nah, not at all.  It's been decades since I've messed with anything carbureted, I'm just glad to hear someone making some sense out of my videos so I can do some troubleshooting. 

Wondering if that vacuum advance is locked up again as well

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Motor Trend has a really good article on vacuum advance tuning. I was a boat mechanic for many years. EFI is still voodoo black magic to me, and Rochester Quadrajets are good street carbs. 

Tune Your Vacuum Advance for Better Drivability (motortrend.com)

I still may keep the old Dodge carbureted...

Love this truck!    I'd drive it!

As I've mentioned, been planning steps.  
So last time I was up at Dad's I did some CAD.  Then I went to work and I did some actual CAD.  Then I went to John's place and used my plasma cutter for the first time.

Today I went back to John's and did some more hackin and some welding.  This weekend I'm gonna go back up and test-fit and do some other work on the truck.
I need to get her down here so I can do some actual work.

Very very rough, but enough to do the thing so I can figure out what else is needed.  You can see roughly what I want the top to look like.  I'm gonna trim a lot of the surface out then work on getting my DIY punch worked out.

I got to Dad's to do some work. 

Stupid rain.  I literally just got the prototype step clamped on and... yeah.  Then the rain came.

Anyways.

Here's what the step looks like.  Gonna drop it down 3" or so and tuck it back roughly that much

Random fridge moment.  Realized they have covers for these.  Gonna have to track some down and maybe paint 'em

https://www.amazon.com/Center-2003-2013-Replace-52121450AA-52121450AD/dp/B0D4V9RN63

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/cci-1-single-dodge-ram-2500-3500-srw-2003-2013-chrome-replica-center-cap-hubcap-%2852121450ad%29-2323040?

Had an unexpected trip to North Florida this weekend, so Rosie got some love.

The charger I put on her last visit apparently stopped charging.  There are a few things in the truck that apparently are not run through any switches, i really need to clean up the wiring soon.  Anyone wanna come up and hang for a bit amd help me figure out WTF is going on?

Anyways, since no charge, several things I've been wanting to do didn't happen, so i tinkered.

Got the door panels off so I could get at the lock cylinders.  Or I thought I was going to.  These weird screws made me drive an hour round trip for a Harbor Freight run.

But once I had the key set, I could get the handles off.

Old cyl changed out

And she dont turn.  Im assuming there is a tolerance mismatch somewhere.  The handles are kinda corroded and replacements are likely to be cheap.  May swap them with new and see if that fixes?  If not a quick couple swipes with a saw should allow enough clearance.

While I was in there, I cleanes up the splines for the window regulator handles.  Too buggered up to let the handle sit all the way down.  Took a small trianglular file and hit every spline a couple times.  Now the crank handles sit down nicely.

Installed Dad's birthday present.  Nice and shiny.

And unfortunately, thats all I was able to accomplish.  Mom's birthday is this weekend so I will sneak off amd poke at the battery, see if I can get the charger doing what it should and Ill just pull the negative cable every time I leave.

Step V2, The Steppening

Quicker construction and assembly method. Lighter. Etc.

Remember, this is a template.  Hopefully I got the angle on the frame backing plate correct

Follow up visit to last. 

I like the step, I think.  Final tweaks and might even completely redesign it.  Who knows.

No pictures, but I messed with the trickle charger.  It was holding the charging cycle when I left, it didn't do that last time, so win?

If its a pain next time I'm up I will just go get new batteries and see if I can go up a size. I think these were Group 24s?

Lastly, i swapped the handles.  Swung by NPD and checked out what was in a new box and the landing for the snap ring was ~1/8" up from the old ones.  So I bought em.

While installing the driver's side I dropped a bolt.  Being the intelligent person I am, I used my phone camera to drive the remote grabbers.  When I did the same thing on the passenger side I thought nothing of whipping my phone out and almost immediately dropped it into the door.  The door that has an opening too small to get my arm into.  Luckily Dad was able to help after I disassembled some linkages and I got my phone back.

Need to get a case with a wrist strap again

Then Dad and I went down to the dams and poked holes in the beaver's work. 

And I just heard from Dad that the charger went to green overnight!  Nice!  Basically I removed everything from the terminals, put some basic ones on, and then ran a 12ga "jumper cable" to both batteries so the single 1.5A charger would charge both batteries.

I believe this one is smart enough to not charge if it senses a draw on the system?

So, i 100% need to figure out what all the extra crap is on the cables, what is required, and what can be put on a relay.

Got up to Rosie this past weekend.

It feels like every time I get up there I get less and less done.  I think I need a hand or something.  Doesn't help that she's 4-1/2 hours away.  I pretty much drove up that morning and worked on her while I had light.  I also end up spending time helping Dad with stuff around his place.

Did some vacuuming inside to get the crud out enough to allow me to climb through.  Took the panel off, opened the tailgate.  Dead simple.  Going to find a locksmith nearby and get the cylinder rekeyed.  Tailgate is frickin heavy.

After that I tried to start her and got nowhere.  Got one or two coughs, then the batteries died (despite having them on a trickle charger for the past two weeks)  I'm also half convinced that I got the wiring order messed up when I changed the wires, and maybe I shouldn't be using crappy Amazon-Special wires.

While the cylinder is out, I rigged it so I could get into the tailgate next time.

Saw a friggin great looking Econoline on the way home.

Mr_Asa said:

Got up to Rosie this past weekend.

It feels like every time I get up there I get less and less done.  I think I need a hand or something.  Doesn't help that she's 4-1/2 hours away.  I pretty much drove up that morning and worked on her while I had light.  I also end up spending time helping Dad with stuff around his place.

First: hey, it's nice to see a familiar face.

Second, don't regret helping your pops.  He's the only one you get.

That said, when my dad and I were replacing the motor in the GTO, I ended up bringing the kids along for the ride, and that did actually make a difference in a positive way.  You got any nieces or nephews you could bring onto the project?

In reply to Jehannum :

Hey man! Welcome to the madhouse. I think you'll like it here.

Definitely not regret about helping Dad.  Just mentioning it as another hurdle to get over when working on Rosie.  More a "its not like if I had her in a storage lot" type deal where when I get to her thats all I'm doing.

One niece.  She isn't even in double digits.  More interested in cheer leading.  Gf seems interested, but she doesn't live in town so its hard to coordinate 

$50 later, I have a rekeyed lock cylinder for the tailgate.

Eating the elephant. Eating the elephant.  Eating the elephant.  Eating the elephant.  Eating the elephant.  Eating the elephant.  Eating the elephant.  Eating the elephant.  Eating the elephant.  Eating the elephant.  Eating the elephant.  

I got the latch latching very latchely.

And this stinkything is comin home with me.  Thank god its nice out, with it being only 94 I can have the windows down.  Dont have to worry about fumes killing me 

Other than that, climbed on the roof of Dad's shop and blew leaves off so his reclaimed water isnt brown anymore, and the regular work of getting the beavers to cuss us out because of the holes we put in the dam