If you're removing both exhaust manifolds, temporarily swap sides, upside down. Then you only have one hole to plug. Soak with Simple Green, wash and paint.
Why not use the TBI heads? That will help fix the oil leaks (sort of) and fix your bracket hole issue. You'll need new exhaust manifolds, though.
That's an interesting idea about remounting and swapping the manifolds.
I'm pretty sure using the TBI heads would also mean using the intake manifold as well as the exhaust manifolds. Ultimately, I have to draw the line somewhere. I decided to draw mine at keeping the original block, heads, intake, exhaust, and engine internals. I may replace them later when I've got some more money available. A better camshaft would probably be nice too. But later.
Purple power and a good brush will clean the oil off really nicely. I'd just stuff some rags in the exhaust ports and once you've cleaned it with purple power just rinse off with a hose. Then if you have a compressor and a little air wand blow out any moisture left in the ports.
More wiring progress. It is completely un-loomed to make tracing wiring easier. I'll replace it after I'm done.
And this is about where I am now. Pages of wiring diagrams, a label maker, and wiring everywhere. It's a big elephant to eat. But I'll feel better when I'm done and everything is identified and labeled. It will make it a lot easier to install.
I also took some time to disassemble, clean, and rebuild the throttle body with fresh gaskets.
It's now in the growing stash of good, clean parts to bolt onto the engine. Speaking of, I need to finish up those block off plates and get the motor and engine bay clean.
Until next time.
-Sean
Last update for a while. My goal up until recently was to have the truck ready to go by October to tow the race van to the $2018 Challenge. I realized last week that scope creep had reared its head and my to do list for the truck was huge. I wrote it all out to confirm my thoughts:
Yep, that looks like a paint job away from a full frame-off restoration. There is no way I'm getting that done in time and still have a life outside the garage. Let alone actually enjoy the work. This is my hobby. I want it to be fun. I also want to take my time and do things right the first time. So I'm going to step away from this for awhile. I'll borrow or rent a truck for the Challenge trip.
Now that doesn't mean that the work will come to a complete stop. I've still got the wiring harness spread out all over the floor in the basement and a few parts left to clean and paint. And I'm still really committed to this truck and making it realiable and even better than it came off of the assembly line down the road in Flint, Michigan.
Before I stepped back though, I needed to make the truck more stable for storage. I finished the block off plates and covered any other openings in the engine bay. Then I packed up all of the loose parts and put them in the bed.
Now I can focus on getting the van ready for the Challenge which includes a really elaborate paint job. And you know what? I'm really excited to dig into that and get it done!
-Sean
Hey Howdy Y'all,
Nice looking truck Sean. I was just surfing the Ole Interweb looking for some hints on parts I'll need to refurb the driveline in my 76 Chevy C20 Camper Special, and darn if I didn't stumble onto your build thread. I didn't miss a step in joining your forum. I've had mine about 10 years now, and although the old girl was rust free when I bought her out in Phoenix AZ, she was definitely sun baked. The decade spent cruising around here in Northern KY has started taking it's toll. I just finished putting a GM 350 crate motor in, and having the TH350 tranny rebuilt and now I'm ready to tackle the rest of the driveline. Any advice you guys can offer will be greatly appreciated, and I'll definitely keep my eye on this thread.
RonC
welcome, Ron. Dang, that's one bright truck! i've lived in the Detroit area for 25 years now, so I get pretty jealous when I see cab corners and rocker panels and bed sides. we don't have those things here.
Agreed. That's a very bright yellow.
I don't have much to give in the way of driveline advise. All I've done to mine at this point is tear things apart and clean them. Still working on that reassembly part. The best thing you can do is start a build thread of your own and ask some questions there. Everyone here is very helpful.
In reply to ShawneeCreek :
10-4 on the build thread Sean, an yes, I do like them bright.
No real progress on the truck. It's still sitting with the engine in pieces in the garage. But I learned a little more about the other part of this build thread: the camper.
I knew it was made in the mid-70's because of the American Bicentennial art on back and that it was made by the Sycamore company of Goshen, Indiana based on the badges on the outside. I tried searching for information online, but kept getting results for trees, not campers.
Two weekends ago Mrs. ShawneeCreek and I spectated at the final event of this year's One Lap of America in South Bend. Afterwards we went to the RV and Manufactured Housing Hall of Fame over in Elkhart. It was pretty cool and definitely worth the couple of hours to walk through if you have the time.
Now, northern Indiana is like the Detroit of the RV industry and this is where they keep their history. The museum has an archive room upstairs with magazines, articles, and sales brochures dating back to the 1940's. And it's open to the public. And lucky me, they had a single hanging file with two sales brochures from Sycamore Mobile Homes of Goshen, Indiana.
Turns out it was a short lived company, only about 5 years of production in the 70's. So much for "A Name to be Remembered". But they both had details on my camper. Turns out it is the 11 foot (!) Cardinal model.
It's not even their largest slide in pickup camper. That would be the 12 foot Swan. I can't even imagine dealing with something that big.
I found it so cool to be able to look all of this over and that somebody had bothered to save these brochures for 40 years. Advertising has simultaneously changed completely and stayed exactly the same.
Until next time.
-Sean
That’s very cool. I love finding old stuff like that!
In reply to Woody :
Agreed. And a few more, just because.
Very cool.
That 12 footer looks like you would need lead weights added to the front bumper to keep the front tires on the ground. I find the interesting (and sort of scary) that the rear-most portion of the overhang is storage. I imagine really heavy propane tanks being kept there for additional rearward weight. Furthermore, imagine a bike rack fashioned to the rear bumper and carrying a pair of '60's American Steel Schwinn bikes back there or a '70 dirt bike.
Well, it's been a while. Life happened and working on this truck wasn't priority. But it's stuck around, safely taking up significant square footage in my garage with the engine significantly torn down, but mostly sealed. Most of the parts I've collected are still hanging out in the bed. There are few more in the garage and basement. Every once in a while, I push the truck out, wash the garage dust off, clean the floor under it, and push it back in place.
Thankfully, I have good news! The truck is moving up off the very back burner. Not to the very front, but my goal is to work towards running and driving by spring. I'm tired of having a truck that can't do anything but sit in the garage. To that end I've changed my scope a little bit. I still want to TBI swap it, put in a 4L60e transmission, put on a serpentine accessory drive, and all of the associated wiring. But I'm no longer focused on keeping as much of the original '76 engine as possible. I picked up a parts truck that you can just see in the first photo above.
It is a 1990 GMC Sierra SLE, extended cab, short bed, 350, 4L60e, two wheel drive. But best of all, this truck was bought used by my dad back in 1996 or so. He later sold it to my brother, who gave it back to him after a couple of years. And my dad gave it to me to use on the Camper Truck. I love that I'm going to be using a family truck to fix up another family truck. It makes me happy.
The truck was sitting in the back barn (not the front barn, or the middle barn) just waiting to be used as parts for my grandpa's current farm truck (a '95 Chevy K1500). The battery was completely dead. Once that was replaced the engine started, on about 6 cylinders out of 8. And driving it to the front barn reveled a rusted through rear brake line.
Obviously not drivable. And I wasn't willing to fix it all for the 360 mile drive home wondering what else was going to go wrong on this parts truck. Thankfully, my dad being the awesome guy he is, offered to tow it up for me. I offered to pay for the gas there and back. A month or so later he and my grandpa made the long drive up with the GMC on a trailer. And it continued to live down to expectations as a parts truck: it refused to start on the trailer. We said, screw it, put it in neutral, I rode the (two working) brakes, and Dad pushed me off the trailer and into my garage. Success!
Now, what makes this '90 GMC a parts truck and not something worth saving? Quite a few things:
Side note: the perceptive among you might have noticed the truck now has a cap on it. My brother never used it, but my dad kept it around because he had customized it back in the day. I remember going with him to pick it up, used. He got it painted to match the truck, then came up with this fancy mural for the sides. Being the engineer that he is, he drew it up in late-'90s CAD software and printed it out full size. That was transferred to the truck with stick on pinstriping at a drive-in movie theater one summer. It's a little rough for the wear, but I'd like to clean up and save one or both sides, add some of the truck's badging, and some sort of signage like "Dad's Shop" and give it back to him as decoration.
So, what's the plan? Save what I can, scrap or give away the rest. The save list:
If there is something that's not on this save list that anyone can use, let me know. I'd be happy to share.
Ultimately, the heads, intake, and exhaust manifolds will end up on the Camper Truck. The rest of the engine (TBI, sensors, wiring, accessory drive, accessories) will be made up of parts from the GMC, new parts, and used parts that I've already collected. As much as I'd like to hot-rod the engine now, I'm doing my best to focus on just rebuilding this pair of engines into one running, driving engine. We'll see how well I do.
Until next time.
-Sean
Alright, the GMC donor truck has been stripped of all of the parts worth having. It no longer has an engine, transmission, driveshaft, wiring harness, or a mounted driver's door.
It specifically still has the complete suspension, wheels and tires, and brake and steering systems. Just enough to safely flat tow it two miles to the scrap yard. That will happen on Thursday. I'll be happy to have a parking spot back in the garage for one of the daily drivers.
The next phase of this project is to build one functioning small block Chevy V8 from the two and a half in my garage. I'm confident that I can do it: it is just nuts, bolts, torques, gaskets, and sealants. I've done things like that before. My problem though, is that I've never rebuilt an engine before. I don't know what measurements I should be taking and what clearances I should be checking. Or what bolts need to be sealed because they go into the water jacket. Or which bolts need thread lock on it. Or the specific order of operations.
So, I need a reference book with torque values, and orders of operations, and such. I've done a little searching online and found piles of the books. That makes sense as the engine has been around since 1955. But which one to get? What books and/or websites have you found useful regarding building a SBC engine? I'd appreciate a few recommendations. Thanks.
- Sean
Id build the one piece rear main block and centerbolt heads. They leak less
And essentially a Haynes manual will cover everything pretty good for a stock sbc
Finally, some more progress. I decided to tackle the fuel system work. This meant buying two fuel tanks for a 1987 pickup with TBI, matching fuel senders, and a fuel control valve (tank switcher). Since I had gone that far I decided to buy new fuel lines as well so that I'm starting with a completely fresh system. The bills for all that hurts a bit, but I'd rather do it right the first time. The tanks:
They arrived a little dented and scuffed, and were of course aftermarket. No time quite like the present to touch up the paint and put some bedliner on the bottoms to protect them for the long term...
That turned out well. I set them aside (actually on the hood of the truck) and started removing the old fuel system. I started with the passenger side tank. The bolts spun out well. Nothing required more than an 18" breaker bar. And like that, it was on the ground.
It is in decent shape, and I probably could have used it. But it was not set up for fuel injection with return lines. Much like everything else with this truck, everything that I'm going to reuse gets wire brushed, cleaned, and painted. The tank brackets and straps look good.
And while I'm in here (dang it, scope creep again) I'm going to clean and paint the frame and underbody. It only has surface rust now and I want to keep it from going any further.
The brown is just the primer. I will be following it up with black paint later.
Awesome to see progress on this beaut.
The brackets for the front steps were getting in my way for this cleaning and painting, so I removed the steps and the brackets. The steps are diamond plate aluminum and still in good shape. Thankfully the steel they mounted to also looks good. I'm debating on wether or not I want to put them back on. They fit the character of the truck and do make it easier to get in and out. But it looks nice and clean without them. Opinions?
I think I will polish them up before they go back on, if I decide to keep them.
- Sean
In reply to ShawneeCreek :
100% reinstal the steps please.
Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to ShawneeCreek :
100% reinstal the steps please.
Agreed
Steps will keep the rocks off the paint.
Looks more period-correct with.
Going to go against the grain and say I like it more without but the guys have good points for keeping them
This thread is awesome.
The truck is beyond groovy.
Add another vote for keeping the running boards.
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