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Sept 12, 2018 23:13:28 GMT
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I've had this truck since the spring, I've been working on it in my spare time between the Hemi Studebaker (now done) and the Coyote powered Studebaker (almost done).
It belongs to friend of a friend. They both work in here in the states, not far from home- at GM.
They were standing around looking at videos one day and my buddy Dave says to his buddy Josh "You know that truck you and your dad used to work on? I know just the guy for you to call. He'll get it running". Dave showed Josh a few of the build videos I'd done and they decided that I might be the guy to get 'er done.
He went on to tell Josh that I'd probably poke fun at him for asking me to work on a Chevy, because as a rule- I'm a Chrysler & Ford guy. But hey- when I heard the story, I was glad to help.
After a bit of text back and forth, a few phone calls- I picked up the truck to get it back on the road.
Here's the story:
Josh and his dad had purchased this truck 18+ years ago. It ran and drove, it was a three speed manual shift on the column. "Three on the tree" as we say. Car guys. Petrolheads, but not terribly skilled in the way of ingenuity and mechanical aptitude. Super cool guys, with a passion for cars. We all gotta start somewhere, right?
They took the noisy, smoking engine out of it. They took apart the steering column to change the 3 on the tree, over to "Four on the floor". They bought a better 283 V8 engine (but still very old), had the heads rebuilt at a machine shop and bought a bolt on intake, carb, some headers and a few other bits. They put a different transmission on to the engine and then sent the truck off for paint.
During the wait- Josh's dad fell ill. I believe it was the "C" word. This went on for years. In and out of the hospital.
Many years ago- When it returned from paint, they found that one replacement door sill was welded on too high and couldn't refit the door. They managed to get the engine half bolted into the truck and some of the brake hardware replaced. Then it was too late. Josh's dad passed away.
They never could finish this truck. It just took up space in Josh's garage and he was very busy with work and marriage- his life started to lose touch with the truck but he knew he wanted to get it back on the road one day.
That's when Dave told Josh about me and the stuff that comes out of my garage.
Pics coming now:
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Sept 12, 2018 23:13:51 GMT
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Sept 12, 2018 23:18:08 GMT
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The day I was to collect it, I filmed the transport, there's a few videos about this on the channel. The engine supposedly ran, although nobody ever heard it run. Josh seems to remember someone saying there was water in the oil, but it was so long ago. I said that I'd see what I could do with it. If it runs, great- if not, we're doing a motor swap. I took it to my buddy Jeff's house and got to work on that engine. Everything was loose, unhooked- disconnected, parts everywhere. I could feel the thing, I could tell it wanted to RUN.   I instantly cut the door sill cover off so that we could put the door on the truck. That was the first time Josh saw the door on that truck in almost 17 years. |
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Sept 12, 2018 23:34:24 GMT
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We laid out all the parts, the wires and set to work. Unknown cam inside the engine. Unknown timing specs. Carb needed rebuilt from being parked up for almost two decades. Fuel pump needed rebuilt. Bad ignition coil. We fought this thing for 2 days. A bore scope showed the cylinder walls in good nick. We trudged on. With the bare minimum connected to turn it over, we used a V10 truck and jumper cables to spin it. It spun SLOW. At least one full day trying to get spark. Once we had spark, no fuel. Once we had both, it wouldn't spin fast enough to fire. Now I've started a Japanese V8 in my garage while mounted on an engine stand, so this was GOING TO RUN. We pushed on. And On.... Then--- A sputter of hope. And another...  Until- We got oil everywhere and it fired. It runs! It sounded great! Hooray! That was the first time Josh had ever heard that engine run. He held back tears when I showed him the video. |
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Sept 12, 2018 23:42:51 GMT
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Excellent,
Another of your threads to follow,
Looking forward to future updates.
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BMW E39 525i Sport
BMW E46 320d Sport Touring (now sold on.)
BMW E30 325 Touring (now sold on.)
BMW E30 320 Cabriolet (Project car - currently for sale.)
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Sept 12, 2018 23:46:01 GMT
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So with the engine running and everyone is super excited, Josh is asking about Turbo this and Supercharged that- I said "Whoa there big fella- We've got to get coolant in it and let it reach temperature before we start putting the cart before the horse". He brought the new radiator and we dug up enough water pump bolts to make all that work- and we filled it slowly. It was getting hot and then it stalled. We had it firing on the button! Now it won't start again. I pulled the plugs and no water. Weird, I thought. I had a leaking connection in the oil sending unit and a lovely gray milky mixture of oil and water was pumping on to the floor once I did get it running again. I basically needed to re-coax this thing back to life again. Not sure where it went wrong- but YEP. Water in the oil. This engine needs to come out.    |
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Last Edit: Sept 12, 2018 23:47:51 GMT by grenade
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Sept 12, 2018 23:59:10 GMT
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So with that- I was done for now. Over the next couple weeks, we talked about engine swaps. We talked about LS engines. We discussed Diesels. I felt that a Chevy should run with a Chevy engine, so no Coyote or Hemi malarkey here  Short version? About 1675 miles away, in MONTANA, USA- Josh has a buddy. It's a twenty five hour drive. Josh's buddy, guess what he has? A GM Duramax Diesel pickup truck. It's a good runner. He also has a 1979 Chevy K5 blazer in a state of disrepair. Both- for sale, must take the package deal and buy both. After discussing the price for both trucks, I advised that this- was a strong value and go ahead. Buy those.    Now this is not the actual Blazer, but very similar.  |
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Sept 13, 2018 0:07:21 GMT
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Here's where it gets interesting.
Josh and a friend, take a flight to Montana. They jump on a plane and in a short time- they are there! They buy the Duramax truck and rent a trailer. They load up the blazer on to the trailer. They filmed this- with a cool High Def DRONE- but the one guy won't share his film with me, he has his own channel or something.
So here they are- loaded up and truckin'. They gonna do what they say can't be done.. They got a long way to go- and a short time to get there- they're East Bound just watch old Bandit...
Oh, sorry bout that- I got lost in a song. Hats off for the Bandit. Anyway-
Rolling a few hours into the trip back home with the big 4x4 Diesel, (knowing that the transmission is going to be changed for a two wheel drive unit when we swap that bigass diesel engine into the green 1965 chevy, that started all this mess)
Josh hears a loud grinding noise, a bang and the rear end on the passenger side of the truck drops hard and hits the tarmac. Sparks A FLYIN'. The next thing they see is the right rear wheel hauling butt PAST THEM on the freeway, Bounce, Bounce aaannnd GONE. Over the cliff.
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Sept 13, 2018 0:22:08 GMT
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Now I feel like this is where we'd put a commercial break- if this was a TV show. But it's not. Josh and his "no you can't have the cool drone footage" buddy, his newly purchased 6.2L Diesel truck, a rented trailer carrying a full size chevy blazer were stuck on the road, somewhere in Northwestern America.
Lucky nobody got hurt on that deal. That was my main concern when he called me from the road.
Everyone is cool. They had many hours to sit and wait, but a tow vehicle came and took the now limping, missing one wheel 4x4 on to the flat bed Lorry and hooked up the trailer to the back and they were off. Into town where they booked a room for the night and set off in the morning trying to repair the 4x4. They had to get back to work in a few days!
Repairs took four days. They couldn't wait any longer, grabbed a pair of last minute flights back home, where Josh's wife was actually really cool about the whole thing.
So fast forward a couple weeks, Josh had the 4x4 diesel and the blazer in storage up there in Montana while he arranged to have them shipped home to Ohio.
They made it home. Now- we have a Chevy Blazer and a Diesel truck to figure out what to do with.
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Sept 13, 2018 0:32:29 GMT
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We all talked at length about it. With the added expense of the plane tickets and the shipping 2 trucks and all the other stuff- the smart thing to do, would be see if we can get that Chevy Blazer running. It's got a small block Chevy engine in it. If THAT engine is good, we can use it, on the 1965 Pickup truck and they would have a cheap solution to an otherwise "holy curse word, this got expensive real quick" scenario. I grabbed a few of the parts off the green 1965 (Carburetor distributor etc) and gave them to Josh, where he and the "My Drone Footage" guy attempted a test fire of the Blazer in their driveway. Can you tell the drone footage gives me an assache lol We could sell the diesel truck or drive it or even stick THAT under the blazer, but first we need this 1965 running. They spent an afternoon and said that tomorrow they were bringing me an engine. COOL! The green truck was finally gonna run. They arrived, with an engine but it was NOT the one from the Blazer. They got that fired up. GOOD JOB GUYS! But it sounded worse than a bag of hammers in a clothes dryer. So they found a local racer guy, selling a good Chevy 327 with some nice stuff on it. I cleaned it up, re-gasketed most of it and picked the best parts from both engines and then I had a few, well- several beers. Today, my son and I stuffed it in the green 65.      |
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Last Edit: Sept 13, 2018 0:40:08 GMT by grenade
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Sept 13, 2018 0:38:57 GMT
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I just had a read through of this thread. It makes me tired just thinking about the time I've got in this green 1965. But you know what- the next time I go over there, I can put fuel and a few wires- it'll run. I know his dad is laughing his butt off up there in heaven knowing all the stuff we're going through to get this thing running. But hang on Bob- we'll get your family back out for ice cream in this thing, mark my words. More on this one- as it develops. Thanks RR for letting me share this story.  |
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Sept 13, 2018 5:50:22 GMT
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Enjoyable read thanks. Looking forward to more!
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mylittletony
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,340
Club RR Member Number: 84
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Sept 13, 2018 7:47:39 GMT
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More twists than Jeffrey Archer...
In for the ride
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Speedle
Posted a lot
Need a Country Rock band in the Hampshire Area? https://www.facebook.com/DirtRoadDiaryUK
Posts: 2,221
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Sept 13, 2018 9:58:09 GMT
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Man loosing on a wheel on the freeway! That's some seriously scary stuff, glad to hear no one was hurt that could have been a very different story!
Great write up as always Paul!
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Sept 13, 2018 12:12:48 GMT
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What was wrong with the fist engine that mixed oil and water?
And not that I don't love a good story, but did it occur to owners that for the cost of the Montana F**kery they could have bought a crate engine WITH transmission from JEGS or somesuch?
But like I say, love me some beer-drinking around the campfire with a good story, so carry on!
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Sept 13, 2018 13:43:44 GMT
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Thanks guys! The engine we took out- I think it could be a cracked block, but until it is 100% disassembled there's no way to be sure. It could have also been something as simple as a bad intake gasket. That engine will likely get sent out for a rebuild or my buddy will do it. The main goals are to get this thing back on the road first.
And yes, the Diesel truck thing, we originally thought we'd do a Diesel on this build. It would have been super cool with that being my first diesel swap. I'm sure we will end up doing something with that truck, but to recover some of the costs, I would sell it personally. It could repay most all this expense and fund some of this 1965 build.
Either way, I wish I had all the camera footage from this thing, it makes for great "Roadkill" style videos. I am fortunate enough to be involved with these guys and building this stuff. It's super cool.
I'm hoping to go out there this weekend and start that engine! Have fun out there everyone!
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Sept 14, 2018 1:10:11 GMT
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Cool.
Another build to follow along with.
Cheers Grenade.
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Sept 14, 2018 23:00:35 GMT
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And today- I fired it up! Too bad you can't hear this- it has a BIG CAM in it.. Sounds like a drag race engine!  |
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Sept 15, 2018 16:16:31 GMT
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Wanna hear the engine?
Now you can. Enjoy!
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Sept 16, 2018 11:44:26 GMT
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I like me a good cam cackle as much as the next guy but it rarely bodes well for a street engine in a heavy vehicle due to the low vacuum ad torque down low. If the rest of the engine is built to suit that cam, it should be a fun beast once it gets on the cam! What rear gear does this truck have? I am thinking maybe a 4.10 to play with that cam?
Looking forward to the road report.
Pete
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