Old Girl (aka Project Underhaulin)

[C10_ustacould]

I have a question about cooling. Before installing the Edelbrock water pump included with the Tru-Trac system the temp ran dead center on the gauge. now it spends most of its time on the right side of the gauge, basically at the upper limit of the normal gauge. We have the fans configured to come on at 180 and off a 170* but the fans never turn off. So I'm left with a quandary, is the new cooling system inefficient, is the gauge not reading correctly because I disconnected the ammeter, or do I need to put a 160* thermostat in it? I'd love to hear thoughts from folks that have experience with the Tru-Trac system. Thanks in advance.

[a.c.ward]

i drilled a series of 5 or 6 3/16 holes in the thermostat to allow steam and extra water flow when the engine is warming up in a customers car that had the tru trac system just to keep the temps out of the red zone. BTW used a 160 thermostat new from summit, jarden high flow replacement, not the average $5 parts store special..

thanks for keeping ol girl alive and honoring the memory

[C10_ustacould]

I have a dilemma. I installed all the correct components for the e-brake system but the cable is too short. The only thing that isn't factory is the 11" x 2.75" rear brakes. I think the issue is the horizontal brake bar (gold piece in the picture) is pushing the parking brake lever too far back which retracts the cable farther than the stock 11" x 2' brakes. Does anyone have experience with this?

I had this setup on my green '68 stepper and it worked fine, not sure why this doesn't work.

[NoNeck]

Buck, the only thing I see missing is the little "star" wheel brake adjuster at the bottom.

Also, on the higher engine temp - did you mount the temp gauge in the intake manifold or the head? I have found that gauges mounted in the heads usually indicate a hotter temp.

Nice work getting this truck up and going. I love the attention to detail in your trucks. Good luck man.

POP

[C10_ustacould]

Originally Posted by NoNeck

Buck, the only thing I see missing is the little "star" wheel brake adjuster at the bottom.

Also, on the higher engine temp - did you mount the temp gauge in the intake manifold or the head? I have found that gauges mounted in the heads usually indicate a hotter temp.

Nice work getting this truck up and going. I love the attention to detail in your trucks. Good luck man.

POP

The self adjuster is there, you just can't see it in the picture. The temp gauge sender wasn't moved which is why i'm puzzled with the rise in running temp. I'm going to try and get a vacuum fill tool and see if there's still air in the system, only 35 miles or so since the install. Thanks for the kind words, we're doing our best.

[clay68c10]

Do you have the CCW rotation water pump? Looks like that serp setup will spin the pump backwards. It's the only obvious thing I could think of.

Looking good!

[stevenfromtexas]

hey there brother. love the pickup. i am going to do the 506 medium blue also this march

i'm nobody to offer advise to you guys but i changed my temp sending unit to the Letric Limited sensor a lot of guys are recommending. my temp gauge would peg hot and my temp gun read 195-ish. changed it out and gauge reads in the middle

like i said, i'm as smart as my avatar looks.....hahaha

[C10_ustacould]

For Front End Friday...

[smbrouss70]

[Ol Blue K20]

It's looking great

[CG]

This is such a nice truck, perfect look. Glad to see its getting all the kinks ironed out. I will be sad though when you put the big bling wheels and tires on it. I'm saving all the pics posted of it in this form.

[C10_ustacould]

Originally Posted by smbrouss70

Thanks brutha! Your Blazer is coming along well, hope Brandi is well after her tumble. Too bad you didn't have a gold medal to give her since the Olympics are going on and all. Don't tell her I said that, she'll sic Ratchet on me!!

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

It's looking great

Thanks Ol Blue!

Originally Posted by CG

This is such a nice truck, perfect look. Glad to see its getting all the kinks ironed out. I will be sad though when you put the big bling wheels and tires on it. I'm saving all the pics posted of it in this form.

Thanks, I like the white wheels too but it isn't my truck so...

[3757chevy]

I like the look.

[C10_ustacould]

Time for an update and some pictures. We got the temperature under control!! We bought a funnel that connects in place of the radiator cap and allows you to initially overfill the radiator, as the thermostat opens it allows the air to escape and the extra coolant to flow into the system. The thermostat was a 195º, we swapped it for a Mr. Gasket hi-flo 180º and set the fans to come on at 195º and turn off at 185º. This setup seems to work well and the fans actually don't run much, unless the truck is idling for a while, but the fans pull the temp down quickly. While we were at it we installed a overflow line using the same Russell Pro Classic hose and black AN fittings and hose ends we used for the transmission cooler lines as well as a black Billet Specialties radiator cap. Sunday morning we took the ZL1 and the C10 to a monthly cruise we do with some old friends, the Old Girl did great and we were lucky to have Hart_Rod join us in his Super Burb.

On the to-do list we have a rear disc brake kit and adjustable proportioning valve.

New Rad cap and overflow hose...


The boy and his girl heading to a cruise-in...


The Old Girl and Super Burb...


The boy let me drive the Old Girl to work today.

[Advanced Design]

Looks like good times! And weather way nicer than here....

[CC69Rat]

Has that truck got the early rear housing in it? To me (just saying) its begging for some Bonneville Gs, and bags. .. Just me, But you know how I am.

[C10_ustacould]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Looks like good times! And weather way nicer than here....

Sorry for your bad weather, we've had a lot of rain lately so we'll enjoy the sunshine while we can.

Originally Posted by CC69Rat

Has that truck got the early rear housing in it? To me (just saying) its begging for some Bonneville Gs, and bags. .. Just me, But you know how I am.

It's got the longer '72 rear end in it. No money for Bonneville G's so a set of 20" Billet Specialties Speedways will have to do.

[Hart_Rod]

Looking good Buck!

[C10_ustacould]

Originally Posted by Hart_Rod

Looking good Buck!

Thanks bruh!

Pic from last Saturday at Pensacola Cars& Coffee.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by C10_ustacould

I have a question about cooling. Before installing the Edelbrock water pump included with the Tru-Trac system the temp ran dead center on the gauge. now it spends most of its time on the right side of the gauge, basically at the upper limit of the normal gauge. We have the fans configured to come on at 180 and off a 170* but the fans never turn off. So I'm left with a quandary, is the new cooling system inefficient, is the gauge not reading correctly because I disconnected the ammeter, or do I need to put a 160* thermostat in it? I'd love to hear thoughts from folks that have experience with the Tru-Trac system. Thanks in advance.

Attachment 1750668

I see that you've gotten you cooling situation under control, but if it comes back in the summer when it's hot I think part of the problem is your fan set up. I had the same problem with my 65 mustang. I installed a similar flat shroud right before the power tour. It was June, and in Texas and OK. Basically my car ran 210-220 idling or rolling down the interstate. What I came to conclude was the flat part of the shroud was actually blocking the airflow through the radiator going down the road. The air would pass through and hit a wall, so no cooling was happening where those flat areas are. I cut some holes in the shroud and added flaps, and while it helped, it just wasn't good enough. That's why you see factory shrouds are usually 1-2" off of the radiator and dished so the air can flow through the fan hole opening. When the shroud is flat and only 1/2" off the radiator the air has nowhere to go. When I got back home I put a factory shroud and 7 blade fan back on the car and operating temps dropped to 190-195*. Something to think about if the problem comes back in the summer heat.

[C10_ustacould]

Took the old girl out to a show in Panama City Beach today, a lot of attention. People really like the stock/old school look.

[C10_ustacould]

We received our Billet Specialties Speedway wheels. I think we'll need prettier brakes...




Now we need to figure out tires. I'm trying to decide between 255/40R20 all the way around or 255/40R20 (28" tall) front and 255/50R20 (30" tall). Ether way the tires are the same width but in the second scenario the rears are 2" taller. these are basically the same heights I ran on my green step side. Running the square set up gives the advantage of rotating them front to rear but the staggered set up helps with rpm on the highway. What do y'all think, square or staggered?

[3757chevy]

them's purdy ...

[nlped]

What trans & gear ratio does the truck have? That’ll help calculate the highway speed rpm’s.

Edit: just need to know the rearend gear ratio... I went back & now know it’s a 700r4 so 0.70 for the tranny.

[C10_ustacould]

Originally Posted by nlped

What trans & gear ratio does the truck have? That’ll help calculate the highway speed rpm’s.

Edit: just need to know the rearend gear ratio... I went back & now know it’s a 700r4 so 0.70 for the tranny.

I'm pretty sure it's a 3.73, I'll find out for sure when I pull the axles for the disc brake swap.