Newbie 1965 SWB Fleet DD Project - ROUGH Start

[Dweezle]

Originally Posted by 65sub

Here's a good discussion on oil for older engineshttp://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=478158

Interesting read. Think I might go the zinc additive route after I change out this break in oil. Makes sense. Thanks!

[Dweezle]

Originally Posted by Clyde65

Welcome to the madness! I think just about all of us here have went through something similar as you have with your truck, I know I did!

Ive had my truck 26 years so I know pretty much what has went into it, but when I first got it, I too wanted a DD and it turned ugly real soon. I tell you this because there is light at the end of the tunnel and with these knowledgeable folks here, you have many guys ( and gals!) in your corner!

Good luck, I will be following along.

Good to know I'm not alone! And sorry for your experience. I assume there was a happy ending?

[Clyde65]

My truck is under my signature. Im very happy with how it is today.

[jonzcustomshop]

my first truck-my 65- I am pretty much down to the cab driver door and frame left from the original truck.
I even screwed up by replacing the tired 283 with a blown timing chain with a "good" 350 that turned out to have a flat cam!
at some point I need to replace the frame, because I am pretty sure it is bent from a crash: it wears the front tires funny, and the front bumper is a b*&$ to get lined up...
kinda how it goes sometimes

[Dweezle]

Well, long night working on the truck. Got the timing right and it started. Didn't run it but a few seconds. Reassembled everything and should be ready to make final adjustments to the distributor, valves and carb either tomorrow or Thursday. Hope to be driving it again by this weekend. Don't know what's up with my sideways pics. Sorry!

[Dweezle]

Forgot to mention a few things...replaced both belts and used a washer to add some space between the block and power steering, also lined the belt up better that way. Also had to order a new rocker stud from Jegs. During disassembly one of the studs broke (was cross threaded, assuming by PO).

I looked up these heads and they're $800 each. I'm still in disbelief as to why the PO put all this stuff on a worn out engine rather than having the engine rebuilt...oh well!

[Vincenthdfan]

Hi Dweezle,

First, I want to say Las Cruces, awesome!! I used to live in Alamogordo for 13 years from 1990-2004, stationed there during the last part of my 20 year Air Force career, working on F-117 Stealth Fighters. I love that part of the country so much....it truly gets in your blood!

Now, about trucks....That's a great foundation you have to build on there so don't give up on it, they're very hard to come by in that good of condition body wise.

I've got a 62 SWB that had the original 283 in it and it was super tired, had a weird vibe at 2,000- 2,400 rpm I couldn't get rid of, so out it came and a new crate 350 is going in it's place.

But...its a California truck, short bed, very little rust so well worth the effort, just like yours is.

So hang in there brother and have fun with it...these rigs are getting harder and harder to come by every day!

[Dweezle]

Hey Vincenthdfan! I also lived in Alamogordo for some time. I was born there, while my dad was stationed at Holloman in the early 80's, and then returned there for the end of middle school and the beginning of high school. I have to say, I much prefer Las Cruces over Alamogordo, but I do love this part of the country. Thanks for the words of encouragement!

[aggie91]

Welcome to the forum. Great intro to this project. Like others have said, ask questions here and from your mechanic friend to learn as you go and from others mistakes. Having a much older truck for a DD can be great, but will have some of its own issues compared to today's vehicles. The pictures of you primer job look good an made a huge difference on how the truck looks.

You have some very valuable parts in that truck that others would love to have. Stay with it and as you make your fixes and improvements, the time and the fun you do have will make all the negatives seem to go away.

Keep us posted on how things progress!

[azdude1964]

stay positive and you'll get it running. We're all here to help.

[Dweezle]

Originally Posted by aggie91

Welcome to the forum. Great intro to this project. Like others have said, ask questions here and from your mechanic friend to learn as you go and from others mistakes. Having a much older truck for a DD can be great, but will have some of its own issues compared to today's vehicles. The pictures of you primer job look good an made a huge difference on how the truck looks.

You have some very valuable parts in that truck that others would love to have. Stay with it and as you make your fixes and improvements, the time and the fun you do have will make all the negatives seem to go away.

Keep us posted on how things progress!

Thanks aggie. I read through your entire build thread with your son, Korbin. It was an inspiring thread and I was really sad to read about the accident. It seems like he's got his head on straight about priorities with the health of himself and his sister though. Hope to see a completed "white trash" (I think that's what you named it) some day. I look forward to having a similar build experience with my son some day. Thanks again.

[4mulaSvaliant]

Whats up man! Ill be keeping an eye on this build as well. Sorry to hear of your troubles, I too, as many here know the limited budget and family life. It sounds as though even with your troubles in this truck, you've steered the course correctly and are headed the right direction now.
If there is an encouragement I can offer it would be that making these trucks a reliable daily driver is not a far fetched plan. It can be done, and I rock my 64 on a daily basis. 40 miles a day, 5 days a week, and I drive the piss out of it too!

It sounds as though you have a mindset for doing things correctly so, a little time after you get it back to running condition and I think we'll all see the demeanor of your original post turn drastically.

Feel free to shoot me a message if ya think I can offer you any help.

[Dweezle]

Originally Posted by 4mulaSvaliant

Whats up man! Ill be keeping an eye on this build as well. Sorry to hear of your troubles, I too, as many here know the limited budget and family life. It sounds as though even with your troubles in this truck, you've steered the course correctly and are headed the right direction now.
If there is an encouragement I can offer it would be that making these trucks a reliable daily driver is not a far fetched plan. It can be done, and I rock my 64 on a daily basis. 40 miles a day, 5 days a week, and I drive the piss out of it too!

It sounds as though you have a mindset for doing things correctly so, a little time after you get it back to running condition and I think we'll all see the demeanor of your original post turn drastically.

Feel free to shoot me a message if ya think I can offer you any help.

Hey man, thanks for checking in, and thanks for the words of encouragement. I've read your build thread too (man, it sounds like I have WAY too much time on my hands) and was super impressed. Really dig your interior and the color combo; and your fabrication skills seem top notch. I don't think I'd be quite as intimidated with this thing if I had your skillset. Needless to say, I learned some things from your thread and plan to continue reading the updates.

[Dweezle]

Progress, although not in an area that was planned today!

I'm pretty much stuck waiting for my rocker studs to come in from Jegs before I can actually "run" the engine, check everything, and have a friend over to help me fine tune the valves, carb, and distributor, but I had a little time today and wanted to be productive. I decided to go outside and see about wet sanding the primer I sprayed 3 or so weeks ago since it came out in a really rough, sand-like texture. I've never sprayed anything before, so I'm sure I had the PSI wrong on my air compressor or something. I've never wet sanded before either, but figured it couldn't be too hard. Besides, this isn't final paint, it's just primer to make the truck a uniform color and a bit more presentable as a daily driver. All this to say that I'm pretty happy with the results. The color isn't as good as it was previously. Some areas are lighter than others, where I probably pressed a bit harder or went over the primer a few more times, but I don't mind the look. It certainly feels better to the touch. It's cloudy today (rare around here), so it's a great time to be outside doing this. I've done half the truck and will probably do the other half later this evening.

Here are before and after pictures.

[Dweezle]

Well, got the truck fired up for the first time in a few weeks yesterday. Was quite the ordeal. Ended up having to replace the starter and ran into several other cartoony things that needed fixed before I felt good about things. The truck sounds a world of different with the new cam in it. Got the timing set really well and the quadrajet adjusted. No clack in the valves, but probably need to back them off a bit until they do clack and then retighten. I'm fearful that some of them may be a little snug. Smoked like a son of a gun when we let it run for a few minutes. I think the majority of it was burning off all the crud that had fallen down into the crossmembers and whatnot during the past few weeks of work. Still have some smoke coming out of my driver's side tail pipe. Going to run it some more and take it out for a few errands this evening. I'm hoping it's burning off all of the oil in the exhaust from before the repairs and that maybe it will clean up. I'm probably being overly optimistic on that point...really not wanting to put any more time or money into the engine right now, but I understand that I may need to build a short block for this thing. Anyhow...here's to hoping!

[65sub]

Nice progress. Hope the test drive goes well

[Dweezle]

Well, the test drive was mostly FUN, with a little disappointment and embarrassment mixed in, ha! Fun things first. I put in some solid throttle linkage and ditched the old cable. Being a novice I'm not sure what's what, I'm not sure if it was the linkage, the new carb, the cam, or what, but the ole' 65 was a ton more responsive and peppy than it was a few weeks ago before all of this work. With the suspension upgrades it handled great and was a blast to drive. It sounded super sweet too, no more galloping along with that stuck valve. Oil pressure was good and temp was 180 driving, 190 stopped. Probably drove about 10 miles over a period of 30 minutes with a few stops along the way. Now for the other stuff. Still smoking like a train, probably worse than ever, so that's discouraging. And now for the embarrassing part...I think one of my belts is loose because the truck was squeeling like the little pig in the geico commercials when I would accelerate or downshift.

[step65]

Great truck looks good after wet sand. Keep up the good work you will get it all sorted out.