Grampa's 60

[Walys60]

Here's some fun, black widow eggs wrapped up around the squirrel (or pack rat) scat.

[Walys60]

Well we got an early start and managed to get the engine and trans pulled out yesterday. Though we had disconnected the clutch line, we failed to see that it was still attached with a bracket to the back of the motor until after tugging on it pretty hard and kinking it beyond use. Oh well, easy fix, very happy that's all the damage we did

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.

Unfortunately there is a LOT more to removing the bell housing than I thought, so we didn't get it put on the stand. Back to just me so we're back in slow mode.

[Walys60]

Well, no meniscus tear! It's just a 'deep bone bruise'. Hurts like the dickens, but no repair required!

Anyway, not sure how much that news will speed this project up, but I did get the motor on the stand and stripped it down close to as far as I am going to. Still will take off the oil pan, filter, coil and fuel pump...but we're just talking a matter of minutes for that. Then at some point, my brother will be picking it up and he'll take it from there. That's going to be his main contribution to the project.

I took the fenders and the one door with the rust holes to a local body shop. I've been having second thoughts about it though. My Dad was trying to talk me through his version of what should happen to repair them myself. That went in one ear and out the other, I have NO intention of doing them myself, just way too much time in that. BUT, I started thinking, maybe he would want to do them if I took them to HIS house. We'll see. He and I have a tradition of going to the "Run to the Pines" car show in Pinetop every year so I will be seeing him this weekend and we'll chat about it. It would be nice to keep all the work in the family.

In the meantime, I've pretty much moved back to stripping it down. Just have the steering column and gas tank to get out of the cab and it's done. Starting to size up how to use my engine hoist to pick the cab off the frame. Should be interesting

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[TJ's GMC]

It was scary having my v6 on an engine stand....didn't sleep to well at nights. haha

[Walys60]

Hehe, yeah, for sure TJ. I did finally take the chain off but I'm not moving it around much...just enough to get it out of the way.

I got the cab pretty close to ready to unbolt from the frame, and then I started going through all the suppliers and listing parts/prices. I was pretty excited at first...mostly looking at all the rubber parts and smalls so they were $6 here...$20 there. By the time I'd had enough for the day the total was about $3000! The only 'big' thing I had in the list was the body work I already have out to the body shop ($400 estimate). Anyway, that kind of made me decide to set it aside for a couple other projects I need to get done

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. I probably have a 2-3 month wait before my brother takes the motor anyway.

I've got a speedometer drive and some new performance/maintenance parts to put on the Harley and I just bought a 1973 pinball machine to restore (cause I didn't have enough projects started). Attached a picture of the pinball machine in lieu of actual progress on the truck, lol.

[Walys60]

Well, it has been a while since I've updated. Really hasn't been much progress in the last 2.5 years unfortunately. I had so many projects going on that very little got done on the truck. I posted a few new pictures under the album for the truck.

Anyway, I finally got sick of the projects I DIDN'T want to do keeping from the projects I DO want to do so I basically gave them all away just to clear the shop out. I still have a pinball machine, a jukebox and the, never ending, shop improvements but I put the truck back on the #1 list ...at least until it gets hot again.

I've got about 20 of the stubborn bolts left and I'll have the truck bed wood and the last fender well out. and then 3 more cab bolts and I'll lift it off. That's it and and I'm DONE with disassembly!!! I get to start actually restoring things and...it almost makes me tear up...putting it back together!

Granted, there is a lot of prep, particularly for the body paint...but I'm going to start with the frame/undercarriage and hope to have that all done before it gets hot is the goal. Hopefully I will be updating more regularly now that I've got my priorities straitened out again

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[Walys60]

Look what I did this weekend!

[Walys60]

Pushed it out next to the shop so I could start cleaning it. SHEESH! 3100 PSI washer seem to strengthen the resolve of the caked on grease. On the recommendation of a friend I bought a can of cheap oven cleaner and sprayed it down.

I've only used engine de-greaser on much less packed grease so I don't have a direct comparison, but I AM impressed with the oven cleaner so far. I soaked half the front end with it and let it sit for an hour or so then went after it with a putty knife. It had softened it up great. Unfortunately I ran out of gas on the pressure washer but I think if I spray it off and do one more oven cleaning and that should get me down to detail work. Give it a shot some time...I think it was $2 at Dollar General. Sure beats $6 a can (minimum) for de-greaser.

[Walys60]

Okay, so I had mentioned in another thread that I am back working on her and how sad I am that I have to tear apart the front end considering it has original parts and is tighter than a drum. Hurt feelings or not, it only makes sense to replace those things while I'm in there, especially things like the control arm bushings/seals, as painful as they would be once the body is back on.

Anyway, I threw in a few tear-down pictures of the driver side (and the perfect ball joint had to pop out). If you look close you will see that they are before and after shots. I bought one of those cheap ($30) pressure washer sand blaster attachments and I have to say, it far exceeded epectations...so far. I have about 3-4 hours in wire brushing break parts, the spindle and the hub and that blaster did what you see there and more in about 20 minutes.

Since I'm actually 'restoring' now and not just tearing down, I decided I would start doing a video log as well. Mostly for my son who will eventually inherit it, but if you all are bored and want a laugh go take a look. Who knows, maybe it would help you out on something or...maybe you could stop me from doing something stupid

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My Channel...


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[Ed Snyder]

Nice to see you're finally making more progress. Keep up the good work, and keep the updates coming.