New Beater
 

My old truck died so I needed a new replacement. Still have my new(er) Dodge so something different was an option. My wife actually found it. Paid and got title last night, picking up this weekend.

It has half the miles of the truck being replaced. (82,400)
It's a one ton.
It's a Chevy.
6 cylinder, manual transmission








































Slightly older than the truck it's replacing. It's a 51 Chevy 5 window, one ton, 9' box. It's in really good shape. No dents to speak of, all glass intact, interior is better than fair. All it needs are some new brake lines and I'm driving it just like it is. Shiny paint is not required.

all your cars are so interesting lol

WTF? You are living a dream Sir!
I want (at some point) an old Bobbed Duece as my occasional use pick up.
But that Chevy you got there is a nice one.

Stein - Is it a coincidence that I made this post the same day you made this post?

How did Mrs. Stein come across it?

Bah! I waffled hard on this M35 that is posted on my local forum for $6500. It's only an hour away. In the end, too expensive for something that drinks diesel at a rate of 6-8 mpg. Plus, I'd still have to bob it.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1360271520

Here's his FS thread. He comes to shooting days at my range whenever I host them.

starcityracing.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=53053

Very coincidental indeed!

The guy's wife works at the same hospital as my wife and posted a simple flyer. She called me and told me to call him. Don't kid yourself, it's really hers. She's the one that has been asking for a 5 window for a couple of years. Most have been overpriced or restored. This was the first that was clean, original and priced right.

I like your styles, Mr. and Mrs. Stein. I'm just going to assume your name is John Stein, by the way. I'm also going to assume you literally have your own shooting range that is on your personal island.

Do not correct me if any of the above is factually incorrect. It makes for a much cooler storyline.

Yup, lot's of money to be spent there, but $6500 is a reasonable price for one in that kind of shape. One day...one day...cut and weld!

Nice. I had a '52 5 window project with my dad for a few years. We never got as far as paint, but we rebuilt the carb, replaced the entire wiring harness, and made new bed boards out of purple heart. The most fun I had was throwing it in 1st and driving from the running board up a steep hill.

P.S. Although you already have plenty of mechanical ability, Wheeler Dealers has a early 50's chevy pickup episode, if you need some ideas. They keep there's fairly stock though, and I'm not sure you know what that means...

Hummm I wonder of the '51 will have issues towing the Miata to the track... being only a 6 cylinder???? lol!

Sweet find!

I love the rustic look on trucks like these!

Yeah, there is a local guy that has been trying to sell a 2JZ + Trans with ECU and Tweak'ed Performance harness For a while. He finally had it SPF the day I got this. Would have been sweet in this truck.

FS - 2JZ + tweak'd harness - StarCity Racing

That said, It's likely staying pretty much stock. As long as the babbit bearing motor holds up it's staying. If it goes, likely a simple 350TBI swap. Just add a bell housing and the existing SM420 trans will be fine.

Home.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1360462729

Replaced sieve that was masquerading as a fuel line last night, trickled a bit of gas in the carb and it fired right up. Nice smooth idle, good oil pressure, no ticking or knocking. Very happy.

I need to unsubscribe from this thread.

I now have visions of this truck with a GM LQ9 6.0L and EFI swap with a wood-paneled bed doing burnouts in my head...

Very neat.

I had a '51 Dodge in high school, first "car" actually. Straight-6, 3spd with a "granny gear". Used it to haul my mower around for the first year I had my license.

Mom took it to the store one day when it started to rain on her way back...and she slid it into someone at a red light...destroying the the 3 huge chrome grill bars and front fenders, rendering it not worth messing with anymore.

Good luck with the old beast.

Man, you build some cool stuff. Next time I'm out at my grandparent's in Columbus, I'll have to see about swinging by.

No problem, anytime.

Wife helped me bleed brakes, drove around section, came home, took wife for her first ride around section, let her drive it, went to town, got gas, brake was dragging.

A guy came out and he tweaked carb and set points. It runs better. He helped me bleed brakes again. Rear wheels stopped dragging. Front wheels are locked up. We adjusted left brake and that one no longer drags. Right adjuster was bound up so it's sitting with one locked wheel.

Oh, and changed oil. Drained it but only a quart came out. Got under there with the dipstick and started poking in the drain hole and the thick water-infused oil would rope out like it was taking a dump. Poked the drain hole for 10 minutes to finally get all of the old gooey oil out.

Filled up with a quart of ATF and 10W30. I'll drain it again in 50 miles.

Finally last night I decided that the wheel cylinder was a sacrificial part, bore down on the adjuster and it came free. Got it backed off, removed drum and the return spring fell out in three pieces. Pistons are stuck in the wheel cylinder bore so they wouldn't retract.

Ordered two new wheel cylinders and return springs. Shoes and drums look perfect, which is good because drums for a one ton are really hard to find. Hopefully parts show up before the weekend.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1361282180

Mrs. Stein is really okay with the idea of not painting the truck?

Absolutely. She knows it's a beater. You have to realize we both grew up on working farms. She's been around vehicles of this caliber her whole early life. She's driven tractors and grain trucks. She drove this one like the last time she drove a stick was last week instead of several years ago.

I had the EXACT same experience on my Opel -56 which had been parked for a very long time. (Longer then most guys on this forum have been alive, actually.) Do yourself a favor and drop the pan already now. I did an oil change first, got the new oil nice and hot to clean up the old stuff and then drained it again. Thought I was golden, but later ended up dropping the oil pan anyway (it needed new gaskets). There where easilly 15mm of gunky gelly oil goo left in the pan.

That's pretty kewl, but what about it rusting/rotting to the ground in a year or two? Or is that kinda the point: drive it into the ground?

Why would it do that? It's been like this for 60 years already, it isn't going to self-destruct like that. Old stuff like this is made out of thick steel. That's why they may get rusty, but don't really rust out. The rust actually makes an oxide layer that prevents further rusting. It's only if you disturb or remove the rust that it starts anew.

Well then I learned something new today lol :)


My only experience with rust, at all, were the few Datsun 240's that I looked at a year back or so. The ones with rust you could poke holes through body panels with your finger. They were all early 70s cars, so I guess not "old enough"

Installed new wheel cylinders and return springs. I have one front wheel that won't bleed. I think the line is blocked somehow. Standing on the brake and opening the bleeder and even the brake line yields no fluid at all.

Drove it anyway, maybe 20 miles, three wheels is enough to stop from it's max speed of 45. Came home and dropped the oil/ATF. It looked good so I'm good to go. The oil filter housing has no filter. I sucked everything out with my mightyvac. Most of it was pure water. Filled it up and I'm going to drive it. Oil changes once a year will be less than 1000 miles so filter is optional. Actually, the year prior motor didn't even have a filter.

I ordered master cylinder rebuild kit. It's leaking. Should have just done it when I bought the wheel cylinders but didn't. Will pick up some oil filters, too. Can't get them at NAPA.

Re-wired the headlights last night. The wires were completely rotted off. They work fine now. Horn, too. Tore into the heater. After cleaning the contacts on the switch I had power to the fan but no-go. Ordered new fan motor when I ordered the master cylinder rebuild kit.

New money pit. That is all.

lol it will nickle and dime the heck outa you

but you already knew that.

in for TURBO BUILD:party:

Put a GM LQ9 6.0L with EFI in it, then sell it to me.

yeah, I know

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/a...1&d=1331411198

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/a...1&d=1331411198

winning

Rebuilt master cylinder. Still no fluid to LF wheel but I didn't anticipate that would change. Removed brake hose and can't blow through it-it's completely collapsed.

Going to see if Lincoln Clutch and Brake can make one. If not, another order. Master cylinder doesn't spit fluid out the top now, so that is good.

Installed new heater motor. Have heat and defrost now. Well, I have a lot of noise but not a lot of air but that seems par for the course. Fan itself looks pretty inefficient. Heater core was clear when I blew through it, so that is good. It's $260 for a rebuild.

Is it still a 6v system? We had an aftermarket 6v blower with some ducting to the vents. It was still crappy but sounds a little better than stock. Is your cowel vent operational? That brought more air in than anything.

Cowl vent still works, Still 6V. Just bought 6V blower motor. It's all good.

PHOTOSHOOT!

OK, not really, just some shots with my phone.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1362862456
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1362862456
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1362862456
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1362862456
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1362862456
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1362862456

Normally, I am not a big fan of all the filters people use these days.

However, those are very appropriate. That second, black and white-ish shot looks like it could be original. :)

Gorgeous truck!

Added a bit of Miata to the truck tonight. All it had was a cherry bomb muffler and it was loud. I had a stock exhaust system with a Magnaflow muffler in it from a Miata laying around so I cut it up and welded it right to the end of the cherry bomb, so now that's a resonator, lol. The absolute minimum effort to make it fit was expended. Left the ricer exhaust tip on it as well. Can't see it anyway. Quick drive confirmed what I hoped. Significant reduction in exhaust note.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1366600523
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1366600523

So the exhaust Mazda engineers spent forever on to get JUST right, is now welded by to a cherry bomb by a Nebraskan on a '52 Chevy. M.net would be ashamed.

Mr. Stein - Loaning your truck out for photo shoots? I approve.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1367699199

I wish there was a forum thats just for build threads. Does that exist?

Uh, like here? There's one under the media section?

No I meant like an entire site just for build threads.

I pretty sure its called a car forum... I have no idea where you can go for one of those.

I have actually thought of doing such a thing, just linking build threads that I find interesting. There's some great ones on pirate4x4. Let's face it, there are tons of cool build threads buried in tons of car-specific sites that I will never see until they get epic enough to be cross-posted to a forum that I'm actually on.

Love the truck. I have been wanting something like this for some time.

Thats exactly what I mean. There is tons of cool stuff out there that I miss because I have no way to know it exists. Its a known unknown! The best part of CR is the non-roadster projects subforum. (The YLYL thread is pretty good too.)

Also sorry for thread-crapping.

Build Threads
Seriously.

Sweet.

Sooo...

Sold the '51 beater Friday night. Picked this up Saturday. New beater.

1986 1.25 ton Chevy CUCV M1028 (military truck)
6.2 diesel/th400/208
72k miles

I went rock crawling over Memorial Day and have since wanted a crawler. I have too many projects now to build one so I went with an already built truck.

Front Dana 60 DRW hubs, 4.56s, new clutch disks in LSD, new rotors, new brakes pads, new bearings and races, new inner axles, 4340 35 spline outters, warn premium hubs

Rear Dana 70hd with SRW 14 hubs, disc brakes, 4.56s, Detroit Locker, new bearings and races, newer rotors and pads.

Like new 37" E rated BFG Baja radials on brand new 12 bolt h1 Hummer double beadlock rims with pvc inserts, Balanced with 2000 airsoft BB's.

56" rear 3/4 ton springs with the overload removed, ord 2.5" shackle flip, 7" shackles, DIY4x inboarding shock crossmember, 15" travel shocks all the way around, custom bumpstop brackets and 4" poly bumps all the way around, traction bar going from axle to carrier bearing crossmember via double spherical bearings .188 DOM tube. Ruff Stuff 3/8 axle bracket kit.

"Totally Naked Auto" engine cross member/track bar kit up front. 54" front springs with added leaf for proper preload, outboard/relocated front shocks, Ord crossover steering with frame brace, XJ jeep steering shaft mod, "high volume" PS pump with remote reservoir, cooler and tapped ORD steering box, Plate style trans cooler

injection pump turned up .25 a turn, 2.25 into 3" exhaust magnaflow

blazer buckets and console, tilt steering, gauges, black rear slider, a piller spot light, 80s roll bar, bobbed bed 12"

Custom rear crossmember/hitch/double clevis recovery point
Front clevis double recovery points
CUCV Brush Guard

The whole purpose of the suspension mods is to climb up and over big stuff, climb ledges etc in the ORV parks. New suspension flexes surprisingly well for a leaf spring truck.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1378681202

Some pics from our Memorial Day trip. Photos suck replicating the amount of grade.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1378681202
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1378681202

NEG PROPS!

Meh, had my fun but I respect your -props. Was never going to do anything else with it. I get bored with vehicles that I never work on. I'm more focused on things that actually DO something.

Gut the bed and run a behind the cab semi truck style stacks?

Looks like the frame flexes quite a bit too, from the pic. Neat truck!