Picked up a 52 Chevy this weekend. A buddy of mine, five-oh, owned this pickup, sold it, then had a chance to get it back. He knew I wanted a old pickup, so he called me a couple months ago, asked if I was interested. I said yes! five-oh did a great job of representing the truck to me. Told me every thing that was good, bad, and ugly. Even after all that, I still wanted it. So, this past Friday we went over and picked it up. Left out at 6 am, drove 3 1/2 hours over, spent a little time on Petit Jean and a visit to the fall swap meet, and then I picked up the truck, drove 3 1/2 hours back home, and went straight to work. First thing we did was pull the gas tank. The old fuel was a "little" rusty. The tank looks to be in good shape. Just 2 years of sitting has not done well for the gas that was left in the tank. After that we tried to get it started, but while it would fire turn over well, the starter was carrying on and once it would start, it didnt want to run very long. Saturday morning, my two helpers decided to get in on the action and help me by cleaning out the bed of the truck while I took off the starter and the carburetor. We have a shop a half mile from the house that will rebuild the starter, so not a big deal there. The carb was pretty nasty. That probably explains why it wouldn't run unless we were pouring gas down it... My plan is to get it running, and then drive it as i fix it. Keep it on the road as much as possible. My kids and wife cant wait for it to run and drive...It needs work in all the usual places (floor pans, cab corners, etc), so its gonna be a learning curve. But it will be fun.
Nice! another old chevy being brought back. Check out the AD Truckers social group. Good dudes with lots of knowledge.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=132 Good start to your project. Glad to see people getting them running again.
Ok, I know this is a thread about a old 52 chevy pickup. But there is something I have realized in the last few days...people are interested in it, and old cars. Not that anyone on this board didnt realize that already. One of my locals at told me a few months ago he was working on a old car. Well, in the few days since I got the 52, I've been a pretty proud...so I decided to go talk to this local guy. First thing I see is this: Its a 30's dodge, not much to look at, that he is in the process of doing a frame off restoration on. When I mentioned that I now had a 52 Chevy, his eyes lit up, and he said "I bet you aint ever seen this one have you..." and took off to the other side of his hangar. 1929 Model A "Hot Rod" I know it doesn't look like much, but it was his car in 1960, he sold it, bought it back in 1970 and has had it ever since. That is amazing. He even had original photos of him drag racing it in 1961 or so. What is even more amazing, is that this is the FIRST time in 10 years that the guy would hardly speak to me. (not just me, hes the same to everyone...). We have in 10 years talked maybe 10 times. And only when we had to. He won't wave when he drives by, nothing. But today, not only did he talk to me about his Dodge, but he took me, showed me his Model A, and took me to his office to show me the pictures of his car. All because of a 52 Chevy truck.
Ok, a little update on what I have been doing to this old truck. I knew I needed a carb rebuild kit, and a new float, so I ordered them at the local parts store in town. Finally after a few days, they came in, so on my lunch break, I ran to town, and got my carb rebuild kit, float for the carb, a new oil plug (the old one didn't fit , and 5 quarts of oil for Sam (the trucks name). $65 poorer, I was ready to tackle Sam for a while tonight. Quickly, I dropped the parts off, then ran back to work. Tonight, when I got to Ma and Pa's house, Pa and my Uncle were both standing around Sam. I asked Dad if he had put the drain plug in Sam, and he said he couldnt get it started. So a few minutes of fiddling, and I decided phooey on it, the old drain plug worked just fine when the PO had Sam, so I stuck it back in. After getting the oil plug in good and tight, Pa and my Uncle had started in with the "Whats wrong with the starter?" discussion. I pulled the starter out in the open, they went to work talking and carrying on about it... It didnt take long till we realized the solenoid needed moved... Turned out that the solenoid needed moved. It wasnt letting the starter kick out far enough. So, a quick adjustment, and a test, and the starter was good to go. Also, look at Pa. He is dying laughing here...every time he would jump the starter, my uncle would jump, carry on, and nearly run off. Both of them knew he would do it, they were both expecting him to do it, and both would laugh at him doing it. I tried to get a video of it, but it didn't work... Next Pa went to work on the carb. Now by the time we got the carb on, and was able to try to get it to turn over, it was getting pretty dark. More pictures later...
I wanted to clean up his inside a bit. First, here is a picture of the old oil. I was worried about water in it. After sitting, and letting it sit in this gallon jug, we have probably a cup of water. I think most of it came from it sitting, condensation, and probably sitting with the hood off for some time. Someone along the way put in some old 1/4 inch metal in Sam's floorboards. I wanted to take that and the seats out, powerwash everything, and see how bad it really is. Here I took out the passenger side floorpan: Next, with his right side and left side floor pans out, seats out, and everyting bare metal: Its hard to tell here, but everything has just been washed: Here, everything is back in, including the seat frame: A look at his "fancy" floor pans: More later...
The other day, Dad told me had found me another 235 engine that had some good parts on it that I could use on Sam's motor. So we stopped by and visited the guy who had it. After looking at the motor, realizing that there were several parts I could use, the guy offered to sell me the motor, complete frame, and everything, for $50. It was off of a 58-62 Chevy, so some of the parts are not interchangeable, but there are several that were. How could I go wrong? The next evening, we were looking at Sam, trying to figure out if the parts off the 235 would fit, and where they would go, when Dad said, "Do you know Sam has a bullet hole?" Sure enough, right on his window frame: A couple days later, I went for some "junking" at the local junk yard. Imagine this car all fixed up...what a beaut it would be! And this one...I bet it had some class back in the day. Found a frame and a earlier Chevy motor at the junk yard: This was cool, the fuel pump had a glass bowl. The only ones I had ever messed with that had the glass bowls on it was old Farmalls. Anyways, I got out of there without spending any money. Yesterday afternoon, I went by and paid the guy for the 235 and frame. Then I looked for some more casting numbers for the motor. I wanted to double check and make sure it was a 235, not a later 230. After getting home I realized i still didn't have the proper casting number. I finally found a site where it showed where to locate the casting number. I ran back over and found the proper casting number. It was a 235. More later...
Also, if any of this that I'm posting sounds a bit simplistic, sorry about that. I'm learning as I go and much of this is new territory for me. Also, I posted this on another forum I'm on first. The other one is not a car forum, so I have to explain what I did and why as I post. Hope you enjoy these.
It's been quite a while since I posted on here about this old project. Here's quite a few updates... I mentioned in my last post about getting a frame and another motor with several parts that might (or might not) be interchangeable. I'll pick up there. Also, the trucks name is Sam. There is a long post that goes with his name, but let it suffice to say hes named after the old farmer my buddy five-oh got him from. OCTOBER 2011 Heres the first part I was interested in, a fuel pump. Come to find out, the old pump was fine, just needed a little cleaning. This one was slightly different, and wouldnt work...but the old one was good. Next, the air cleaner. Sam currently has a "oil bath" air cleaner. I may change this over. I thought I got a close picture of the oil filter system, but I didnt. You can see the top of it below the air cleaner...(its the round canister below the air filter) It only took us 20 minutes to get the frame loaded on the trailer, then it was back to Ma and Pa's house. We yanked the fuel pump off first, and then found out it didnt fit. Pa got a sudden "lets try something" look in his eyes, and started tearing Sam's fuel pump apart. I realized at this point I have never shown you a good picture of Sam's engine...can you say Kawasaki green? After cleaning the fuel filter, testing it to make sure it would pump, Pa decided to put it back in... As soon as he got it in, we tried to start Sam. No luck. I checked the hose running from the fuel pump to the carbreutor, and no fuel. took it off at the fuel pump, and we had fuel. Blew the hose out, tried it again, and finally got fuel to the carbreutor. But we still couldnt get him to run. About this time, a neighbor friend stopped by on his motorcycle... What a bike!!! Hes a car nut and I trust him when it comes to figuring out problems to cars. After tinkering around with Sam for about 30 seconds, he said, "You aint getting fire to the coil!" So a quick rig, and.... SAM STARTED!!! Tomorrow, I will try to get him a temp gas tank and his oil changed...then hes off for his first drive around the yard! LATER: (Click on picture for video...sorry) Heres my wife driving Sam for the first time. Throughout October, we worked on several things to get him running better. I checked on prices to insure and tag him. Total to tag him and get the title was $71! After getting to the tag office in January (Sam had to have his front springs rebuilt, next paragraph shows that...) it came out to $150 or so for tag and title. And insurance for him is...$20.16 a month. Not bad either...every year the tag is around $21. I did discover some things about Sam. If you look at previous pictures, you will notice his front sits low. I was crawling around under him and noticed someone did a spring reversal on him... and I figured that was what makes his front sit LooooooW....later, after starting to repair him, I noticed it was not a reversal. Someone had removed several of the leafs out of the springs, and it had settled bad. So a rebuild was in order. Also, after putting his oil filter on, we had a hose bust. Pa was at work and noticed they were throwing out hundreds of new hoses. He found me 2 brand new hoses for his oil filter...for free! Now I have just a few items on the list to get Sam on the road: 1) Getting the insurance and tag. Ive been waiting till he's road worthy before I spend the money on this. 2) Gas tank. I called about one yesterday, the guy wanted $75 for a used one. I have a lead on another one for $40. Ill get that soon. (Wound up buying one from LMC. New, with float was under $200) 3) Springs. Rebuilt. 4) Brakes. I know they need adjusting, but I will have to rely on Pa's expertise to do that. The list is getting shorter! Wont be long till hes driving...er...puttering...er...roaring down the road. Sam has no muffler...and lands...HES LOUD!!!
Shameless plug. I made a FB page for Sam. https://www.facebook.com/pages/SamThe52/176277595796016?v=wall Ok, for most of November and December, I was busy with life and things going on. Finally, I got a chance to work on Sam some more, and try to get his springs lined out. Sam decided he wanted to be cantankerous with his springs. Unfortunately for me (and my pocketbook), this has been a trial and error type experience, combined with cold weather, and under the weather days. But finally, we got some things done on the springs. Pa using his metal working skills (hammer...lol) to form a bracket. Here is Pa drilling on a bracket to hold the newly made springs together. Here Pa is trying to get the shock back on one side. This also leads us to a discussion about Sams spirit, and or all old cars. The crusty ol' farmer in Sam likes to teach others the art of fussing. Work on a old car long, and you will understand...lol More later!
After weeks of fussing with the drivers side spring, putting it on, taking it off, fussing with it, and putting it back on just to take it back off, we got it finished. All that hard work paid off though! We had the passengers side spring off, fixed, and replaced in about 2 hours! After that, I put a little gas in his temporary tank, and drove him (until he ran out of gas). Heres a picture I took of him that today: It reminded me of something...I got to looking and found the first picture I ever saw of Sam, taken by five-oh: Next, a few piddly things, and a gas tank, and he will be running down the road.
In January of this year, I got a box at work: Sam's new gas tank! And the sending unit! Pa decided to climb in Sam's cab and get to work...lol Heres the new hoses going to the filler neck and vent line: Resistor: His new gas tank all in: After getting his gas tank in and buttoning him back up, I started him and he had a whopper of a oil leak going on. I managed to get him around to the front of the garage, and had to park him. He was spitting up oil something fierce. The next night, I stopped by, figuring it would be a simple thing to tighten the hoses to get his oil leak stopped. When we pulled out the connections, I happened to notice the problem. The main valve running into the engine block had a crack in it! Luckily Pa had another one handy, we swapped them out, and Sam ran like a charm.
A few nights later, in January, we fixed the choke cable on Sam, then, with plenty of daylight to spare, my daughter hopped in and we drove him to the back of the pasture. He was having a grand ol time, then promptly gave up the ghost. Not a lick of spark...I looked down and realized his battery cable came off. I put that back on, and drove back to the house, no problems. So then, I load my son up, and we decide to be brave. I pull out to the road, look left and right, and drive about 1/8 of a mile to a dirt road, drive down the dirt road about a 1/4 of a mile, and then find a drive way to turn around in. As I start to turn Sam around, to my absolute horror, I see oil. On the road. A line, all the way back up the road. My heart sank. Sams oil pressure was good, and no smoke, but I knew I was in trouble. I got back to the main road, got back to Pa's, parked him quickly, and jumped out hollering for a flashlight. I needed to see where the oil was coming from. As I turned around to look at Sam, I see a huge puddle of oil forming under his...BED?!?!?! I run over, and realized what had happened. The oil that I had drained out of him at the first was in a bucket with a lid on it. As I turned to go down the dirt road, the bucket spilled over and oil started leaking through the bed. I felt like that old truck was pulling a good joke in on me! LOL
I finally got to drive Sam on the road at the end of January! Here are a few pictures: Sam, sitting pretty. (Look for more poser shots soon. He is able to be driven to places now!) Sara, our little dog, wanted to go along, because my wife was riding. She was happy as long as my wife was in the truck, but when my wife got out, she was upset. Hence, the reason she was standing on my lap looking out... At the end of January, I worked up enough nerve to actually drive Sam to work:
For the last few months, I have been working on his spark advance and other assorted things. Sam was getting about 5 mpg, and wasn't making full power. After looking him over, we realized that the spark advance was not working. Also, I broke the top of his shifter mount, and had to have that rewelded. All in all, hes running great now. Until the next thing breaks...
Good to see Sam coming along nicely. Won't be long and he'll be ready to wander back "home" to Arkansas........ I wish Rusty was coming along so well. This darned "simple head job" that would take a good mechanic a couple hours is killing me.LOL
Nice work bringing Sam back to life, and thanks for sharing all the photos and video clips. Its so much fun working on these old Chevys and making them go down the road again. I wouldn't change a thing, I love the character your truck has and hope you & your family continue to enjoy the old fella for many years!
Sam fan, keep it going, love that your dad and uncle are in on this, kids too. Regards, Cosmo Daily driver only vehicle '49 Chevy 1/2 T
I loved reading your experiences with the resurrection of Sam. I hope to have similar adventures with my 51.
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