Projects 1950 3100 Truck Project

For sure, thanks man. Gotta go check yours out now...

 

Just read through most of this build. Love it.

Stance is great, and I really like the wheel tire combo with the caps. Wouldn't change a thing.

 

Thanks coach...

Getting ready to start working on little odds and ends here to get ready for LSR16. Was the first show I went to when I got the truck, and have been really looking forward to taking it there, even if it will be the ugliest one, ha! It was a goal of mine I set back then and havent made it happen yet but this is the year.

Otherwise, have been driving it as much as I can, the weather has been awesome lately and now that hunting season is over I have to get back to my other hobby. I drove into SA the other day for the first time, had a little road race with a BMW through the twisties and was really suprised how well the truck handles. Makes me wanna swap out the bench for something with a little more support so I dont feel like I am about to slide out the door.

I bought a new distributor today, the first one was just an ebay special, the one I bought comes highly recommended by the engine builder down the street from me. I told him I just wanted something basic but reliable to replace the generic chiness one I had bought. Turns out it is a chinese one as well....but branded by MSD. We'll see how it works.

Anyway, looking forward to cruising season!

 

Can't wait to see yours in person! Don't worry about being the ugly duckling at the show, mine will be there!

 

Got a good pic of Weston in the truck today...man he's growing fast!

 

I read through the first few pages... then skipped to the last several pages. Might hafta fill in the middle one of these days. Looks like a great save! I'll keep an eye out for you at Round Up.

 

I saw this truck today at the Lone Star Roundup. Shadams did a fantastic job putting this together right.

Good job.

 

Thanks man! And what a show. Really had a hard time focusing on anything, there was so much to look at. Seemed like I spent way to much time in the swap meet, and then it was either eating or duckin the rain under the canopy I am glad I remembered. Here's a couple pics I took..

Had to pull over and retighten exhaust bolts, man am I glad the wife followed in my daily, I had the floor jack and stands in my tool box...

On our way in!!


Patiently waiting....Friday was a cluster as they had you go in a different entrance to get your packet. Saturday was a breeze...


My kids at their 2nd Roundup enjoying the day, they were perfect all weekend...


Our setup..

Killer Suburban...my wife would have killed me for it if they had offered.....glad they didnt....


One of my dream cars, in the swap meet not even in he show for some reason....and somehow got this awesome pic with my camera phone...


Anyway the truck ran perfect all weekend there and back and had a great time, already talking about next year!

 

Got a few goodies...

Fog lights...



Got them in trade from another hamber...also snagged a bad ass heater...



And lastly a shift knob...polished quartz I was told..don't think it's going to work on my shifter..gonna have to mod it a bit but it's cool..

 

First off, what a great looking shirt you had on, glad to see you representing! Kiddos are getting big man, crazy how fast they grow. Lastly, you don't want that ugly old GMC heater, better send it up to Missouri!

 

Oh yea hehe, yea thats my go to t-shirt these days....and I knew you would like that heater. Yea the kids are getting big fast. My little girl is really getting her personality, man she is funny....hard to be serious with her....

 

Sweet heater and the truck looks awesome man. Its been a little while since ive been on here. Everything looks great, we made the trip to the roundup last year. So much fun. Bummer we couldnt come back down this year, looks like you guys had a good time. Ill look out for your truck there next year for sure !!

 

Forgot to post a pic of the new shift knob I picked up a while back. Bad ass and goes with the theme of my truck, and of course from Texas. Its an old beer cap, texas pride, which is made by Pearl Beer in San antonio which is my home town.

 

Also bought this bluetooth speaker and have been using it for my tunes. It looks cool as hell in the truck and sounds awesome. Doesnt get loud enough when I am at 60 with no windows, but low speeds and sitting on the tailgate it is perfect.

 

Dammit....was getting things together for Round-up....started noticing white smoke from the left pipe on start-up after sitting. #7 cylinder full of coolant....sigh.....gonna pull it apart this weekend and see what happened. I am secretly hoping the block is cracked so I can buy the 383 stroker I have been eyeing on jegs......stay tuned...

 

Dang, that sucks! Stop by at the roundup!

 

I just found this thread and your experience with your seller in the first couple of pages I've read so far is deja vu to me. Without going into the details, I wanted a Chevy panel truck for a long time so I had stars in my eyes when I found one that looked worthwhile. Once I owned it, the surprises started coming..... not the good kind, the other kind.
(I'm hoping to be rolling down the road by this fall sometime.) The photo below is what it looked like when I got it, but remember, pictures lie. I'll spare you the details but the wacky window is getting fixed along with a cubic ton of other crooked moves.
I have a space at the Lone Star Round Up in the swap meet area this year (2017). Come see me if you're there because I won't be able move very far from my booth. Look for the banner that says "Shift Knob Museum" with a skinny old fart inside.

 

Will do..I'll be with a pregnant wife and two cute blonde rugrats

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Good luck with the engine. Hope it works out either way for you.
Still working on mine - just haven't updated my thread in a while.

 

So it was "just" a blown head gasket. Don't know how it happened but got it all back together. Put on some new goodies, drove it to work and around town and decided I was good for Roundup. Show was good Friday, but had some drama so we called it and left Sat am without even going to the show.

Weather was perfect in Austin, lots of cars and people, good food and music. Swap meet was great, found some YOM plates for a buddy. Thought I had another day to browse so I didnt look super hard. Bummed that I only got one T-shirt, haha....and Cubby....still sporting the ad truckers shirt....

 

Glad to see you got it back on the road! Great looking family - looks like everyone is having fun.

 

So I bought some stamped steel valve covers with the spreader bars, finally no more valve cover leaks. New wires and those heat boots, was having wire burning issues. New intake just because mine was getting crusty. New alternator and battery (part of the drama that caused me to leave LSRU early). Im having a new problem though of course. When I run it initially its fine, after about 30 minutes of highway driving and then coming to a stop, it starts idling rough and then misfiring. Happend several times on the drive up and back from Austin, I would pull over, check wires, etc and start it back up after about 5 minutes and it would be fine again until the next stop. I havent tweaked the timing yet, or the air fuel mixture on the carb with the new intake, and the engine builder gave me a 160 thermostat and it runs really cool, like around 140-150 while cruising. Maybe that has something to do with it?

Anyway, new engine goodies are a lot more subdued than the nasty aluminum ones I had before. I dig it....

 

Nice. I just painted the valve cover on my 235 satin black.

 

Did you try swapping out the distributor/coil?

 

I vote coil.

 

Thats what I was going to do. But then when it was running bad it had this really eye burning smell that I thought might mean its was running lean. I turned the mixture screws on the carb equally and it smoothed out. I havent had the problem since but I havent driven it a whole lot yet. However now when I rev it up when parked it blows a little black smoke so now I may have it too rich. Really need to get the hang of all these damn adjustments. Change one thing and it throws everything else off.

 

Well guys...it happened. You know the "hey if you ever wanna sell it let me know" guy? Well one of them happened to be a customer of mine and several months back we ran in to each other at Soda Pops Hot rod Night. He looked the truck over and really seemed interested and mentioned if I ever wanted to sell it to let him know. So he comes in last week and for no good reason I said "So I'm thinking about selling the truck"...We put our house up for sale last month and I just am on this kick to get rid of all my money pits. Anyway he said "OH REALLY" and next thing you know Im delivering it to his house.....I can tell you that right now I am super relieved to be free of the stress that thing was always causing me. The money is already gone, bought a Polaris Ranger Crew that the whole family can enjoy instead of just me as with the truck. But I can also tell you that when the new wears off the Ranger I am gonna be hurting. I learned a ton about myself and a lot of new things I wouldnt have learned any other way. My kids were REALLY bummed, but after a few hairy rides in the Ranger (in their car seats of course) they already told me they like it better haha. I also sold my 85 to my neighbor, so I get to see that every day when I get home, but at least both vehicles went somewhere where they will be appreciated. The guy with the 50 has three BAD ASS cars and it kinda made me feel good to hear that other than finishing the interior and putting in the windows he wasnt going to touch it....anyway....it was a good run. Maybe one day i'll do it again. Thanks for everyones help along the way....

Here she is in her new garage.....

 

Guys, dont sell your shit. It haunts you forever haha. I just went back thorugh the thread and realized how much I miss having this truck. Anyway, the wife and I are always talking about getting something else, just got to wait for the right timing. Hope everyones holding up with all the craziness going on.

 

...build another AD pickup, you already know how to do it, this one will be EZ

 

Ha ha - yeah, thank goodness I never sell anything! I must admit I was very surprised when you decided to sell yours after all the great work you put into it. Your thread here and your support were a great inspiration for getting mine on the road.
Like rusty1 says, maybe find another AD (one without all the rust issues) and do it again. If you are like me, there are probably things you would have done differently on the first one if you had to do it over again. You could incorporate those ideas on the second.

Hope all is well with you and your family.