'81 Chevy Project Goes Away

[outskirtscustoms]

Re: New Project Truck- Keeping the Dream Alive

Glad to see the truck back on track. As they say Chevy stocks the junkyards of America. I don't mean anything negative by that, only that you can go to almost any junkyard and you'll find a good supply of whatever you're looking for and if not you can find something that is interchangeable. Especially if it's a 350ci they used them in nearly everything from 1950-1980 and still use them in a few vehicles today. Classic case of "It works, don't mess with it"

 

[ratina]

Re: New Project Truck- Keeping the Dream Alive

Glad to see that you are gonna finish the truck! Looks great so far, love the stance

 

[udallcustombikes]

Re: New Project Truck- Keeping the Dream Alive

I haven't done much with the truck lately aside from driving it. I took this week off of work to get the truck back on track before the real cold weather sets in. I got the bed pulled off again tonight. Over the rest of the week I am going to massage the damage on the back of the cab from the accident, replace the differential cover seal, modify the rear bumper mounts to suck it in about 2", and lower the rear suspension another inch or two. If I have time I am going to find out why the aux. tank valve isn't working. Stay tuned over the next several days.

 

[udallcustombikes]

Re: New Project Truck- Keeping the Dream Alive

Today's work began with the diff gasket.

The differential cover was rusted and greasy when it came off so after I cleaned it up I added some color to the underside of the truck.

Installed

Next up was the body damage on the back of the cab where the bed got into it in the accident. I borrowed a stud welder from a friend and set to teaching myself another facet of auto body repair. While I don't think I will have a future in a body shop I do take pride in the fact that I am doing the work on my own.

Dents pulled out and Bondo slathered on.

The inner bumper brackets needed to be lengthened since the bumper is off of a Suburban.

Tomorrow I am going to sand down the Bondo and recoat it if needed, finish relocating the bumper mount holes on the frame to suck the bumper in a couple inches, and swap out the leaf spring hangers to get the truck an inch or two lower.

 

[pick]

Re: New Project Truck- Back on task

Lookin good Cameron! 8)

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

Re: New Project Truck- Back on task

sweet. I'm liking watching your progress. cool truck.

 

[udallcustombikes]

Re: New Project Truck- Back on task

The leaf spring hangers really wanted a fight. It took a bike ride to Lowe's to get a bigger impact socket, but I won in the end. You can't see much of a difference with the bed off, but it should look good when the bed is back in place.

 

[udallcustombikes]

Re: New Project Truck- Back on task

Stock leaf spring hanger on the left, 2" drop hanger on the right.

Installed

Need new shocks. These are the stock ones and they only have 2" of travel without the bed on.

As she sits today

 

[outskirtscustoms]

Re: New Project Truck- Back on task

Truck is looking great. I'm so glad it didn't wind up in the junkyard. You might want to think of a career in auto body, looks like some top notch work. Can't wait to see it with the bed back on.

 

[udallcustombikes]

Re: New Project Truck- Back on task

The only picture so far of the truck back together after almost a week with the bed off. Now I need to drop the front another inch or two.

 

[udallcustombikes]

Re: New Project Truck- Back on task

D'oh! So I found the problem with the aux tank valve. It was the switch. Simple swap and both tanks are working. Unfortunately the aux tank has sat 3/4 full for 2+ years and I decided to try and burn through the old gas on my way to work last night. It was a little rough getting the truck started and running, but once I got moving everything seemed ok. This morning I go to leave work and she fires and dies. I swap to the main tank with good gas and still nothing. A friend gives me a ride to the gas station and I grab a can and a gallon of gas. I pour a little in the carb and she fires, but once it is burned up she dies again.

I go home and leave the truck at work. After taking my wife to work and the kiddos to school I take her car and get a fuel filter (maybe the old gas fouled it up) and head back up to work. Swap the filter and still nothing. Pull the fuel line and crank the engine over and it sprays out so no problem there. By now I have been up for about 28 hours and I am done. I call my insurance to get the truck drug back home.

I was happy to see he didn't have a flatbed because I know I would have lost some bumper chrome.

Once home I pull the fuel line, stick a hose on it and run it to a jug to purge the line. I pumped about a quart or so out and try to start it up again. Still no luck.

Some one help a brother out and tell me what I am missing before I pull the carb and rebuild it unnecessarily!

 

[jerrykr]

Re: New Project Truck- Help a brother out!

carb is the only thing left.

probably gunk in the needle and seat keeping the bowl dry.

 

[Ratfink1962]

Re: New Project Truck- Help a brother out!

carb is the only thing left.

probably gunk in the needle and seat keeping the bowl dry.

+1

You can check this by operating the throttle and seeing if the accelerator pump is squirting or not.

Hopefully its just the inlet needle gunked up, which is a fairly easy fix... if your jets are clogged, might as well buy a rebuild kit.

 

[jerrykr]

Re: New Project Truck- Help a brother out!

yep, just remembering back to my old "power mechanics" college class.

takes 3 things to make an engine run: fuel - compression - spark ----- you already proved which one is missing.

( I would add, "spin" to get it going. but that was not in the textbook )

I don't know what these "later" model small blocks have on them, but if it is a Quadrajet, best just buy a new replacement Holley.
I tried to rebuild a Q-Jet, and never did get all the tiny pieces back in the right places. But, you may be more skilled then I was. :?

 

[Ratfink1962]

Re: New Project Truck- Help a brother out!

Oh, and dont forget to drain all that old gas and get rid of it... otherwise it will just gunk everything back up.

 

[udallcustombikes]

Re: New Project Truck- Help a brother out!

It is a QuadraJet. I haven't rebuilt a carb in 20 years and this is my first Q-Jet, but I ain't skeer'd. I have the carb torn down on the bench and lots of pictures to serve as my trail of bread crumbs. I will swing by the parts house and grab a rebuild kit in the morning and dive into piecing it back together.

 

[udallcustombikes]

Re: New Project Truck- Help a brother out!

Well I pulled the carb off yesterday afternoon and tore it down. Today I got it cleaned up and attacked it with a rebuild kit. It has been 20 years since I rebuilt a carb and this was my first QuadraJet. Youtube and a couple Chevy forums before I started was a big help. After I finished and had it back on top of the motor she fired right up. The new spacer was a bit thicker than the old one so I have a bit of extra tension on the throttle cable. I need to either adjust the cable or swap back to the other spacer.

 

[udallcustombikes]

Re: New Project Truck- Running like new!

The shorty was running, but not like she should have been. I spent some time working the bugs out this afternoon. There were 4 or 5 open vacuum ports that I needed to plug and the vac line to the tranny had pulled loose so I had to jack her up and reconnect that. Now she is running great.

 

[udallcustombikes]

Re: New Project Truck- Running like new!

Today I pulled the grill and headlight bezels off for the black-out treatment.
Before

After

 

[kchurch86]

Re: New Project Truck- Running like new!

Lovin' this build! Truck is coming along nicely