New truck

[monolith]

Picked up another craigslist wonder: 64(my birth year)GMC 1/2 ton 305 V6.

Drove it home fine- parked it for a couple of days went out today on my day off to work on it-turned the key*click* nothing else. Charged the battery- same thing- one big click, then the dash goes dead. I'll likely be picking up some new battery cables tomorrow after I do a little more fiddling, this was exactly what happened with my 66.(which is now my reliable daily driver)

Pics:

[monolith]

some of the bad:





also some rust in the cab corners and a mostly dead instrument cluster.
shocks are completely gone,tires are different brands.

The good- new brakes all around, blinkers and lights had just been rewired(as in- they work- I'll have to check what was done) the motor seems fresh, no leaks,great power when I drove it, tranny shifts smooth, dash and steering wheel are in good shape.

Plans are to rattle can it black for now,find some trim and cab sails, moon discs, and maybe chop a coil out of the front springs, and see where I decide to go from there, I kind of want a "60's dry lake push truck" feel.

any words of wisdom on the 305(I'll be keeping it in the truck) would be appreciated- I know not to rev the hell out of it.- I'm already on 6066 GMC guys yahoo list.

Thanks for checking this out- any hoots, jeers or hollers are welcome.

[sams60gmc]

Sweet truck man. I love that factory GMC stereo. What are your plans.

[monolith]

Thanks!

Nothing too radical to start with, fix some rust, get it to be a comfy, reliable daily driver with a bit of character. After that, who knows?

[63whoopie]

Did the battery cables do the trick? My truck did this a few weeks ago after sitting up for a month, and I got pissed and left it alone...

[Chevy Fleetside]

If the terminal clamps are loose it will do that. If the cables are no good it will do that. If the terminals are dirty it will do that. I think if you cleaned them up and made sure they were pretty snug, that should solve your problem. If not you have to keep searching. Cool truck by the way.

[19GMC63]

Nice! I see it's a custom cab. Do you have the trim for it?

[DPowers]

Cool truck- congrats

[monolith]

Thanks guys!

63 Whoopie/Chevy Fleetside: didn't get a chance to work on the truck today- Got a call from the guy I bought it from and he said he had found a bumper that he'd bought for the truck and for me to come pick it up. I now have a nice old (heavy) chrome front bumper to replace the bent up one that's on there.

I will say that that was exactly the problem with my 66- I cleaned the terminals, then swapped them out for new ones and the problem persisted- a buddy of mine who builds sandrails came over and took a look- went out, bought new cables, installed them and the problem was solved- the corrosion had crept its way under the insulation and caused so much resistance that the truck wouldn't start- so- I'm going to just get new cables with new terminals this weekend when I can work on the truck again. The ones that are on there look fairly ratty.

19GMC63 no trim yet- I'd like to get some on there, eventually-I like how the custom trim looks.

BTW- I finally ponied up for the subscription through paypal- how long does it take for my name to change color so I can take advantage of some of the member privileges(like posting WIW/WTB,WTS?)

[monolith]

Replaced the battery cables and terminals with new 2 ga stuff- fixed the "click and die" problem.

Now the carb is shooting a fountain of gas out of the copper washer over the bowl(accelerator pump?)

I saw a thread about replacing the old carb with a holley 500- I think I'm going to go this route- as well as pertronix ignition.

Then it's on to the patch panels- I'll be switching to this truck as a daily driver shortly, and working on the 66 3/4 ton in the meantime.

Looked around at the chassis electrical- it's got a new harness to the taillights.

[monolith]

Truck runs, drives, is registered and insured in my name as of today.

I swapped carbs out- went the cheap route for now. I had picked up a suburban shell, it came with a bunch of parts, and one of them was a working carb, I pulled the old one off, bolted the new(er) one on and hoped it didn't leak.So far so good.

Rattle canned the truck flat black, now I need to install seat belts and some shocks and I'll be driving the wheels off of it.

[structures]

What's with the cut-outs in each side of the bed. Saddle bag fuel tanks?

[monolith]

It doesn't have the tanks- the P O had put another bed on- he said the old one was thrashed. There is a locking cover on one side and a gaping hole on the other- I may just try to scrounge up a couple of tanks and install them- I hear the 305's are thirsty.

[MacAttack]

Excellent start, neighbor. Truck's got potential.

That cancer is all fixable - nice flow thru ventilation for now.

Mac.

[bubba327]

Nice score!! A guy should have at least two classics trucks around - one to drive -the other to fix.
We need pictures after the rattle can rebuild !!

[kiknrocks]

I Like the truck , looking good keep us updated.

[monolith]

Got the shocks all around, driver side seatbelt, saddle blanket seat cover and tailgate installed.

Found a roll pan in the back of a 65 mess that the pic a part was trying to sell for way too much, got it for 20 bucks. I have yet to install it- I may have to figure out a hidden hitch as I want to use the truck to tow with eventually.(though I just may leave that duty to the 66)

Swapped grilles and bumpers with my 66- painted them black and mounted them- I'll gently try to pound the dent out of the chrome grill this truck came with and mount it and the bumper on the 66 soon.

Lights and dash seem to work fine- turn signals work beautifully, truck starts (even with no choke in the cold mornings) runs and stops great and makes my 50 mile commute without a hitch. The new old carb seems to be holding its own- no need to swap to a holley just yet.

I'll be throwing the 60 hood I got on there soon enough, then it's time to start getting the heater controls in order and start on the body.

some exterior pics:








and 1 with the 66 behind it.- my 2 burbs are parked in the back yard.

[Ham-er]

Nice Find!
Backup lights on the bed eh?(not a requirement untill 66 right?)
Saddle tanks as well? Custom cab trim missing?
You sure that wasnt a custom Camper version??
Leaf springs in the rear?(Easier to swap in a more modern rear end maybe)

Nice Truck Man, Enjoy!

[protrash64]

Cool to see an update; I remember when you originally posted!!

[monolith]

Ham-er- the bed's a replacement- I don't think I have a reverse switch on the tranny for the backup lights(hell- the truck didn't even have seatbelts) so I just snagged the lights from my 66(which doesn't have a reverse switch either- even though it has the lights in the bed.) they're not wired to anything yet. It looks like a Chevy bed- as I think the GMC beds only had 1 band of trim running down the side- someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

No tanks either- just one locked fuel door and one gaping hole.

I'll likely try to get some trim for it some day- I know it's kind of rare- but it's not in the budget right now- every penny's going to keeping it running/safe for the moment.

It's got leafs and a dana44 here's some pics of the PO's "suspension mods"


Looks like there was an I beam welded to the frame just over the leaf to act as a "load capacity enhancer" to keep the truck from sagging so much as he loaded the back up with stuff to haul to the swapmeet.



Which led to this damage on the frame:
on both sides.

here's the diff

more mods: I pulled some broken helper coil mounts and some rusted u bolts off of the axle:

and thanks Pro- slow and steady is gonna win the race on this one- I have to keep it drivable while I work on it- so I'm hitting all of the little things first.

[monolith]

Here's the hood that's going on it:


I think I might try to find out what that blue is and paint the whole truck that color eventually.

and can anyone tell me what this is attatched to the back of the 4speed?
Parking brake?

Creep has a better pic of one in his build thread.



I'll be hitting the underside of this sucker hard tomorrow with the oven cleaner and the pressure hose.

[protrash64]

I was going to say it looks like old grease to me......I'd love to drive one of these but havent made the leap yet. Glad to hear its holding together for you.

[nbrfd007]

Drum for a hand type parking brake, the band and mounts are missing. Trans most likely out of a larger truck. I see you have dirt doppers also. Someone must of like to haul alot of weight on the old girl!

[panelrodder81]

It is the hand brake. I actually am taking a rebuilt one off of my 64 3/4 ton. Well, I'm taking out the trans and engine for a swap to a Vortec motor and th350. When tuned up they work quite well.

-Panelrodder
1953 GMC Panel
1964 3/4 Ton Long Bed Chevy

[monolith]

Thanks for the responses and the info-

There's certainly no shortage of grease on this truck,lol.

Yeah- the PO said he used it for heavy hauling- that's how the original bed got thrashed.
Question: What's a dirt dopper?