1969 Custom 30 Tow Truck restoration
- Thread starter bobs409
- Start date
This is a “catch up” update. Sometimes these updates are harder than working on the truck especially when I let them pile up. 
Starting where I left off in my last post, some of this happened a month ago or better but I will bring the story to current status.
I've been having so much fun bolting on new parts lately!
I wet sanded and buffed out the dash, roof and kick panels, then got to put some of the dashboard back together. A new gauge bezel sure brightened things up as well as a new glove box emblem & ignition bezel. While I had the cluster apart, I polished the lens so that too looks like new. A new dash pad was also installed.
The maroon color is not reproduced so my only choice was to vinyl spray it. I bought a new red one and changed it to the correct shade of maroon. Looks fantastic! I sprayed the top of the dash with a matching satin finish maroon just as the factory did. (pic #1)
I will be vinyl spraying the new seat upholstery and to freshen up the original maroon door panels too. This truck had a "color keyed" floor mat so it too will probably get the vinyl spray treatment. A black repro mat is just waiting to be installed.
I was a little skeptical about using vinyl spray at first but I did a pair of sun visors a while back and am very impressed with the turn out. Unless you were told, you would think they were always maroon and certainly not painted!
Of course as soon as this restoration is over, the resto parts makers WILL come out with all the maroon parts! LOL
The steering column I did in gloss maroon and it's at this time I noticed the 4 way knob broken off. (VERY common with these) Some repro turn signal switches don't have this red knob and also require a small adaptor for the wiring harness. That didn't fly with me so a trip to a local junkyard scored a good used one. A nice original signal lever was the finishing touch. Well, actually a nice steering wheel is still needed to finish off the column so the hunt goes on for that. The original wheel is just too far gone to repair. (Pic #2)
While it doesn't really look like much progress at this point, this part of the build seems to be taking a lot longer than I thought it would. It's the details that take so much time. Those are the things that will catch the eye so I'm taking the extra time to do all I can to make things correct now.
Another hold up is all the little things I DIDN'T know I still needed! I was certain I had everything I needed to put this back together and by looking at the pile of new parts I collected, you would have thought so too however everyday I find something else I have to order. Just the little things like fabric wire loom for the temp wire, correct tower clamps for the hoses, etc, etc.
There are very few things I will add or change on this truck as the goal is strict original but you'll notice the really cool light/switch panel I mounted to the left side of the column.
This truck had a very crude piece of angled metal with a few switches "thrown" in and no indicator lights. None of them matched and they weren't even sitting straight! (and don't get me started on the electrical wiring mess to go along with those!)
I found this really cool switch panel in an I.H. wrecker in the same junkyard I got this truck from. It's not homemade either as it had an Ernest Holmes sticker on it. I did shorten it a bit as it originally had 2 holes to the left where a PTO & warning light would go and I removed that name tag. (I can't have a Holmes name on my Wreckmaster!) (pic #3)
I will be adding an old brake light switch under the PTO knob that comes through the floor hump that will activate the red light on the panel when the knob is raised up to indicate the PTO is engaged. Not like I wouldn’t hear that chain “whirring” away on the winch to let me know but just for the cool factor.
On the other side of the firewall, I've been busy hooking everything up that will be needed to fire the engine up. This too is taking alot of time but worth spending now so everything is done correct. I even put the "R" back on the firewall above the heater box with a black grease pencil! It's the only marking this truck had from the factory and one of those details that will catch the eye. (I almost wish there were more factory markings!) (pic #4 and pic #5)
Starting where I left off in my last post, some of this happened a month ago or better but I will bring the story to current status.I've been having so much fun bolting on new parts lately!
I wet sanded and buffed out the dash, roof and kick panels, then got to put some of the dashboard back together. A new gauge bezel sure brightened things up as well as a new glove box emblem & ignition bezel. While I had the cluster apart, I polished the lens so that too looks like new. A new dash pad was also installed.
The maroon color is not reproduced so my only choice was to vinyl spray it. I bought a new red one and changed it to the correct shade of maroon. Looks fantastic! I sprayed the top of the dash with a matching satin finish maroon just as the factory did. (pic #1)
I will be vinyl spraying the new seat upholstery and to freshen up the original maroon door panels too. This truck had a "color keyed" floor mat so it too will probably get the vinyl spray treatment. A black repro mat is just waiting to be installed.
I was a little skeptical about using vinyl spray at first but I did a pair of sun visors a while back and am very impressed with the turn out. Unless you were told, you would think they were always maroon and certainly not painted!
Of course as soon as this restoration is over, the resto parts makers WILL come out with all the maroon parts! LOL
The steering column I did in gloss maroon and it's at this time I noticed the 4 way knob broken off. (VERY common with these) Some repro turn signal switches don't have this red knob and also require a small adaptor for the wiring harness. That didn't fly with me so a trip to a local junkyard scored a good used one. A nice original signal lever was the finishing touch. Well, actually a nice steering wheel is still needed to finish off the column so the hunt goes on for that. The original wheel is just too far gone to repair. (Pic #2)
While it doesn't really look like much progress at this point, this part of the build seems to be taking a lot longer than I thought it would. It's the details that take so much time. Those are the things that will catch the eye so I'm taking the extra time to do all I can to make things correct now.
Another hold up is all the little things I DIDN'T know I still needed! I was certain I had everything I needed to put this back together and by looking at the pile of new parts I collected, you would have thought so too however everyday I find something else I have to order. Just the little things like fabric wire loom for the temp wire, correct tower clamps for the hoses, etc, etc.
There are very few things I will add or change on this truck as the goal is strict original but you'll notice the really cool light/switch panel I mounted to the left side of the column.
This truck had a very crude piece of angled metal with a few switches "thrown" in and no indicator lights. None of them matched and they weren't even sitting straight! (and don't get me started on the electrical wiring mess to go along with those!)
I found this really cool switch panel in an I.H. wrecker in the same junkyard I got this truck from. It's not homemade either as it had an Ernest Holmes sticker on it. I did shorten it a bit as it originally had 2 holes to the left where a PTO & warning light would go and I removed that name tag. (I can't have a Holmes name on my Wreckmaster!) (pic #3)
I will be adding an old brake light switch under the PTO knob that comes through the floor hump that will activate the red light on the panel when the knob is raised up to indicate the PTO is engaged. Not like I wouldn’t hear that chain “whirring” away on the winch to let me know but just for the cool factor.
On the other side of the firewall, I've been busy hooking everything up that will be needed to fire the engine up. This too is taking alot of time but worth spending now so everything is done correct. I even put the "R" back on the firewall above the heater box with a black grease pencil! It's the only marking this truck had from the factory and one of those details that will catch the eye. (I almost wish there were more factory markings!) (pic #4 and pic #5)
Ok, it's been a few more days. I finished the reupholster of the seat and vinyl sprayed it. Looks great! I'm very happy with it. Gas tank is back in, floor mat in and the seat reinstalled. Now it’s starting to look like something!
I’m not happy with the repro floor mat fit. It doesn't seem wide enough as there is a 3/4 inch gap on both sides. (and that is without the padding, worse when I used that)
Originally this would have been “color keyed” maroon but I think I will just leave it black rather than wasting any more money on it to make it maroon. While I really like the mats in these trucks, I may have to switch over to carpet eventually. I have mats in my other trucks and found these start to dry rot and crack around the 2 year old mark. Cheap Chinese rubber! !@#!@ I'm not wasting any more money on these mats, I’ve bought my last one! It's a shame the quality of some repro parts.
I’m not happy with the repro floor mat fit. It doesn't seem wide enough as there is a 3/4 inch gap on both sides. (and that is without the padding, worse when I used that)
Originally this would have been “color keyed” maroon but I think I will just leave it black rather than wasting any more money on it to make it maroon. While I really like the mats in these trucks, I may have to switch over to carpet eventually. I have mats in my other trucks and found these start to dry rot and crack around the 2 year old mark. Cheap Chinese rubber! !@#!@ I'm not wasting any more money on these mats, I’ve bought my last one! It's a shame the quality of some repro parts.
A few more days go by...
All ready to do the fire up, I put in about 2-1/2 gallons of fresh gas in and THEN noticed gas dripping out of the rocker panel! !@#$! Bad omen so I cancelled the fire up for that day. (pic #1)
I cleaned this tank out real well before installing it, sloshed it around tipping the tank different direction and it never leaked. There is only one reason I can think of. After I installed it, the neck wasn't centered in the cab opening so I "tweaked" it a bit. It must have opened the seam??? Will know when I remove the tank. ARgh!!!
Having to act quickly, the only thing I could think of to catch the gas leak was to take an old radiator hose to curve around the door jam and catch the leaking gas. It worked but took about an hour or better for almost all the gas to come back out. Sure put a damper on my day…
(pic #2)
---------------------------
Next day...
I decided to go ahead today with the start up. I hooked a large funnel to the fuel pump to bypass the gas tank for now. Feeding it with this “IV” avoids the fuel tank debacle for now.
Primed the oil system for a few minutes with a drill and then got it all back together.
It fired up almost immediately! It was making a loud scraping sound so shut it down. Turns out it was the flywheel cover hitting the crank flange so I got that quickly fixed.
A tapping sound got me scared again on the second run so shut down again to pull the valve covers. I found no oil getting to the rockers! (later I found it was just the exhaust manifolds needing a little tightening that caused the tapping sound)
The next day I primed the oil system again. No oil to the top end with the drill so I took all the rockers off, coated all contacting parts with lubriplate assembly lube and reinstalled and reset all the valves. I figured the only way to get oil up was to run it and with all parts coated, it would buy some time to do so. Luckily that did the trick. I could see oil running off the rockers through the oil cap opening.
I ran it 15 minutes at 2,000 RPM's and all went well. NO smoke at all! I am however not happy with the oil pressure readings. Cold and spinning with the drill I got 40lbs. Once it was warmed up, pressure at 2,000 rpms was down to 19lbs. Acceptable for a worn out engine but not good enough for a fresh rebuild. After the 15 minutes was up, I lowered the idle down and the oil pressure came down to match. At about 700 rpms, I'm only getting about 7lbs of pressure! I tried 2 gauges and both read the same. I even bled the air out of the oil pressure line but it had no improvement.
I assembled this engine myself and it's the 3rd one so far so I do have some experience. I did check all bearing clearances and all were good. I'm going to change the oil & filter and check it again. If that doesn't do the trick, I guess I'll have to drop the pan and swap that pump out.
I chose a stock pump but will go with a high volume type this time. If that doesn't work, I'm not sure what I'll try next. ??? I sure hope I don't have to pull the engine back out!!!
At this time, I’m taking a break from the engine and moving on to the doors.
On another subject, I located a source for new correct 3 panel maroon seat belt webbing so will have a friend of mine sew those up with my original buckles, clasps and retractors.
All ready to do the fire up, I put in about 2-1/2 gallons of fresh gas in and THEN noticed gas dripping out of the rocker panel! !@#$! Bad omen so I cancelled the fire up for that day. (pic #1)
I cleaned this tank out real well before installing it, sloshed it around tipping the tank different direction and it never leaked. There is only one reason I can think of. After I installed it, the neck wasn't centered in the cab opening so I "tweaked" it a bit. It must have opened the seam??? Will know when I remove the tank. ARgh!!!
Having to act quickly, the only thing I could think of to catch the gas leak was to take an old radiator hose to curve around the door jam and catch the leaking gas. It worked but took about an hour or better for almost all the gas to come back out. Sure put a damper on my day…
(pic #2)
---------------------------
Next day...
I decided to go ahead today with the start up. I hooked a large funnel to the fuel pump to bypass the gas tank for now. Feeding it with this “IV” avoids the fuel tank debacle for now.
Primed the oil system for a few minutes with a drill and then got it all back together.
It fired up almost immediately! It was making a loud scraping sound so shut it down. Turns out it was the flywheel cover hitting the crank flange so I got that quickly fixed.
A tapping sound got me scared again on the second run so shut down again to pull the valve covers. I found no oil getting to the rockers! (later I found it was just the exhaust manifolds needing a little tightening that caused the tapping sound)
The next day I primed the oil system again. No oil to the top end with the drill so I took all the rockers off, coated all contacting parts with lubriplate assembly lube and reinstalled and reset all the valves. I figured the only way to get oil up was to run it and with all parts coated, it would buy some time to do so. Luckily that did the trick. I could see oil running off the rockers through the oil cap opening.
I ran it 15 minutes at 2,000 RPM's and all went well. NO smoke at all! I am however not happy with the oil pressure readings. Cold and spinning with the drill I got 40lbs. Once it was warmed up, pressure at 2,000 rpms was down to 19lbs. Acceptable for a worn out engine but not good enough for a fresh rebuild. After the 15 minutes was up, I lowered the idle down and the oil pressure came down to match. At about 700 rpms, I'm only getting about 7lbs of pressure! I tried 2 gauges and both read the same. I even bled the air out of the oil pressure line but it had no improvement.
I assembled this engine myself and it's the 3rd one so far so I do have some experience. I did check all bearing clearances and all were good. I'm going to change the oil & filter and check it again. If that doesn't do the trick, I guess I'll have to drop the pan and swap that pump out.
I chose a stock pump but will go with a high volume type this time. If that doesn't work, I'm not sure what I'll try next. ??? I sure hope I don't have to pull the engine back out!!!
At this time, I’m taking a break from the engine and moving on to the doors.
On another subject, I located a source for new correct 3 panel maroon seat belt webbing so will have a friend of mine sew those up with my original buckles, clasps and retractors.
Well for this update, I buffed out the stainless window trim and got the rear glass back in. It's only the second one of these I've done and it went very well.
I had a glass shop come to my house to put in a new windshield but things did not go well with it.
I supplied the gasket and it's was a piece of !@@$ Never again will I buy anything made by Superseal! The rubber was way too soft and appeared to be too large. With the rubber on the glass and the trim installed, it would barely hold it in place. Looked all distorted like it was too big and the trim groove was not shaped correctly.
The guys attempted to install it hoping that would straighten it out but went terrible. They actually got it all the way in but there were gaps between the trim and glass and didn't look right from gasket to the body. Horrible! Back out it came. They are ordering another brand (Precision) and will come back again in a few days for attempt #2. (fingers crossed)
-------------------
Windshield attempt #2:
I’m happy to say, this attempt was successful. Using a Precision brand gasket this time, it installed easily and looks fantastic! After installing, the guys injected sealer into the area behind the gasket. A very nice job and looks great! Nothing like a brand new windshield and another item gets crossed off the list. (pic #1) (note air cleaner is still in red primer, will be painted soon)
Next I got started on the passenger side door. With the outer skin removed (last year) I now focused my attention to replacing the lower inner panel. Repro’s of these aren’t “exactly” shaped perfectly (big surprise there) but I don’t have any major troubles installing these. (these will be my 3rd pair that I’ve done) It’s best to only use as much of the new panel as needed. I typically only use the lower 4-1/2 inches of these. It takes a lot of time measuring and scribing but you want to spend the time now so you don’t cut too much of the door shell off. (pic #2)
Most people (myself included) might normally try to find door shells in better shape but I’m trying to keep as much original as I can so I chose to fix these.
I cleaned up the inner rust and used POR-15 on that area. Shown here doing a test fit in the door opening. (pic #3) Once all was well, the outer skin was installed and all welds completed. (pic #4)
I’m now working on the driver door then back to that oil pressure problem.
More to come, stay tuned.
I had a glass shop come to my house to put in a new windshield but things did not go well with it.
I supplied the gasket and it's was a piece of !@@$ Never again will I buy anything made by Superseal! The rubber was way too soft and appeared to be too large. With the rubber on the glass and the trim installed, it would barely hold it in place. Looked all distorted like it was too big and the trim groove was not shaped correctly.The guys attempted to install it hoping that would straighten it out but went terrible. They actually got it all the way in but there were gaps between the trim and glass and didn't look right from gasket to the body. Horrible! Back out it came. They are ordering another brand (Precision) and will come back again in a few days for attempt #2. (fingers crossed)
-------------------
Windshield attempt #2:
I’m happy to say, this attempt was successful. Using a Precision brand gasket this time, it installed easily and looks fantastic! After installing, the guys injected sealer into the area behind the gasket. A very nice job and looks great! Nothing like a brand new windshield and another item gets crossed off the list. (pic #1) (note air cleaner is still in red primer, will be painted soon)
Next I got started on the passenger side door. With the outer skin removed (last year) I now focused my attention to replacing the lower inner panel. Repro’s of these aren’t “exactly” shaped perfectly (big surprise there) but I don’t have any major troubles installing these. (these will be my 3rd pair that I’ve done) It’s best to only use as much of the new panel as needed. I typically only use the lower 4-1/2 inches of these. It takes a lot of time measuring and scribing but you want to spend the time now so you don’t cut too much of the door shell off. (pic #2)
Most people (myself included) might normally try to find door shells in better shape but I’m trying to keep as much original as I can so I chose to fix these.
I cleaned up the inner rust and used POR-15 on that area. Shown here doing a test fit in the door opening. (pic #3) Once all was well, the outer skin was installed and all welds completed. (pic #4)
I’m now working on the driver door then back to that oil pressure problem.
More to come, stay tuned.
Looking good,Bob!!!!!!!!!!!!
For this update, we’ll talk about Bob going backwards with this build! Earlier I mentioned about a low oil pressure problem. I was able to get the oil pan out (jacked engine up a few inches) and I installed a high volume oil pump hoping that would be the cure.
It did improve things a little but not enough. Spinning with the drill and oil cold I hit 45 lbs so I buttoned it all back up and fired it up. On fast idle, it was about 21 lbs and would hit 45 if I raced the engine up however at normal idle (about 800 rpms) it dropped down to about 8lbs! !@#@!
With no other choice, I had to pull the engine back out! (This would be the backward part I mentioned earlier) It killed me to have to tear it all back apart but no choice in the matter. This truck has to perform as well as it looks.
Due to the weight of the transmission, I decided it would be easier to just pull it with the engine as a unit. That of course required that I raise the front of the cab about 4.5 inches as these cross members are riveted in. To do so I had to unhook the steering shaft which added to the work list but doing this was a lot easier than horsing around with that boat anchor of a transmission under the truck. It’s not a very big transmission but boy it’s sure HEAVY!
I tore the engine partially down and found the 3 front oil galley plugs were leaking quite badly. After fixing those, oil pressure went up a little but there was no way of knowing without starting up and getting the engine hot. Thinking this might be the problem, I put it all back together and back in. This time I only hooked up the absolute necessities just to run it and test the oil pressure.
What I got was another load of bad news. There was still no oil to the rockers unless I raced the engine up. Pressure at idle was about 8-9 lbs. Not much of an improvement to say the least.
With nothing left, it was time to take it back out and this time tear it ALL the way down to bare block! The plan this time was to check all the clearances again specifically the cam bearings. This of course had me buying more tools. A dial bore gauge & outside micrometer set now live with me as well as a cam bearing tool. This project sure is making my tool collection grow! LOL
The cam bearing clearances were coming in .0035 to .0045 so I decided to swap in some new cam bearings I had sitting on the shelf to see if I could get tighter readings with another set in hopes that might be the cause of the low pressure. I was just about to start knocking some bearings out when I noticed the rear bearing was not in all the way! I could actually see the oil hole & groove by looking in the rear cam plug hole. I just found the problem that had me chasing my tail for a few weeks!
I paid $35 dollars for the machine shop to install these bearings and this is what I got. Never again, I’ll do my own from now on. I learned a lesson. Just because you pay a professional, don’t assume it’s going to be done right. Check over EVERYTHING!
It’s just a human error that could happen to anyone so I’m not going to make a big deal out of it. I’ve made plenty of mistakes myself over the years and know how easy it can happen. I guess the guy doing these got distracted or something. I’m just happy to have finally found the problem! (I’m also glad it wasn’t my fault!) LOL
So with the new set of cam bearings in, I got a little better reading on the clearances although at this point not really an issue. I put the engine back together and tested the pressure again with the priming tool & drill. This time I got 85 pounds! Oil came right up to the lifters so I know I’ll have oil to the rockers this time. So now I’m just waiting on some gaskets from Summit and I can get this back in hopefully for the last time. Will be nice to finally get moving forward again on this project instead of going in circles.
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It did improve things a little but not enough. Spinning with the drill and oil cold I hit 45 lbs so I buttoned it all back up and fired it up. On fast idle, it was about 21 lbs and would hit 45 if I raced the engine up however at normal idle (about 800 rpms) it dropped down to about 8lbs! !@#@!
With no other choice, I had to pull the engine back out! (This would be the backward part I mentioned earlier) It killed me to have to tear it all back apart but no choice in the matter. This truck has to perform as well as it looks.
Due to the weight of the transmission, I decided it would be easier to just pull it with the engine as a unit. That of course required that I raise the front of the cab about 4.5 inches as these cross members are riveted in. To do so I had to unhook the steering shaft which added to the work list but doing this was a lot easier than horsing around with that boat anchor of a transmission under the truck. It’s not a very big transmission but boy it’s sure HEAVY!
I tore the engine partially down and found the 3 front oil galley plugs were leaking quite badly. After fixing those, oil pressure went up a little but there was no way of knowing without starting up and getting the engine hot. Thinking this might be the problem, I put it all back together and back in. This time I only hooked up the absolute necessities just to run it and test the oil pressure.
What I got was another load of bad news. There was still no oil to the rockers unless I raced the engine up. Pressure at idle was about 8-9 lbs. Not much of an improvement to say the least.
With nothing left, it was time to take it back out and this time tear it ALL the way down to bare block! The plan this time was to check all the clearances again specifically the cam bearings. This of course had me buying more tools. A dial bore gauge & outside micrometer set now live with me as well as a cam bearing tool. This project sure is making my tool collection grow! LOL
The cam bearing clearances were coming in .0035 to .0045 so I decided to swap in some new cam bearings I had sitting on the shelf to see if I could get tighter readings with another set in hopes that might be the cause of the low pressure. I was just about to start knocking some bearings out when I noticed the rear bearing was not in all the way! I could actually see the oil hole & groove by looking in the rear cam plug hole. I just found the problem that had me chasing my tail for a few weeks!
I paid $35 dollars for the machine shop to install these bearings and this is what I got. Never again, I’ll do my own from now on. I learned a lesson. Just because you pay a professional, don’t assume it’s going to be done right. Check over EVERYTHING!
It’s just a human error that could happen to anyone so I’m not going to make a big deal out of it. I’ve made plenty of mistakes myself over the years and know how easy it can happen. I guess the guy doing these got distracted or something. I’m just happy to have finally found the problem! (I’m also glad it wasn’t my fault!) LOL
So with the new set of cam bearings in, I got a little better reading on the clearances although at this point not really an issue. I put the engine back together and tested the pressure again with the priming tool & drill. This time I got 85 pounds! Oil came right up to the lifters so I know I’ll have oil to the rockers this time. So now I’m just waiting on some gaskets from Summit and I can get this back in hopefully for the last time. Will be nice to finally get moving forward again on this project instead of going in circles.
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Success! Fired it up and now I have excellent oil pressure. In fact, out of all my cars/trucks, this one is the best! Go figure. With engine at full operating temperature and off fast idle, it’s getting over 40 pounds of pressure. A little rev and it goes up to near 70 hot.
I spent the rest of the day hooking up the items I left go like driveshaft, speedometer cable, shifter, etc. Next day (today) I finished up the brake lines and bled the system. It was now finally time to take the “maiden voyage” around my yard/lot with old Vic the tow truck.
Engine runs really good now and sounds terrific! Just hit the key and it comes to life. Rides like a tank with no weight on the back due to all those leaf springs but that will change soon enough. Next thing on my list is to get started on the box. Lots of cutting, grinding and welding in my future! A lot of the box will be replaced piece by piece, doing away with the bad and keeping the good.
I spent the rest of the day hooking up the items I left go like driveshaft, speedometer cable, shifter, etc. Next day (today) I finished up the brake lines and bled the system. It was now finally time to take the “maiden voyage” around my yard/lot with old Vic the tow truck.
Engine runs really good now and sounds terrific! Just hit the key and it comes to life. Rides like a tank with no weight on the back due to all those leaf springs but that will change soon enough. Next thing on my list is to get started on the box. Lots of cutting, grinding and welding in my future! A lot of the box will be replaced piece by piece, doing away with the bad and keeping the good.
