Getting things rolling..........

Things are going well with Engine 1. Now that the engine is in and the front is all back together we've been working on little issues here and there.

We were having problems with the stock oil pressure and temperature gauges not reading, so we took the dash apart and found that the cluster voltage regulator was bad. Replacement from NAPA, with no guarantee of compatibility, was $40 plus shipping. So we skipped on that for now. I was able to take the old one apart and clean up the contacts...the gauges are working, but I don't trust their accuracy. I went to Advance Auto Parts and picked up a set of gauges (three in one unit) which read temperature, oil pressure, and voltage. All good things to know while the truck is running! After getting them installed, we found that the cooling system works fine....she heats up to about 190 while idling, and when revved she drops to 160-170 and stays there. Perfectly fine for me. Oil pressure runs a tad high at cold idle (about 40 PSI), but drops to 20 PSI when hot idling. Really good numbers for an old IH SV engine!! That confirms that the main and cam bearings are all good. Voltage hovers around 13 volts, which is good.

The truck got a new fuse panel as well by using a Seacraft panel purchased from Ace Hardware for $16. We think the old panel was shorting out because we would loose lights, turn signals, and panel lights intermittently. Every time we would try and diagnose the issue the we would find that when we wiggled the fuse panel things would come back up. Rather than dealing with a possible electrical fire from the panel, and having to constantly chase the issue down, we just opted to replace the thing.

Tires have been another issue we had to solve. The current front tires cracked while sitting out in the sun for a year and a half, and the rears seemed to survive ok (there is minor cracking, but not as bad as the front). Being an old truck, it has Budd lock ring rims and 750-20 bias ply tube type tires. What a PITA to find. After a week long search, I found a pair of Power King 10 plys at a local tire shop for $148 each with tubes and flaps. Pretty good price, if you ask me, considering that I found some different ones that were $216 each, without the tubes/flaps, plus I would have to pay for shipping from California ($$$!!!). I'm excited, and tomorrow will be spent getting the tires changed at Stratham Tire in Brentwood, NH.

The truck actually did make it out onto the road Monday night (albeit illegally) for a quick road test. The truck did pretty well, making it down the driveway and a quick brake test was performed.....the brakes held very nicely on my hill of a driveway. Out the driveway and to the right we went, up the Langford Road hill. We stayed in first gear (we could have gone into second gear, but didn't want to push it) and she pulled all the way up the hill, staying in a normal temperature range and good oil pressure. It was a slow ride, but it was nice to know she can pull herself up without issue. Once at the top, second gear was a breeze, and when we got into third we had a little bit of coughing and backfiring. Noted the issue, went to the turnaround spot, and went back home with no problems at all. A good first trip for an engine that hasn't run in a while, and for the truck that hasn't moved in over a year.

After the tires get changed, we're going to double check the timing with a light and make sure that the initial timing is correct, that the vacuum advance is working, and that the mechanical advance is also good. Once the timing is set, if we are still having issues we're going to rebuild the carburetor (I have a kit ready to go). It's won't hurt for it to get cleaned up completely!

Pictures will be coming!