The Truck of Doom: An Occasional Build Thread

Gary Lewis wrote

Can't wait to see it, Matthew!  It is going to look awesome.  

LOL...dunno about 'awesome', I'm just going for 'better'.   What I'm really hoping is that painting the air cleaner/valve cover/pushrod cover will then motivate me to start chipping my way through the grease/sludge/crud that has built up over the years.  There's probably a decent engine in there somewhere.

Anyway, the top half of the air cleaner came out exactly how I wanted it - black, with just a hint of shine to it.  It does clash with the intake, though, just as I feared:



I'll probably paint the base portion tomorrow, and then once the new filter element for the oil cap breather arrives in the next day or so I can get it all back together.

You are going to be surprised how much "better" you are adding to it.  

Painting my air cleaner led to me throwing out the entire engine after I started to take apart other things and found some surprises.

But then again, it was .040 over and full of rust from tap water coolant.

salans7 wrote

Painting my air cleaner led to me throwing out the entire engine after I started to take apart other things and found some surprises.

But then again, it was .040 over and full of rust from tap water coolant.

Well, I'm glad I didn't know that before I started!  Given that this engine has never been out before, though, I'd hope I could avoid that particular outcome...

Your truck seems to have been well taken care of, so I doubt you're in the same position.

I went to reseal the water outlet and that's when I started to find all of the Permatex and the coolant sludge. Decided the engine was treated too poorly and needed a rebuild. Tore it apart and found the aforementioned issues and sent everything to the scrapyard in favor of a V8. Probably should have just put another block in that truck with an Offenhauser intake and EFI manifolds, but you live and learn.

TIL that the vertical metal tab on the base of the 300 air cleaner housing is supposed to fit inside the vee of the support bracket attached to the top of the housing, thus providing a handy way to orient the halves with respect to each other.  Only took me nine years to figure this out:



In my defense, it came to me mangled and bent.  It just never occurred to me to take a moment to think about what the purpose of the tab might have been to begin with.

Dorsai wrote

TIL that the vertical metal tab on the base of the 300 air cleaner housing is supposed to fit inside the vee of the support bracket attached to the top of the housing, thus providing a handy way to orient the halves with respect to each other.  Only took me nine years to figure this out:



In my defense, it came to me mangled and bent.  It just never occurred to me to take a moment to think about what the purpose of the tab might have been to begin with.

Looks good
It did not take me that long to figure it out, have not had the air filter assy. that long.
Dave ----

FuzzFace2 wrote

It did not take me that long to figure it out, have not had the air filter assy. that long.
Dave ----

I'm a little slow.

In other news, I just finished my last final of the semester; I can finally get busy on the truck again!

So now that my air cleaner housing is assembled and clocked correctly, the hose from the oil cap to the housing is now too short. So while I had the cap off, I got to thinking - shouldn't there be a gasket of some kind on it? The cap has never fit snugly, and I suspect that's the reason there's so much filthy grease anti-rust compound all over my engine compartment. If there really is supposed to be a gasket, anyone know what it was originally made of, and what the dimensions (primarily thickness) were?

My truck is not your truck, but when I bought a NOS breather cap it had a red rubber washer/gasket on it, just like the original one.

Like I said 7.5 to 4.9, bullnose to bricknose..
IDK, but that's what I have

My oil fill caps have had a cork gasket.  But I'd much rather have a "rubber" one.

I powder coated one cap by driving the flat piece that serves as the retainer, replacing the gasket, and then driving it back in.

Well, they do have that red rubber sheet in the plumbing section.

It seems about the same durometer and thickness (1/8"?)... maybe a bit more.

My old 300 with the same cap had a relatively thin rubber gasket on it, no bigger than the diameter of the cap, actually a little smaller. Don't really know how it could possibly have sealed anything, but it was obviously worn out.

Dorsai wrote

If there really is supposed to be a gasket, anyone know what it was originally made of, and what the dimensions (primarily thickness) were?

The cap on my 84 302 still had a gasket on there when I bought it, but it was already broken and falling off. It was some kind of cork material and it was really thin. It may have been 1/8" when it was new, but it was all squished out flat by the time I got it.

What's the ID/OD of the mating surfaces?
Maybe something like this would work if you opened it up?
Amazon sells a bunch of different sizes, and silicone is oil resistant, says operating temp -70 to 500.
And, 1000 psig!!!  

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0075E9GCM/ref=biss_dp_t_asn





Edit: I guessed at 1 7/8 OD based on the Sharpie. Maybe I'm wrong?
But it would certainly be flexible enough to go over the strap, unlike Gary's method.

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Well, they do have that red rubber sheet in the plumbing section.

It seems about the same durometer and thickness (1/8"?)... maybe a bit more.

Jim, you win again...I really am going to have to put a plaque in your honor on the firewall.

The 1/8" red rubber sheeting at Home Depot was perfect for this purpose:



Even your photogrammetry was spot on...it was in fact 1-7/8" OD.  I just checked it out on the truck, and that cap is as snug as the day it left Kansas City.

I've said, I'm a real materials geek. 🤓

I'm always glad if I can share and help someone!

Given everything else he has going on right now before school gets underway, I've decided to give Dominic a pass on rebuilding the carburetor this time around.  So I'm doing it myself, and so far I am really pleased with the condition of the carburetor when I first cracked it open:



If memory serves it's been about 8 years since I last rebuilt the carburetor, and it's still looking pretty clean and shiny in there.  Only the faintest trace of sediment in the bowl, everything is still in place, and the accelerator pump is working fine.  In retrospect I'm certain there's no need for me to be in here at all, but it never hurts to be sure.

Looks good for eight years, but you use it on the regular, right?


Dominic missed out on basket weaving class!

I really like knowing that each part of the vehicle is working right.  So I see no problem going through a carb and finding it was working correctly.  It just ticks one more box in the "all these are correct" column.