Gary Lewis

Mat & Jim - I have a book on Restoring Your Chevy Pickup and he's already read the whole thing. He is gung ho, although the "leak in the block" took a bit of wind out of his sails - and mine too, for that matter. So when I asked him this morning if he was feeing better about it he said "Yes!". And today he's hoping we can take the stuff out of the bed to see what it is like. David - My brother and I were talking about the 8V batteries just the other day. Dad set one of our vehicles up that way and tweaked the regulator, but it wasn't to be taken out of town as it tended to boil the battery. My brother did.

I'm confused. That thing on the trailer said Mercury. Did I miss another fun night?

No swaps that increase the power, unless that's only a very minor increase - like the 92 HP of the 216 to the 115 HP of most 235's. Planning on keeping the same tranny and diff to make this easy. Just get it running and driveable. And yes, it is amazing what comes out of the woodwork. Hope the one my brother found works out. That one is in my home town of Ark City, Kansas. My brother still lives there as do both of his sons, one of which is a very well respected mechanic. We were up there last Thursday and met a few of the hot rodders in town, one of which drove up in his '68 Goat - with an LS in it. And it has an NP440 tranny that I'd not heard about, which was in some of the trucks then. Relatively high 1st gear and a .73 OD. And it bolts up to an LS. (One of Chevy's Better Ideas. ) But during the conversation about the Goat (aka Gran Turismo Omologato aka GTO) the guy that has the 235 engine was mentioned. So it is a tight community and things might happen. If it does I hope it comes with a starter as that would be a 12V unit, and save some money as they aren't cheap. And if we get really lucky maybe it has the generator on it?

I think I understand. And I agree that the shut-off relay that disconnects the camper battery from the camper system uses power when it is on, but I'd hope that "on" is when the camper battery is connected to the camper system. And the relay that is powered by oil pressure in one position of the switch is doing roughly what my battery isolator relay does, only yours doesn't take power when the relay is off, and mine does as it has a circuit watching the voltage to determine when to come in. So I like yours - a lot. So the question will be what the voltages are on the batteries when they have no load on them but have been fully charged.

OK, it's not all sunshine and roses! After having trouble with our generator carb getting gummed up and needing to be replaced I've been a lot more diligent in running the generator every month. So I start the generator and turn on the isolation relay so the generator will charge both the camper battery and the van battery. Then I shut off the isolation relay and the main power relay for the camper to avoid draining the batteries over the next month. That went fine for November, December, January, February and March. But when I went to start the generator in April the camper battery was stone dead. Maybe I forgot to turn off the main power relay in March??? Oh well, no big deal, I'll just start the motorhome's engine, turn on the isolation relay and start the generator from the van battery. But that battery is dead too! Not stone dead, the dash lights came on. But the starter just clicked, no crank. So I plugged the motorhome in and charged both batteries, then ran the generator the next day. The motorhome engine would also start. But why did both batteries go dead this month? They are on two completely separate electrical systems, so any problem that affected one battery wouldn't affect the other. That is, unless the isolation relay was turned on, but it wasn't (I verified that). Both batteries were only about a couple years old. The camper battery has been run down pretty far before, but nothing bad ever happened to the van battery. The only single problem I can think of that could have affected both batteries is if the camper's 110V to 12V power supply was doing something wrong when I was trying to charge both batteries off the generator in March. Was it not charging, but somehow draining them? But when I plugged in the motorhome in April it successfully recharged both batteries. Or was it overcharging and boiled the batteries? I guess I can't rule that out. I still don't know what happened. I am thinking about putting some manual isolation switches on rather than the relays. But it doesn't seem like that would solve everything. Oh well, like people say, the more spark plugs you own the more complicated your life is. Bummer! Do you have a load tester? If the batteries have been damaged that should tell you. Or, what's the voltage a few hours after charging? Does it stay close to 12.8? What kind of relays do you have? Not sure I understand the way it is wired. But I like the Cole Hersee smart isolators as they seem to do the job w/o muss or fuss.

Yikes! That looks awful, Jim! Hope you get better quickly. Will keep you in my prayers!

Dave - If it weren't for the other engines coming out of the woodwork I could see if the engine would run despite the cracks and then hope I could weld them up. But with these other options... Bill - I assume that engine is on the East Coast, so I'd have a long trip to get it if so. But, it is a possibility. The Powerflush might be a nice addition. Can you ask how much? Vivek - Nice find. The price isn't too bad and the distance is much better than the East Coast. But the "fair" condition is slightly worrying. On the other hand the tranny would be a bonus, although I'd bet the one in this pickup has a lower 1st gear. All - My brother talked to a friend of his/ours that knows of a 235 sitting on another friend's garage floor. He bought it to put in a truck but sold the truck before he got it installed. So he's supposed to ask about it tomorrow or Monday. It is only 100 miles away and said to be running when purchased. So thanks, y'all! Things are looking less dim this evening.

Yippee! Hope you get the diff together, Jim.

I would consider a swap to a 235. From the outside you can't tell the difference, but they have a full-pressure oiling system instead of the dip rods, and the 12V starter. So we could bolt that in and still use the rest of the original driveline. And we could do a rebuilt ourselves by just honing the cylinders. But I'd rather find a used one that is guaranteed to run. So if anyone of knows of a Chevy 235...

Well, Houston, we have a problem:

Yes, it is going to be an adventure. One the like of which Ian's not been on before. He's washing the DS hood and fender right now, but later we hope to get the rear three plugs out and spray those cylinders down. Then fill the cooling system and . But if all goes well he is going to learn about electrical systems (starter & relay, distributor/points/plugs/wires, battery, etc), oil, gas/carb/pump (we'll run a line into a gas can), bearings, brakes, you name it. He's 11 1/2 now so maybe we can have it driveable after several visits? Work on it for a few days & plan out the next thing to attack. Then I'll gather the parts for that effort and we'll hit it again.

Could having the generator dead-heading cause any issues? I have no information that it might, I'm just asking. And it's probably worth getting a 12V starter solenoid. If the regulator is working it shouldn't cause a problem. But we might be able to wire the headlights to it just in case. And the 12v starter relay is a good idea. I have several of those.

Yes, and yes. Originally that shifter would have had a black knob with an insert that showed 2HI/4HI/N/4LO. And yes, when shifting to 4LO you need to stop and be in Neutral. But you can shift between 2HI and 4HI w/o stopping - I think.

We don't think we will "restore" it. More like clean it up, put a seat in it, change the lubes in the axle & tranny, go through the wheel bearings & brakes, and put tires and wheels on it. Maybe after driving it we'll decide it needs tie rods, but my guess is that the whole front end is worn out, so that will be the point where we decide what/if to do. If we wanted to continue on it'll need new glass as most of it is delaminating/turning milky at the edges. And some is broken. However it is all flat glass, no curves, so shouldn't cost all that much to replace. And the bumpers are shedding chrome so we'd need to clean them up and paint them - which might be in keeping as there very little other chrome on the vehicle. But the thing has PATINA! So leave the body as is and put the mechanicals back to functional. As for Isla, my granddaughter/his twin, there seems to be little interest in wrenching. In fact, this afternoon while Ian and I work on the truck Isla and Janey are going somewhere else. Last night they made Isla a pair of pants. Today my be painting or ceramics.

A 6V starter will live for a LONG time being fed 12V. Some of the people on the old Jeep forum I'm on convert their Jeeps to 12V without ever changing the starter motor. So I'd suggest a ballast on the coil, make sure the rest of the system is isolated and going for it with a 12V battery. Don't crank the engine too long (let the starter cool a bit if the engine doesn't want to start). And if you get to the "continue reviving" bit you can decide what to do longer term. Bob - That is VERY welcome news! That sure will make it easier and cheaper to find out if it will run. My original thought was to put a 12V starter in from a 1955 or later vehicle with the 235 engine. But this website says that Chevy threw a spanner in the works as they changed the flywheel tooth count at the same time as changing to a 12V starter. So while both starters have 9 teeth, the diameters are 1" for the 168-toothed flywheel of the 235 engine and 1 1/8" for the 139-toothed flywheel of the 216 engine. So that's obviously not going to work. And a new 12V starter for a 139-toothed flywheel is something like $300. I don't want to put that kind of money into it to just see if it will start, which makes using a 12V battery on the existing 6V starter a big win. No starter OR battery to buy. But we still have a hurdle or two to jump before doing that. I'm thinking: Plugs: We have to get the 3 plugs out that are stuck w/o hurting the block. Hopefully the PB Blaster will have penetrated the threads and today we can get them out and spray PB Blaster into the cylinders. Cracks: A big question is if they left it sitting in the field with water in the engine and then it froze and cracked the block. So we need to run the cooling system full of water to see if/where it comes out. And I think we are now just late enough in the year not to worry that it'll freeze before summer. Turn Engine: I want to turn the engine over by hand, but not for a few days or weeks to let the PB Blaster do its thing in the cylinders. This will prove that the engine isn't "locked up". If the engine doesn't appear to be cracked and if we can eventually turn it over by hand then it'll be time to start restoring. New plugs, points, ballast resistor, plug wires (there are only 3 currently), fresh oil, etc. Then before trying to start it we should disconnect the generator & regulator - maybe just the whole electrical system save for the starter. I'm thinking that I'll have all of those parts ready when Ian gets here this summer and we'll do that together.

Well worth the $3500 I'd think.

The drainback idea is about the only thing I can think of that would do that. But I'd think that overnight the oil held in the valve cover might make its way back to the pan, so I'd check the level in the morning to see. And remember the problem that David/1986F150Six had when the crud let go in his truck. It plugged the oil pickup and was starving the system of oil.

I'm hoping to put it back as it is/was. If the engine will run then we'll see if the tranny is any good. And even if the radiator leaks we can keep it topped up with a hose while testing the engine. But then there are a few other things to do. When I got it there were three different sizes of wheels on it. So it now sits on jack stands. And, as said, they said the brakes were "out", so we'll have to go through them. And the wheel bearings. Who knows if the rear axle will turn. Not sure what we'll do about the electrical system. I am sure the battery will be bad and as that's a 6v system and since everything I have is 12v I'd need a battery. But a quick look says that's going to cost ~$150 and I'm not sure I want to spend that to find out if the engine runs. So I'm wondering if a 12V starter might be cheaper and put a ballast on the coil. Then if it runs well enough to continue reviving it we could convert it fully to 12V.

Right, Bill. 216.5 and should be splash with babbit bearings.

Yep, grandkids! What they want, .... I'm thinking we are going to take this very easy - beyond washing/rubbing/polishing/waxing, and my arm already hurts. Supposedly they just parked it when the brakes went out. But was there water in block when winter hit? We have a lot of checking to do.

Any chance that the dipstick has slid up into the handle? Or that you got oil in liters? (That's not enough to 'splain the difference, however.) Or that you can't count? STRANGE!

A few of you will remember that a few years ago I pulled a 1950 Chevy pickup out of a field with Big Blue - which is why I can post about this on the Bullnose Forum. My grandson just spotted it under the carport and was quite interested. In fact, he started washing it! But after a bit he started asking questions about what it would take to get it running, and now we have a plan to attempt to fire it up when he is back this summer. So today he scrubbed one side of the hood and that front fender, then used rubbing compound on it to get the mold out of the paint, then polishing compound, and then wax. What a huge difference. After that we pulled 3 of the plugs and squirted PB Blaster in the cylinders, and since the other three plugs wouldn't come out, we sprayed them with PB Blaster as well. So here's a few pics and a video to show what he did:

Long day yesterday and the family isn't up yet today. The most supportive of the order-from vendors is LMC.

Welcome! Glad you joined. So, what's the problem with the tranny?

A blissful month with no worries about being taken over by AI. Luckily my new tablet doesn't have that key. But even if it did there's a tutorial on how to reprogram it. I was already thinking it, but at least this article says: "This all has made the Copilot button seem more like a way to force the adoption of Microsoft's chatbot than a way to improve Windows keyboards."