nmchuck Posted September 18, 2022 Author Share Posted September 18, 2022 The new heater core I ordered was aluminum, the one that came out was copper and brass. This aluminum core was a complete booger to get in place, was shaped differently at the top. I managed to get it in and closed up, but honestly thought about returning it. This has come up before. For some reason, some of the aftermarket companies make heater cores with completely square tanks at the top, and the original units are sloped on the ends with a valley in the middle. The ones with the square tanks don't fit. You nailed It, squared top is the issue, and it is just a little bit taller. We will see if it works for the long term, but at least it's in for now. Fighting my front end today, I have had the spindle off several times trying to see why I am about 1/8 inch short on the axle. Cant get the snap ring on for the locking hub reatainer. It is about a snap ring thickness from going on. Think it's time to step away, the thought of taking it all back apart to look again is just not setting good right now... Happy Sunday afternoon everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat in tn Posted September 20, 2022 Share Posted September 20, 2022 You nailed It, squared top is the issue, and it is just a little bit taller. We will see if it works for the long term, but at least it's in for now. Fighting my front end today, I have had the spindle off several times trying to see why I am about 1/8 inch short on the axle. Cant get the snap ring on for the locking hub reatainer. It is about a snap ring thickness from going on. Think it's time to step away, the thought of taking it all back apart to look again is just not setting good right now... Happy Sunday afternoon everyone! best advice in this situation. walk away and come back fresh another day. this keeps me from reaching for a bigger hammer. sometimes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmchuck Posted September 22, 2022 Author Share Posted September 22, 2022 best advice in this situation. walk away and come back fresh another day. this keeps me from reaching for a bigger hammer. sometimes! Spent some more time on the truck and made more progress. Was finally able to get the locking hub back on, the hub had a very small bronze bushing that I removed, and it slid into place where I could get the snap ring on. It seems to work ok, hopefully the bushing was not critical to operation or longevity. Moved on to flushing the radiator and replacing the heater hoses. This rig is from New Mexico, and there was a circulation pump/water heater installed into the block drain, kind of surprising to see. I removed it in the process because it was rusted out pretty bad and I can't imagine needing it where I live. Didn't hurt to get some of the clutter of the extra hoses and heater out of the engine bay too. After buttoning it all back up I took it out for a drive and had mixed results. The bearing noise is gone and it drives pretty darn well, but I jacked something up and the transmission (C6) shifted late and very hard. To get it into 3rd gear I had to pull it down to 2nd and back up to third. After some searching online, I was able to figure out the vacuum modulator was the culprit. I pulled the vacuum line of the modulater and tranny fluid was present, figured the diaphragm was bad. Ran to the parts store and replaced it, still drove the same. So, I started to check the vacuum lines, and discovered I neglected to hook up the vacuum line to the AC controls that I took off to install the heater hoses at the firewall. Felt pretty dumb at that point! Fired it up for a spin again and all is well with the tranny. This truck cruises nice, the tall gears (3.00) and tall tires (33") actually make this old rig quiet and easy to drive at highway speeds, just pretty low on grunt for acceleration. Up next, clean up wiring under the dash by removing all of the previous owner's good work:nabble_anim_confused:. I also need to reseal the intake manifold and valve covers, getting pretty messy. I also have to muster up the energy to replace the motor mounts soon, the driver's side is no fun to deal with. Oh yeah, I forgot that I managed to get a new tailpipe installed while waiting on the parts last week. The truck sounded pretty good with just a turbo style muffler behind the header Y pipe. My buddy donated a tailpipe to try, fit perfect, although I had to neck it down from a 2 1/2" to 2". It is really quiet now, which I guess is good, but I do miss the rumble. Anyhow, sorry for the lengthy post, I'll try to get some photos soon. After reading other folks projects here, I count my blessings as I don't have to deal with rust issues. Living in the desert does have some advantages! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted September 22, 2022 Share Posted September 22, 2022 Spent some more time on the truck and made more progress. Was finally able to get the locking hub back on, the hub had a very small bronze bushing that I removed, and it slid into place where I could get the snap ring on. It seems to work ok, hopefully the bushing was not critical to operation or longevity. Moved on to flushing the radiator and replacing the heater hoses. This rig is from New Mexico, and there was a circulation pump/water heater installed into the block drain, kind of surprising to see. I removed it in the process because it was rusted out pretty bad and I can't imagine needing it where I live. Didn't hurt to get some of the clutter of the extra hoses and heater out of the engine bay too. After buttoning it all back up I took it out for a drive and had mixed results. The bearing noise is gone and it drives pretty darn well, but I jacked something up and the transmission (C6) shifted late and very hard. To get it into 3rd gear I had to pull it down to 2nd and back up to third. After some searching online, I was able to figure out the vacuum modulator was the culprit. I pulled the vacuum line of the modulater and tranny fluid was present, figured the diaphragm was bad. Ran to the parts store and replaced it, still drove the same. So, I started to check the vacuum lines, and discovered I neglected to hook up the vacuum line to the AC controls that I took off to install the heater hoses at the firewall. Felt pretty dumb at that point! Fired it up for a spin again and all is well with the tranny. This truck cruises nice, the tall gears (3.00) and tall tires (33") actually make this old rig quiet and easy to drive at highway speeds, just pretty low on grunt for acceleration. Up next, clean up wiring under the dash by removing all of the previous owner's good work:nabble_anim_confused:. I also need to reseal the intake manifold and valve covers, getting pretty messy. I also have to muster up the energy to replace the motor mounts soon, the driver's side is no fun to deal with. Oh yeah, I forgot that I managed to get a new tailpipe installed while waiting on the parts last week. The truck sounded pretty good with just a turbo style muffler behind the header Y pipe. My buddy donated a tailpipe to try, fit perfect, although I had to neck it down from a 2 1/2" to 2". It is really quiet now, which I guess is good, but I do miss the rumble. Anyhow, sorry for the lengthy post, I'll try to get some photos soon. After reading other folks projects here, I count my blessings as I don't have to deal with rust issues. Living in the desert does have some advantages! Good progress, Chuck. And I can sympathize on the vacuum issue - been there, done that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmchuck Posted October 2, 2022 Author Share Posted October 2, 2022 Good progress, Chuck. And I can sympathize on the vacuum issue - been there, done that. This week I have been busy on the interior again, I was finally able to pull the gauge cluster after cutting off the wiper knob. Turns out it was glued on with epoxy. I Was surprised that most bulbs seemed ok in the cluster, the dash was basically dark and unreadable at night. I decided to upgrade to led lighting and waiting on them to arrive. In the meantime I have taken everything apart, plan to paint the gauge needles and clean up the tach as it seldom works. I bit the bullet and replaced the motor mounts today, not the most fun job. While in the neighborhood I put in a new mechanical fuel pump as it was bypassed for an electric pump, with very sketchy wiring. Blew out the steel lines and ran some brake cleaner through them before hooking everything up. It all worked and I feel much better about the stock fuel pump operating again. I have been reading up on the dash covers and new pads. I'm leaning towards a cover as a new pad is quite a bit more money. Please let me know your thoughts or experience with them, I really don't consider this truck to be show quality after I wrap it up, but I do want it to look good. I'll make sure to take a few pictures as it goes back together, these posts without photos are getting pretty boring... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 This week I have been busy on the interior again, I was finally able to pull the gauge cluster after cutting off the wiper knob. Turns out it was glued on with epoxy. I Was surprised that most bulbs seemed ok in the cluster, the dash was basically dark and unreadable at night. I decided to upgrade to led lighting and waiting on them to arrive. In the meantime I have taken everything apart, plan to paint the gauge needles and clean up the tach as it seldom works. I bit the bullet and replaced the motor mounts today, not the most fun job. While in the neighborhood I put in a new mechanical fuel pump as it was bypassed for an electric pump, with very sketchy wiring. Blew out the steel lines and ran some brake cleaner through them before hooking everything up. It all worked and I feel much better about the stock fuel pump operating again. I have been reading up on the dash covers and new pads. I'm leaning towards a cover as a new pad is quite a bit more money. Please let me know your thoughts or experience with them, I really don't consider this truck to be show quality after I wrap it up, but I do want it to look good. I'll make sure to take a few pictures as it goes back together, these posts without photos are getting pretty boring... You've been getting a lot done! Congratulations. Gary has pretty detailed documentation on the Coverlay he installed in Big Blue. I can try to find those pages... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmchuck Posted October 2, 2022 Author Share Posted October 2, 2022 You've been getting a lot done! Congratulations. Gary has pretty detailed documentation on the Coverlay he installed in Big Blue. I can try to find those pages... Thanks Jim, the weather has been great and I have been enjoying spending time on the old rig. Although my wife did complain about me being covered in grease after doing the motor mounts. Have to admit that was not too much fun... I haven't seen Gary's documentation, I'll poke around a little on here tonight and look for it too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 Thanks Jim, the weather has been great and I have been enjoying spending time on the old rig. Although my wife did complain about me being covered in grease after doing the motor mounts. Have to admit that was not too much fun... I haven't seen Gary's documentation, I'll poke around a little on here tonight and look for it too. I'm pretty sure it starts here.... Edit: more like here when he finally got it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBrother-84 Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 I have been reading up on the dash covers and new pads. I'm leaning towards a cover as a new pad is quite a bit more money. Please let me know your thoughts or experience with them. Chuck, you're right that the new pad is very expansive, and I am sorry to say that its quality is questionable. I went that way, and installed the new pad yesterday. I planned 30 minutes, it took me the afternoon. Installation was very complicated, required a lot of adjustments. The final look is good, but I did not figure out that it would be so difficult to fit it. I plan to post a detailed thread about my experience with this new pad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmchuck Posted October 2, 2022 Author Share Posted October 2, 2022 I have been reading up on the dash covers and new pads. I'm leaning towards a cover as a new pad is quite a bit more money. Please let me know your thoughts or experience with them. Chuck, you're right that the new pad is very expansive, and I am sorry to say that its quality is questionable. I went that way, and installed the new pad yesterday. I planned 30 minutes, it took me the afternoon. Installation was very complicated, required a lot of adjustments. The final look is good, but I did not figure out that it would be so difficult to fit it. I plan to post a detailed thread about my experience with this new pad. Jeff, that really looks good in the pics, sorry to hear it was such a hassle to get it there. I look forward to your thread on the topic, all of us in the cracked dash club can learn from your experience! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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