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Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Aug 15, 2013 15:03:29 GMT -4
Smelled gas every once in a while for about the past month so I finally had to do something about it. Today I spent all morning fighting with the gas tank on the truck and when I finally got it off I found it was weeping about a third of the way up the outside. Rotted out where it was sitting on the plastic shield and gathering salt and mud(naturally). I am NOT putting another tank back on that truck unless it's pickled in Tremclad first. The reason it took so long was I had to cut the rear strap after the bolt came out 90% of the way then broke the captured nut and just started spinning. That was a hacksaw job since there was no way I was going to use a grinder or reciprocating saw with all that gas and fumes under there. That would have made a really interesting day...... And here's what's left of the front gas tank mounting bracket so we're going to need one of those too. That makes it easy - need tank, front mount and rear strap. Sending unit is only a few years old and still in good shape.
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stimpy
New Member
1950 Pontiac Chieftian
Posts: 41
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Post by stimpy on Aug 15, 2013 20:22:07 GMT -4
I know what you mean on them Don , had my fuel pump take a dump on me with a full 129 litre tank ,I found out its way easier to pull the beds then work on them as then you don't get iron eye from the rust . while you have the tank off check the stupid rear brake line as its a crap catcher too and rusts out next to the frame ( mine blew pulling a bed full of engines ) unless you off road no real need to put the plate back on , but if you do take a hole saw to it and open the holes up so it will clean itself..
and remember 98% of Ford trucks are still out on the road ( waiting for a tow truck ) the other 2% made it back home .
and thats why we drive Gm products ...
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stimpy
New Member
1950 Pontiac Chieftian
Posts: 41
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Post by stimpy on Aug 15, 2013 20:47:51 GMT -4
as for my day , it was so so , weather is causing my sinus to go batty , but it was a cool day up where I am 69-73 degrees and cloudy all day , took the pups out so they can wear each other out and sat and read a little of one of my catalogs for electrical stuff ( finding switches and relays for the 50) , looked over Marys brakes on the Impala , they have to be replaced . the dealer put new pads over the old rotors and now the rotors are chewing up and it makes a grinding sound the Oem rotors are garbage IMO anyways they peel and gall , so I order the new parts , nice thing about the Impala is the availability of HD stuff because of the police depts , I cross checked parts the only difference on the brakes vs squad is the rears use a different caliper and bracket ( which I can interchange if I want ) . so the fronts get the good stuff .back gets better stock stuff ( rotor are pitting and flaking )
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Post by wildcatone on Aug 15, 2013 23:51:23 GMT -4
Made graphics, took notes, worried, drank coffee, worried, communicated on FB and on the phone with a friend whose wife is in the hospital with a terminal illness. He's 81, she's 65. Gonna hate to lose her, she's a great lady.
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Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Aug 17, 2013 22:28:21 GMT -4
This is what my front gas tank mount looked like after I beat all the loose rust off of it. Step one - lay a piece of scrap 1/8" plate inside the truck's frame then mark and drill the mounting holes for the bracket. Step two - bolt the pieces to the plate and it becomes a welding jig. Then start cutting out the rust. Not too much at a time or there would be nothing left LOL. Step three - bend a length of 1/4" rod for the edges and to add some strength. First length made up and tacked in - two more to go. Once they're welded in we'll start making paper patterns to cut the 1/8 plate to fill in. Finally got the overall shape right with the 1/4" rod after lots of fitting and bending and rebending LOL. Now comes the fun part cutting and beating into shape all the 1/8" plate patches to fill it in. And this is the "good side"...... Gas tank bracket is starting to look more like it should - only a couple more little sections to cut out and replace tomorrow and it will be better than new.
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Post by wildcatone on Aug 18, 2013 0:20:01 GMT -4
Wow...great work, Don!
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Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Aug 18, 2013 9:07:52 GMT -4
Got back at it early this AM and except for welding the bolt/tab back on the strap I would say we're done with the mount repair. Not pretty but I guarantee it's a LOT stronger than when it was new. Original one was stamped steel and I used 1/4" rod and 1/8" plate to fix it. Just had to do a "before and after" photo considering I only attempted the fix because I could not get even a used one anywhere until Monday at the earliest. Most people wouldn't bother to fix something like that and considering the hours it took me for the repair I can see why. It was pretty bad.......
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stimpy
New Member
1950 Pontiac Chieftian
Posts: 41
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Post by stimpy on Aug 18, 2013 12:11:25 GMT -4
wow , actually if you made the rod into a truss by triangulating it you wouldn't have needed the plate , a million years from now when they uncover the truck remains in a archelogy dig they will wonder whats this funny piece of metal ....
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Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Aug 18, 2013 14:22:35 GMT -4
That's the frame bracket and both straps finished at last except for undercoating. Had to rebuild both straps so I went up to 1/2" thread instead of 3/8" for the strap bolts, welded instead of riveted on the front mount flange and used thicker material as well. As you can tell I'm a firm believer in over-engineering.......
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Post by wheelzman on Aug 18, 2013 18:06:43 GMT -4
Went out early Saturday morning to yank the 350 out of the old Suburban. Young fellow across the street from me helped do all the grunt work and we had it out in about two hours. My oldest brother is putting it in his 61 Chevy wagon later this year. Today was uneventful as I took Sharon out to Red Lobster for her birthday and she woofed down about 50 shrimp at $15.99 for all you can eat. I had a salad as I don't care for seafood much. I had someone look at my 66 Chevy wagon yesterday so things may be going out the door? Nice work on the bracket Don. Over engineering is gooda.
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Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Aug 18, 2013 18:53:58 GMT -4
One of my "dream cars" would be a 1966 Chev wagon for one of the lower Super/Stock classes. I can see it now - 283 with a Victor Jr, a giant roller cam, powerglide with a 6000 stall convertor and 5.86 gear. Giddyup!!
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Post by wheelzman on Aug 18, 2013 21:24:07 GMT -4
The 66 wagon has a bored 292 inline six in it now but that doesn't go with the car but I have a 283 in another parts wagon at my brother's house. The young man that helped me yank the 350 is going to help me yank the 283 and the overdrive tranny but it will need to be pulled up to the garage with the wrecker as the frame rusted apart. I think it has a 4:11 reargear as that is what the overdrives used? And by the way Don I love the bold letters for the message board as I don't need my glasses to see what I am reading.
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stimpy
New Member
1950 Pontiac Chieftian
Posts: 41
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Post by stimpy on Aug 18, 2013 23:08:31 GMT -4
over engineering is better than dragging the tank down the road by the hose ( and have seen that and almost did that with my semi when the strap broke from the calcium chloride ,nothing like watching a 150 gallon fuel tank come out of the saddle .
worked on Bluebelle today , took all the factory garbage rotors off and replaced them with goot stuff , the backsides were pitted to all heck and rough, sounded like your driving down a gravel road , put the new ones on ( powerstops) and its quiet , went overboard and got the HD ceramic stuff for Police and drilled and slotted rotors , brakes way better ! can almost bottom the front end out with a half pedal at 50 mph .took a few blocks to bed/burnish them in . drove around the industrial park across the street the neighbors thought I was going nuts driving around speeding up slowing down ...
neighbor wants me to look at his spare cars brakes , it has a leak and the backs sound like they dropped the adjuster . told him $100 to do all the labor , he buys the parts I tell him too .
looking on starting a small business , making plastic castings, as I have to make my front marker lights for the 50
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Post by wildcatone on Aug 18, 2013 23:29:32 GMT -4
Great work on the bracket, Don! Wheelz and Stimpy also. Wish I had you guys here to show me how to rewire George's engine. I'm getting a KIA Spectra Tuesday, wife is buying it for me. It'll be Nick's car but I'll use it for driving to gigs on weekends. It's a 2007 with 49,000 miles and I'm getting it for way less than blue-book value. The only drawback is the glass-pack mufflers, which are semi-obnoxious and cheesy-sounding. I can drive it like that but I climbed up underneath it and saw that they can be cut off of the single exhaust pipe and a new extension can be fitted onto it. I don't know if they have any kind of sensor involved in the tip end of the exhaust pipe, I'll check the book. Other than that it's an awesome deal. 4-cylinder SOHC 16-valve EFI, runs great. I don't need nothing fancy, just something good and dependable. Listened to the audiocast and did graphics. Still making the montage. Had the idea that it would be nice to introduce the lady I'm buying the car from, whose husband owned this KIA before he died, to my friend whose wife is in hospice, who I'm making the collage for. Some time in the future.
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stimpy
New Member
1950 Pontiac Chieftian
Posts: 41
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Post by stimpy on Aug 19, 2013 10:30:04 GMT -4
only sensor you have to worry about is the one behind the catalytic converter (up near the motor ),it has to stay and the exhaust pipe for about 12" behind it has to be leak free otherwise it will go bonkers ( had this problem with the explorer when they didn't weld the o2 bung all the way round and the sensor was picking up dirty air and would not work .( the o2 sensor works by using outside air and exhaust air to make a electric current ) yea too bad your not closer as I could get Ol George up and running for you and give him some bling from the parts pile ( real braided fuel line and fancy clamps )and wring isn't that much of a issue , the book that mysteriously showed up for him some years back has the wiring diagram in it ( page 348) what I do is take colored markers to the wires in the diagram after I photocopy it to make it easier to see and hook up the stuff . the one thing is I find its better to solder the ends than crimp them on these cars . unless you have the expensive panduit terminals as they heat seal the crimps ( and are mil spec for aircraft ) well as for this morning ( yea I am actually awake after sleeping last night ) took the furry people out ( as Don calls them ) and sat a little outside as it was nice and cool and they wanted to spend some time outside, and now waiting on the neighbor to bring over the car for me to inspect and make a parts list .
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