From the "wouldn't you know it" department. +pics

[gordr]

So it's a gray, gloomy day here, threatening snow. I went out to the shop, did a little clean-up around the workbench, then decided to get back to working on the 2R6 pickup that I'd been working on yesterday. Got it started yesterday, but it wouldn't keep running, because the fuel system is varnished up. So I decided to put it up on the hoist, and drain and drop the fuel tank, and start cleaning from the beginning.

Since it wouldn't pump fuel from the tank, I disconnected the line from the tank to the fuel pump, and installed a U-shaped hard line (so that the open end points straight up) coupled to a funnel with a short length of hose. I first put a couple of ounces of lacquer thinner through the pump, to get its valves freed up, then I put some gasoline in the funnel, and hooked the pump back up to the carburetor. Put a 12 volt battery in the tray (for that extra-fast start in sub-freezing weather ), and got it going. Did I mention that while I was doing all this, it was snowing like mad, with a South wind?

So I got the truck running on the gas in the funnel, hopped in, and backed it up and turned around, and drove it into the shop and up onto the hoist, no problem. (Well, I hooked a limb of an ornamental yew tree with the back bumper, and tore it off the tree, but no problem.)

Here's the "wouldn't you know it" part: No sooner than I got the truck parked on the hoist, and the wheel chocked, I look outside, and the snow has stopped, and the Sun is shining brilliantly through a gap in the clouds. Never fails, does it?

Gord Richmond, within Weasel range of the Alberta Badlands

[Mark57]

Gord, that kind of weather is SOP for you Alberta folks! [}]

Now if that happened here... [:0][:0][B)]

Anyhow, good to see another C-Cab brought to life!

<h5>Mark
'57 Transtar Deluxe
Vancouver Island Chapter
http://visdc.shawwebspace.ca/ </h5>

[BobGlasscock]

Better the yew tree than the bumper. They're still making those trees!

'50 Champion, 1 family owner

[gordr]

Update, with a photo story.

I got the fuel tank drained on the 2R6. Lots of nasty, stinky gunk and rust in there. It will have to boiled out with caustic to clean it. Anyway, I had another tank that came with the truck, so I fetched it, and removed the fuel sending unit so I could look inside. The sending unit had been sealed with some kind of resin, which was all cracked and curled, and one screw was broken off flush with the top of the sending unit base.

This tank proved to be quite clean inside with only a few tiny rusty patches, and a little loose rust and dust, which I sucked out with a vacuum cleaner. The tank hasn't held fuel in years. To remove the broken sending unit screw, I resorted to MIG welding a metal strip to the stub, and backing it out. I put a piece of metal duct tape over the other holes, so sparks and slag from the welder couldn't enter the tank. I wasn't really worried about an explosion from a tank this dry. If the tank HAD recently held fuel, I would have filled it with water nearly to the top before trying this stunt. In any case, it took about 4 or 5 go rounds with the MIG to get the screw backed out, but out it came, with no damage to the threads. I think somebody put an overly-long screw into a blind hole, which will do it every time. You can see the removed stub, welded to the metal strip in the first picture, along with the disassembled sending unit from the stinky tank. (The sending unit from the clean tank proved to be a 12 volt one, and it looks like an aftermarket replacement. It's also flaky.)



Well, the six-volt sending unit was darn near as nasty as the tank it came out of. The cork float was heavy with absorbed gunk, and checking on an ohmmeter revealed the jumpy sort of resistance-displacement curve that is characteristic of a worn-out sending unit.



You can see the hole in the tip of the bronze wiper in the above picture. It was manufactured with a raised bump stamped into it, and it's the bump that tracks along the resistance element. Eventually the bump wears through, leaving a hole that spans about 3 turns of wire on the element. As the float moves, first one edge, then the other, makes good contact with the resistance wire. The result is a gauge that "kinda-sorta" follows the level of fuel in the tank, but it will persistently jump back up a pointer-width or so as the fuel level goes down, and then resume dropping again.

Anyway, the fix was easy. First, I dipped the end of the wiper in hydrochloric acid to make it bright and shiny so it could take solder. Then I found a piece of silver solder rod in my welding kit, and ground a round point on it, and clamped it in the vise. Then I slipped the hole in the wiper over the end of the rod, so that the rounded point would be on the contact side, and propped it up so I could solder it. Once the solder had cooled, I clipped the rod off on the back side of the wiper, and dressed the front side with a fine file. Here's the finished product:



Incidentally, the metal can that houses the guts of the sender is held to the base plate by swages. Little raised studs were formed on the underside of the base plate when it was stamped. The can has 3 punched holes that fit over these studs, which were then hammered over like rivets. I ended up welding the can back to the base plate with the MIG, but if you don't want to weld, you might be able to reuse the old swages, and stake them with a pin punch, or drill them out and use actual rivets, or even epoxy the can back on there. The little "bearing" strip that holds the wiper in the can was attached by rivets, which I ground off, and replaced with tiny sheet metal screws. Here's the finished product, assembled:



Si

[gordr]

Further update:

Got the replacement fuel tank installed. Took several hours, and scraped the underside of the cab floor and frame rails in the vicinity of the fuel tank, and laid on some black rattle-can rust paint. This truck is actually amazingly clean underneath.

Got the engine started and warmed up. The fuel gauge indicates just a tick over "empty" which is reasonable, since there are only about 3 gallons in it. I ran the old gas through a screen and reused it. The gas itself isn't old; it was just put into what was obviously a varnished-up tank. I'll buy a bottle of fuel stabilizer, and treat this rig. Should treat 'em all, too.

I drove up the road about a mile and back. This truck drives real nice, plenty of pep, and very light, easy steering. Good brakes, too. Headlights work, both high and low beams, did not try the park lights, tail lights, or signals.

The carb needs an overhaul. It drips gas and does not idle very well. But at least fuel now gets to it OK.

Gord Richmond, within Weasel range of the Alberta Badlands

[dean pearson]

Gord, Your quite the craftsman. Congrat's on the progress!
Dean.

[gordr]

Update as of October 16. It was a fairly nice day today, and a lot of snow melted. I took the carb off the truck, took it apart, and bead-blasted everything I could, and washed with lacquer thinner, and blew it clean with compressed air.

I had to make gaskets for the bowl and for the spacer between the bowl casting and the throttle body. I found a sanding drum on the Dremel tool did a fine job of cleaning up the rough edges on hand-cut gaskets. The threads on the two studs that hold the carb to the manifold were damaged, too, so I chased the threads with a die, and used new brass nuts.

After priming, it started right away, but flooded and leaked. Turned out to be a stringy bit of debris in float needle seat. Cleaned that out, and it runs fine. Idles nicely, and the accelerator pump works, too.

Looks like I will have to service the generator; it doesn't seem to be putting out. And still no overdrive. And the speedo cable makes a terrible racket, and the speedo doesn't work. But I do have headlights, and tail lights, and the wipers try to work. It isn't ready for the road yet, but the obstacles are getting smaller.

Got at it again today, October 17. Decided I would check the speedometer cable. Well, that appears to be OK, so I pulled the speedometer out. That answered the noise question. The slender shaft that supports the pointer and the speed cup was broken, allowing the speed cup to drag on the rotating magnet. RIP, one 2R speedometer.

So I ended up taking the entire instrument cluster out of the dash. I didn't have an identical cluster on hand, but I did have one out of an M-series (or is there an "early" and "late" 2R cluster?). It had a gas gauge, an ammeter, and a speedometer, but no oil pressure or temp gauge. I took this cluster apart, and cleaned the glass, which has perfect numbers on it, something that cannot be said for the old one! I cleaned and lubed the speedometer, and painted the housings. It became apparent that the fuel gauge was different, having 3 terminals, not two, so I had to use the 2R gauge. Same for the oil pressure and temp gauges. Now the basic housing is the EXACT same size and shape, but the holes for the instrument mounts are located slightly differently. I had to use a punch to slot out the mounting holes for the 2R gauges going into this cluster. I found a roll of some rubberized fabric gasket material, and used this to make gaskets for between the glass and the bezel, and between the housing and the instrument base plates. Should help prevent entry of dust. Some of the instrument pointers had lost their white paint; a little Wite-Out fixed that. The finished cluster may not be concours-correct, but it sure looks nice.

There was a non-stock headlight switch in there, a pull-type vs the proper turn-type. I found a correct one in my parts bins, and swapped it in. I ended up replacing a goodly portion of the wires in the back of the cluster as a consequence. The old rubber/fabric insulation was crumbling as I handled it. So I replaced a bunch of wires, and taped up a couple that had only minor damage. Incidentally, I found out why the ammeter wasn't indicating. The pointer was bent and dragging on the dial face.

I tested the heater fan switch and headlight switch as I went along, so I knew they were working, as was the heater fan itself. Once I got to the point where the cluster was installed and all the wiring accounted for, I tried starting it up. The battery didn't have enough jam in it, so I swapped in another battery. It was VERY hard to start, and seemed to be popping back through the carb. Finally got it going, and it ran on 4 or 5 cylinders, popping back through the carb. Sounds like some of that bad gas found its way to the stems of the intake valves, making them sticky, Eventually, it smoothed out and ran fine, and I let it idle for half an hour. I had polarized the generator, and it's putting out OK. The ammeter was initially wired backwards; I had connected the wires the same way as they were on the original ammeter. I don't know if the 2 ammeters have revers

[Mark57]

Gord, reading about what you accomplish in a day makes me feel lazy! [:0]

And yes, there is a different early and late 2R instrument panel - referred to in the Parts book as Type "A" and Type "B".

<h5>Mark
'57 Transtar Deluxe
Vancouver Island Chapter
http://visdc.shawwebspace.ca/ </h5>

[52-fan]

I love reading about stuff like this. This is the kind of thing that attracted me to working on old cars to start with. The new cars all seem to be remove and replace with no way to repair.


1952 Champion Starlight w/overdrive. Searcy, Arkansas
"I may be lazy, but I'm not shiftless."

[Guest]

Gord - You can bring a Stude back to life on chewing gum and bailing wire. The vendors would be out of business if they depended on your trade!

Is there anything you've been completely stuck trying to figure out?