[Markeb01]

This is the first time I’ve ever been on a site with a unique GMC sub-forum which is pretty cool. I guess I’ll post in this section although my truck is probably more Chevrolet than GMC at this point. Since we’ve owned our 1960 GMC for over 20 years, it’s been through many changes so I’ll limit this post to an overview summary.

Acquired in 1992 from the nephew of the original owner, the truck was remarkably preserved with only minor rust in the front fenders:





The only modification ever made by the original owner family was to replace the 3 speed column shift transmission with an SM420 4 speed transmission. Even the original seat cover was still in place (I added the seat belts):



There were only 3 options on the truck. A Bardin bumper, front and rear turn signals, and west coast mirrors. No radio, heater, inside rear view mirror, armrests, or passenger sun visor.



The very first accessory purchased was a set of NOS bumper guards because I always liked them and Golden State Pickup Parts happened to have a set:



The 305 V6 was only running on 5 cylinders and was given the deep six. Only one shop was willing to rebuild it, at a cost of $2500:



Since I wanted a long distance freeway commuter, a new Targetmaster 350 and power steering went in along with a TH350 for less than half the cost to rebuild the six.



After relocating to northern Idaho, it suffered from a bad case of rust measles.



It took an entire year to tear it apart, repaint everything inside and out, and put it all back together:



Once I found a decent replacement hood I also added a 1950 Plymouth bumper overrider bar as a custom touch below the stock powder coated GMC grille.

 

[Markeb01]

Just before the paint job teardown I installed a 1975 disc brake front suspension to get rid of the problematic ball bearing front wheel bearings: Here’s what it looked like after being completely rebuilt before sliding up under the truck:



It went through multiple phases and styles over the next several years including swapping back to a manual transmission, this time a new Richmond Super T10 4 speed and 4.10 rear axle gears (Dana 44). In 2009 my career came to an unexpected end over health issues and I needed something to occupy my time that didn’t cost very much. So I taught myself diamond tufting and dressed up the interior.





The gloss black lacquer paint job had really taken a beating over the many years of commuting, so I also repainted the truck with John Deere Blitz black enamel. It was both easy and cheap.



Since then I’ve added stainless windshield trim, spotlights, back up lights, bed rails, 15x7 wheels up front, a 55 Buick grille bar, 67 Chevelle fender emblems, and removed the fog lights and Moon decals:



Most recently it gained an NOS mechanical aircraft clock, fuel pressure regulator and gauges, and a 72 Chevy truck cable style gas pedal:





At this point I’m considering it done – at least until the next idea pops in my head!

 

[Blue Goose]

welcome Mark,nice looking truck,enjoyed the pics

 

[ProMetalShop]

Mark, great post, and really great looking truck. I love the satin, and the interior. Your truck is like a 60's 70's time capsule .

 

[stovebolt]

Welcome, nice truck.

 

[mt94ss]

Great story and cool truck. And welcome to the site. Nice to have another GMC here. Amazing the difference one year makes. I would call it finished also.

Mike

 

[c10]

I really like the looks of your GMC. To see where it started and then to see a work of Art it turned out to be, WOW.

Glad you are here.

otis

 

[lakeroadster]

Without a doubt my favorite truck of any I have ever seen, bar none.

You sure know how to pick a theme and run with it!

In a word..... Awesome!

 

[Markeb01]

Thanks for the kind words guys. For a long time I just tried to fix it up and make it nicer, until one day it occurred to me it lacked a theme. I decided to go for the period between 1962 and 1968. Prior to 1964 represented the time before girls and a driver’s license, and after 1966 I was in the Marines with no money for all the cool stuff that was on the market at the time.

The truck was on its way to having fenderwell headers and a BDS scoop sticking through the hood on a pair of 4 barrels, but early retirement put an end to that. Here’s a very poor photoshop effort to show my wife how cool it would look:



I still went ahead and removed most of the inner fenders just in case I win the lottery, and sprayed the rest with Raptor bedliner:





If I ever strike it rich I’ll have custom headers built something like these:



In the meantime I’m still toying with the idea of adding sneaker plugs under the front fenders. I haven’t figured out the best angles, placement, or whether to use 2, 3, or 4 bolt caps yet. I think they’d make a reasonably cool and inexpensive addition. Something along these lines:

 

[406Rich]

Welcome Mark, glad you got in here....how`s things been going sense I left the dark side, I don`t see many of your posts..

 

[Markeb01]

Nothing has changed. I just keep my head down and try to be helpful to the other members. Glad to be here!

 

[Blue Goose]

Man I remember working on those old v-6's,had 3 of them in medium duties.a 305,305c series,and 401magnum.401 was a runner,pulled those big ole trucks down the pretty good

 

[Markeb01]

They sure are big and heavy too. We pulled the 305 out with a chain fall over the garage door header and at maximum lift I still couldn’t get the engine over the grille support. So we took the wheels off, removed the floor jack and rolled the truck out from under on the brake drums!

Well this has turned out to be a pretty productive week so far.

Ever since I upgraded the fuel system I’ve been having fits trying to relearn how to start the truck. For 20+ years, if the truck had been driven within a day or two I simply pumped the pedal once or twice and it fired up nearly on the first rotation. After a few days without being used it became a bit more challenging. But usually enough pumping on the pedal would get it done eventually. I have an electric fast idle solenoid to keep it running, but I basically never used the choke except in the coldest of weather because it simply wasn’t needed.

That all changed with the fuel regulator. It appears after much analysis that the mechanical pump had been putting too much pressure into the carburetor all those years and overwhelmed the floats causing a constant rich condition. With that situation removed, the truck just didn’t want to start at all. I’d wait a few days between attempts, but almost every combination of choke and throttle wouldn’t result in starting.

Then I tried something I’d never done before. I pressed the gas pedal far enough to clear the fast idle linkage and pulled the choke all the way out. Voila! It fired right up. I tried it a few more times over several days and it fires immediately. It’s too rich and runs rough, but once started the choke can be shoved in about ½ way and the engine runs great. After all these years I’m happy to have a reliable and repeatable method to fire it up in a hurry.

2nd thing I’ve almost worked out is the timing of my new mechanical aircraft clock. It was running 1 minute fast every day, so I removed the cover to adjust the timing. To my amazement, there were no markings indicating which direction was fast or slow. I’ve never seen this in a mechanical watch or clock before. So I started experimenting and finally discovered which direction was which. The other problem being there is no scale marked on the mechanism to indicate the adjustment travel. I’ve never seen this before either. Making tiny adjustments with no reference to how much it has moved makes it very difficult to be accurate. Anyway after two weeks of daily adjustments I’m down to being only off a few seconds daily. I guess we’ll see whether I can get it any closer or not.

And finally, my inexpensive dash cams from China showed up today. They look like this:



I unpackaged one and set to figuring it out. Once I knew what I needed I ran to the store and picked up a class 10, 32GB SD card for each. One is going in my truck and the other is going in our daily driver. The one in the Honda is going behind the mirror, but I think I might install the one in the truck on the back window for a wider field of view. I can conceal most of the camera on the outside by applying a decal over the mount, which will be at the bottom of the window.

The instructions are useless, written in converted English, Russian, and Chinese, but I had the menus figured out within a few minutes. I adjusted all the features on the camera and even managed to upload a couple of test video files to the computer.

The only bummer is that we have another storm coming in tonight on top of the ice and snow already on the ground. So I probably won’t be racing around any time soon showing off how cool it works. It’s supposed to be sunny by the weekend, so perhaps I can get some start up and driving around the block footage if the roads get plowed. I’m looking forward to having some fun with the camera in the truck.

 

[Markeb01]

Yesterday afternoon I installed the dash cam in the truck. Instead of conventional mounting on the windshield, I decided to mount it on the back window to provide a wider viewing angle. This should also keep direct sun glare off the lens:



I also slapped on a left over Moon Equipped decal to minimize visibility from the outside:



A power outlet was added behind the driver seat and the wiring was plugged in and easily concealed behind the rear upholstery panel.

I’m looking forward to the sunshine we’re supposed to get this weekend. Hopefully I can get some decent video. Now all I have to do is figure out how to upload video files to YouTube!

 

[lakeroadster]

Mark,

Does this mean we are Moonies?

 

[Markeb01]

I think it might, like we need something else to be in the same club! But of course since I mentioned it first, I see my decal is installed correctly while yours is facing the “wrong” way! anim_63

 

[406Rich]

sign0016 ......

 

[Markeb01]

Okay try not to give me too much grief, but here’s my first YouTube video clip. It just shows the truck driving down the street and accelerating. I also discovered this is the first time I’ve actually driven it since the new fuel system, and the fuel pressure crapped out in 3rd gear so I had to back off. I’ll have that all sorted out shortly and give it another try.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLNQcAWEnDg&feature=youtu.be

 

[lakeroadster]

Awesome Mark. Runs as good as it looks, and that's high praise indeed.

 

[Markeb01]

Here are a couple more videos we took today. The first one is nothing more than showing how nice it starts with the electric boost pump. The 1st red switch on the left is the fast idle solenoid. The 2nd switch is the electric pump. It normally takes 3 seconds to bring the system to full pressure, but I had just finished bleeding the remote fuel pressure isolator so it only took a second or so in the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csDjzeFn_qE

Prior to the electric pump if the truck hadn’t been driven for a few days it could be like starting a radial aircraft engine. It could take several minutes or run the battery dead in the attempt. With the electric pump the engine fires essentially on the first rotation. It’s a remarkable improvement. Also note in the video – the good looking guy walking in front of the truck is actually me, but because I’m using a cheap camera with a wide angle lens it makes me look old, fat, and gimpy with grey hair!

I goofed up again on the second video by not paying attention to where it was in the 2 minute recording cycle. What I should have done is turned the camera off and on again when I was ready to start. The result being there isn’t really anything interesting until 1:38 into the segment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTY6hasQlu0

This being the first ever car video camera I’ve owned I’m still on the near end of the learning curve. There wasn’t much else to see anyway as I had just climbed to 80+ mph and needed to back off.