Buying '78 Lil Red Express Truck

[gsbrockman]

We called it "panther p&*%".

If you are referring to Ale 81....I do agree.

 

[TFucili]

If you are referring to Ale 81....I do agree.

OK, OK, I had to fix it

But I did drink plenty of it. I gave up soda a long time ago, though.

 

[Wayne M.]

Classic Rewind is one of my faves. I drove through Spartanburg once. Found the Komatsu HQ while I was there. Seemed like a decent place 5 years ago.

 

[Wiredawg]

Friends,

Performed a tune up on the LRE today... didn't really need new plugs, wires, but the distributor cap had some pretty good (bad) scoring in it. After changing everything out, adjusted timing...it was set at 9` BTDC and proper is 4`BTDC. Runs much better!

Heater valve is shot, so ordered another one. Gonna change out heater hoses, thermostat, and drain, flush and fill coolant.

Cheers, Ron

 

[HPSimpson]

Ron, starting on your long repairs to other vehicles in your fleet, i understand doesn't need wires but you change anyway. I wonder why the timing was set that far out to hide what may I ask?

 

[TFucili]

Funny, my tuneup guide says something like, "Bump 'er up 'til she pings a little then back 'er down a degree or two"

 

[Wiredawg]

Ron, starting on your long repairs to other vehicles in your fleet, i understand doesn't need wires but you change anyway. I wonder why the timing was set that far out to hide what may I ask?

Homer.
I guess the folks who did the work on it did it. I imagine it will start easier now too.

Funny, my tuneup guide says something like, "Bump 'er up 'til she pings a little then back 'er down a degree or two"

Tom,
I've done that before, but now I'm more of a buy the numbers guy. The OEM manual has you connecting propane to the carb to do timing and carb adjustments. I'm doing it more or less how I learned.

More to come guys.

Cheers, Ron

 

[Wiredawg]

Friends,

My new heater valve came in Saturday so did an R&R today. There was black crud in there, ball seal shot, and heater core was mostly clogged. I flushed out the core separately today, will flush the entire cooling system tomorrow, R&R the thermostat and coolant.

and

After this, everything should be good, except the air conditioning. Maybe next month on that one.

Cheers, Ron

 

[DavidC]

That's nasty

 

[Wiredawg]

That's nasty

Dave,
I was really glad no heater core leaks inside or outside. The coolant coming from the block and inside the radiator looks good. I'll report results of flushing tomorrow evening.

Cheers, Ron

 

[DavidC]

I hear fleetguard makes an excellent flush solution.

 

[HPSimpson]

Ron your bothering the rust the guys like what they had nice easy lifeNow looks like new heater valve will work much better.

 

[Wiredawg]

I hear fleetguard makes an excellent flush solution.

Dave,
Thanks for the suggestion, but aready have some Prestone flush.

Cheers, Ron

 

[Wiredawg]

Friends,

Got'r done... no crud in engine block or radiator. Kinda hard to figure out how heater core and heater valve got all crudded up. I guess it was a good idea to separately flush the heater core yesterday. Didn't get any pics as I was racing with a thunderstorm to get done... I don't do flushes inside the shop.

Anyhoo, next post will be of cruising as I'm done a while on the LRE.

Cheers, Ron

 

[HPSimpson]

Now that you finish working on '78 Lil Red Express take it out in JOY your cruise to Brownsville or where ever you want to go!

 

[TFucili]

Bu-Cee's on the horizon!

 

[Wiredawg]

Friends,
I forgot to mention truck had 180 degree thermostat and OEM recommendation is 195 degrees. So, replaced the 180 degree, which is recommended only for racing. Anyhoo, it's all about details, isn't it?

Cheers, Ron

 

[Dan_69GTX]

Just stumbled on this thread....Reminds me of the 77 Ramcharger I had. Started life as a 318, then 360, then 440 Magnum. Had to use the A/C bracket off a 69 GTX because I used the wrong water pump housing for a "late" model bracket to fit. Sold that truck when I got my first Cummins truck in 2001. Miss that just like I miss the 57 Belvedere I sold to buy the 2016 truck.

 

[Wayne M.]

I put a 400 in my 81 dually and I used a late model wp housing, which is on the same right side as a small block. That worked pretty well.

 

[Wiredawg]

Friends,

Replaced the right (pax) rollup window hardware today and the doggone window came out of the window glass lift channel and wouldn't go back into it. Seemed it was either bonded or glued into the channel. Decided to clean the channel out and ordered window adhesive to fill in, let partially set, and attach window into it to see if this works. Here's pics
old broken hardware

Broken teeth close up

the glass channel

And the truck door with new hardware

Amazon delivering glue tomorrow, so I'll get her installed and let her set a few days to completely cure.

Cheers, Ron