The Cinder Block Loses a Wheel VIDEO ON P. 15

[Tater Raider]

I would go up one size and then if it's not big enough go up another.



Seriously, take it to a mechanic type friend who does a lot of carb work - if you have one - and ask his opinion. Bring beer.

[URBAN ASSAULT]

I would go up one size and then if it's not big enough go up another.



Seriously, take it to a mechanic type friend who does a lot of carb work - if you have one - and ask his opinion. Bring
beer.

And a hammer. A really big hammer.

When in doubt, deploy onto the available engine surfaces with reckless abandon while cursing the automotive gods who are cruelly laughing at your problems.

This works for me every time.

Now if I could only understand how my mechanic can possibly afford a new addition on his house, a brand-new car, and also sends me a nice Christmas card every year?



-urban

[crypto]

I would go up one size and then if it's not big enough go up another.



Seriously, take it to a mechanic type friend who does a lot of carb work - if you have one - and ask his opinion. Bring beer.

What? No, I know the problem, I'm just trying to avoid buying $40 of shit I dont need.


Oh well. I ordered the .037 nozzle, it should be here on Friday.

[Tater Raider]

What? No, I know the problem, I'm just trying to avoid buying $40 of shit I dont need.

I know you know the problem. I meant ask his opinion on what size to jet it at.

Hope the 0.037 works out for ya.

[NC5thcav]

I hate Holleys with a passion. They work great when tuned right and make great power, but need too much tuning for my tastes. I like Edelbrock carbs. They are a continuence of the old Carter AFB carbs.

[crypto]

What? No, I know the problem, I'm just trying to avoid buying $40 of shit I dont need.

I know you know the problem. I meant ask his opinion on what size to jet it at.

Hope the 0.037 works out for ya.

Universally, the response is "that all depends on a lot of things, you should bring it by and let me look at it" from every shop I called.

It's all bullshit, carb tuning is more art than science and everyone needs to play with the carb while on the clock for a while to get a feel for how the engine is running. No one can just make a snap decision on it.

I'm guessing that with a .037 nozzle and a more tame cam profile, it will be fine.

[Tater Raider]

What? No, I know the problem, I'm just trying to avoid buying $40 of shit I dont need.

I know you know the problem. I meant ask his opinion on what size to jet it at.

Hope the 0.037 works out for ya.

Universally, the response is "that all depends on a lot of things, you should bring it by and let me look at it" from every shop I called.

It's all bullshit, carb tuning is more art than science and everyone needs to play with the carb while on the clock for a while to get a feel for how the engine is running. No one can just make a snap decision on it.

I'm guessing that with a .037 nozzle and a more tame cam profile, it will be fine.

Video when you test it please?

[Ducky]

tagged for future refference

Love the Truck

[crypto]

OY! It's been a long time since Ive updated this. Pics coming, the Brick is now in Phase II.

[crypto]

Okay, so heres a run-down of the progress thats been made since the last update:

One: I'm done with the electrical rework.



Everything is solid except for the analog gauges on the dash, which are fuel and temp. I suspect that the gauges themselves are shot, and I'm looking for a new old stock cluster.

Two: The day I was leaving the shop to start Phase II (bodywork), the truck died in the parking lot and wouldn't restart. After 2 hours of troubleshooting, I got familiar with one of these fucking things:


I HATE THESE FUCKING THINGS.


Then I lost a screw in here while replacing it.


Fuck points and condensers.

So, later that day I got the points gapped, got it running again, and started out towards Braxton's shop, which is approx 40 miles away. First stop, fuel. I pulled up to the pump, hopped out with the engine running, and looked under the truck to see whether any leaks had accelerated and put me in danger of not making it. What I saw was this:





Dear god, I had brown shit running out of the truck. Not dripping, RUNNING. It hadnt rained in weeks so I knew it wasn't water. It had to be either oil or rusty coolant. I knelt down and felt it, it didnt feel oily. I popped my finger in my mouth to see if it was coolant, and tasted...

Coffee?

MYSTERY SOLVED.


The trip over to Braxtons was a real shitty drive, I got stuck in traffic for a half hour, had to take a detour off the interstate, but The Brick ran like a champ. If it can do a few of those trips, I might start to trust this thing.


Now that its at a body shop, Phase II will start.

Pulling the bed and bumpers off
Dropping the gas tank
Cutting out the small bits of rusted-through metal and replacing with patches
sandblasting the bed and frame, and slathering POR-15 on all exposed metal
sanding and painting everything else.

I've decided I'm going to abandon the primer red color of this thing, and go with a semi-matte FDE color (so its not really Flat, but...)

It will be a slightly green battleship grey, and will officially be rechristened The Cinderblock.

Pics of progress of Phase II as they happen.

[lowjohn19]

Looking forward to the updates.

[Oneswunk]

and tasted...

Coffee?

MYSTERY SOLVED.

sorry that made my night. Glad to see progress, I love this truck.

[Blasphemous]

The Cinderblock, love the name!

[The Jinxmedic]

Great thread for a great truck. My wife and I had a '71 J4000 back in the day, that thing had the feeling that it could do literally anything. (We named it "Green Death" for it's Kaiser Metallic Jade shade.) It had a plywood camper shell over the bed, so rearward visibility wasn't so hot. Wifey backed over a Geo Metro with it once. Was backing into a parking slot, thought the bump was the curb, gave it some gas- it it climbed right over the hood of the Metro. Oops! (true story). These were the best trucks ever. Good work!

JM

[crypto]

LOLOL I once backed over a Metro with my old Tacoma a decade ago. Exact same deal, I didn't see it behind me, backed up, felt a bump and thought it was a curve, fed it some gas, and felt the truck lift up.

Got out and found a Metro with a 31" tire on its hood.

[The Jinxmedic]

Heh. Not alone, are we?

JM

[88sport]

Great thread for a great truck. My wife and I had a '71 J4000 back in the day, that thing had the feeling that it could do literally anything. (We named it "Green Death" for it's Kaiser Metallic Jade shade.) It had a plywood camper shell over the bed, so rearward visibility wasn't so hot. Wifey backed over a Geo Metro with it once. Was backing into a parking slot, thought the bump was the curb, gave it some gas- it it climbed right over the hood of the Metro. Oops! (true story). These were the best trucks ever. Good work!

JM

DOH!!

[crypto]

Tonight Braxton and I pulled the bumpers off and dropped the gas tank out of it. Looks like the tank needs to be either boiled or replaced, its full of varnish, the sending unit needs to be replaced, and the return line needs to be re-attached as the JB Weld that was holding it in place is long gone.


We found something interesting under the truck, however:

Instead of normal bushings between the cab and frame, we found these:



Hockey Pucks.

So, with a salute to my slushback neighbors in the northern wastelands of Canadia, I am not taking these motherfuckers out. Thats just too bad-ass.

[Gun_Nut_2k1]

You throw some rust converter on that and your good!

[crypto]

Im gonna sandblast everything with rust on it and slather on POR-15 before hitting it with that underbody shit. I dont want to have to revisit the rust again. Theres so much road grime on the underside from 50 years of leaking fluids that I doubt I could get any converter to properly soak in with any scale rust still down there.

[brokenparts]

Hockey pucks are quite normal in the 4 wheel drive world. Another solution is to use boat roller material cut to fit the application.... Which is essentially the same as stacked hockey pucks.

[jamoni]

Heh. I backed sort of over a festiva in my old Cherokee. Was backing out of a parking spot, cutting it hard to the left, and felt the whole front end go up then down. Front right tire climbed right up their front right quarter panel, onto the hood, then rolled off the front bumper. My bodywork never touched.
I pretended to leave a note.

[USMCSergeant]

Love this thread, it has an interesting mix of badassness that is the truck, general impressive mechanical knowledge, humor, and hockey pucks. If I didn't already have a truck I'd be searching out one of these bricks.

[crypto]

Status update:

I've spent the last few trips to the shop taking things off.
Bumpers, mirrors, door handles, fuel tank and spouts, etc.

The tailgate is gone, and all the truck bed bolts are out except one that needs to be tacked on to keep it from spinning.

Once I can get 4 dudes out there at once to help me lift the bed off the frame, things will start to happen faster. I can sandblast, rust repair, and prime the bed, and start sandblasting the frame.



So, here's a question: It's still got the original brake hardlines, which look sturdy, but are also a little brown.

Can I sandblast them safely, or sand them at all, or do anything to mitigate the rust on them?

I really dont want to fuck with replacing the hardlines if I dont have to.