Got A "New" Truck
 

My 78' Chevy work truck is going to need some downtime to fix a few things. I was looking for an old truck to use while it's down and found this - a 64' 3/4 ton with a dump bed. I've been wanting a dump truck for a long time. Manual windows, brakes, and steering and no fancy gadgets or computer to fiddle with. I paid $1400 for it.

It needs some attention on the brakes (it pulls to the left), steel bed (needs rebuilt), cooling system (?) and gas line/fuel pump(?) (see below).

As I was driving it home, I noticed it was running a little hotter than it should. I stopped to look under the hood, and that's when I noticed someone put the wrong fan on. It was blowing forward, and as you can see in the pic, the exhaust is pretty close to the fan. That probably didn't help cool it very well. Sitting on the side idling brought the temp down a little.

A couple miles later, it just died. It would run if you poured gas down the carb. It may have vapor locked, but I've never had a vehicle do that before, so I was in new territory if that was the problem. I let it set 45 minutes, but it still wouldn't run on its own.

I didn't have any tools, parts stores were closed, and I had to get up early today, so I called a tow truck and let them take it home. It's a real simple fuel system, so I'll figure it out and get it running next weekend.

It was blowing forward poorly, because is needs to be flipped over to work
properly.
prolly will work ok if stationary. but not so good anything over 10 mph.
it is an industrial "pusher fan" for stationary equipment.
Wonder if it is an industrial motor also or just a fan somebody had on hand?
:bigthink:

I like it, especially the blue interior and dump bed. That will be a very handy utility truck when it comes to unloading cubs.:biggrin2: My parents had a big Eldorado that did the same thing. It was a clogged catalytic convertor that caused it. Made for a very funny time when it happened to me going down a double lane highway and I had to jump out and push it while it was still rolling to the side of the road. Good times. Glad the truck has found a good home now.

Cub Cadet 123

Good looking old truck! Looks like a 292 Y block with the exhaust coming back over the front. Could be another model Y block. Think there was a 239,256,272,292. Good ole really running engines!

I forgot to mention that the original fan is in a box on the floorboard. Put that together with the fancy aluminum radiator someone put on, and I'm guessing it's the original engine and was overheating on them. I'm going to flush the system and possibly change the water pump if it still wants to run warm.

From what I could find, in 1964 you could get a 223 I6 or 292 V8 from the factory.

I had a converter stop up on me once years ago. I made sure it would never happen again. :biggrin2:

Looks great! I'm sure you'll get it figured out. Last time I was Indiana it was hangin out in the back of an ol chevy truck goin to the 500! That was in the 80's. What a trip! Never seen anything like that before, or since. What do you mean there was a race going on too?

Sounds like you were at the "foggy" side of the track. :beerchug:

Put the right fan on the right way and then ad a fan shroud.
Otherwise your not really utilizing the full capacity of the rad when standing still.

I didn't say it right earlier. I'll do that first and check the old pump when I flush the system.

Good looking truck. I don't care for those flex fans. Dont work worth a poo if ya ask me. Ya may have a clogged filter in the fuel system as well. I'd start with checking that. Good luck with it

Them old "Y" block 272,292 and 312's were not bad motors, just oiling problems to the rockers,-- in their day, most all of them you saw, had a top oilier kit installed.( exterior oil line to the rocker cover bolt)
Prolly with todays good detergent oils they would be ok, and not needed.
Got under the hood of a lot of them as a kid in High school pumping gas for spending money.

Thanks for all the tips and info. Something I didn't mention in my first post........ I bought the '78 Chevy I need to work on brand new in '78.

That fan blade is a counter clockwise rotating blade. It can not be flipped. You will need a clockwise rotating fan blade. If you go with another flex fan get a good one and try to find a fan shroud to put on it also.

Not to beat a dead horse,
As I said in post #2 it is a "pusher fan" and it is also installed backwards .
if flipped over, it will work as designed as far as pushing air into the back of the radiator and out the front of the truck.
The way it is installed now, the airfoil effect in negated.
I doubt it will push little more than a breeze as installed backwards.
It is understood that it is not ever going to pull air through the radiator and over the engine unless the engine is counter rotation like in some twin engine/ screw marine applications.
The OP has the correct fan in a box of parts as stated in post #5
Now why some person installed that type of reverse air flow fan is only a guess :bigthink:
And I can't agree with you more, a shroud will improve idle/low speed cooling with the proper fan.

Some engines that use a serpentine belt, and because of the routing of the belt, the water pump and fan blade rotate counter clockwise opposite of the way the engine rotates so that is most likely a fan blade for one of those engines. Not trying to start a fight but have seen this issue on a couple of junk yard motor installations.

Totally forgot about that, you are soo correct! I have two, 4.3 Gm engines here and both are reverse rotation pump/fan, with serpentine setups
They are plastic type fans and prolly @ least 10 blades or so.
Yep, have to be careful on some vehicles to get correct water pump also as some are indeed reverse rotation and on others, conventional.
Guess sometimes old age works against me.

I did a little checking on the fuel system today.

First I pulled the gas line at the carb, put the end in a tin can, and cranked for about five seconds. No gas.

Next I unscrewed the filter can. There was a very little dirty gas in the bottom, but the filter didn't look dirty, so I put it back in for now.

Then I pulled off the line coming from the tank at the carb. Gas ran out like it should.

I went back to the carb line and put it in the can again. When I cranked this time, It started filling the can.

I put the line back on, and on the third try (pouring a little gas in the carb each time) it stayed running on its own.

I haven't driven it on the road yet, but it acts like nothing is wrong.

Vapor lock? Dirt in the line that got knocked loose? :HeadScratch:

Loosen the line @ both ends and give it a good blow with the air hose, prolly crud in it.
Also don't know what kind of filter you have, but some paper ones will not pass water worth a darn if some is in the tank, ya never know if it has been sitting a while.
Also you don't know what might be in the tank, pulled some crazy things out of them over the years from kids toys to sanitary napkins:crap:

I was kind of leaning toward crud being the problem. I'll blow the line out tomorrow. I hope I don't have to pull the tank to clean it.

You might want to anyways, with my 77 van it'll run fine until I get a tank of gas, then I can't keep it running because crud in the tank gets stirred up and finds its way to the needle valve and makes it stick partway open. I'm going to run it to empty this year and then drop the tank, clean it, and seal it. I think I'm going to add a second fuel filter to the line too, one in the stock location and one at the pump. Good luck!

I changed all the rubber lines on the gas and water today. I flushed the water and put in new antifreeze. I put the original, four solid blade fan on. I haven't been anywhere to get a shroud for it. Idling in the driveway, the temp doesn't get over 170*.

I blew out the line to the tank, refilled it twice, and sucked it dry twice. The problem has to be in the tank. I put a gallon jug of gas on the frame and ran a line to the pump to move it around for now. I will pull the tank later and see what it looks like inside.

I priced a new tank at lmctruck.com. It costs $199.50 there. A friend of mine told me there is someone locally that will internally clean and coat tanks, but didn't know how much they charge. I'm going to check into that.

When I bought this truck, the po said when he tried to put some gas in, it was full. I stopped at a gas station about 4 miles from his place. I couldn't even get a gallon in it. I could hear the gas in the filler neck and it kicked off 3 times. This info is important.


After all the checking I did, it was finally time to siphon the gas out so I could get the tank out.


IT WAS EMPTY!!!!!! :bash2::bash2::bash2:

I pulled it up to my gas tank with a straight nozzle and hand pump, and put in close to 20 gallons. I pulled it up to the shop again and walked around to the passenger side.

Gas was dripping out of the cab. :Mad1::bash2:

Next I siphoned the gas out like I started to do in the first place.

That was enough "fun" on the truck for Saturday. I went and bought a tiller.


In my defense, a guy at work said the same thing happened to him years ago. He had to dribble gas in to fill it after that.

i would replace the tank and fuel sending unit,most likely they are both rusty and there should be a filter on the pick up of the sender which could be plugged from rust. cleaning and lining a rusty tank could be a waste of time and money

sounds like some kids/critters " filled er up" :biggrin2:
told you earlier I've taken some pretty interesting things out of the tank Ha,LOL!
LUCK!:beerchug:

If you're meaning the fuel pump, it's on the side of the engine block (large filter too) where all of them should be. I'm guessing there's a screen on the pickup tube.

I'll look when I take it out.

Reading all this is pretty interesting and cool. Makes me wanna get dads old grain truck running. It's a 1957 ford F-600 with a 292 Holley 4bbl 5+2 transmission. Tank behind the seat and a 30gal barrel tank on the side of the frame. 14ft parkhurst grain bed with a hoist.

That sounds like a neat project.

Now that would make a GREAT cub hauler

if it has a gas gauge,there is a sending unit/pickup assembly on the tank where the lines come out of. you should be able to shine a flashlight inside the tank either through it or where the filler neck goes and see how it looks inside. also check the exterior of the tank especially the bottom for rust and leaks at the seams. last tank i had boiled out and repaired for my 64 riviera cost me close to 200 dollars. i had no choice because new replacements dont exist