Truck Restoration – wild sprout

Installing a new wiring harness

In my quest to make incremental improvements, it came time to upgrade the wiring. Frankly, I never realized how dangerous the old wiring was until I started removing it. As you can see, many of the wires had been wrapped in electrical tape after the original cloth insulation hardened, cracked, and fell off. There were…

Reinstalling the front clip

It was time for summer cruising, and the annual charity car show was coming up, so I needed to get the old truck back together. I removed the front clip primarily to make it easier to remove the engine & transmission, but it was also a great opportunity to do a few other things in…

Cleaning & Painting the 216

My original plan in preparation for rebuilding the transmission was to remove the engine/transmission as a combined unit. After looking closer, I realized one of the frame crossbars prevented the transmission from moving forward. At this point, I could have left the engine in place and just removed the transmission, but I decided to go…

Rebuilding the Transmission

This was one of my primary reasons for tearing the old truck apart. When I purchased the truck, I was told the engine had been rebuilt and it was also rather apparent given the “relative” cleanliness. But it appeared like the SM-420 4-speed transmission had not been touched recently, if ever. It was completely coated…

Rebuilding the Steering Box

The steering box in the old truck leaked like a sieve. Surprisingly, and without obvious reason, it was about the leakiest area on the truck. Not having any idea the history of the unit, including past maintenance, I decided it was appropriate to complete a full rebuild. You can find almost any parts for these…

Removing the front clip

There were a number of things I wanted to do to the old truck that would be much easier with the front clip (aka front-end) out of the way. Most basic was that I wanted to clean/paint the engine and the engine compartment, but I also planned to rebuild the steering box, and the transmission….