Threesome - me, my truck and ...

...removal of the dreaded rust. It has been a while since I have had time to work on Cornholio. But the drama has passed. I miss my pop, but he is in a better place and there are many things to remember him by. I took his wedding ring in to get re-sized. Funny thing though, the jeweler called and wondered where the diamond had come from because they haven't cut diamonds like that in over 100 years. My mom then reminded me that it was my great great grandmothers diamond out of her wedding ring, she was married in 1861. It thought that was cool, it is a beautiful and large stone, even more so when he told me it was worth 30K. Now that causes a delima, $500 to insure it per year and its now too valuable to wear it. I don't know what to do, I was so looking forward to sporting it around.

For the last 2-3 weeks, weekends and nights I have been stripping the cab. About 50 hours of paint stripper, grinding wheels and finally the sandblaster, I have finished with the rough part of the cab. Will someone please take me out and shoot me if I ever spend $1200 bucks on a vehicle again. If there is one thing I have learned from the project is spend the money upfront and find something in better shape. Realistically after sitting under a tree for 35 years its not too bad.

There are a couple of spots in the floor board that will require creative metalwork and some welding. But that is why I took this on was to learn.

But after grinding and sandblasting out all of the rust I find that there is much more daylight peaking into the cab that I am speculating what might have come from the factory. Imagine that. I could have sent it off to someone to strip, but what fun is that. So saving some money and doing it myself I can splurge and spend it on something much more exciting like an custom original wiring harness. Now doesn't that just wet your chops.

Well its good to be back and I promise to continue to update my progress on a much more frequent basis.

Goodbye My Friend

I would like to thank all of my friends and family for their support for the passing of my father. He was a great person and a better friend. He is out of pain now and is enjoying a much different path. I would also like to thank my Longhorn friends who had to endure the memorable music from the Fighting Texas Aggie Band before, during and after the service, I know that had to hurt. But thanks again to everyone.
In a lighter note I should be able to get back to entering more posts about Cornholio. It will take some time to get things in order from the last months of chaos, but he will be with me getting her on the road. One of the reasons why I picked this truck is because it is the kind he had in his fathers oil well drilling company. I was hoping to have it on the road for him to see, kind of like the Ford truck commercial where the guy brings a restored one home for him, but hopefully he can look down and approve of my progress.

No Pictures:(

Well I have not posted lately because of camera problems again. This entire year has started out with much more drama than I would like. I would like to think that this is not foreshadowing of what is to come throughout the rest of the year.
I have been working on my truck across the street at the neighbors shop. Mike has been my guiding light on problems I encounter. He has never restored a truck or anything like that, but even though he only had a 7th grade education he had fixed and rigged everything. He was a shrimper, machinist, welder..., maybe not a master of any but knowledge of all. He had a heart disorder among other ailments and had to use a scooter to move about. About 6 months ago while moving a field on his John Deere, he mowed over a bumble bee nest, was bit about 60 times, fell off the tractor into a fireant mound and proceeded to let the hot Texas summer sun cook him the rest of the day. Mike slowly slipped downhill over the next 6 months and passed right after Christmas. I was probably closer to him than my own dad, losing him hurt. But he now is out of pain and hopefully wearing that tractor out in a better place. In other cheerful news my own father has taken a turn for the worse, last week they drained two liters of fluid off his lungs and gave him a couple of full blood tranfusions. So weekends have been in Austin. Last week the doctors called and said his kidneys had shut down and he only had two days left. Then the next day they told me 'oops, we read the report wrong, never mind'. Medicare is a joke, they could care less if these people actually meant something to someone else. I look forward to the day someone they love is put in the same place.
Onto the camera problems, I used a little of 'me time' the other day, braved the 40 degree weather and put the kayak in. When I got over to my spot when I casted my hands were so cold the rod and reel went flying out of my hands and ended with a simple splash. I quickly stuck my paddle in the water to check the depth, felt shallow enough and slipped over the side to retrieve my gear. Much to my displeasure I sunk into the mud just deep enough for freezing water to crest my waders and promptly fill them up. Nice, did I say freezing. Neatly stowed away in my waders was my brand new camera. Nice, did I say brand new. Rod and reel - $400, camera - $325, freezing cold paddle back to the truck...priceless. So I sent the camera off to Sony, playing the old 'I don't know what happened' card hoping they will resurrect it. Until then you will have to just envision Cornholio.
To vent the awful beginning of the new year, I have been working out again. I am not one for New Years resolution, it is something I just needed to do. I am going to Costa Rica in a few weeks to do some tarpon fishing and I could use a little help fighting those fish for a couple of hours. I plan to change a few things this year. Like Andy said in my favorite movie of all time 'Shawshank Redemption'...Get busy living, or get busy dying...

#14 - Merry Christmas

I just wanted to wish everyone a great holiday and be safe.

#13 - Just trucking makes Kyle a dull boy...

Shame on me for not having made any posts in a while. My camera bit the dust, and I know everyone just looks at the pictures anyway. But this isn't Playboy and and your excuse that you only get it for the articles doesn't work here.
It seems that the Nikon finally got wet one too many times and I upgraded to a Sony DSC-70. These pics aren't the 7 mega pixels or I would have been here for a week just uploading. I haven't played with it yet , just got it last night.
Today started out so nice that I put the ole kayak in and paddled the mile and a half to my honey hole. Limited out by 11:00 and back by lunch. Caught a limit of trout up to 25"and one red. Sure felt nice. I cant wait to get the truck finished and spend some more time in the bay. I have planned on putting a cool kayak rack on the truck, it is going to be my designated vehicle. I have put about 300 hours in it so far, mainly from July. My friends think Im possesed, but I am like most men and have a habit of not finishing projects. This is a big one. I am scared to death of 'taking a break' and never getting started again. I am determined to see this through.
I am hoping to have all the mechanical end of things complete by the end of the year. That includes getting the beast running. I have finished everything on the engine. I ordered and installed the stainless steel fuel and brakes lines and some of them were not correct. So I am waiting on the replacement ones. They asked me to send then my old ones so they could make the correction to their templates.

You can see here that they fit quite nicely. In the background you can make the gas tank out. I had taken it to a radiator shop and had it boiled and then I used a 3 part process by POR and epoxy coated the inside and out. I think it will last another 50 years now.







I had the exhaust manifold ceramic coated by a friend and it should never turn rusty and stay looking like new. Today after fishing, I finished painting with epoxy primer and urethane final painted the air cleaner, clutch and brake assembly, horn and steering wheel.















I have been thinking about the body and the next 4 months worth of work. I almost said 'hey lets put the old body on and drive it for a while', yeah right, 10 years later I would finish. Worse comes to worse I will put a 5 gallon bucket on her and use it for a seat and make a few laps around the block, any one up for a ride......

#12 - Rolling, Rolling, Rolling...

Well my vacation for the Thanksgiving holidays is officially over. I got a lot done on Cornholio. It was a lot of work and time, but I almost met my goal for the week.
First I had to finish the brakes and bearings. When I was done and putting the wheels that I noticed on some of the drums that the wheel bolts were left hand threaded. It had been such a long time since I took them off that I had forgotten about that. Now I had the rear passenger side and the front driver side with them. I had to think a bit on which side they should go on. So then I had to take the wheels off and swap the drums around. Duh.....Screw up number 1 fixed, notice that I am numbering them, this is called foreshadowing, keep up. But the tires were on...as you can tell I still haven't selected the color for the rims so they are still rusty. I was going to paint the body a pale creamy yellow with black fenders but now am leaning to a deep maroon or a steel grey. These are both still factory period colors.
I got the motor on the chain hoist and completely stripped of all of its parts, did I mention that there were 117 parts that came off the motor, this includes carb, manifolds, bolts, washers and such but they all had to get to bare metal, primed and painted. I stripped everything with a combination of a variety of wire brushes, sandpaper and abrasive wheels. A lot of nooks and crannies to tackle. Then I scrubbed with "Oven Off', detergent then Simple Green. Then a coat of Rust Cure and let to set a couple of days while I worked on the other 116 pieces. Then there was a coat of two part epoxy primer and then two coats of high temp custom engine enamel that was mixed to match the original color.
The next step was to roll her into the garage and drop the engine in, I decided to ask for the help doing this so I had to find a friend to help. I was afraid of chipping the paint, this old cast iron block was really heavy. I had to grind off the original front mounting bolts so I was prepared with new 2-1/2" and 2" stainless however it seems that is needed 2-1/4" who would have thunk it. So the one set bottomed out on the bolt and the other wouldn't reach. But I got the back bolts in perfect, got the engine centered and added some washers to the front long ones after giving up on finding the exact ones.
Then I began putting things back on. Luckily I still had the old engine which helped like you wouldn't believe in jogging my poor short term memory. Bythe way the manual it doesn't tell you that a 5/8" box wrench fits perfectly in the hole vacated by the oil dip stick tube. I would change that. It seems that the wrench did a Flying Walenda, spinning in the air and fell directly in the hole and slid down 3"almost into the oil pan. There has never been a more perfect penetration, each your heart out William Tell and your stupid apple. So I drove 15 miles to get a perfect magnet to retrieve it before it fell all the way in and I had to take off the oil pan and ruin my beautiful paint job. But just like Lassie I saved the day. I was freaking out, but things all worked out, thanks for your prayers.
All in all it was a good week. I didn't get everything on, the exhaust manifold is getting ceramic coated. I need to find tubing for the vacuum lines, fuel lines and brake lines next. Plus finish all of the engine stuffl. Then there is the gas tank, drive shaft, u-joints, real seal, pedals, steering wheel....The list continues to grow. I wont start any body work until everything of this nature is done. Even thought I want to drive it bad now...

#11 - My tools do work clockwise!!!

Well much to my surprise my tools can put things back on. It had been so long taking thins off I had my doubts. Its been hell at work over the last month, a couple of 70 hour weeks and a 60 mixed in. It seems Christmas is here so there has been Saturdays and late nights at least now it gets dark early and I don't have to have til 9:00 to adjust the lights at their houses.
I guess I havent been spending a lot of time on the truck, kind of getting things ready for the next phase. I had some new pieces fabricated such has new leaf spring mounts , shackles, rounding up bolts and nuts. Finishing a few pieces and getting them painted and primed. But this last week and this weekend I have managed to get the front and rear suspension and both axles hung. I have also installed the brakes and shocks.
I was amazed at how easy it was to get parts. I went in to NAPA with my parts manual to try and get cone roller bearings and the chase bearings for both the rear and front end. I have the the International Harvester IH part number and then their computer will reference it. Out of the 12 bearing I needed they had all 12, IN STOCK!! Now that is truly amazing. This week I will challenge them with a couple of items that I think will be tougher to find.
I am off quite a bit around turkey day, will go to Austin to see my dad for the A&M/t.u. on Friday but during the next week I hope to be quiet productive. I am hoping to finish installing everything and put a last coat of paint on the frame and drivetrain. Then pull off everything of the engine and get it painted and installed over the holidays. Sounds aggressive, but I have a good feeling, gotta love it. Its been so nice going home not covered in rust.....

#10 - Now you see it -Now you don't!!!

Well its been a while since I have graced the world wide web. But I haven't forgot you ole friend. Life just moves on, people get older, some get nicer, some get bitchier and some just remain the same. You just have to know your friends and what to expect from them and not ask more than you know than can give back, if you do it is your own fault to have expected more. Thants my Confucius for the day.
In other news I have made some progress on the ole girl. I have managed to get the inside complelty stripped out, heater, steering wheel, brake and clutch assembly, instrument panels and doors and windows and a whole lot more. The cab came off with not too much problem a few weeks ago. Since then I have been removing anything left on the frame until she was bare. It included pulling the rusted hunk of a engine using the tractor, not pretty but it worked. I have also been talking to a retired guy in Brenham that restores old International transmissions. I am going to swap the 3 speed on the tree that came with the new motor for re-building the old one.
This morning ' I had the day off' took it to the sandblaster and had it stripped to bare metal. Yes even the area I had already finished and painted. During the last few months I have been talking and researching the prep and paint with a local company in Clute. Buds used to be Thelma's Paint in freeport and he has been a life saver. He wasn't real enthused about the way I was priming and painting everything. It seems that people have different opinions, imagine that:) Well my friend who has done a bunch of these sucks, his opinion sucks. That is my opinion, buts its just an opinion. Well in the meantime I have not been taking anyone's work as gospel and have done my own research. Bud convinced me to do all the body and paint work myself and said I could handle it. So today I had the whole frame sandblasted, which saved me two weeks of grinding and only cost 50 bucks. I have found an old friend that has a large company that does that kind of thing commercially and will let me use his good equitment, more on that later. Anyway he blasted the frame by 10:00 this morning. Upon inspection I found a couple of hairline cracks in a some of the crossmembers so I got those stick welded up.
The rest of the day I was able to get it hung up with baling wire from the rafters of the barn. Using Buds advice and buying everyting from him, paint, sprayer, filtration equiptment... I sprayed on two coats of 2-part epoxy urethane primer and 3 coats of acrylic urethane paint. The frame is complete and looks great.
Now I can actually start putting the things I have finished back on, yeah baby 'whose your daddy'.