Double Dingo's 1965 3/4 Ton "Crusty Biscuit"

[DoubleDingo]

It's alive!!!!!!

Cam break in, and then about 40 minutes later. Pulling good vacuum. This cam and refreshed heads have woke up this engine. It idles really smooth and pulls up past 5,000 rpms with ease, whereas, before it sounded like it struggled. It may have been starving for fuel though. The PO said it was a 283, perhaps he was told that, or he was just trying to make it sound more authentic to sell it, but he had a fuel pump for a 283 on it. I replaced it with a 350 fuel pump and that may have contributed to the increased power, along with the cam upgrade. I have a tiny fuel leak at the fuel pump to fix, small like a vapor, but since I need to fix that I'm going to replace one more fuel hose while I'm at it, the one from the tank to the steel line on the frame. Replaced the others with the multi-fuel fuel injection hose and it is much higher quality than even J30r7 hose. I need to clean the cooling system because these heads released a bunch of rust debris into the system. Will be driving it tomorrow. And I decided to take it on my upcoming trip, too. Figured why do all this work just to have it sit at home when it can enjoy some scenery with me.

 

[HotRodPC]

I do 1/2 turn too and never had a problem. I was told long ago that 1/2 turn is better for hydro so you don't put added pressure on the lifter plungers and cam lobes.

 

[DoubleDingo]

Finally settled back in from the trip. I see the forum has changed a little while I was away. The trip went well, the truck was exceptional, it didn't break down, didn't leak any fluids, didn't overheat, just had to reroute the overdrive cable so it was fully operational. The engine has a much better power band now with the new cam. It's not noticeable driving the truck in town with the 4.57 gears, but on the highway it pulls hills much easier and can stay up with traffic.

No guts, no glory, right...who in there right mind tears down an engine to rebuild the top end, breaks in the new cam, test drives the vehicle for a couple hours around town to check for bugs and leaks, finds none, changes the oil, loads up and heads out for a road test that involves all-day drives over the course of 6 days....I DO!...lol...

Got to see some cool country in CA, AZ, NM & TX. Weather was about as good it could be, very mild temperatures and humidity wasn't bad in Texas. We encountered some good rain in New Mexico on the return trip, and there was a tornado warning just west of Tucumcari. Luckily we didn't get hit by one of those. Wedding was a success, towing her car back was uneventful, which is a good thing. One of the first things I need to do though, is have the seat rebuilt with some fresh foam, because it became very uncomfortable to sit after about 4 hours of driving, and still had 8 to go. I cut some foam bed topper to add some padding but after a while it just didn't help much. Rest areas were our friend. The dogs did well on the trip too, even Sybil the grizzled veteran at 15-5/12 years old. They have a nice platform in the camper shell with water to drink, but they didn't like the long time spans between stops. The platform allows them to see out the windows and to see us up front too. The freeways and highways weren't very dog-friendly when it came to pulling off with a car on a car dolly.

 

[HotRodPC]

Welcome Back !!! Sounds like a good trip except the dogs didn't enjoy the travel the way it sounds. Dogs love to travel, but maybe not that long huh?

 

[DoubleDingo]

Thanks man! My pups love to travel, but yeah, the long time between some of the stops wasn't something they liked.

Have driven the truck a few times after coming back, and now that it has been "broke-in" there is a more noticeable improvement on the street, not just on the open road. I need to change the gear oil in the transmission and the engine oil, then it's ready for some camping trips over the summer. We talked about this the other night, we're going to try just sleeping in the camper shell instead of taking a tent this year. Sybil, the old girl can sleep in the back with us, and the young ones can sleep in the cab. Sleeping in the camper shell will make setting up much easier, and also allow us to be able to hit the road quicker to try to beat the heat. I normally take a week off for my birthday to go camping, but I can't this year. So it'll have to be more mid to late summer and some fall camping trips instead. I can't wait!

 

[DoubleDingo]

Yesterday I went out to change the oil. After topping it off I tried to fire it up and the battery was dead. Put the charger on it and it didn't want to take a charge, but I was able to start it. The cells are full. Unfortunately it got dark and I had to call it a day soon after running it. It getting dark and the pot roast was ready so I had to eat...lol.... Adjusted the clutch while I had enough light to do so. That should help the shifts once the transmission is good and hot. For some reason it'll grind once it gets hot unless I really finesse the shifts. I think a gear oil change is in order, it may have some shavings from the tranny rebuild back in 2015. There is a wiring gremlin in the brake lights/tailights that I need to fix. I suspect it may be in the steering column, luckily I have a "newer" turn signal switch and wiring from Mean Green I can slap in this one.

I need a truck name for this truck. Mean Green, my old '65 truck earned that name, but this one as it sits is just "The '65". Nothing jumps out as a good name for it. Any ideas?

Looking at my June 14th post, we never did go camping this year. Never had enough vacation time on the books to take time off for it. We will be going in 2018, though.

 

[bucket]

I will need recent pictures to help pick a name

 

[Honky Kong jr]

Agreed^^^^

 

[DoubleDingo]

Okay. I did a factory reset on my phone last week and lost all of the one's I could use. Will get some on our drive on some backroads Thanksgiving, that way it'll be washed. We've had a few light rains here, and those just make things dirtier. It has the camper shell on it right now, but it's coming off this weekend.

 

[bucket]

Pretty please take at least one pic with the camper shell still on!

 

[DoubleDingo]

I will, there are some cool spots high up on the mountain to take photos. I actually like it with the shell on it, but I like to use the truck without too. Funny thing, the '65 bed is wider than the '81 bed by about 3 inches so the shell is only contacting about 1 inch on each side of the bed rails. The length is the same. It requires large clamps to be able reach in far enough to get sufficient clamping pressure. I did see an ad in my email from tractor supply that had long-reach clamps, we need to make a trip there anyhow so I'll see if that store has them in stock. The shell is an 80's vintage Stockland and fits the '81 like a glove, the '65, not so much...lol...

 

[bucket]

Ah, sounds old enough to be aluminum and have side windows that crank out. Awesome.

 

[foamypirate]

Ah, sounds old enough to be aluminum and have side windows that crank out. Awesome.

You're getting me all nostalgic. My Dad's 78' had an aluminum shell with bubble windows front and back, with the crank out windows in the middle. The bed was complete with wooden storage bins and a carpet kit, haha.

 

[DoubleDingo]

Ah, sounds old enough to be aluminum and have side windows that crank out. Awesome.

No it's a fiberglass shell with tinted sliding windows on the sides and a rubber gasket/seal that goes between the shell and cab and a flip-up lid above the tailgate held open with gas shocks. Back in the 90's I had an old school shell with aluminum outside, crank-out windows with curtains over them, wood siding inside, and the big door that was 3 feet wide, the kind of shell you needed to remove the tailgate for. It was free but when I moved here I had to let it go because I had no place to store it. It was a nice shell with plenty of room inside, but it only went about 2 inches higher than the cab.

 

[DoubleDingo]

This is the style of camper I had in the 90's...

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