What have you done to your square lately??

[Ajax19]

New switch assy from Tractor Supply got it running. (Most of that style are made by the same company, no matter what the packaging says. This one is "Porter Cable" for example.) Mega sent me a new switch and motor under warranty, so now I have spares, but the long term fix will be upgrading the switch entirely.

Hey.... at least it's still September but DANG is this taking longer than I thought. I WAS hoping to cut out of work early tomorrow and get color on the Burb, but it doesn't look like that's gonna happen. Got the new cowl hood fitted yesterday, and the wife stripped it this morning, so the epoxy is flashing off on it right now. The whole body, with the exception of the barn doors is blocked out/wet sanded and basically ready for paint.

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Went to hang the "new" barn doors, since I got a different set due to ours having some bad cancer at the top and bottom. (dang that seal seems to be designed to trap dirt and moisture) Lets just say..... they're on there, but they don't quite fit. lol So here I am, about to search the forum for whatever lore there is to adjusting them. I'm dreading what I suspect, that I need to bend the hinges to get them to sit right.

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Other than that, and selling the 1st born to LMC (and probably another vendor or two) so I can source a bunch of parts I'll need to put it all back together nicely...... it's going GREAT. Wife wants to lose the silver stripe, so it's gonna be ALLLLL Red, or Victory Red rather. I wanted to do it in single stage, because keeping dust off a fresh clear coat is just NOT happening........ but finding a decent single stage locally is proving difficult. The local Wesco guys were pushing BC/CC and HARD. Told me single stage is "old technology, that nobody uses anymore". So that's something else I gotta figure out tomorrow.

I Had good results with Rust-Oleum $78 for gallon of red

 

[Grit dog]

I Had good results with Rust-Oleum $78 for gallon of red

The Wesco guys in Auburn are helpful and not pretentious.
Red is the most expensive color you can buy.
I’ll reserve comment about spending many hours and $ to get a vehicle ready to paint and then using cheap oil based paint. But it doesn’t make sense for about all the reasons one can think of.
@Girth i know you’re now on short clock weather wise, but reccomend Tamco and with their frequent sales, you could get one of a few different types of high quality 2k urethane red for around $300/gal. Probably be double much that for shop line PPG Omni at Wesco. Pre Covid, it was about $60 for a half pint of maroon metallic single stage Omni at Wesco.
Burb takes alot of paint though! Youd need 2 gallons at least of single stage and probably use every drop of it and be sweating it. Even more if it’s cheap paint. So the Wesco guys aren’t totally wrong from an economical standpoint. You could base coat it easily with a gallon of base and have enough leftover to fix every whiskey dent for the next 15 years. And clear coat is about half the price of red ss or base. It makes sense financially and durability wise to do base/clear.
That financial gap narrows with cheaper colors but the other advantages of 2 stage are still the same.
I’m assuming you just want a bright red or are you matching a factory color?
Another way to save a buck is get some cheaper urethane base or single stage preferably base and basically guide coat the vehicle first so your top coat base or single stage will cover quicker.
Just some thoughts, paint is expensive. Cheap paint is disappointing in the long run but there are ways to save a buck.
For example when I did the blue truck, I “accidentally” used the wrong color base coat on the first panels I “tested” on. Got the wrong shade but went ahead and base coated the the underside of the hood and inside of tailgate and some misc trim pieces. It was close and what I found is the right color covered MUCH quicker. Took one less coat. So when I did the inside of the bed, I burned up more of that leftover wrong shade of light blue. In the end I painted everything but the inside of the cab and underside of the bed (did black). I used Less than 3 qts of base coat. If I’d base coated the rest the wrong color first, I could have probably done the whole truck with 2 quarts of base.

 

[Ajax19]

The Wesco guys in Auburn are helpful and not pretentious.
Red is the most expensive color you can buy.
I’ll reserve comment about spending many hours and $ to get a vehicle ready to paint and then using cheap oil based paint. But it doesn’t make sense for about all the reasons one can think of.
@Girth i know you’re now on short clock weather wise, but reccomend Tamco and with their frequent sales, you could get one of a few different types of high quality 2k urethane red for around $300/gal. Probably be double much that for shop line PPG Omni at Wesco. Pre Covid, it was about $60 for a half pint of maroon metallic single stage Omni at Wesco.
Burb takes alot of paint though! Youd need 2 gallons at least of single stage and probably use every drop of it and be sweating it. Even more if it’s cheap paint. So the Wesco guys aren’t totally wrong from an economical standpoint. You could base coat it easily with a gallon of base and have enough leftover to fix every whiskey dent for the next 15 years. And clear coat is about half the price of red ss or base. It makes sense financially and durability wise to do base/clear.
That financial gap narrows with cheaper colors but the other advantages of 2 stage are still the same.
I’m assuming you just want a bright red or are you matching a factory color?
Another way to save a buck is get some cheaper urethane base or single stage preferably base and basically guide coat the vehicle first so your top coat base or single stage will cover quicker.
Just some thoughts, paint is expensive. Cheap paint is disappointing in the long run but there are ways to save a buck.
For example when I did the blue truck, I “accidentally” used the wrong color base coat on the first panels I “tested” on. Got the wrong shade but went ahead and base coated the the underside of the hood and inside of tailgate and some misc trim pieces. It was close and what I found is the right color covered MUCH quicker. Took one less coat. So when I did the inside of the bed, I burned up more of that leftover wrong shade of light blue. In the end I painted everything but the inside of the cab and underside of the bed (did black). I used Less than 3 qts of base coat. If I’d base coated the rest the wrong color first, I could have probably done the whole truck with 2 quarts of base.

The Paint might be cheap but it's meant for equipment and is a hell of a lot stronger then you think I'm putting my truck in the trees and bushes everyday the only thing it didn't hold up was to the 3/4 DG and mud flinging from doing 4wd launches out back but I guarantee no paint will that's where Bedliner comes in but it would mess with the look of my flames I seriously doubt your beating on your truck like mine

 

[Grit dog]

The Paint might be cheap but it's meant for equipment and is a hell of a lot stronger then you think I'm putting my truck in the trees and bushes everyday the only thing it didn't hold up was to the 3/4 DG and mud flinging from doing 4wd launches out back but I guarantee no paint will that's where Bedliner comes in but it would mess with the look of my flames I seriously doubt your beating on your truck like mine

Nope I’m definitely not. Especially the blue one! It’s a pavement princess. I wouldn’t even want to scratch the tires! Lol
What I said wasn’t an affront to you or your truck. And if I was painting an off road wheeler or a bulldozer I’d just use some Agricultural paint too. I don’t doubt that it’s relatively durable and sticks to whatever it’s painted on.
My comment was in a different regard. The appearance/shine long term UV/weather/birdshit/road tar/etc resistance.
And that’s all relative to what you want out of a paint job.
My assumption was if a guy was doing detailed bodywork, built a spray booth in his yard, gonna be his wife’s rig and reasonably spent a long time prepping it for paint that the appearance and longevity would be primary.
Not going to get that with some cheap Ag paint. I suck at painting but with enough wet sanding and cut/polish I can make something that you can see your reflection in the paint and a piece of spinach in your teeth if you’re smiling looking at your handwork. And that paint (clear) will have far better UV, moisture, stain, color fade, oxidation resistance.
If it didn’t, new cars would show up at the dealership covered in Rustoleum because car mfgs sure aren’t going to spend more than they have to on materials. But they don’t, because those cars wouldn’t have near as good of appearance or longevity.
That’s all I was trying to say.
Cheers! Your truck is bad ass,

 

[PeteJr]

Jesus Christ! You bought a fully assembled engine I presume?
Hope it’s not too soon, but if you squint and look at it, kinda looks like an aerial view of a marina after Hurricane Helene!

Yep, complete "ready to crank" engine......

 

[DoubleDingo]

Removed the valve cover to find this.
Guide plates would be a nice touch.
Wish me luck..........

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You would think with self-aligning rockers they wouldn't rotate off the stem like that

 

[Ajax19]

Nope I’m definitely not. Especially the blue one! It’s a pavement princess. I wouldn’t even want to scratch the tires! Lol
What I said wasn’t an affront to you or your truck. And if I was painting an off road wheeler or a bulldozer I’d just use some Agricultural paint too. I don’t doubt that it’s relatively durable and sticks to whatever it’s painted on.
My comment was in a different regard. The appearance/shine long term UV/weather/birdshit/road tar/etc resistance.
And that’s all relative to what you want out of a paint job.
My assumption was if a guy was doing detailed bodywork, built a spray booth in his yard, gonna be his wife’s rig and reasonably spent a long time prepping it for paint that the appearance and longevity would be primary.
Not going to get that with some cheap Ag paint. I suck at painting but with enough wet sanding and cut/polish I can make something that you can see your reflection in the paint and a piece of spinach in your teeth if you’re smiling looking at your handwork. And that paint (clear) will have far better UV, moisture, stain, color fade, oxidation resistance.
If it didn’t, new cars would show up at the dealership covered in Rustoleum because car mfgs sure aren’t going to spend more than they have to on materials. But they don’t, because those cars wouldn’t have near as good of appearance or longevity.
That’s all I was trying to say.
Cheers! Your truck is bad ass,

Thanks man but we all know manufacturers are using the cheapest paint (and parts) available because the old cars paint held up for ever now clear coats are peeling in a few years and now you get plastic bumpers instead of steel but your right the urethane paint dose have a good look to it and I think done right with good materials you will have a awesome paintjob that will last for years look forward to seeing your burb painted up Red burbs reminds me of the one from Dantes peak and one of the reasons I love square body's we had a 74 when I was about 16 and I was super pissed when my mom sold it without me knowing it was a 4x4 with a 350 I still want one it will be the next truck I add to the fleet

 

[Grit dog]

Thanks man but we all know manufacturers are using the cheapest paint (and parts) available because the old cars paint held up for ever now clear coats are peeling in a few years and now you get plastic bumpers instead of steel but your right the urethane paint dose have a good look to it and I think done right with good materials you will have a awesome paintjob that will last for years look forward to seeing your burb painted up Red burbs reminds me of the one from Dantes peak and one of the reasons I love square body's we had a 74 when I was about 16 and I was super pissed when my mom sold it without me knowing it was a 4x4 with a 350 I still want one it will be the next truck I add to the fleet

Lucky for you Squarebody Suburbans are a great value. Far cheaper to purchase than pickups.
There’s alot of them for sale up here. Clean ones, and they go for roughly half of what comparable pickups go for. And 2wd burbs are really cheap.

And idk about old vs new holding up longer. Ain’t no way that soft porous lacquer or single stage acrylic enamel holds up anywhere near as long or well as any 2k urethane. Single or 2 stage. Not even a fair fight.
I have never had an “old” vehicle with anywhere near “good” original paint until getting the 77 C10 this year. Most of the truck is “like new” original paint save for scratches dings and the defects present from that type of paint being very soft and porous by today’s standards. But the C10 sat with a truck camper on it most of its life and most of the time in the gloomy PNW. Paint is not thin at all in 99% of the surface. Yet it’s so soft that compound just hogged the paint off and barely shined it up. And polish does the job with less than half the effort from full oxidized to fully polished than it takes to go from compound to polish on urethane.

 

[TotalyHucked]

The Wesco guys in Auburn are helpful and not pretentious.
Red is the most expensive color you can buy.
I’ll reserve comment about spending many hours and $ to get a vehicle ready to paint and then using cheap oil based paint. But it doesn’t make sense for about all the reasons one can think of.
@Girth i know you’re now on short clock weather wise, but reccomend Tamco and with their frequent sales, you could get one of a few different types of high quality 2k urethane red for around $300/gal. Probably be double much that for shop line PPG Omni at Wesco. Pre Covid, it was about $60 for a half pint of maroon metallic single stage Omni at Wesco.
Burb takes alot of paint though! Youd need 2 gallons at least of single stage and probably use every drop of it and be sweating it. Even more if it’s cheap paint. So the Wesco guys aren’t totally wrong from an economical standpoint. You could base coat it easily with a gallon of base and have enough leftover to fix every whiskey dent for the next 15 years. And clear coat is about half the price of red ss or base. It makes sense financially and durability wise to do base/clear.
That financial gap narrows with cheaper colors but the other advantages of 2 stage are still the same.
I’m assuming you just want a bright red or are you matching a factory color?
Another way to save a buck is get some cheaper urethane base or single stage preferably base and basically guide coat the vehicle first so your top coat base or single stage will cover quicker.
Just some thoughts, paint is expensive. Cheap paint is disappointing in the long run but there are ways to save a buck.
For example when I did the blue truck, I “accidentally” used the wrong color base coat on the first panels I “tested” on. Got the wrong shade but went ahead and base coated the the underside of the hood and inside of tailgate and some misc trim pieces. It was close and what I found is the right color covered MUCH quicker. Took one less coat. So when I did the inside of the bed, I burned up more of that leftover wrong shade of light blue. In the end I painted everything but the inside of the cab and underside of the bed (did black). I used Less than 3 qts of base coat. If I’d base coated the rest the wrong color first, I could have probably done the whole truck with 2 quarts of base.

I'm definitely gonna have to pick your brain when the time comes. I've always planned to tackle the '85 myself but it's looking like the daily '05 will likely get painted first. The PO had it painted in single stage a few years ago (cuz it was cheap and the truck had done the typical Victory Red clear coat failure look), it looks ok and shines up nice but I definitely want to get it back to BC/CC. As long as I'm still at AMD, I'll have the space and big enough compressors

 

[bucket]

Rick those heads have big carved out areas in the middle (not every push rod has a smaller hole).
Allows the push rod to move around as opposed to a smaller hole to keep it straighter.
Just my three mechanic friends and my opinion. I'll post what Summit/BP tells me.

Rick is correct. The rockers have guided tips and are not meant to be used with guide plates.

There's a flaw in the slaw here. I'm not sure what it is, but my first guess is a lack of oil supply to those lifters and they collapsed, letting the valvetrain clatter and come out of line.

 

[Ajax19]

Lucky for you Squarebody Suburbans are a great value. Far cheaper to purchase than pickups.
There’s alot of them for sale up here. Clean ones, and they go for roughly half of what comparable pickups go for. And 2wd burbs are really cheap.

And idk about old vs new holding up longer. Ain’t no way that soft porous lacquer or single stage acrylic enamel holds up anywhere near as long or well as any 2k urethane. Single or 2 stage. Not even a fair fight.
I have never had an “old” vehicle with anywhere near “good” original paint until getting the 77 C10 this year. Most of the truck is “like new” original paint save for scratches dings and the defects present from that type of paint being very soft and porous by today’s standards. But the C10 sat with a truck camper on it most of its life and most of the time in the gloomy PNW. Paint is not thin at all in 99% of the surface. Yet it’s so soft that compound just hogged the paint off and barely shined it up. And polish does the job with less than half the effort from full oxidized to fully polished than it takes to go from compound to polish on urethane.

Maybe it's just the area your in I'm in San Diego so there's plenty of oldies with original paint in good condition and plenty of modern cars with peeling clear like my 96 jeep zj and 2005 Silverado the paint is completely trashed while my 43 year old square still holding up even though it needs a good buff so I'll agree to disagree lol


anyway I finally did a transmission service and found some things the shifter seal someone had stacked a few orings instead of just replacing the 6$ seal lol also I had ordered a seal removal tool and a gm seal and the dam seal was already hardened junk so used the seal that came with the kit with no problems I also added a drain plug to the pan to save me from making a mess next time been putting it off just because of that reason good news is the transmission was really clean inside

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[Ricko1966]

FWIW you aren't supposed to use guide plates and self aligning rockers it's supposed to be one or the other. Some people get away with running both,some don't.

 

[JamesSam]

Drove it to work in the day post Helene leftover aftermath. It was great. I have not driven it in probably a month. When I got home I left the engine running and checked trans fluid level...exactly where it should be, awesome! Checked the oil after about 20 mins from shutoff. I needed to add a quart. Didn't take a pic as it needs a good wash and I have not had a chance in a while. Good to drive it finally in so long to get all the fluids moving and the battery jolted again. I was getting anxious not driving it for that long.

 

[bucket]

FWIW you aren't supposed to use guide plates and self aligning rockers it's supposed to be one or the other. Some people get away with running both,some don't.

Have any hunches on what went wrong? I still haven't thought of anything else that could have caused that. Just the collapsed lifters theory.

Oh and just to be clear for others that are wondering what happened, those turned rockers are the effect, not the cause. @PeteJr

 

[JamesSam]

...AND, The Atlanta Braves just clinched the post season for the 7th straight year!! I'm excited, don't know where to put this, but...GO BRAVOS!