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

[DoubleDingo]

Just finished up a trip with the truck that clocked about 1,300 miles and the truck did great. Camped 4 nights, and was able get some of my sanity back by breathing cool-clean-mountain-air. The current engine is definitely underpowered for some grades, but it ran well and kept up with traffic doing 70. It fought me tooth and nail to get it finished for the trip and the departure date was postponed a day because of that. Part of the fight was the temporary exhaust sytem. Got it installed, bolted the right rear tire back on and the pipe hit the tire. The D60 must be a tad wider than the HO70 that is currently in this truck. With the temp-exhaust installed I at least fired up the truck to hear it. It ran smooth. Shut it down right away so I didn't burn my new tire. So I ventured over to an auto parts store and got some exhaust elbows to divert the heat away from the RR tire. It worked, but it is ugly. And it made the truck much louder than it was with the pipes exiting behind the tire. The new stupid exhaust system, had to cut it in two places to get the front portion removed. I swear that guy that did this new system is either a moron or very inexperienced. One-The exhaust system was not at all able to be removed because it hit the lower suspension control arms. Two-He cut my bell housing mount cross member and hammered the pipe flat on the top side to get it to clear the cross member instead of utilizing the factory high spot of the cross member to run the exhaust pipe under. Three-As I mentioned before, the pipe from the passenger side is way too close to the brake lines and front cross member. Four-He used pipe bigger than 2 inch for the pipe mounting to the exhaust manifolds. I told them I wanted 2 inch from the manifolds and 2.5 inch from where the 2 inch came together and out past the axle with 2.5 inch.

The new system isn't as close to the brake fittings and cross member when bolted up, but the clearance is maybe 1/4 inch more at the fittings, and maybe 1/2 inch more at the front cross member than what the photos show. Still way too close for my liking. If this truck was a trailer queen it wouldn't matter.

I didn't get any pics of the temporary fix for the exhaust exit, I will get that tonight after I get the camper taken off of it.

 

[DoubleDingo]

Here's a few photos of the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in the Inyo Mountains. Cool area.

 

[DoubleDingo]

Here is the ugly fix so I could go camping. It is still close to the tire, but it never got too hot. Saturday I need to get it back to the shop for them to fix their screw-up. I will be staying put this time so I can keep an eye on what they're doing. Last time I went to work for a few hours and ended up with a crappy system. It looks nice, and is quieter, but it makes me angry that they call themselves exhaust specialists and can't produce a good working exhaust system. Hopefully round 2 will be successful.

The temporary exhaust has an old Borla muffler, dual in/dual out, and it sounds really nice. To be quite honest I am conflicted on whether the shop can redo the y-pipe correctly, so I am debating just having them run a single 2.5 inch from the Borla muffler out past the right rear tire, with a resonator to quiet it down a tad.

 

[HotRodPC]

yeah, I don't like that exhaust system much.

 

[HotRodPC]

So what are the plans for adding power for the grades? What compression ratio you running now? RV Cam swap maybe? With the right heads it might do the trick. If you have biggo 76cc headed combustion chambers and OEM 350 dish pistons, I don't see the RV Cam doing to much. Either 69cc heads with dish, or 76 with flat tops would probably work.

 

[DoubleDingo]

So what are the plans for adding power for the grades? What compression ratio you running now? RV Cam swap maybe? With the right heads it might do the trick. If you have biggo 76cc headed combustion chambers and OEM 350 dish pistons, I don't see the RV Cam doing to much. Either 69cc heads with dish, or 76 with flat tops would probably work.

The plan is to swap the engine from the '81 into this truck. That engine got all the power goodies that were originally bought for the other '65 project. I never thought I'd end up with a running '65, the other '65 project wasn't moving forward, so I put the vortec heads, GM Performance intake, and 300hp/327 cam in the '81 engine. Also the engine has been resealed from top to bottom, is a low mileage engine, and now pulls strong! So adding a vortec 350 with a very nice power curve in the '65, the 3:54 Dana 60 and SM420, it will pull grades much better. Will run the 3 speed for a while until I can get the SM420 and D60 ready for install, but I don't know if the 3 speed will handle the torque of a vortec engine. Eventually the D60 will get a different gear set, like 4:10's, but the 3:54 is a good gear, just not good for hauling heavy loads. The new gear set will have to be installed in conjunction with the Ranger Overdrive I have.

Yesterday I made the final decision on the exhaust. I don't trust that they can successfully redo the y-pipe off the manifolds, so I will be removing their new system and will be keeping the old system in place, but will have them do small y-pipe off the dual exit borla muffler and run 2.5 inch single out the back. Then I'll find some resonators and add those in just off the manifolds of the old exhaust to get rid of the loud drone inside the cab. I can add that new muffler to the exhaust in the '81 to quiet it down a tad.

Another thing I noticed during the camping trip is it runs too hot. Never bubbled over, but just runs on the hot end. I suspect the engine in the '65 has been bored out. The new three row radiator works well with the fresh coolant, but when driving in triple digit heat it gets too hot. So I will get my old four row tidied up at the radiator shop and add that in to keep the temps down. May even get an electric fan to further help with the cooling, but the four row works well from what I recall. Don't ever recall Mean Green overheating with that four row in it.

 

[DoubleDingo]

Wow, yeah lots going on there. Those old 2 or 2.25 ram horns are fine.

To bad you can't get that SPID label. That would be interesting. It's probably more of a build sheet isn't it? Is it legible now at all? I'd take some good pics of it. Then maybe you can read it on the computer screen. I come across stuff I can't make out all the time. Take a pic, download it, then I can read it.

Oh crap, I forgot to snap a photo of that sheet behind the seat.

 

[DoubleDingo]

Mean Green

I have mentioned my old truck Mean Green a few times in this thread. Last night I finally fired up the home computer and I dug around for some old photos of the beast truck called Mean Green. Unfortunately these are of the crunched version. Heartbreaking to see them. But, seatbelts do work! And I am glad I had them installed.

 

[DoubleDingo]

This is all that was left that was hauled off to scrap. If I knew then what I know now, I would have kept it all. But I got some chunks of good metal from it and the rest of the truck is still with me too. Good old Sybil, damn good dog right there. She is not doing well now, 14 and a half and her body is breaking down. In that photo it looks like she is wondering what happened to the truck she grew up in.

 

[HotRodPC]

I'da sure kept that rocker panel before it went to scrap.

 

[DoubleDingo]

For sure, I definitely wish I had, could've used it to fix the rust damage on this truck.

Well, I couldn't bring myself to trust the exhaust shop to fix their work. Not the y-pipe off the manifolds as mentioned, but also the alternate method I was going to have them do. I found another shop with great reviews, a one-man show. Good guy. I stopped in during lunch on Friday, told him my plan, walked back to work, and in about two hours he called me back that is was done. On my afternoon break I walked to get it, and for just over $100 it is much better. Instead of running the old loud system with resonators, I opted to have this guy tie-in to the remainder of the new system I left in place. I went that route because I figured it would be much quieter than the other setup even with resonators upstream from the muffler. Can barely hear it now and that is exactly what I wanted. Even before this work was done, the new system wasn't this quiet. Not sure why, but it was still audible, not like it is now, nice and quiet. It's a pleasure to drive and be able to hear yourself think, and only hear the transmission gears whining. Of course it comes with a price, now the various rattles shine through, so I have to quiet those down. Lots of bed bolts to tighten, and need some new weatherstripping for the doors. That should help a bunch. I meant to get under the truck this weekend to see what the guy did, but I got sidetracked with chores and never worked on the truck. When I get under there I'll snap some shots of his work. He did use the old pipes off the manifolds and ran new from those. Will be using him for any exhaust work in the future.

 

[HotRodPC]

I bet it looks way different under there now. And likely much better.

 

[DoubleDingo]

I have just been driving and enjoying the truck. But I feel it needs more low end torque so I am ordering a Comp K12-231-2 which includes everything for the heads so I'll have some old heads from my crate motor reworked for a fresh top end.

Life is going to be changing for me soon, actually already has in a way. After being a bachelor all my life I found a really cool Texas girl and we're getting hitched in May. We both grew up in small towns, and love to travel and explore, among other things. She's 6 years younger than me and untouched if you know what I mean. Going to be taking the old truck down to the Victoria area to marry her and bring her back with me, so I have some preventative maintenance to do on it beforehand, and replacing the top end is part of it. Changing fluids is the other, as well as packing wheel bearings and such. Looking forward to seeing some new areas of the country and starting a new life with a cool gal. So if you see the old truck rolling through your area in early May give me a honk, wave me over, it would be cool to chat for a few in person.

Hope all is well all you all. I need to get back to work, but I thought I'd give you guys a quick update on myself. Have a Great Day and God Bless!!!

 

[Old77]

wow that's cool. Congrats!!

 

[DoubleDingo]

Before I log out, in Post 203 you'll see the factory AC dash for the 1965 truck. I still have it and all the components for the AC. How difficult is it to remove the dash from a truck?