"LUCKY 13" Restoration Process

[Selliott]

Man I wish those pics were in order, that’s really annoying! 

[Smadge]

Shon/Corey,

What did you soak the coolant overflow tank in to remove the rust? Also, did you coat the inside of the tank when you were done? I'm about to do mine so any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Paul

[coreyelliott]

Looking good. How did you weld up the cracks in the exhaust manifold?
Thanks, Jeff

Jeff, I did that VERY slowly!   

It took me several evenings worth of work and several conversations with Shon as I cursed the manifold and threatened to just break out some jb weld.  He said he didn't think that was such a good idea.   

Anyway, I grooved out the entire crack (it extended around 3 sides) and drilled a hole at either end of the crack to help prevent it from spreading.  I then used stainless steel rod and welded it up (SMAW) using preheat and plenty of post heat.  I did have to re-groove a couple of areas as some minor stress cracks formed parallel with the weld in the HAZ.  I've only really welded on cast one other time and found out the stainless rod was best, I think I used 308.  I'm sure there is something better and more appropriate, but this is what I could get easily.  I got the rod and Tractor Suppoly.

It wasn't fun and was labor intensive but the welded repair seems to have worked.  We were also extremely careful when bolting the manifold on.  My biggest concern is that when this manifold eventually burns off the ceramic paint and starts to oxidize, the stainless steel weld will stay clean.  Will just see how that works out.

Corey

[coreyelliott]

Shon/Corey,

What did you soak the coolant overflow tank in to remove the rust? Also, did you coat the inside of the tank when you were done? I'm about to do mine so any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Paul

Paul,

We used a lye bath.  It's what Shon and I have affectionately called the "shit bucket".  We've thrown everything in this solution to help clean them.  Transmission gears, transmission shifter cover, cables, air cleaner, etc.  This lye bath is incredibly caustic and basic, opposite of acidic, and is pretty dangerous stuff.  It's essentially what dip tanks have (or used to anyway) that a machine shop would drop a block in.  Except their's is usually heated to near boiling.  As long as you wear gloves and eye protection you're fine.  It also can produce hydrogen gass during the reaction. 

You do have to be careful though.  This thing LOVES to eat up some metals.  Such as pot metal, it will eat out the aluminum.  Don't ask how I figured that one out.

You just need to get some sodium hydroxide and dump it in water.  Luckily, sodium hydroxide also commonly used in drain cleaners.  It's also known as caustic soda. Lye is used in the soap making industry and there seems to be a lot of DIY soap making going on, so a lot of people buy lye online for this reason.  Sodium hydroxide is also commonly used in the production of meth, so that has thrown a kink in the sales to the general public.

Below I posted a pic of the drain cleaner I get from True Value.  It's important that the drain cleaner be 100% lye (sodium hyrdroxide).  Many cleaners are gels, or have other things in them.  The pic of the one I posted is the good stuff.  There is also a picture of our air cleaner soaking in the shit bucket.  I learned this trick from someone on this forum I think.  It cleaned up the air cleaner like new inside.  Since you can't open up the air cleaners, I was looking for an option to clean them out.  This worked perfectly.

I mix one pound of lye in 5 gallons of water.  And throw in more as I clean more things.  I'm not really scientific about it.  I've never pulled out any litmus paper and tested the pH levels or anything like that.

After putting the surge tank in this solution, it revealed some small rusted holes we didn't know were there.  I was able to brazed those and they are holding.  The inside was clean and we did not line it with anything.  Probably should have thrown some POR-15 in there or something.  Might have to revisit that in the future.

Corey

[beerman]

Thanks for the information on the exhaust and I may have to try the lye bucket cleaner

[coreyelliott]

Thanks for the information on the exhaust and I may have to try the lye bucket cleaner

Let me know if you have any questions.  I'm more than happy to help.  I've made many mistakes that I can maybe help others avoid!

Corey

[spillmk1]

Thanks for the information on the exhaust and I may have to try the lye bucket cleaner

Let me know if you have any questions.  I'm more than happy to help.  I've made many mistakes that I can maybe help others avoid!

Corey

Man....haven't we all!!!!!!!

[emptyhead]

Thanks for the info.

[coreyelliott]

Just a few updates.  We started working a little bit on the doors.  We went ahead and disassembled all of the door parts, latches, locks, hinges, etc.  I was able to free up all of the rods that hold the upppers up or down, but the locking mechanisms were both not wanting to move.  As others here have done, I took them apart and rebuilt them.  I used a spring from ACE hardware, but I did have to shorten it by about 1/4".  Next, we went ahead a did a dry fit of the door on the truck (I just couldn't resist).  Also, we happily put on some brackets ordered from Paul.

[coreyelliott]

We also got our louvers installed and working!  What a great feeling that was. We don't have them hooked up to the handle in the cab yet as we are waiting on the clevis. A friend took it an repaired it and we don't have it back yet, but the louvers are connected to the rod. That was an interesting assembly. Next was the middle hood piece. Ours is very slightly bent or sagging down. Is that typical? I almost remember the horizontal hood pieces straightening out the middle piece when it's all reassembled. Not sure.  I was also able to rebuild the ignition switch and paint it.

[coreyelliott]

Lastly, we are finishing up the body work on the dash and started to fit the floor together.  I got the last vertical panel for the passenger floorboard welded up and new hinges installed.  Shon already had the others done so we fit them together.  Another eye opening thing that made things really start to feel real. 

[coreyelliott]

Oh, I almost forgot!!!!  We got some tracks!  We were able to somehow find a guy in our area that had a set of Isreal tracks made in 1987.  Still strapped to the pallet!

That's all for now!

Corey

[8683jb]

Wow - outstanding job!!! It looks great. It sure boosts things along when you can start putting painted parts back on!

[spillmk1]

Lastly, we are finishing up the body work on the dash and started to fit the floor together.  I got the last vertical panel for the passenger floorboard welded up and new hinges installed.  Shon already had the others done so we fit them together.  Another eye opening thing that made things really start to feel real. 

Hello Corey,
Great job!!!
Just wondering if you're going to pull the dash back out to do the wiring?
It'll be a lot easier than standing on your head!!!

Keith

[coreyelliott]

Thanks for all of the support!  It's coming along slowly!

Corey