Christmas - on time

More Big Red related Christmas gifts came today, in the form of a text photo from my Dad. Last month it was an air compressor, today, the air compressor got friends - an impact wrench and socket set. Also, the jack stands I bought last month got friends too - along with a floor jack and creeper! Is it Spring yet?

Lots of stuff going to make the trip up in the Spring

Happy Holidays!

It's been slow, and it's been cold - and getting colder. In fact, I just got some insulated bib overalls so I can stay warm this winter since I'm becoming a bit of a wimp in my old age. Anyway, I haven't updated things in a while, and that's because there's nothing to report. One of these days I'll get to polishing some of that chrome and stainless in the basement. In the mean time, enjoy the season and be safe. Enjoy your family and happy holidays from Rebuilding Big Red!

Big Red in a parade some day?

Early Christmas

My father called me a couple days ago, saying that he had found my Christmas present, but since it's too large for me to carry back home on the plane when I visit, he wanted to see if they had it in stock by me, so he could just send the money for me to buy. After a bit of back and forth (it wasn't in stock at my store), he decided to just buy it and have me wait for when they drive up in the Spring. So, now I'm waiting on the present and a nice bench vice that was my Grandfathers, but at 70 lbs, won't be a carry-on item either.

So, what am I getting? An air compressor! Like I noted earlier, having not done much in the line of working on cars and trucks, I simply don't have many of the tools necessary to finish my work on Big Red, so help in that direction is certainly appreciated. Now, to wait 6 months to put it to use....

Waiting for me - just 10 short hours drive away.

Restoration, or...

Hmm, an interesting discovery today. First, however, a bit of back-story. When I started looking for a "play" truck this past summer, my first reaction was to look at military vehicles (MV). I always thought they had that extra something that made them cool. After doing some research, I had identified the Dodge M-37 (a Power Wagon variant that was used mainly in Korea and into Vietnam) as my primary target. They are, in fact, behind Jeeps, the second most popular historical MV to restore. I was all excited about looking for a M-37 (and even saw my first in person at the Russell Military Museum on the Illinois/Wisconsin border), until I sat in one. By the way - I'm tall. Like 6'6" tall. The M-37 wasn't designed for guys like me, as I couldn't reach the clutch. Back to the drawing board. There were other options out there, but I couldn't find any in my price range, or that I liked, or that were as practical as Big Red (which means no 10-ton tractors).

So, I had essentially given up on getting a MV and bought Big Red. I still like to look at the trucks that I can't afford or are just too big (check out Steel Soldiers if you like MV's too), and was today directed to the web-site Olive Drab. They have links about all sorts of military related stuff, including a comprehensive list of MV's used by the US. I was clicking through their info and came across this. An earlier and slightly heavier/larger version of Big Red. And I had a thought. "What if, instead of a pure renovation, I built a 'clone' of the MV International truck?" The biggest difference, besides it being a different color (OD green, I assume, but the link lists it as a Navy truck... Maybe gunship grey?), is the bed. I had been planning on a flat-bed, stake-side, but could switch up and find out what kind of cargo box the MV version had (maybe similar to another MV that could be easier to acquire, rather than a genuine, hard to find variety?).

As I said, an interesting discovery, and some thinking to do...

A fire truck M-37 at the Russell Military Museum

The future "plan" for Big Red? To be determined...

At least I tried...

It was darn nice out today, and will be tomorrow as well. Near record highs, in fact into the 50's. So, knowing that it won't even be this warm again soon, I thought I'd try to take off the master cylinder on Big Red to add that to my winter list of stuff to work on. Yeah. I got one of the five bolts needed off. I need to get under the truck to get at the other four, plus need to figure out how the three that mount the master to the frame can be removed. The last bolt is the brake line, and I couldn't get a good angle at it from above. Seeing as it's still chilly out there (and seeing as the concrete floor in the garage isn't as warm as the air temp), I figured I'd wait for the time being.

Baby it's cold outside - and I'm jacked!

So, it's been a month since I did an update. And there's a good reason(s) for that. School continues to keep me busy driving bus, and my other jobs have been going well (with the HS football team I broadcast games for into the state playoffs, so I've driven them and announced their games), plus the big cool down is in full effect. High's have been in the 30's or 40's just about every day, so the unheated garage hasn't been any warmer. I briefly thought about going out there this past weekend to remove the master cylinder, but highs of 32 and 33 Sat and Sun didn't get me very motivated.

So, with all that said, I did accomplish something today Big Red related. I had stopped at the local pawn shop a couple days ago to check on their changing inventory (hey, it's like a garage sale open every day!), and found a pair of 3-ton jack stands for just $12! I almost bought them right on the spot, but talked myself out of it. Today, I decided I couldn't go wrong for the price - half of a new set at most of the car part stores in town. So, here they are:

Yes. Likely the most exciting photo you'll look at all day... At least it's one more item I can check off my winter buy list (still need the carb rebuild kit, the missing stainless hood pieces and, oh yeah, the floor jack so that the stands aren't just hunks of metal taking up space in the garage). Fortunately, or unfortunately (depending on your view of cold weather), there's lots of time before it's warm enough to get back to work on Big Red.

Tool organization day

With the "blizzard" behind us (we only got a dusting, but it was nasty weather Thursday and Friday), I decided it was time to organize all my tools. See, I've never been very organized in general, and my tools have definitely suffered. They have stayed in the unheated garage all winter in the past, and gotten separated or lost in several projects. With Big Red needing new tool purchases recently, and in the future, I decided it was time to gather everything up and try to get organized. Here's the "pile" as it sits.

That's an old Craftsman tool box I've had since I was a kid, and several boxes of tools that came up when my Father visited several weeks ago. There are still a few items that didn't fit in the box, so am considering my expansion options. Portability needs to be an option without a heated garage, but consolidation would be nice too.

The end is nigh

Told you so.

Not Big Red - but maybe after tomorrow!

A great family weekend

Originally, I had planned on trying out some new gas in a gas can this past weekend to try to get Big Red started, but other priorities took over, and I don't think I looked in the garage even once. After working most of the day Saturday, we had a great relaxing rest of the weekend enjoying time as a family, watching movies, working on my daughters music lessons, playing board games, and enjoying fall. I doubt that I'll get a chance to do much more in the garage before the weather takes a real turn for the wintery (by the end of the week, the "s" word makes its first appearance in the forecast and we'll have highs in the 40's), and that's fine by me. A few posts ago, I kind of summed up what had been accomplished in the short time I've had Big Red, and honestly, it's more than I expected to have done. Yeah, I planned on having the brakes fixed, and I had hoped to have the truck started at least once, but looking back, it's been a lot! Plus, the truck sat in a barn for 8 years before I got it - what's one more winter of waiting before getting fired up?

Tinkering under the hood

It's a (Buddy?) Holley!

So, after much research, I was able to find all the info I needed right on my carburetor to decipher exactly what kind it is. It wasn't in plain sight, mind you, and thanks go out to a few people. First, one of the folks on OldIHC.org mentioned that they noticed what looked like a tag in one of the pictures I posted here yesterday. Sure enough, it was a metal tag, and some degreaser and a scrub brush resulted in this:

Shiny metal tag! Where's all the crud?

I know you can't read it in the picture, but look at the pic in the last blog entry. Quite a contrast, no? The tag reads:

PART NO.

71343-R91

HOLLEY

LIST - 502

So, mystery solved - it's a Holley carburetor. The problem remained that it doesn't look like the Holley 847-F in my manual. What to do? Well, Holley still is in business, although they are geared towards performance products, rather than stock vehicles. Either way, I contacted them about the availability of a carb rebuild kit for this model, and they were very prompt in replying that they no longer make them. They did, however, direct me to Daytona Parts and based on information on their website, I found out that more degreaser would be necessary:

Well, there you go. It is a Holley 847, but not labeled as an 847-F, rather as an 847-502. I've got an email off to Daytona Parts to get to the bottom of the mystery, but at least we're moving in the right direction.

Finally, after talking to a few folks, and looking over my spark plugs, we've come to the conclusion that the issue in trying to start Big Red last weekend was likely bad or old gas. I bought 2 gallons of fresh gas for trying to start the truck, but just added it to the tank, and whatever was already in there. Who knows how long that old gas sat in the tank, not to mention what crud might be floating around in there. The plan now is to bypass the tank completely, and try to set up an auxiliary gas tank directly feeding the fuel pump, or depending on how hard that is to get to, the carb. If that doesn't get Big Red started, well, then I'll move on to the spark plugs...

Plugs out; carbs bad, but what kind of carbs?

My socket set only has a 5/8" spark plug socket, so off to the auto parts store to get an 13/16" version. Minutes later, and the plugs are out:

They're not in terrible shape, but not great either. Time to look into new plugs and wires too.

While under the hood, I took a look at the markings on the engine block. They didn't come out well in photos, but here they are:

I know that one of these is the engine serial number, but you can tell that there is 60+ years of grime making things tough to make out. Once Big Red is road worthy, part of the plan is to take a power washer to the engine to clean it up quite a bit.

Finally, I took some pictures of the carburetor. I can't tell which of the two models (Holley or Zenith) that were offered on the KB-6 it is, so I'll be offering these photos to the fine folks at OldIHC.org to see if they can help, and there by help me find the correct rebuild kit.

Cookin' with gas, but no fire

Billy came over yesterday and we hooked up my battery and tried to get Big Red to turn over. The truck cranked, and the starter was willing, but no fire. We checked the headlights since the starter sounded a bit week, and they were on but faint. We decided that charging my new battery would be a good idea, since it might have sat on a shelf at the store and lost some of its charge. If you remember my Father bringing a bunch of tools last weekend, one item he brought was a 6 volt trickle charger. So, an overnight charge later, and we tried again this morning. Unfortunately, it was the same story. The battery was stronger, and the headlights were nice and bright, but the engine didn't want to fire. Time to check the spark plugs and wires.

While we were working on getting Big Red started, we looked over the carburetor, and noticed that it will need a rebuild. Some of the gaskets are in rough shape. I was able to find my rebuild kit a Carbs Unlimited, so add that to the "parts needed" list. I also need a larger size socket set to get to the spark plugs. Billy should be able to let me borrow those until I have my own.

Come on, start - please?

So that's where I'm at. Projects on my list for before Spring are:

• Rebuild the master cylinder. I still need the brake line wrenches before I can get this done.
• Remove the spark plugs and wires to either replace or at least check.
• Purchase carb rebuild kit and rebuild!
• Clean and polish the chrome and stainless steel parts that I've removed and moved to the basement.

Not a bad place to be after about a month and a half. Obviously, I'd like to have the master cylinder at least out, and the engine started, but for every step forward on an old vehicle, there are two steps back, right? The cold is definitely moving in, as the leaves are all orange or red or yellow, and we've already had two hard freezes here. I don't really have a timeline for when I'll be getting back to work on one of those four items on the list. Three of them require some sort of monetary expenditure, so they can't be checked off until the items are purchased.

Mom? Can Billy come over? He can? Great!

Billy's coming over Saturday, and my new battery will be installed and hopefully start Big Red right up. If not, at least we can try to figure out what isn't working and go from there. My Dad also sent up this picture of the two of us from last Saturday when he was here and we got to work on the truck a bit:

It's not the best because of the lighting, but at least we got one...

Now we're cooking with gas

One day later and my battery arrived:

A 6 Volt Group 2 battery - and it's MINE!

I went out to the garage to take a look see at the battery box (under the drivers seat and accessible through a missing body panel under the door) and looked at another bit of rust I really hadn't noticed before - although my Dad did point it out when he was up last weekend. The battery box is held on by four beefy bolts - bigger than 1/2", and my socket set doesn't go that large, so removal will have to wait. That's okay since all I planned to do was see if the battery will get Big Red started, then remove it for the winter. I can fix the rust before putting the battery back in for good in the spring.

Rust has split the left side of the battery box

And since I was out in the garage, I decided to crawl under the truck to pop off that last hubcap. It was fairly easy to pop off, but I got a surprise once it broke free - about a cup of oil sprayed out onto my garage floor. Add another item to the "to do" list...

An oil filled hubcap

A mini Exxon Valdez in my garage - quick! Save the wildlife!

You can see how close to the wall Big Red is parked, and why my Father didn't want to crawl back there to pull that hubcap off when he was here last weekend.

So, with the battery here, I'd like to see if the truck will fire up.There's a coupe things I'd like to do before I get to that point, but I'd love to see if it will rumble to life again before it gets really cold (as opposed to this mornings darn cold 28 degrees). That would be pretty sweet...

Christmas in September!

Wow, quick shipping! My eBay win arrived in the mail today, and so did my master cylinder rebuild kit from Rock Auto. The Rock Auto arrival surprised me the most. I selected the cheapest shipping option, which was 1st Class Mail from the USPS at just $3.05, compared to "Ground" at $11+, or overnight at $40 (!). My order was just placed last Friday, so it only took 3 days to get here. Now, Rock Auto is just one state away (they're in Wisconsin - I'm in Minnesota), but how many places that you can order from would take an order on a Friday, and leave it on the shipping guy's desk over the weekend and maybe get it out the door on Monday? Overall, I came away very impressed with the shipping and will give Rock Auto a go next time I need something for Big Red - assuming they have it!

Vintage buy off eBay

A bag of parts. Hmm, time to figure out how the master cylinder comes apart, I suppose...

I'm going to take my "Owner's and Driver's Manual" and make copies of all the pages, and use the copies, rather than the original to refer back to when working on the truck. The paper isn't in terrible shape, but for a book that's over 60 years old, it's seen better days. I think it will spend most of the rest of its time with me inside the plastic cover it came with.

A good weekend with Dad

If you've been reading this blog since the beginning, you know that one of my big regrets growing up was not paying as much attention as I should have when my Father bought and worked on a 1968 Mustang.  He would go out and work on it and I would sometimes help, but mostly with a lack of interest. I should have learned much more about cars than I did. So, with that background, I was pretty excited about this weekend since my parents were coming to visit us for the first time since Big Red came to stay in the garage. Dad looked the truck over and asked why I wanted such a large vehicle, but asked if I wanted some help on anything while he was in town. Of course, I said yes!

Yesterday, in the limited time we had (I still had to work while the folks were in town), we decided to see if we could wrestle off the hubcaps that had been giving me trouble. In short order, we had three of them off, with the fourth hard to get to. I'll give that one a try this week when I have time to crawl under the truck, since that wheel is close to the garage wall.

While walking around in my garage, my Dad also commented on the mirrors and how much they were in the way. He asked if they were original, and if I planned to keep them. Since the answer to both questions was "no," off they came. Even though they are a more recent addition to the truck, some of the bolts were stuck, and some access panels on the inside of the door had to be removed to get at the bolts.

We also looked at the master cylinder, and discussed my plan of attack for trying to rebuild it. He brought me a bunch of tools that he no longer has plans to use, including a tap and die set, and a grinder, amongst other things. Great stuff.

Best of all, the final comment from my Dad when we were done working, was, "this is going to be a fun project. I'd love to come up and help you more, but 1200 miles every weekend is a bit much for me." That comment alone made my weekend, not to mention working with my Dad on a fun project like Big Red...

More ordering!

My plan today was to get a couple big items ordered. First off, I checked off the master cylinder rebuild kit from Rock Auto, which was $20 shipped. I'm looking forward to tearing that apart once it gets here. The other part I ordered, I didn't actually intend to order. I showed up at L&M Fleet Supply in town with the intent of purchasing my battery. Here's what I found:

Yep - empty!  So, I had to order it. At least things are in motion and I can start thinking about starting Big Red up once the battery arrives!

I won!

That eBay auction I mentioned in my post earlier today? I sniped a bid with 4 minutes left and got this fantastic Original Vintage KB-6/KBS-6 Owner's and Driver's Manual.

Now, you may say, "didn't you already buy the service manual for Big Red?" Well, yes - sort of. I got the main service manual for the K and KB line of trucks. If you look at the entire line of trucks, you note that it covers everything from a standard 1/2 ton pickup, all the way to a 90,000 lb. tractor trailer. In other words, my K/KB service manual is 600 pages, and there's a lot of stuff that is fantastic (the info on rebuilding my master cylinder) and stuff that is extraneous or missing (the section on removing the truck's cab deals exclusively with the K/KB1-5 versions, and has nothing on the K/KB6 and up). Needless to say, 39 pages all about Big Red? I'm thrilled!

Time for plan "B"

Two and a half weeks ago, after Billy and I finished removing the wood from the grain box flatbed, we added brake fluid to the stuck master cylinder. The hope was that letting fresh fluid (the cylinder was bone dry) sit in the reservoir would loosen it up. A week later, I added a cinder block, applying pressure to the brake pedal, trying to help the brake work free.

The cinder block on the brake pedal. Yes, it's resting on a sled.

Two and a half weeks of fluid, one and a half weeks of steady pressure on the master cylinder and nothing. Still stuck. Plan "B" is to try to rebuild the cylinder, which is a much more cost effective solution than replacing it. Rock Auto offers a rebuild kit for my master cylinder for $20 shipped, and I now have the K/KB line service manual, which has a detailed diagram of how everything goes together. Looks like a fairly simple task - we'll see...

The master cylinder (on the right), held on by just a few bolts

In the above picture, you can also see the only real rust damage on Big Red. The floor boards will need to be patched at best, and replaced at worst. Finally, I've got my eye on an eBay auction that ends tonight. I'll let you know if I win it, and what the prize is... Cross your fingers for me!

More bolts!

I really wanted to get the rest of the chrome and stainless off the front end today. Well, mission (basically) accomplished! The door handles, windshield wipers and gas cap is all still on there, but I didn't try to take those off. The one major piece I didn't take off that I wanted to was the hubcaps. I pulled and pulled, smacked them with a rubber mallet, pried on them, but they didn't budge. At all... Back to the drawing board on those.

Darn you, hubcaps!

I did remove the hood today. I asked the folks at OldIHC.org for advice on removal, and was told that there were just two bolts connecting the struts to the nose, then the nose is connected to the radiator by "four bolts." Well, four bolts off, and the nose didn't move. I found two more and the hood popped off!

To get to the chrome piece on top of all those grille pieces, you're supposed to remove the nose, so I figured that I had the four I was told about, plus the two "surprise" bolts, so it should just pop off, right? Nope. More bolts! Four more, in fact. Bolts that can only be reached if the radiator or fenders are removed. So... the nose stays on. I was, however, able to reach behind the radiator and get to the bolts that hold that chrome piece on and remove them. I also took off the trim to the parking lights, so the nose now looks like this:

That stainless strip down the middle? Yeah, the nose has to be off to remove it. That can wait.

I did also move all the chrome and stainless to my basement shop, where it will be polished over the winter. If you are following this blog from somewhere warm and think that winter is a long way off, consider that today, here in northern Minnesota, it's currently 60° with 30 mph winds. Tonight's low? 38°. Yeah. Winter's coming.

Chrome, stainless - and Nevr Dull!

See those baggies? Those are the lifeblood of the rebuild. Bolts, clips, parking light lenses, you name it. Who's gonna remember where a random bolt goes in nine months? Best advice I ever got - get plastic baggies that you can label - and label them!

A toothless grin

I'm inpatient. This is a theme that runs throughout my life. Sometimes it's a very bad thing, other times not so much. Today, it made me get something done early. Can't be a bad thing, can it?

All I had planned to do today (the first day of school and my first day back driving school bus) was to hose down the hubcaps with WD-40 ahead of the weekend, so that they may be loose when I planned to start working on them. But after I had my fun with the WD-40, the screwdriver I had out there to pry off the grille stainless molding was just staring at me. I couldn't help it, and I removed a piece. Then another, and another and all of a sudden, all the pieces were in a pile! There was a lot of grain dust and general crud on the insides of the pieces, so that all blew out when they were removed. I gathered up all retaining clips, but many are missing or damaged. I have found a place that sells new ones, but I'm going to need a lot of them (quick math - 15 pieces per side, 2 sides, 3 clips per piece = 90 clips. The place I found that sells them? $2.25 a piece, or $202.50 if I need them all. Yep, better salvage as many as I can)...

I'm getting old - all my teeth fell out!

A pile of grille moldings. I paid $13 each for the missing two, so these represent a good bit of $ to those that need them.

I'm also trying to figure out how the hubcaps come off. They have these spring retainer clips that are rivited in the middle to the hubcap. Prying on them doesn't seem to loosen them up very much, so I'm hoping to find info out from the folks at OldIHC.org about how they come off. I'm also going to try to be patient waiting for the WD-40 to work between the hubcaps and the wheels.

The retainer clip

A general tire/wheel view from back on delivery day

Big Reds home got a new paint job!

Labor Day weekend was "paint your house" weekend for us. We went from blue to brown and got almost everything done - just about half of the back side is left. The forecast is for good weather all week, so we'll try to get it done ahead of the weekend. That would be great, since Betty and Anna are going out of town for the 4H State Shoot (Anna shoots archery and air rifle and pistol and will be at the big state shooting tourney), and I'd love to get some of the chrome, stainless and hubcaps off Big Red next weekend.

I also decided to change the name of this blog. The URL will remain the same, but "Moose's 1949 International KB-6" was way too generic. "Rebuilding Big Red" it is.

Yup, this is how I though it would go

Ah, the routine of "sports season," as we call it. The time of year when I run around like a mad man, studying, preparing and interviewing coaches for half the week, then travel and the actual radio broadcasting. It runs from now (with football starting) through at least Memorial Day weekend, and as it did this past year, sometimes into mid-June. One game a week to start, then November through March, four or even five games a week. Not to mention that while I'm busy doing sports, I'm also working back at the radio station and driving bus. In other words, not much time for Big Red on the horizon...

I did check on the master cylinder before I left for that first football game yesterday. The fluid held, which means that there are no leaks in the reservoir. The brake pedal still won't move, so I'm going to try putting some gradual pressure on it by leaning a cinder block against it. Hopefully, slight pressure, rather than a jolt, will work the cylinder loose. If that doesn't work, I might have to break down and re-build it.

Goofy grin, eh? From back on delivery day.

Back on the "lack of free-time" topic, I should actually have some this weekend! However, Big Red isn't the only project on my list. The honey-do list has included painting the house for quite a while, so that project gets crossed off before anything else can get done on the truck...

Holy hot!

It's a hot one out there. Not hot like most of the country has been this summer, but darn hot for this far north, pushing 90 today. I was thinking of doing one of those "remove stuff" tasks (the chrome/stainless or flatbed screws), but I'd rather not work outside in the heat. There's a reason I live "up north."

So, here are a few pictures I've found the last few days of other KB-6's out there. It seems clear to me that the truck looks best in the "and black" color scheme, rather than monochromatic. I briefly entertained painting Big Red green, since that's my favorite color, but aren't all IHC's supposed to be red? Not to mention that I'd have to change the truck's name again...

Green and black is a nice combo

All green is okay

Another red and black - the selected color combo for "Big Red"

All red? a bit much...