Love You Gearly

As with all old vehicles, you need to place some cardboard and/or absorbent pads beneath the vehicle if you want to reduce the number of oil stains on your garage/shop floor. I had been noticing that the pad beneath the differential seemed to be collecting a little more oil than I thought was desirable…

Also, since I hadn’t changed the gear oil yet in the differential, I felt I could take care of a few things at once.

The differential cover came off easily enough. The oil (as differential oil usually does) looked pretty sludgy. More importantly, I did not see any chunks of metal or shavings in the drained oil. Very happy about that!

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Grounded

I took a closer look at some of the wiring connections on Cornelius, and noted that the main ground strap from the battery to the frame looked tired and frayed.

While grounding is critical for any automotive electrical system, it is especially so on a 6-volt system! Connections must be clean and tight throughout. Also, you need to remember that a 6-volt system utilizes twice the amperage (current through the wiring) that a 12-volt system does, so the wiring needs to be sized accordingly. You can use #2 wires for the starter and ground on a 12-volt system, but you should use #0 for a 6-volt system (no less than #2 for ground strap).

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We Have Ignition!

The engine has been running pretty well, but one item on the checklist that I should have verified before now is the point gap in the distributor.

First I verified that the distributor is indeed a Delco-Remy, model 622R. Based on that, the Service Manual calls for the gap to be set between 0.018″ and 0.024″. When I checked, the gap seemed a bit wide, and I reset to 0.020″ to be in the middle.

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That’s Rad!

At this point the truck is running pretty well, however I have been noticing some small leaks at the thermostat housing on top of the

head and there are also at least two or three small leaks within the radiator itself. On top of that, part of the lip on the radiator filler inlet has broken off, which does not allow the radiator cap to fasten properly. I have some work cut out for me. This effort pretty much takes up the month of July, all told.

I first start by sourcing parts, and thanks to the Old IHC forum (The finest IHC forum and excellent source of information, in my opinion, and not just because I have been one of the admins there since 2009!) I was able to obtain a part number for the thermostat (Stant 13368 / 180 degree). The thermostat housing gasket was available from Olson’s Gaskets (Very friendly, knowledgeable service).

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Water Pump

My initial inspection of the water pump did not find any leaks, so I was very happy about that, but I decided to research proper care further. Apparently, a small amount of leakage into the shaft is DESIRED for these older water pumps, and upon further inspection, I was elated to see just that with the pump on Cornelius.

It is important, however, to keep the shaft of the pump properly lubricated. Toward that end, I found a grease JUST for this purpose – Lubriplate #115 for water pumps. Once I removed the grease cup I found that whatever was being used for grease was drying up, and was also not getting where it needed to be. I removed the grease cup, gave it a thorough cleaning, then packed it with the Lubriplate grease.

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Blind Spots

There is a set of peep mirrors on the truck, and the rear view mirror is apparently a Ford Model A reproduction. None work very well with respect to seeing what is behind me whilst driving. Something needs to be done.

I wish I could find an original driver’s side mirror, but there are none to be had just yet, so a better set of peeps are needed. After searching quite a bit, I found a set of 4″ round, long arm, stainless peep mirrors on eBay for a very reasonable price. With the bend in the arm, they work perfect for both the driver’s side as well as the passenger side.

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