Tweet
Howdy, I have been following this and other similar forums for two years now. I grew up tinkering with late 60's early 70's muscle cars. I bought my first Dodge truck from a farmer here in Ohio back in the mid 90's, an 85 prospector royal se. I was doing alot of hauling since I was in the antique business. I kept it for about 7 years before giving it to a friend, but never forgot that feeling of driving it and that feeling of power at my command. Last summer I attended the Ron Hackenberger auction in Norwalk OH. There were 750 vehicles that had been hauler from out west during this guy's trucking career. Many of them were old dodge trucks. I have always loved the power giant style and was focussed on a 58 W100 that was a brush truck in Arizona. It had 51k showing on the odometer and the drive line was complete. There was no bed on it, but that was of little concern to me at the time. Like any auction, I had a predetermined limit set in my mind. I had to figure what it would cost me to go to Arizona, buy a truck and have it transported and added that to my limit. I won the auction at the exact limit I had set after a long pause for my final bid to let the guy know if he was just running me up, he might own it. My strategy worked. Here are some pics of the truck when I got it home. 
-
-
Spring is here gentlemen, time to start wrenching! I notice it's been a month since anyone has posted in this Power Giant section. What do y'all say we get things going again? -
You are right... woke up this morning to only an inch of snow...LOL. I've been working but never seem to find the camera. Welcome to the board of Giants. DrPepperComment
-
I was trying HaHa to post more, just haven't much going on after my boring mirror post. Not sure what to do next on old ALOriginally posted by Emmy41 View PostComment
-
I have spent the winter tinkering with things that I can, alot of prep for paint, removal of surface rust, hunting parts on the web, Etc. Etc. Etc.......
Dr. Pepper, I am enjoying reading all the threads you have posted in for the years you have been active here and am learning from you and others past experience.
Perhaps someone will pick up some tips or know what not to do from my posts....lol. But one thing I do know, things that become inactive tend to die. So, since I have no buds near me to share this passion, you guys are it. Maybe we can motivate each other?
Comment
-
I wanna share the work I have done since buying this Power Giant, and am continuing to do currently. Eventually I will catch up to were I am now and my post will slow down. I am not doing a nut and bolt restoration. I admire those that do, and the trucks that Ron cranks out are soooooo ******! I have been to his place, in fact he hooked me up with a Ute bed that was a little rougher than he wanted to use. He is only about an hour west of me, and it's nice to have a nearby safety net.
My goal is to preserve my truck, fix what needs fixing, I love the old patina, so buffing and waxing does wonders for an old sun baked paint job. And that's the look I want. I am cleaning and painting things as they are dismantled for service. Mainly engine compt. and undercarriage. Have also freshened the jewelry.......trim pieces, etc.
I am trying to keep my costs down, I don't want to get more $ in than its worth. Not that I intend to sell it, but someday my children most likely will. ****, I couldn't even teach them to drive/shift my Xterra 5 spd!Comment
-
I began with a clean out obviously! Then a pressure washing. What a mess in the cab! Rodents had that seat tore to shreds, not one lick of foam still on the seat frame. Luckily the floor was solid with only a layer of surface scale. Cab mounts are all solid.
I went to work on assessing the motor. The odometer reads 51k, so maybe I'll get lucky? The motor was free, I determined this at the suction by turning the fan. So, I pulled the plugs and squirted a dose of Marvel Mystery oil in each cylinder. Let it soak for a few days, then tuned the motor by hand about 20-30 full revolutions. (Eat your Wheaties!) While it was soaking, I pulled the Stromberg WW carb and soaked and rebuilt that. Also, I checked the radiator, poured water in it to determine if it would even hold it. Another stroke of luck! Only about a gallon of water went in before it overflowed and showed bright green with antifreeze. So, good enough for now. Wiring is intact, so I trace things down, looking for splices or melted wire or any other signs of tampering. Aside from a missing ignition key and some added/ abandoned wires from the fire dept add on equiptment, everything looked good. I pulled the ignition switch out of the dash and disconnected the wires after labeling them. Then connected them accordingly and ran a jumper long enough to reach the battery. It was time to let the starter crank the pistons after soaking. I left the plugs hanging and pulled the coil wire and let it spin about ten seconds at a time. Things sounded normal....so far so good. I put the plugs back in, dropped the fuel hose in a 1 gal temp tank, poured some gas in the carb and let er rip. ........Nuthin.......Determined no spark. Checked wiring ........hey, something looks amiss! I had noticed what looked like someone had worked on this truck in the past, probably the last attempt to get it running. Anyway, a PO had unhooked some of the ignition wiring, replaced some things then hooked the wiring up wrong, ....alt- coil-volt reg. So the points were fried, practically welded together. So, I literally had to get a stepladder, climb in and install new points and condenser and rotor, set the points. Thank God these hoods raise up 90°. Cuz, I was on top of the motor with my reading glasses to set point gap. Getting old sucks!
More fuel in the carb, jumper to pos battery terminal.........vrooooom! Sounded like a dam diesel.......lifters wee not pumped up on drivers side. So, I let it run about 30 seconds and shut er down. Drained the oil, it looked dark but not gritty. I dropped a magnet in the oil and ran it around, pulled it out.....no metal fragments. Oil pan gasket was seeping on the pass side. So, I dropped it, I wanted to inspect the lower end anyway before I went any further. Everything looked pretty clean, no built up gunk. No loose parts. No crap in the bottom of the pan. No water! So, I dipped the pan in my solvent pan, let it soak, then cleaned and painted it. Slapped a new gasket on and wrapped that task up. I decided to use To tell oil since it does not have the detergents of most modern oils and also has a lead additive. I added 5 qts, then added 5 oz Marvel Mystery oil. Fired it up again. Let it idle til the top radiator hose was good and warm. Then I manually raised the idle about 1500-2000 rpm. The ticking faded away and has not returned.Comment
-
I have pics of the paint cleaned up, engine compt cleaned up etc. Or you can go to YouTube and search "Hackenberger power wagon" the first video shows the initial start up, the second shows the second start up after the MMO was added. I tried to upload the link but my subscription status will not allow it. And now I can't upload pics, but yesterday I could?????? Anyone?Comment
-
Nice youtubes I like thatComment
-
testing pic upload 123Comment
-
Dinky pic but there's oneComment
-
KIMG0521.jpeg Too big pic
But I think you need help from moderator , mine seems to be able to post pics just fine.Comment
-
I am doing the same as yesterday......keep getting a message that says my subscription status does not allow attatchments. Yesterday I did 4 in one post......go figure....lolComment
-
Do you have to be a Subscriber to post pix???Comment
-
Glad to see and hear you got your truck running and driving. I'll be waiting to see the bed shape up and get mountedComment
Comment