1967 International COE, Small Adventure

In reply to Ransom :

+100 internet points to Ransom. That's an amazing picture, thank you. 

As far as the details. I'm enjoying going slow and looking at things. If I had done the logical thing and done a motor swap all of this would have gone to scrap. I can't think of a single car I've taken apart where I didn't grow to love at least some of the engineering details in it's construction. I lift my glass to all of those designers and engineers that made small contributions to making something as complex as a very simple vehicle. Beauty and reliability are appreciated. 

I think I figured something out this morning before it started raining. I'm excited. 
When I was painting the underside of the cab I came across this little guy. It has sleeve welded in the middle to prevent crushing. It's a very solid mounting point. 

It's above the steering arm, but there's nothing that goes here and there's room, and in the Trucks show at the beginning of this thread, that's where it looked like the hydraulic cab lift was. I think this is my spot. 

A hydraulic cylinder with a remote pump is the easy solution, and if someone finds me one for cheap I'm all about it, but I have a different idea. It occurred to me that GM trucks of roughly the 2007 vintage came with a mechanical jack that's shaped a LOT like a hydraulic cylinder. I know that because I took this one from my 2007 truck. I suspect all GMT900's have these, and here it is loosely propped into place. I think it needs to go a smidge lower. 

Which is fine because it goes WAY higher than it needs to with the cab in this position. 

Time to get the welder back into shape. 

Seth, me thinks there's a 'where's Ferd?' thread in the real near future.

Ransom said:

In reply to APEowner :

Any reason why this electric version with a much broader wheel wouldn't be awesome? I have air, but the width intrigues me (and it's $80 cheaper). Curious whether in use it makes sense to have the narrower wheel for the amount of pressure/area needed or similar observations you might have from actually using one...

Hmm, I don't know.  When I bought mine the wider one wasn't available so I didn't have to make a choice at the time.  I personally prefer air over electric but I don't think there's a strong practical argument for either.  I guess my only reservation about the wider one is that it'll be difficult to get into corners and other tight spaces. 

Seth, on our truck, which was an 82, the ram mounted where I drew the arrow below (IIRC, pretty sure though). It was exactly as you described, a hydraulic ram, with a remote mounted reservoir and pump right in front of the gas tank onj the frame rail. The handle even mounted right inside the door on the door pillar by the dash (right at the drivers feet). The spot your looking at had a safety bar there, it would fold, but when vertical you could drop the cab down an inch or two and it would catch a pin and lock the cab in place, therefor not relying on a jack to hold it. 

In reply to java230 :

The spot your arrow points to holds throttle linkage on my truck. The safety bar on mine connects to the hole just above the top of the jack in the picture you posted. Not saying that things haven't been moved, because there is a 100% chance that things are different than when International made them. I need to get the radiator support back in and check for clearances. Was there a separate cross member for the cylinder in front of the radiator?

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

Ah you could be right, the truck has departed so I cant go look anymore.... It did connect down low to the bottom of the cab. There may not be provisions on yours perhaps.

No separate cross memeber, the ram mounted to the lower front of the radiator support, right in the middle. 

Just above your arrow there are three holes right where the floor makes it's transition from flat to up. I've been thinking for a while that that's the spot where a bracket mounted to lift the cab as that would be dead center right in front of the radiator. I need to put the supports back in and make some measurements. Thanks for the insight, it's very helpful.

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

Possibly, I want to say it was pretty close to flat when the cab was down though, Ill see if the others guys here remember anything

Before I get too far into this. Valve on the left is how they came out of the head with a bit of scrubbing. Valve on the right is after a few brief moments with a suction cup and lapping compound.

Valve next to it's home.

The seats/valves go from shiny to dull but have a nice wide even matching band all the way around. This is what I'm shooting for, yes?
Also, the seats are pressed in and a different material than the head. Any takeaway from that?

And the disease is spreading. I happen to know that a member has been horribly infected with the cabover bug.

This is Norm. We have an open challenge to see who drives to who to take the picture of them together. Norm is currently ahead, but not by much.

I'm jealous of both y'all... look forward to seeing updates on both

 

The seats/valves go from shiny to dull but have a nice wide even matching band all the way around. This is what I'm shooting for, yes?
Also, the seats are pressed in and a different material than the head. Any takeaway from that?

Looks good, the nice even band dull band indicates that there good contact between the valve seat and the valve face which is exactly what you want. The valve seats are probably pressed in because they're a harder material than the head, and a wear item. It basically just prevents your valves eating the head over time by smashing into thousands of times a minute.

I'm so used to working with disposable heads I forgot they existed until you mentioned it.

If the band isn't even in width, or doesn't go all the way around, then there's an issue with that valve sealing. It can be caused by a variety of things, burnt valve, bad guides, bent valve stem etc. 

If it's a small area, sometimes more lapping will clean it up. A large area, then it may require a new seat, new valve, a valve grind, it all depends. 

I learned how to lap valves rebuilding briggs and stratton lawnmower engines when I was 11 or 12. My dad was a mechanic and let me start with those as they were readily available at the landfill at that time. He also showed me how to check ring clearances, check/set valve clearances etc. 

I still have his engine tools, at least most of them. Pullers, spring compressors, hones etc. 

One set of tools that I hope to show others to use in time. 

I was going to get a nearly free boat off craigslist and use the 12V hydraulic pump, reservoir, and tilt/trim cylinder(s) to tilt the cab. 

Or an electric trailer tongue jack. 

Or a triple bellow suspension air bag.

Or a bell crank and a winch.

And now you know why you own the truck.

the seat inserts are a result of TEL (tetra ethyl lead) being removed from gasoline in the mid 70's.

on earlier engines the seats were formed directly into the cast iron.

the lead in the gas collected in a thin layer on the exhaust valves, and acted as a cushion on the seat.

In reply to The0retical :

Thanks, that's what I had read, and I thought it was going good, but I thought I'd check before I did all 32 of them wrong.

In reply to oldopelguy :

It's funny what holds us back on certain projects. I've had cars sit for years because I can't find a set of shocks in the price range I want. Let the whole car die through neglect. I'm an idiot.

In reply to OldDave :

I knew about the change in seats with the removal of lead, I wasn't sure if that's what I was seeing or not. Is this likely an indicator that the heads are from after 197-?

mazdeuce - Seth said:

In reply to OldDave :

I knew about the change in seats with the removal of lead, I wasn't sure if that's what I was seeing or not. Is this likely an indicator that the heads are from after 197-?

OR, that the heads were rebuilt and had hardened seats installed at some point since teh lead removal...

While hydraulics will work, you may want to look into the more modern air lift cylinders. See the link below.

The cost is better and no extra fluids to keep up with, just the chance they will leak down and not do anything.

Air lift cylinders

In reply to stafford1500 :

That's a really interesting idea. Maybe I don't need something to lift the cab, maybe I just need something that will make lifting the cab manually easier.

Linear actuator is another option, 12V models are getting cheap these days. Integrated limit switches and all the goddies too.

Mazdeuce,

When Norm and I visit, you'll have to check out the cab tilt mechanism. I think it's just spring assist with a clever little rod locking the cab in place. Easy to do with one person and way faster than cranking a bottle jack.

PS, challenge accepted

Slammo said:

Mazdeuce,

 

When Norm and I visit, you'll have to check out the cab tilt mechanism. I think it's just spring assist with a clever little rod locking the cab in place. Easy to do with one person and way faster than cranking a bottle jack.

 

It's a good thing it's old enough that there are no cup holders in the cab. :) 

Being a heavy duty engine designed to to run constantly at high speed and load they may have had hardened seats standard before unleaded fuel was mandated. 

Mazdeuce-

spoke with my machinist, and I’ve got a website for you- http://ihpartsamerica.com/

According to Greg, the pilot bushing and bearing are readily available, which should help with your flywheel woes. 

In reply to Recon1342 :

Thanks for that. I've poked around on their site before but I'll give them a call to make sure I get what I need. I'm impressed with how well these trucks are still supported. 

Speaking of air cylinders, one thing you might want to look in to is converting a junkyard A/C compressor into a belt driven air compressor. Having unlimited onboard air you don't have to wait for, and can run air tools, will make you wonder how you lived without it. Your application should also have tons of room to package the compressor, plus a small/medium sized air tank.