M211 pricing

[Gunfreak25]

To be honest I was a little nervous about the idea of trading trucks. I've been through mine bumper to bumper and top to bottom, inside and out. I know what it needs and how to do the work. Can't say I am as knowledgeable about diesels though. I do know they can be expensive to fix, and the veggie oil takes more work to setup as fuel than I initially thought. Agreed, once my truck is all finished it's going to be a real unique piece that's very comfortable to drive. Might not be cheap to drive, but it may just surprise me? I wonder how stock M211's do on gas....

 

[wilber]

Gunfreak,
How is your low gear without the hydramatic? I've noticed my granny in the Clark is nothing like the old low end.

 

[Gunfreak25]

1st gear for the Th400 is 2.48:1. No idea how well it performs because I have not driven it more than a couple MPH yet.

 

[SMALBLK327]

Im with Nattie! Besides, how cool is it having a bigblock army truck?! I think you will be suprised how well it performs, at the very least, get it running so you can see how she rips down the highway (just keeper under 100 eh?) ;P

 

[Gunfreak25]

Yeah, I am pretty glad I decided to keep the truck. I finally have some extra cash to throw around and soon I can begin working on the big stuff again. In the meantime i've been busy making minor mods and doing cosmetical work like i'm always doing. Life's too short to drive an ugly vehicle. I got tired of looking at the troop seats and with the help of a strong body and weak minded fool I removed all the cargo racks for a complete refinishing. The left side should be done tomorrow. A belt sander really makes quick work of things! After lots of prep work I also have the bumper and gas tank painted in 24087. Not exactly the Mil-Spec enamel though, mine is flat. I say no more! Since the 455 has a mechanical pump I had no need for the crusty rusty in take fuel pump so I sold it to someone in need. This left me with an empty gutted fuel hanger. The holes on top of the hanger got welded shut and I fashioned my own fuel fitting at the top for the main pickup line that comes out under the cab corner. I welded in a guide rod inside the hanger and used some rubber fuel line as my in tank fuel pickup line. After some adjusting the pump will begin sucking fuel with as little as 2 gallons of gas inside the tank. After sealing everything back up it received the surface prep and new paint. Aside from the large dent it looks great! I also finished my floor shifter. I cut the chromed handle off the top of the B&M floor shifter and welded on a nice smooth section of round bar. I made the new shifter handle out of good hardwood and shaped it to look real GI. I bolted to the shifter to the left of the drivers seat so it's out of the way and very inconspicuous. After some proper paint it looks 100% Military and works very well. Next I will cleanup the old shift tower (which I removed the linkage bits from) and mount it for originality.

I am not going to bother with the under carriage very much right now. When it's done and on the road i'd like to take it down to the local sand blasting shop to have it cleaned up underneath, then everything will get a red oxide prime job and some high gloss gray enamel.

My brother has a friend who is letting us borrow his pipe bender so now I can fashion my own custom exhaust myself. Saves me $300 and I will be hooking the original stack back up to it using a Y pipe coming off the downpipes.

 

[USMC 00-08]

Get us some before and after pictures if you can. If not, after pictures will be fine. Can't wait to see your progress.

 

[Gunfreak25]

Tomorrow I have some shopping to do and i'm hoping to pickup a card reader or just a new cord for my camera so I can take a lot of good quality pictures for everyone. A few pages back there should be about 20 or more pics of my first morning with the truck, before I did anything to it. Today I got the hood and grill cleaned up and painted.

This evening I found out my heads have TWO left side exhaust manifolds on them. The radiator was also made in 1967.

 

[bones1]

Sounds like a deal. Go for it.

 

[hmburner]

I have a 56 M135 that ran the same brake system as your 211. I replaced the engine with a 353 detroit and had no place to bolt up and air compressor. I converted to a hydro serve out of a dump truck. This uses hydraulic power from a power steering pump for boost pressure. You should be able to find a power steering pump at a wreckers for your engine. You would then have a split system which is much safer and never runs out of air. My master and hydraulic boost is mounted on the firewall,but it could be mounted on the frame using your original brake linkage. My old girl stops on a dime. If you search some of my older posts you will see some pics of it. Have fun working on the old truck

 

[Gunfreak25]

Not much to update. Half repainted. Got my voltage converter for the ignition and other 12V stuff I want later. Air Compressor has been rebuild and pumps air by hand, mounting next. Air tanks cleaned out. Need some new fittings and a couple new hoses, blow out all the air lines soon. Got my budd socket, 10 ton jack, need a breaker bar and tire iron to complete my tire tools. Ordered up some douglas connector parts to repair a few areas. Next i'll be shrink tubing over the end of every connection where the insulation is crumbling away. Got my oil pressure and water temp senders threaded onto the 455. They were taken from a Multifuel parts truck. Got a new 60lb oil gauge to match the sender. Radiator is off and i've straightned out every fin. Taking it down to the local shop for a pressure/leak down test soon. Only a 2 core radiator so I might have cooling issues. Right troop rack/stakes have been stripped and refinished in flat olive drab. Still need to pickup new plug wires, coil, condenser, timing chain and gear set, make exhaust, 2 batteries, etc.

 

[Stan Leschert]

It's about time, so.....

 

[Gunfreak25]

Got the motor and transmission pulled. Next are new brass freeze plugs, engine/tranny cleanup and repaint and I'll be beefing up the motor mount brackets. Then I just need to finish my brakes, some new rubber and fab some exhaust up and it will be done.

 

[overlordofmars]

First chance you get go to a truck junk yard that has old trucks. Look for the old GMC Or Chevy C70 or C80 series powered by a 427,366 0r 454. You will need the engine to compressor bracket and oil feed lines. Oil is fed under pressure from the engine and circulates to the air compressor. I do not believe its as simple as bolt on air conditioner. You have an active oil feed.
You will have to tap off the rear of an olds 455 to get oil to the compressor. They were not designed to do that and it may ruin the motor in the process by starving the cam of oil pressure. You might have to add a ball valve to restrict the flow to the compressor and give the cams ample flow.

I am going to go into my garage and pull out the Olds motor I have and think about this its really a challenging technical issue . Most people do not think about how the compressor gets oil from the engine on the old big trucks.

 

[Gunfreak25]

Actually I already fabricated the compressor onto the engine. It came out very nice and all I need is the coolant and oil lines. NAPA has them, I may just need some thread adapters.

I am very interested in what you are thinking on the oil lines and oil supply. I have seen this done on other M211 repower jobs (small blocks, big blocks, etc) and I personally see it as a non issue providing the oil pan is filled up with enough extra oil to make up for whatever the compressor will use.

As for the oil inlet I was going to add a T fitting to the 455's oil pressure sending unit. Then for the oil return I was going to tap the 455's oil pan for a return line fitting.

Again, I am interested in what you think on this. But I really don't think it will be an issue. Suppose I could post this over at the Olds forum and see what they think.

 

[Gunfreak25]

Well I took the heads off yesterday to desludge them and do a valve job because they looked pretty gunky. Then I found that cylinders 3 and 4 have some pretty severe pitting that is constant throughout the bores which would explain the smoky exhaust. So I went ahead and finished tearing the motor apart today and now I am down to a bare block. Napa quoted me about $200 total to bore out and sleeve both pitted cylinders so I can keep my original pistons. Then I'll just hand de-glaze the rest of the other cylinders which all look really great. Internals all look pretty nice, minimal wear. Lots of engine sludge though. Oil sludge STINKS! So a complete teardown was probably a good thing regardless. I'll probably be saving my pennies so I can go ahead and put new main bearings, rings, timing set and other little goodies in. Then I'll hot tank everything and it will all get a paint job with 24087 enamel from rapco. Ever seen a OD 455?!

 

[JackG]

I just goy my M211 home about a week ago. I paid 3,000 for it. You sound like you got a good deal. I had problems with gass bad fuel. I could not get the tank plug out so I ended up putting more fuel and gas additive to help flush it out and get it to run My truck is painted but is due for a repaint very soon. Good luck and keep us m211 guy up to date on what you are doing JackG

 

[Gunfreak25]

Sounds like a nice truck, I would like to see the GMC's go up in value someday. My updates will be posted in this thread from now on. http://www.steelsoldiers.com/early-deuce/73907-my-gmc-little-update.html