Hit a snag....

The engine transplant was going too smoothly. I got a call from Rich today. He said there's no way the engine will fit in the frame,as the starter was hitting the manual steering box. The box is on the inside of the frame.

We discussed the possibilities,which there was only one,he would adapt a power steering box to the truck. This will mount on the outside of the frame. The engine has a power steering pump on it and I have the power steering reservoir from the Freight liner the engine came out of. Rich will have to modify the steering column but it should work well. He's going to use a box he salvaged from a school bus.

One added bonus is it won't be as hard to maneuver it a low speeds.

Surgery has begun...

I just got a call from Rich Fraer. He's ahead of schedule.He pulled the old motor and transmission out of Big Melvin and hopes to start fitting the new engine next week.

The 8.3 will fit inside the engine compartment without cutting the fire wall. He said there shouldn't be a problem in fitting the transmission also.

I'm still looking for a 3 speed aux. shifter,so if you have one,e-mail me.

On Saturday November 2012 we hauled Big Melvin down to Rich Fraer's garage in Washington Pa. It went pretty smoothly.

My friend Tim Hoover has a Chevrolet cab over with a Cat diesel in it. We used it and his 24 foot tag along trailer. Rich say's he can't start on it until after Christmas.

I hauled the fenders to my garage from my Dad's place. The hood's still there. My plan was to take my Dad's truck back to his place, then haul the replacement rear end into my shop and get started cleaning it up. The weather didn't cooperate. I j hope to complete  this plan by the end of the weekend.

I'm looking for a 3 speed aux. shifter and a Bostrom T bar seat, if anyone has one.

I'm off work today, so I decided to update the truck story. When I was restoring the truck,one of my kids said that truck is big,It looks like a Melvin. I instantly christened it "Big Melvin"and that's how I will refer to it from now on.

Two weeks ago, my ace painter and body man,Bob Kiser and I took the hood and front fenders off. Although I have a garage and tools, one thing I lack is an overhead crane that can pick up 3000 lbs. That's about the weight of the 8.3/Spicer transmission combo.

A friend of mine,Rich Fraer also builds trucks and agreed to install the engine and transmission. Rich has a big shop,but lives about an hour away from me,so my dad and I are planning to take Melvin to Rich;s shop on my Dad's drop dreck trailer.

My plan is to have Rich install the engine and transmission,then get it running. After it's running,We'll truck it back to my garage so I can work on it.

The 8.3 is a turbocharged engine with an air to air intercooler. It's going to take some engineering to squeeze the intercooler under the hood.

I also need to replace the seals in the aux. transmission,rig up a 3 speed shifter in place of the 2 speed one I'm using now and install a pyrometer and boost gauge for the turbo.

Plans down the road will include the new rear end,electric windshield wipers to replace the air wipers and and an air seat so you can drive it some distance with feeling like you got beat with a hammer.

Just got started

I decided to start this blog to to document my interest in old truck and John Deere 2 cylinder tractors.

My truck is a 1948 Autocar single axle tractor. I am in the process of re powering it with an 8.3 mechanical pump Cummins engine and 7 speed Spicer overdrive transmission.

I also have a 1926 John Deere D tractor that needs a total restoration. I will mainly be focusing on the Autocar for now.

I purchased the truck in 2000 and did a frame up restoration on it. I started having problems with the original 6 cylinder gas engine overheating.  After numerous attempts to correct the problem,I have decided to re power it to make it more drivable. I'll also replace the rear end to one I have acquired that has a higher rear end ratio.

I acquired the engine from a friend who had scrapped some trucks that were used to haul bottled water. The engine had an Allison automatic transmission and a Blue Ox exhaust break. I decided to use a manual transmission and acquired the re-man'd  Spicer 7 speed. I had previously installed a White 8H ( Spicer 6031 ) 3 speed aux. transmission in an attempt to get some road speed and will be keeping this.