1986 GMC Astro rebuild...questions

Crawled under today for closer look. No cutoffs--xover pipe looks to be about 1 1/4" diameter and is welded in to tanks with short piece, connected by the longer pipe with some kind of "sleeve" with hose clamps at each end of them...

 

Will post some "dirty" pics of the old gal shortly...but be warned--she's a bit ugly! LOL

 

Johnny Mars had a 79' Astro daycab cabover.....He.Loved it, Dumped it after the Cab itself rusted away from some mounts a few years back.

John Mars, one of the Coolest down to earth drivers I ever known around my area......

 

What I mean is that if someone has a 2012 Freightliner you see them everywhere. You'll see them delivering fuel you'll see them delivering at the corner market you'll see them pulling a lowbed, you'll see them as a dump truck.

The trucks that are older like that you just don't generally see them. I couldn't tell you the last time that I remember seeing a GMC Astro pass me on the road.

Now spyder, I know that you understand what a two-stroke Detroit is. But there are plenty of people that are mechanics and drivers that are younger guys that have heard that way back in yesteryear there was some kind of an old engine that sounded different. I'm sure there are plenty of guys in this forum that have never even heard what they sound like unless they've seen it on youtube.

But for the general population to see an older truck like that that looks different and to hear that engine that sounds different that's unique and unusual in this day and age.

If he uses that truck for a local business, or for whatever, I doubt it anyone near him is going to have that same Truck. And everyone will know him by the sound of the engine so they don't even have to see the truck, they will hear him coming and know that it's him.

That's what I mean by unique and unusual.

I have an antique truck with a 2 stroke diesel, and between the age of the truck and the sound of the truck I get stopped constantly with people asking me what is that, where did you find that, I have never seen anything like that or heard anything like that.

And no one can miss me coming or going, lol.

 

Ya its a shame how many guys out here today have never even seen a 71 or 92 series. Or v8 cat for that matter. Heck I bet many don't even know what the term cabover means. Or what a doghouse is. How about the blue parking brake button on the dash? Holy crap. Now i feel old.

And the sad thing is I'm only 40. I'm not sure if it means I've been blessed to have been around and operated all those old trucks, or if it just means I've driven a lot of worn out junk trucks. probably both.

 

One other thing even more important that I miss--the fellas that drove those cabovers back in their heyday. The mom and pop truck stops and the people that worked them were also special. I only drove for a short time but quickly saw a great bunch of people and a great era for people being more "connected" and "down to earth". Drivers back then seemed so much more professional (true Knights of the Highway) and the CB was THE way to be connected. Today I witness drivers daily that are lacking pro skills. (IMHO) Yes I'm sure there are many that will remember a lot of bad times during that period, but compared to today...LOL...I'll just let it go now...What can I say--I really miss the "old days" at my 56 years of age...

 

Here we go...here is how and where I found it...

 

Tried my best to figure out how to get it home myself from 3 1/2 hrs away to save a big wrecker bill but...in the end, wrecker was best...

 

I don't miss the old days. Not when it comes to trucks. I spent way too many years sleeping over the steering wheel cause i simply didn't have the energy to climb over the dog house. To me the old days were blatantly ignoring hos or the customer got a truck that would. I'm not saying i love the dot and elogs, but being expected to run from Miami to north of Seattle in under 72 hours was just stupid. I don't miss that one bit. Decades of that crap is why we now are forced to have elogs and the dot over scrutinize every little thing you do.

There are still some good mom and pop truck stops left. I'm sitting at one right now.

But i do agree with you on the quality of drivers today.

 

Lots of wrinkles on her...this looks to be the worst...it looks like this side of the cab rear has been bent or twisted some as there is a long bumped-out dent about two feet long running from the back window down to corner of passenger side with some bending of the bottom edge. It's hard to see looking at it where exactly this area of damage is causing the door on that side to be nearly impossible to open or close... I think I can work these areas and improve it...