1977 RC 2WD near mint one owner...
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Well... it's in my driveway now. I got home too late to take good pics. Will add later.
I've been after one of these pop-top 2WD RC's for a long time now. Very hard truck to come by, and I was surprised to find this gem in my own area. I could not pass on the $2500 price tag.
It's a 1977 I just bought from the original owner. He had a lot of pride in this RC but he was letting go of, and downsizing his estate. Along with it came a few boxes of parts and spares that I have yet to look thru. It also came with the shop manual, and, to my amazement, the original order slip with all the options he wanted for it. His main goal for it was to tow his sailboat, so he ordered the factory sure-grip rear end, upgraded tranny cooling, an alternator amp upgrade, added the oil gauge, the 6001+lb suspension upgrade, and a few others I will add in later as I don't have the build sheet with me. There is also an issue with the headlights. They turn off and/flutter. Must be a loose wire or bad switch.
One thing he didn't add was power steering. I forgot how "fun" a manual steering truck was. lol. I have a parts truck with a power steering gear in it to replace the manual steering. LMC Truck will provide the PS pump.
The body is in near mint condition with exception of a couple door strikes and one rust spot on the front passenger fender. The drivers fender was replaced and repainted after a fender bender, but the rest of the paint is original. It needs a good polishing to bring back the metallic shine. No trim package was added and the top has NEVER been removed. Although when I do take it off there will be calk to clean up. I see the door seals need to be replaced as well.
The interior is bone stock. It has all three seats, no roll bar, (I have a few extras) and the whole interior was done in house carpet. Well done... but its still house carpet. Bye-Bye. The seats were upgraded to the high back command seats but those are long worn out and gone and replaced with standard stock seats. (I have two Command seats in good condition to put back in.) The dash panel has been painted over, but my parts truck has a wood grain dash that will replace it. He also added an aftermarket wiper delay switch and for some reason added a 1980's (?) home thermostat temp reader thingy. The original radio was replaced with a JVC cassette deck and an equalizer that was cut into the dash next to the ash tray with one working speaker in the passenger door.
The engine came stock with a 360 2BBL, but the owner swapped the carb out with a 4BBL Edelbrock and intake and added dual exhaust.
The truck runs decent but not great. It has a slight rough idle and seems to smell like it's burning rich. The tranny seems questionable but I had no real issues on my 70 mile journey home. I doubt it would create a decent smoke show right now. (Haven't tried that yet) It also seems the rear end clunks into drive. I'll have to look at the U-joints and splines or dig into the pumpkin.
I also have a parts truck with an AC box on the firewall. It needs plastic box repair but that may get swapped to this or my 74 build.
That's enough for now I guess. Thanks for reading all that!
I've been after one of these pop-top 2WD RC's for a long time now. Very hard truck to come by, and I was surprised to find this gem in my own area. I could not pass on the $2500 price tag.
It's a 1977 I just bought from the original owner. He had a lot of pride in this RC but he was letting go of, and downsizing his estate. Along with it came a few boxes of parts and spares that I have yet to look thru. It also came with the shop manual, and, to my amazement, the original order slip with all the options he wanted for it. His main goal for it was to tow his sailboat, so he ordered the factory sure-grip rear end, upgraded tranny cooling, an alternator amp upgrade, added the oil gauge, the 6001+lb suspension upgrade, and a few others I will add in later as I don't have the build sheet with me. There is also an issue with the headlights. They turn off and/flutter. Must be a loose wire or bad switch.
One thing he didn't add was power steering. I forgot how "fun" a manual steering truck was. lol. I have a parts truck with a power steering gear in it to replace the manual steering. LMC Truck will provide the PS pump.
The body is in near mint condition with exception of a couple door strikes and one rust spot on the front passenger fender. The drivers fender was replaced and repainted after a fender bender, but the rest of the paint is original. It needs a good polishing to bring back the metallic shine. No trim package was added and the top has NEVER been removed. Although when I do take it off there will be calk to clean up. I see the door seals need to be replaced as well.
The interior is bone stock. It has all three seats, no roll bar, (I have a few extras) and the whole interior was done in house carpet. Well done... but its still house carpet. Bye-Bye. The seats were upgraded to the high back command seats but those are long worn out and gone and replaced with standard stock seats. (I have two Command seats in good condition to put back in.) The dash panel has been painted over, but my parts truck has a wood grain dash that will replace it. He also added an aftermarket wiper delay switch and for some reason added a 1980's (?) home thermostat temp reader thingy. The original radio was replaced with a JVC cassette deck and an equalizer that was cut into the dash next to the ash tray with one working speaker in the passenger door.
The engine came stock with a 360 2BBL, but the owner swapped the carb out with a 4BBL Edelbrock and intake and added dual exhaust.
The truck runs decent but not great. It has a slight rough idle and seems to smell like it's burning rich. The tranny seems questionable but I had no real issues on my 70 mile journey home. I doubt it would create a decent smoke show right now. (Haven't tried that yet) It also seems the rear end clunks into drive. I'll have to look at the U-joints and splines or dig into the pumpkin.
I also have a parts truck with an AC box on the firewall. It needs plastic box repair but that may get swapped to this or my 74 build.
That's enough for now I guess. Thanks for reading all that!
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Looks like the first item on the agenda is getting the headlights to work properly. I dug through older posts and it seems it could be the switch, dimmer switch on the floor, or the ground on the core support as the two major culprits.
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First things first - very cool score!! Last couple $2500 2wd pop tops I saw were both 400s but they well also complete rust buckets.
This one sounds a little bit like mine. I also bought it from the original owner that bought it for towing a camper. It also had a fender bender that resulted in replacing the left front fender. He threw in a few belts, filters, another set of wheels but I had to buy the FSM from him. I'm the one that upgraded it to high backs but they're ready for the next set. I also got his dealer receipt but it was bought from inventory not ordered.
If there's anything cooler that making a great score on an old RC it's having most everything it needs stashed away. Nice job on that part of it.
This one sounds a little bit like mine. I also bought it from the original owner that bought it for towing a camper. It also had a fender bender that resulted in replacing the left front fender. He threw in a few belts, filters, another set of wheels but I had to buy the FSM from him. I'm the one that upgraded it to high backs but they're ready for the next set. I also got his dealer receipt but it was bought from inventory not ordered.
If there's anything cooler that making a great score on an old RC it's having most everything it needs stashed away. Nice job on that part of it.
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Those pesky gremlins...
Heater hose was too close to the exhaust manifold and burned a hole thru it. Replaced that one section for now, but all will need replacing.
Heater wasn't working so I WD40'd the valve and got it moving properly but found the PO had disconnected the original heater valve cable and added a new one. The new cable was bent behind the heat lever under the dash and was not done properly at the valve. So all that will have to be reworked.
I also found the PO had added a 2-3" body lift to get over bigger tires. That's coming off!
Heater hose was too close to the exhaust manifold and burned a hole thru it. Replaced that one section for now, but all will need replacing.
Heater wasn't working so I WD40'd the valve and got it moving properly but found the PO had disconnected the original heater valve cable and added a new one. The new cable was bent behind the heat lever under the dash and was not done properly at the valve. So all that will have to be reworked.
I also found the PO had added a 2-3" body lift to get over bigger tires. That's coming off!
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Well I finally had a moment to peak under the hood last night (been working too much OT at work). Just as I suspected....
As I mentioned before, the transmission was shifting too soon into 2nd gear with a mushy transition. So I looked at the transmission throttle linkage and the throttle pin on the carb was dead center in the long slot, not at the back of the slot where it should be. Hoping to find time this weekend to adjust that. Then maybe I can find out how much smoke those rear tires can make!
As I mentioned before, the transmission was shifting too soon into 2nd gear with a mushy transition. So I looked at the transmission throttle linkage and the throttle pin on the carb was dead center in the long slot, not at the back of the slot where it should be. Hoping to find time this weekend to adjust that. Then maybe I can find out how much smoke those rear tires can make!
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I spent time this weekend going thru the boxes of parts that came with the 77-2WD. Come to find out this guy liked to keep all the parts he replaced. Most of it got filed in the you know what. But! come to find out.... many of the parts I just replaced on my 74... were brand new in the boxes. Oh well. I have spare parts now. Belts, hoses, resistors, PCV valves, light switches, oil and fuel filters, spark plugs, wires, cap and rotors, extra ignition modules, starter relay, tail light lense, and many others. I have enough to do a full tune and oil change! lol.
Probably have enough to start on my 74RC/78TD Frankenstein! (My wife would kick my ass if I started that right now. lol)
Probably have enough to start on my 74RC/78TD Frankenstein! (My wife would kick my ass if I started that right now. lol)
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So much for kickdown linkage adjustment... The PO, after removing the 2bbl carb and installing the 4bbl Edelbrock never swapped out the kickdown linkage to a 4bbl setup. Soooo... scour the yards for a 4bbl-727 combination... or Lokar. decisions, decisions...
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Recently discovered that the 4 bl small block throttle cable bracket is an easy to score repop. Only advertised as fitting the popular [at auctions] B and E bodies but a dead ringer for the OEM piece on my LRE. As for the other half of the battle, fabbing an extension can work but on my last one I used a big block rod and rebent it slightly in a couple spots.
http://www.mrmoparts.net/throttle-cable-bracket-72-73-340-4-barrel-74-360-4-barrel-for-b-e-body/
http://www.mrmoparts.net/throttle-cable-bracket-72-73-340-4-barrel-74-360-4-barrel-for-b-e-body/
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No progress. Where I work gives us about two weeks off at the end of the year. I was supposed to make progress on both my rigs. But... the first day of vacation I came down with the flu. I survived that and was going to get busy the following monday. But.. NOPE! Monday I developed a lower spinal lumbar problem and was laid up for another two weeks. Now it's back to work doing 12's. So the truck sits... 
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The back felt good enough to go tinker so I decided to address my headlight issue.
After cleaning the headlight ground on the core support, I pulled the switch and they came on.
Clicked the dimmer switch a few times and they turned off. Damnit!
Replaced the dimmer with a new one. They came back on.
Clicked the dimmer a few times and they turned off. Damnit!
Replaced the light switch with a new one. They came back on.
Clicked the dimmer a few times and they turned off. Damnit!
Disconnected the harness from the headlight bulbs, cleaned the contacts on the bulbs with rough sandpaper, pulled the switch and they came back on.
Clicked the dimmer switch over and over, pulled the switch on and off, clicked the dimmer some more...
They stayed on! Time will tell if that was the actual problem, but they seem to be working now.
After cleaning the headlight ground on the core support, I pulled the switch and they came on.
Clicked the dimmer switch a few times and they turned off. Damnit!
Replaced the dimmer with a new one. They came back on.
Clicked the dimmer a few times and they turned off. Damnit!
Replaced the light switch with a new one. They came back on.
Clicked the dimmer a few times and they turned off. Damnit!
Disconnected the harness from the headlight bulbs, cleaned the contacts on the bulbs with rough sandpaper, pulled the switch and they came back on.
Clicked the dimmer switch over and over, pulled the switch on and off, clicked the dimmer some more...
They stayed on! Time will tell if that was the actual problem, but they seem to be working now.
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After doing a little further research on RCC I decided to go ahead and order the throttle cable as well. It sounds like a hassle trying to use the existing cable with the Lokar setup.
Now, if I can just stop working 12 hour days long enough to get this shit installed....
Now, if I can just stop working 12 hour days long enough to get this shit installed....
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OK, Got the throttle cable in yesterday from Lokar. Proud to say my whole throttle and kickdown setup is NOT made in China! Hopefully I can find time to put it all in this weekend. This weekend being Sunday as my only day off. Ugh...
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