'65 Loadstar Restoration

Well i've been working on this truck for nearly 2 years now, she's come a long way but here is the breif run down:

I found her like this:


Sitting under a barn on the family farm, had been there since 1997 and this was in 2011. Pulled it out, made sure it wasn't locked up, oil still seemed to feel ok, put a new battery in, and used a water bottle full of fuel and a piece of fuel hose to get it running. She purred like a kitten in less than 45 seconds. Turns out my Grandfather bought this truck in 1965, and it had been in constant use around the farm until 1997 when it was parked.
The bed was in pretty rough shape.

So I took it off, blasted the frame (which was WAYYYY more work than I anticipated, turns out 50 years of neglect, tobacco sap, grease, and dirt don't want to come off).


Built a new bed

Then used it for a few parades and tailgating for my old college football season.



We made front page of 3 newspapers, won most patriotic at a July 4th parade (no small feat), and Tailgate of the week. Its a head turner for sure.
But in the past few weeks I have begun to get back to the restoration process again, sourced new fenders, plan to pull the motor, clean the motor, frame and cab, with a new paint job in the works. Here is where she sits now





I try to put in a few hours worth of work at least 3 or 4 evenings a week and all the time I can get on the weekends. I'll keep things updated and will undoubtedly be looking to y'all for part sources, tips, and tricks. If there is anything I've learned over the past few years its that IH built em like no one else, and then 50 years of abuse, bailing wire, just making it work to get the load home, and other farm improvisation have made this quite a unique vehicle and project.

A link to my photobucket album:
http://s1356.photobucket.com/user/austi ... 20Loadstar

And an interesting tool they have called a story, allows you to show the progression of things in chronological order:
http://s1356.photobucket.com/user/austi ... tory/78841

Good job saving the old Loadstar. They are a tough truck. Looks like your has done a lot of work. Showing a little rust on the frame maybe? Mine is a 71.

That's the exact direction I'm headed. Restored, good looking, well running, but still not afraid to do a little work if needed.

Over the weekend I got the gauge cluster out, steering column out, most of the wires for the wiring harness labeled, fuse panel out, and front dash trim off. I cant seem to get the dash out though. I've taken the bolts out of the 2 tabs in the lower corners, and all the screws at the bottom of the windshield, is there a brace or bracket i'm missing? It wiggles but will not come out. Pics to come later.

Got the dash, seat, heater box, and everything out of the cab:

Got the wiring harness out and found that American Autowire makes most of the connectors i'll need to rebuilt it with fresh color coded wire instead of a giant sticky jumble of black wires.


Next step is to pull the cab and motor. The sheet metal is in pretty good shape, little to no exterior rust (got a little in an inner fender well, and the passenger floor), so i'm thinking of painting it myself. I have herd good thing about the enamel tractor paint from an agri-supply house if used with enamel hardener. I'm leaning away from having a body shop paint it due to the cost. The couple quotes I have gotten are more than I have invested in the whole truck at this point. Any thoughts from experienced hands?

Well this weekend I pulled the inner fenders, gas tank, steps, and all things connected to the body. The body mount bolts are gone and this week i'll be pulling the cab with the help of a few friends. Then the real fun of sanding and sandblasting begins.

Got the cab off yesterday, not as big of a pain for 3 people as I thought it was going to be. Will be pressure washing the engine and transmission this weekend and hopefully pulling it next week. Had to grind all but 2 or 3 of the header bolts off to get the manifolds out. What kind of fastener should I use to re attach them? Stainless Steel, standard Grade 8, or call a specialist like ARP and order high temp locking bolts. The old ones that have held for the past 30 years or so appear to be standard Grade 3 or 5 hardware store bolts. Also what should I do with the manifolds? Clean and paint them with high temp paint, or wrap them with header wrap?

The original exhaust manifold to head bolts were brass coated to make removal easier. You can buy these bolts at the local ace hardware store. They also had special locks on the bolts. These were a small piece of metal with a flat that was bent over a lip in the manifold and then when the bolt was tightened another tab was bent up against the flat on the bole head. The manifold to pipe flange bolts were also brass coated and had 2 thin nuts on each bolt to lock them together.
MW

Actually the bolts were copper clad which you still may be able to get(?). 1 short for the center 133757R1, 2-151363R1 & 2-151364R1 for each side. Probably sold a ton worth of them,I pulled those PN's from memory. IH used a lock tab as mentioned but most wrench turners just used lock washers.Also as MW said,the pipe to flange bolts were also copper clad,they were fine thread and used 2 jam nuts instead of LW's. I can't recall the PN's but can find them if wanted.
Good grade 5 bolts should do fine,I knew many who did. In any case it's advisable to use high temp anti-seize on the threads and avoid the issue you had.
Original manifolds were bare cast iron,although the service part was coated with some nasty,sticky stuff to prevent rust,may have been cosmoline that was a biatch to get off. Personally I'd just remove any excess rust and leave them bare.