'54 R-100 Preservation

I guess if it's your own stuff, go for it!
On customer's cars...I will err on the side of not costing me thousands of dollars! That's how much even a USED engine installed is. Jeesh.

We changed the oil to straight 30 and it still smokes but not quite as bad as before. The water pump was leaking out of the front seal so after pulling it off so the parts guy would order the right pump (we even pointed to the exact one it the book but he wouldn't order it unless we had the old one and the part number) it was replaced minus one bolt that twisted off in the block. I used plenty of RV silicon so it wouldn't leak even with the missing bolt. Since we will be driving it in a lot of parades, we knocked the center out of the thermostat so it runs cool. Took it through two parades since then and have had no problems.
My dad had a L-120 in the early 80's but sold it to a neighbor that never paid him for it. After seeing this truck in the parade, the guy that bought/never paid for it remembered he still had the visor to it and would give it to us since he never paid for it in the first place. Just picked it up last week and will hopefully put it on next weekend when I'm home. It had been repainted years ago and its starting to show but I think it fits the rest of the truck being unrestored. I have a picture of the visor and will hopefully have one of it on the truck next week to share.
I can't get it to insert the picture so here is a link to it. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5TWZH ... sp=sharing

Teacher? I presume you are not teaching English.

Does the linseed oil make the metal oily to the touch or does is dry out pretty well? I think of it as a dust collector. I do like how it makes the truck look.

Boiled linseed oil contains eight (8) different acids. This brings up a question. Is any acid a good idea under these circumstances?
Certain types of RTV silicone release acetic acid during the curing and this acid attacks soldered joints. An old timey radiator is soldered together. Time and hot coolant is difficult on old soldered joints and the acetic acid may be the undoing.
RTV: room temperature vulcanization silicone

I'm a chemistry teacher and was typing this up between periods while being interrupted by students, hence some grammatical errors. Along with that, I did mean RTV silicon, and it was used just in the hole where the bolt twisted off and a little along the gasket by that bolt, I tried to keep it away from where the water would touch as much as possible.
The linseed oil does dry to the touch after a few day to a week but it does get a little dusty. I think that if we would have had time to let it set in the shed for a week to dry, that it wouldn't look so dusty right now. When the oil dries, it has the texture of a rough clear coat of paint. We used it as an alternative to clear coating it because it was more along the lines of what my dad was going for. He wanted a Beverly Hillbillies like truck. That's why we left the paint the same and made the rough stock racks on the bed. I am aware of the acidic nature of linseed oil but since the sheet metal is extremely good shape (almost like new except surface rust on top), I wasn't worried about it.

I wouldn't get too hung up on a few grammatical errors in your posts. include just a few so you fit in better with a lot of the other posts.

coakes00, that's one gnarly looking bone in the grass in the photo! I presume there's a canine that's been gnawing on it ....... or was it one of you guys?!

Our dog likes to drag all sorts of dead things into the yard. That bone is from a horse that a neighbor 1.5 miles away had die last year. If there is anything, regardless of how big, within 5 miles of the house she will bring it home. Earlier this spring, she pulled 1/2 of the rear quater of the horse, from hip to hoof, as one big chunk.

Is it common practice to leave a dead animal laying around?. My Dad used to bury the ones we lost. One neighbour had a natural gas fired burner for disposals.