DavidWymore
Well-known member
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- 63
- Location
- El Centro, CA
Finished trans swap Sat. night, took the '70 on it's and my first trip of any length today, 30 miles round trip. Previously only drove my beaters around the yard and the 70 around town a little yesterday. You don't really realize how hot, slow, and loud they are until you drive one a bit. We have a '53 M38A1, 5.13 gears, so I know what low gearing is like. It's about 80deg F here. Mostly went 4-45 at about 2k rpm. No problems upon return inspection except a leaky valve stem and the rearmost diff is too hot to touch more than 5 seconds. The middle is just warm, and the front is cool. The trans is finicky to shift, not sure how finicky they should be. Feels notchy coming in and out of gear, have to feather the clutch a little. I have a manual Cummins, jeep etc. for experience, but no decent deuce. Rides better than expected. Definitely needs the 11.00s (how much difference do they make RPM wise?) and maybe taller overdrive ratio, get rid of the C turbo, and get some heat and sound insulation. Taller stack maybe, or move to rear of the cab. Maybe even a muffler.