Tony Ingram

Hi all, I added some pics of my H model into my photo album. Took me a while to figure out how to do it. Not quite sure how others can view it but let me know if or if it doesn't work. I'm not too good with these computer thingeys.. Guess you gotta click on my gallery, I'm a little slow and don't think they're in order but I'll get the hang of it.

For those of you who don't know I recently purchased my first truck to restore back in December. After turning over stones here in California for a while I finally found the truck I have wanted, a 57' H-63. Fortunately the truck wasn't too far from home so I jumped in head over heels, bought it and drug it home. The guy that sold me the truck told me the thing had been running within the last five or so years. I thought I was getting a pretty good deal. I had never driven or worked on a truck. Old cars and motorcycles had been my thing. I thought, how hard could it be, there's just a frame and cab right? Anyway come to find out from another guy who knew the seller, the truck hadn't been running in 15 or so years. I got it home and after ripping out the rain soaked rubber floor mats, cleaning out the bird and rats nests and chipping off some 1/2 thick bondo, I had alot bigger projsct than I ever thought. I stood back and said, "what did I get myself into"? I wanted to attempt to get the beast started but I couldn't get the cab up all of the way because the cab jack and hydraulic rams were shot. I took the rams off, had a friend rebuild them and got a heck of a deal through a buddy on a 12 volt hydraulic pump (best investment so far). I stood outside and watched the cab go up and down with eases and my wife looked at me like I was crazy but I thought I had just made a huge improvement to my truck. Now it was onto the engine, a 673 thermodyne that still had the series parallel set up which come to find out was wired totally backwards. I straightened that mess out and still had no luck. My fuel rack was stuck shut. Thanks to the help of fellow members of this site I figured it out and with alot of elbow grease, bad words and busted knuckles, it torched off, after I bought a 12 volt starter and converted everything. Standing in a cloud of exhaust smoke with a tear getting ready to run down my cheek, my wife came outside, smiled and said the neighbors were going to call the fire department on me. Anyway I got it running pretty good and told her I was going to take a break from it to do some honey do's around the house. Well, I thought I would be content for a while but then I just had to drive it out of my rv parking so it was onto the brakes. What a nightmare. Troubleshooting and trial by error takes alot of time and money. I pulled the drums off, cleaned all of the bushings, replaced seals, dust covers and put it back together. Still no luck. My brakes still weren't working good enough to drive it. Thankfully I met a good ole boy here in Bakersfield that owned a diesel truck brake shop. After pestering him enough times with questions and so forth he came out to my house and took a look at my brake system. He scratched his head and proceeded to tell me alot of things were backwards. He said I'd be better off starting from scratch. He said come by when you're ready and he'd have the system drawn up to clean up and simplify everything. The next day I was down there and I don't know if he felt sorry for me or what but I walked out mof there with all new parts to completely re-do my braking system (cans, hoses, foot valve, qrv's, fittings, etc.) for a little more than 500 bucks. Pretty good deal I thought so don't ruin it for me if it wasn't please. I got back, rep[laced everything and now the brakes work beautifully. My thought of content with pulling it out of the rv parking was now a thing of the past and now I had to get it on the road. Needless to say the wife said "I told you so". One thing just leads to another she says. I have to agree with her. I've realized that this part time project has become somewhat of a quest or I guess even an obsession. Once one thing gets fixed it's right onto another with no time to waste. My dad and s\ome of his old car buddies had told me about a little car show that was going to be a fundraise at a local school. When I told him I was going to take the old Mack everybody thought I was crazy. Hey, I just got the brakes fixed so that required a road trip to try them out. As I pulled into the registration line among all of the flamed out high boys and muscle cars I guess you could say the thought of "what am I doing here" did cross my mind. I pulled onto the lawn, not quite like at Pebble Beach but I was pleasantly surprised with the crowds reactions. It seemed the old rust bucket was the talk of the show. Everybody wanted to know about it and hear it run. On my short return trip home I knew I had to kick it into over drive and get to work. Money is definitely an object so everything is being done myself, can't send it out to be done like some of the big boys out here. My plan was to just get it driveable through the summer, enjoy it and tear the chassis down this winter. Figured I'd get the running gear all done and painted and the body work would have to wait awhile especially since it was going to require alot of time and money. I was wanting to find a donor cab and atleast try and piece two together to make one so it wouldn't cost so much. I've been searching the web to no avail and then on Friday, with a stroke of luck located a 57' H-63 cab for sale on craigslist (Denver). Apparently it belonged to a sandblasting shop owner who had bought it to make a transporter out of it. He lost the lease on his shop and was having to downsize some of his toys. The cab was complete, rust free and was only missing the headlights. The price was $400 obo. I couldn't believe it. I work graveyards and waited until Saturday to make the call. No answer but I left a ton of messages. I had it all lined out, a buddy of mine lives in Denver so he could take some pics and Garth aka Packer was gonna pick it up for me. I started making plans on how I could speed up the process and save a ton of money on the restoration. The truck wasn't posted until March 28, 2009 so I figured I had a good chance of sucking it up. Finally got a hold of the guy who was selling it tonight. He said that he had a bunch of old muscle cars he had to put in semi trailers because he had no more room. Well what about the H model cab I said. Well I hauled it off to the crusher on Tuesday, you were a couple of days late he said. He said that he couldn't find anybody to store it for him so he took it to the scrap yard and watched as they crushed it like a pancake!! I told him it was a shame since there were only a little over 4,000 of them made. He said he didn't realize it was such a rare truck or he might have tried a little herder to save it. Well I'm back to square one. I know I'm not the only one that has seen his dreams of a faster, less expensive restorations shot down in flames but for anybody who hasn't, "please share in my PAIN"!!! I thought I heard the sound of taps playing in the background as he told me about it being crushed. That sucks..

I'm wanting to update my Thermodyne fuel and oil filter to a more up to date set up. Just wondering who has done it, what they did and where do I find it. My old fuel filter leaks and my Luberfiner weeps, don't like it. Any help appreciated..

Negative. I called him a while back and spoke to a woman who said he was out of the office. I left a message with her and never heard back. I was looking for my Mack emblem so I figured he didn't want to bother or didn't have one, I'll give him another try though, thanks..

I'm looking for a good Dayton hub. Two would be nice but one will do the job for now. The outer bearing is a Timken 758 and the inner bearing is a Timken 598. Let me know if you're looking at getting rid of one and I'll see if I can take it off of your hands. Also I'm still looking for the "Mack" emblem for the front of my H-63 and the rear exhaust manifold that turns down at a 90 degree angle at the rear. Thanks, Tony..

Got it working right by lubung the heck out of everything and shooting it full of grease. Problem solved, now I'm just waiting for the next one. Thanks for the advice..

I keep trying to post pics of the exhaust but it keeps telling me the file is larger than available space. I've seen numerous pics posted on other forums so I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I have some pics of an H-67 exhaust manifold from a guy in Virginia. I'll try and scan it so I can post it and a pic of mine so you can see the difference. Wish me luck. It will be later tonight so all of you east coasters will probably be done for the evening by the time I get it on here.

Now that I've got the H-63 running, I thought now's a good time to take it around the block a few times. I thought I got all of the brakes dialed in pretty good but I was wrong. When I push the control valve in to release the brakes, I still have to get out and push the slack adjuster inward on the driver side rear can to move the truck. Once I get the truck rolling and begin to brake, halfway down on the pedal and it wants to stop immediately. When I take off the brakes feel like they're draggin a little too. Where do I start? I don't have any more leaks to speak of and the compressor's puttin out alot of air pressure. I replaced both valves in the rear also. Tried taking the covers off the rears to look at the brakes. Took both sets of 7/16" nuts off the top and bottom but noticed four 15/16" bolts need to come off to. Loosened them up and feels like they're spinning behind the brake cover. Do I have to take the rear wheels off to do this?

I'm looking for an H-63 or 67 exhaust manifold. I just need the back piece that turns down at the rear of the engine and hooks into the exhaust pipe. Let me know, thanks..

I appreciate the info. The holes are all there but it's just missing. Hopefully the holes are right but if not, whats a few more holes. I've learned not to ask how much when buying stuff for this truck now. It's a matter of keeping it on the Q.T. from mama.. Thanks

I'm lookin for the Mack emblem plate for the front of my H-63. Also need the aluminum strip the goes from the base of the windshield to the nose of the truck. Let me know if you've got one I can take off your hands..

Fortunately out here in Ca. it's been in the 70's so if I get in the dog house I won't freeze. Figured a couple of Starbucks runs early in the morning might keep the peace. Once she saw my son's smile sitting it while it was running it kind of smoothed things over..

Talked to Barry today at WattsMack. He said they had all of the rubber biscuits I needed. Just waitin to see how long to ship and exactly how much. Hopefully mama doesn't get too curious lookin at the bank statements. Spent a little more than I first told her to get it running but that's half the fun. It was just an uneducated guesstimate at the time anyway.

The tranny donuts are definitely shot. Where can I get some or do I have to ad lib or have some made?

Thanks for all of the info. I'll check them out ASAP.