The Kieffers - Hobbies

A new hobby, restoring a 1954 Chevy 3100 Pickup

chad — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:12:11 +0000

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Two weeks ago I took delivery of yet another project, a 1954 Chevy pickup. It's a 3100 1/2 ton, to be precise. She's mine in trade for a web site I put together a few years ago for The Service Station down in Albuquerque. She's not pretty, but I absolutely love her.

I'm not a gear head, but I love this truck and am going to learn all I can. Here's a little of what I do know so far. She's powered by 235-c.i. straight 6 cylinder engine. In 1954 Chevy introduced hydraulic lifters and a pressurized oil system to some of their 235s but I'm not sure if this is case with my truck. The "bull nose" grill was unique to the '54 and '55 1st series models. This was the last full year for the Advanced Design trucks which most folks picture when thinking of classic pickups. In the second half of '55, Chevy introduced some major design changes and the first V8 engines in their trucks. I'll never know all that this truck's been through but I've enjoyed imagining what times were like for past it's previous drivers. At one point the truck was in the service of the Texas State Highway Department. I've imagined the truck driving on the first Eisenhower-era interstate highways. I'm sure it has bounced along plenty of straight as an arrow tar-and-gravel state highways. The original seafoam green paint job was painted over with a quick and crude silver coat. Paul from the Service Station bought the truck from someone over on the East side of the Sandias, Moriarty I think. At the time, the truck had been sitting just outside a barn for several years. The bed was in pieces and had been prepped and primed, but never reassembled. Paul had had this truck for 7 or 8 years now. He was kind enough to have the transmission rebuilt, new glass installed, and he threw on a new set of tires too. He spent a bit of time to get her running, and in my opinion, she runs pretty well. Here in the summertime with the choke out she starts up on the first or second try and idles nicely. Amy and I have driven around the neighborhood several times and are getting a feel for the clutch. If you don't let it out quick it's herky jerky time. A few oddities, at least for someone who's never driven anything this old, include:

Turn key then push button ignition
Gas tank's in the cab, behind the back seat
Battery is in a box under the cab, below the passenger's feet

The cab isn't much to look at, it's covered by a kaleidoscope of past paint jobs and rust. While I hope to get her looking like this someday, right now I just want to put her back together and tool around town on the weekends. With this in mind, here's the game plan:

Sand off some of the surface rust that's formed on the bed sides and re-prime.
Seal the wood planks for the bed, assemble, and install the bed.
Wire up the taillights, fix the turn signals.
Fix the parking brake, it doesn't stay engaged.
Fix the windshield wipers, motor may need replacement.

I'll register and insure her once these things are addressed. I picked up a pretty good how to book which distinguishes between restoration and renovation projects. This is definitely a renovation project and even if I had the time and money to do a frame up restoration, my garage is too small to store the parts and my marriage would likely fall into jeopardy if I spend too much time on this. I'll post updates as I go. Owen's volunteered to help and after we get her road worthy, we'll start work on prepping and priming the cab, fenders, and hood. The cab interior will need a lot of TLC, but a seat cover will have to do for now. Wish us luck.

Pictures from 2007

chad — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 04:37:45 +0000

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We were pretty busy this year, but you wouldn't know it by looking at our photos. I finally got around to uploading nearly a year's worth of pictures from things we've done since Thanksgiving last year.

New pictures include albums for New Year's Eve in Durango for Bob and Jane's 60th wedding anniversay, Owen's t-ball season, Owen's 6th birthday, some shots from around the yard, and few other odds and ends.

I finally picked up a DSLR that I'd been wanting for a while and I plan to make picture posts to the site a bit more regularly :)

2007 Fantasy Football Draft Results

chad — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 01:37:22 +0000

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It's that time of year again. Fantasy football time! This is my fourth year in a Yahoo! league with the same core group of guys. I had a strong first year, a sophomore slump, won it all, and just barely limped into the playoffs last year.

Our league drafted players this past Sunday. I normally just let go with the standard preseason ranking list but this I decided to participate in the draft live. It took a while, but was fun. I drew the seventh pick and feel like I may have taken a big chance by choosing Leinert and Losman, but we'll see. Overall I'm pretty happy with my team, but tell me what you think. My guys are marked in orange. If you haven't drafted yet, feel free to download and use my Excel spreadsheet of possible picks (see below).

Attachment	Size
2007_FF_Draft.xls	0 bytes

In fantasy football (and many other things), hindsight is 20/20

chad — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 01:26:44 +0000

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It looks like I have a good team, but they got off to a bad start. I'm down by 11 points and my opponent has Peyton Manning and Plaxico Burress left to playâ€”stick a fork in me, I'm done.

After three years in this league, I won it all last year. I was fortunate to have pulled this off after losing two starting quarterbacks to injuries and getting a playoff win against the league's juggernaut who lost Steve Smith in our playoff matchup.

This year I've finally drafted a solid running back in Shaun Alexander, but he did absolutely nothing today. I debated my choice to start Jake Plummer over Marc Bulger, but made the wrong choice there. I also didn't think Frank Gore wasn't worthy of startâ€”big mistake.

The only bright spot for my team was the performance of the Baltimore Ravens defense who garnered 31 points.

Gotta go, time to shop for receivers.

Help grow the family tree

chad — Thu, 12 Aug 2004 06:33:01 +0000

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Note: I was forced to take down the genealogy section of the site after it was hacked. I'm currently waiting for an upgrade of the family.module for Drupal 4.7.

Come on, I know some of you are visiting the site. I see your visits in the server logs :). I had posted a message back in August hoping to get some of you involved. So far, Kris K. is the only person who's signed up.

Go to the genealogy section of the site.
Click on the "Request New User Account" link near the bottom of the page.
Browse throught the charts or lists.
Once I've activated your account you'll be able to edit information about yourself or immediate family!

Save a comment here or on in the geneology section if you have questions and please let me know if you have any problems setting up an account.

Hong Kong Kieffer

chad — Thu, 20 Mar 2003 02:18:00 +0000

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I'm not the number one super guy, but I'm working on it. Ryan and I have been taking Karate since last September and October, respectively. It's about the only active thing I've been doing lately and it's been a lot of fun.

The style is Chinese Kenpo and includes a good dose of sparring which is a welcome return to reality after sitting in front of a computer for most of the day. I earned my gold belt in early February. A few days ago I finally picked up some sparring equipment and got a chance to spar. It was great. Practicing moves in front of a mirror and perfecting katas provides the foundation, but sparring is the confidence builder.

If you're in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas and are interested, check out AKKA Karate.