Ethel: The Legend Continues...

[Alvin]

Okay, so I know I've fallen behind. Totally didn't expect money to be as tight as it was. So today I sold my 15 inch steelies with tires and bought all the big items to get the air ride compressors wired up. I will be picking up wheel cylinders so I can finish up the brakes, a carb rebuild kit, belts, and some other little stuff as well... but not before I renew my board membership! I have some spare parts around here that I've been wanting to post for a long time, but just did not have the $$ for a membership.

So hopefully some progress pics before the snow starts to fly!

[oldblue1968chevy]

haha dont talk about snow flying its 75* here today

[Alvin]

Here's the latest purchase

• 15 feet of 4 awg wire (black is wrong, I know.. but it's all they had in stock!)
• 4 feet of 8 awg wire
• a fuse holder for the 4awg
• a fused distribution block to split to two 8 awg
• 4 relays (only need two for the compressors, but they were cheap!)
• Fuses
• A project box to keep everything tidy
• And it's hard to see, but to the right of the relays is a small project circuit board for a time delay circuit on the second compressor

[N2TRUX]

Nice stuff, and it looks familiar. That's pretty much the same set up I have for my dual compressor system.

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by N2TRUX

Nice stuff, and it looks familiar. That's pretty much the same set up I have for my dual compressor system.

Yeah, it pretty much is Let's just say I paid attention in Dual Compressor Wiring class!

I kept going back and forth on how I wanted to do it and finally decided to just go with what's been proven to work. I'm running some Thomas compressors so I'm hoping the relays will hold up for awhile.

[Alvin]

Okay, a little bit of progress: The master cyl is in and the brakes are mostly bled. I say mostly because I'm having a bit of an issue on the passenger rear and ran out of time last night. Hoping to revisit it today and see if I can get good flow.

In other news, some garage space will be clearing up soon, so there should be a warm, dry place to work on her this winter.

[oldblue1968chevy]

Woo, I love this truck! Keep us updated!

[Alvin]

Okay, got the garage cleaned out enough to move her inside. The brakes are working pretty well; she held herself on the hill leading down to the garage, so that's good. I think the driver side rear needs adjusted, but that should do it.

There's still a lot of cleaning up to do as my roommate moves out. But at least I'll be able to work on her regardless of the weather!

Now that the brakes are done, I think I'll start finishing up all the little things to get her running. LOTS of little things to get to that point.

Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics, I didn't want to waste any time by running inside and getting the camera.

[Alvin]

I dropped the fuel cell and installed the sending unit for my Stewart-Warner Gauges. While I was under the bed, I installed the ECE rear frame cross member, which leads me to a bit of a problem...

The bumper cannot be installed with the fuel cell bolted in place and the fuel cell can't be installed with the bumper in place. So I think I'm going to have to weld some plates on the bolts for the fuel cell so they won't rotate when tightening. If only I could weld!

I started looking into the wiring under the hood. It's not hacked up too bad, but there are a few interesting add-ons that will need to be removed.

Also, subscribed to the board again so I will be selling some leftover parts to further fund the project. I really need to get her mobile because she's just too heavy to push around now.

[Alvin]

Hoping to get started on some wiring, I pulled the headlight / alternator harness out. Going to go through everything to make sure it's right, and then add headlight relays.

Got rid of the add-on temp gauge somebody attached to the bottom of the dash.

Not much progress, but somethin' is better than nothin'!

[Alvin]

Okay, I have both harnesses from the engine bay out and stripped down to the wires. Really looking at all my options for cleaning things up and adding wires for several things. As usual it's getting complicated and expensive very quickly.

I need to clean up the starter wiring and the alternator wiring. Hoping to add a fuse center to pull power for the headlight relays, electric fan, and alternator sensor wire. Also looking at the unused pins in the fuse panel plugs wondering if I can use them for my electric gauges and possibly even my air ride gauge. Of course at the same time I don't want any of this to look cobbled together or hacked. So that means buying all sorts of electrical stuff.

No doubt a delay, but I want to get this stuff done right the first time!

[67cheby]

nice progress !!

[Alvin]

Just placed an order for all the electrical bits I needed. Hopefully start soldering and all that next week. Bought everything for wiring the Stewart Warner gauges and should be able to make a harness for the air ride gauge as well. Getting excited about making some genuine progress!

[Alvin]

Wiring has commenced!




Still have to mount the LEDs for the turn signal and hi-beam indicators.

Have a fuse panel, two auto-reset circuit breakers (for the headlight relays), and a weather-proof fuse holder for the feed to the HEI.

[72BlckButy]

Cool lookin' setup... love those gauge faces.

What manufacturer did they come from?

[Alvin]

They are Stewart Warner Power Series. I got them from Summit. They're available with red, silver, or blue rings on the faces. I of course chose the blue

[67cheby]

that is slick

[lowdownstar]

i agree with everyone else looking really good! Nice clean job on the wiring as well





Ray

[heymoe]

Very Nice!

Did you get that drive shaft cut down yet?

[my67chevytruck]

nice progress.

[Alvin]

Thanks guys! I'm really happy with the progress I've made. Hoping I can keep it up in spite of the holidays.

I have not shortened the driveshaft yet. I was going to, but then I got distracted by the wiring side of things and the funds went to that for the time being. Hopefully it won't be too long and I'll be getting it shortened!

[Alvin]

Okay, still working on wiring believe it or not. This weekend I took the harness out of the cab and checked it out and made the changes I needed. Also got rid of the radio wiring hack job.

Fresh outta the cab


Removed the factory wrapping to check the condition and add/remove some wires


And finally, wrapped with some fresh friction tape


Still have work to do on the engine bay harnesses, but I wanted to dot my i's and cross my t's before I went too far!

[67cheby]

clean looking work

[1sik52]

Going to look good
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[Rokcrln]

Great progress on the truck and the budget! It is nice to see someone these days that spends when they have the money and not when they have the plastic. If more people worked this way they would have more toys and less stress, way to go. Keep up the good work!

Kevin
LFD Inc.