Kell's Two Cents - 1946 build

[joedoh]

I ran for the hills when I saw how much work putting a windshield together was too, bought mine from bowtie bits completely assembled except the seal. props to you for assembling one yourself, I paid as fast as I could for the assembled unit.

[gokellurself]

Originally Posted by joedoh

I ran for the hills when I saw how much work putting a windshield together was too, bought mine from bowtie bits completely assembled except the seal. props to you for assembling one yourself, I paid as fast as I could for the assembled unit.

dude it's so true, I try to save a dollar just to find out it would have been cheaper to go the right route the first time! can't count how many times in this build

[gokellurself]

alright fellas, I guess I have a partial update as I'm still kinda in the middle of things but hey, got a lot done today

So the cowl vent bracket had been so rusted it never budged. Think I pulled it 2 years ago and haven't touched it since, but as usual your mind kinda works on things over time so... I drilled out the rivets, stripped and sprayed it, got it a little lubed and reassembled. These parts have to move so I installed all the moving parts with nylon lock nuts just snug enough to allow smooth movement.











Sorry,it's always a pain getting under dash shots... but the vent works great. Very smooth and sturdy

I've been messing with the carb throttle bracket, got one ordered and wasn't quite sure if it was going to fit or not, but once it came it worked alright with just slight modification. I filed it out to clear the throttle brackets on the carb, sprayed it and got it on. I got the spring and throttle cable adjusted, trans kick down is right about where it should be but I'm still waiting on the little trans kick down knob in the mail.

Now the issue that I'm really having with it is that I don't have enough stroke in the gas pedal to get the full movement that I need. The 46 floor board is so steep that you lose a full range motion that is capable with the pedal base when mounted to something with less of an angle. I'm throwing ideas around about adding a base to raise the pedal away from the floor board and gain some range, so I'll have to report back on it.

[gokellurself]

Now, I've been mentally preparing myself to start wiring this dang thing and I finally cracked into it today. I think I have just about everything I need and I'm getting excited because once it's wired I'll be very very close to getting it fired up so I can start working out any other little kinks that are gonna come up.

As stated previously in this thread, I wanted to keep the truck as basic as possible when it came to electronic accessories. I did opt for an electric choke, for the sake of simplicity. I went with an electric radiator fan, and due to me using a tbi sbc and putting a carb on it the mechanical fuel pump wasn't an option, so I had to go with electronic fuel pump. But that's about it. So I went with the basic Route 9 wiring harness from American Autowire and it seems perfect for what I'm doing. It doesn't have a ton of excess features, but it's complete and plug and play enough to ease installation for even a first timer like myself.

So today I started with wiring the instrument panel. With it being a central piece I figured it would be a good warm up before getting the harness into the truck and really digging into it. I got an 8 pin weather proof connector from my local car audio shop because I wanted the whole instrument cluster to be removable with a single clip. I still have a little cleaning up to do but here's a photo of the gist of it. On one end of the plug I have ignition power and ground, then on the other end I have headlight switch power and ground, with gauge inputs filling up the middle. In the 8th slot I went ahead and included the tach wire, though I'm not currently running one, but either way in the future if I decide to or it will be there if I need to add something else.







Beyond that my dash is starting to look pretty complete! Things are coming together. Thanks guys, update coming this weekend

[paintman]

Kell, How does your throttle pedal feel with those 2 return springs hooked up? I had to take one off of mine so that I could press the pedal down. The pedal seemed to be way to stiff with both springs.

I'm not sure I am going to stay with that return spring setup. I may try the basic Holley bracket and spring.

[gokellurself]

Have you been able to find softer springs anywhere? so far the pedal feels pretty good, it's firm but real smooth. I want to get full pedal movement established before solidifying my thoughts on it, but I think it's gonna work. This is the second throttle bracket I've tried as the summit one I had didn't fit properly, so if pedal tension does prove too strong I'll probably try to seek out lighter springs before switching the bracket out