What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II

[GR8-68]

Uhoh, your floor fell out !! I love this thread, it is great to see what everyone is doing with their trucks

[mud.man.rj]

There sure is some interesting things to see, I looked under my 79 3/4 ton I just bought and see the body lift and cab mounts are nasty looking under the back of the cab, the fun is just begun..

[RickDeVon]

Started making changes to this all stock ride...Stovebolt 6 HEI and a Webber 32/36 carb with electric choke...runs smoothly and starts easier ...still have to plug the hole in the side of valve cover...may be time to clean this engine up ...

[jpoole]

Originally Posted by RickDeVon

Started making changes to this all stock ride...Stovebolt 6 HEI and a Webber 32/36 carb with electric choke...runs smoothly and starts easier ...still have to plug the hole in the side of valve cover...may be time to clean this engine up ...

Hi Rick, may want to stick a breather on there instead of plug as it looks like you have a PCV valve.

[RickDeVon]

Originally Posted by jpoole

Hi Rick, may want to stick a breather on there instead of plug as it looks like you have a PCV valve.

You are correct...working on that now...trying to find one that I can replace the oil fill cap with...

[scooterpimp]

Originally Posted by RickDeVon

Started making changes to this all stock ride...Stovebolt 6 HEI and a Webber 32/36 carb with electric choke...runs smoothly and starts easier ...still have to plug the hole in the side of valve cover...may be time to clean this engine up ...

Hows the acceleration after hei/carb upgrade? Any bogging/sputtering?

[Jose's 69]

Fixed my leaking th400 speedo gear housing. Put new housing o ring, gear o ring and metal slip ring.

[dflarsen77]

In my continuing saga of PO shenanigans, I've figured out the latest. The truck has a starter button attached under the steering column. I noticed yesterday how it's wired, but while I was looking, I noticed the plug to the neutral safety switch was unplugged. The back up switch was plugged in though.



Some other stuff about the column make me think it isn't original. I assume if it was it would be painted the same color as everything else inside, and it's not. A couple other things, but anyways, I read a bit about the switch, and I decide to take it off, and sure enough, one half of the little tab part on the switch that holds the tab inside the column to know what position it's in, is broken off, and it's basically stuck in the lowest drive position.

So I think of it logically. Owner realizes his truck won't start, asks some bros, they say "hey, check your neutral switch" and he says, yeah, that's it, unplugs it, still doesn't work, then decides to wire up a hotwire start button (1 side direct from the battery, 1 side spliced into the purple line from the harness to the starter). Then it works! Oh but the first button somehow didn't work, even though you DRILLED A GIANT HOLE in the dash above the ignition that I'll now have to weld up at some point. Oh yeah, that switch is still there, wires just hanging down. The 2nd switch did the ticket though...

Adds another shenanigan to the list:
- 73+ bumper on a 70
- Seat track adjusters removed, so just bolted together (I'm tall so it's fine)
- Non-vented tank, non vented gas cap, no vents anywhere
- Has both a crappy Facet electric fuel pump and the mechanical pump still in the fuel line setup
- Toggle switch that powers the HEI dizzy, choke, and the electric fuel pump
- The toggle switch gets power from the resistance wire!
- Both of the normal engine to cab ground straps are not attached. One is broken, one is just not attached
- The ground wire that's supposed to go to the alternator is attached to the block (ah, I see what you did there!). I guess the alternator is grounded to the block? Sure, why not.
- No kickdown for the TH400, which isn't a huge deal, only does 3 to 1 downshifts from what I read. The vac modulator is hooked up though.
- Hotwire starter button vs replacing the neutral safety switch
- But at least with the starter button, I can wire up it up as a kick down! Somehow... I'm not really that smart...

I can't wait to see what I find next!

[VWNate1]

Farm fixes , bubba/redneck repairs , plain old bodge jobs , expect to find many more whenever you're working on low end commoners vehicles .

Sometimes downright dangerous / scary .

[GR8-68]

Gave the 72 a bath and cleaned 50#s of leaves out of the bed

[In The Ten Ring]

I couldn't find this thread last night....is something wrong with it?

Yesterday I spent 7 hours on the road picking up my cowl from the media blaster. I had it and a piece from my heater box cleaned up and the cowl epoxy primed.

I have the heater box part sitting in Evaporust to get rid of the flash rust....I am going to permatex it today and paint it tomorrow.

Soon (I hope) the truck will be back on the road as better than she's been since the mid-1970's!

[OregonNed]

Getting closer to the wood installation. Trying to get the final push down to painting the bed - working with three other guy's schedules to cooperate.

[scooterpimp]

Spent today doing the old fashioned splitting ,cleaning , bolting & welding of my 71's trailing arms. Have to finish welding other arm in the morning , was sweating so bad my welding helmet lense kept flooding. Just like me to start a welding project on the hottest day of the year! Lol.

[custom10nut]

So, I finally installed my fuel pressure regulator.
I started it up, and everything was good. Then I started to play with the pressure. At first I was disappointed because it was slow to react, but after playing with it for a few minutes, I got it to level off at four and a half pounds. The throttle response now is great, as before it would flutter and hesitate (at 8-9 pounds unregulated pressure).
As far as what kind of line did I use?
I used rubber fuel injection line and the clamps designed for full lines.
The way I figured was that steel lines can leak too, at the fittings, and I've yet to have a problem with rubber in the 24 years that I've had my truck.
Now it's on to the ball joints and rear end service. More to follow......

[heathbirkendahl]

Installed a new Trans. Temp gauge for the 700r.

[BugzC10]

Originally Posted by custom10nut

So, I finally installed my fuel pressure regulator.
I started it up, and everything was good. Then I started to play with the pressure. At first I was disappointed because it was slow to react, but after playing with it for a few minutes, I got it to level off at four and a half pounds. The throttle response now is great, as before it would flutter and hesitate (at 8-9 pounds unregulated pressure).
As far as what kind of line did I use?
I used rubber fuel injection line and the clamps designed for full lines.
The way I figured was that steel lines can leak too, at the fittings, and I've yet to have a problem with rubber in the 24 years that I've had my truck.
Now it's on to the ball joints and rear end service. More to follow......

Stock Mechanical fuel pump? Which carburator?

[everettelane]

Built a new clutch arm the previous owner cut it off to swap the truck to automatic i'm going with T56 6 speed so i needed a new one just to cheap to buy one lol!!!

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Prepped, finished, notes, put away..........Prepped, finished, notes, put away. I must have spent 3 hours just revitalizing door latches.

But I'm enjoying the out of this. I seem to consistently find things that aren't right. The beauty is there's generally a reference for why. That and I'm a lucky duck, because condition is super duper.

[dflarsen77]

It was like 95 in the CA central valley today, but I was out there all day getting it done. Dropped by 68bowtie's and picked up a heater box. I really only need the last part where the defrost/floor vent, and in comparing pics, I found that the non/AC system uses that same box, so it should work perfectly. Nowhere near ready to install it, but I know I'll need defrost, and short of a complete restore of the factory AC system, or a one of the new kits, this is the solution!

Otherwise, Got my fuel pump installed, carb back on, fuel line plumbed (hardline, regulator, filter), replaced all my vac lines, pcv, breather, & grommets, rewired the bulkhead connector with a new bladed to run a normal 12G wire to the HEI, and soldered on the correct purple 12g wire to the starter (it had a blue wire spliced). Installed new battery cables, all the ground cables. Added a ground from the front pass head where the battery ground is connected down to the top bot on the engine mount. My truck has headers, and I could see no realistic way to get to the solenoid wiring without dropping the starter. Boy that was fun, getting those little spacers back in. I was also reminded how weak I am in my elderly age of 38, trying to bench press that little bastard starter back in place. Finally had to give up and use a jack to get it into place. Well, progress is progress! But it was too hot to take pictures...

[In The Ten Ring]

I got a little done yesterday too: I decided where to put my new windshield washer pump, after taking some advice on here about why it's not a good idea to mount it upside down.

I then cut out a template for the bracket I'll need to mount it on the forward part of the washer reservoir bracket.

I also called the painter to have the NOS fender and cowl top coated (sometime next week he said).

Finally I scraped off all the salt build up I could from 20 years of coolant off the water neck.

[custom10nut]

I put LED bulbs in my taillights, and resurfaced the inside to brighten them some more. Now, the only rear lights left are the backup lights. But those will have to wait till next month. I keep saying this, but next is to get into the cab an redo some things that I've been meaning to do for a while.

[weedoublewide]

Found out that my 11' Silverado 1500 still had the original windshield wiper blades on them...hmmmmm...

so I changed them out to rainx blades and now they're good for another 5 years ^____^ lol

[VWNate1]

FWIW ;

Try some Rain-X , you'll be amazed and never need wiper blades in the rain again .

You have to apply it monthly so it builds up but it's fantastic stuff when properly used .

[weedoublewide]

Originally Posted by VWNate1

FWIW ;

Try some Rain-X , you'll be amazed and never need wiper blades in the rain again .

You have to apply it monthly so it builds up but it's fantastic stuff when properly used .

Rain-X on the windshield with Rain-X blades?? is that like googling google..?

[VWNate1]

No , it isn't you actually have to $pend $5 to see , once you do you'll be hooked .