Kick Start- Sort Of

It's time to get this project into gear! Yesterday I had some friends over to help get moving again. The plan was to get the garage cleaned up a bit (which I tried to get done in advance, with some success), start the truck, pull it out, then clean everything out of the truck. Also on the schedule was to pull out all the parts I've collected and make a complete list. Feeling ambitious, working on the rear fender from my last video was also tentatively on the schedule.

So We moved everything out of the garage necessary to get the truck out. it started right up with no problem . . .




But then I could not put it into gear! Any gear! It was acting like the clutch wasn't working at all. We tried to adjust the clutch linkage- the clutch has a mechanical linkage (as opposed to cable operated or hydraulic)- but the adjusting nuts were frozen onto the rod. So we came up with a creative solution-

Using a ratcheting tie-down strap, I pulled the pivot arm back far enough to get the linkage rod out, shoved a pile of washers onto the end of the rod and put it back. This significantly improved the feel of the clutch pedal, but unfortunately didn't fix the problem. I was going to add more washers, but the linkage happens to be right next to the exhaust pipe, so we decided to move on to the inventory while everything cooled off.
We started cleaning out the truck, and after a few minutes pushed the truck out of the garage to clean everything out of it. Once the truck was cleaned out, we went over it to kind of look at what was wrong with it.

Mockup layout of floor panels. More metal here than in the actual floor

After this video, we finished up the inventory and called it quits. We came up with a list that's three pages long! Turns out I have a few duplicates, so I can get rid of some of it to save space. We also laid out the new floor pieces I've collected so far to try to get some idea of how they go together.Still missing a few pieces, but Christmas is coming!





Overall, we managed to clean out the truck, inventory all the parts, break the truck, make a video, and manage to have some fun doing it. A pretty good day, I'd say.

Special thanks to you guys who came out that day- Mike, Bryan B, and Gabri

Checking the Hood- Accident Damage

I was messing around in the garage today on another project, and it bugged me a little bit that the hood didn't quite sit right on the truck. Now all the body panels are going to be adjusted into place once they're put back on after refurbishment, but I wanted to see if something was messed up. The most noticeable thing was that the hood seemed to sit a little higher than the cowl vent behind it. Was the hood domed somehow? was the cowl too flat? The hood came off a different truck, a 20 series (mine is a 10 series), could that make a difference? I adjusted the hood and managed to get it this close:
 

 As you can see, there's still a fair amount of gap. In the horizontal plane,I can adjust it to be pretty close, but in the vertical plane it's still way out. During this process, I discovered why:

The cowl is bent downward. Looks like I'll need a new one of those, then. Maybe this one can be straightened, but I'm not sure I wouldn't be better off just replacing it.

I'm not too worried about it right now, but at least I have an idea where the problem lies. That accident all those years ago really did a number on the passenger side of the cab. I'm not sure I've ever described the damage in this blog. My intent is to make a video blog entry with a thorough assessment of all the truck's problems, so I won't get into much detail here.

The accident kind of caved in a bit of the firewall on the passenger side, mostly where it was weakened due to rust.

Hard to tell in the photo, but this rocker panel is slightly buckled, making the door opening slightly smaller. Probably one reason the door doesn't close properly.

This is the back of the cab. At the moment of impact, either the cab jumped back or (more likely) the bed jumped forward to cause this bit of damage. The bed isn't secured to the frame particularly well.

Fender Follow Up- A Few Words About Paint

In my video post, I mentioned "compatibility problems" in reference to the self etching primer. Some primers and top coats don't get along well, as something in their chemical makeup will cause the top layer not to adhere to the bottom layer. The self-etching primer in a can, from what I've been told, does not have this problem, so any future primers will go over it and not fall back off.

I probably could have used any primer to protect the metal, since it's probably going to get sanded back off in the future anyway.

I did some investigation of the fender you saw in the video. As I mentioned, those fenders came from a '68 truck, so their history can only be discovered by what's under their paint. I sanded down a small spot just to see what was there. I went all the way to bare metal. Here's what I found, from the metal all the way up to the blue paint my Dad had put on:

Black primer
White (probably the factory color)
Grey (primer)
Blue (pretty familiar)
Red Primer
Green (a thin layer- a scratch coat perhaps?)
Red Primer
Grey Primer
White (paint job at time of purchase)
 Blue (no primer beneath blue- inexpensive paint job)

This fender has a rich color history.

So that's ten different colors. Adding a new color on top of an old one usually isn't a big deal, but if the paint layers get too thick it can make them crack, split, or more susceptible to chipping. I'll need to evaluate the cab and see how much paint is on it. Looking at the truck's number plate, it was light green when it rolled out of the factory. Who knows how many layers are on top of that. For this fender, I may or may not go back to bare metal, but I think for the parts that end up on the truck, I'll strip it all the way down to at least the factory primer, should it prove sound.

Video Blog Test

I shot and edited this video last night as a test to see how a video format is going to work. I'm not sure I like the idea yet.

Check it out, and please let me know what you think in the comments section here.

Your opinion counts. Too long? Too Detailed? Not enough background information? Need more music? Too Boring? Should I give up and stick to the traditional text and photos?

Do NOT be afraid of offending me. If you hate the video and will never read my blog again because of it, at least let me know why so I can improve in the future.

A Long, Hot Summer

Courtesy of RockAuto

Obviously, there haven't been any posts over the spring and summer months. Such is the nature of a project that you work on when you can. There's been little change. In March, I received a few more parts- a pair of outer floor pans (they go just inside the rocker panels) for my birthday. Evidently I didn't take a picture, but here is the stock photo.

They are actually the same length.

The rocker panels I bought at the auto swap came in, and Nick was kind enough to pick them up for me. Some odd optical illusion causes one to look longer than the other in this photo.


So I've started thinking about working on it again. Sure the days are getting shorter, but what good are longer daylight hours when either it's too hot to breathe or the mosquitoes are swarming?

Since I've taken a long break, before I get started again I stepped back and took more of a big picture view of things. The last relevant thing I was working on in earnest was getting the garage cleaned up. I made a lot of progress at that time, but the state of the garage has been in constant flux, as projects have ebbed and waned over the course of the spring and summer months. I'm now back to having the place pretty clean again, and this time the back porch is in pretty good shape too. That's important since I use it for storage.

So the big picture view. I've been watching a lot of videos on YouTube, and in the process got a feel for the number of manhours this sort of thing takes. I believe that, if I started now and put in all of my available spare time, that I could be "done" in close to two years. I sort of doubt that I'll be putting that much time in just based on past experience, but it's something to shoot for. Maybe I'll be "done" in time for the truck's 50th birthday.

I've got a few more projects with October deadlines in front of me, so the plan is that I'm going to start again in earnest at the beginning of November.

I put some thought into the order of operations. Rebuilding the floor would be easier with the front body panels and the bed removed. Cleaning up the engine and swapping the transmission would be a lot easier with the front body panels removed. None of this would be a problem if I had a lot of storage space, but as always, room is at a premium. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but I have two sets of correct rear fenders for the truck, and one set from a '68, and between them they take up a lot of space. So the plan is to work on them first, maybe patch them up a bit so I can sell them. That would free up some space and add a bit of money to the truck budget. After that, I'll pull the front end and do the engine/transmission work, and put the body panels in the bed (those which will fit). By then I might be able to source a new place to store things, so I could pull the bed and move everything out of the way. Otherwise I'll make do and work around as I can.

As I said, I'm planning on starting this in November. I'm considering switching over to a video blog instead of this. I feel like I can include more information in a video blog. Plus I've been having some trouble with this one, and I'm pretty much sick of HTML editing.

So stay tuned.

Winter Extravaganza

Last weekend was the big annual Winter Extravaganza Swap Meet over in Webster. Having gone through and made a complete list of items I need for the truck's floor, I knew exactly what I wanted, and how much I was willing to pay for it. I drove over to my parent's house the night before so I could try to get an early start.

My Dad and I got there somewhere around 8:30 or 9:00. The place was full of vendors, selling old parts, new parts, aftermarket parts, tools, vehicles, and on top of that, just about everything else you might expect to find at a flea market. After walking what could be considered aisles for about an hour, Dad headed back to the car. Of interest, I found two separate vendors that sell the aftermarket body repair panels that I need. One of them had the outer rocker panels and one inner panel that I needed sitting there on his table, but he wanted too much for them. The second guy I found didn't have the parts on hand, but he could order them for me, and was about $5 cheaper each for the rocker panels than I could get online. I put a deposit down, and he's going to order them for me. He's based out of Lakeland, so I'll pick them up on my next trip through, or try to get someone to grab them for me.

I spent about three hours total walking around by the time I decided to call it quits. I kind of haphazardly bounced around the last three "aisles" on my way back to the parking lot. Oh, and I also picked up some center caps for the truck's wheels- for half of what I would have paid online. So at least I was able to save some money. Now back to begging for parts for my birthday.

Do Something

Valentine's Day. My wife and I are both sick. I've spent most of the day in bed. When she came home from work, she went to bed, too. I've had better Valentine's Days.

There hasn't really been much to report in the way of progress- most of my efforts have still been going toward cleaning up the garage. The Auto Swap Winter Extravaganza is this weekend, so there should be something to report there.

However for today, I woke up at about 4:00 and felt like actually doing something. In my weakened state I went to my project list to pick out the easiest thing I could find (that did not involve disturbing my sleeping wife). The choice was between fixing a sticky door and installing a new ignition switch in the truck. Hardly a choice! As a stopgap solution I had, for years, been starting the truck in essence by hotwiring it. I don't even know where the old ignition switch has gone at this point- the one I put in came with that rewiring kit I bought back in '07. With a little work and a little patience, I managed to get the connectors on the ends of the three necessary wires to hook to the switch.

There was also the mystery of the "BRIGHT" indicator on the dash to contend with. It was always on as long as the battery was connected. The power to burn it is supposed to come from the fusebox, to the headlight switch, to the dimmer switch, and up to the dash. There are at least three places where the circuit was open (the headlight switch is missing and the dimmer is disconnected, for example) but it still lit up and caused a drain on the battery. I simply removed the bulb, so now my circuit tester tells me there is no more drain on the battery. Now I don't have to disconnect the battery cables every time I'm done running the truck. All of this is of course "temporary," since all of the wiring will be replaced eventually. But for now moving my truck out of the garage will be a bit easier.

Time to take come cold medicine and go lie down.

New switch making everything else look bad