Re: What Did You Do With Your Truck Today ?
 

spent the night getting my engine ready to fire up for the first time since the rebuild, installed temp wiring, temp gauges, filled with oil & primed, double checked everything.... then the moment of truth, hit the starter button it struggled to turn over a few times and tried to fire, then nothing, thats when I realized I overlooked a minor detail ...... dohhh I forgot to put the battery on charge last night.:lol:

guess I'm waiting one more night :smoke:

Re: What Did You Do With Your Truck Today ?
 

Gotta watch out for Murphy!
That is the Murphy's law Murphy.

Re: What Did You Do With Your Truck Today ?
 

yep, one day I'm going to find this Murphy guy and kick the crap out of him:lol:

besides, there always has to something to overcome. I'm just glad it's minor

Re: What Did You Do With Your Truck Today ?
 

Installed the big brake kit for my truck,then stood back and took it all in and wished it was ready to drive!!:lol:

Re: What Did You Do With Your Truck Today ?
 

IT'S ALIVE...IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!
Finaly got the engine running! had the valves a bit too tight. sounds mean as hell :devil:. might be a bit too loud but it's hard to tell with the sound bouncing off the walls in the shop. I Frankensteind the bare minimum wires and key gauges to get it running and for brake in but it will stay that way till after paint. still have some trouble shooting and tuning to do but am just happy she runs again.

Re: What Did You Do With Your Truck Today ?
 

Ya know if it were too easy it wouldn't be any fun.

Re: What Did You Do With Your Truck Today ?
 

LOL' No matter how many engines I build, I get the same feeling the first time it fires up! gotta love it!

got any pics?

Re: What Did You Do With Your Truck Today ?
 

That looks like it will stop! how big are they?

Re: What Did You Do With Your Truck Today ?
 

I know what you mean; I work on cars for friends and guys at the shop almost every day and don't get a lot of satisfaction when a problem is fixed. but when it's yours, and an engine you built from scratch with your own money and time it's totally different... the only analogy that comes to mind is it's kinda like when your favorite dog has puppies, worried like crazy before and happy when it all turns out the way it should:smoke:

As for pics, have to solve a cooling/ overheating issue first, clean up my Dr. Frankenstein wiring then I'll take a vid & upload to YouTube then I'll post the link. I tried to take a video for the first start but the vibration from the reverb made it hard to watch and I ran out of memory after about 30 sec.

Re: What Did You Do With Your Truck Today ?
 

I made a dohickey. A adaptor that goes on my tape measure and so I can use a grease fitting to masure from.

Re: What Did You Do With Your Truck Today ?
 

I just replaced my T5 this afternoon and am on #3. The first had some horrible noise in 4th and 5th. The second was not as bad so thought it might be bearings and ordered a rebuild kit. Not as noisy but still prominent in 5th. This morning I managed to find #3 on Craigs out of a GMC S15 for a $100 and now that I am an expert in re and re of T5`s, had it finished in under 2 hours. The noise is not as bad as the first 2 and I think that the problem with these used T5`s are 5th gear wear.
I think I will research and source gears now that I have a spare T5 to play with.

Re: What Did You Do With Your Truck Today ?
 

13" I bought a kit that came with drop spindles,bigger brakes and rotors.

Re: What Did You Do With Your Truck Today ?
 

I got my new radiator installed and tried out the heater part of my Vintage Air system. Works great, and really blows out the heat. There doesn't seem to be much air from the defroster vents but I think that's because of the design of the dash trim. I also got my emergency brake handle put back in and installed the cover that hides the a/c and heater hoses inside the cab. The green wire in the pic is the backup light power. It's just tied up out of the way for now.
Getting a radio and something to fill the throttle hole in the dash are low priority for me. Getting it where I can drive it is what I'm most interested in.

Orrie, thanks for the radiator hose numbers. NAPA didn't have the Gates hoses but had a NAPA equivalent that is made in USA so that's what I'm using.

Re: What Did You Do With Your Truck Today ?
 

Got the Corvette 283 installed and running in my '48

Re: What Did You Do With Your Truck Today ?
 

Man your truck looks awesome. If it were me I would buy a throttle cable and turn it into a dummy. That way it fills the hole but also looks good.
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Re: What Did You Do With Your Truck Today ?
 

Finished the blocking and priming on right door. Now on to the left!!

Re: What Did You Do With Your Truck Today ?
 

I picked up a new rear fender and did some body work to it, now it's off to the sand blaster so i can finish the body work and work on installing it on the truck!





Thanks Ray

Re: What Did You Do With Your Truck Today ?
 

Went to the local pull a part and found a seat for the ole '49.;)

Re: What Did You Do With Your Truck Today ?
 

well i spent the last two days sorting out the wiring for the brake lights, tail lights and head lights. i got them all working but i pretty sure i need to buy a new wiring harness one that isnt pieced together. I believe i had to add about 15 splice just to run the wires where the needed to go and by pass some old wires all together with new ones. overall im happy i have lights just in case i need them. lol even if when i hit a bump the flash and flicker.

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Got the upper tailgate cable figured out, here it is so far. Also figured out that the taillight assembly does not have enough room to pivot out to put the filler behind it like later models.

Re: What Did You Do With Your Truck Today ?
 

Put the 54 in her new garage.

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Don't ya just love it when a wire goes in one end blue and comes out green and in the middle it is yellow?
I am well known for getting a vehicle and within a short time the wiring will be laying in a pile next to it.

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B.Y., Thanks for the compliment. Right now I'm thinking I'll put a pull type switch with an original style knob in the throttle hole. It will be to turn on my backup lights if I need some light behind the truck to load something. I think I can get by without having to repair the radio holes but I'll take care of that later.

Re: What Did You Do With Your Truck Today ?
 

Tried to align the tailgate, but need to ease the trunion mount holes so they can move up. Did get the hidden latch rubber pieces mounted and worked some more on the cables. Wasted time trying to find the shoulder bolts to support the cable, the ones I got only came with 1 per side. Parts guy left a message with Dorman to see if the sell them separately, not listed in their catalog.

Re: What Did You Do With Your Truck Today ?
 

Finnaly removed two leafs from the front corners. Came up with a 2 1/2 inch drop. Now the truck sits level again. Added new shocks to match the new shocks I put on when I did the rear c-notch. I have not noticed any real softness but wont know till I put it on the freeway tomorow.