Ruby finally gets a little attention ...
 

Between two full-time jobs, I haven't had a whole lot of time on the side to spend with this truck ... Her name is Ruby, she's named after the song "Ruby, don't take your love to town" ... she might be black on the outside, but she does have a little bit of Ruby on her interior ... and I certainly don't want her to take her love to town, 'cuz she's all mine, lol ...

Specs:
78 K10 SHORTY 350 4spd

Long story short, this truck is fantastic, but at exactly the same time a pain in the butt ... I knew from the get-go she had electrical issues - so, i've spent a majority of time working some of the important stuff out (headlights, dash lights, interior lights coming on and not staying on, radio, speedo, etc.) ... I got a fairly decent start on it. I had the speedo working for about 30 miles, but then the cable came loose, and I haven't spent time re-doing it yet ... Figured out that if you spin the dimmer all the way to the left and a smidge right the dash lights and radio will work (but then the fuel gauge dies and goes all the way to E when the radio and dash lights work, so that's another issue to tackle ...

I wanted a bigger steering wheel, because I did, and I wanted the horn to work, so I'm trying out a steering wheel from an early '90s chevy van and for now i really like it!!!

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...76192_5257.jpg

Last but not least, she was lacking in her rear end, lol ... so, she got a little plastic surgery ... a bumper off of a 2000 chevy pickup, cutting about 1/2" off of the bumper brackets, and drilling the bumper mount holes in the frame not even an extra 1/8" lower, and she's got a pretty sweet looking rear end ...

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...188_2473-1.jpg

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...189_3183-1.jpg

she recently came down with a couple of colds, too : bad u joints and a leaky transfer case seal

and a broken grill : i had a pheasant fly straight into it while i was driving 80 mph ... so I bought a new grill, but it needs to be painted, its a little dingy, and she's a gem, so she needs to sparkle and look fantastic, so I'll paint it when the weather gets warm ...

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...19080946-1.jpg

also acquired a Delta tool box, but it's the white kind, and I think it looks a little tacky, so I'll have that painted as well ...

SOON TO COME:
more electrical headaches, I'm sure ...

some body work : got one good front fender to replace a dented drivers side one ... and she'll need rocker panels and cab corners, and some bed work as well as a new tailgate

Re: Ruby finally gets a little attention ...
 

leave the bird in the grille, looks bad ass like that... haha

Re: Ruby finally gets a little attention ...
 

You need to just get it over with and get a painless wiring harness. It will take a couple of days to install, it is self explanatory, everything is new and clearly marked, and it will fix every single one of those woes..

Nice to see your taking care of my old truck. It needs some things, but it is well worth the while. I wish I had that motor to stuff in my blazer. Would be wayyyy better than the stock 350 that is going back in... but you know me, I have somthing brewing *evil grin*

Re: Ruby finally gets a little attention ...
 

:agree: it would be like a redneck hood ornament

Re: Ruby finally gets a little attention ...
 

if i had the time, and the money to get the wiring harness, i would ... in the meantime, i just want the necessities to work, and then later on i will go all-out with the new wiring harness ...

and i do think it looks like a badass grill ornament ... lol ... i'm just glad it was far enough over to not take out the radiator or other important goodies ... i was just driving along one morning, driving from nebraska to manhattan, ks to go to work ... when out of the ditch comes this stupid pheasant flying RIGHT at me ... all i could think was "well, you're a goner" 'cuz i didn't have time to stop ... i saw some feathers and whatnot fly off to the side, thinking i'd hit the bird and away it went dead, but then about a mile down the road the tail of the bird flops up over the hood and was like "I'M STILL HERE!!!" ... so i pulled over, took pictures, pulled the bird out, and went along my way ...

and YES, when have you EVER known me to NOT take care of a truck!?! lol ... especially a gorgeous old chevy as such ...

Re: Ruby finally gets a little attention ...
 

i love the rear bumper mod. if you dont mind could you get some pictures of the mounting brackets? thanks i want to do this to a blazer and do you think it would be fairly easy?

Re: Ruby finally gets a little attention ...
 

Great truck you got there. Have fun with it!

Re: Ruby finally gets a little attention ...
 

they're kinda hidden up under the hitch ...

but it was seriously pretty darn easy ... just holding it up, it looks like it matches up ... the real reason i had to cut the top corners of the brackets off at an angle was because of the hitch ... i suppose if you have a different hitch or none it all it probably won't pose a problem ... you'll just have to stick a metal drill bit into the existing bumper mount holes and take off a smidge off the bottom ...