What did you do with your truck today, take 2

[47AD]

After about a years wait, I finally started to strip my 47 down. Got the bed off and the running boards off relatively easy. The bolts were so rusted I didn't waste my time trying to break them loose. A combination of angle grinder and small air hammer did the trick. Now on to the front end tear down.

[iowaboynca]

Ordered both the repair & assembly manual with the realization i'm never going to remember how this goes together!

[FirstNation]

afetr having two generators and a voltage regulator go bad I finally broke down and installed a Powermaster alternator in my Suburban. "Borrowed" the alternator and bracket from my 53 convertible. Had to modify the GMC motor mount a bit, but it worked out perfect..

[wolffcub]

Got 2 5t transmissions for a total of $130. One has the ratio i need and the other has much better shifting linkage components and housing. Doing a rebuild and swapping bits.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Mine hasn't run in six months. A little bit of blame goes to two new granddaughters born three weeks aprt at the end of the summer. One local, one about 150 miles away. Frequents visitng trips, work and of course the holidays. But they're all excuses. I should have had it up and running again quickly.

I pulled the carb off, gave it to my retired my brother-in-law to rebuild it and never reinstalled since I think October(!) til today.

It fired right up but doesn't want to idle. Took her out and washed her, touched up some minor scratches in the rattle can paint job.

Tonight I think I'm gonna bite the bullet and buy a knock off Lokar gas pedal & linkage from ebay. I've been meaning to do this since I took the factory mechanism off, cleaned it, lubed it and it still didn't work right. Anyone's suggestions on accelerator pedals is appreciated.

[Russell Ashley]

Dan, get this kind, you'll be glad you did (after you get it installed, LOL). This is what I used and mounted my original pedal to it. It's a PITA to install with the engine in place but works great and looks good. There are copies available that cost about half what these Lokars cost.

http://www.lokar.com/product-pgs/thr...or-pedals.html

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

Dan, get this kind, you'll be glad you did (after you get it installed, LOL). This is what I used and mounted my original pedal to it. It's a PITA to install with the engine in place but works great and looks good. There are copies available that cost about half what these Lokars cost.

http://www.lokar.com/product-pgs/thr...or-pedals.html

I put the same in my truck. It was a clean looking installation and worked well.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Thanks you guys!
I'm online right now so I'll head over to eBay and see what they're getting for them.

Maybe I'm under estimating the work but it LOOKS LIKE you just locate it in the same spot as the factory pedal and cut a slot the size of the opening in the little fascia plate. Is there more to it than this? What about the other end where it connects to the carb? In my case a Holley.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Found THIS one including cable and return springs. About half the price of the Lokar brand pedal only. Pretty sure it must be a Chinese knock off. Think I'll regret buying it?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BILLET-ALUMI...81057010&rt=nc

Ok, purchased. Went ahead and bought the kit including matching brake pedal pad. Under $100 shipped.

[Janky59]

This wasn't a today job, more like a weekend one:
1) Replaced sketchy drivers side tail light socket with original cup and wired in new tail light pigtails on both sides.
2) Installed set belts for 3 on the bench.
3) Laid down some sound deadening strips and fit the carpet that came with the truck. This was by far the best improvement I've done. A much appreciated reduction in driving noise.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Jammy, What sound deadening strips did you use?

[Janky59]

I followed what several members had done on the message board, a trip to Home Depot and under $20 get you a 25' roll of "U-Seal" Instant Waterproof Repair Tape. 5.5" wide, peel off backing, aluminum faced. Look for it in the roofing section. Lowe's would probably have it too.

I can't say if the reduction was from this or the carpet - but the combo was the ticket. I ran 3 strips right to left under the seat and one strip right to left just in front of the raised rib the front feet of the bench set rests on. I didn't run it further up as the carpet had jute padding under it starting there. Probably should have, maybe I will when I rebuild/replace my master cylinder in the fall.

[Russell Ashley]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Found THIS one including cable and return springs. About half the price of the Lokar brand pedal only. Pretty sure it must be a Chinese knock off. Think I'll regret buying it?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BILLET-ALUMI...81057010&rt=nc

Ok, purchased. Went ahead and bought the kit including matching brake pedal pad. Under $100 shipped.

Dan, That looks like a great deal. I don't actually know what brand mine was as I bought it at a swap meet and it wasn't in a package. It looks exactly like that one. You will have to remove the original pedal bracket from the floor and cut a slot for the pedal arm, but it is sealed when you get it installed so you don't get air up through it.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

Dan, That looks like a great deal. I don't actually know what brand mine was as I bought it at a swap meet and it wasn't in a package. It looks exactly like that one. You will have to remove the original pedal bracket from the floor and cut a slot for the pedal arm, but it is sealed when you get it installed so you don't get air up through it.

"...air up through it..." is the least of my worries at this point! But thanks for the info.

Over on the passenger side I have pavement going my below a passenger's feet. Not exactly Flintstone-mobile like, but it does need repair.

The stock pedal just will not return to full idle unless you pull up the rod with your toe - very safe. (No, no pedal on it because of this issue). I took the entire mechanism off, wire wheeled all the parts clean and lubed with white moly grease - still didn't work any better so I think it is worn to the point that it allowed minor "cocking" and would bind. Anyway, no harm in using these new parts. Its one more thing off the list. If THIS doesnt' fix it then I'm not sure what will?!

[eshahak]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Found THIS one including cable and return springs. About half the price of the Lokar brand pedal only. Pretty sure it must be a Chinese knock off. Think I'll regret buying it?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BILLET-ALUMI...81057010&rt=nc

Ok, purchased. Went ahead and bought the kit including matching brake pedal pad. Under $100 shipped.

Dan, please let me know how this goes? I would like to do the same replacement on my truck. If you could start a new thread and detail the install that would be awesome!

[OrrieG]

China has no respect for copyright laws and knocks off everything. I gave up on using off shore parts unless nothing else is available. About 50 percent of what I do get from off shore is wrong or poor quality and no customer service or return policies. 50% of lokar cost means the first time you need to replace it you could have bought to lokar or other quality part. Stepping off the soap box now...

[57chevyman]

SS headers

[57chevyman]

Headers

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by eshahak

Dan, please let me know how this goes? I would like to do the same replacement on my truck. If you could start a new thread and detail the install that would be awesome!

Ok I will but first:

Orrie, You're right of course. I SHOULD have bought these parts directly from Lokar if for no other reason than to support a good U.S. company.

The package arrived already and I immediately had a bad feeling. It didn't come in a box, but came in a mailing envelope and when I opened it parts were wrapped in newspaper and taped up - NOT usually a good sign:



The main component, the actual pedal mechanism WAS in a box, albeit without any padding and it is an amazingly nice piece. Highly polished, no raw or sharp edges, truly good looking. The brake pedal pad has me a little stumped though. It simply has a boss with two large diameter threaded holes but a single threaded "nipple" and nut. I suppose I'm to drill a hole in the stock pedal(?) to mount it, but I'll figure it out after the gas pedal works! Here's the parts unwrapped:

The cable (not shown here) appears to be a bit short, only about 24-30" but if that's the only problem I can always buy a true Lokar cable for it in a longer length. (There's Orrie's warning being born out right there if I end up having to). I'll let you guys know how this goes in my "build" thread (to keep all my info together) and I suppose I should write an independent thread so if anyone is later searches for "Lokar Eliminator Gas Pedal Install" they'll come across it.

[eshahak]

Thanks Dan. The thing that I found with my Lokar shifter was that the quality was not as good as I expected for how much I spent on it. For me just learning this stuff, I would rather mess up a china made part and buy the nice part after I know what im doing than spend the big money first.

BTW I fully support pumping up the US economy, but I'm also cheap and want my cake and eat it too...

[eshahak]

Oh and please talk to a diabetic who is allowed to live without being a millionaire because of copyrights...

[57Sedan]

I got my whirlwind 56 project on the road after a few months of thrashing. I bought this thing last November sitting on a 61 torsion bar chassis, with full intentions to move the body over to a camaro-stubbed task force frame after getting some helpful advice from folks here. I'll do a mini progress thing here.

First impressions:


Day 1, making friends with it's future chassis:


Chassis teardown:


Less dirt, more shiny:


Decided to go the LS route:


Coming together:


Midstream through wiring and interior stuff:


I used a mustang tank and put a welder series step notch in, also built some 2.5" pipes:


On the road a couple of weeks ago! I still have a lot of little things that I've been addressing since then, but It feels good to be at this point:


The rake should come down a little when I get the bed floor taken care of.

Thank you to everyone here for the wealth of knowledge!

Jake

[Dan in Pasadena]

Jeez Jake! You posted what is an entire build thread to most of us. Take a frickin breath dude! Slow down and enjoy the ride a bit, ha ha!

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by eshahak

Oh and please talk to a diabetic who is allowed to live without being a millionaire because of copyrights...

Huh? Not sure I inderstand anything you said here.

[57chevyman]

Jake - I'm using the same mustang tank as you . Are you doing a flip down license plate for the filler?