Markeb01 Build Thread

[markeb01]

Saturday the parking brake/firewall grommet showed up and was quickly snapped in place.

We put a bunch of miles on the truck today and the new mirrors provide fantastic vision to the rear – once they become familiar. I keep looking down for the mirror, my brain processes the complete lack of information, and I look up to see the new mirror and a nice view of what’s going on around me! In a couple of days I’ll forget all about the previous mirrors.

I also ended another saga that started coincidentally when I installed the stainless windshield trim. I’ve had a horrendous squeak in the cab that has been driving me nuts. For over 20 years the truck has exhibited no rattles, and no squeaks. Having one loud enough to drown out the gear drive is infuriating. At first I thought it might me the windshield trim itself, so I spent almost two weeks working on the trim trying to shorten where the two ends touch at the top center. I found a nut trapped in the lowest dash channel between the mounting brackets and the under dash gauge panel. A few days back I found the clutch pedal heim joint was dry, and most recently I lubricated the shifter and parking brake linkage.

Every time I’ve gone through this the squeak goes away for a few minutes or an hour, and then it’s back as loud as ever! Tonight I was closing the hood and noticed a squeak just as it latched, so I opened it back up. I rested the hood without latching it, went to the rear corner on each side and pressed down. The driver’s side was silent. The passenger side squeaked! So I WD40’d the hinge and the noise remained! Next I lubed the rubber mounting block at the back of the hood, and the mounting surface on the cowl. That was it!

I hopped back in the truck and took a short ride down a bumpy road and the squeak is gone!! Yippee!! Hopefully this is the real deal.

Another annoying habit the truck developed just before the new engine swap – while traveling at about 60 mph is high gear, the engine will stall out - running out of gas. For the life of me I can’t understand why. I’ve been through everything from the carb to the tank, and everything in between is new – filters, lines, and two new mechanical fuel pumps.

I discovered that energizing the electric fuel pump for a few seconds solves the problem and has prevented us from being stranded several times. It’s very random and happens months apart, the latest episode being yesterday.

Years ago I had poor luck with electric fuel pumps, but previously I never ran them with pre-filters or electrical relays. Since my new Carter electric fuel pump has both, I’m going to eliminate the mechanical pump and see if that makes the problem disappear. So tonight I replaced the momentary fuel pump toggle switch with an on/off version, and picked up a Mr. Gasket steel 2 bolt block off plate at the local Napa store:



Tomorrow I’ll remove the mechanical pump, and begin relying solely on the electric pump. For now I may just connect the frame line to the engine line with a length of hose. If the problem never returns, I’ll reroute new hard line up the back of the engine, eliminating more plumbing clutter up front.