What did you do to your truck today!

[1quik70]

Having recently bought a new business, and being completely tied up with that, my old pickup has been rode hard and put up wet. I decided that it was time to give it the love it has been desperately needing. I have purposely not done a lot to this truck, because I have a problem with not knowing where to quit, and this truck was bought to be a driver, nothing more. With the acquisition of the new business, we now live above work, so the "driver" has now become my toy. So starting a week ago, the truck got brought into the new garage for the first time and I commenced the winter preparation:

First on the list was a bath, it hadn't been washed in probably 6 months. Once the body was clean, the wheels looked really bad so they got polished, and the tires all clean and shiny. Now that, its a little more fun to look at, I started on the mechanical problems that have developed over the last 2.5 years as a daily driver.

First things first, it has to start. I rebuilt the carb over the summer when I was considering selling the truck before moving. Shortly after the move, it decided to quit starting without a little help from a shot of gas. The accelerator pump plunger was slipping off the rod. Easy fix, ordered up a replacement rod and plunger, installed it and promptly broke a screw off in the carb body. Got it drilled out and re-tapped, good to go.

Next thing to address was the headlights. I have only had low beams since buying the truck almost 3 years ago. I drove the truck to work and back in the daylight so it was never much of an issue. I replace the headlights and regained my high beams, but they still left some to be desired. I went ahead and wired up a couple relays, and BAM, nice crisp, bright headlights.

Realized in the mix of everything else, the fan clutch was junk so I replace the mechanical fan with a 16" electric unit. I wasn't having any cooling issues, but the truck was only driven 4 miles back and forth to work. The 454 barely had time to get to temperature before I shut it down every day.

Before it gets too much colder here in the midwest, I decided I would enjoy a little heat. When replacing the engine in the spring, I played carb games and left off a heater hose when fitting to clear the Holley fuel inlet. Picked up a new fitting the other day, so I installed that and regained my heat.

Last but not least, I chased down the bad wire that was causing my radio not to work and replaced the wipers. We are now ready to face old man winter!