Post your best budget mods! ($50 or less)

[Vetter]

Ok, here are my cheap upgrades - (67 CLSSICK)

1 Liter - Jack Daniels Bottle as the over-flow.

Jack Daniels Belt Buckle as the gas pedal.

Red Water Spigot as the air cleaner nut/bolt.

[63 & 64 Bowties]

Keep 'em coming.
All good stuff so far.

[TJ's Chevy]

Here is my mod......chrome rain guards. $26.95 at Classic Parts....any "moron" could install these! lol! Two screws and yer done. And they fit perfectly to!

[64shortbox]

Here's a couple of mine. A windshield washer/radiator recovery tank off a Ford Exploder - 1/2 off sale at a self service yard $13.00 I filled the radiator side with Lowe's version of CLR, let it soak over night then scrubbed the inside with a rag & a long screw driver & rinsed. Looks like new. The squirt nozzles also came off an older Ford full size truck. The used windshield switch with squirt button and knob came off eBay. All in all less than $50.00 for everything the biggest expense was the eBay piece at $35.00. Then there's the Lincoln Mark VIII radiator cooling fan - again 1/2 off day - I tested the fan with a battery from my cordless drill. I tripped the fan using a Volvo fan relay. I bought a 40 amp circuit breaker - the biggest expense - still less than $50.00. My suspended throttle pedal with cable & cable bracket (bracket bolts to base of carb and secures both throttle cable & Turbo 350 kick down cable) this stuff I actually paid full price for but still less than $50.00. The 73 style brake pedal - this one probably doesn't count - while $12.00 for the 73 brake pedal I cut the brake pad off it and my 64 pedal and welded the 73 pad on my 64 arm. The A/C vents are from a 64 Chrysler New Yorker - I never cared for the cheesy plastic vents that came with the Vintage Air system. Again, self serve junk yard and less than $50.00 but lots& lots of time disassembling, cleaning, polishing and reassembling the vents and housings. The steering wheel definitely doesn't count - that was a birthday present from my wife in 2012 - but a wife that buys me stuff for my truck for my birthday? How great is that?

[brokenspoke]

Originally Posted by 65Gregg

Headlight relays have got to rank at the top of my cheap mod list.

^^^^what he said

[familyfast64]

First off, to the guy who did the weather stripping... Awesome! I have the glued on version for our trucks and it hardly is long enough so it pulls away and the glue looks like crap. Plus the door lines up great but you have to slam it especially with the windows closed or forget it. I'm definitely looking to do that mod. Thanks

I did the stainless rain guards(smokers must have)-27$
I also did the chrome rocker to carpet sill trim or whatever. Keeps your carpet from pulling up and looks so much better. Had the gmc logo too-37$
I was breaking rocker arm studs cause they weren't arp so I bought those and I don't know if that's considered a mod but it sure made me happy. 40$
I also added door bumpers, they were much larger then the holes in the door so I had to use a step drill bit and enlarge the holes so I'm counting that as a mod.lol 4$

And I'm about to get rid of the red botie logo on my tail lights by either cutting them out to add the blue dots which can be had for 10-15$ or possibly going led in which case they'd be more like 50$ a piece... I know that's kinda cheating but a guy could do one at a time. It really bothers me that the bowtie is on my gmc. No offence to Chevy tho.

[ChefCy]

im taking notes

[CaliberNick]

Originally Posted by Vetter

Ok, here are my cheap upgrades - (67 CLSSICK)

1 Liter - Jack Daniels Bottle as the over-flow.

Jack Daniels Belt Buckle as the gas pedal.

Red Water Spigot as the air cleaner nut/bolt.

My top 3 favorite mods so far on this list, I have about 200 old belt buckles lying around and I may just steal your idea here.

[64shortbed]

I dont have pics on this computer but i did the dome light switchs in the door opening. So when i open my door the dome light come on. only thing it cost me was some wire.

And believe it or not im in the middle of converting my rear leaf spring to trailing arms. so far i have $50 in the axle seats and the trailing arm bushings. A buddy had a long bed frame laying around. So i was able to take every thing off the frame i needed for free. A lot of work with those gm rivets but for free i can do the work. And for the pan hard bar he had so heim joints and a bar i traded for!

[64shortbed]

Originally Posted by Vetter

Ok, here are my cheap upgrades - (67 CLSSICK)

1 Liter - Jack Daniels Bottle as the over-flow.

Jack Daniels Belt Buckle as the gas pedal.

Red Water Spigot as the air cleaner nut/bolt.

Every older car and truck i've had has had a JD bottle over flow. I get a lot of complemnts at the car show. They all say the same thing "i never though of that"

[Woogeroo]

Summer 2014 bump...

this thread is listed in the 60-66 FAQ Index... under the Category of Fixes.


-W


NOTE: the 60-66 FAQ Index is maintained as a sticky at the top of the 60-66 message board, if the link changes.

[dantimdad]

I built my own shifter stalk it's in my build thread (in the pic it still has the wooden ball).

Basically, it cost me $12 for a piece of rod that was twice as long as I needed and $4 for a pineapple hand grenade.

We used a rosebud tip on the cutting torch to heat up the stalk and a BFH to pound the end flat for bolt holes. Then we took a coat hanger wire and bent it to the right position and heated up the rod and bent it to match. Then we tempered using the torch and a tub of water. Then I drilled all the way through the grenade (disarmed of course) and puddle welded it to the rod.

It works like a charm and no one has one exactly like it.

Steven

[dantimdad]

Forgot! Before we tore the truck apart, I put a 95 Tahoe third brake light on the back of the cab. I honestly can't remember who had the idea first, it wasn't me.

It cost me $5 on the half off sale at LKQ and I was able to pull enough wire from the same vehicle for free because the headliner was out of it.

I'm going to get another one when we finish the truck, because the original one has some haze to it I didn't notice until it was lit up the first time. Even buying two it'll be less that $20.

Steven

[dantimdad]

And one final one:

I put in an electric hot rod heater right before tear down and hated that it only had one outlet for heat. I LOVE the cold so I really wanted a defroster mostly but I am not the only one building this truck or riding in it.

I wanted to be able to switch or mix heater and defroster and came up with this:

http://www.jegs.com/p/Mr-Gasket/Mr-G...44831/10002/-1

It costs more than $50 to buy it new but I scored one at the CBI swap meet for $10. I just had to free it up with PB blaster, sand blast it and paint it.

I then took flexi exhaust pipe and rubber plumbing adapters to make it all connect to the defrost vents. Pulled it all back out and painted it flat black so it didn't show. The bottom outlet is the heater so I didn't have to plumb it.

I am pretty proud of this one and will put pics in my build thread when I get back to that point.

Steven

[Improbcat]

If you have a locking gas cap and don't want to worry about losing the key, buy a $6 key retractor at home depot and clip it to the sheetmetal inside the cab. That way it is always at hand, and stores itself when you let go.

[Improbcat]

I wanted someplace to store little stuff like tiedowns & quarts of oil so they weren't rattling around in the cab, but wanted the option to have the the entire bed space if I needed it.

I bought a $5 metal tool box at the flea market, and two wing screws & a set of T-nuts at home depot.


Drilled through the bottom of the tool box & the floor of the bed, then installed the T-nuts from the bottom(so pulling up on the tool box can't pull them out) and installed the wing screws from inside the tool box. That way if you lock the tool box no one can get at the wing screws to remove it.






If you have a nice bed floor I would suggest adding some rubber feet to the bottom of the tool box to space it up enough that water doesn't get trapped under it against the wood.

[vin63]

Left over tubing, splined bar stock and aluminum billet. Rear sway bar:

[WhiteWhale]

For the dual MC upgrade, any part numbers or vehicle type/year?

[Captainfab]

For drums/drums or disc/drums? Manual or power?

Originally Posted by WhiteWhale

For the dual MC upgrade, any part numbers or vehicle type/year?

[Woogeroo]

Originally Posted by WhiteWhale

For the dual MC upgrade, any part numbers or vehicle type/year?

60-66 FAQ Index

Brakes


-W

[jcramsey]

Two inch lowering blocks for the rear with new U-bolts from way2lo2. $35 shipped for the u-bolts and the 2" square tube I had laying around. I'm sure you can find a piece of it at the scrapyard for next to nothing.



Pretty happy with the Walker 48111 exhaust pipe for my 250. Even though it was maybe $65 shipped to my door, it was a LOT cheaper than getting anything bent up at the muffler shop.

[Woogeroo]

Improbcat : that's pretty neat, I like that.

-W

[rickywideglide]

got this speaker system to hook up phone or mp3 player for next to nothing,need to move under dash so i can use park brake,

but have tunes at least

[chevy_man5]

Originally Posted by rickywideglide

got this speaker system to hook up phone or mp3 player for next to nothing,need to move under dash so i can use park brake,

If you don't mind me asking where did you find the Harley speaker setup for next to nothing??

[TJ's Chevy]

Originally Posted by Improbcat

I wanted someplace to store little stuff like tiedowns & quarts of oil so they weren't rattling around in the cab, but wanted the option to have the the entire bed space if I needed it.
I bought a $5 metal tool box at the flea market, and two wing screws & a set of T-nuts at home depot.
Drilled through the bottom of the tool box & the floor of the bed, then installed the T-nuts from the bottom(so pulling up on the tool box can't pull them out) and installed the wing screws from inside the tool box. That way if you lock the tool box no one can get at the wing screws to remove it.
If you have a nice bed floor I would suggest adding some rubber feet to the bottom of the tool box to space it up enough that water doesn't get trapped under it against the wood.

I like the mod! Very cool!