Markeb01 Build Thread

[markeb01]

Oh man, great minds do think alike! Now you know why the 3rd safety cover is blank. Nobody would ride with me if it was labeled. The Martin-Baker seat mechanism works fine but I haven’t put any effort into the breakaway roof panel yet, because the cosmetic upgrades were considered a higher priority. If I’m forced to use the seat, the passengers head is going to cause a lot of damage to the cab. Since that level of destruction is beyond my skill set to repair, I’m leaving the switch unlabeled until I get around to addressing this minor shortcoming.

[bj383ss]

Ejector Seat! Your Joking!

Bret

[Ta2Don]

We are going to need Video of the Ejector Seat in Action...

[McMurphy]

A classic ejector seat works fine in my convertible, but you are right about the extensive cab frame and roof mods needed for those in these style trucks.

Thats why I went with the economical side dumper that pops the door open, tilts the unsuspecting passenger out, with my own patented break away seat belts.
I dont get to see the looks on their faces, but the screams are still satisfying.

[markeb01]

Creative genius at work!!! Thanks for the tip. I'll get to work right away figuring out how to wire all that in to my one switch!

[markeb01]

The glovebox decals have been bothering me ever since the full size door panels went in. When the interior was less luxurious, they seemed fun. With the upholstery nearing completion, they now seemed tacky.

Having run their course I pulled the door this morning and removed the stickers/decals. Each one left deep impressions in the paint, so I applied rubbing compound to see if the indentations could be removed. That step just made them show up even more, so I started prepping for paint. I block sanded with 800 grit wet, followed by 1500. A quick check revealed all the impressions had been eliminated, so I started over with rubbing compound, polishing compound, Semi-Chrome Polish, machine glaze, and finally a coat of wax.

The metal underneath isn’t perfect, but the paint turned out very close to being. Now I’m thankful I piled on so much lacquer when I stripped the wrinkle paint and replaced it with gloss black. The cool part is the glove box is painted with Tamiya Gloss Black Lacquer model car paint, and it is the same exact color as the PPG I sprayed on the dash years earlier.

Here’s closest before and after comparison I could come up with. The pictures taken this morning aren’t very good. The wind was blowing so hard it was knocking the camera around on the tripod, and the sunlight was very harsh. With the wind chill near zero I was having trouble holding the camera still with my nose running from the cold!







I am going to mount the Hurst “Warning” sticker above the windshield between the sunvisors. When I removed the OEM inside mirror bracket, I never finished the bodywork/paint repairs to my satisfaction. So rather than having to fix it, I’m going to mount a plate there with Velcro to support the decal. It should look somewhat cool and eliminate a repair I have no interest in fixing. Pictures of that to follow once the new decal shows up.

[dean jendro]

Very clean! Nice cold winter project, Mark.

[laynrockers]

Dude that interior is PLUSHHH

[markeb01]

Thanks guys. Until the new one shows up, here’s the old Hurst sticker mounted on flexible magnet material. It has defects, but from 2 feet away they can't be seen. I think on the new one I'm going to eliminate the white border:

[likaroc13]

Good choice on the glovebox door, as it really does clean things up a bit. I liked the decals as well, but I think you made the right move.

[Ta2Don]

Even the small details you change, enhance, eliminate, add… really make your truck stand out as one of the BEST and keeps me motivated...

[TJ's Chevy]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[McMurphy]

Your glovebox door turned out very nice!!
Very professionally done, and looks it!

You know, I think it was from growing up with the wacky racers, monster hot rod stickers you got in gum that turned me off from pasting stickers onto anything.
I always liked those stickers, and it seemed once you adhered them to something, they were spent, lost, a goner...
But they were not something you could or would stash away in a scrap book either.

These days I get those magnets from various businesses, and put my stickers on them, then trim to size.
For me that works out great since I can move them around, and not have to deal with the adhesive as well.

[markeb01]

Very little going on with the truck recently. Almost all of my waking time has been spent converting over to a new desktop computer, something I absolutely hate doing. I vehemently disapprove of being forced to “upgrade” to new tools that no longer contain many of the prime features I use on a daily basis. But I finally found ways around the limitations and got Microsoft Office Picture Manager reinstalled (so I can continue to edit my photos easily), got my email (Outlook) up and running, and also got my dual monitors connected and functioning. So I’m pretty sure I can switch over completely within a few more days.

Coincidentally while dealing with all the tech problems, Imageshack also decided to make massive changes to their website and cram it down the throats of their paying customers. There may be some new benefits, but the frustration outweighs any interest for this user. Just because Microsoft gets away with this behavior most of the time, doesn’t mean there aren’t other alternatives for photo hosting sites. Enough of my ranting.

In any event, here’s the first photo of the in process seat covers. Progress has been slow as my younger son got very sick over the holidays. This section will be fitted into the bottom of one cover:



And here’s the new replacement sticker mounted on a chunk of flexible magnet. It doesn’t show in the photo but this one isn’t full of wrinkles and air bubbles:



Although the weather has been cold, we’ve been blessed with decent roads recently so I’ve been out bombing around in the truck every chance I get! Life is good. More to follow.

[Ta2Don]

Bombing Around...

[markeb01]

My youngest son called last night advising the seat covers were finished and will be shipping out today. In the meantime I got tired of the chrome Hurst Shifter handle slapping my knee every time we encounter train tracks, so I went back to the custom aluminum handle my older son made a while back. I got tired of the boring appearance however, so last week I dropped if off at the local engraving shop and they whittled it up in an outline font similar to the Hurst stamping. It now shows HURST on both sides. It turned out very nice and I’m pleased with it. Kind of hard to photograph each side equally however, as I really put a polish on it before the engraving:





Once the seat covers go in, I’m probably going to call it quits on any further modifications or upgrades until the spring, when I can hopefully get started on the custom hood.

[Ta2Don]

Shifter is

[MisterC]

Always with the attention to detail. Top notch!

[markeb01]

Sorry no pictures tonight. Amazing how one day can end up so different than the last. Last night I was gearing up towards acquiring all the stuff I would be needing to build a custom fiberglass hood. Earlier this evening there was an incident in the garage that caused me to reconsider priorities. Tonight the plan is to rewire the truck as soon as I decide which kit to purchase.

I’ve been left with a couple of minor nagging electrical issues since the cruise control debacle. Last week the switch that activates the heater valve failed to function. It turned out to be nothing more than a wire pulled off the terminal. Easy fix. Two days ago the heater fan stopped working. I’ve had issues with the 2 lower speeds being too slow through the resistor, so I decided to go with an on/off switch going through a relay to run the heater fan.

I haven’t been able to diagnose anything yet, but the minute I powered up the new circuit dark gray smoke started pouring out of the driver’s side radiator apron (where the headlight relays reside), behind the battery (where the master disconnect switch is located), and a glance downward revealed that I could not see my feet or the pedals as thick gray/black smoke was pouring out from under the dash.

I snapped off the disconnect switch, but the smoke kept getting thicker. Fortunately whenever I test anything fuel or electrical I always position fire extinguishers conveniently, and I also leave the negative battery terminal loose on the post. A quick upward whack on the battery cable knocked if off the terminal with a big spark showing something was really shorting out. At my age not too many things scare me much anymore, but fire in a location where things can blow up does.

Once I was convinced nothing was going to burst into flames, I started airing out the garage and ventilating the cab. I hate the smell of a burned up car, and mine sure has that stink in it now. I’m hopeful it will dissipate, as there is no cloth and no headliner to really suck up the smell. Armoral on the vinyl should remove any odor on those surfaces.

Since I don’t know what went wrong, and I’ve never experienced a problem like this in 50+ years of working on cars, I’d like to blame it on a mechanical problem. But the truth is it was probably me. The Ron Francis system went in over 20 years ago and has been modified countless times. And the older I get and the more painful it is to access the fuse panel I’ve taken a few shortcuts splicing when I should have run a new circuit from the fuse panel. It might turn out that things aren’t all the bad and I could get it limping along with some minor repairs, but at this point I have no confidence. Partially melted or burned electrical stuff failing at some worst possible time in the future won’t add to the joy of ownership, so everything is coming out for a new system.

Even though the truck has been modified and refined over the last 20 years (few modifications in the future) I’m leaning towards another Ron Francis kit as I love the convenience of adding or changing wires at the front the fuse panel. And this time it will be mounted in the glove box so I can work on it while sitting up in the passenger seat. I’ll either fabricate a flip down panel in the glove box, or just leave it out completely as it almost never gets used anyway.

My first reaction was depression. Five minutes later I was taking it as a blessing. It’s kind of how I use to feel when I realized I’d been shot at and didn’t get hit. A second chance to improve things before the truck, garage, or house could have gone up in flames. I'm very thankful.

More to follow!

[Grizz1963]

Morning Mark

I was reading your update, getting into a panic on your behalf as electrickery is not my favourite subject.

Cant help with advice but your last paragraph and the mention of getting shot at is a great way to look at it.

[markeb01]

Thanks Rian. Have a great day!!

[dean jendro]

WOW! Mark, so glad you and truck and house are OK. I certainly know what dramatic and quick damage any kind of fire can cause. I guess you know how the rest of your winter will be spent now. At least it gives you the opportunity to renew of of the most important systems in any vehicle. Let us know if you need anything.

[likaroc13]

Really hate to hear that Mark, but I'm glad you're all safe & sound. As you already noted, it could've been much worse. It sucks that you're having to throw money at something you hadn't planned on, but I guess it's a great opportunity to refresh/upgrade the wiring. I think your outlook on the situation is spot-on. You're blessed! Looking forward to hear about your new wiring install & continued seat progress. Btw, the engraved shifter looks great!

[McMurphy]

We Military folk use the term "dodging a bullet" a lot, and as you alluded to, this is one of those times. Congrats on that, bummer about the truck though.

Once you tear into it, you are not going to have any troubles finding out what the culprit was, more than likely it is going to be quite the crispy critter, be it a wire, relay, or heater resistor....

I wish you more good luck (in that your truck, house did not go up in flames) and am happy for you that you are going to have a good and solid project to keep your mind and hands busy for a while !!

[Ta2Don]

Glad to hear you found out there was a problem before any major damage ensued... Sorry you are going through this but better now rather than, what could've been a disastrous, later.