What did you do with your truck today, Part 3

[MiraclePieCo]

Mounted my 1/4" thick beast of a rear bumper today - the weight actually made the rear end drop 1/4 inch! My rear bumper filler panel needs lots of body work, so that will be installed someday when I get around to it. Meantime I need taillight brackets, but I can't fab any because we're under fire restrictions here - no welding, grinding or cutting metal. More on this next post.

[MiraclePieCo]

DID YOU SEE THE AMAZING VIDEOS of the forest fire on I-5 just south of me? Truckers and motorists abandoning their vehicles and running for their lives as the fire closed on the freeway and burned up several semi trucks. Interstate 5 has been closed for 24 hours. I am in the smoke from this right now.

All of this latest round of fires are human-caused, btw.

[DransportGarage]

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

<snip> what kills is is the shop is still there with all his equipment!

Brian

Sounds like a business opportunity!

[DransportGarage]

Originally Posted by MiraclePieCo

<snip> I am in the smoke from this right now.

All of this latest round of fires are human-caused, btw.

Take care out there. Those monster fires are nothing to be played with!

[mikebte]

Originally Posted by MiraclePieCo

DID YOU SEE THE AMAZING VIDEOS of the forest fire on I-5 just south of me? Truckers and motorists abandoning their vehicles and running for their lives as the fire closed on the freeway and burned up several semi trucks. Interstate 5 has been closed for 24 hours. I am in the smoke from this right now.

All of this latest round of fires are human-caused, btw.

I wish you the best. I have experienced that first hand, it can be hard to breath and you start getting an evacuation plan ready. Fire ain't no joke.

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by MiraclePieCo

DID YOU SEE THE AMAZING VIDEOS of the forest fire on I-5 just south of me? Truckers and motorists abandoning their vehicles and running for their lives as the fire closed on the freeway and burned up several semi trucks. Interstate 5 has been closed for 24 hours. I am in the smoke from this right now.

All of this latest round of fires are human-caused, btw.

That's near the California/Oregon border taken that highway many times, I knew it looked familiar and just googled the fire, yep, I have driven through there many many many times.

Such beautiful country, hope it gets handled soon and hope you are ok.

Brian

[Black_Sheep]

Today I’m re-rebuilding the vent windows. I had the washers with the oval hole in the wrong location. While everything is apart new weatherstrip is going in. It was one of the few things that didn’t get replaced the first time around, it turns out the old rubber gasket had shrunk and hardened considerably.

[nvrdone]

we were thru there the 1st part of Aug when the Carr fire was burning west of Redding. Then got caught by a fire east of Sonora and had to evacuate. Had to go over Sonora pass to 395 to get out. That fire got with in 1/2 mile of our cabin but it survived. never want to be that close to a forest fire again.

[my56chevytruck]

I've decided to make my own console and I've been working on radio wiring and reception using the "hidden antenna" idea. That didn't work out well so I used the stock stick antenna cable and fixed it to the truck directly under the dash. Next will be upholstery!!

[mikebte]

Originally Posted by my56chevytruck

I've decided to make my own console and I've been working on radio wiring and reception using the "hidden antenna" idea. That didn't work out well so I used the stock stick antenna cable and fixed it to the truck directly under the dash. Next will be upholstery!!

Looks good, I kind of like the rugs you have for carpets.

[MARTINSR]

Got the doors ready to prime, epoxy primer is induced, ready to go in the morning. I also watched my neighbor cut a tree down that fell on my house! Luckily damage is minimum, I helped him clear that up.

Brian

[Black_Sheep]

Rolling SEM bed liner on the wheel wells to protect from rocks, etc... I also did the step area to provide a scratch resistant coating.

[MARTINSR]

Damn Mark that looks good! WOW

Got the doors primed up first thing this morning. It's so funny, I haven't painted regularly in so long, I have been a little uneasy as I do it. Mixing, getting things ready, I just have been fighting in my brain to do it right. I prime something and then don't do it again for months so I don't get "in it." Today I felt a big change, I knew by the weight of the gun as I was spraying that it was out of primer, that made me feel good. It's so funny, I have sprayed literally thousands of gallons of primer, paint, clear in my life and now after not doing it for 18 years regularly so much has been forgotten.

Brian

[Black_Sheep]

It will come back to you Brian.

I also got the horn installed and bolted on the upper filler panel...

[DransportGarage]

FINALLY got the cab ready for sealer and basecoat - hopefully tomorrow.

[mikebte]

Originally Posted by DransportGarage

FINALLY got the cab ready for sealer and basecoat - hopefully tomorrow.

Very nice! 3rd brake light?

[MARTINSR]

Nothing exciting but damn it, I got out there. Got my battery box bottom and the spring and pin for the hood safety handle latch in the mail, and got the holes drilled in it to install. Got the hood safety latch handle sand blasted, not much but something, my five minutes.

Brian

[DransportGarage]

Originally Posted by mikebte

Very nice! 3rd brake light?

Yup. It's a '97-'02 Ranger CHMSL. This one almost fits the contour of the roof right out of the box, but I did have to increase the radius slightly using a 3" disc. It has an integral backup light as well.

[mikebte]

Installed my OBD I port and mounted under dash, installed speedo program/selector button, installed the horn under the hood, test fitted glove box, worked on the courtesy door switches and I made a template to drill a hole for my check engine light.
Busy busy and still a lot to go.

[DransportGarage]

Originally Posted by mikebte

Installed my OBD I port and mounted under dash, installed speedo program/selector button, installed the horn under the hood, test fitted glove box, worked on the courtesy door switches and I made a template to drill a hole for my check engine light.
Busy busy and still a lot to go.

...but you're a whole lot closer than you were a while ago!

[MiraclePieCo]

Originally Posted by mikebte

Installed my OBD I port and mounted under dash, installed speedo program/selector button, installed the horn under the hood, test fitted glove box, worked on the courtesy door switches and I made a template to drill a hole for my check engine light.
Busy busy and still a lot to go.

That's how I feel - an endless list of details.

[MiraclePieCo]

Big day today. First I mounted my taillights. They're old used trailer taillights I got for $5 at a swap meet, perfect for my truck's utilitarian theme.

But when I tried to test the lights they wouldn't work. After painstakingly tracing wires I discovered there was no power to the headlight switch. Whatever assembly-line worker assembled my fuse panel had put the headlight fuse in the wrong slot! I relocated the fuse to the proper slot and, presto, I had working lights. It was a deceptive problem because everything looked normal with a good headlight fuse in the panel, just in the adjacent slot, so I'm still congratulating myself for being able to find it.

I am mere days from being able to test drive this thing.

[MARTINSR]

I got the hood latch sandblasted and ready for primer, that's about it, but's something!

Brian

[MARTINSR]

Just a little Brian memory stuff. I love seeing things that fire memories. Today as I was working on my truck I grabbed this chisel out of my tool box. I made this chisel back when Russ was building his Roadster. It's made out of a piece of a windshield post from his car! We chopped the windshield post down shorter and this was the piece left over. I welded a little piece of flat stock to it and used it to shape something on the car, I forget what. But it's still in my tool box and I have used it over the years since. Today, I used it on my truck. So the Roadster may be sold but it lives on in my garage.

Brian

[mikebte]

Originally Posted by MiraclePieCo

Big day today. First I mounted my taillights. They're old used trailer taillights I got for $5 at a swap meet, perfect for my truck's utilitarian theme.
I am mere days from being able to test drive this thing.

That’s great, I enjoy seeing items reused. New is always nice, but sometimes it’s nice to know people repurposed something. I guess in a way the whole truck has been repurposed.

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

Just a little Brian memory stuff. I love seeing things that fire memories. Today as I was working on my truck I grabbed this chisel out of my tool box. I made this chisel back when Russ was building his Roadster. It's made out of a piece of a windshield post from his car! We chopped the windshield post down shorter and this was the piece left over. I welded a little piece of flat stock to it and used it to shape something on the car, I forget what. But it's still in my tool box and I have used it over the years since. Today, I used it on my truck. So the Roadster may be sold but it lives on in my garage.

Brian

Crazy how something so knurled can make something so beautiful, reminds me of the old guys growing up. They looked like life was terrible, but the hot rod was a thing of beauty.