Roostre's 1967 C20

[Roostre]

Big day today. I started out installing the front inner fenders. The passenger's side reproduction fit only OK. I managed to mangle it around and get it in there. It is fine to the casual observer and works for my driver's truck. The driver's side original fell into place when I looked at it.

After that, the battery tray and coolant overflow bottle went back in. That reminds me that I owe a coolant reservoir thread here a picture of my beer bottle zip tied in place overflow reservoir. I'll have to grab that tomorrow.

Next up was installing the battery, reconnecting the front lights, and routing the wiring harnesses under the hood back through their plastic trays. Shockingly to me, all of the electrical worked: every single light came on with the switches, the vent blower fan fired up, and even my windshield wipers were on. My son likes to play in the cab pulling knobs and pushing buttons, so the blower fan and windshield wipers startled me when I connected the ground to the battery.

After all that proved to work, I couldn't very well stop without seeing if the engine would pop off. I poured some fuel down the carb vent to fill the bowls, and twisted on it. It fired right off without any hesitation! I love small block Chevy's, they just go.

With everything working, I'm more convinced than ever this old girl wants to be back on the road. All I have left is to put the interior back together. I also have rear shocks to slap on her.

[Roostre]

A lot more progress made today. First up, the coolant overflow bottle picture that I promised in the old coolant overflow tank thread.

After that, I tackled fuel lines. My original line from the pump to the carb was rubber with a filter cut into it. I didn't like that as it seemed to rub everywhere and I was concerned about holes. So I took some 5/16" nickel-copper line and made a metal line with just a short jump for the filter. It turned out pretty good. The pictures are the rubber line before and the metal line after. The angle of the pictures makes the metal line look like it's rubbing; it's close but it is not.

[Roostre]

After the fuel line, I moved onto the interior. I wanted a rubber floor mat, so I ordered this one from Rockauto. It took a fair amount of cutting, and doesn't fit perfectly, but it's good enough. It also will likely fit better when it gets warm and is allowed to relax. The door seals are Precision Gasket that press over the pinch welds, also ordered from Rockauto. They fit really well and seem to be pretty sturdy, we'll see how they hold up. Everything else, with the exception of the blanket covering the seat, came with the truck so it was cleaned up and re-installed. The seat is definitely from a square body, and I covered my adapter plates in a previous post.

Now I'm down to a few minor things before I can call this thing done. It needs seatbelts, the sun visors installed, rear shocks, hood cowl seal, and a little tidying of the wiring under the hood. I can't wait to start driving it and shaking out the other problems I'll have to address.

[raggedjim]

It's getting close to driving, that must be a great feeling.

Good luck, Rg

[Roostre]

Originally Posted by raggedjim

It's getting close to driving, that must be a great feeling.

Good luck, Rg

It is a great feeling, I just wish I wasn't staring down the winter months so I could get some real miles on it.

[Roostre]

It was a beautiful day today, so after I finished preparing for inevitable winter, I decided it was time for the truck to pull out of the shop under its own power. I put 5 gallons of fuel in it, added a little coolant, and it fired right up. My son and I went down the road a couple of miles. It even had brakes! We got back to the yard and went to put it in the shop. The picture shows where it died. I expected it to, the carb could use a rebuild, and the alternator is not charging. It also had a small fuel leak going into the carb. I put the battery charger on it while I cleaned out the shop, and it fired right back up. It's back in the shop now so I can figure out the internally regulated alternator conversion that someone did wrong. I'll likely end up rewiring it from scratch. Not a big deal.

So here are the first pictures of it together and out in the sun in a long time. Last picture is of it back in the shop.

[Roostre]

We had some more nice weather over the weekend, so I needed to take advantage. After putting up the Christmas lights on the house, I worked on electrical on my truck. Someone in the past had "converted" it to an internally regulated GM 1 wire alternator. By that, I mean they changed the alternator and brackets over to the passenger's side, cut the wire connectors off the externally regulated harness, and stuck them where they thought they should go, leaving the regulator and everything. Needless to say, this wasn't charging anymore. So, I went on RockAuto and found a brand new ACDelco alternator, made in China, but it's working right now and it was only $87 with no core charge. Interestingly, it came with instructions on how to do the one wire conversion in the box.

I installed the new alternator and started wiring. I've done several of these conversions on tractors, but never an old car, so I'm familiar with the concept, but not really the details. It was not bad at all. I ran a new wire from the battery terminal on the alternator to the battery and tied in the number 2 terminal on the back of the alternator. There was a brown keyed power wire that went to the old relay, so I used that for the 1 or field control terminal on the alternator. Just that easy. I know there are conversion harnesses, but mine was so butchered that I wanted to replace it anyway. My only concern was if I needed a diode to keep it from backfeeding and not allowing the key to shut off the motor. Luckily, I didn't in my truck. It's now charging about 14 volts, so I'm happy.

Since I was in the front harness of the truck anyway, I decided to convert my headlights over to relays. I bought a cheap relay box off of Amazon, some quality wire from the local hardware store, and got to work. I also got some new headlight sockets. I even went with green and brown wire for the new high and low beams. For connections, I went with solder filled shrink tube. Slide it over the connection and heat with a heat gun until you see the solder liquify and flow through the wires. The heat shrink seals the whole joint. I like them a lot. My headlights are a little brighter, and there's less current going through the dash.

No pictures this time around because it was all wiring and that's not something I can take interesting pictures of.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Never heard of solder-filled shrink tubing before.

[Roostre]

Originally Posted by '68OrangeSunshine

Never heard of solder-filled shrink tubing before.

I hadn't either until I saw a manufacturing engineer tech at work using a kit of them. The pictures below are the kit I bought from amazon. They have a couple of bands of colored adhesive/sealant and a band of solder. You can't really tell from the picture of the connection, but the solder melts and fills the wires in the same way that a traditional solder joint will. Time will tell if they last, but I'm impressed enough to give them a shot.

While I used my heat gun, I suspect that they may work even better or quicker with a little torch.

Summit sells a similar kit.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Cool.

[Roostre]

Not much done to the truck recently, but it looks like it's getting something for Christmas.

[zicc1835]

Originally Posted by Roostre

Not much done to the truck recently, but it looks like it's getting something for Christmas.

nice.....

[HO455]

Originally Posted by Roostre

I hadn't either until I saw a manufacturing engineer tech at work using a kit of them. The pictures below are the kit I bought from amazon. They have a couple of bands of colored adhesive/sealant and a band of solder. You can't really tell from the picture of the connection, but the solder melts and fills the wires in the same way that a traditional solder joint will. Time will tell if they last, but I'm impressed enough to give them a shot.

While I used my heat gun, I suspect that they may work even better or quicker with a little torch.

Summit sells a similar kit.

The down side of those is that they use a very low temp solder so that the solder melts before the shrink tubing does. I've seen them unsolder themselves when used near starters, headers and on high amperage circuits like starter solenoids.

I've never had an issue using them on taillights and trailer lights.

[Roostre]

Originally Posted by HO455

The down side of those is that they use a very low temp solder so that the solder melts before the shrink tubing does. I've seen them unsolder themselves when used near starters, headers and on high amperage circuits like starter solenoids.

I've never had an issue using them on taillights and trailer lights.

I could see that being an issue. As you said, they should be fine for most low temp normal amperage circuits. Time will tell if they're good enough for headlights.

[Roostre]

Originally Posted by zicc1835

nice.....

Yeah, I can't wait to install it. My wife and son insisted that it be wrapped up under the tree.

[ullose272]

we used heat shrink solder connecters like that in the USAF rewiring pylons. never had an issue with them

[Roostre]

In the spirit of trying to stay at doing things to the truck, I reconnected my dome light tonight. It doesn't work and I didn't do any trouble shooting, but I would not be surprised if the fuse is blown. The wiring for it was terrible, and the floor where it used to run was more rust than anything else. So I'll have to look into it another night. Also, I will have to keep my eye out for a dome light lens. I thought I had one, but couldn't find it in my shrinking pile of parts.

[Roostre]

I got my new steering wheel installed today. It is a Grant classic wood steering wheel. I like the look a lot better than the black vinyl one that was on there. While I had the steering wheel off, I replaced the upper column bearing. My old one was loose and missing a couple of balls, and so I figured for less than $20, it was a good idea. It was really easy, I just popped the old one out with a screw driver and pressed the new one in. While replacing the steering wheel, I noticed that a previous owner stripped out the steering wheel nut. I got lucky and was able to fix the threads on the steering column with a 1/2 inch fine thread dye, and got a new nut to tighten up on it.

Also while working on interior, I was able to score a good, used dash pad. A co worker's friend had a good black one that he gave to a good home. Even dirty, it still looks better than the cracked brown one that was in there.

Finally, I did a little bit of wiring clean up behind the dash.

First picture is the old steering wheel and dash pad. Second picture is the old bearing and new bearing. Third picture is the new bearing installed. Fourth picture is the new steering wheel and new to me dash pad. Final picture is the interior with the new steering wheel and new dash pad from a similar angle that I had a previous picture from.

[Shifty One]

Looks good!

[Roostre]

Originally Posted by Shifty One

Looks good!

Thanks! I'm really happy with it. Now to get a radio in the holes.

[zicc1835]

Originally Posted by Roostre

I got my new steering wheel installed today. It is a Grant classic wood steering wheel. I like the look a lot better than the black vinyl one that was on there. While I had the steering wheel off, I replaced the upper column bearing. My old one was loose and missing a couple of balls, and so I figured for less than $20, it was a good idea. It was really easy, I just popped the old one out with a screw driver and pressed the new one in. While replacing the steering wheel, I noticed that a previous owner stripped out the steering wheel nut. I got lucky and was able to fix the threads on the steering column with a 1/2 inch fine thread dye, and got a new nut to tighten up on it.

Also while working on interior, I was able to score a good, used dash pad. A co worker's friend had a good black one that he gave to a good home. Even dirty, it still looks better than the cracked brown one that was in there.

Finally, I did a little bit of wiring clean up behind the dash.

First picture is the old steering wheel and dash pad. Second picture is the old bearing and new bearing. Third picture is the new bearing installed. Fourth picture is the new steering wheel and new to me dash pad. Final picture is the interior with the new steering wheel and new dash pad from a similar angle that I had a previous picture from.

I like those wood wheels ....nice clean up with the dash pad it's those little things

[Roostre]

Originally Posted by zicc1835

I like those wood wheels ....nice clean up with the dash pad it's those little things

I do too, it really goes nicely with my interior, and wasn't terribly expensive either. I think around $120 with a little bit of a sale.

Thanks! I'm really happy with the dash pad. I was going to get one eventually, but I was showing pictures of the project to my coworker. He made the comment that I needed a new dash pad. He called a buddy of his who had it laying around and said he was happy to let me have it to see it used.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Save your old dash pad. I chipped off the brittle grey vinyl from mine and reskinned it with Saddle-colored Naugahyde I used for my bench seat. That was several years ago, before all the re-pop catalogs came into being. But still holds up. And the hardware was superior to the re-pop Dash Pad.

[dagnabbitt]

Sweet wheel: I put one in my '81, they were all the rage in high school. When I am driving my truck, I am still in high school.

[Roostre]

Originally Posted by '68OrangeSunshine

Save your old dash pad. I chipped off the brittle grey vinyl from mine and reskinned it with Saddle-colored Naugahyde I used for my bench seat. That was several years ago, before all the re-pop catalogs came into being. But still holds up. And the hardware was superior to the re-pop Dash Pad.

I thought about that, but I save a lot of stuff and need to draw the line somewhere. I may fish it out of the dumpster yet, garbage man doesn't come until the end of the month.