LockDoc's "Low Budget", "Low Maintenance" Project Thread

[LockDoc]

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Yard work today so I didn't have a lot of time.

I wanted to try something so I prepped and painted a pair of door panels and upper channels I had on hand. It's just a Metallic Silver I had on the shelf. I think it needs something to break up the all black interior. If I go with it I will also paint the outside rim of the glove box door with it. Let me know what you think.... Too much? ..... OK?

Thanks,
LockDoc

[pjmoreland]

Reminds me of the color scheme of the gauge cluster bezel and glovebox door on a '67. I like it!

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by pjmoreland

Reminds me of the color scheme of the gauge cluster bezel and glovebox door on a '67. I like it!

Thanks Patrick. I will paint the outside edge of a GB box door and see how it looks. I also have all of the parts to rebuild another cluster so I may use an older bezel and paint it like a '67.

LockDoc

[72gmguy]

Looks nice broken up by the silver.

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by 72gmguy

Looks nice broken up by the silver.

Thanks Jeremy. I think I will go with it.

LockDoc

[LockDoc]

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I'm still plugging away on this thing.... Just nothing exciting to show. I finished up all of the fuel supply and return lines today. Been working on that for a couple of days. I dug out a couple of pairs of stock Chevy 454 exhaust manifolds I had stashed away so I could decide which ones I want to use. They all need a little TLC.

I started on the custom cowl vent for it yesterday. It's a lot of work but it should look pretty good on the truck. I have done a couple of them in the past. I will try to get it sandblasted tomorrow.

LockDoc

[LockDoc]

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Smooth cowl vent is blasted and primed. I didn't get it done until later this afternoon. I hate wearing that hood when it is so hot. Now I can start final fitting and welding in the filler piece.

I also did some planning on the drive by wire accelerator pedal. I am going to make an adapter bracket for it. I didn't take any pictures of it but the 2002/03 accelerator pedal is offset to the right so the bracket will have to move the mounting plate over to the left a couple of inches. I don't think it will be too bad to make but it will have to fit a couple of offsets in the firewall. I will work on that again tomorrow.

LockDoc

[LockDoc]

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Worked on the cowl instead of the pedal bracket today. I had some lock work to do this morning so I didn't get started on it until about 11 AM. I have the filler panel fitting pretty good. I have just a little more work to do around the wiper shaft holes and I can start welding it in. A lot of hand work to get it to fit correctly.

It is still really hot here and if the sun is shining on the metal you can't touch it with your bare hands or it will burn you.

Pizza and a movie tonight, so I will start welding it in the morning.

LockDoc
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[LockDoc]

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I finally had a chance to finish the cowl panel up. I have a few small imperfections to put some spot putty in but it came out pretty good. Too hot to paint it this afternoon.

I let the smoke out of one of my HF grinders yesterday. It has served me well for about 7 or 8 years with a lot of use. I had to drag out what I affectionately call the "Man Killer". It is an old Souix grinder that my dad used for years when he was a heavy equipment mechanic back in the '50s and '60's. This thing has to weigh 10 or 15 pounds. I actually have a couple of other small grinders but this one will get some serious work done..

I will buy another HF one as soon as I get a chance. My closest HF is 70 miles away.....

LockDoc
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[LockDoc]

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I touched up a couple of places on the cowl that I'm still not happy with, early this morning.

Finally worked on the Drive By Wire throttle pedal and bracket yesterday and today. I think it turned out pretty good. Paint was still wet this evening so I will install everything in the morning.

I used the section of firewall insulation board that I cut out for a pattern and made a mock-up bracket out of a thin piece of aluminum flashing. By doing that it is easy to flatten out and re-bend if needed. I needed to do that on one of the bends and you can see the double lines on the piece of white metal. After I was satisfied with the fit I transferred the pattern to a piece of 1/8" sheet metal and cut it out with my trusty jigsaw. It was pretty straight forward so it was easy to do. Luckily I have a small machine shop a couple of miles from me so I took it there to see if they would have time to bend it for me. The guy said he could do it right then. We went out to the big sheet metal brake and it only took him about 5 minutes to bend it to match my pattern. After doing a little final tweeking on it I temporarily bolted it in and marked where the pedal fit good. I removed it and drilled the rest of the holes and primed and painted it, and the pedal assembly. It feels good to have that done.

Hopefully I will be able to sand down the spots on the cowl and get it painted in the morning.

Like I said earlier, I will be jumping around on different parts of the project depending on how much time I have.

LockDoc

[kev2809]

that bracket came out perfect. I bought mine from the board and it looks damn near the same

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by kev2809

that bracket came out perfect. I bought mine from the board and it looks damn near the same

Thanks, It would have been a little harder if a guy didn't have the piece of the firewall insulation board to use for a pattern.

LockDoc

[LockDoc]

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Finished the smooth cowl up. I will install it tomorrow.

Bolted the Drive By Wire pedal assembly and bracket together and installed it in the truck. It worked out good. I have full travel just before the foot pedal hits the floor.

LockDoc

[regan wilson]

Originally Posted by LockDoc

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Finished the smooth cowl up. I will install it tomorrow.

Bolted the Drive By Wire pedal assembly and bracket together and installed it in the truck. It worked out good. I have full travel just before the foot pedal hits the floor.

LockDoc

That smooth cowl looks really smooth!

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by regan wilson

That smooth cowl looks really smooth!

SMOOOOOTH, Yes.... .. Thanks Regan!

LockDoc

[LockDoc]

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Off with the old... On with the new, and I did some more adjusting on the sheet metal. Don't mind the dirt and bird poop. It's sitting under one of my Peach trees....

I scrounged around here and found a pretty nice original cowl to hood seal. Hey, nothing wrong with good used for the "Low Budget - Low Maintenance" project. I bet this 50 year old piece will last as long as some of the aftermarket stuff, and it fits like it should.

LockDoc

[CG]

Looking good! You fill those holes to keep the gunk out, or just because you could? haha

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by CG

Looking good! You fill those holes to keep the gunk out, or just because you could? haha

Thanks Mark.

...... A little of both I guess. I hadn't done one in quite a while and just wanted to see if I could still do it. Plus it will be something different that not everyone has. I think I will modify one for the Panel Truck too after I get this truck running.

LockDoc
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[LockDoc]

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Well, no work on the project truck for a couple of days. I need to put a new throwout bearing in the Blue '72 Dually. It has the NV4500 5 speed overdrive transmission in it, which is really heavy, but I don't think it will be too bad to do.

Hopefully I will be back on the project in a couple of days.

LockDoc

[LockDoc]

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OK, new throwout bearing is in and the '72 Dually runs great. Now I need to check out the "U" joints in the '36 Ford Coupe, they just started squeaking. Man, I can't catch a break here.....

LockDoc

[CG]

Whenever I come back to this thread it makes me want to merge my 72 Cheyenne C20 leaf spring truck with my 71 Super C30 157wb. The 72 has a ton of rust but the frame is great. C30 has very minor rust in the cab, plus it has cab lights. Big block, air, dual batteries etc.

I have my C30 up for sale locally nothing but low balls, to me anyway heh (hey I want what I want lol). Plus stuff doesn't seem to sell for as high out here in the PNW as the rest of the states, well not the plain stuff. We have a large amount of high end trucks that bring big bucks.

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by CG

Whenever I come back to this thread it makes me want to merge my 72 Cheyenne C20 leaf spring truck with my 71 Super C30 157wb. The 72 has a ton of rust but the frame is great. C30 has very minor rust in the cab, plus it has cab lights. Big block, air, dual batteries etc.

I have my C30 up for sale locally nothing but low balls, to me anyway heh (hey I want what I want lol). Plus stuff doesn't seem to sell for as high out here in the PNW as the rest of the states, well not the plain stuff. We have a large amount of high end trucks that bring big bucks.

Well, that way you would have everything for the swap and shouldn't have to buy anything.

As far as the truck values It seems like you guys have a lot of '67 - '72's out that way and that would affect the overall price of the average truck for sure.....

LockDoc

[Ol Blue K20]

It's coming together. The cowl looks great!

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

It's coming together. The cowl looks great!

Thanks Dale. I started back in on it yesterday after a few delays. I worked on the cruise control wiring and finished up the wiring on the drive by wire pedal.

I have to help my son tomorrow so hopefully I can spend most of the day Tuesday on it.

LockDoc
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[LockDoc]

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More delays. Had a tire tread separate on the rear of the '36 Ford Coupe, so I had to deal with that, and on the way back from a 220 mile trip with it a front wheel bearing went out. Luckily we were on the way back from the riverboat cruise and only about 30 miles from home. My friend Ron brought the trailer up and hauled me home....

Then the shift indicator pointer, in the tilt column shift collar broke off. This was on the '67 Chevy Panel Truck. The piece still in the shift collar slid down inside and locked the shift lever out of reverse and park. I looked up the problem in old threads on here and got that fixed. I swear, if I didn't have bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all.

Anyway, I finally got the cruise wires figured out and connected on the Dually project yesterday afternoon. I use my "Helping Hands" tool to hold the wires while soldering, and I solder and heat shrink all of the splices.

I still haven't figured out what the black wire is for on the cruise connector plug. There are a few pictures on the board of the connector but they all just show 4 wires (white, green, red, & blue). Mine also has a black wire. I presume it is a ground wire but I would rather know for sure.

LockDoc