46 pickemup in NJ "the Rebuild"

[paintman]

Upon further review..... I think the plan of attack will be to re-work the tubular brace that comes from the firewall. I think just making a bend in it to go around the cap is the solution. sometimes the easiest solution is hiding right in front of you.
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[solidaxel]

Do you still have the "bend" on the other side where the air cleaner used to be for the one barrel?

[paintman]

Originally Posted by solidaxel

Do you still have the "bend" on the other side where the air cleaner used to be for the one barrel?

Yes.

[paintman]

Well after running around for nearly 2 hours trying to find a piece of round stock the same size as the original, I said the hell with it and went a different route.

I just cut the center out of the bracket where it bolted at the radiator housing. Pinched the 2 pieces together, and hot snotted it to a new piece of flat stock. I tried to make it look like something that would have come originally on the truck. Instead of just booger blasting it together. Should look alright once it's painted white.


Easy, Cheesy, I fixed the Chinaeezy
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[CURSED GEARS]

That repair makes it look like it was meant to be like that. Good Job! Symmetrical too! I like it!

[solidaxel]

That was easier than cutting and pasting the bend for the air cleaner, to the side where the rad cap is, I like your idea much better
Where did you get the hood holders, or did I ask you that before?
How about a close up pic of one of those

[paintman]

Where did you get the hood holders, or did I ask you that before?
How about a close up pic of one of those[/QUOTE]

Hey Solid! Here's the only 2 pics I have of the hood prop. They came with the truck when I bought it. It looks like whoevere built the truck, boogered them together with off the shelf stuff from the hardware store. The actual rod that props the hood up is just an aluminium tube that he took and pinched the one end together so he could drill a hole to mount it to the little steel bracket. That little bracket is held to the rad support with just a little u-bolt clamp. I guess the best part is what holds the other end of the hod prop. It's just a 2 way clasp, one side holds onto the rad support the other side holds the hood prop in place when not in use. Unfortunatley I don't have a pic of that.

The hole contraption is kind of 1/2 assed, not sure if I am going to use it or not.
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[paintman]

Here ya go Solid. I made a special trip out to the garage when the wife wasn't looking and snapped these pics of the front mounts. Not sure where you would get them. I have never seen them in a store.
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[solidaxel]

Thanks that gives me some ideas!

[paintman]

No, the Paintman did not fall off the face of the earth.........he's just been real busy tending to some other things around the house. First and foremost is his 200 gallon salt water fish and reef tank. Ever since I bought my 46 I have been neglecting my other hobby to the point that the tank was on the verge of having everything die. Sooooo, I had to take some time and give it a major cleaning and re-work some of the plumbing and equipment problems it was having. Then came the Wife asking me to repaint our Daughters bedroom for her 14th birthday. Then of course New Jersey also got walloped with 34" of snow meaning paintman was turned into "SHOVELMAN". But I digress.
First thing I had to do was get out to the garage to feed the shop cat and get back to work.
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I was able to get a few small things done on the truck once I shoveled a path to the garage. I bought a coolant overflow container from speedway hoping it would bolt right up to the holes in the rad core. Of course the holes in the bracket were about an inch off from the holes in the support. So that meant I had to make a retro fit bracket for the tank. I just used some aluinium angle.
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Also trimmed up the bracket I made for the E-brake cables. I also got the rear tail pipe hangers installed. That is after getting screwed around by Yogi's and Ravenworks. I used billet hangers up front from Ravenworks. Unfortunately they discontinued them before I got a chance to order 2 more for the back. After spending nearly a full day online trying to find another vendor with 2 1/4" billet hangers, Yogi's was the only place who had them. Well after ordering them I get an e-mail saying they were backordered for 2 weeks. After waiting 3 months I finally made a phone call to Yogi's to ask whats up? All they could tell me was they had no idea when or if they would ever get them in, so I canceled the order and just got generic hangers from Summit. UGHHHH
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The other hurdle I got done was the trans tunnel. Previously I had made 2 attempts at making a tunnel but failed miserably. For over a year I had been staring at a pice of sheet metal in my garage that was just big enough for one last attempt. So I fianlly decide it was not going to kick my ass this time. Fortunately I had a piece of log left over from when we built our house to use as a form. Well after about 4 hours of bending, rolling, cussinging, smashing, grinding, beating, and of course drinking, I finally got it.
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Also got the new drive shaft. Nice thing is I have a drive shaft shop about 5 minutes down the road. Of course when you go from a V8 to an inline 6 everything changes in this case about 5 inches.
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[paintman]

Updates!!! Not much though, I have been busy doing all the little stuff that should only take about 5 minutes but turns into hours. I had a chance to button up all the engine stuff. Mainly a big hurdle........the throttle linkage.
Because the carb is all the way on the other side of the world on an inline 6 the gas pedal and the carb mechanism does not line up at all. So much so that I wouldof had to put a double 90 degree bend in the cable. I have seen it done but I prefer a throttle rod instead.

Here's where the throttle hole needed to be with the holley mechanism. Right on the firewall rib. The other problem is if I left it there it would have come through into the cab directly behing the steering column.
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You can see that if I brought the hole through in this location I would have bee nearly 6 inches away from the throttle pedal that will eventually mount on the dog house portion of the firewall. To me that seemed to radical of a bend for a cable.
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Then I noticed another problem.....The throttle linkage and return spring plate I bought from Jegs would not lay flat because of the way the bowtie overdrive throttle valve bracket sits. I tried putting spacers under the plate to raise it but that messed up the angle and geometry with the linkage.
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Sooooo....with all 3 of these issues bugging the hell out of me I set fourth on another episode of NOT WANTING THIS TO GET TO INVOLVED!!! The fix was a new homemeade throttle plate that would off set the linkage more towards the center of the truck thus aligning the linkage with the throttle pedal. To do this I took a piece of 1/4" alumimium plate. Mated it to the carb, put 2 heim joints and a splined rod with levers on it. Turned out pretty damn slick and has zero bind.
You can see in this pic the lever that the pedal will connect to is now lined up right with the side of the recess on the firewall.
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I was then able to re-use the original return spring a throttle bracket I bought by cutting off the back throttle portion and just using the front return spring area. I just needed to put a spacer under the front to level it out with the back side as it sits on top of the new throttle bracket. If that makes anu sense.
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[paintman]

Now with everything pretty much buttoned up, it is time to move onto the thing I have been dreading the most! WIRING HARNESS! Let me just say before I get started......I hate this $%@#! Seeing as how I have analness disease, I don't have to tell you how much I hate messy, bundled up, spaghetti looking wires. I hate it behind my computer, behind my TV and certainly in my truck! So with that being said, this may take me forever, and 3 or 4 wiring harnesses to get it to a point which I am happy.

Also let me say this before I get started.
DISCLAIMER: I know nothing about wiring a truck! So please, anybody watching and wanting to copy something I do, PLEASE DON'T! I don't want to see anybody burn their truck or garage down because of something stupid I am about to do. We will all have enough fun watching me burn my owntruck and garage down

So my choice was to go with American Autowire. They got great reviews and the kit seemed to be pretty much complete so there is no need to go looking for other parts like trun signals and switches. Also they are about an hour away from were i live so when I screw something up I can shoot down and get another hundred foot of wire.
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American Autowire is so good they even know I am a friggin idiot so they sent me some practice wires!
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For those of you who have been following along, You know I have alot of back problems so much so I decided to mount the fuse block under the seat on a sliding drawer for easy access. Unfortuanetly i will still have to get somewhat contourted when it comes time to make a few connections under the dash.
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I decided to run the wires out the bottom of the seat riser, along the top of the frame rail, and back up into the cab up to the dash.
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I started off by taking each harness and running the individual wires towards their final location. This way when it comes time to do the final button up, I can wrap all the wires that go to the rear portion of the truck together and what ever goes to the front the same way, as well as what ever goes from the fuse block to the dash can all be wrapped together.
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In an effort to keep everything as neat as possible under the dash I took a piece of aluinium angle and drilled a bunch of holes in it so I could mount some wire loops to it. This will mount under the dash to the radiator core support braces. It will give me a place to attach all my wires once they are wrapped with wire loom.
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[Advanced Design]

Very nice work. Your truck is looking good!

[paintman]

Ok guys, how the hell do I make a round hole with a flat side for the ignition switch? Seems to me if I just make a round hole, the unit will spin with the key when I go to start the engine. Is there a special flat sided drill bit i don't know about?
Or is this another one of those deals where I have to spend 100S of hours with jewelers files making a custom handmade hole?
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[solidaxel]

You must really like that ignition switch.
Maybe a push button with a hidden on off switch, like a parking light power to a relay and a momentary push button switch to start only
The aftermarket switches I have used (keyed) had a lock washer and I was able to tighten it up so it had enough tension to start!

[paintman]

Originally Posted by solidaxel

You must really like that ignition switch.
Maybe a push button with a hidden on off switch, like a parking light power to a relay and a momentary push button switch to start only
The aftermarket switches I have used (keyed) had a lock washer and I was able to tighten it up so it had enough tension to start!

Hey Solid! No I could care less about the switch. I just though since it came with the American Autowire kit I would use it. To me it seems like more trouble then it's worth.

[paintman]

Well that was fun
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[solidaxel]

And it works !!

[Diesel46]

Man your truck is looking good. I wish I was that far on mine. We got that snow here in Hanover too it really slows things down. I had trouble getting to my garage and that's just a walk to the back yard! Did that wiring kit include things like headlight switch and dimmer switch with harness plugs for them?

[paintman]

Originally Posted by Diesel46

Man your truck is looking good. I wish I was that far on mine. We got that snow here in Hanover too it really slows things down. I had trouble getting to my garage and that's just a walk to the back yard! Did that wiring kit include things like headlight switch and dimmer switch with harness plugs for them?

Hey Diesel. I know what yer sayin when it comes to the snow. I would be much further along if I wasn't such a big whimp when it comes to the cold and snow these days. Back in the day I would go skiing when it was -10 degrees. Hell I would even go to alot of the late fall dirt races around here and sit on aluminium bleachers in the freezing cold. At 54, not anymore!

Yes the American Autowire kit came with all the switches and plug connectors. The only thing I will need to buy in addition to the kit is a long cable for the battery to the starter, as I am going to put the battery inside the bed of the truck in an old Coke cooler.

[TJ's Chevy]

Truck is looking Good!

[paintman]

A couple of small updates.........While I am waiting for warmer weather so I can paint the dash and get going on the wiring I figured I would throw the seat back in one more time before upholstery and get the throttle pedal figured out. Worked out pretty good with the new linkages I made on the carb side. I just had to make a small plate so I could off set the pedal enough so that the linkage arm could travel past the side of the dog house.
If you look close you can see a black dot to the left of the linkage. that is where the original would of had to have been to line up with the carb linkage.
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carb side
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Also got my brake booster line installed. Tapped into the clifford manifold for vacuum.
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Booster side.. And yes I will put a grommet in that hole
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Be back soon with more fun times. Cheers, Paintman

[SKT]

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A lot of nice work going into this one - looking forward to following your progress.

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[paintman]

OK guys some small updates. I started making some of the connections on my wires. That is after having to buy all the right crimpers. The weather in Joisey has not allowed me to get my dash painted yet so I figured I would work in the engine bay. As I mentioned before I don't like sloppy wires hanging all over the place so I tried to hide as many as I could. To do this I ran my MSD wires in 2 seperate 5/16 aluminium tubing. The 2 tubes are clamped together with tubing seperators and then fastened to the fuel line. Turned out pretty good as the tubes kind of match the fins on the valve cover. The one tube carries the 2 wires from the box down to the harness on the dizzy, and the other tube carries the 2 coil wires. I flared all the ends of the tubes to prevent any chafing
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Here's how they come out of the end of the tubes. I welded a spud to the coil bracket so I would have a place to mount a wire keeper so that the harness would not touch the engine when it was hot. turned out pretty good I guess.[/URL]
I also made up a PCV line. I don't like the way most inliners have done there PCV line by taking a piece of black tubing and just laying it over the top of the valve cover to the carb. To me that looks half assed. So again I took a piece of 1/2" aluminium tubing and wrapped it around behind the engine.
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And that's about the best this amamteur can do, I guess I will have to live with it for now....
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[CURSED GEARS]

Still watching. Very Clean.