My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble

[swamp rat]

Its all coming together nicely!

[MTCK]

Good progress. I can't recall how that clutch safety switch is mounted, sorry.

[Greenlee]

Looking good! You have done a beautiful job on this thing.

[swamp rat]

Your doing a great job figuring it all out, this tells me that I will need to take a lot of pictures!

[7dee2]

Man cave curtains that's pretty good!

[rgunlock]

Thanks guys!

Originally Posted by swamp rat

Your doing a great job figuring it all out, this tells me that I will need to take a lot of pictures!

Thanks Mike. On my next project, I will know better not only to take a bunch of pictures, but how to take them. I took a bunch on this project, but have found that I didn't have quite the right picture. Or I can't find the picture among the thousands of generically named pictures I took.

I think it is important to keep firmly in mind that when you take a picture you are doing it with the idea that you may be reassembling years later. Make sure you get enough context in the picture to know what you are looking at. Use a screwdriver or something to point at the part and where it fastens, etc. so it is clear later. I also pulled a number of parts off that I didn't snap a picture at all. I suppose at the time it seemed obvious where it went. Not so much 4 years down the road when I'm trying to figure out where it goes.

Good thing we have this forum to get help when needed!

[quadzero]

This attention to detail is amazing. Looks like I'm looking at pictures of a brand new truck. Keep up the great work.

[rgunlock]

Thank you quadzero. It does feel like I'm in the home stretch, but getting less time on it lately. Checked and the honey-do list was up to 27 projects I've been putting off thinking I'd be done with this truck by now. Finally broke down and decided that for a while it will have to be 75% honey-do and 25% truck until I can get a handle on that list

[swamp rat]

Honey dew list longer, days warmer, and longer......

[7dee2]

It's true happy wife = happy life! Makes it easier for my wife to put up with the hobby.

[rgunlock]

Ok, significant progress being made on honey-do #1. Dug ditches, ran PVC, put in a valve and voila - irrigation. Just need to put in a couple spray heads after finishing the rock work. Also ran the invisible dog fence wire around the bed and finished digging and pouring the footing (ok spreading dry concrete mix and watering it down). Working on the rock work now. About 6 years ago I made the rock sidewalk. Its about 3 times more than you can see in the picture. After today's bending and stooping and mortering, I can't believe I was able to do that sidewalk 6 years ago Damn I'm getting old. Going to have to finish all the rock work projects soon or they'll never get done

[rgunlock]

But I've also gotten in a little truck time. Got the "innerds" of the driver side door pretty much done. All new felt and rubber around the window and vent. Door closes easily and tight. After wearing my back out on rockwork today, got after the passenger door stuff. Pretty much all cleaned and painted and ready to rebuild.

[Greenlee]

Looking good! Those door innerds can be a pain. I had hell with one of my window regulators. Turns out it was bent.

Can't wait to see some more pics!

[boynton]

Seriously... we need an update

[rgunlock]

Thanks for checking in guys. Haven't posted lately because I haven't gotten that much more done splitting my time up with honey-do's.

I did finish rebuilding my vent windows and have both doors back together with all the new rubber, felts, handles, locks, etc. Haven't progressed much on the wiring lately. Got a little of the trim back on. Mostly just small odd jobs.

[swamp rat]

Better Honey Do's than my latest issue LOL!

[rgunlock]

No kidding Mike. Take care of that shoulder!

[rgunlock]

Not a lot to update on, but still making a little progress. I'd mentioned having the doors mostly done (exterior anyway), so here's a picture. Sorry for the poor quality. Also got my guage cluster back together. New (used) clock and a new speedo. Mostly the guages that were replaced is because I broke things trying to remove needles

Back to wiring, and so far I still feel justified in being intimidated by this. Spent about 2 hours working on the cluster harness. Mutilated several of the terminal ends. The blue barrel connector on the black ground wires is because I ran out of the terminals with larger openings for crimping in 2 wires. Even have a very nice ratcheting crimper, but no instructions for it. you-tube didn't help much for these type terminal ends.

Now I have this other connector that is supposed to tie into the big connector that goes into the cluster. The dang wires are all mixed up color-wise from what the picture shows for my 78 with guages page. For that matter, it doesn't seem to match any of the pictures for different years. Not sure if they intend that I rearrange the wires to match the picture (instructions don't say). And if so, how to remove the terminals from the connector without damaging them (instructions don't say). Guess that American Autowire is going to get a call from me this week.

Any case, any progress is good progress so I'm not complaining - I only sound like I am

[cmabolt]

Keep at it Rick! I found AAW to be very helpful on the phone a couple times when I got in a pinch. Glad to see the progress though.

Chris

[boynton]

I wish I was there helping you.

[rgunlock]

Thanks Chris!

Boynton - I wish you were too, but I think you'd need a fast boat to get here this weekend

[boynton]

Seriously

[rgunlock]

Well, got a weekend of truck time in. Doesn't seem like a lot of progress, but everything I'm doing is time consuming piddly stuff.

For anyone using the American Autowire harness, just know that in the cluster area it is NOT plug-n-play! Apparently Chevy/GMC cluster wiring changes through the squarebody years and AAW chose not to wire up the connectors for each variation. You get to crimp on the terminals and do the cluster connection yourself. I did discover that the connector I was confused about in my last post actually matched the wire color sequence of the connector it plugged into, so I just went with it. AAW doesn't answer the phone on the weekend, so I hope I guessed correctly.

Anyway, cluster connector is wired, so is headlight switch. AAW doesn't provide the windshield wiper switch connector, so I had to cut off my old one, remove all the old wires/terminals, crimp on new ones and basically build a pigtail using my old connector. Time consuming, intense fun on that

Any case, decided that the driver side of the dash was done and tucked up all the wiring, leaving the fuse panel nice and clear.

[rgunlock]

I'd bought a new speedo as well as the cable. The clip to hold the speedo cable on wasn't doing squat. Looked at the old speedo and realized that the clip was actually screwed onto it. So, drilled a hole and viola, screwed down, the clip does a fine job holding the cable to the speedo.

Need some help here. Can anyone describe how the speedo cable is routed from the hole in the firewall to where it connects to my NP205?

[rgunlock]

Also replaced all the louvers in my AC/heat vents. These came from LMC. Seem pretty nice - certainly better than the old ones. Hate to admit, but I probably spent an hour trying to figure out how the vent on the very left side of the dash was supposed to fit. Tried every which-way to fit it from the front, but it just wouldn't fit flush. Even tried filing away some plastic, knowing that it had originally fit, still no go. Finally figured out that the vent screw holes were tapped and that it was supposed to fit up from behind the dash. MUCH BETTER!!!

Last pic is test fitting the new gauge bezel - I'm happy