Restoring Rusty

[Gregski]

I think it took me longer to undue this silly bracket clamp thingie, top bolt in the corner than to drop the entire tank, but you have to do it or the tank will get hung up, its the bracket holding the two hoses together in the bottom pic

[Gregski]

actually the removal wasn't too bad, it was poring the 8 gallons of fuel out of it 2 gallons at a time to a little red canister and into my wife's car that took a while

[Gregski]

For some reason I could loosen the front ban (first pic - hole large enough) while the tank was on the truck, but I could not get to the rear one (hole too small to turn the socket) this proved to be a much needed feature when mounting the tank bank on

[Gregski]

plugged the hoses using an AC Delco R44T spark plug, lol - that whole Safety Third thing

[Gregski]

so I recall somebody saying blow the lines out leading up to the charcoal canister to fix the fill up problem we may be having

well I don't buy that, not after seeing how the tank actually works

it seems that the vent needed, simply vents to the filler tube and it would take some serious clogging to plug this big 1/2 hoser, needless to say mine was working fine

by the way that vent tube runs on the inside of the tank to the middle of the tank way up high maybe two inches from the top of the tank

[Gregski]

then it was time to remove the fuel sending unit and I was shocked how much a brand new one costs I was expecting to pay about $25 bucks, but they are around $75 bucks even at AutoZone

I carefully used a hammer and a large screw driver to screw that retainer ring off, praying the whole time I would not blow myself up since AutoZone does not rent a tool for this job

[Gregski]

tried testing the fuel sending unit using the Ohms setting and not sure what the verdict is, sometimes the Ohms changed when the unit was on it's side and I moved the float back and forth, yet when the unit was vertical like it is when its in the tank the multimeter read 1 and did not change when I moved the float up and down

I wired the unit to the truck without the gas tank and turned the key to see what the fuel gauge says and it reads passed Full regardless if the float is almost at the bottom or in the middle or almost at the top, I thought it was a bad ground so I cleaned the rust off of the frame, the bolt, the connections, still no go

no idea what is bad the unit or the gauge or if there is a wire short

[y5mgisi]

I'm guessing mine idles around 750 in Park? Not too sure really.

[LSX408]

Enjoying your build, keep up the good work!

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by LSX408

Enjoying your build, keep up the good work!

thanks you, I really enjoy working on these trucks very simple and everything is easily accessible

[Gregski]

nothing ever good happens when I go to check out CraigsList, especially if I say I'm not going to buy anything but just to look

so I see this benign ad for a '75 truck short bed, I do need one but wasn't planning on getting one till summer, don't want to store it for 6 months cause I don't want to paint it in the winter

so I call the guy just to see how much he wants for it ad he says $40 bucks, next thing I know I am filling up the tank, hitting the ATM and askin' my boy to come with

[Eraser475]

$40 bucks?!?! I wish I could find a bed for under $400!

[Gregski]

only took three guys to load it up, she aint perfect but she will do, the gentlemen who sold it to me was really nice and I figured the wheel wells are worth $40 by themselves

best part, Rusty ran real good and there is nothing better than using the truck you are working on as a parts getter, and not beggin the wife for hers

[Gregski]

let me set the stage so you all can see what we are dealing with

this is the condition of my old bed, I bet it is one of the worst ones you all have ever seen, it's pretty shady

[Gregski]

so my son and I unloaded the new used bed in the garage and I began the disassembly process

[Gregski]

I would say I spent a good half a day taking it apart, stopping to take pictures, documenting where certain bolts go, since there are two different types, ones are pointy at the end ones are what I call flat, but both are just 1/2 inch so one tool can pretty much take the whole bed apart, how nice is that

oh almost forgot PB Blaster (move over WD-40 this stuff is the bomb!)

[bnoon]

Wow, super nice score on the bed! Best I've ever seen around here was 100 bucks and that was a steal.

[Gregski]

so is the entire bed held on with just nuts and bolts or is it welded on too?

I was a bit surprised to find out that the sides of the bed are welded on to the bed in the bottom corners of the tailgate section and need to be ground off / cut with an angle grinder

[Gregski]

then it was on to the other side

[Gregski]

I mentioned before this 40 year old bed was not perfect, and the truck was hit in the driver side rear tailight corner, so the bed frame rail was slightly bent, nothing a 2x4 and some C clamps couldn't handle

[Gregski]

well that's it for tonight, and this may be as far as I am going to take this bed until it warms up around here, nothing like 100% humidity when you are trying to paint (especially since I have an Organic paint booth outside, LOL)

this ought to give me time to decide if I want to POR15 both sides of this bed, or use undercoating underneath and paint it the matching OEM puke lime green on top

whacha all think?

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Eraser475

$40 bucks?!?! I wish I could find a bed for under $400!

I know right, well I do see your types of prices on our Craigslist here in Northern California too, that's why I jumped on this opportunity even if it was a 50 mile drive one way, figure additional $25 bucks for gas (gas is cheap right now only $2.40 ish) it was a beautiful day and got to spend some time with my 13 year old boy

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by bnoon

Wow, super nice score on the bed! Best I've ever seen around here was 100 bucks and that was a steal.

hmmm I might just go into the Used Short Bed Flippin' Business, wonder what it costs to ship one of these beauties cross country ~ $400 bucks!!! LOL

[slotard]

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/pts/4862343446.html

Is that a short bed? Hard to tell at the angles, but I think it is... and more than just a bed.

[rusty76]

Craigslist around here is really hit or miss. Finding a bed espeacially a prior '77. Just like the '73-'76 doors nonexsistent. If you do find parts on there. They are either really high or rusted hulks. I can find beds for the later body styles but earlier ones are harder. Great score. I'm really jealous of other areas when it comes to CL. They always seem to have better deals and parts. Guys finding drop spindles for 100 bucks. Not here.