46 pickemup in NJ "the Rebuild"

[solidaxel]

Has the snow melted yet!
Any updates?

[paintman]

Originally Posted by solidaxel

Has the snow melted yet!
Any updates?

Sorry Solid, not much to report on the truck. In fact today was the first I have worked on it since mid December.
I don't know how all you guys do it. Night after night, day after day, constantly working on your trucks. After I got the motor running and the bed back on, I really thought I would have the truck on the road by Spring. So I worked my backside off to keep moving things along in the Fall. Then I ran into some snags.

First off the weather got to cold here in NJ to paint the remaining parts I needed to finish. If you recall I shaved the back bumper. Then it got to cold to paint it. Problem there was I could not bolt the rear fenders on until I got the bumper back on.If you recall, I had to use 47 brackets that mount to the outside of the frame. Problem is with the fenders on I could not get the bolts in because the one bolt sits behind the fender.

So then I tried to move onto re-working the running board brackets because the previous owners had the wrong ones on the truck (to short) and I could only get one bolt on the under side into each board.
After that the only other thing I could really do was some upholstery work on the inner panels. I used a foam backed buckskin color. Kind of looks like leather.
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I then wanted to move onto installing the inner cab tin but once again the previous owner had sprayed some kind of lizard skin on the back window surround that looked worse than Satan's jock strap. So knowing I had to strip that crap off prime and paint everything including the window wiper enclosure I just decided to take a brake and wait for spring. I really needed to take some time off from the truck. I was just getting to burned out on it. Remember, I thought I was just going to change spark plugs and oil on this damn thing 6 years ago.

Thanks to the truck, my other hobby had taken a back seat. For those of you that have been following along..........I have a 200 gallon salt water fish and coral tank that needs constant attention. I have neglected so much that back in January the tanks got infested with a bacteria that started to kill all my corals. So for the last 3 months I have been trying to save my tank. This includes massive amount of cleaning every day and spending a lot of money on some new equipment.
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All along I have also been building a new full bathroom in our basement to try and get our 15 year old daughter out of our Master Bathroom. She hats sharing a bathroom with her sister.

Did I mention I don't know how you guys do this?

Lastly the other thing that is keeping me from working on the truck is my business. Ever since the election my phone has been ringing off the hook! Please lets not start a debate over this but facts are facts.

So anyways I think I am back now that the weather has broken here in NJ. In fact it was 70 degrees here today so I jumped back on the truck. I spent 4 hours stripping the black snot off of the inner tin that goes around the rear window.
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Hopefully this week I can blow some primer on the tin and rear bumper and get back on track.

I'm still here I just don't know how you guys do it!!!!!!!!!!!!

[solidaxel]

............ and I don't know how you young guys have so much time to do all things (work) you have in front of you!
These are for fun, so don't make work out of it or like you say you will burn out very fast,
you are doing a great detailed job and you will be rewarded many times over when you get on the road.
I have been trying to pry the 46 away from the owner to do some maintaince, but I can not get him to stop driving it!

Slow down and take a breath !

[paintman]

I'm not that young............I turn 55 in 3 weeks: My Wife keeps begging me to just retire and take care of the house and run the girls to school. Wait a minute that sounds like a good deal!

[joedoh]

I like how you save money and reuse useful things, thats a good way to be!

truck looks great, you are moving at a good pace for such nice work.

[paintman]

Well, now that it's warm enough, the paintman finally got up off his ass and got something done. I was able to get all the last little doo-dads painted for the interior of the cab. (nice blanket huh?)
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Also got all the Rhino liner stripped off the rear window surround, and installed my homemade upholstery panels behind the seat.
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And what has really been holding me up............Rear bumper shaved, painted, and re-installed! Waiting on bed roll lights from speedway. Then I can finish wiring up the rear lights.
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This weekends goal is to get the rest of the tin, and headliner back in the cab.

[paintman]

Don't know why this pic didn't post..........
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[paintman]

hmmmmm?????? One more try......
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[solidaxel]

Does your wife know you stole one of her blankets?

[paintman]

Originally Posted by solidaxel

Does your wife know you stole one of her blankets?

She doesn't seem to mind me taking her blankets. When I wear her panties, now thats another story.

[tune_1]

Good to see progress

Dwight

[solidaxel]

................... T m i ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[paintman]

Can someone PLEASEEEEEE tell me which way these door hinges go. It's been so long I can't remember if the hinge barrel faces the front of the truck or the rear. I really don't want to press the pins in only to find out I have the hinges in backwards.

Is it pic #1 with barrels facing forward?
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and no those are not my feet!

Or is it pic #2 with the barrels facing towards the back?
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[old yelr]

They go like you have it in the first picture.

[paintman]

Alright time to kick it back up to the top with some progress........ When we last left our hero was attempting to finish wiring the tailights. Before I soldered all my connections I wanted to make sure all my tail, brake, turn and license plate lights worked. This meant i would have to make the final connections at the battery. Sooooo I figured I would go out and buy some fancy terminals for the battery connections, big mistake. After finding some nice ones at Sonic Electronics that claimed they were for 1/0 guage wire, I poped for $40. And here is what I ended up with................

There is no way these will fit 1/0 wire buy the time I peeled back enough wire to get the cable in the hole I had more like 2/0 wire left. That wasn't going to cut it!
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So I ended up just going to the local Tractor Supply store and buying regualr battery cables. Thanx Sonic for ripping me off. So it's pretty self explanatory. Big red goes to starter.(the loose red wire is from the MSD box) The 2 big black wires are one ground to block, and the other to frame. The 2 small blacks are grounds from tail lights and from GPS speedo.
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Once I got over that debacle, susprisingly enough all my lights worked!
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Mr Magoo could care less..............
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Then it was onto headliner and all the inner tin work. This all went amazingly easy. Especially the headliner, which for some reason everbody struggles with. But for some reason it went right in! I orginally wanted to upholster it but for some reason the glue I was using wouldn't hold. I think it may be because of the super smooth finish that was on the headliner which looked terrible. So I just refinished the headliner with a textured black finish. Maybe once I find a better glue I will take it back down and try it agian. At this point I just want to get the truck on the road.
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Also got the seat belts in, (which after all the work I had to do to extend the door jambs), worked out really nice!
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After the debacle with my windshield gasket from Steele rubber I debated on where to buy the rear window seal. After drinking the Kool Aid, again. I decided to give Steele another try. Once agian it looks like I have the same problem as my windsheild seal. It looks way to small to me. So I am still debating on wether or not to use this one.
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Next up, I have the doors back on the truck with all new hinges. I am just waiting on some mirrors and then I can send the hinge pins home, and re-assemble the window and lock mechanisms.

[solidaxel]

Is it possible to just run the next size drill bit in the center hole to open it up a bit on your battery clamp.............. now that your are finished!

[paintman]

Well, I rolled the ole girl outside let her breath, and wash the 5 years of garage stank off her. LOL! Finally got the doors, fenders, and boards hung. Still need to install the futs into the doors. I guess it's about time to make a decision on wheels and tires. Definatley going with smoothies, just can't decide if I want.......

Black wheels with White walls or,
White wheels with Black tires or,
Black wheels Black tires
any opinions?
I'm going to need to get a custom back space made for the rears because the rear end is just a tad to wide for my comfort. The wheels currently on the back of the truck have a 4" back space. I think I am leaning towards 4 3/4"
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[paintman]

futs = guts

[solidaxel]

Originally Posted by paintman

futs = guts

Thanks !

Home Plate in sight now !!
Good Luck in wheels and tires, I like black walls, but if you get the white walls you can turn them over if it dosen't suite you

Did the rear axle come come from Justin?

[paintman]

Did the rear axle come come from Justin?

Now thats funny chit! Actually from what I can tell the rear is out of a truck. Its a 12 bolt with a 5 on 5 pattern. I couldn't find any serial numbers but if memory serves me it is 63"?
Back when I first got started on the project I looked around for something a little more narrow but couldn't find anything with 3:73's to match up with my 292/ 700 r4. Most of the junk yards here in NJ are either closed or they want an arm and a leg for parts. I just figured i would tuck the wheels a little more and call it done.

[paintman]

http://i.imgur.com/vQWUDpp.jpg

[Cape Codder]

That dog will never fit in that truck. Seriously though glad to see you are on the road and it sounds pretty sweet to me. Looks like you live in a nice part of Joysie.

[solidaxel]

I can feel your excitement, Great Job!

Nice country, how is that road in Feb and March !!!!

[paintman]

Nice country, how is that road in Feb and March !!!![/QUOTE]

Yeah we are fortunate we live in the North West part of the state where it is still pretty rural.
Snow storms are not to bad because it's a County road and it gets plowed first. Last year we had a 3' dump but it only took about 2 days for the plows to show up.
When hurriane Sandy hit our road had trees and power lines down as far as the eye could see. We were stuck at our house for 8 days because our road was closed. There was no power on our road for nearly 2 weeks. 2 weeks prior to hurricane Sandy we had a back up generator installed, so we lived like kings!

[solidaxel]

Yea, but you didn't have to worry about the food in the fridg spoiling !
We stayed indoors last month when it was 117*

How come you didn't put your "puppy" in the bed of the truck!