Restoring Rusty

[Gregski]

so time for a trial fit, fits pretty good, almost perfect, now the old gauges believe it or not where not really on center in those holes they are kind juxter posed so we could kill ourselves sanding and trying to get our perfectly centered but than the holes may end up too big, so we are just going to call it good enuff

with the provided back clip this is almost too easy, and how sexy is that, I mean have you seen anything sweeter

[Gregski]

as you can see we installed the oil gauge already above the water one, and also installed the oil pressure sending unit, but did not have a chance to run the wires yet, we will do that tomorrow

here is my old oil pressure sending unit on the left compared to the Summit brand one on the right

[Gregski]

I also returned the water temp sending unit to it's natural habitat in the left cylinder head between the #1 and the #3 cylinders and plugged the holes in the temporary water outlet, I will be putting my old one back on tomorrow, no need for all those scars and holes and clutter, so unpleasing to the eye, and the Pebble Peach judges are such sticklers for de-tail

can't wait to test drive the truck tomorrow and see how much hotter if any the water temp gauge reads now that the sending unit is in the cylinder head

Also Note: and I may have said this before, eventually I plan on running two water temp gauges, pulling signals from both cylinder heads, (now accepting donations, lol, jk)

I also must have set a Wold Indoor Record for the most times draining the coolant and refilling it freestyle in 72 consecutive hours, ha ha, no kidding and not a drop went a wasted, ok a few drops snuck by, sue me

and those hose clamps, or as I like to call 'em Weapons of Mass Destruction or WMDs, those will be replaced with T-Bolt style ones too, man I can't stand those slotted sharp as a knife ugly blades

[Gregski]

and I leave you with a little then and now, engine shots, oh how far we've come Rusty

... yes the wiring is still a mess

[phillip123hastings]

Rusty marks incredible improvement as I can see good job!

[enaberif]

Sorry Gregski but I am going to be a bit critical here and say that NPT actually stands for National Pipe Thread Taper. This is because if you look at the actual threading you'll notice it is "tapered.

The rest is looking good and that engine bay looks awesome. If you are wanting to NOT have a kinked hose you could look into either a internal or external spring like they put into the lower radiator hoses.

[daddyjeep]

Very nice Greg. I really like to alternator relocation. It adds symmetry to the engine. That green wire looped around the heater hose is a nice touch too, it adds a little more green accent to the green engine bay.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by daddyjeep

... That green wire looped around the heater hose is a nice touch too, it adds a little more green accent to the green engine bay.

Thanks for making me laugh, that made my day!

[rusty76]

How come you didn't just come off the very front of the intake and into the pump. That's where the bypass hose was on our work truck. Just curious. Looks great either way. The engine bay looks great

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by rusty76

How come you didn't just come off the very front of the intake and into the pump. That's where the bypass hose was on our work truck. Just curious. Looks great either way. The engine bay looks great

Thanks, and I thought I did, are you looking at the last picture? Was the work truck a big block by any chance, they have different intake manifolds I recon.

[Gregski]

OK, so first thing today we checked that transplanted reverese switch from the Muncie to the New Process transmission and it works beautifully

[Gregski]

then we took the truck for a test drive to see what the coolant temperature sending unit would read now at it's new location in the driver side cylinder head and it reads about the same 183* F granted it was a bit cooler this morning

however note the almost 10* change ie increase to 192* F when the truck is turned off in the garage at the end of our 30 minute test drive, ever wonder why the electric fans keep running after you shut your car off for a while while you hit the liquor store? well they is a coolin your enjin, my German automobile even had two water pumps a mechanical and an electronic and it ran the electronic one after I shut off the car as well as the fan to keep the coolant circulating even after the car was off, food for thought

so now do you see why the Greg stepped down to a cooler thermostat of 180*, he don't want them Vortec heads a crackin' after he turns Rusty off one Hot August Night

~ I'm just sayin' folks, I'm just sayin'

[Gregski]

remember how the Greg deleted the High Beam / Low Beam switch off the floor, well now no headligths work at all, IMAGINE THAT?

so next we had to install a loopback wire to get the lowbeams to come on, no that's not a fuse in the wire, we had to use a butt connector on two wires with blade connectors already on them since we did not have any spare blade connectors to build a new wire, yes we are poor right now

hey it's a temporary permanent solution, you know what I'm sayin' Vern?

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by Gregski

remember how the Greg deleted the High Beam / Low Beam switch off the floor, well now no headligths work at all, IMAGINE THAT?

so next we had to install a loopback wire to get the lowbeams to come on, no that's not a fuse in the wire, we had to use a butt connector on two wires with blade connectors already on them since we did not have any spare blade connectors to build a new wire, yes we are poor right now

hey it's a temporary permanent solution, you know what I'm sayin' Vern?

If the floor button works on Low beam you could just plug it in and tie it up out of sight.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by hatzie

If the floor button works on Low beam you could just plug it in and tie it up out of sight.

yeah it did, and I thought about doing that but it's too bulky and the last thing I need is that thing getting stuck under the throttle pedal or the brake pedal.

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by Gregski

yeah it did, and I thought about doing that but it's too bulky and the last thing I need is that thing getting stuck under the throttle pedal or the brake pedal.

Just leave it on the floor. It's up in the corner under the E-Brake pedal. No law says you have to use it.

[Gregski]

then it was time to wire up that brand new made in the U.S.A. Summit brand oil pressure gauge, and so we did

here it is on for the very first time

00 and OIL how simple is that - sometimes less is more

apologies for the camera it don't like things shining lights back at it

[Gregski]

reading 48 PSI of OIL pressure and 140 degrees Far -n- High for the coolant temperature while the truck warms up

things are looking good...

[Gregski]

and with the truck warmed up 22 PSI OIL pressure while sitting at a red light idling with the truck nice and warmed up at a cool 185* F, ha ha

did I mention I absolutely LOVE these gauges ! love em!

[Gregski]

so a little recap on my hood hinges

in the beginning they were rusty, typical for 40 year old

so I used Muriatic acid to clean them up real good down to bare metal - that acid was a mistake

then I painted them black (no primer, the paint said primer was optional)

[Gregski]

a year later the rust came back

[Gregski]

so I neutralized them in baking soda water and then bathed them in Phosphoric acid this time, then I shot them with paint over rust primer and than a couple coats of semi flat black paint

you have no idea how much I dreaded doing this over again

hey if Hot Rodding was easy everybody would be doing it!

[Gregski]

now a good way to test if your hinges are shot is giving them the good ol' wigglability test, there should be no play in the rivets, you will know what I am talking about, best to have the hood off for a true wiggle test of one hinge at a time

mine believe it or not are nice adn solid, no free play, so I just needed to grease them before installing them, I thought about using a suringe or something to get some whitle grease in there but the tolerances are just way too tight, so I shot them with my trusty chain lube that my garage door guy turned me on to, and this stuff is AmazeBallz good, a few squirts with a can with the red straw attached for pin point accuracy and they were ready for another 40 years (provided they don't rust up again, ha ha)

[Gregski]

let me show you the best way to clean your old rusty bolts...

... BUY NEW ONES!

be nice to me and I may even tell you my supplier

I used to clean them, I used to wire wheel them and sometimes they even cleaned up pretty good, but then what do you do with them how do you prevent them from rusting up again, how do you coat them, that silly Eastwood black coating kit is a joke and a total waste of money, so these are so cheap when you buy them in bulk and all the threads are perfect, it's becoming a no brainer

[Wgesnerjr]

Originally Posted by Gregski

let me show you the best way to clean your old rusty bolts...

... BUY NEW ONES!

be nice to me and I may even tell you my supplier

I used to clean them, I used to wire wheel them and sometimes they even cleaned up pretty good, but then what do you do with them how do you prevent them from rusting up again, how do you coat them, that silly Eastwood black coating kit is a joke and a total waste of money, so these are so cheap when you buy them in bulk and all the threads are perfect, it's becoming a no brainer

Gregski,
I am interested in cleaning my truck's bolts the same way you have discovered. Would you mind sharing your vendor? Ace hardware is getting expensive.
Thanks for all your documentation. Reading Your thread has become my morning ritual.
Carry on McDuff!