What did you do to your truck today?

[TotalNewby]

Brought home my first classic truck a few weeks ago, 1964 Chevy C20. Havng problems with the tail lights. When we brought it home, we had no rear tail or brake lights, no blinkers. Over the last week and a half I have replaced bulbs, fuses, and the brake light switch. Still nothing, crawled underneath and found a frayed wire gong to the license plate light, pulled it off and did a pretty good repair. Now I have blinkers, but still no tail or brake lights. I am stumped (and frustrated!) Anyone got any more ideas??? I hate to give up and pay to take it to someone who knows what the heck they are doing!!!

[endlessearth]

Originally Posted by TotalNewby

Brought home my first classic truck a few weeks ago, 1964 Chevy C20. Havng problems with the tail lights. When we brought it home, we had no rear tail or brake lights, no blinkers. Over the last week and a half I have replaced bulbs, fuses, and the brake light switch. Still nothing, crawled underneath and found a frayed wire gong to the license plate light, pulled it off and did a pretty good repair. Now I have blinkers, but still no tail or brake lights. I am stumped (and frustrated!) Anyone got any more ideas??? I hate to give up and pay to take it to someone who knows what the heck they are doing!!!

Welcome to the forum. This is the right place to ask for sure. I have a 1964 C20 that I recently purchased too. Maybe you have a bad ground at the housings. I had some electric issues like you are having too. The thing that fixed my issues was fiddling with the rear light housings by screwing and unscrewing the screws that hold them in place until I got a good ground. I would only count as a shade tree mechanic if the tree had one leaf so I could be wrong. They might have turned on out of pity.

[CSGAS]

Originally Posted by endlessearth

Welcome to the forum. This is the right place to ask for sure. I have a 1964 C20 that I recently purchased too. Maybe you have a bad ground at the housings. I had some electric issues like you are having too. The thing that fixed my issues was fiddling with the rear light housings by screwing and unscrewing the screws that hold them in place until I got a good ground. I would only count as a shade tree mechanic if the tree had one leaf so I could be wrong. They might have turned on out of pity.

That was the one thing that did the most to help my taillights work again when I brought it home. I also cleaned the housing, polished the inside as best as I could and scuffed a spot clean to make sure there was no paint where one mounting screw on each side went.

Since then, I also had some problems re-occur, one being the brake lights not working. It could be the switch (at the brake pedal) or it could be the headlight switch. I know, "What does a headlight switch have to do with brake lights?" Trust me, they are connected.

Good luck! As for me I'm looking forward to replacing two more brake hoses and bleeding my brakes while I'm at a friend's for the 4th!

[Vernski]

Originally Posted by TotalNewby

Brought home my first classic truck a few weeks ago, 1964 Chevy C20. Havng problems with the tail lights. When we brought it home, we had no rear tail or brake lights, no blinkers. Over the last week and a half I have replaced bulbs, fuses, and the brake light switch. Still nothing, crawled underneath and found a frayed wire gong to the license plate light, pulled it off and did a pretty good repair. Now I have blinkers, but still no tail or brake lights. I am stumped (and frustrated!) Anyone got any more ideas??? I hate to give up and pay to take it to someone who knows what the heck they are doing!!!

This link was intended for GMC's but the wiring color coding is same as chevy, read thru the hints to the bottom there is a menu to select from. Most of the problems with chevy & GMC trucks are a bad ground, give this a read over it won't hurt you I promise..Vernski http://www.6066gmcguy.org/wire-tips.htm

[hopped up]

Got a good amount of work on my truck for the brothers show tomorrow. Finally have it all in one color, I'm happy with the look for now
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[TJ's Chevy]

Got my truck back from the muffler shop today!!!! Sounds awsome with those flowmaster 40's! Drives like a small block! Yah man! Love it!

[Trsmotrhed]

Originally Posted by T.J. MCCAULEY

Got my truck back from the muffler shop today!!!! Sounds awsome with those flowmaster 40's! Drives like a small block! Yah man! Love it!

Flowmaster 40's sound great. That's what I'll be putting on my truck when I run my exhaust.
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[Acksman]

Cleaned out the cab of the old flooring and started to lay some Rattletrap FatMat. Had to stop since it was so hot. The backing was starting to melt before I could get it all in place.

[Grizz1963]

Sunday evening 23.00 here in the United Kingdom.

Great weather all weekend, got some stuff done to the truck as well.

Firstly, went out shopping in it yesterday with Nicola who still refuses to drive it, but I live in hope.

She seemed to enjoy herself all day, sitting up like a Meerkat on speed.

Back home I had a few bits of cosmetic work planned, also a few pics to take to show the relocated fuel tank.

Fuel filler sensibly placed inside, but on the side of the bed, with cap halfway up the side.



No idea what this tank came from, but it fits just right.
Also note the rear lowering blocks.



Next job was to clean up and repaint the rear bumper.

I also removed the American trailer plug unit, to be replaced with a European one.




And while I was out back and under I thought it sensible to try use a jack to push the rear bumper back into shape.



Dully masked up all the bumper after removing the rear number plate.



Result.




While waiting for the pant to dry, I played with my extendable flagpole, as we have an American car show locally on the 4th July.



The next job I started at about 11.30 today, after bootfair etc.

Nicola had suggested that I go and T-Cut (mildly abbrassive polish to remove oxidized paint) the truck after washing it yesterday.

Started with paint on the flat surfaces that looked like this......



Did a whole load of this.....twice.





Ended up with this.


I then went back to the house for a cuppa tea, a sandwich and to research the engine bays in these trucks.

It seems most are black.

My truck has so muuch over spray, it needed to be sorted sooner than later.

So out came all my old painting sheets....masking tape and soon the front end looked like this, after a lot of cleaning surfaces etc.



This is the extent of the overspray, which is something I hate. Just shows shoddy preparation.



Ended here....




Done !!

Result??




After this we went up to the farm to take a few photos.

I will post them up if anyone is interested.

[62 Barnfind]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Sunday evening 23.00 here in the United Kingdom.

Great weather all weekend, got some stuff done to the truck as well.

Firstly, went out shopping in it yesterday with Nicola who still refuses to drive it, but I live in hope.

She seemed to enjoy herself all day, sitting up like a Meerkat on speed.

Back home I had a few bits of cosmetic work planned, also a few pics to take to show the relocated fuel tank.

Fuel filler sensibly placed inside, but on the side of the bed, with cap halfway up the side.



No idea what this tank came from, but it fits just right.
Also note the rear lowering blocks.



Next job was to clean up and repaint the rear bumper.

I also removed the American trailer plug unit, to be replaced with a European one.




And while I was out back and under I thought it sensible to try use a jack to push the rear bumper back into shape.



Dully masked up all the bumper after removing the rear number plate.



Result.




While waiting for the pant to dry, I played with my extendable flagpole, as we have an American car show locally on the 4th July.



The next job I started at about 11.30 today, after bootfair etc.

Nicola had suggested that I go and T-Cut (mildly abbrassive polish to remove oxidized paint) the truck after washing it yesterday.

Started with paint on the flat surfaces that looked like this......



Did a whole load of this.....twice.





Ended up with this.


I then went back to the house for a cuppa tea, a sandwich and to research the engine bays in these trucks.

It seems most are black.

My truck has so muuch over spray, it needed to be sorted sooner than later.

So out came all my old painting sheets....masking tape and soon the front end looked like this, after a lot of cleaning surfaces etc.



This is the extent of the overspray, which is something I hate. Just shows shoddy preparation.



Ended here....




Done !!

Result??




After this we went up to the farm to take a few photos.

I will post them up if anyone is interested.

Your truck is coming out great! The engine bay and the paint looks nice.

[luvbowties]

Hey grizz, I know you are a 'detail'-person, so I'm gonna give you a tip many others on here may not have figured out yet. Notice how your wiper blade--even when lowerd to max--does not lie parallel to bottom of the windshield(windscreen)? Do some Googling & find an arm having an adjustable-angle-stem on its end.
Every after-mkt. arm I've ordered came in such that it makes blades lie at an angle to bottom of w'shield; and I know you are not having any of that!
Below is a picture of such an adjustable-stem arm; Tri-Co may be a source, but I'm not sure where I found mine; but trust me, they are out there! And they will allow even you and me to be happy.
BTW: Your efforts so far are doing wonders for your new ride!
Sam

[luvbowties]

Hey grizz, here it is with a close-up as to how it angles: TRICO® 51-151 - Windshield Wiper Arm | O'Reilly Auto Parts. www.oreillyauto.com.
>> http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/se...Redirect=03299 <<
Sam

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by luvbowties

Hey grizz, I know you are a 'detail'-person, so I'm gonna give you a tip many others on here may not have figured out yet. Notice how your wiper blade--even when lowerd to max--does not lie parallel to bottom of the windshield(windscreen)? Do some Googling & find an arm having an adjustable-angle-stem on its end.
Every after-mkt. arm I've ordered came in such that it makes blades lie at an angle to bottom of w'shield; and I know you are not having any of that!
Below is a picture of such an adjustable-stem arm; Tri-Co may be a source, but I'm not sure where I found mine; but trust me, they are out there! And they will allow even you and me to be happy.
BTW: Your efforts so far are doing wonders for your new ride!
Sam

Such a simple thing, yet has a great result.

Currently only one wiper fitted as the other does not clip on properly, suspect the splines have died over time.

Another job for the future (read next couple of weeks)

I am also planning on Rain-X for the windows front and side, as I had good results before on my van.

[chevyrestoguy]

I finished up a brake mod that I have been pondering for a long time. The factory-equipped manual brake trucks have a very high pedal ratio which doesn't suit when you've converted to disc brakes. I decided to convert the pedal ratio from 6.8-1 (stock ratio) to 4.1-1, which is in-line with what a power brake pedal ratio should be. I also did a bunch of other things, but instead of going through a long, detailed explanation, you have to check out the last page of my build thread. There's lots of pictures that explain it all.

I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

[TJ's Chevy]

Lost the oil breather cap while driving the truck today. Guess i"ll just have ta get a new one.

[E911manager]

Well, it wasn't today but it was a last week. Shot some more paint!!!!

[TJ's Chevy]

Drove my truck today and found my oil breather cap! It was on back of the motor stuck in between the header and manifold.....wonder how I didn't see it....

[Grizz1963]

After work yesterday I raced about and took the truck, with Mickey my neighbour down to a local industrial estate to see if we could get the hole for the towball enlarged.

I had spoken to an engineering shop already who said bring it in after work, but he insisted we go try an old friend he had not seen a few years.

Got to where Raj had his shop before ..... Nothing. Turns out he moved a few years ago to much bigger premises less than a kilometer away.

Got there and the big guy was not there but "the boys" were impressed by the truck and prepared to give it a go (This is now after hours and Raj allows them to earn "a drink" (English term for a few pounds for a small odd job off the books, a bit like a tip)

Out came the Mag drill and some clamps along with a bit of 10mm steel plate. The drill has a strong electro magnet that allows it to effectively clamp onto the job and work as a pillar drill. With Mickey applying the cutting compound we soon had a 40mm hole for the 32mm bolt to fit through, yes I know, but a couple of heavy duty washers will sort that out. Everything still fits correctly.



Many hands make light work.



At this point Raj came back from a job site into the shop and if Mickey was a puppy he would have peed all over Raj's feet. They obviously have good friendship that has stood the test of time.

I gave the main operator £20 for a "drink" which he was very happy with. I believe in fairness and this will allow me to go back another day with some niggly job.


Job done.




After this I fetched my father in law after dropping Nicola off to look after mum.

Then we went to a car gathering where over 120 cars arrived.

Will post photos later elsewhere.
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[hopped up]

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Teaser shot for
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[gimmy 64]

washed it, cleaned the tires and rims. ready for the drive to Brothers show tomorrow

[hopped up]

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Ready for the brothers show tomorrow
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[hopped up]

Took a few pix of my Chevy truck stable
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[endlessearth]

Took my truck up to the barn with my wife and our dog. Wanted to see how it was running with the newly rebuilt carb in place.


While at the barn we gave our stallion a turn out and a bath. It is 117 degrees here in AZ today so we wanted to cool him off.

[chevy_man5]

Looking good Hopped Up!

[hopped up]

Originally Posted by chevy_man5

Looking good Hopped Up!

Thanks man!
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