Restoring Rusty

[Chaplain]

Originally Posted by Gregski

Well you don't remove it at the end you did, LOL cause there you have to pay attention to the splines, if you leave it attached to the gear box like I did and separate the other end from the tie rod linkage then even Ray Charles can put it back on correctly with his feet, hee hee

Seriously though you should be ok, end to end is about 3 to 3.5 turns, so turn it all the way to one end, then turn it all the way to the other and count the revolutions then put the splines in the middle, the pitman arm when on points almost towards the driver, trial and error won't hurt either, put it on and twist the steering wheel if you are a tooth off pop it off and adjust (of course without driving, but when parked)

Oh that makes sense. I was getting worked up for nothing. Last time I did one of these was in 1998 when I was working on my 1980 K5 Blazer.

Thanks...for the build thread (wink wink).

[bnoon]

Originally Posted by hatzie

Dump procured large 1970's home range with working oven. I put it near the door to the barn, removed the top elements, and added exhaust pipe to the oven vent. You could use a long cord and roll it outside on casters too. It bakes V8 cylinder head sized pieces. Any larger and I'd need to roll my own oven. It's a hobby. If I need some larger stuff baked I can get someone else to do it.
SWMBO wouldn't like it if you used her range for powder coating or baking parts. It takes forever to get that burning oil smell out of the house... That industrial waste aftertaste in the casserole would be kinda rough too.

Same thing here. Funny story in that I found the oven on craigslist and went to pick it up and the whole neighborhood was the reverse floor plan of my parent's place where I grew up. Every house was like a mirror of my childhood. Creeped me out. The house still had the old green short shag carpet, original 1972 cabinets, and soft sea foam green appliances... Pseudo world feeling...

[rusty76]

You're knocking down the list inch by inch. Keep giving it gravy.

[longhorn70gmc]

This has got to be the most impressive, enjoyable Build Thread I have ever read/viewed on here, my applause and gratitude to an excitable posting of your restore. Your truck looks very nice and what has made it enjoyable is to watch you use low dollar application and approach to it, it’s a truck right. Very nice, thanks for the fun and enjoyment! I want to say I can't wait till you get it done, but I want to keep enjoying your posts with it and pictures to keep it going like a book series or something. Well done my Board Brother!!!

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by longhorn70gmc

This has got to be the most impressive, enjoyable Build Thread I have ever read/viewed on here, my applause and gratitude to an excitable posting of your restore.

Well great, now I'll never be able to cut another corner or half donkey anything else, jk, thank you so much this made my day.

[rusty76]

No pressure really.

[Gregski]

so went one day without wrenchin on the truck, and that nearly keewed me, you know what I mean fellas

decided to go to the gym... dang it I can't lie to you guys, the wife made me watch Game of Thrones, don't judge me ok, dragons are cool, hee hee

so today I decided to take a look at #7 on the list, aka the low fidelity radio in all its AM glory

first order of business, gather sum tools... hey how did that get in there

[Gregski]

I'll admit it I wasn't too keen on removing the radio cause I thought I would have to take the gauge cluster housing off... AGAIN, so I was pleasantly surprised when I didn't have to, take that cars of the 80s, 90s, 00s, you get the idea

[Gregski]

man just when I thought I couldn't love this truck any more, it makes this job so easy, thank you Rusty

one 11/32 nut in the back and 7 minutes later...

[Gregski]

also removed the speaker (singular, funny to even say that) yeah man I installed a new speaker in my truck today, what did you work on?

[Gregski]

and some close ups of that bad boy

oh man and that perfect speaker wire, only fits one way, dummy proof, perfect polarity every time, I just want to hug that GM engineer, thank you

[Gregski]

stop teasing us Greg and shows us that darn radio man

hey watch your tone (get it, LOL... tone)

[Gregski]

you all know how much I love anatomy shots, so here it is the complete mind blowing low fidelity "entertainment" system circa 1974

I swear I heard the radio come on for a second when I tested it at the battery and play ".... another one bites the dust... another one bites the dust!"

[Gregski]

ok, so it's out and it's not working, now what?

[greg64]

Greg, I'm not sure how to advise you. Electrical troubleshooting is a different kettle of fish than mechanical troubleshooting. It might just be a connection problem, or a bad solder joint, but there's lots of other possibilities.

A while back, I came across a retired guy on eBay who fixes and sells radios like yours. Maybe that's something to consider. Here's one of his ads. Upgrade time?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Working-1980...e3fb3c&vxp=mtr

[68Timber]

Are you repairing the original AM radio? I'm diggin that idea, and hearing it do some monaural jam on Exile through a new 4x10.

[enaberif]

LOL that stereo is filthy! I can't say if its stock to my truck or not but my truck (1974) has a AM/FM/Tape deck in it.

[Titomars]

Man, me thinks Gregski's truck was once an off roader by the layer of dust in that radio. That amount of dust can kill radios. My Jeep goes through stereos about once every 2 years. I personally would look for something in an upgrade.

[greg64]

Greg, if you do get the radio working again, I saw a neat adapter a while back that you insert into the antenna wire. This allows any modern source to be hooked up, and it plays through the stock radio. Pretty neat.

[Titomars]

I put one of these in my 77. I was not going to cut my perfect unaltered dash.

http://www.classicindustries.com/pro...ts/te605b.html

I used this speaker setup for the front.

http://www.classicindustries.com/pro...rts/s5013.html

I already had a very nice set of 6X9's for behind the seats.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by greg64

A while back, I came across a retired guy on eBay who fixes and sells radios like yours. Maybe that's something to consider. Here's one of his ads. Upgrade time?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Working-1980...e3fb3c&vxp=mtr

Thank you so much for the link I added his auction to my Watch List, I love supporting guys like that (if I can)

[greg64]

Originally Posted by Gregski

Thank you so much for the link I added his auction to my Watch List, I love supporting guys like that (if I can)

No problem. The fellow obviously knows what he is doing. Maybe you could ship your radio to him for repair? Also, there are factory Delco manuals for repairing these radios out there, if you want to have a go yourself.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by enaberif

I can't say if its stock to my truck or not but my truck (1974) has a AM/FM/Tape deck in it.

Whoa, am, FM, and Cassette? now you're just rubbin' it in, next thing you're gonna tell me is you have twice the amount of speakers as I do, as if that's somehow possible, why would anyone need more than one speaker, LOL, jk

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by Gregski

Whoa, am, FM, and Cassette? now you're just rubbin' it in, next thing you're gonna tell me is you have twice the amount of speakers as I do, as if that's somehow possible, why would anyone need more than one speaker, LOL, jk

Nope! Single speaker lol. But I also have no antenna

[hatzie]

That's probably the U63 Delco 41APB1 radio GM used in base trucks and some of the cars in '74.
Radio service manuals for the 1970's & 1980's radios are very hard to come by. This was right on the edge of the truly throw-away radios. The guys that did this kind of service work tend to hang onto their paper manuals and keep them "in the family" of radio enthusiasts. It's almost blasphemy to let this information outside the community.
Repair of even non working units is not that difficult but re-aligning the receiver coils, if they need it, is an art and not that easy without some guidance.
That being said they do show up with more regularity on Fleabay than they used to... Here's a SAMS Photofact manual for the 1974 AM/FM radios. It may be close enough if you're not frightened of older electronics. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1974-1975-CH...28488685&rt=nc
EDIT: I found a 1974 Delco all GM models radio manual and bought it. I'll scan it and post it up in the manuals thread. Probably after the end of the month. If you want the paper original once I'm done we can make a deal. I've been on the lookout for these for some time and this one popped up at a reasonably inexpensive shipped price. Usually the seller seems to think they're printed with platinum ink on gold plates.