Just a rant!!

[ChevyC102007]

Ok Ive been trying not to rant and rave but my wifes tired of hearing about what alls been cobbled up on my truck.

1st things first, PO pulled out the automatic transmission and replaced it with a 4sp manual which in itself is fine, when ya got a V-8 banging gears is great fun, but in so doing they bypassed the neutral safety switch and God knows what else.

2nd the disc brake conversion, hey its great I love having discs on the front its a good thing, but when it was done the pedal shoulda been changed too, took it to the dealer to have brakes and such done (not my choice, the Voc Rehab program was paying for it so I couldnt do the work myself) anyways the dealership ended up putting a piece of ready rod in the brake booster/pedal so it would activate the Master Cylinder

3rd, I was working under the hood one day putting in new plugs and the hi-pro cut to fit wiring when I noticed a bundl of wires in the corner of the inner fender.............it was at least a quarter of my wiring harness

4th, another botched conversion, the truck originally had manual steering so the PO upgraded to power steering, again another good idea but its exocution wasnt so great. The wires running to my Voltage regulator run past a big chunk of the inner fenders that had been cut out to make room for the power steering lines.

Theres other things that have been done wrong or are missing that are to numerous to list it all here (plus my arms are getting tired from typing all this) basiclly as I mentioned before my ole truck has been jury rigged................BUT I have corrected at least a quarter of what has been messed up and the truck runs ALOT better than it did when I bought it. Already put alot into the Ole girl and Im not done yet.

End Rant

[streetstar]

Bummer dude --- is this the '71 you are talking about? If it is, it should have had factory front discs. As well, there was no neutral safety switch on some of these trucks from the factory-- at least thats the case with my original 4 speed truck.

Most of these old trucks i have looked at need to be re-wired. Its amazing what people do to their vehicles isnt it? I had a truck once that the PO replaced everything with toggle switches (horn, wipers, blower motor, etc.) - it was humorous to look at, but not funny when you looked under the dash

[VetteVet]

We feel your pain but where would you be if you didn't have this great forum to rely on?
MY truck has a lot of the same issues and it's really a great thing because it gives me a lot of pleasure to work on it and straighten things out.

[AlienYouth]

my 71 3 on the tree is all factory, and it aint got a neutral switch, maybe it's a good thing, now i can just drive on the starter without havin to worry bout gas : ) but my old 72 was a crazy redneck hack job, everything thing was screwed up, with wires comin from everywhere, but it was fun till i hit that wall... : )

[krue]

That's the price to play with these old trucks.

[ChevyC102007]

Well the truck was a disc truck but was using a manual master cylinder, I think not sure.

The truck wasnt an original 4spd truck, it had the TH350 auto in it originally and you trace the wire where the neutral switch is located, but hey the damned thing starts so I aint to worried, just wish it would quit shocking me from time to time when I get out of the truck. With these ole trucks that hurts .

I had a pretty good idea what I was getting into when I bought the truck but once I got to looking at it and working on it the more it dawned on me just WHAT I really had on my hands, instead of just new paint, tires and a few other odds and ends...................basically I gotta UN-Fubar the truck.

As I said though Im just ranting cause my wife is tired of hearing about it
But I am glad that I have found this sight so I can get an idea if Im going in the right direction. Thanks


P.S

Pictures will be posted of the Beast as soon as I can get my friend to let me borrow her digi-cam

[ChevyC102007]

Ok so I was wrong (yes I admitted to being wrong) according to the model number and a few other things Ive found the truck IS all original. but that still doesnt explain the steering column (unless the PO thought that the excessive play in the wheel was from the column and not the steering u-joints, steering gear and or tie rods and just replaced it with the first one he found). Oh well..........Ill go play archiologist again hopefully Friday I gotta fix the front seal so that itll quit leaking oil and blowing it back onto the Y-Pipe.