Day of wiring. I dropped a couple riv nuts in the fender adjacent to the new fuse panel and bolted down the relays. I also wired the lights with bullets to make replacement and service easier. That’s all done I also wired the switch panel and routed the armored cable into the engine bay. That armored cable will also run under the truck from the relays to the roll bar along the frame. A lot tidier than running separate wires and covering them with split loom. Tomorrow I will wire trailer plugs to the cable so the roll bar can be unplugged and removed if necessary.
That heavy armored cable has six 12 gauge leads within. It is heavy but under an off road rig there is nothing to worry about. Also made for a tidy user dash install. All the wiring exits the firewall and doesn't look out of place. I taped off the superfluous leads for future use, never know when an extra run to the bed may come in handy. I still have to install the stereo and she has asked for a kill switch or two. I have made some plans for that provision, should be easy and effective.
I paint, well I used to paint, no time for it at the moment. But that is one of my easels and it holds the fan well! It is adjustable up and down and I am thinking about mounting casters on the bottom. Possibly a power strip, lights and a cup holder.
Might be over kill but I don’t like the thought of the wiring bouncing around inside the roll bar. I had a long chunk of 3/4” heater house so I slid it up the bar around the wiring before adding weather proof trailer plugs. They are staggered to fit through the hole in the bed I added two kill switches. One for the starter and one for the distributor power so it can’t be push started. My daughter insisted on them. Like that Forged in Fire guy says, “it will KEAL”. Next up is to install the stereo I bought her. NOS Sony cassette deck with shafts. That’s a cool find and perfect for an 81 truck. Hers was a loaded truck with AC and door speakers which only came in trucks with tape decks I found out. it needs an antenna but I have to remove the fender to install it. That will wait, reception on MT Hood anyway. you should see her cabin, she has about 8 feet of albums and a strobe turn table. She is one cool chick.
Well crap. The deck I bought will not fit the dash. Way too wide and I don't want to chop up her nice dash to install it. The original stereo must have been tiny. I was thinking about an underdash supertuner? I can always sell this little Sony.
I checked with my daughter about finding a different stereo that fit the dash better and she told me to “MacGuiver it”! So…. I cut out the aluminum plate and hand filed to fit the deck. I put a bevel on the edge so some shiny bits would be visible. Sanded the edge to 3000 and tossed it across the buffer. Then added the guitar pick like I did on her switch panel. Sure beats the plastic faceplate. You can see the rounded corner that fits her dash. The square cornered plastic one just didn’t. And cutting plastic is just wrong. For fun I added two fret buttons in white above the knobs. I mean why not? I like it, jury still out in what she thinks. She got 17” of fresh snow yesterday and more coming today. She’s needs her truck back so I have to stay on it. Obviously she can’t come down to help right now. This is more solo work anyway. Very tedious. Garage heaters are on, Van Halen on the stereo, perfect day for spending 4 hours milling a face plate for a $100 radio. Did I mention I love this girl? Yeah, I’m wrapped around her finger, always have been.
Thanks man. I will primer the roof tomorrow but it is soooo rusty. And thin! I was DAing it the other day, trying to get through the brown crap and the roof pops around like I was trying to sand a Wrigley's gum wrapper. After the winter I will access that roof and maybe find another one that is straight and clean and chop this one off. Do you think my daughter would notice a little hair cut? Toyota make a factory sunroof truck? That would be cool.
Primer on all the spots that were bare steel and rusting. The roof is the worse panel. It will take some hours in the spring. I also had to epoxy primer the tops of both front fenders, the left fender to the tire, the tops of both doors and the rear of the cab where a canopy wore all the paint off.
I had time yesterday to get the radio installed in the dash. Not much room in there! I see why they used such a small radio frame now. But it turned out nice and doesn’t look “hacked in”.
Looking great, Billy. The pick guard is cool. I knew a guy who built drums, always wanted to do the dash insert on the '57 in drum wrap.
Snow Boarding........ahhhh, those were the days. I remember us being the only ones (or very few) on the slopes in Big Bear, that and the crappy bindings. No engine turning on the dash ?!?!?!?!
I had this stuff left over from the wife's 41 PU. I used it on the door panel amps, AC switch plate and dash center emblem. Cool look. This girl is a boring guru! She must have 6 or more boards for different outings. Including a cool board that unlatches to make two pieces so you can navigate the lift easier. I remember taking her up the first time at Timberline, seems like yesterday. She was 7. We were close to having her drive it out of here tonight. Got the lights working (don't ask but thanks @Pist-n-Broke for talking me through relay wiring). I wanted to run only the ground through the switches, no power. I mislabeled a couple of leads and had to chase them with a voltage tester. Right when she was leaving the brake light was on. I didn't mess with the brakes. I checked the MC and it was low. Added fluid the light went out. She pulled out of the shop and there was a puddle of missing fluid under the drivers rear tire. Brake rebuild time. Parts ordered.
My worker bee. Her boyfriend is under the truck. the lights were a pain but they work and they are bright. She has the outer lights on one switch and the inners on another. Stereo works but only one door speaker. I suspect some taped up wiring in the drivers door jamb. More work ahead for turkey week. Fun times.
I have a lot to be thankful of, especially for my kids. I didn't like tapping a fuse for my switched 12v source so I pulled the column apart, found a switched source off the ignition switch and tapped that wire. Much neater that way and no wires where you can see them. The stereo was only playing out the right speaker, I took the left door panel off and removed the speaker wire and it was broken. Quick repair, more tunes. The right speaker is louder but it may be resistance? I like to match the length of speaker wires when I do an install, this is definitely longer on the left side by double I would say. That combined with he low output of the stereo may be causing the difference. Usually when I install a 4 channel stereo I couple the fronts and rears when there are only 2 speakers. The Sony directions on line didn't say to to do that so I left it be. Not a big annoyance, I am deaf in my left ear so this works good for me . I make my daughter wear ear protection in the shop so she doesn't have the same issues when she is older. Brake parts will be here Friday, I am going to reverse the tires so the white letters are out. I'll clean them up and give those Toyota chrome wheels a little elbow grease and tin foil. It is going to be a cool little truck someday. I'll wait for her to come back over so she can learn to do brakes.
The Jalopy Journal
