What OT crap are you working on

Another step forward. Waiting for the insurance agency to call back so I can get the historic vehicle plates underway.

 

Whitewall wheel?

 

Yep

 

Vega almost ready

 

Helped my oldest son get his car back on the road this evening. It’s only been since August 2024 since it has been broke down in the shop.

 

It has been a few months since I've really been on the HAMB. But it's not because I haven't been doing any car things I've just been unsocial during car stuff so this is my current toilet I mean project I mean pick up.
I paid $500 for it a few months ago and I have been cranking on it about three or four hours a day for weeks now It's still got a long ways to go I've never had a vehicle that has been more jury-rigged in this pickup. Somehow it had the wrong vehicles tail light lens screwed into it and instead of unplugging the wires to the tail light they cut them ironically about a foot and a half away from where the plug was under the bed.
Anyways it is a 318 truck, 727 automatic and it's a 1975 d200 (I live in California 1975 is pre smog It was definitely the selling point When I decided to take this project on.
It technically runs and moves apparently it has a 1969 industrial 318 in it The water pump and the fan ***embly sit a mile high and the radiator was lifted three or four inches so the fan is kind of in the fins, The water pump outlet is on the wrong side and they used pieces of hoses and pipe to make everything work It's very hokey. Once I realized this I bought what was left of a parts truck and I got some doors another 318 (That should donate It's front engine parts to make this one correct) and it gave me the coolant reservoir and a few other odds and ends for 250 bucks all the parts were definitely a deal.
Going to the inside of the truck it too is jerry-rigged (Is it jury or jerry? I have Heard it both ways) The gauge cluster I don't think anything worked on it other than the amp meter I now have almost everything working The speedometer cable is coming in the mail I don't know why the speedometer cable is broken but it is. I also cut a hole and put a tach into the dash And because at some point in the truck's life somebody cut the radio out and put in a really terrible early '90s dual knob I decided I might as well recut the hole a third time and try to make a clean install of a modern radio It seemed cheaper than trying to find a stock radio so that is now done. I have also started painting the inside of the truck originally the truck was a pale yellow with light tan interior somebody had painted the outside of it white I will be honest I kind of like the white once I removed all the smashed trim I think the white looks pretty sharp and I'm going to take it to the next level I'm going to make it look like spirit of America 1976 as a tribute to our semiquincentennial birthday. So I filled 117 holes across the bed rails, The doors, and where the trim used to be...
Not hard work but man what a boring job (zap, zep, zap, zap,.... Times a million times).
Since this photo was taken I also managed to find a decent tailgate out of the junkyard and a pretty good condition tin grille, I will try to get pictures of all this stuff in the next few weeks there isn't a lot of photographic work to really show off right now other than I took that ugly gray camper show off that you see in these pictures and I got 200 bucks for it and I managed to find a set of 16-in Chrysler 8 lug steel wheels to replace the mismatched wheels on the truck, I have two Ford truck wheels, 1 Ford Van wheel and 16-in Dodge wheel and the spare underneath was an original 16.5... I sold the two pickup truck wheels and made the proper Chrysler wheels free plus I now have a matching 16-in spare... The only real win on this truck is the last owner bought brand new load range e Firestone all-terrains which is awesome because I want to use this as a truck... Since this photo was taken I also came across a set of Dodge hubcaps at the Long Beach high performance swap meet and they are now installed and repainted and everything is coming along nicely.
This has been a pretty fun project if I'm being honest it's just old enough that it's easy to work on and it's just new enough that the parts are pretty easy to find... I didn't really want to take this project on but a drunk driver took out my last pickup That was last August and although I now have that truck where it is yard driveable it's still a long ways from being on the road and I don't know if I really want to fix it because life is too short to drive it boring vehicles after I post this I will also post a picture of my inspiration and the picture of my 2005 that is now probably better off as a engine donor although I'm not really into late model hemis.

 

This is about the only photos I have so far of the work I've been doing it isn't much, I will do better I know all of us use this site like a car magazine and I am totally failing. The adverti*****t is for a Dodge truck and I'm not going to clone it but I'm going to get real close to it, I bought some store stencil decals But I wasn't sure if they are the right size but I think I got it down pat I was just messing around and I did this in about 15 minutes a few weeks ago... Also this is the blue 2005 that was my car hauler for years being a half ton it was a little under sized weight-wise in my opinion but I sure liked having air conditioning in a heater that actually worked but it's effed up And the guy didn't have enough money to replace it (and the 1958 trailer that he wiped out) so I have the truck and a lousy $5,000 check. I would imagine I can fix it I'm learning that I can fix anything as I get older. I already got it steering straight but that's another story for another day...
Anyways here is the inspiration photo, me goofing around with the gas cap and screwing around to make the paint look correct Oh and a picture of the door fully repainted on the inside The door looks so ***y now. Not bad for a dupliColor vinyl spray painted door panel and some fresh white rustoleum (I am painting the truck with a gallon of Rust-Oleum and the inside is probably a spray bomb because it's easy to match lol) The goal is $3,000 for 100% everything to make this my daily driver I'm in it 1800 and some change right now I still got to upholster the seat and my weather stripping and carpet and a ton and I mean a ton of body work...
Oh I'm going to include one more photo inside the pickup bed This is most of the parts I bought for $250 that I mentioned in the other post.

 

I am glad I am not the only one that calls a 2001 a new car lol

Did you figure it out?

 

This has the richer at around 5 inches from the floor

 

Whelp, the elephant is gittin ett. Ugly as homemade sin but it’s solid, hopefully I learned a few things so the other side goes quicker it has to right,….right? Yah right

 

Im in supervisory mode at the shop

 

It looks good and as you said solid plus you're never going to see it. When I was younger I used to beat myself up because my patch panels didn't ever come out looking like the factory did it Now that I am older I actually really like well done repair panels that are homemade It shows a lot of time and effort went into keeping the vehicle on the road.

 

I am trying to spend three to four hours a day on this 1975 Dodge pickup I don't know if I'm going to achieve it but that is the goal. I love working on my stuff but I am tired of the perpetual projects and having six or eight dead cars It's time to get stuff finished but I digress. I pretty much took the last week off because it was over 100° here in Southern California which is pretty rare And it was kind of windy so I couldn't put up an easy up I was just roasting in the sun on the side of the house and I wasn't feeling it, in the month of March last time a heatwave like this happened was in 1914 I wasn't around back then.
Anyways Tomorrow I'm not positive yet but I think I'm going to remove the messed up hood and then "restore" the hood hinges by cleaning them up and spray painting them gloss black. I think I am also going to flip the hood over you see in the photos and do the top of the hood with an actual spray gun using white rustoleum (I finished all the bodywork today and I sprayed the bottom of the hood I forgot to take a picture of all my hard work on the top of the hood before I put a light coat of primer on it But I probably got 12 or 13 hours pulling the ding out of it using filler and using the air inline sander over and over and then going over it with 180 grit on the DA electric sander (that cheap sander is in the picture). That hood before I started on it waved more than the crowd at a baseball game during the 7th inning stretch. Somebody had sandblasted it and then left it in the rain so it had surface rust all over it, I sanded the whole hood and anywhere I couldn't sand a used a wire wheel. I bought one of those harbor freight unispot type welders where they weld the little tab that you pull with a slide hammer and it works pretty good for 90-ish bucks So far I would say it is a recommended buy... Definitely better than filling a ding with filler/Bondo.
I want to be clear the hood definitely has filler but it's pretty thin I just don't want anybody to think I am a whiz bangg at body work. Lastly tomorrow I think I am going to pull the cowl vent and figure out why the wipers aren't working and maybe get them up and running and probably vacuum all of the leaves and dirt out That is probably rusting the truck out from being in there for 50 years. Oh and maybe I will sand the cowl vent and paint it too... The Plus side of using non-metallic cheap paint is I can do this section by section and it will look pretty good and if I'm not happy at the end I can real quickly spray one light even coat over the whole mess to make it uniform but I think it'll be fine.
Anyways to future readers I am using rustoleum professional series paint in the 1 gallon can along with some krylon hardener That came with a cabinet full of chemicals I bid on at an auction a year or two ago I have no idea if it works or not but I figure it can't hurt it, I will say the paint sprayed on exceptionally well and laid out really flat with little to no orange peel texture I am thinking the catalyst hardener helped that I'm not sure normally there is some orange peel. I took this picture it was almost dark outside so I could be mistaken It might be pretty rough I will see it tomorrow and it's good enough it's only going to be seen when the hood is open. I don't want to mess up my expensive spray gun so I am using a HVLP gravity feed harbor freight spray gun They used to be green the one I bought a few months ago was purple It's like a $30 spray gun it works great for spraying oil-based enamel paints and primers. I am thinning the paint with literal paint thinner In fact you can see it in my photo (normally I use acetone but I have a lot of old paint thinner I'm trying to use up)...
I wasn't kidding in a previous post this was going to be a budget build, a gallon of paint is new but all the other chemicals I bought at estate sales So I probably paid a dollar or maybe $2 for the gallon of paint thinner... Side note here in California because of our emissions BS we now have a different alkaloid enamel paint formula then I think the rest of the country has, It smells a lot like liquid toilet bowl cleaner, It definitely doesn't smell like the rustoleum the way I remember it. It seems to spray the same and thin the same but it cost about three times more than it used to and that smell is really weird. Anyways here is the bottom of the hood painted, and the top of the hood using one can of white primer. Once the paint is dry I will paint the top of the hood. More to come hopefully real soon.

 

So you are in Riverside, I'm about 30 miles west of you. Hot you say ? It was boiling the paint of my truck. Spent the THIRD TIME putting back the brake ***ebly on the right rear of a 1965 F100. Drive it 1 mile, step on the brakes and the entire ***embly of parts just pops off the backing plate and locks up the wheel. Three times in a row. We are giving up. Figure the backing plate must be warped and wore out on the mounts.

 

Getting back in the swing of things, started hanging the exhaust on the Camaro

 

When you figure the backing plate issue out let me know I've never came across that kind of problem before I did however drive myself insane probably 4 or 5 years ago with a early Plymouth valiant that I redid the brakes on It wanted to drag the driver side rear I must have taken that wheel on and off 30 times trying to figure it out and I never figured it out I ended up modifying the brake shoe a little bit to get it to fully retract. I ended up selling the car that way and letting the person that I sold it to know what I did. I ran into him a few months ago and he said it is still working fine. I think seriously it's Chinese parts or I should say lesser quality parts not necessarily because of China.

 

In the adventures of my 1975 low buck Dodge I have been holding true and working on the truck or getting parts for the truck for at least four or five hours a day for the last week or two. I have gotten other work done (some of it is not finished yet) other than these photos but the rear bumper I drove about a half hour away and I found on Offer Up for 100 bucks. It is an OEM Chrysler bumper but I have no idea what year truck it is off of but it looks pretty nice and I am glad I bought it. I just polished it up today and made brakets to mount it plus put my plates on it and threw away the twisted up painted bumper that was on the rear, it went to the s**** yard along with the mangled front bumper... On that note of the front bumper I went to Pick-your-Part in Fontana Friday afternoon because they had a 1985 Dodge Ramcharger, I bought its front bumper Here is a picture (not enlarged) of the truck in their ad and here is a picture of my truck (enlarged with the grille off getting dent repaired) with its bumper now installed on my truck... You can kind of see I am detailing the engine compartment those pictures will come in a few days when I finish unfortunately I screwed up and I did not get a picture under the hood when I started with the weird Chrysler industrial motor with its timing cover that's sat a mile high But I got all of that changed now but I've ran into another problem I need to find All the accessories for a 75 to 79 Mopar truck or van to put on the engine so I can actually have power steering and air conditioning and all that good stuff like the truck would have came with a million years ago.
This truck was a toilet If I am being honest but I didn't expect much I paid almost nothing for it. It's being very cooperative coming back together which is good but I don't think there's a single thing on it that wasn't broke. I mean the speedometer cable was broke, The gas pedal ***embly is broke (I got another one I haven't installed it yet), The brake light switch didn't work (it does now), the c***ette radio was electrical taped in and I have no idea why it was wired into the back of the gauges when there is a radio fuse (That is now corrected and it has a cheesy Bluetooth radio in the dash that looks really good other than it's ultra modern for the truck). Speaking of the gauges none of the gauges work except the amp gauge, none of the dash lights worked (they do now). The tail lights if you look at the original picture of when I got the truck were even jerry-rigged And they didn't even have the correct lenses in them. The radiator leaks no big deal I bought another one but the pipes for the water pump were on the other side and it had a jerry-rigged coolant pipe ***embly some of it with no hose clamps, the transmission lines were jerry-rigged using hose clamps and some pieces of fuel line, Here is the crazy part I ***ume so The former owner (He is dead I bought it at his estate sale) could get the transmission out along with the engine He cut the core support in between the headlights and just folded it down out of the way, I banged it back together and then welded it up. Mind you this truck was registered as in he was driving it this way when he p***ed, The ignition switch (The wire portion) had dirty contacts so he used a push ****on starter ****on wedged into a hole on the dash, The lock and tumbler would work off of any Chrysler key which that's pretty normal for a wore out tumbler But nonetheless it needed replacing and cleaning up, since I was in there I replaced the gear shift lever for the automatic trans The one that was on the truck was missing the plastic end and somebody (I ***ume the previous owner) wedged a shift knob from a manual transmission onto the shaft using electrical tape to take up the slack because the splines were smaller on the automatic shift lever). The fuel tank in the cab was missing It had it because the gas cap and filler neck was still on the side of the truck bailing wired on, I found a gas tank that was almost brand new on marketplace up in the Big Bear area (about an hour or two away) That gas tank was being taken out for a under bed tank, I have a 3/4 ton I want both tanks because I intend on towing with it, I got it mounted in there but I have yet to figure out where the wires are for the float ***embly and I'm not real sure how the ball valve works on the driver side., If anybody has a "Tin grille" dodge or the wiring schematic and they could guide me through the fuel tanks It would be much appreciated....
Anyways the list goes on and on All of these tasks aren't hard I actually like doing them but they are time-consuming and there isn't a lot of pictures to show for the work. I'm sorry I didn't take more pictures as I've been moving along at least so it's do***ented because some of it is pretty funny and some of it is just head shaking of why was it done this way. Anyways here are the few pictures of the bumpers and I will give you a follow up in a few days when I get more stuff done.
Happy Easter everyone have a blessed Sunday.

 

I have very same basic body style truck . If you need any small stuff PM. I have a stash . You western guys are killing me “ no rust “ , my old power wagon , will rust off the frame one day and return to the earth slowly .

 

Good work on the old Dodge- that type stuff is fun getting back to snuff... (cobble jobs)

 

I've owned a lot of those Dodge trucks over the years. At one time I had a pile of parts for them. A buddy and I probably parted out more then 100 of the 73-93 Dodge pickups. Those parts were sold off long ago.
Posted is a picture of a 78 that served me well, it had over 3000K miles on it when I finally retired it, several years after this picture. The only original sheet metal part on that truck in this picture that was original, was the basic cab with new floors, all of the other sheet metal came off a truck I had parted out!

The poor thing had several different years of sheet metal on it over the years.

The blue truck in the background in this picture is the same truck as the "calico" truck pictured above! By this time, the frame was showing its rough life. The truck in the red primer is the blue truck's replacement, at the point this picture was taken, the blue truck was already restricted to only plowing my driveway. The red primed truck had already replaced it as a work truck for around 4 years. That 1950 sheet metal is mounted on an 80 4x4 short bed ch***is. The plow from the 78 was mounted on the 50 probably before the next winter after the picture was taken. The 50 served me for 12 years as a work truck, a snow plow, and also as a show truck for a couple years (next pic). That is oil based blue paint on the 50.

The 50 gave up its life to save mine in a 30 mph head on crash in 2011. That is a different story.

 

Finished camaro exhaust, sounds *****in.

 

I have always loved a pilot house. I had a 48 for about 5 minutes 20ish years ago but at the time it was a little beyond my so-called pay grade because somebody turned into a full-on basket case and between work and somehow still being broke all the time I just couldn't figure out how I could afford it... Looking back at it the reality was I should have afforded it one piece at a time.
My 75 Dodge that I've been posting about The reason why I bought it Is it was supposed to be a quick get it up and running and driveable so I have a pickup truck to use until I get the blue '05 half ton back together. I won't lie I'm pretty spoiled with the creature features in the '05 but I despise all the late model Dodge issues like noisy lifters, plastic dashboards that fall apart when you look at them funny, HVAC mix doors that don't mix anything and the fact It has to go through smog here in California not the smogging the '05 was ever an issue.
My friends all want me to drop the engine into the 75 but I think I'm just going to keep the 75 for a little while enjoy it do a patriotic rustoleum paint job and use it to go to the local swap meets and I will test its abilities to haul stuff because that was my biggest complaint with my half ton Is it didn't quite have enough payload capacity 2 Ford flatheads and it was pretty much on its bump stops.
The Tin grille So far has been a pretty fun experience I just wish it wasn't as clapped out as it is because I don't really need another full blown project but now I'm married to it and I got to see it through lol

 

So yesterday I decided to tackle the driver's side fender so I could finish detailing the engine compartment. I unbolted the driver side fender got it pulled off and stripped everything off the inner wheel well and banged out some dings... there was a ding on the fender right above the tire that really bothered me so I decided since I had the fender off this would be a good time to hit it out with a hammer When I hit it a chunk of Bondo came off about a quarter inch thick and 4 in around and the trucks sins were exposed to me That fender was pretty rough I ground off all the Bondo with the wire wheel and realized what a nightmare it was so when I came in last night I decided to look on marketplace to see if there was any parts available at low and behold I found a front clip for $100 minus the hood. None of it was real clean but at $100 I thought it was a fair price and the driver side fender was very straight at least compared to what came off the truck... So today's project the dodge was driving up to the local mountains to pick up the parts and then drive back home and then proceed to list all the parts I did not want for sale which after I did that it was about dinner time I ate some dinner and somebody called and decided they wanted to come out and I sold all the parts for a little more than I paid for them Plus I got a nice fender so I'm going to call it all the win... I think tomorrow I am going to conquer the engine compartment and the inside of that fender... Here is my previously enjoyed but new to me metallic green fender (It is just sitting on the truck it's not actually bolted in) and a picture of the Bondo fender in mid grind that I felt was a worthy candidate for replacement.
I am kind of thinking this pickup truck might need its own build thread any idea on how I move anything over or should I just keep posting it here?

 

I have been enjoying it I always say that I don't enjoy this type of thing but the reality is I do I probably enjoy the problem solving and fixing more than I actually do the drive once I have finished the project (Don't get me wrong I love cruising and driving as long as it's not in traffic)... I would imagine by the end of this month I should have the Dodge looking pretty decent I mean it won't be perfect but it should be a really nice driver quality beater with cheap shiny paint and I would think I will get a few compliments on it because of the patriotic paint job.

 

I think you should start a new build thread on your late 70s Dodge truck build (its easy for me to say, you will be doing the work ). There are probably enough guys here that have done such things, it could be a fun thread.
The 1st Dodge truck I ever bought was a 66 3/4 ton, that one served me well for a couple years. The 2nd Dodge truck I bought was a 75 Dodge 3/4 ton (from the same guy I bought the 66 from. He happened to be my father. The 75 replaced the 66 for him, I had a car in between the two trucks).

 

This is what happens when you feel fine physically and mentally but lack the ability to drive yourself anywhere, you start projects that no one needs to do.

Enter my 2020 Parts Getter III. I like the sportiness of the truck and the 6.2 under the hood so why not add a sports bar? When my wife saw the receipt in our email she asked me why I purchased a $1200 sports "bra". In retrospect she wasn't that far off.

I have a power retractable tonneau cover, so I had to modify the light bar base to fit around it and then re-powder coat the wrinkle finish after putting them on a 1/2" diet. Then I bolted it up as the instructions directed to find out it stuck 3" above the cab. Now number one, that looked ****y! Number 2 it would be noisy as hell on the freeway and lastly it won't fit in the parking garage at the DR's offices which I seem to frequent as of late. I called the manufacturer to see if they made shorter tubes for different applications, Go Rhino/Real Truck said they make only one bar to fit all trucks, tall cab like Rams and short sport cabs like mine. Unacceptable. Dr. Bandit to surgery.

I used my (now well used) car dolly and a couple 2x4s to make a rig. I calculated I needed a 3" drop of the center section, so I made a 2x4 support to clamp it to 3" lower than it was originally and clamped it down after detaching the stainless tubes. Now it was just a matter of making the tubes fit back up.

I decided the best attack is to cut it off at the ankles. After masking marking and Makers, I headed for the band saw. I hillbillied (that's Bandit Hillbilly to you) a gate out of my level and a couple of clamps and went for it. It's only metal, man wins against metal.

I used my plasma torch to remove the brackets from the pieces I removed.

Tubes cut, brackets welded in, stainless polished where I blued them and mounted back to the center section.

And then mounted back on Parts Getter III. It came with nice, drilled, side covers but I don't like them. I'll save them for a project someday. With open sides it looks like an Avalanche but shinier and cooler...and one of one.

And the 3rd brake light, bed lights and camera are still visible thanks to the cutout provided. I should have removed that name plate. hmmmm

That is how to turn what the instructions say is a 2 hour install into a weeklong project. I aint complaining, it gives me something to do. Someday maybe I can drive it again! They make a piece that I can add to the center section (bolt in...right) that is motorized so you can raise and lower your off-road lights (and fit in parking garages). It adds another $500 for the rig and more for some lights, bunch of wiring, juries out on that one. Nah! Maybe

 

bumpers installed, one of those simple jobs that took 8 hours

 

The aftermarket enduro bumpers are a nightmare. It's easier to strip a chrome one, cut it, tuck it, weld it and paint it. Ugh. I fought one on my 69 and still didn't fit as tight as I would have liked. Yours looks like it fits pretty good.