Projects *** Update (w/ pics) 48 chevy truck project from hell ***

cool old truck ,

 

This weekend, I swapped out the power steering box for a S-10 manual steering box......no squeeling belts for me!

....and added dual filament light sockets to the original running light housings. I now have running lights AND turn signals up front without disturbing the farm fresh look.

Neither mod was all that exciting, so I didn't do***ent it with pictures.

 

I took a couple of days off of work to get somewhere on the truck wiring....

This was my solution for the brake switch. I mounted a mid 80's GM switch in the top, rear surface of the S-10 brake bracket and then addwd an arm to the back of the brake pedal. The you hit the brakes, the lever moves up...and off of the switch. (I should have taken pics while the whole ***embly was out.

 

I am using the old add-on turn signal swith that came with the truck...it was designed to use add-on turn signals instead of interupting the brake lights.

...my tail lights only have two filaments, but I need 3 circuits. I am happy with the look of the rear and didn't want to add seperate lights for the blinkers.

I am not 100&#37; happy with my solution, but I added a couple of strips of LEDs inside each tail light housing....in the shape of a "< " on the driver side and a " > " on the p***enger side.

....but the lenses distort the pattern and it kinda looks like a starburst semi-circle when they light up instead of an arrow.

I tried moving the LEDs closer to the lense....and I do get a better pattern on the turn signals, but also get an ugly shadow when I light up the filament for the brake lights (only about 2/3 of the tail light looks lit up).

My dad's idea for a fix is to glue little pieces of hose over each LED to tunnel the light up to the lense (so it just makes a dot instead of a startburst).





Here are pics of my turn signals.



With the lense removed. The arrow is made from 2 LED clearance lights from Wally-world.


These were the left overs from the clearance lights (some cutting required)


I made a bracket from a piece of jaguar XJS chrome (I recycle)


I re-used the OLD turn signal switch that was in the truck when I bought it (spray-bombed of course). The wires are pulled through a piece of un-shrunk heat-shrink tubing. Looks nice and it was damn near free.

 

I realized I need more switches (electric fan and hazard lights), but didn't want them mounted just anywhere. I squeezed them in my new "seat dash"



It was a tight fit trying to fit them in the switch panel that was not designed for any extra stuff. I made a cardbodrd template that was the same size as the switch and used a cener punch to find a spot where the switches fit.





It worked great!

 

The dash-dash now has idiot lights. The outside ones are for turn signals, the inner ones are oil pressure and water temperature.


Wiring that stuff up.....****ed!




...but it was worth it. The truck cranked on the first try....and eveything works!!!

 

Your flat bed is sweet i want something like that for my pressure washer

 

That small punch template is a great idea.

 

It was simple, cheap and it let me put the switches EXACTLY where they would fit (1/8" clearance on two sides)

 

I forgot to mention that NEW gl*** is going in next weekend!!!!

 

I have gl*** that I can see out of !!!!! I kinda felt stupid for putting gl*** in a POS truck.....came real close to swapping roofs with a parts truck I have....but I would have missed even more drive time if I went that route.







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With any luck, it will be done this next weekend! The short list of things to do before Louisville....

Side windows.
Plug holes in firewall.
Insulation.
Carpet.
Door panels.

 

Man, what a hot nasty weekend for working on a truck!

I started out by making a ton of plugs for all of the holes in the firewall.



Yes this was fresh, clean metal a day earlier. 100&#37; humidity ****s! I welded them in from inside the cab to preserve the 60 year old dirt on the firewall.

Then I installed bubble wrap.


Then installed most of the carpet. I still need to cut pieces for the firewall. I also attempted to make door panels, but the clips I had were too short and didn't really work.



Dad didn't want me doing burnouts on the concrete, so we rutted up the yard One set was mine, the other was his!

 

I went ahead and snapped a few more pictures...including one of the blinkers for whoever that was asking.

 

cool, you can also take it to mini truck shows as well

 

Don't know about mini truck stuff, but it IS going to Louisville this weekend!!!!

 

That's a tough-looking rig! I like the stance and the patina! And the wheels really make that truck stand out nice.

 

man i love this truck,so f'n cool. and i'm diggin that seat.what day or day(s) are you gonna be at the nats.definatley want an up close on this one.good job man...........dave

 

Flipper,
Great thread and nice work!
Cool idea with the cardboard/center punch!
Thanks for posting!

 

cool truck, great thread.

 

I kind of dig those turn signals lighting up that way. Looks different in a good way!

 

could you pm me your number? we are gonna be in loiusville saturday and would love to meet up and check it out.

 

I'll be there on Saturday only.

With any luck, I'll find a place to park kinda close to where the RRT/HAMB tent is usually at.....that is my goal.

 

damn what rotten *** luck,i'm there friday only.i guess i 'll just admire it from afar.hell of a truck dude...............dave

 

to much head room

 

This truck makes me feel funny.

 

I lied. The truck didn't make it to Louisville.

Dad was supposed to drive it to my house on Friday and then we leave from my house early Saturday morning. Friday he calls and says the trans is leaking fluid and he doesn't want to risk it.

It was probably the smartest decision, but damn it hurt.

I have two weeks to get everything ready for frog follies.

 

Dad was hot rodding around the neighborhood and somebody called the cops on him.
They didn't figure out who he was or where he lived, but they were driving around for quite a while and set up radar in the area for a couple of days.
He dodged the bullet that time, but didn't want to get it out with the loud pipes again.............so we made silencers from left-over header tubes and other misc junk.
They look like ****, but they work good and can be removed in 15 seconds.

 

I also modified the air cleaner base so that it was no longer low-profile...it now clears the distributor cap/plug wires.

before:



after:

 

Now I know how to judge when my truck is BAD enuff......see if my dad can get targeted by the cops while cruisin it around the block!!!!