Lots of nifty accessories... time to get to the "put it together and drive it" part. That's gonna be a cool truck!
Took the wheels off today to have the tires switched to another set of steel wheels I repainted. I figured I'll run these Cokers for a while since they're pretty much brand new. I looked up the Diamond Back tires after seeing some folks talking about them on here and I really like the looks of those. Probably won't take me long to wear these down so maybe that'll be what I get next! After a pretty good bit of scrubbing with a brass brush and Bleche Wite they came out looking fairly well. Did this on the old wheels so I didn't have to worry about messing up the paint on my new ones. The wheels that were on the truck when I got it are a completely mixed set except for the two with the smooth tapered centers that I think might be Ford wheels? I had the wheels on the right that came off the Plymouth I traded for the truck. That's also where the beauty rings came from. They're still a mixed set with two of them with three hubcap nubs and two with four of them. They had the same offset though so I repainted them for the truck. I'm not familiar with the different styles of steel wheels so I'm not sure what style would have been original for the time. Didn't lose as much paint to the tire store as I figured but will have to clean up the tires again. At least the heavy scrubbing is out of the way. Polished up the beauty rings and put them on after I got the wheels back. I'm figuring I'll try bleeding the brakes tomorrow while the wheels are off.
I've used the Magic Eraser too, works quite well. I've been told that Bleche White is not healthy for tires... can anyone verify that?
@pprather and @Jacksmith I'll use a Magic Eraser next time as I bet that does work good. I'm not sure about how the Bleche Wite affects the tire but from some of the reviews it looks like the new version isn't near as strong as what it used to be. I think most of what cleaned up for me was from the brass brush. The spray didn't seem to really pull the dirt out that much.
In the 80s I used either regular old Comet Cleanser or what was originally Westley's Bleche-Wite with a scrub brush. The Bleche-Wite is no longer Westley's and you're right it doesn't seem to work as well. You can find people that have new/unopened bottles of it online for crazy amount of money, so there's something to that. As far as hurting the tires I never experienced any negative effects from using it on several sets of tires. By the way your truck is coming along nicely.
I can... I started using purple power after watching a set of whitewalls turn to powder using bleech white for years.
You just must not be smoking the tires enough My tires didn't last long enough to notice Seriously though, I never had any issues. I'm guessing that the climate of the Seattle area in much different than Texas and probably not as harsh on rubber.
Thanks @Rolleiflex! I am too and I'm ready to get back on it! I enjoy the actual engine building and creative work on vehicles a whole lot more than getting all the bugs out of one getting it road worthy like I'm doing right now but I'd say that's everybody. I'm glad to know about the Bleche Wite now. I learn something new here every day. After an initial mess up installing the hoses for my remote filter I think I've finally got it all hooked up. I should have done more research on the correct way to install the hoses beforehand as I messed up the end of one of the hoses the first time around. To make up for the length I lost I ended up using a couple of 45 degree fittings at the block with a push on fitting that swivels until tight. As long as it's leak free I'll be happy! I took a shot at bleeding the brakes today. First time I've tried it without another person. I've got one of the Mityvac hand pumps but have never had any luck with it. I tried the hose submerged in a jar method and got a good bit of air out of the system. I ended up with a little bit of pedal and also found a leak at a tee fitting that I think I got fixed. I'm going to go all around it again tomorrow and see if I can't get a better pedal.
I pretty much use a helper to bleed the brakes. My wife has become good at pumping the pedal and holding it until I say to release.
That's to make the bypass filter on the firewall functional. Even though unnecessary I figure worst case if it doesn't work like I think it will I can just shut it off and at least all the lines are run for looks. With the engine being fresh and the high volume oil pump the oil pressure is in the 70-80 range when it first starts up running 10W-30 oil so I don't think it'll hurt nothing to send a little bit up top. I'm not going to open it up a whole lot though.
Comin' right along! I've had one of those Mityvac bleeders forever. Worked on everything... except my Dodge ha. I tried back feeding the from the calipers to the master. Didn't work. Even tried the ol open the bleeders and walk away gravity method. Nope. All that worked was the hose in a jar while I pushed/held the pedal. Got great pressure now. Congrats on getting featured @MRW1994 !
Thanks @60Pioneer! I went back around it today after fixing the leak and bled all four of them again. Feels like a pretty good pedal now and no leaks. I forgot to mention when I was lifting up the carpet to get to the master cylinder I found a shorty 7/16" Snap-on wrench under there. Made me think of the Where are my tools? thread. Probably someone out there still hunting their wrench. @'28phonebooth I'm also going to make sure to have a piece of rubber hose connecting the copper lines from the valve to the bypass filter so it's not a rigid connection as you pointed out on the line I had made up from the bypass filter back to the valley pan. I also appreciate the tip about using swivel fittings on the remote filter hoses. That made things easier.
Started working on the dash today. Not long after I got it the headlight switch had something finally break internally and the shaft pulled out so the only original knobs left were for the wipers and heater control. I also wanted to get rid of the column mounted tach and also the little light that is in between the headlight switch and ignition switch in this picture. It was wired to be a signal for the high beams but it's extremely bright and would light the whole cab up blue. The only reproduction knobs I could find were black. They look pretty good but they were pretty rough on the back and the starter hole on most of them was off center. I put them in the lathe and cleaned them up like the one on the far right and drilled for set screws on the switches that needed it. Looks a lot better with a matched set. Also got my under dash gauge cluster mounted which did away with the column tach. I got the choke cable run and used the spot that light was in. Got my new ignition switch wired that I had this old Dodge key blank cut for. The gauges are right in the way of the cowl vent handle so I'm going to try to fabricate a new one that kicks over to the side and use this one that's supposed to be out of some kind of old Mopar.
I got a slip over heat sleeve for the fuel line to help with the exhaust heat. I was thinking of running a fuel filter before the fuel pump like this. I was reading in another thread that some people say it's alright and others say not to. I've had the tank off to put in another sending unit, which I'm pretty sure probably still wont work, and I cleaned it out as best I could then but it was already pretty clean. Anybody every had any problem with running a filter before and after the pump? I ran across this '51 Chrysler V emblem that was really clean that I think would look really good on the tailgate. I think I like the '51 Chrysler emblems so much from the different Firepower advertisements and brochures I've collected. Got this in the mail today from Summit. I wasn't aware of oil being available in a 6 gallon bag in a box but after tax it's about $6.35 a quart which is a good bit better than the five quart jugs and a lot less trash.
I know it! I got a box of 20W-50 motorcycle oil too. Some of them are in stock at Summit and some ship straight from the supplier so it takes a little longer but still a pretty good deal.
20 years ago on my 54 Plymouth I put 4 different colored warning light to the left of the steering wheel. I mounted them on a break of the horizontal dash so they really don't line up that well. Years later, one has never lit up (Is that good? Or bad?). What's the other one for? One's a high beam, but it's hard to work that floor switch. I'm starting to think I shuda initialized them like you did. Thanx for the lesson.
Hey i've got a decent pr. of tailights for those 57-58 mopar stepsides ( or pass. cars ) if anyone needs them ! Reasonable ! ,john
Maybe someone will need a pair of good tail lights John. That was the first thing that I replaced when I got the truck because they were in rough shape and also the reverse lights weren't wired. Plus I got a cool NOS box for display. I finally found the Firepower brochure I was thinking of that had the hood and V ornaments I'm thinking of putting on the truck in it. I knew I had it but I've been looking everywhere. Hopefully I can get a little better than 180 hp out of the one in the truck!
Yeah just depending on a indicator light instead of a gauge always makes me a little leery. I also wonder sometimes about the accuracy of electronic gauges like what I'm using now. I don't know much about them but it seems like the length of wire and the resistance would affect their accuracy. I kind of wish I had run a tee fitting for the oil pressure sender and also had a mechanical gauge on the engine. I'm going to do what @pprather suggested and run it first with just the gauge hooked up to the sender then maybe wire in the indicator light in the cluster to see if affects the reading on the gauge. Got my filler neck fixed up. I didn't take a picture before I cut it off a while ago but the end for the gas cap was beat up pretty bad. The flanges were bent up bad and the cap didn't screw on well. There was only a quarter inch of pipe left sticking out of the grommet so instead of having to lengthen the pipe for a regular style gas cap, I used this threaded aluminum flip up cap I found that had a steel insert that fit perfectly over the pipe. I think I've pretty much got all the wiring done in the engine bay. I didn't have a cable long enough to make it from the battery to the starter so I decided to make a bracket for a disconnect switch that bolted on where the old solenoid used to be. I figure this will be handy too in case I need to kill the engine quick if something went wrong. I've got the fuel lines run and my crazy bypass and PCV system all plumbed. It'll be interesting to see if any works like I'm hoping! I filled the trans up today with some Red Line MT-90. I've still got to fill up the rear end. Like any other question regarding an automobile there's a bunch of different opinions on what's the best oil for the Borg-Warner cone style Sure Grip. I ended up buying some Lucas 85W-140. Most people recommend adding friction modifier even for the cone types so I'm going to add a bottle of the Ford friction modifier. Other than finishing the dash wiring and getting the radiator back in I think I'm about ready to fire it up in the truck. I'm ready to hear it run again and even more ready to go for a ride!
Your progress is amazing Firing it up is going to be fantastic. And once you can take it for a ride it will be ages before you'll be able to wipe the silly grin from you face Bobby
Thanks @bobbytnm! I work for some friends in the produce business so this is the off season but it's fixing to start back up so I'm trying real hard to get this thing going before it gets real busy. I can't wait for the first time back on the road. I've waited a long time to drive something with an early hemi in it.
Filled up the engine and rear end with oil today. Went and got a battery for it and also got the radiator hung. Went ahead and mounted the old fire extinguisher. The radiator ended up closer than I figured it would. Had to take the electric fan off. I guess I'll have to run it as a pusher. I think the grill should hide it fairly well.
Don't understand why you couldn't get an engine fan to mount to the water pump. Get one with a mounting surface that has a negative offset, so that the fan blades sit behind the fan mounting surface (i.e., in-line with the snout of the water pump). Hope that makes sense.
The Jalopy Journal
