Couple pics I forgot to post yesterday regarding my backup lights ..... I made some simple brackets off of the bumper bolts. Just need to clean up the brackets and paint them. The lights also have the wire going through the stud - I will have to seal that up for sure .... .....
Just had a little time for the garage today and did some work today on grounds for lights and such on the backside of the bed and worked on the license plate light and mount plate .... Seadog sent me the license plate light for my 32 coupe project but I could not use it. I promised him to try it out on the pickup and here it is. It’s supposed to be surface mounted but that is not possible for the back of the truck. But, by making the mount plate, I can mount it as intended and use the old style wiring loom to house the back of the lamp and the wiring - a fabulous fake sort-to-speak. Thank you for the light, Tom ! I originally thought of t******* out the top of the plate with curved lines but this is a shop truck so I will cut the plate at the straight pencil marked lines in the second picture.
I have been working on some home projects while doing little things on the project as time allowed. Presently the hitch is completely bolted in, ran the trailer wiring, mounted the plug, and I have been working on the wiring .... The grey wire runs all the way up front and is held to the upper part of the p***enger frame rail up and away from harm. As for the wiring, I ran out of the old style wire sheathing and ordered some from Road Island Wiring. When that comes in next week I can finally finish up the wiring at the back of the truck. The small backup-light brackets, rear license plate support, and the rear bumper will all be in satin black by end of day tomorrow. Gas tank sending unit is next, then the rear exhaust needs to go in. I may need to weld on a bracket or two on the frame to support the exhaust. Will have to wait and see. It feels like I am in slow motion lately ..... but slow progress is better than no progress ....
Got some things done today - finished painting the items to ***emble the rear bumper and backup lights .... I really like the black bumper- I wasn’t so sure before today. I also worked on the fuel sending unit. I first had to modify the unit to match my tank and then hooked it up and tested it. I learned my lesson on this believe me! Everything then got installed in the tank .... I had purchased a brake module for the rv but never opened it. I was surprised that it only had the male end of the connector plug. Fortunately Tractor Supply had the female end. The unit is now mounted under the dash, more towards the p***enger side, and I have a plan on running the wiring being the battery is right on the other side of the firewall. Looks like it’s going to be exhaust work for tomorrow ....
you're getting close now ; it won't be long before you're toting that trailer. I don't know if you've run into this yet, but the the bolts that go to the bed metal strips and p*** through that crossmember just forward of the tank are a PITA to get to with the tank installed.
Hey Tom, There is an outfit right here in Virginia that carries all of those old-style wiring items we look for including the sheathing you recently ran out of. You might give them a try some time. I've used them any number of times and they have a very good inventory. https://brillman.com/
Oh man I did not know that - I have bought their nice flathead spark plug wires (this was awhile ago) but I did not know they sold the sheathing. Thanks for the heads up!
Joel - yep, I know it will be a pain but I would have to take part of the hitch off, wiring, hoses, exhaust which I am fitting up now, etc. I made the decision to just tough it out when the time comes of which I am getting close. I have a couple ideas to make it a bit easier but I know there will be a few “bad words” said in both English and Italian! Lol! But I do thank you for your thought ....
I was able to paint some of the exhaust outside today - it was just warm enough ... I did the loop over the rear axle and the two “L’s” leading up to and after the loop for both sides. I used Hirsch black engine paint and brushed it on. It was all I had ..... I put the license plate on after painting the support plate .... ... installed the backup light, and climbed in and out of the bed a dozen times or more to hook up the fuel line and breather line and check things over. I have a rollover valve I bought some time ago .... ... and my plan is to hang this valve off of one of the driver rear fender bolts. But being the tire is spinning in that well throwing around water and debris of all kinds, I thought an in-line rollover valve would be better with no screen and run a good length of hose afterwards to vent the tank following the loop of all the bolts of the driver rear fender. I will take a picture when the time comes. That should stop most of the moisture and any debris from ever reaching the tank. I decided I will wait to install the bed wood. I want to make sure there are no leaks of any kind. If there are any, they would be a lot easier to attend to with the bedwood not installed. After that I had other things to work on and I mixed in a good shop cleaning before moving on to the next phase. It was getting out of hand - yep, I’m a messy worker. I concentrate totally on what I am doing and when I finish that portion, I look around at the disaster in my garage and it’s time. Lol!
Got working on the rear exhaust. I put in my u-bends and determined where the backside would have to be shortened. Once done I installed the u-bends with the L-pipes and attached the two long straight runs. I then made up a couple turn-downs .... ... and installed the first side ... After fifing a “too short” cut with the second long run, things were looking pretty good .... I then measured and trimmed the two front facing “L” pieces and I then propped up the two muffler runs .... I now have to wait for the engine install to connect everything together (the two exhaust pipes are all ready made) and installing exhaust brackets. It’s really starting to look a lot more together at the moment!
No pics but I got my wire sheathing and finished up all the rear wiring along with a few other tidbits. I will start painting the tailpipes tomorrow and crimping the ends of some of the AC lines ....
Painted the tailpipes and turn downs but I have a slight problem. Where I shortened the “L”s the mandrel bends make the pipe diameter a bit smaller and the muffler clamps do not seem to be able that close the gap leaving the connection loose. I will have to remove the “L”s and put a pie cut in the flared end so the metal can collapse. I also removed the beds chains and repainted them. I did not do a good enough top coat previously. Couple wiring pics - not my best work but it’s done .... The truck is now on all 4s and is nearly at ride height - at least I am moving forward ......
Only had a short time on the project today but I got the rollover valve in and I am working on brackets to hold the vent line off of the fender bolts. I also painted the small under dash panels .....
From the bottom of my hotrod heart I am humbled and I thank you, all of you. If I can get one person out to their project 15 minutes more, take one more ride than they would have, to just keep moving forward no matter how slow, this is why I do this. I always felt that working with ones hands to create something is very the****utic and important for us as humans. And, the best lessons learned were ones spawned from mistakes. Again, I thank you .....
No pics today but I did fix the exhaust pipes, welded on some extensions to the mufflers to even things out. With the under dash panels, I began stuffing them and wiring them up ...
Couple pics from yesterday .... Today I spent a little time on the exhaust and I think I am going to run the long pipes through the frame holes. That would make for a cleaner install. I ordered the 45s I need but that again will be a project for when the engine is in and exhaust pipes off the manifolds are installed. I worked for n the vent line install today. For some this may not be the cleanest way but I had this setup in my old 40 coupe and never had a vapor lock problem or anything gas related ..... The mix of rubber and metal pipe is just using what I have and the in-line rollover valve is located in the second pic ...... With the big hitch project done, the holidays coming up, and house stuff I am in a bit of a lull at the moment. But, I have a bunch of smalls I need to do which suits my schedule right now so that’s good. Once the vent line is done I can install the rear fenders which will free up some garage space. It also looks to be a nice day tomorrow to sand down my front fenders after primer sealing them. We shall see if something else pops up to stop that idea - then the weather gets cold again. We shall see....
It was a beautiful day out today so I worked on the front fenders, sanding them smooth after the primer sealer. Trouble is, the fenders looked like they were painted with a brush with a lot of brush marks on both fenders. I started off with using 80 grit lightly to knock the highs down of the brush marks. That worked fairly well and I then switched to 150 grit. After that I wiped the one fender down, cleaned it with mineral spirits and hit the areas that went down to bare metal. I did the same with the second fender and with the sunlight just right, I saw there were a lot more ridges still on both fenders. I again hit both with the used 80 grit sheet, then fresh 150, and finally the scotch brite pad. Now they looked pretty good so I primer sealed the bare metal spots and used filler primer on wherever it needed it. By this time it was getting late and things were not drying so quickly I had to stop. I will work on them again when I can roll the roadster out and work under the easy up with a fan pulling the dust out. I also painted the gas vent brackets .... sorry, no pics. I forgot all about taking them I was so intent on my sanding. I will take a couple tomorrow .... All along I have figured to pant the black wall tire rims satin black with a baby moon cap. Looking at my roadster and coupe they are both satin black with small caps. I would then have all three the same. A while back my buddy JohnnyC on LI was looking for a different grille insert color for his 32 roadster he was building. Just the day before, I was using Rustoleum self etching primer which is not really green, not really blue, nor is it grey. So we talked about it and my buddy used the epoxy metal primer with a satin clear topcoat on his grille insert and it really looked good. So, I thought that might be an alternative for my truck rims. Here is the result.... I like the color but I don’t think it does anything for my truck. However I may try it on my coupe and see what gives since the coupe is a dark green body, light green reveal moldings. These colors are similar to the original combination but not the stick colors. Anyway we will see how that works out tomorrow .....
So here are pics of the front fenders .... I tried sanding a couple spots and although it will take some time, I think the frame not fenders will turn out pretty good. Today, another short day in the garage, I was able to get the driver side fender on. To be truthful, another set of hands are really needed. The stock replacement fender bolts are so short and they have a square shoulder on them, it’s tough to get the nut started. But, I then no I will trim down the square shoulders and I think that may help getting things together with just two hands. I also have to factor in the 4 vent line brackets - a fun job but I think it’s going to all work out great. I ordered the rear support brackets, which will more than likely need to be modified for my truck, and a V8 embossed gas cap. If the weather cooperates tomorrow I can back out the roadster and start sanding the front fenders ..... pieces are now literally falling into place. I am excited .....
You’re getting close! Got mine home and started mocking up bits and pieces. Sure need a good body man. Lots of lumps to smooth out, thankfully no rot. That flat paint color does it for me.
Thank you! It IS getting close and I can feel it’s completion now. It’s like it’s starting to get a personality, you know? Yes, I am a bit crazy but when you get to this stage in a build you can feel life being breathed into it .....
I was able to get the fenders sanded outside today - it was pretty chilly but it got done. The one fender needs a weld right where the cowl fender bracket is on the one side. I just missed it till now. That’s on my short list for tomorrow ..... They are looking good but there were a lot of “ripples” on both fenders like something heavy on edge was dragged across them. I was able to get a lot of them but not all, and I still see some brush marks. I will ***ess them tomorrow, do the one weld, and make a decision then. After that it was cold but nice and sunny so I took out the coupe and gave it some exercise ......
Just a miserable day today and I was happy enough to be in the garage. I installed the p***enger side rear fender. This side was actually more difficult than the driver as there was only one original fender bolt left on that side. Even thought the bolts have a square shoulder some holes were bigger, some smaller with the fender bolts falling out when trying screw the nuts on. But nothing good ever comes easy and when it’s finally done, it’s all the more satisfying .... When this side was done I went back over to the driver side and finalized the filler tube and put the vent line in place ... Tough to get pictures but I am happy with the outcome. Once the rear fender brackets are in I will get those mounted. I am not going to install the running boards as yet - my pinstriper needs to get up close and personal to certain areas of the truck and that will help him. I have cleaned out the cab , getting ready to crimp my ac lines. I also installed my exterior door handles to make things easier. With the truck jacketed up, I was having to reach in and open the door with the interior handle and me being short I constantly needed a step stool to reach it! Lol! All in all, a good day in the garage .....
The Jalopy Journal
