It actually works pretty well and I figured it by accident. The 2 top corner holes are just big enough so when the door closed, they just barely cleared the grill spuds and nuts. The original plan was to use a magnetic cabinet latch, but by tweaking the door a little those little corner nuts hook into the holes and it works perfect!
this was a great read.. learn a lot of tips and tricks.. i have a question, did you ever do something for your gas cap/filler? did you just leave the hole.. and let nature natural age the wood. i thought what would clean up that spot was to wrap it in leather ( sorta a cone shape etc ). just a idea. by now it may have aged and not even notice it.. compared to when it was freshly cut.. i had a 50 chev.. i put a nova subframe on it, used gas tank, rear end and wire harness and the engine out of that thing ( the nova, and who know what other parts i used i know i used as much as i could to keep my project in the dirt cheap to major fun bracket..) and drove that truck for serval years before i got rid of it. it was not as clean as yours and it had no bed so i put a flatbed on it.. it had some tomato logo on the side of the aged blue paint i left it.. was a fun truck.. chris.
Went to Pick n Pull again this Sat. to look for some dumb little things (light pigtails, taillight brackets, etc.) and got one more thing crossed off my checklist! The front signals (or running lights, I'm not sure) on these trucks are just set up for just one of those things but not both. I found some old motorhome taillights that had a small 1157 (dual filament) style bulb bracket that I trimmed up and bolted inside of the stock truck light holder after I sandblasted it and painted it silver again I used amber bulbs because I thought they'd look cool with the stock clear lenses. Now the truck has running lights AND turn signals! Here's how they look in park mode
Just spent 3 hrs reading this post. thanks for sharing. There was a post in tech about a voltage regulator that would work as a power source for your clock. The output would need to be set at 1.5 volts .This would eliminate battries
BAD ASS.... I want to build an A/D 'burb or panel truck.. and do a lot of the things you have done here, details are amazing. levi
Hey Guys! Thanks for the compliments! Yo Dirt, thanks for the voltage/clock info Ill have to check it out. The wiring is taking WAY longer than I thought it would! Just taking my time and trying to hide everything! You Sparky's out there are nuts and can have this part of it!
Lovin' the arm rest with drink holders and wire loom idea! My 51 is getting the armrest treatment after the seats are done....as long as you don't mind me stealing that idea . Great thread, and keep the updates coming.
Well, I finally got the majority of the wiring done! It's pretty time consuming trying to do that stuff correctly, but I'm very happy. Hooked up power yesterday and EVERYTHING worked!! I'll be putting up pics shortly of the the engine stuff as soon as it's all finished. It looks pretty cool and it's almost all wrapped up. Sorry, but you'll have to wait until the interior is finished before I show anything else, 'cuz I have too many little things that just need to be shown together once it's all done! Yesterday morning Alex and myself ran down to the Pomona Swap Meet to look for a few things (namely my Cal Custom window cranks that I still can't find) but had a good time anyways. Found some H4 halogen headlights with motorcycle bulbs (I've always been a believer in H4's) so now driving at night will not be an issue 'cuz they're soooo bright! Now here's something that's not much for the technical aspect, but I thought it was cool. I was originally going to paint the center of my gas and high beam pedals red to go more with the interior. My friend Bobby told me I should somehow do them red metalflake so they match the shifter and signal knobs...Great idea! Here they are when I started I then went to Michaels art supply and grabbed a tube of red glitter for $1.29 and drug out some fiberglass resin.After cleaning the them up, I mixed up some resin, poured it into the feet and spread it around evenly with a toothpick. I set them on some paper and sprinkled glitter on them until they were covered evenly. After the resin kicked off I shook the excess glitter off and covered the remaining glitter with more resin to seal it up. Here they are I need to clean them all up, but I think they look awesome and really match the other stuff!
The feet are absoluely awsome!!! Micheal's glitter? Your a madman! I found one of the accelerator pedals a few years ago when I found the Maverick and the incredible miss Judy said "NO"... I showed her your last night and she said "COOL!!!" Just goes to show, they can be attracted with shiny objects....
Now I did this next deal to keep the engine clean and free of oil leakage/fumes from the front filler spout. I wanted a PCV type setup, but it had to look almost non-existent. I picked up 2 sizes of bilge pump boat drains. One was 1/2" the other 3/8" for this project. Here's the 1/2" size and then mocked up (it was removed, blasted and painted black) in the drivers side valve cover I found a piece of 1/2" vacuum hose at the wrecking yard that had a 180 degree loop that I cut out to use on the drivers side. I then bent up a piece of 1/2" tubing to go from the back of the valve cover to the bottom of the air cleaner I blurred everything so you could actually see the tubing and hoses put together. On the passenger side I put the 3/8" drain in the valve cover (again painted black) and ran the hose to an inline PCV valve and hooked it to the back of the carb. I used a 1 3/8" expander plug, welded it to a washer and nut and tack welded that to the backside of the oil breather so now engine vacuum is keeping the mess to a minimum and pulling nice clean air from the air cleaner!
I also scored a few ORIGINAL (circa 1970) metal latch Stant radiator caps! So far on this build I've only used a handfull of late model parts (NO BILLET ANYTHING!) and kept with the whole late 60's early 70's vibe (just lower!)
Here's the engine compartment and what I've been working on lately. I've never been a fan of guys doing the traditional hot rod look and then bolting a big, ugly polished AC compressor on TOP of everything to kill the whole look. I went after mine a little different as you'll notice. I had a chrome guy owe me a favor from awhile back, so I used that up on my truck. The pulleys, mounts, linkages and brackets I had done all shiny to give the underhood a little flair! Be sure to lightly sandblast the belt area or they will squeal! When I built the brackets for the AC, I wanted it out of the way and low key, so at first glance it wouldn't be noticed which is why I painted everything black! The compressor is late 80's Chevy Sprint/Geo The hoses will be run up in the inner fenders and out of sight. I ended up running a flex fan (my fault for not sliding the engine back another inch) because I didn't have enough room for a clutch fan! Bummer! Radiator and hoses are mounted, just need to finish the shroud. Now I just need to finish up the interior!
Brad- I have to tell you some things you didn't know about that little compressor, and I swear that it is 100% TRUE. You may not know this, but that poor little A/C compressor went for a wild ride about 15 years ago when I fell asleep and rolled the Sprint on the way home from work one night. I sold the motor to a guy from work, the wheels/tires to somebody else, and sold the interior to an illegal alien who was weeding my neighbor's yard. The only part I kept was that A/C compressor because I thought it was bitchin'. I kept it on a shelf for years until Lynn smacked the garage door jamb with her truck and demolished that shelf and the compressor shot across the garage and wound up in the laundry room. I rebuilt the shelf and put it back exactly where it was before the "incident". A few more years went by, and the compressor was relegated to the floor because I needed the shelf space. My little Pug, Yoda, hates going outside to pee whenever it rains, and so he picked a secluded spot in the garage to go piss. Yep, right on top of the compressor, which was sitting inside a small block oil pan at the time. Yeah, me and that little compressor have a history. I just wonder if the R-134 will smell like "Pee-on" whenever you get it charged and running...........
Had to find a cool horn for this thing, but all my plans just didn't seem to fall into place. Walking around "Pick and Plunder" the other day, I decided to grab a late 60's VW Bug horn! It's too cool and has that great annoying sound that makes you cringe! It fits right in front of the radiator perfectly. I love it!!!
6Volt or 12? Lets hope 6volt! Same anoying sound, but when hooked up to 12v REAL loud!!! Ask ELpolacko... He still has tinitus!!!
Finally, I'm done with the engine and wiring stuff and now working on the interior! Was kind of cool turning the key and actually turning the motor over! It's getting closer to being a driver! Here's something else I figured I'd share with the group... taillight bulbs. I know it's not a huge thing, but since I tried some stuff out I had to share. I wanted to try some LED taillight bulbs since thats the rage anymore. The first set I bought (these were all from Ebay) were the 12 bulbs, straight bulbs. The next set were the 39(!) bulb all around type. So, after messing around with both types of LED's, I ended up using the standard 1157 bulbs because they are WAY brighter! The LED's were pretty weak for all the hype they get and I wanted bright. We're told the old bulbs aren't as efficient as the others, but that's what alternators are for...
Saturday was the maiden voyage of "No Bucks"! Alex and myself took it for a little 2 mile cruise just to see how it finally came together. Was pretty uneventful and almost surreal cruising it around the neighborhood! Spent the rest of the weekend working on the interior and stereo stuff. It's slowly coming together!
The Jalopy Journal
