Sunday, April 30, 2006

Installation day

Almost everything I bought at the swap meet is installed. The mirrors will have to wait until I have time to bust the rusty screws loose on the doors. Almost everything else is in place, but the headlight switch and windshield wiper switches did not correct the problems with those systems. I have a spare motor for the wipers that I might try to install sometime soon. The headlight/dashlights are likely a wiring issue that I'll deal with later.

The door handles and window cranks went on easily after I cleaned them up a bit. While I was working on them I pulled the door panels to install the escutcheons. My doors are looking quiet spiffy now. And the side marker reflectors really look great, too.

I'll have to find some time to install the fuel filler grommet. I am not sure if I have to remove the gas tank or not.

After all that I installed a new coil and new spark plugs. The truck is running like a champ now. After a neighborhood cruise, I washed the truck so that everyone will notice the spiffy new parts.

Swap Meet, The Final Chapter

While I was at The Pate Swap Meet this weekend, trying to score some good deals for the truck, I ended up getting a better deal than I even imagined. But it did not happen at the swap meet.

Friday night I checked the 67-72 Chevy truck forums and found a guy here in town who had a complete longbed to get rid of. I thought about it until this afternoon and decided to email him when we got home. No one else wanted the bed, so I'll be going to pick it up this coming weekend.

I'll have to do some work on the truck to make this bed work, since it is a fleetside and my truck is a stepside. But from what I have read, it is not too hard to swap the two out.

The fleetside is probably not a permanent solution for my truck. I really like the original look of the truck. But this will let me decide what I want to do about the long/step bed. I either need to replace it with new reproduction parts at a cost of about 2 grand or I need to find a decent longbed stepside that would not need too much repair. Once in a while they come up for sell for around $500. The most likely option though is that I'll start gathering the parts at swap meets and junkyards to build another long/step bed. I can probably do this a lot cheaper, but it will take a lot more time and effort.

So the long/fleetside will buy me some time either way. Best of all, it has a decent floor, so I'll actually be able to use the truck once I get the other bed installed.

And double best of all, the price is right, 2 cases of Shiner Bock Beer.

Now THAT is a swap.

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Swap Meet, Day 2

Dad and I hit the swap meet this morning until we finally got fed up with the rain and headed home by way of Cabela's. While at the swap, I found inner door handles, window cranks and door mirrors all for $25, bargained down from $30. I also got a free GMC horn button for a 69-72 style black steering wheel in the deal.

I don't have a GMC or a 69-72 style steering wheel and my wheel is blue anyways. But I think Rick might have a black steering wheel that needs a horn cap. And if he doesn't I'll just save it to sell at the swap next year.

Maybe I can get my $25 back on it.

Friday, April 28, 2006

Swap Meet, Day 1

I made it to the Pate swap meet this morning. The rainy weather followed pretty quickly, so I left before 2pm. While I was there I found a few good deals.

I hit a couple of commercial vendors for some electrical stuff. Fist, I bought a replacement for the gas tank filler grommet that I trashed when I pulled the gas tank out to clean it. $5. I bought a windshield wiper switch to replace the one I busted when trying to decide if it could be disassembled and cleaned up. It couldn't. $35.

I also picked up a headlight switch. $15. Mine works, but the dash lights quit a while ago. I am hoping a new switch will fix that. I bought a set of door escutcheons for less than $10. They go behind the door handles and replace some I broke a while back.

All of that stuff was new, but I still saved some $$$, since I did not have to pay for shipping. The only really good deal I found was a set of side marker lights, complete and in great shape off of a 1969 Blazer. They will be replacing the ones on the truck that are chipped and broken. $10.

I'll be heading back out Saturday, to look for a used fuel sender and some other small stuff. Saturday I'll take more Dr Peppers, too. They only sell Cokes out there. 20 ounce bottles, $3. Ouch.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Road Trip!

I haven't had any real time to work on the truck in the last couple of weeks. I drove it down to the far end of the street and back Saturday morning. Nothing else in a long time.

I am getting my shopping list together for the Pate Swap Meet. Hopefully I'll get to spend a couple of days looking for some body panels and lots of little stuff for the truck. If someone happens to make me a good deal on a cab, then my weekend will be made!

10 days to go...

Monday, April 03, 2006

Brakes are for suckers

I spent most of Sunday afternoon trying to get the truck closer to passing the state inspection. The current list is very short:

Parking brake
Windshield wipers
Insurance and license plates

The parking brake and wipers should be functional for the truck to pass. Neither work right now. And I'm waiting until I get everything close enough before I start the insurance and get the plates. I could probably find some one to pass the truck right now, but I'll hold off for a while longer.

Anyways, the truck is running great now. After not finding any better spark plugs than the ones I already have installed, I cleaned them again and got the timing reset. I tried to tweak the carb a little bit. It is idling smoother than ever and it sounds good, too. The truck smells better when it is running and it does not need the choke closed off to get started now. I think it has been running really rich. Now the carb is finally right on.

I tried to get the parking brake to engage, but I think the cables must be too stretched out. I tightened the cables compeletely and no dice. I tightened the rear shoes and it helped a little. So I tightened the shoes a lot. Now they are too tight and the parking brake isn't catching at all.

When I get a chance I'll take the rear wheels off again (for the fourth time this week) and loosen the rear shoes a little bit. Maybe I'll get lucky with the emergency brake, too.