48 chevy truck

[kb426]

Phil, it's in the rear window. On a slanted window, it might not be worthwhile. You need to get a better painter than me.

[jaybee]

I'm just so impressed, and I am willing to admit I really didn't see where you were going for a while. Lack of imagination on my part, I guess, but you're really pulling off a difficult build.

[58 Yeoman]

Bill, I'm looking for a third brake light for the Vair, because it only has two small tail lights, but I'm going to eliminate the backup lights and have four tail lights to help the peeps behind me see me.  When I had my 63 Ford Galaxie, I was stopped uptown to make a left turn, and I looked in the mirror to see a truck barreling down on me and swerving at the last minute to avoid hitting me. C'mon, those tail lights are huge. I did put a third brake light in the rear window anyway, and also installed one in the 58 Chevy wagon (again, two small tail lights).

The Vair was a cream color from the factory, then painted red. I'm still on the fence as to what color it's going to be. I was going to go back to the cream, as it's a straight color. I've painted one VW Bug and a Chevy PU with metallic; the Bug came out great in dark blue, the gold PU had terrible streaks. Guessed I was going too slow with the paint gun on that one. I also painted a fiberglass bed cover on one of my Ford Rangers that came out well with metallic. It's been 20 years since I've used a paint gun.  Will have to wait and see how it goes.

[idrivejunk]

I'm just so impressed, and I am willing to admit I really didn't see where you were going for a while. Lack of imagination on my part, I guess, but you're really pulling off a difficult build.

X2   

Bill added a heightened element of forum suspense with this build. And it ain't overwith. I may have driven him to it pestering about plans and seeing things in 2D first. Its a puzzle wrapped in an enigma and I think O&S explored new territory. At this point the enigmatic wrapper is torn away but our puzzle box still doesn't have a completed picture on it.

I am glad to see how it went / goes and still, my imagination even being a strong point, I suspect I / we / KB included... are all in for a suprise. 

[kb426]

Matt, the one item this needed was a curved hood from the sides. That was beyond my skill level at this time. I think if the hood and side panel would have been rounded to ease into the cowl that it would have looked like it belonged there.
O&S completed the sound mat and then insulated the cab. I have sound mat cut for the inside of the doors. I'm planning on laying them down and sliding the mat in and then flipping them over and using a thin board to roll it out. The openings in the door don't allow much. I'm going in from the top through the window opening. That's a new way for me.

[idrivejunk]

"opening in doors doesn't allow much"

^^^
You ain't lying.

[kb426]

O&S started many items today. None crossed off the list. The evaporator is installed. All of the plumbing to it has been run. I pulled a vacuum on the ac. In the morning I'll see if I did my job well. The hydro boost is in place. Because of different thickness of the firewall, the push rod is short. The pedal hanger has 1/2" spacers attached to it. I think tomorrow I will figure out a way to remove .125"from them with out damaging the this plate that they are attached to. The pedal return spring is attached to that plate. I cut and shortened a steel radiator tube for the top hose. I had an unused hose that I cut an angle out of. The angle isn't quite right so until it gets clamped down, I won't be able to see if it will work.

[kb426]

O&S now has brakes and hydraulics. I removed the pedal hanger and cut .125" off from the  4 stands with a die grinder and cut off wheel. I ran the 2 brake lines from the front and rear to the master with the proportioning valve under the hydroboost. I installed a filter in the return line to the power steering pump and completed the lines. The brakes have been bled and the hydroboost pressured up. I had 3 leaks on the brakes that required a little tightening, no flares needed to be redone. No leaks on the power steering but using a drill to run the pump doesn't get it to full pressure. Cautiously optimistic. :)The firewall is shaped differently from the Mustang that the pedals came out of. I'm going to angle cut the brake pedal arm and move the pedal away from the firewall to where it is even with the clutch pedal. That will allow the full stroke of the master.

[chimp koose]

      

[kb426]

O&S plodded along today. I cut a radiator hose to fit the lower outlet. It has antifreeze in it and so far there's no green on the floor. I removed the pedal hanger and cut, bent and welded the brake pedal. The steering column is in but probably not for the last time. The shafts have been cut to length. It will need an additional brace where it passes through the firewall. The rubber bushing isn't tight enough to hold it from moving.

[jaybee]

I can't see that you ever said, is this engine another Mustang 5.0 engine?

[kb426]

96 explorer, gt40p heads, less duration on the camshaft.

[jaybee]

Good engine, and they made tons of them.

[kb426]

Some days, O&S is in low gear. Today must have been compound. I started off by feeding the efi wiring through the firewall. Then I made a decision about the relays to run the system. My original plan was to put them on the fire wall but then I thought it would be cleaner to have them under the seat with the rest of the components. After taking inventory of everything thats going there, I changed my mind and made a simple bracket to mount them on the firewall. These relays have the fuse on them so there's a few less wires to run. About 4am when I woke up for no good reason, I realized that by reversing the throttle cable attachment, I could solve my throttle problem. The cable was going to be 180 degrees from the original. Remember that word, reverse. I did some careful measuring and used the existing cable ball for one of the locators. I drilled a mounting hole and a hole for the new ball for the cable. I connect everything and it won't go full open. I have the cable pulled off to one side and I'm thinking that the original didn't look like that. Then the light comes on. I put the ball on the wrong side of the centerline. I flipped it but it needed reversing. LOL. Then the throttle pedal didn't have enough travel so some cutting, bending, welding in patches and I believe I'm in business. I have allowed clearance for Dynadeck and some carpet under the bottom of the pedal. Maybe I got it right.

[kb426]

O&S got started today with gluing some insulation on the roof of the cab. My glue order arrived yesterday. I moved on to wiring. I used my hydraulic hole puncher for the 1st time. I purchased this more than 10 years ago but never had clearance on both sides or the right size of dies to use it. I installed a bulkhead on the former seat riser to connect a power cable from the battery to be a distribution point for the bulk of the harness. It feeds power to the fuse panel, the ac system, the 70 amp relay that is controlled by the ignition switch that feeds the panel and possibly something else. The stereo amp and subwoofer have the power circuits completed. The cooling fan controller has power to it.