54 Chevy 3100

enjenjo · December 29, 2020, 10:28:41 PM

With my wife's health problems I have not had a lot of time to work on this. The rear end is all back together, and I am working inside the cab. True to this truck everything I touched was broken or done wrong. The cowl vent detent on the handle was all bent up and twisted out of the way, so I straightened out the detent holder, and found a spring and ball that would work, works like new now.

I installed a Newport wiper system on this truck, it happens to be one with a delay mode. The delay switch will not fit in the stock switch location as it interferes with the wiper linkage. So I made a stub shaft and bezel that would take the knob in the stock location. I found some 6mm U joints on Amazon so I attached one to the stub shaft coming out of the bezel, and a drive shaft, the other end will fasten to another U joint at the switch mounted to the dash brace.

I have the wiring harness out of the truck. The way it was in there you couldn't even get to the fuses, and sorting out the wires was a nightmare. So I am remounting it on a flip down bracket that is much easier to reach.

kb426 · December 29, 2020, 10:46:14 PM

Nice!

jaybee · December 30, 2020, 09:18:07 PM

Cool solution, I like it.

One of the things you see in car after car is one of the standard Vintage Air control panels. I get it. Their product is great, it's hard to cobble something together out of other parts to work well, so their units are everywhere. And yes, they offer control sets to fit a fair number of popular cars to integrate better with a stock look in those cars, but they're at a premium.

It would be nice to be able to use their controls in a manner which seems more...custom.

idrivejunk · December 31, 2020, 12:20:23 AM

Not just everybody would think of that, Frank. Smooth move. );b(

enjenjo · January 09, 2021, 05:57:01 PM

I finally got the wiper switch installed, it works like a champ. Happily nothing interferes. I ended up with only one hole to drill in the brace.

kb426 · January 09, 2021, 07:20:52 PM

Very good. I wish that a lot of us were closer in distance so we could work together some. I think the exchange of ideas would be quite interesting.

enjenjo · January 17, 2021, 10:34:04 PM

I made some brake pedal to dashboard braces this last week. These are in addition to the firewall to dashboard braces that were there before. I had some S10 transmission to bellhousing braces that I cut to to make them I used a coupling nut brazed to one side and the rod threaded on the other side so I could make them adjustable. While I was at it, I incorporated a brake light switch bracket into one of the braces. I installed them today along with the brake light switch.

enjenjo · January 21, 2021, 07:04:30 PM

I spent the last two days trying to trace down the wires in this wiring harness. It's an older American Autowire harness, but it is different than current production. Plus it's labeled every 6" or so, but a lot of the wires the labels have faded and these old eyes can't decipher them. Their tech guy located an old wiring diagram and emailed it to me, so I was able to get the rest figured out. Now to reinstall it.

kb426 · January 21, 2021, 08:27:31 PM

I believe the tech people might be used to older guys calling in and saying "I can't see". I'm there.

enjenjo · February 02, 2021, 07:04:36 PM

I broke the oil pressure gauge in a $400 four in one gauge set yesterday. I came in the house * :evil: After thinking about it I had another gauge set that had a good oil pressure gauge in it. So today I went out and it appeared to be the same gauge. Getting the bezel off without destroying it was a treat, but it's fixed as good as new. Sometimes it pays to save junk. I didn't even have to change the face.

kb426 · February 02, 2021, 07:17:03 PM

You did good. I have removed bezels before but not to my satisfaction. That's an exercise in skill and maybe some luck.

idrivejunk · February 02, 2021, 08:30:47 PM

Hoarding at it's finest. );b(

enjenjo · February 02, 2021, 09:55:11 PM

Quote from: "kb426"You did good. I have removed bezels before but not to my satisfaction. That's an exercise in skill and maybe some luck.

It's been my experience the smaller the tools, the better off you are. All the tools I used came out of an old Craftsman tune up kit I bought in 1961. Yes, I hoard tools too.

jaybee · February 03, 2021, 09:41:00 PM

Hoarding tools is the best kind of hoarding. One day, hopefully not soon, my prized possessions will include Dad's Snap On toolbox from some time in the late 50's/early 60's and the wrench set inside it. Complete with scratched, faded orange paint and one drawer with a hitch in it caused by the time I bumped the open door pulling in or out of the garage...I no longer remember which.

Getting rid of it is not a thing.

enjenjo · April 15, 2021, 07:00:37 PM

I finally buttoned up the wiring today and installed the gauges in it. For some reason on this one, nothing is coming easy. some things I had to do two or three times because the next piece interfered with the one I just did. I'll get some pictures tomorrow so you can see what I did.