Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Thanks! I'm using a relay and waiting for a bulb to go bad before making any changes.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Sure is purty! I like that color.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

That's a nice color combination. It is going to look really good!!!

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Got the new engine started . Ran real nice now I can put the nose back on . Have a video but for some reason I can’t upload it from my phone to YouTube

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Does BPE break the cams in on their engines? If it's a roller, that might be a moot point? I've read the break-in procedure and it seems to be full power runs. Seeing all the horror stories about cams going flat, I hesitate to rebuild the old 402.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Nice, looks good

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Ran on a dyno but it’s a roller cam engine so there is no initial 2000 rpm for 20 minutes break in ,as per their instructions I did turn the engine over on the starter with the plugs removed till it had oil pressure start at high idle check for leaks and noise ,drive at moderate speeds and not at one speed to long for 500 miles . I did use their break in oil never put bright blue oil in an engine

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Another thing I don’t remember ever taking a brand new car and revving the piss out of it in park or neutral. I remember getting new AMC cars and jeeps right off the truck prepping them and then putting them on the lot . Nobody ever did the 2000 rpm for 20 minutes . Well I can remember my cousin taking AMXs and Machines out and beating the piss out of them .

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

That brings up a good point... Does the Factory break-in the engines before installing them on the line? Or are they run on a manufacturer's track to break in?
I know home builders always go thru the ritual of breaking in a newly-assembled engine:
With a distributor shaft mounted in a variable speed drill motor's chuck, spin up the Oil Pump until circulation is noted.
Reinstall Distributor.
With a crankcase full of Non Detergent SAE 30 oil,
Pre Run at a specified RPM for about 20 or 30 minutes in place, observing functions.
Some will flush this oil and filter, and add more ND SAE 30 and run for 500 miles at variable speeds but no freeway action.
After 500 miles, flush oil again with type you will run for its life, and the break-in is complete.

So do the manufacturers just pump out green engines, and let the consumers break them in?

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

The car manufactures do not break in engines . Used to be cars would have less than 10 miles on them mostly from the dealer moving it and going to fill it up but I doubt they fill them up anymore . The last new vehicle I bought was my Dodge 3500 CTD it had 100 miles on it as they had to bring it up from another dealer . But with overhead cams roller cams the need to break in is moot. Studebakers have solid lifters never had one wipe a cam out .

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Thank you the upholstery guy did a great job with only a picture as a reference. Yes the top will be white... Hopefully next week!

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Thank you, Bowtie!

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Thank you!

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Thank you Chevys!!!

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Thank you Blue!

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Finished carving out space in my garage and moving my benches and boxes around
Installed floor anchors so I can winch by myself
I've jiggered my divorced choke coil to make it kindasorta adjustable, and she smoked like a chimney on cold start, so I need to make a kindasorta adjustment ;-)
Asked for an electric choke for Father's Day :-D

Drilling concrete w/o a hammer drill is tedious and the drill wanders

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

I also pulled the plug off one of the headlights to diagnose an intermittent fault, and the lug came off the back of the light with the plug.
Root cause identified

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Was it LED or incandescent [incl. Halogen] ?

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Old skool sealed beam incandescents

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Less than $10 buck fix. R&R headlamp.
Bulb manufacturers will tell you to replace the pair. Sure. They sell twice the bulbs that way. You could keep the used/good one for a spare.
How old was the failed one?
Here in AZ corrosion is at a minimum, but Packrats might gnaw your wires out overnight.
I left my Jimmy alone for about 3 nights. Rats chewed thru the #5 sparkplug wire. They were expensive blue silicone 8mm Taylor HEI wires. I found an old used yellow Accel wire and stuck it on. Works fine.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

It's old enough I could have probably soldered the lug back on, but I already have the relay kit, so I bought two halogens to use with that.
Slapped some satin black on the headlight bezels while I'm at it

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Great excuse for an upgrade.
Not as versed in the 69/70 look. I'll need a pic.
I guess you could still solder the lug back on for a backup.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

One of the reasons my kids called this thing the "Indiana Jones ride" was because of the dim yellow headlights ;-)

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Finally got another stereo installed.
Last one locked up on a reset.
And got the cab corner mounts from Jeff Drew installed. May paint them eventually if I get around to repairing the rest of the rust.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Quick scrape and spray with some Rustoleum off the shelf in the garage. There was black on the surrounding parts of the grill once upon a time as well

Relay kit was pretty simple, but the diagram left off a ground connection and it seems like the boss's nephew got the job of translating the worded instructions, so a little more challenging than necessary

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

That is a cool look.
On the 71/72 GMCs, the center I is supposed to be black, I think, but it was natural chrome when I bought it in 1995. Never wanted to mess with it.

Re the Bosses' nephew -- If they sent him to the U of Az, he probably learned how to mix a Martini right, ESL not so much.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Mighta been a frat boy at USC and went to Palm Springs every Friday instead of class

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Does 'SC even bother having classes on Fridays?
A friend's daughter went there for a semester, before she came back to U of A.
He told me she said it was Chinatown.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

I also discovered that my led-swapped instrument cluster won't light, so I'll be digging into that again. My incompetence is multi-faceted ;-)

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

If you mean the instrument bulbs in the dash:
LEDs are polarized unlike incandescent bulbs which flow either way.
You'll have to find a positive side and key all the LED globes the right way.
I don't know if, like old XMAS lights in series, if one is BO or out of phase, the whole string won't work.

Try the sockets one at a time flipping the LED polarity.

They also don't dim very well. Maybe the new ones can. IDK.
I switched back to 168 incandescents.

Some new speakers…
 

At some point the previous owner cut the doors and put two 6x9 speakers in each. They sounded terrible so I decided to upgrade to Kickers which sound great. They are powered by a Kicker amplifier that is mounted underneath the passenger seat, also installed by a previous owner.

I purchased the speakers from Crutchfield, excellent customer service.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

I finally finished assembling the front end. Wish I put the new grille hoops on before installing the grille. That was a pain!

Attachment 2363328

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Right, diodes are by nature uniderectional, but I'm pretty sure the wiring in the cluster is in parallel, not serial. otherwise all the lights would fail together even with incandescent bulbs
I'd be very surprised if I managed to get them all the same orientation even if I tried, but we'll see.

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

9 years from start to finish on this restoration. It really is a restoration, though, I dropped it 4/2.5, of course suspension and brakes are replacements, as well as the badges.

I did keep the Delco HEI, which I pulled off a truck in the 90s. Mini starter, 10SI. Heads are off a 1967 HP 396, and I favored vintage Wittek band clamps instead of tower clamps for water hoses. Matches what they installed onto the bypass, I'm anal that way. Some ARP bolts, other than that nearly all orig. fasteners restored or just cleaned.

It's been nearly done for 1-2 years. Last was the front bumper, which I installed yesterday. Quite an experience, and what's happened over nine years, oh my, so many losses and lessons. Anyway, glad to have done this once. I've owned it a long time, and the truck deserved it, but never again:lol::chevy:

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

^ Sure is purty!

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Look a bumper!! How sweet it is. Well done!!!!

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

Good looking seats ^^

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

I started her up and drove her to the gas station for the first time in a while. Turns out the gas gauge isn't faulted, she was just really close to empty
She backfired like a shotgun(yes she's tuned a little wonky) and I thought I might have caused the untimely demise of a woman next to me ;-)

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

In between working on the 72 I found this on the 85 . I’ve made 4 parts orders today .

Re: What did you do to your truck today.The 3rd chapter
 

On the 72 got the drivers side cab mounts out I found it’s easier to replace one side at a time . Resealed the transmission pan and test fit the new radiator . This is a Cold case I bought 5 years ago at the Syracuse nationals directly from the Cold case booth . I think with the shroud ,fans and harness I paid $225 . Fit was spot on.