Thanks for the kind words!
The cab work continues……… I made some progress with the ventilation system, but am waiting on parts now. I also temporarily installed the parking brake pedal and release bracket, but I need the cab back on the frame before I finalize things, so no pics right now. I did however make some good progress on wipers and windshield as follows:
When I stripped down the Fargo I discovered that it uses a separate vacuum wiper motor for driver and passenger sides. I also discovered that mine were completely seized. A little while ago I was doing some random internet surfing when I came across an ancient Ford service bulletin about Trico Vacuum wipers. It recommended using brake fluid, especially on old units that have sat for years. I managed to get a few capfulls of fluid into each motor, and then let them sit in different positions to let the fluid get everywhere. Much to my surprise, both motors freed up. I worked them back and forth for a few minutes and then hooked up a piece of vacuum hose to each one and provided some vacuum (by mouth) and sure enough they sprang to life! My donour S10 had a vacuum reservoir, so for now I think I will give it a whirl to see how these things do. I can always buy some electric motors and fab up a system if the vacuum units are awful (quite likely!), but these things will bolt right back in (and they are free) so for now I will see if they do the trick. My previous truck (‘56 Chevy 3200) had vacuum wipers which were not great, but the Fargo has a separate vacuum motor for each window, and the wiper blades are quite small, so I have my fingers crossed that they will work!
Next came the windshield, and as you can see, it's just a top half that slides together with a bottom half, sandwiching the glass in between. No problem, its just a matter of removing 5 screws and pulling the 2 halves apart. “How long could that take?” I asked myself. The correct answer is 6 hours.
To get it to the point in the picture above, I made use of the following:
Knives & scrapers
Gasolene
Clamps
A big wooden wedge
Hammer
Oxy-acetylene torch
Screwdrivers
Dremel
Profanity
Centrepunch
Drill & various bits
10-32 tap
Air grinder & wire wheel
I truly did not want to wreck this thing so I had to be careful, but everything was so seized together that in the end some serious persuasion was required (as is evidenced by the implements of destruction listed above). These windshield frames are now made new in the States, but would be about $1700 by time I got my hands on it up here. By being very careful with when & how I heated and whalloped the pieces, I got it apart without damage and repaired the snapped screws. Now its just a matter of getting some flat glass cut and ordering the seal (the tape in the pics is holding all that cracked glass together long enough for it to be used as a template).
More to follow!