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JohnIL · 10-03-2022, 10:27 PM

Steering Wheel & Turn Signal Repair
The steering wheel choice is another grudge I plan to hold against the previous owner (along with that stupid square body bench seat!). The previous owner was a big dude. Big in the sense that the original steering wheel probably interfered with his belly. In response, he installed a Grant 14" GT wheel. That's all fine and good, but the smaller steering wheel was WAY too modern for a '65 pickup interior, it made the manual steering even tougher to turn, it blocked the view of the speedometer, and it was down right ugly. So, I installed a new Grant 967 wheel in it's place. It's only one inch larger (15" diameter), but the grip is slimmer and the extra leverage makes a big difference in the feel of the manual steering. Plus, it looks a whole lot better in a classic pickup.

http://www.grantproducts.com/products/view/109/

Now, I have a clear view of the speedometer and the rest of the gauge cluster. Wait a minute. Why is the speedometer so far off? How can it possibly be off by 25%? Well crap, one more thing to fix.

Speedometer Cable, Sending Unit, and Driven Gear
So, the speedometer was reading WAY slow. When my GPS said I was going 60 MPH, the speedometer said I was going 45 MPH. That's not the kind of mistake you want to make in front of a police officer with a noisy old pickup truck. Back when the engine swap was done, two owners ago, they didn't bother to address the fact that the rear end ratio of the donor vehicle didn't match the ratio of the truck. So, the speedometer was inaccurate by 25%. Even worse than that, the speedometer sending unit is located a few inches further back on the 4 speed transmission than it was on the original 3 speed transmission. So, they cross threaded the speedometer cable onto the sending unit in an effort to stretch the cable longer. Then, they tried to tighten the cable with a pair of pliers and mashed the threads on the sending unit. Grrrrr! I ordered a new speedometer cable, sending unit, and a set of speedometer gears. It was all pretty easy to install, but choosing the right speedometer gear required some trial and error. Four trials and three errors, to be exact. In the end, I went from a 22 tooth gear all the way down to a 17 tooth gear, with trial runs at 20, 19, and 18 along the way. Now, the speedometer is 100% accurate. OK, maybe only 99.9% accurate, but it's pretty darn close.

Headlight Wiring Harness and Bulb Upgrades
If you hadn't noticed, old vehicle headlights are dim. Compared to our modern daily drivers, these old trucks are light driving flashlight! Luckily, there are solutions available. My long term intention is to upgrade to LED headlights. But, those things are crazy expensive. Hopefully, the price will come down as the newness of the technology wears off. In the meantime, LMC sells a heavy duty headlight wiring harness that uses a pair of relays to send power directly from the battery to the bulbs. This allows the use of a pair of high output halogen bulbs. The harness was a pain to route through the front of the truck, but the rest of the installation was a piece of cake. And, the new bulbs are vast improvement in terms of nighttime drivability.

Front "Marker" Lights
From the factory, these trucks have no front "marker" lights. They have front "parking" lights. But, when you turn the headlights on, the "parking" lights go out. Compared to a modern vehicle, these trucks look pretty strange coming down the road with no amber marker lights on the front. Luckily, this is an easy situation to remedy. All you have to do is tie the purple wire from the front parking light harness to the brown wire in the tail light harness. Voila! Marker lights! Now, whenever the light switch is in either of the "on" positions, the front parking/marker lights come on. This mod has no impact at all on the turn signals. That's a separate circuit.

10-03-2022, 10:27 PM	#10
JohnIL Registered User Join Date: Aug 2022 Location: Central Illinois Posts: 112	Steering Wheel, Turn Signals, Speedometer, and Headlights Steering Wheel & Turn Signal Repair The steering wheel choice is another grudge I plan to hold against the previous owner (along with that stupid square body bench seat!). The previous owner was a big dude. Big in the sense that the original steering wheel probably interfered with his belly. In response, he installed a Grant 14" GT wheel. That's all fine and good, but the smaller steering wheel was WAY too modern for a '65 pickup interior, it made the manual steering even tougher to turn, it blocked the view of the speedometer, and it was down right ugly. So, I installed a new Grant 967 wheel in it's place. It's only one inch larger (15" diameter), but the grip is slimmer and the extra leverage makes a big difference in the feel of the manual steering. Plus, it looks a whole lot better in a classic pickup. http://www.grantproducts.com/products/view/109/ Now, I have a clear view of the speedometer and the rest of the gauge cluster. Wait a minute. Why is the speedometer so far off? How can it possibly be off by 25%? Well crap, one more thing to fix. Speedometer Cable, Sending Unit, and Driven Gear So, the speedometer was reading WAY slow. When my GPS said I was going 60 MPH, the speedometer said I was going 45 MPH. That's not the kind of mistake you want to make in front of a police officer with a noisy old pickup truck. Back when the engine swap was done, two owners ago, they didn't bother to address the fact that the rear end ratio of the donor vehicle didn't match the ratio of the truck. So, the speedometer was inaccurate by 25%. Even worse than that, the speedometer sending unit is located a few inches further back on the 4 speed transmission than it was on the original 3 speed transmission. So, they cross threaded the speedometer cable onto the sending unit in an effort to stretch the cable longer. Then, they tried to tighten the cable with a pair of pliers and mashed the threads on the sending unit. Grrrrr! I ordered a new speedometer cable, sending unit, and a set of speedometer gears. It was all pretty easy to install, but choosing the right speedometer gear required some trial and error. Four trials and three errors, to be exact. In the end, I went from a 22 tooth gear all the way down to a 17 tooth gear, with trial runs at 20, 19, and 18 along the way. Now, the speedometer is 100% accurate. OK, maybe only 99.9% accurate, but it's pretty darn close. Headlight Wiring Harness and Bulb Upgrades If you hadn't noticed, old vehicle headlights are dim. Compared to our modern daily drivers, these old trucks are light driving flashlight! Luckily, there are solutions available. My long term intention is to upgrade to LED headlights. But, those things are crazy expensive. Hopefully, the price will come down as the newness of the technology wears off. In the meantime, LMC sells a heavy duty headlight wiring harness that uses a pair of relays to send power directly from the battery to the bulbs. This allows the use of a pair of high output halogen bulbs. The harness was a pain to route through the front of the truck, but the rest of the installation was a piece of cake. And, the new bulbs are vast improvement in terms of nighttime drivability. Front "Marker" Lights From the factory, these trucks have no front "marker" lights. They have front "parking" lights. But, when you turn the headlights on, the "parking" lights go out. Compared to a modern vehicle, these trucks look pretty strange coming down the road with no amber marker lights on the front. Luckily, this is an easy situation to remedy. All you have to do is tie the purple wire from the front parking light harness to the brown wire in the tail light harness. Voila! Marker lights! Now, whenever the light switch is in either of the "on" positions, the front parking/marker lights come on. This mod has no impact at all on the turn signals. That's a separate circuit.