2/10/19 Finish Line in Sight
I haven't posted much over the past two months but I've been tinkering here and there. The holidays monopolized much of December, then I got a gnarly cold that took me out of commission for a couple weeks, and we celebrated an anniversary as well as my daughter's 6th birthday.
Anyways here's what I've been able to accomplish over the past two months:
Radio installation - unit is from RetroSound (Long Beach Model). Seemed to fit well and I followed older posts to aid with installation. Went in pretty smooth. Still no speakers in the truck but I'll probably let a car audio shop tackle that.
Also got all the under dash grounds connected and the auxiliary/USB radio connections fitted into the cigar lighter spot.
I got my electric relays wired up and the horns installed as well. Only thing left to do under the hood is install the radiator overflow, and refill the rad with coolant.
Then I tossed a battery in and started checking my work
Few issues:
-Reverse lights come on in Drive
-Weird issue where my left tail light would not fully illuminate when brakes are pressed, but right would illuminate fully. But then when I put on the headlights, THEN pressed the brakes the left would function normally but the right would only illuminate partly.
-To be determined if my Temperature and Fuel Gauges work properly. (There's minimal gas in the tank and since i don't have exhaust on the truck yet I haven't started it since August!)
Anyways I got out there yesterday with my daughter to adjust the NSS, which also resulted in my adjusting the Lokar 700r4 shift linkage to get everything working correctly - and now my shift indicator lines up adequately with the correct gear!
Then I went on to troubleshoot the tail lights thinking I crossed wires at the rear connector or a possible insufficient ground issue. Wires seemed to trace correctly so I popped the lens off to try making a makeshift ground to test the issue and while I was fiddling with making a ground wire my daughter starts playing with the illuminated bulb in the socket and I notice when she touches the bulb it illuminates the second filament! So I mess around with the bulbs and I had no idea you could install the bulbs the wrong way! Apparently the two prongs on the side of the bulb are spaced differently so if you don't put it in the right way it won't seat all the way down on the socket contacts. Anyways that's solved!
One other minor issue is with the glove box light bulb. It illuminates but when I press the plunger (as if the glove box closes) it literally EJECTS the bulb from the socket! Anyone had this happen?
Ok so with all that done I went to bolt down my seats...what a huge pain in the ass. I've got the rear seat about 80% in when i decided to call it quits. I need different hardware for the front two bolts. They appear to require something other than 11/16" coarse thread bolts. Anyone have the bolt specs for the front two bolts?
And I also ordered some longer bolts to get my front seats bolted down.
And that's where I'm at! Im sure some of you follow
Mike's Build but we're both aiming to be ready for the Goodguys Show in late March! Wish us luck!
Lastly to cap off this long post here's the punch list. I'm fairly confident this is EVERYTHING left to do...
PUNCH LIST
Under Dash
-Attached hidden antenna under dash
-Check carb gets to WOT with pedal travel
-Install glove box
Interior
-Bolt in front seats
-Make holes in carpet for shifter, dimmer switch, driver seat belt
-Drill holes for: center console mounting holes and sill plates
-Install t-case shifter, boot, + trim ring
-Finish bolting in rear seat
-Install steering wheel (tempted to get the new 15" OE style wheel!)
-Install door panels
Underhood
-Install radiator overflow reservoir
Final Wiring Touches
-Apply silicone and dielectric grease to wire connections/fuse block
-Install wire clamps along frame rail
Misc
-Install Rollbar mounted fire extinguisher
-Double check all fluids
-Install rear bumper
-Diff breather hose for 14 bolt
-Double check door locks match ignition cyl key
-Get exhaust
