Previous owners jury rigs

[Myoldtruck]

So I had my new to me 71 gmc towed to the house, and now im trying to get it running. It just amazes me what people do to these trucks over the years, in the worst way. Ive pulled out about 20 ft. of wiring that was not factory installed from under the hood and dash. Wrong engine pulleys and alternator bracket. Cut factory wiring harness. broken and stripped bolts in harmonic balancer. Missing engine dip stick, capped off oil pressure sending unit on block. Any how im making slow progress, about another week im hoping to get it started with the key.

[Steeveedee]

I removed many yards of sketchy wiring runs from my truck. My FiL loved gadgets, but live 12V for the CB with no CB (for example), etc., is bad news.

[CG]

Im pretty sure Im going to be the subject of some peoples responses (sorry guys haha)

[RustyPile]

I bought my current '71 in December of 2017.. The 454 BBC engine didn't run, but otherwise, the truck looked pretty good cosmetically.. I got it in the shop and began checking closely.. About half the push rods were cheap 5/16" and most of them were "pretzeled" and broken. I installed the correct push rods and now the engine runs perfectly.

PO had wired the electric fuel pump direct from the battery through a toggle switch using 12 gauge wire and NO FUSE!!!.. The rubber pads that clamp the radiator in place were missing.. Radiator was mounted metal-to-metal.. Dimmer switch was bad and stuck in the "dim" position.. PO removed a section of insulation from both hi and lo beam wires and twisted them together.. I removed over 30 feet of PO added excess wire from under the dash and along the frame.. To top it all off, PO installed a B & M shifter and no NSS.. That's right.. The engine would start in gear!!!

[Missourimark]

The PO of my truck was the accessory King lot of holes under the dash CB,8track,switches, horn button, lights under the hood was about as bad, nothing but a few days of deleting and clean up.

[stsalvage]

I'm not fazed by the warring harness Now i know these truck from top to bottom.When i look at a truck some guy is selling for 6700 to 9000.00.I'm wanting to find Re pop brand new M&H harness at that price I want all new wire Harness An No painless crap.I look at what is under the hood if i see the 1973 big water pump I know all the pulleys are from the 1973 and newer an never seem to work as good as the 327 short water pump then nothing lines up on the later modal pulleys.I hate alum Radiators.I want to see factory Brass and copper radiators.Nothing fits the same the shroud dose not fit well.

After that i go looking under the truck .I'm not a headers fan every one seems to use cheap headers.I like Ram Horns.I hate any one that thinks there a mechanic but in stead they are a butcher.

There are a lot of Tail tail signs when some one is trying to hide things.

When i see bondo in places where it should not be I walk away.

[Myoldtruck]

Both of my trucks have headers, i did buy the correct ram horns for the yellow truck and waiting for spring to do the new exhaust on that truck. The green truck last night I found two down shift cables for the turbo 350 trans, neither connected, just hanging behind the distributor. rear lights not working at all, the aligator clip wire jumper from the frame to the rear light broke.

[rjs53]

My truck would start but wouldn't run for long and battery would be dead. Po had an installed hei and an internally regulated alt which was wired to the external regulator. The HEI had 2 splices in it and the tape had come off one and was touching the down shift cable bracket on the manifold. This explains the melted tape on the rest of the wire. The external regulator was new, which kinda explains why he sold the truck he could keep it running, good thing if he had he would have fried himself if the 10gauge HEI wire was touching the right thing. Thought the frame was bent once I got it home till I found radiator bushing was gone on one side. Oh almost forgot the tin that was riveted on to the rockers with an inch of Bando. I guess it wouldn't be as fun if it were perfect.

[71gmcC15]

My pickups full of bondo the right fender on the bottom is just bondo the driver cab coner is made of bondo and ther is bondo on the door and box. But the bondo on the doors and box looks like it was done right. The other bondo the did not even sand. The blacl on the bottom of my pickup is just spray paint. The " atempted " to replace the rocker on the driver side but got it tack welded and called it good noff. Simler story on the Passanger side. Needless to say its getting redone some day.

[ApacheNick]

Originally Posted by 71gmcC15

My pickups full of bondo the right fender on the bottom is just bondo the driver cab coner is made of bondo and ther is bondo on the door and box. But the bondo on the doors and box looks like it was done right. The other bondo the did not even sand. The blacl on the bottom of my pickup is just spray paint. The " atempted " to replace the rocker on the driver side but got it tack welded and called it good noff. Simler story on the Passanger side. Needless to say its getting redone some day.

Sounds almost like my truck.

Mine has new floor pans and rockers tacked on over the rotted old ones, both cab corners are bondo up to the window, the doors are trash and the box is trash.

The worst parts is it was t-boned on the passengers side at some point and no attempt was made to pull the cab back square before the new cab corners were tacked in. Up side is the frame is good and it runs and drives well.

[71gmcC15]

Originally Posted by ApacheNick

Sounds almost like my truck.

Mine has new floor pans and rockers tacked on over the rotted old ones, both cab corners are bondo up to the window, the doors are trash and the box is trash.

The worst parts is it was t-boned on the passengers side at some point and no attempt was made to pull the cab back square before the new cab corners were tacked in. Up side is the frame is good and it runs and drives well.

makes you wish they would of just left it alone. I rather see a hole in the cab then bad body work. As fare as my doors and box they are not bad. Ive seen alot worst
Besides i dont care about the fenders and box to much. I just whant an solid cab

[ApacheNick]

Originally Posted by 71gmcC15

makes you wish they would of just left it alone. I rather see a hole in the cab then bad body work. As fare as my doors and box they are not bad. Ive seen alot worst
Besides i dont care about the fenders and box to much. I just whant an solid cab

No kidding. Up side is it's a fun daily driver/ work truck until I get my 61 finished.

[71gmcC15]

Originally Posted by ApacheNick

No kidding. Up side is it's a fun daily driver/ work truck until I get my 61 finished.

Ya mine drives good and is machinicly sound dont drive it in the winter though

[stsalvage]

But i'm a guy that likes rebuilding these trucks But putting in the stuff that is a no brainier.Like all new Re pop Factory wire harness from M&H harness I like all new hoses and brakes every thing for a truck i want to own for 10 years.it pays for it self if you spend 3000-5000 for just the wires engine trans rear end and all the little peaces that make the truck drive down the road.Screw the pain and the fancy rims Put a CD player in.Re do the heater core and make sure all the windows roll up and down nicely.You can put some of that Dynomax Black tar cab isolation an put in a black factory rubber mat.Then you can do little things over time but getting the basics done will pay off in the long run

[ekneen]

h the tales my 'mutt' of a '69 could tell...

• 10 penny nail holding on the accelerator pedal
• A single bolt holding on the bench seat (great rocking chair every time you'd accelerate)
• Non-stock wiring that had at least 4 different gauges per line (on average) and a slew of different connector types (including duct tape insulation)
• Lift blocks and u-bolts welded to the rear perches
• Shoddy, off-angle frame rail patch that was booger welded
• Yadda, yadda, yadda

...Makes a great re-engineering project bringing it back to life (okay, and a lot of cursing).

[rjs53]

I think stsalvages post sums it up.

[truckster]

The PO of my truck was very creative with wiring, like splices and wire nuts everywhere. The best was a nickel jammed in the neutral safety switch socket.

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Some reason the original owner of the SWB I'm rebuilding figured his ride was for all things recreational. Boat launching hitch welded onto the front bumper, CB, camper mirrors, 5th wheel brackets, saddle tanks and a step bumper with a receiver hitch. Maybe he had a 5th wheel that called for a SWB.

They bi-passed the radiator and went directly into a auxiliary transmission cooler. Other than that it was pretty well un-molested when I got it.

[67swb72klb]

I have seen a bunch but the wire rope clamp on the fuse box feed takes the prize for my finds...

[davepl]

I had to look this up because I didn't know the answer, but:

JURY-rigged - A temporary solution; might even be good, but temporary.
JERRY-rigged - Butchered, hacked up, terrible solution, won't last anyway

I don't know there were actually two different terms (I wasn't sure which one was right, both are different!)

Now who's Jerry? Like the Germans in WW2?

The biggest example (of both I guess) that I run into is "wire saving" where a red wire turns into a white wire for a while, then blue, and then brown speaker wire at the connection!