Re: Frankentruck
 

Yesterday I gave Frankentruck a bath, but didn't finish up until dark. She cleans up well for crappy paint.

Once I source a second lower radiator bracket and pad I'll be able to put the radiator in the v8 location.

Re: Frankentruck
 

Today is Tuesday, so of course I had to go up to the Varsity in Dawsonville for the weekly cruise night. Frankentruck ran flawlessly as usual, and I saw several sweet c10s.

I really liked this 65 that rolled in for a bit

Re: Frankentruck
 

Wow that is a nice 65'... Frankentruck is lookin good too..

Re: Frankentruck
 

That 65 looks to have had an older restoration, but it was done well and put back to stock. I love the factory radio in it. One day Frankentruck will look that good :lol: Thanks for tuning in!

Re: Frankentruck
 

Not doing much with Frankentruck other than driving a bunch. Going up to Blue Ridge this evening for a cruise in. I'm sure I won't be the only c10 there.

Re: Frankentruck
 

Yesterday evening my mom and I went up to Blue Ridge, GA, for the cruise in at the Dairy Queen. Frankentruck ran great, and there were some great trucks to see. The only issue was sitting in traffic with no AC :lol: On the way home, I realized that I had not shut the valve for the heater core off :dum: so that made it a little warmer than it should have been... I turned it off today :dohh:

The red truck is a factory 65 k10 with the original frame and transfer case. Has an ls and 4l60e now and a disc brake front axle. Really nice truck

The GMC panel is a NAPCO truck I think, but not sure. It did have a PTO driven winch

The white one is a Cameo pickup. Really nice restomod with a big block

Re: Frankentruck
 

Today was spent doing some work on the Dakota and helping my dad clean up the garage a bit and put together his new tool box.

I wet sanded the headlights with 240 grit to knock off the oxidation, then followed with 1000 grit wet sand until the water made the lenses clear again. Ate lunch while the water dried off. After lunch, I cleaned the lenses with rubbing alcohol and the blue shop towels. Masked off the front end by cutting a trash bag down the seams and then cutting out the headlights. Used masking tape to hold the bag in place and cover around the headlights. Gave it a couple coats of Rustoleum clear coat and let it dry for a few hours. Once the paint fully cures (take 24 hours), I'll be able to give her a desperately needed bath.

After that, I started helping my dad put together his new tool box. The top part weighs 260 pounds empty, so we found another use for my engine hoist outside of hoisting engines :lol:. It was a little sketchy, but we got it on top without throwing out any backs or losing any digits. We will continue to clean up the garage tomorrow

Re: Frankentruck
 

Nice toolbox

Re: Frankentruck
 

It is a nice one, but unfortunately it's not mine :lol: I at least get to put some of my tools in it

Re: Frankentruck
 

Enjoyed going thru your thread young man. Here some info on trans (speedo) gears from Hot Rod https://www.hotrod.com/articles/cali...-speedometers/ I had 2read it a few times, & still cornfused! 4 stubborn rustd bolts, nutz, get mapp gas cylindr/torch head (not a propane torch, cuz it burns hotter than propane). You may have 2 heat/ cool 2,3 times to get stuff lose! I mix dot 3 brake fluid w/ older type g.m. tranny fluid in a oil squirt can, let soak overnite if possible, it’ll wick right in to even the most rusted fasteners. For electrical problems, check grounds first, sometimes Harbor Freight has a little ohm/volt multimeter coupon 4 free, it’s a lot cheaper than guessing/replacing expensive electronics. Read up on it, one guy replaced alternator, voltage regulator, starter only to find all problems were caused by dirty or no ground wires! And sooo we learn by doing. You are in my prayers, brother. God Bless

Re: Frankentruck
 

Thank you, sir, I appreciate it :metal:

Re: Frankentruck
 

I just got back from SLP today. To sum up Project in one word, I would use Growing. God used project to grow me in so many ways, but I still need to process everything that happened over these jam packed 8 weeks. Lord willing, I'll be back next year

Re: Frankentruck
 

Before SLP, I bought a used battery tray to replace the old one that was rusty when I got the truck 4 years ago. In the last few months, it started to fall apart, so I'm glad I got a much cleaner replacement.

I also spent some time trying to diagnose why the overdrive solenoid stopped working. I took it completely apart, cleaned it up a bit, and put it back together. Still doesn't work :whine: I have a few options, but not sure what I want to go with yet. Option 1: have my solenoid rebuilt. Option 2: purchase good used one. Option 3: buy new solenoid ($385).
I'm going to the Commerce swap meet on the 3rd, so maybe I'll get lucky and find a good one there?

After that, I started installing some 6x9 speakers to upgrade the sound. Still need to wire them up, but I finished mounting them this evening. I'll get some pics tomorrow to show where I mounted them.

Re: Frankentruck
 

Needed some more speakers for better sound, but I wanted to hide them to keep the current look. The PO had added the small boxes on the kick panels, so I went up underneath the dash. Yes, you can fit a 6x9 speaker on both sides of the dash without cutting any metal or interfering with any other factory component. I did have to make a few brackets, but used existing bolts to make it all work. Now I just need to replace the broken radio and it will sound great. Yes, I used scrap wood from when we replaced the bed wood to mount the speakers into.

Also, my overdrive solenoid is toast. I took it completely apart, cleaned it, and put it back together, but still nothing. Not sure if I should get it rebuilt, replace it with a used one, or just bite the bullet and replace it with a new one ($385).

I don't know why, but I can not get the solenoid to seal. Maybe I'm using the wrong seal, but I seem to be doing it right, it just won't stop leaking

Re: Frankentruck
 

So I jumped to conclusions earlier today and assumed the overdrive solenoid crapped out. Thankfully, I was wrong :metal:

The contact points inside the governor just needed to be cleaned up with some sandpaper. Overdrive is working great again, and I didn't have to spend any money to fix it. I see this as an absolute win!

I still need to figure out how to keep the solenoid seal from leaking though

Re: Frankentruck
 

Good job on the speakers Christian.
You got to love all the under dash space these old trucks give you to work with!

Re: Frankentruck
 

Thanks! I was worried at first about mounting them, but then the scrap wood idea from the bedwood replacement came to mind and I made it work :lol: I will probably pull everything back out and stain the wood and paint the brackets to make it look even nicer

Re: Frankentruck
 

On Saturday, the c10 Club Georgia met up at the NorthEast GA swap meet in Commerce, GA. It's held in the parking lot of the Atlanta dragway. Starts at 7 and usually wraps up around noon as the pavement starts really heating up. I sold some stuff and made 65 bucks, spent 30, so still a decent profit for the stuff that I had for sale.

The first score of the swap meet was this 60 or 61 cluster that has a temp gauge. It was super dirty when I bought it, but didn't take a picture until I cleaned the face off. I took a gamble on hoping everything will work, but only spending $25 on the complete cluster with an uncut wiring harness, I think the gamble will be worth it. I still need to plug it up and make sure everything works. I'll be swapping parts between clusters to get what I want.

I'll be using the fuel gauge that I know works from the old cluster along with the outer bezel from the old one. Most of the other parts will be used from the new cluster. I will probably test the new fuel gauge and make sure that it works to have a spare.

Also, this new cluster has a left turn signal bulb and a right turn signal bulb. I'll have to figure out how to make that work with my harness, but it's just wires, so probably not that hard to figure out. The other option with that is to use my old dummy light sending unit and plug that bulb into the hot side of the sending unit so that it lights up if it were to get too hot. Might see which is easier and go with the easier option.

I'll post the other $5 score tomorrow

Re: Frankentruck
 

Guess I should give a little update as I have neglected to do so lately.

On the 6th, I started to replace the heater core in my Dakota. It was partially clogged with rusty water back when I first got the truck 4 years ago (spring 2015). The heat barely worked, but I got it in the spring, so it didn't really matter. Then, to attempt to fix a coolant leak, my dad and I decided to try a bottle of block sealer. Well, that failed and completely clogged up the heater core and required us to get a new radiator :lol: Lesson learned there. That winter, I drove the truck to school wearing a jacket to stay warm. I blew up the engine the next summer (2016). I finally got the truck back on the road in January of 2018, but bypassed the heater core because it was still clogged.

Over a year later, I finally took the time to replace it. Only took me around 10 or so hours over 3 days to do everything, but I got it done with plenty of time to spare before driving the truck to Milledgeville on the 14th.

Before I left, I decided to put a new radio in Frankentruck. All went well until I messed something up with the wiring. I'll hopefully be able to fix that over Labor Day weekend when I go home again. I'll get some pictures then of what I ended up doing.

On the way down to Milledgeville, I stopped to pick up a new core support for Frankentruck that is less rusty and has some good parts that I ironically already purchased for Frankentruck. That's more of a long term thing to deal with, but once I figure out what I'm going to use and what I'm going to sell, I'll place some parts up for sale.

Once I got to Milledgeville and unloaded all my stuff, I found out that the passenger floor pan of the Dakota had turned into a swimming pool :banghead: Chrysler in their infinite wisdom designed the evaporator core drain to exit the firewall straight out. So after the 24 year old foam seal was disrupted by replacing the heater core, all the water decided to exit the drain, stay stuck to the outer part of the drain, and get blown back to the seal from the wind. With not a great seal, all the water poured down between the firewall and the carpet creating a gross puddle of annoyingness and sadness. I did not realize this, but apparently it has happened a tiny amount before I replaced the heater core. Disrupting the seal apparently made it much, much worse. To fix this factory flaw, I used a molded rubber heater hose with a 90* bend to point the drain downwards. I'm pretty certain this solved my problem, but probably won't be 100% certain until the next trip back home.

Since I've been back in Milledgeville, I've been hanging out with friends and setting up the new house. There won't be much truck stuff going on, but I'll probably still be active on the board. Also, can't have a Milledgeville trip without going to Sunset Fields

Sorry for the long post, but a lot has happened since I last posted on this thread :metal:

Re: Frankentruck
 

Lots of good progress made today.

I replaced the gauge cluster with the new one that I picked up a few weeks ago, but I swapped out the bezel to make it match the truck and used the fuel gauge from the old cluster because I know that gauge works and is accurate. The lens on the old cluster had some cracking and overspray on it, but the new one is nice and clean. Just have to swap out the dummy light coolant sensor with the new temp gauge sensor and the swap will be complete

Re: Frankentruck
 

I got distracted from the gauge cluster by finishing up the install of the new radio. The previous owner had already cut the dash, so my plan to mount the radio below the dash and use a radio delete plate went in the trash. I decided to just cut the dash the rest of the way for the new radio, and it turned out much nicer than I expected. If I ever decide to go back to a stock style radio, I would have to repair the dash anyways, so it just made sense to put the radio in the dash

Re: Frankentruck
 

I’ve been following you on instagram to keep up with your truck. The gauge swap looks good.

Re: Frankentruck
 

Thanks!

Re: Frankentruck
 

Happy to report that the temp gauge works great. Having some issues with either the speedo or odo, or both. Either way, they aren't working the best. The odo stopped for a second while driving, but then started to spin again. I don't really want to get a whole new speedo, but after apparently striking out with two original odometers, that might be my only option. I guess I'll figure it out eventually

Re: Frankentruck
 

Check your inside cable length. The interior cable maybe slipping in & out of engagement. If you still an old cable, compare length or try swapping one for the other.