Resurrections

[Wrench Of Life]

Hi all,

 

I'm a longtime lurker and reader (registered in 2011,) first time poster. I just wanted to start things off nice and easy with a little hello and introduction, so here goes:

 

About 6 years ago, I traded some money and a pistol to get my dream truck. Luckily, there was one here in Austin that chimed in after I posted a wanted ad on Craigslist. The previous owner was very nice, totally willing to answer all of my newbie questions, and pointed out both the flaws and upgrades that he had come across while working on it. It was his daily, or so he said, so I felt pretty confident going into the deal and forked over 1,900 bucks and a Beretta.

 

Maybe a month or two after buying it and driving it infrequently, I started to have some issues idling and getting some pops here and there. Freshened up the plugs, distributor cap, and plug wires, but I still felt like I needed a pro to look at it. I took it to the classic car shop down the road that my folks have been going to for as long as I can remember, and that's where things go downhill.

 

I requested a carb cleaning and a look at the intense negative camber caused by the PO's lowering and mixing of wheel sizes (16 in back and 14 up front.) What I came back with was a $1500 bill for brake work, carb cleaning, some diagnostics, a note that said "can't adjust alternator" and no alignment listed on the ticket. Not two blocks out of the shop, I decide to check my alignment by letting go of the wheel, which causes me to dive STRAIGHT into oncoming traffic. Not good, but I can get home. Now I'm getting really bad squealing from the alt belt, and about 10 miles away from the shop, it snaps and my battery dies with just enough time for me to pull into my driveway.

 

And there it sat for five years until now. It had been stored in my buddy's driveway, but I had it towed to me as of a couple of weeks ago. So now I gotta get back to it and get this beautiful truck back on the road!

 

 

[datzenmike]

The front doesn't look drastically low enough for camber to be a problem, but any raising or lowering automatically throws the toe out of whack.

 

The toe you can adjust yourself practically just by looking at it.

 

Alternator may be seized. Never drive without the belt on. It will over heat and you can blow the head gasket and even warp the head. Yeah, mechanics are in business to make money. Why pay them to learn about your truck at 5 of your work hours for one of his. Learn to fix your own truck.

[Datsundude123]

 

She doesn't look too low so the alignment shouldn't be horrible but mine on the other hand lol

[Wrench Of Life]

@Datzenmike, that's the idea! Slowly but steadily. I'm a relative newcomer to working on cars but not to fixing things correctly, so I'll take my time and do it right. It most definitely had a negative camber issue on the front. It may or may not have been related to the lowering, but either way it was effed! I've got stock steelies with original caps in great shape that are going on there. Basically just trying to un-PO the thing and learn some cool stuff while I'm at it.

 

@Datsundude I dig the raw look! Nah, it wasn't too low. 1.5" blocks and may have had the torsion bars re-indexed at some point.

[Datsundude123]

@Datzenmike, that's the idea! Slowly but steadily. I'm a relative newcomer to working on cars but not to fixing things correctly, so I'll take my time and do it right. It most definitely had a negative camber issue on the front. It may or may not have been related to the lowering, but either way it was effed! I've got stock steelies with original caps in great shape that are going on there. Basically just trying to un-PO the thing and learn some cool stuff while I'm at it.

 

@Datsundude I dig the raw look! Nah, it wasn't too low. 1.5" blocks and may have had the torsion bars re-indexed at some point.

Thanks man! I'm getting mint ass fenders in a few days but it's on frame in the front and 6 inch blocks in the back lol I'll probably take it up an inch in the back cause the lowest point is about an inch from the ground.

[hobospyder]

That truck is stunning dude. I'm in the same boat and learning as I go but these trucks are fairly simple, only when things get out of control do I take mine to the mechanic

[Wrench Of Life]

Thanks man! I'm getting mint ass fenders in a few days but it's on frame in the front and 6 inch blocks in the back lol I'll probably take it up an inch in the back cause the lowest point is about an inch from the ground.

 

 

Nice! Better be some pics up when those get installed ;)

This one's gonna get used as a truck as I'll need to haul drums, steel stock, and possibly a motorcycle, so no stance for me.

 

 

 

That truck is stunning dude. I'm in the same boat and learning as I go but these trucks are fairly simple, only when things get out of control do I take mine to the mechanic

Thank you! I'm really stoked to have it and even more stoked to fix it up myself. I definitely learned my lesson about taking it to someone who's not as emotionally invested in this as I am. When I called back to ask why it was now dangerously out of alignment, I was told that "no alignment work was done," even though I was missing all of my alignment shims. Cool, man.

[Wrench Of Life]

Engine bay (don't look too closely, you might get scared.)

 

 

The PO "owned an auto electric shop," past tense imperative. He was trying to run TV screens, woofers, and the like. He installed a 130a Ford alt and sourced a harness from something unknown, giving me this nice little rat's nest to work with. I've really got my work cut out for me.

 

 

 

 

 

Alt also has a homemade bracket and adjustment system, which is just great. Kidding. It's stripped out and looks junky. Trying to source a lower bracket for the passenger side, as I have two adjustment arms.

 

 

 

 

More later, tomorrow I'm dropping the tank and starting to cut new fuel lines, as well as relocating the fuel pump. Might also get around to taking out the lowering blocks and installing my steelies. Anyone want these wheels? :)

[Wrench Of Life]

Thankfully the rain held off long enough for me to get a couple things done today.

 

Installed the new old steelies and removed blocks. Looks great!

 

 

 

Siphoned the 1 gallon of old gas that was sitting in the tank and dropped it for cleaning. It looks way better than expected on the inside. A lil scrub and she'll be good to go.

 

 

Had a buddy hanging out and got him to oil the tank bolts for me while I took a break ;)

Look out for pics of his 521 project sometime in the near future.

 

 

Took a few more pictures to show off the sparkling interior. Once she's up and running, I can focus on prettying up the cab. Thinking about blowing the dust off of my jigsaw and putting together a wood dash and gauge panel. I'm thinking birch would look really nice.

 

 

 

This is the only thing I really like about the PO's work. Reverse light switch that makes you feel like you're powering up the Death Star laser cannon. :)

 

 

I opened up the passenger door to fix the lock, and it looks like since I don't have an outer seal/squeegee on the window, some veggies collected down at the bottom and wrecked the rocker panel. No biggie, I found some third party steel replacements for super cheap.

 

 

All in all, pretty successful for the day. I'm headed out on tour at the end of the month, but hopefully my carb kit will come in before that so I can get that all squared away. Until next time!

[Wrench Of Life]

Noticed something a little funky around the wheel assembly. Looks like someone swapped out some different control arms and related parts, but I don't recall the PO mentioning that. Look familiar to anyone?

 

Sorry for the blurry pic, I'll get a better one up soon.

 

[5t341tH]

Looks like ball joint setup. What year is the truck? 78-79 is ball joint

[bilzbobaggins]

Profile says 77. This might be why it won't aligin properly

[Wrench Of Life]

Looks like ball joint setup. What year is the truck? 78-79 is ball joint

A-ha. Just unearthed an email from the previous owner in which he says "all of the front brakes are from a late 70's 620." Good call.

[abbylind]

OOOOPs time to go back to the future with the control arms....

[Wrench Of Life]

OOOOPs time to go back to the future with the control arms....

How do you mean? I could just roll with Beebani's control arms, yeah?

[Wrench Of Life]

Been waiting for parts to show up and got a little crafty in the meantime.

 

Old

 

 

 

New

 

 

The "chrome" didn't turn out as spiffy as new, but I think it'll still fly. Not bad for a couple dollars in model paint, at least.

 

 

 

Unfortunately I'm leaving town on Thursday for an entire month, so carb rebuild and alt work will have to wait until I get back. I'll bring back enough baguettes to share with the whole class.

[DatsuNissanLove]

Been waiting for parts to show up and got a little crafty in the meantime.

 

Old

 

 

 

New

 

 

The "chrome" didn't turn out as spiffy as new, but I think it'll still fly. Not bad for a couple dollars in model paint, at least.

 

 

 

Unfortunately I'm leaving town on Thursday for an entire month, so carb rebuild and alt work will have to wait until I get back. I'll bring back enough baguettes to share with the whole class.

nice I did the same with mine about a year ago.. but is starting to fade again.. i'ma have to pull out the brushes again..

[5t341tH]

Nice job on the badge. The red I used was too red and doesn't look good as original

[Wrench Of Life]

Holy shit.

 

 

 

I received my carb rebuild kit today, started to crack it open and found that; the previous shop's "work" that I had paid for. Good lord. You know what they say about wanting things done right? Might have a lick of truth to it.

 

Fuel filter?

 

 

Who needs it?? It's just weighing you down!

 

[DatsuNissanLove]

Damn mechanics..lol..

[Wrench Of Life]

Coming along...

 

A ton of elbow grease later (mostly on the body), I have my carb cleaned and built up fresh. I used oxy torch cleaning tips to get at all the internal crusties and it worked beautifully. If only I could now slap this on and start her up. :(

 

Freshly pulled

 

Cleaned and ready to mate

 

 

Gotta say even though this isn't much work for some of the heavy hitters around here, it feels goddamn good to be doing all of this for myself. I couldn't have done it without discovering this community, using the search bar, absorbing Ratsun's spirit. Thanks y'all!