Ground up 86 4x4

[bake74]

     You have got to be getting the jitters on getting it back together and on the road.

[Blazin]

Looks good!!!

[thirsty]

I put a 8 place auxiliary fuse panel in YELWSNO to run plow lights, stereo, the crane etc. I ran 4 gauge wire from the battery to a 60 amp circuit breaker, then inside to the fuse panel. Its mounted above and to the center of the fuel pedal.

When Blazin mentioned this before I didn't think I needed to go to that much trouble but I think I will look into my options for this. I forgot about wiring an electric fuel pump and then realized that I am going to have a few more pieces of spaghetti under the dash than I want and I might need better tunes in the future so another small fuse panel might be the best solution.


Tonight I was working on the fuel tank ground and decided that I needed to go get all the fuel stuff out of the shed and install tank. I had a fair tank with brackets that I blasted when I did my frame but acquired an almost new tank and brackets. There was just a small amount of fuel left in the tank, maybe a cup full. After I got that out I used a rag to soak up the rest...this is where it get funny. Had a fire going in the woodstove so I took the rag inside to burn it. Thinking that I may have a bit too much on that rag I threw it in anyway. The fire was down to coals and the rag landed right on some nice orange coals as I slammed the door shut...no poof. I waited a minute then looked and the rag only burned the parts that were dry. It looked like gas, smelled like gas, but burned like antifreeze. The tank was in a truck that was running last June. Must have been safety gas!

For fun stuff I removed the vinyl off the center of my grill. Stole the idea from one of Blazin's trucks. I never noticed it was vinyl, thought it was paint and planned on just repainting it until I told Blazin that I liked the grill on one of his trucks...he had to tell me it was stock with the vinyl removed! It was worth being an idiot for a minute because now that I have done it to mine I like it better than paint.

Before when it was red.


After some elbow grease.

[firefighter]

Oh yes, I like the grill a whole lot better that way !!
You mean the original grill had some kind of colored sticker on it? Hmmm..... I never would have guessed that.

Wow, it doesn't sound like the liquid that was still left in the gas tank was very flammable. Good thing you drained it.   

Keep up the great progress buddy!!

[bake74]

     You know thirsty, if you threw a bumper on that truck it would almost look like you could drive it.   

[thirsty]

     You know thirsty, if you threw a bumper on that truck it would almost look like you could drive it.   

It's getting pretty close to coming alive again!
Tonight I will work on the fuel system again. I had to paint a strap on the tank so I let it dry overnight. Then in a nutshell what will need to get done before I start it is wire stuff like tach, temp, fuel pump in the engine compartment, and test the wiring, coolant hoses, build a rear end, rebuild a carb, tune up parts, put some brakes on it...etc.
I can't do the exhaust yet because I am just redneck enough to want the first start to be with open headers 

[jdl71]

You mean there's another way to do the first start? 

[johnhood]

Truck looks great im gonna have to find me an orginal grill so i can have a little chrome goin keep up the good work i look forward to seeing your next progress

[thirsty]

The other day I was cleaning up and went to get rid of this box when I notice the date that was written on it. My gas tank started to leak so I pulled it out and decided to not run my truck on the road anymore until I fixed it up. I rigged up a gas can hook up for when I wanted to move my truck around the yard or in and out of the garage but that was the last time I actually drove my truck on the road. I didn't think it had been that long!



I recently learned that when you do a frame off build, and paint every single thing, grounds turn into quite a pain. There are quite a few  and it is something that I didn't want to mess with down the road so I have been making sure they are done right the first time without compromising any painted surface. I found a few places that I forgot about and didn't have bolts in to cover up the steel before paint like the horn and fuel gauge sending unit.
Anyway that is why I wanted to test everything while it was easiest. So far everything has worked except the wiper motor. I blamed it on the wiring of course but come to find out it was the motor that I used. I used a different one because mine had the random wipers would come on every once in a while issue. After wasting a bunch of time without finding a problem I plugged my old on in and it worked fine.

After deciding to do this build in 2006 it is pretty exciting to see things like the lights working again. Had to go get the wife and show her...LOOK! LOOK! she was happy to see it also.
So I thought I better share it here too.

[SGarage]

Kinda makes me feel like a deer!

[thirsty]

Not much of an update for being in the garage all afternoon.
SGarage was here and helped me take the old seat out so I can coat the floor with bed liner. Then while there were two of us here we put the rear glass in. I was sick of having it laying around the garage taking up space. The rear glass is a piece of cake to install. Took all of 5-10 minutes. I spent more time cleaning it than we did putting it in.
The rest of the afternoon was spent talking to one of our auto parts vendors that stopped by with a box of cold ones that they figured was owed to SGarage for what he has done for them with their vintage race sled. It's not everyday that the owner's of a parts store stop by just to sit by the wood stove and talk shop over a beer so we had to oblige.

I went with a solid back window this time around.

[Blazin]

Looking good.
 Sorry I didn't reply to the text the other night, I was plowing. By the time I got home it was pushing midnight, and I crashed out!

[firefighter]

Wow, that paint sure looks nice and shiny thirsty.
It's great to see the back window in too. One step at a time.
Did I see a fender on in one of the previous pictures? I have both my fenders mocked on right now but it seems like I'm gonna be fighting with them to fit to the doors. I've never aligned fenders to the doors before and I'm way scared it's gonna be ugly.

Could all of use followers of your thread please have a picture of this famous "wood stove"?  It sure gets brought up a lot. 

Edit to add: My wish already came true, the famous wood stove is pictured in another thread. What a good lookin wood stove!!
I can now see why so many things are solved around this thing. I'd be honored to be there with some of you guys.
When is the next board meeting?

[thirsty]

Could all of use followers of your thread please have a picture of this famous "wood stove"?  It sure gets brought up a lot. 

Edit to add: My wish already came true, the famous wood stove is pictured in another thread. What a good lookin wood stove!!
I can now see why so many things are solved around this thing. I'd be honored to be there with some of you guys.
When is the next board meeting?

Here it is. Not the most efficient stove but it does the job. Doubles as the hot water heater too.
When it's cold outside that stove is the first place everybody goes to when they walk in (well maybe they might hit the fridge first but that is on the way to the stove!)


Board meetings are unscheduled and impromtu and happen whenever wrenches aren't being turned. We do really enjoy sitting around the stove and welcome anybody to enjoy it with us. Oscar is a board member also. You can see how serious he is about listening to my buddy.

[VileZambonie]

Thirsty,

The chrome head light bezels would look nice with that grille.