Haven't posted any updates in a while. Been doing some more upgrades. And as with any project on old trucks, there are hurdles and unknowns uncovered, which has definitely been the case here. What started out as a simple remove existing wiring and replace cab mounts and exhaust manifolds has blossomed into many different things.
Thus far the new wiring harness that was in Mean Green has been installed in this truck. Cleaned up some of connections utilizing bulkheads because I simply didn't know how to 12 years ago. Now it looks much better under the dash.
After removing the rubber mat and underlying factory tar paper, I found rust down by the fronts of the doors. Driver's side not so bad, passenger side will be a bear to fix. Haven't ever tackled sheet metal repair, so this will be fun. This project wasn't designed to repair patches of sheet metal, but I have some areas to get to before too long. I did remove the existing seam sealer, cleaned and prepped the metal, killed the rust that was exposed, and resealed the seams. Then added double layer of soundening panels from LMC that I bought years ago. Went single layer under the seat. I hope it helps with heat and noise, the feet got pretty hot last year on summer trips.
Added seat belts, now I can drive around knowing I won't get ejected if something goes awry. I know they work from when I rolled Mean Green on my mom's birthday back in 2005 on my way to church. I don't want to test them again.
Put on a seat cover, now the seat looks much better. Found the SPID behind the seat between the springs and the cushion. It's mostly gone and no way to remove it with destroying it, so it gets to stay there.
Took out the tailight and parking lights bezels/housings and spray painted them with a mirror finish from Rustoleum. That should make them brighter and more visible. Going to properly wire in the side marker lights one of the two previous owner's installed. They had splices about every 8 inches for the parking lights and side markers. I'm lucky the truck didn't burn to the ground the way they had stuff routed. Insulation had worn away and was touching metal. It must have been ground wires, but still, it was a mess. The original harnesses were actually in good shape and I removed them intact, nothing cut.
Removing the cab mount bolts went without any problems. The rear bolts turned without anything breaking, which was nice. The front bolts put up a good fight but also busted loose without incident. For the moment I am switching from the shear-style rear cab mounts to the donut style C10 mounts. If the ride is more harsh I will send my old mounts to Steele Rubber and have them re-vulcanize the shear mounts. Removing the rear mounts from the frame with the cab on is not easy. The rivets put up quite the fight with no room to swing a hammer. But, that's why God invented air hammers right
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The exhaust manifolds, another headache. The exhaust shop made a funky y-pipe that looks cool, but is routed so close to the front cross member that the brake lines would over heat. That, and changing oil would drop oil on the pipes whereas it didn't before. They said they would redo it on their dime, so that's good. I bought some 2.5 inch outlet ram horn manifolds, but then realized having 2.5 inch pipes would also over heat the brake lines on the driver's side. So I dug out my regular ram horns and installed those after removing the AC compressor and underdash unit. Now the bad y-pipe won't bolt up because the outlet on the passenger side as inch off. To remedy that I'll cut off the y-pipe and install the old exhaust from Mean Green in the interim so I can drive it to the exhaust shop.
Almost done with this mess, and should be driving it again this weekend with the back half of a new exhaust system on the driver's side, and the old exhaust system that routes to the passenger side...crazy I know...
. That old exhaust system is LOUD, but it will do for a day or two.
That's it in a nutshell. Need to get pictures uploaded now.