228 replies to this topic

[M44K TS]

Thanks

Steven, quite possibly seen it, or one like it, it came from Rayleigh/Essex, the guy I bought it off deals mainly in pickup trucks.

[steven]

may be the one then

[feeenix14]

You've got my dream car there mate.

super jealous.

why dont you change that washer bottle for an empty jack daniels bottle ? or something as equally redneck ? Sailor Jerry ?

[M44K TS]

^^^ Now THAT could be the best idea I've ever heard!

[brum,brum,mike]

Have you ever been to the hotrod nights (especially summer, and end of summer riot) at the Ace Cafe?

Real good night, loads of trucks, cars and bikes to look around, your truck would suit it really well ;)

May even see a burnout in the road

[M44K TS]

Bit too far away from the Ace Cafe, there's a local hot rod/classic & American meet up my way throughout the summer, I've been a few times this year but will definitely take it to more next year.


Tiny update time.

Had a few set backs with the top rad hose, the jubilee clamps aren't very good quality and don't seem to nip up tight enough to get a good seal on the pipework, they have just enough but I will change them for stronger ones.

I've also got round to setting the speedo calibration up so it's pretty much accurate with the gps, the fuel gauge sender will need set up with a custom set of readings as there's only 5 preset resistance values to choose from, to do the custom set up, you need to start with an empty tank so it learns the minimum fuel level resistance value, the add fuel to the brim so it learns the full value. Sod's law, I just put a full tank in last week. At the moment, an almost full tank is readying about 3/4 full, it's not too far off, but I'd like it a bit more accurate.

Finally, on another forum, I won their monthly members car competition and won a canvas print. One of their requests was a photo of the canvas print next to the car.

I decided to go one better...

[Jordie]

you will give the neighbour a bad name doing burnouts like that. reminds me of testing my turbo mini when it was just a painted shell and engine up n down past where your unit is.

[stevede]

Lovin' this truck. Has to be at the top of my wish list for any lottery win.

Those seats look mighty plush & comfy, but I can't help thinking the old curtains suited the look better. Custom covers for the Audi seats?

Finally, you mentioned fitting a sound system. You have the best sound system fitted already - Under the bonnet !

Hope I might see this for real one day.

Best regards

Steve

Edited by stevede, 30 December 2012 - 03:50 PM.

[M44K TS]

Jordie, there's plenty of hooligan antics on our industrial estate, the lads with the drift cars set bad examples...

Cheers Steve, I like the current seats with the Mexican blankets, they're so comfortable too, but I want it to have a nice leather interior and the Audi bench seat is even more comfortable than the current ones.

I don't know what to do about the sound system either.

[M44K TS]

Set about sorting the ignition timing as it's knocking around 2k rpm, it goes away when you pull the vacuum advance off the distributor, so, yesterday, I set up the timing light, set it to around 6deg of advance at 850 rpm as a safe sort of setting, took a lot of messing about trying to keep it idling, could have done with a 2nd pair of hands, anyway, got it set about right after much messing about, pulled it outside the unit, switched it off whilst I turned the lights off and set the alarm ready to take it for a quick run, jumped back in, battery had died, must have been with stopping and restarting it a fair few times.

So, with it stuck outside, couldn't push it back in by myself as there's a small incline outside the roller door, my car was blocked in by it and some how, didn't have an extension lead down the unit to plug the battery charger in, (shameful as we're a security & electrical business!) Quick phone call to my pops to bring some jump leads and an extension, 5 mins later, truck running again, but didn't want to idle, thought it might be because I adjusted the idle screw on the carb whilst setting the timing. Took it for a quick run up and down the estate a few times, seemed to drive a lot smoother, nice throttle response and the engine didn't seem as lumpy.

Called it a night as by then, I was a bit fed up, called in today to get some car washing gear as my car is filthy at the moment, was greeted by a big puddle of coolant under the truck.

Radiator took 2l of water to fill back up so pulled it outside for further inspection. That's when I noticed I had turned the fan thermostat right up so the fan wouldn't keep cutting in whilst setting the timing, the engine must have over heated a bit, pressure built up in the cooling system and caused a pin hole leak in the bottom of the rad.



So, I've ordered some radiator seal from Wurth as I read it's the best of a bad/bodge situation until I can get the radiator out to be re-cored as it's probable that it's the original still.

I've also noticed the odd drip from the top hose too where the temp. probe for the thermostat is inserted. It's never really sealed properly since I've fitted it.

So, looking about on ebay, one of the expansion modules for my gauges is a 70Ah fan controller, it takes it's info direct from the main control module for the gauges direct from the water temp. sender.



That should hopefully be here in the next couple of weeks.

[M44K TS]

Small update, the Wurth radiator seal was delivered yesterday, so set about doing that, truck ran perfectly for 10-15 mins at idle, strange as after I set the ignition timing, it really struggled to run smooth.



Anyway, radiator is now free from leaks, (well, I'm heading down to the unit later to check it to make sure.)

So, moved on to the next job, the old cab windlace had transformed from nice, soft & pliable rubber, to rigid plastic that needes chipping off with a hammer and chisel! Forgot to take photos of it, but I'll do a comparison of new & old!

Also, I carpeted most of the panels behind the seats last year, but never got round to finishing it off, so with the passenger seat still out, managed to finish it off. It should help to quieten it down a bit, plus makes it that bit more comfortable. Granted it'll be hidden behind the seats anyway!


Lastly, started to pull the old door seals off to see what it's like behind them, it seems spot on apart from the 10 or so small cob web/cocoon's I've found tucked under the rubber and behind the cab windlace, (rubber seal on the inside of the door frame inside the cab)


Going back down in a bit to remove the old carpet, tidy some wiring and carpet the drivers kick panel. I should also replace the rocker cover gaskets as the passenger side is dripping oil onto the manifold.

[jamesmpi]

http://www.mikalor.com/eng/

Bin your jubilee clamps and get some mikalor clamps instead. Not used them personally but are meant to be alot better than jubilee.

[M44K TS]

Awesome mate, I've been after decent ones, cheers


Tonight's escapades....

All of these screws..


Came out of this at the bottom of the door (door seal retaining bar)...


Which is surprising as it looks like this underneath



Luckily though, it genuinely is just surface rust, few passes with the wire brush and it's back to fresh metal. Thankfully it's being replaced. I think they are anyway, I'll have to check I've bought some new ones first, although, I did clean one of them up on the bench grinder and they cleaned up ok.

I also removed the cab doorstep seal retainers on both sides as they're getting replaced, again, all screws came out with no drama apart from one, that lot will be cleaned up with the grinder and a knot wheel/cup tomorrow, I did give it a quick pass with a flap disc and again, is just surface rust.



The reason for removing them, well, I've eventually binned the horrible carpet that was fitted. It was never a good fit, more or less just thrown in too. Glad it's out now.


At some point, someone has added some sound deadening to the front half of the floor and the drivers side of the bulkhead, took ages to pull it out too. The passenger side still had the original oily, bitumen sound proofing and the Hessian stuff up behind the dash .


This was the pile of nasty that was removed


All gone, (apart from the battery access panel, that can stay as it's getting covered with carpet anyway.)


The floor itself isn't in bad shape, there's a couple of places where it's holed through, passenger corner of the floor where it meets the bulkhead has 2 holes, and the central access panel above the gearbox has a couple of small holes, the rest is solid. The floor has been painted at some point in it's life which would have protected it a bit.

So with that out, I climbed inside the glove box to have a look from a different angle...


This is the panel behind the seats that's now carpeted, I've done one of the corners on the floor too, I'll carpet the centre section and the other corner when I get the now redundant hole where the original fuel lines would have run welded up. (Just next to the scissors)


So there we go, semi-productive day. Tomorrow night I'll pull it outside and go nuts with the grinder to get the floor cleaned up ready for painting and patching.

[M44K TS]

Well, I've considerably shortened my life tonight, a mixture of grinding dust, acid etch primer and possibly lead paint has done wonders to my respiratory tract despite a dust mask.

Anyway, tonight's gruesome and boring job was to get the flap discs on the grinder and try to get the floor back to bare metal. Could only manage to get under the seat base and the hump part of the bulkhead done as whatever paint is on the front floor sections is just clogging up the flap discs. I did buy some twisted wire cups but they're far too big for the grinder and didn't seem too safe lol.

No pics with it back to bare metal, but here is the floor after giving it a quick coat of acid etch to protect it a bit.




This is one of the areas that needs patched, it's the transmission access panel, going to try and unbolt it tomorrow to I can get it patched up. Will be easier to get it cleaned up with it out of the truck too.


As for the rest of the floor, it's looking like it's mostly paint and very little rust, certainly under where the original seat frame would have been was just mostly paint, not much rust at all. Once it's cleaned up a bit, it'll be getting some chassis black paint applied, then dynamat or equivalent sound deadening, then the carpet over it so it'll be well protected. I'll also see if I can get it on a 2 post lift at some point to do the underside as that'll need protecting too.

I'm also having second thoughts about fitting the Audi bench seat, I'm growing rather fond of this one..


As is always the case with these things, the idea of keeping the pick-up bed empty hasn't materialised...

[M44K TS]

First job tonight, the plug I put on the fan wiring wasn't a water proof one, so changed it in case it ever sees the rain, not very likely but you never know.


Turned my attention to the gearbox access panel in the floor, I wanted to remove it so I could clean it up with the grinder ready for having it patched. Looks pretty bad this side


But is actually quite solid still


Was a bit of a pain to remove as the screws were rusted in and covered in whatever paint had been applied in the past. Luckily I had just bought anotehr set of these after my first lot went missing. They're Irwin bolt grips, they have a reverse flute cutting blade inside, perfect for rounded, rusted or painted bolts. Couple of taps with the hammer to get them seated and most of the screws came straight out.



You can see how stubborn they were. For the ones I couldn't quite get with the bolt grips, a hammer and large flat blade screw driver got them out, particularly the far left one on the picture.


This was the panel before attacking with a flap disc
[http://images20.fotk...36601984-vi.jpg

And after

Other side


Luckily, it only needs a few small patches, it's als not too bad considering it's much thinner metal than the rest of the truck I'll take it round to a mates garage a few units along as he said he'd have a go at it for me.

I'm now left with a gaping hole in my floor. I think tomorrow night, I'll give the surrounding metal a quick pass with the grinder to clean it up ready for doing the other small patches in the floor that need doing prior to painting the floor, covering it with the sound proofing sheets that were delivered today then finally carpeting the lot.