Quick question first: how do I remove the cigarette lighter assembly from
the dash of a 55 2nd?
Update: I discovered that the only electrical things hooked up on my truck
were the starter and ignition. Not sure about the alternator. It would
start & drive- but no brake lights, turn signals, head lights, wipers,
blower motor, interior lights, etc. etc. Eventually the (big new) battery
died, leaving me suspicious about the charging system. Every time I went to
hook something up, I found either a short, a broken wire, melted or missing
isulation, or something hooked up wrong. I decided to start from scratch,
and ordered a generic 7-circuit "Haywire" hot-rod wiring harness.
It felt really good to tear all of the old wiring out. I pulled the
instrument cluster out to get better access, again finding a real mess of
broken/spliced wires. Definitely made the right choice. With all the
wiring removed that passes through the firewall, it seemed like a good time
to clean up the floorpan and firewall, getting rid of the rotten old jute
insulation. I read the post last week about the spray in-bed liner idea,
and decided to do that. Of course I couldn't get all of the pad out without
removing the heater core- which I discovered to be leaking slightly. Good
time to do it since I had to drain the coolant anyway to pull the (old
style) temp sender probe. Then I got to thinking dash radio area- where a
previous craftsman appears to have used a hatchet to cut the hole, and how
welding it up would probably ruin the floor I was about to refinish. So I
decided to fix it now too. And of course, if I fixed that I was going to
have to repaint the area... might as well just repaint the whole dash.
So, Saturday I bought a sandblaster (new Harbor Freight store opened here,
had a grand opening sale this weekend), and I spent a good part of Sunday
inside the cab sand-blasting the whole dash. Despite my efforts to mask, I
did some nice etch work on the edges of the windshield too- 'tis OK though,
it was due for replacement anyway. I do want to run a new radio (CD
player) in the truck, and it doesn't make sense to cut the new hole in a
freshly painted dash, so I'll do that too, before painting (need to buy a
radio), while I'm at it. The seats out, the inside of the cab is bare, full
of sand anyway, so I might blast/paint the whole inside of the cab, which
will mean removing the gas tank too. Hmmm, I did want to relocate the fuel
tank to under the bed... The wife says I have to get the truck mobile again
"this spring" (yard projects), so I think I'll manage to (barely) stop short
of just removing the cab to really do things right. I think the inside of
the cab is going to be black (easy to match), save the dash which will be
bright yellow to match the rest of the truck. BTW, does anybody know of a
source for a chrome trim piece that caps the dash against the windshield?
The PO managed to bend mine up pretty good, running what look to be CB
antenna wires under it.
Most dangerous words in an automotive project: "while I'm here, I might as
well..."
Ryan
55' 2nd.
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