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After looking around today and messing with bending out the fender so it's drivable, I'm not finding parts as easily as I thought I would. Here's what I think I need to buy just based on a thorough visual inspection of the damage.
- front bumper
- hood
- passenger fender
- passenger inner fender
- grill (my inserts will do for now)
- passenger side turn marker assembly
- passenger front wheelwell chrome trim
- upper fender moulding
- possibly a radiator support, but don't think so at this point
- lower bumper valance (not sure if this is the right term....painted metal between grill and bumper)
I'm seeing parts all over eBay and amazon but quality on that metal is unknown and half the time they want more to ship it than the part costs. Macs had some of the stuff in OEM quality and wanted $200 to ship a fender...🤔...Half wondering if I should just try to find this stuff off of local wrecked up and abandoned trucks. If you're within an hour or two of me and have anything you want to sell let me know since re painting the whole truck is no longer optional color doesn't matter much. I'm going to post an ad in the WTB section too.
After looking around today and messing with bending out the fender so it's drivable, I'm not finding parts as easily as I thought I would. Here's what I think I need to buy just based on a thorough visual inspection of the damage.
- front bumper
- hood
- passenger fender
- passenger inner fender
- grill (my inserts will do for now)
- passenger side turn marker assembly
- passenger front wheelwell chrome trim
- upper fender moulding
- possibly a radiator support, but don't think so at this point
- lower bumper valance (not sure if this is the right term....painted metal between grill and bumper) This is the stone deflector
I'm seeing parts all over eBay and amazon but quality on that metal is unknown and half the time they want more to ship it than the part costs. Macs had some of the stuff in OEM quality and wanted $200 to ship a fender...🤔...Half wondering if I should just try to find this stuff off of local wrecked up and abandoned trucks. If you're within an hour or two of me and have anything you want to sell let me know since re painting the whole truck is no longer optional color doesn't matter much. I'm going to post an ad in the WTB section too.
I went back and looked at your damage pics. The fender trim looks like it can be fixed with patience, and a hammer, wood surface to work on , some flat head screw drivers ( varying sizes ), some scrap pieces of wood (width of the straight sections that are bent ) to use to flatten out and reshape ( in conjunction with hammer and drivers ).
I would try to straighten out the inner fender. If you can salvage that, you should be able to salvage the radiator support.
You will probably be able to salvage the stone deflector too with again, hammer, mallet wood pieces.
You may be able to at least get the grill to a point where you can put it back on until you can find another. Aluminum is pretty malleable so a lot of patience and easy tapping can go a long way.
Hopefully it isn't cracked anywhere.
Buying a grill new after market is steep.
Good luck bud. If you have any way to legally cover the loss I would pursue it. That's why we have insurance.
If you can find OEM parts at a bone yard the quality and fit will be much better. Plus you wont have to pay shipping. If you are close enough to Macs shipping warehouse you could always arrange to pick stuff up instead of having it shipped. I've done that with Jeff's Bronco Graveyard before. Not that they are close to me I just happen to be visiting family and they were only an hour away from my mother-in-laws.
A 73-79 rad support can be use with just a few new holes to be drilled.
I'd not mess with trying to hammer out into a rough stuff back into shape as it's hard enough to get every bolt hole to line up when it has not been tweaked out of shape.
Like the grille an everything else, I'd just wait until you can find good replacement parts, or buy what you can from part vendors. I'd just pull out the bumper & fender enough to keep driving it until you've got all good parts to put it back as like before the crash other then the paint.
Ps a friend once told me that his Ins. man said it was a waste of money to have full coverage on a vehicle more then ten yrs old. I said to my friend Bill for the extra $35 buck every 6 months that I could not replace my truck for the $35 bucks, I've saved. My friend Bill then looked like he was just slapped silly. I said to Bill now how smart of thinking is that??
Since 1978, I've carried full coverage on my truck.
My 02
Orich
I went back and looked at your damage pics. The fender trim looks like it can be fixed with patience, and a hammer, wood surface to work on , some flat head screw drivers ( varying sizes ), some scrap pieces of wood (width of the straight sections that are bent ) to use to flatten out and reshape ( in conjunction with hammer and drivers ).
I would try to straighten out the inner fender. If you can salvage that, you should be able to salvage the radiator support.
You will probably be able to salvage the stone deflector too with again, hammer, mallet wood pieces.
You may be able to at least get the grill to a point where you can put it back on until you can find another. Aluminum is pretty malleable so a lot of patience and easy tapping can go a long way.
Hopefully it isn't cracked anywhere.
Buying a grill new after market is steep.
Good luck bud. If you have any way to legally cover the loss I would pursue it. That's why we have insurance.
That was my thought exactly on the inner fender and support. When you first look at the front end, it doesn't seem like disassembly should be that hard but I must be missing something as I cannot seem to find some of the bolts. They may be bend up in the mess I suppose. Can the fender be removed without the grill being removed first? Does anyone have the front end schematic that shows all the connection bolt points. That might help save some wasted time.
I found a guy guy about an hour away on Craigslist who has a hood, fender, and bumper original take offs that he'd sell to me for $500. Hard to tell qualify over pictures but overall looks decent. I may go see him next week to work a deal. The hood seems steep at 275, because a reman hood is 320. I don't know if reman parts are worth it or if I should just steer clear.
Since I've owned the truck I from time to time smell a little fuel vapor in the cab. After checking the hardlines and the obvious rubber grommets and connectors I'm not seeing anything obvious. I was told at one point by a mechanic friend that after that many years it is possible the rubber has absorbed the gas fumes and I'm just smelling that. Not sure on that, but it's a cheap swap out on the rubber parts either way. He additionally told me that the fuel sending unit gasket could be toast.
With that that being said I have the schematic for the in-cab fuel system and it shows the part numbers. The only one I am not sure on it is 9080 which is the neck grommet. I see two options, 9080-a and 9080-b... looks like A is a flat back no angle while the B is an angled option that contorts with the body at an up angle. The angle on cab makes me think that the B option is a better angle but I can't tell. After looking at mine which is cracked, smushed, and deteriorated I can't make an accurate guess.
On my way home today the stutter has gotten worse. When idling or at 1/2 throttle or more there is no hesitation or stutter. When you give it just a little gas or are maintaining speed it stutters and shakes like it's gonna choke out but never does. Replacing the canister fuel filter tonight. Don't know what would have caused it to just start. Any ideas?
If you have not replaced the points yet, I'd also replace the dizzy cap as for some reason it has what looks like cracks in the coil wire hole well, May be spark jumping out.
Have you checked the inner part of the dizzy cap for a cracks or build up a spark crust on the contacts.
Heft the hook an watch for any spark jumping out of the wires/dizzy while you work the carb linkage bring the RPM up to your miss RPM. Best at night tho.
Orich
If you have not replaced the points yet, I'd also replace the dizzy cap as for some reason it has what looks like cracks in the coil wire hole well, May be spark jumping out.
Have you checked the inner part of the dizzy cap for a cracks or build up a spark crust on the contacts.
Heft the hook an watch for any spark jumping out of the wires/dizzy while you work the carb linkage bring the RPM up to your miss RPM. Best at night tho.
Orich
when I changed the plugs and wires last week I did a quick visual on the outside but did not take off the dizzy cap. Maybe I'll take a peek tonight.
Also worth mentioning, this morning was the coldest day of the year....while I got my fast idle working great. I will report that the stutter/hesitation was non existent until the motor warmed up. Unusual I do say. After reading the "WILL NOT IDLE" thread I may need to look at Some other things
12-02-2016, 05:10 PM
