I'll also agree to this. I sometimes have to sit & figure out what to do on the truck although there is a huge list of stuff that needs to be done. Once I think of one thing to do & get started on it the ADD kicks in & I bounce back & forth between 2-3 projects typically.

 

I have the same problem. Also there's the "just enough time to start something" issue.........but you only get about 1/3rd of the way into it and your time's up. I got a lot of that around here.

 

Ya i totally agree guys, but i seem to punish myself by working on three trucks at once. Crew cab, highboy, and 79 bronco mud truck. But the crew is the highest priority.

For those you haven't seen my other thread...

The 1977 Highboy "winter truck" 460 powered.




The 79 Bronco "mud truck" also 460 powered.

 

Ok, down to business.

I got the oil pressure sensor piped into the block and wire hooked up but forgot to actually start the truck to see what the gauges read.

I ran the wire to the fuel tank sender from the original auxiliary fuel tank wire and my fuel gauge appears to work. The needle goes from below empty to right at empty when the key is turned on and i know there is not much fuel in the truck. It will be interesting to see how it works when i actually get a good amount of fuel in the tank.

I started to mess around with my shifter boots. I found that my t-case shifter boot actually is going to work out better backwards, so i hammered the mounting surface flat so i could turn it around. I also positioned the transmission shifter boot on the inspection cover and drilled some holes to mount it and welded some nuts on the backside so i can bolt it in place.

In the truck...




The boots in position...sorry about the crappy pics.



Nuts tacked on the back side.




Before i left i also painted both sides of the cover. Next time i go to the shop i'll get some gasketing around the hole and prep the pan for install. I think i'll install the vinyl floor before i actually install the shifter boots.

 

Well some more progress.

First off, i had the truck fired up the other day to move it out of the shop and my oil pressure gauge seems to work perfectly with the oil pressure sitting a little bit above half...

After painting the center hump pan, i stuck some 1"wide 1/4" thick foam gasket to the bottom of it and bolted it down to the floor.

Next thing to do was install the insulation that came with my vinyl floor kit. I was a little disappointed to see that the kit only supplied a front section and a little rectangular section for the rear, leaving almost a third of the floor uncovered. I guess they assume you don't want insulation where the bench seats go or something. Well in my case i have four bucket seats so i wanted to cover as much as i could. I happened to have a bit of the sound deadening material that i glued to my firewall left over so i used that to finish covering the floor...There s a few small spots that aren't covered but it worked out great. I glued it down using Super 77 spray glue.














In the last picture you can see where i installed a thin piece of red rubber around my shifters to act as a bit of a splash guard. I will be using my new shifter boots, but i just wanted to put something there to try and stop water from getting the insulation wet on a rainy day. I imagine it should help a bit.

 

Next it was time to attempt vinyl floor install...

This is easier said than done. I found that it doesn't fit anywhere near perfect, close, but not perfect. I was getting frustrated and i need to bring the girlfriends hairdryer over next time i go to the shop to help flatten out some of the wrinkles. I got the drivers side front fitting decent, and trimmed around the throttle pedal. I got two of my driver seat mounts bolted in and the hi/lo beam switch installed too. All i did was take my All from the bottom and poke it up the bolt holes, through the insulation and the floor cover, then leave the All poking up and use my knife to cut a clearance hole for the bolt around it. That's as far as i got..a friend showed up with his firewood processor that i had to do some repairs too and by the time i was done getting him all fixed up it was too late to carry on with the floor...

More to come soon...and i'll be sure to get pics!

 

Looking good, I had the same problem with my vinyl floor it fits Ok but not perfect but the material is great quality.

 

I'm glad to hear that i'm not the only one who has had to battle with the vinyl floor, and yes the material is seams really robust. I think that any weird wrinkle is going to be in the middle at the base of the tranny inspection pan, that will be fairly visible considering i'm running bucket seats.

Saying that though, i will likely need to build a center console of some sort with beer..umm..I mean cup holders in it. I remember that when i first got my crew i hated not having anywhere to put my coffee so i set it on the nice flat floor pan beside my seat. That was great until i had to hit the brakes suddenly and my coffee proceeded to explode all over at my feet!

I won't be back at the shop until Wednesday, but i'm kinda chomping at the bit to get the floor done so i can carry on with the next steps that get me closer to completion.

Luckily we're pretty slow at the shop so i can concentrate on the crew. The next project is My ol' man bought a 379 long nose peterbilt and we're going to extend the frame and build the ultimate camper/motorhome touring machine. Even going to have a hydraulic lift on the back so he can lift his Harley and take it with him. He's all reved up to get a start on that project, but i told him i'm not lifting a finger on his truck until mine is done!!

 

Wow, I have seen this thread before, not sure how I did not get subscribed but I have missed out on ALOT, I am subbed now and look forward to the awesomeness to come, Awesome Job on an Awesome Truck, an inspiration to us all

 

Hey thanks man, this has definitely been a fun project, but i'm glad its getting close to completion!

 

OK, down to business. Lots of progress being made, just haven't had time to post.

Vinyl floor is installed. lots of cursing, lots of trimming, and one blown up girlfriends hair dryer and it turned out decent. The floor came in two sections, front and rear. The front section didn't fit that great around the tranny hump and there's a few sections of small wrinkles here and there, but it looks ok. And i'm hoping a few nice hot summer days will help it form a better in those spots. The rear section fit a lot better, but then again there is way less going on back there. The rear section was also molded to fit door wells but i trimmed that section off. Picture time, and my old smashed phone finialy gave up the ghost so new phone with good camera!!!

Rear section with door well section cut out.



I fabbed up a stainless steel trim pieces for the door well and put aluminum checker plate on the bottom.







It all fit pretty good, the only small gap is on the up slope, which looks worse in the pic due to reflection on the checker plate.



Front section wrinkles




I found using a small propane torch and carefully heating up the vinyl from a couple inches away worked well to help form the vinyl. It actually looks worse in the pic than it is. I also used some chunks of 1 1/4" plate that i had laying around the shop to help flatten it out in different spots.







As it sits now, 3 of the four seats are installed, front seat belts installed and drivers side rear seat belt retractor installed. Installed weatherstripping on passenger side rear door so i could measure up for door sill parts. Got 2 of the three stainless pieces made so far, so finishing that is my next task.

 

Whoa....whooooaaaaa. A new phone after all this time? ...LOL... bout time. Seems you've been saving up for that for quite a while.

Floor pieces are cool! Great idea!

Ever look into recessing the floor for some footspace? If I ever get the cab in the shop I want to have a look at that idea.

 

Ya Ya...lol...i know i've been way over due for a new phone. In actual fact the phone worked fine, its just that the main camera lens was scratched so badly the pics were foggy, then i started to use the reverse camera, but my screen is pretty much shattered and one of the cracks eventually went across in front of the reverse camera lens making the pics crappy. Don't have to deal with that anymore!

Funny you mentioned this. I never considered recessing the floor for foot room, but that is definitely a good idea. The only thing that i can think of that would be in the way is the frame. I don't know if you can really see in my pics, but my rear seats sit a fair amount higher than the front seats. I was sitting in the rear seat the other day after i installed it and i had forgotten on how high they sit. Anyone much taller than me and their head will be into the headliner. I thought about making a shorter bracket, but then the leg room thing comes into play. I'm just using the brackets that were on the buckets that the PO fabbed up. They're OK for now.

I'll have to look at my buddy's crew with the stock bench seats in it to see what the leg room situation was from factory.

 

Factory leg room sucks.

I will be building my new chassis for the purpose of using the bed floor out of the current short box as my new cab floor, it will be Flat. This should give me A LOT more room in the cab and open up possibilities like Seat Suspension and/or under seat storage options. Gonna be a mountain of work but I don't want to build my truck from the ground up and regret not doing what I wanted.

 

I'm just going off of memory but wouldn't you have to have quite the body lift to gain the legroom?

If there is space it seems like a couple of tubs made in the brake would be pretty simple to fab up and drop in, in front of the rear seating area. Even extending under the front seat might be an idea.

Sorry for the hijack 77, I should have made another thread.