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Thanks Ray. Lots of tape options out there for sure. My original stripes were about 1.75 inches wide. What I would do is paint the bumper black and use tape just for the yellow. It looks like I should be able to find a yellow tape that would work.
Jim, someone skilled with an acetylene torch and hammer can do wonders with those bumper irregularities. Torch work, followed with good body filler can make them very nice. This is the kind of improvement work that can be done later after the truck has been enjoyed a while; A good winter project while in a warm workshop with the bumpers placed at a comfortable working position. Think, placed across a couple saw horses.
Excellent suggestion! Thank you Ray. As I think about the time it took for me to do something relatively easy like filling in the body work on the rear wheel wells, straightening out the bumper damage seemed quite an intimidating task. For now, I'm just going to prime what I have and give it a quick coat of semi gloss black.
I was up early this morning and helped my friend wrestle my re-built transmission back into place. It was a struggle (as usual) and involved removing the front engine mounts and jacking up the engine a bit. We were successful, however, and the transmission seems to be back where it belongs with a few bolts holding it in place. I have some family activities coming up, so I won't be getting back to the truck to finish up until sometime next week.
Because of the unexpected transmission trouble, the door lettering and insignia won't be done in time for Truckstock. This week-end is when the painter wanted to do it, and the truck is still stuck in my friends shop.
My truck is driving again, and I was able to bring it home and work on some of the little details that need to be taken care of before my trip to Kentucky. The bumpers are on, the mirrors sort of fixed, insurance value increased, and I started rounding up parts needed to get the wipers going again.
I squirted a little carb cleaner and oil into the vacuum port of the wiper motor. The mechanism moves and "breathes" in and out when the little arm is moved back and forth. I'm thinking this is a good sign. Parts are missing for the linkage, however. Hopefully I'll be able to get what I need from the hardware store.
Tomorrow, my friend is going to make sure all the electrical systems are ready to go.
The mirrors are mis-matched. The drivers side is original F1. The passenger side "telescopes" and came off an F6. The heads are cheap and modern. They will have to do for now. The problem I was having is with the little screws that keep the mirror holder from pivoting on the hinge pin. The original screws were lost, the threads a little messed up, and I just couldn't come up with a suitable replacement that kept the mirror arm from moving until today. I went with a smaller diameter nut and bolt. I think it's going to work.
Regarding the bumpers--the flatter black paint you see in the picture looks so much better than the gloss black my paint guy recommended. I ordered some 2 inch reflective yellow tape for the caution stripes. I'll have to see how I like the color when it arrives. It's reflective tape. I like the safety factor of the reflective tape--but it may look too "modern" for my old truck--probably not something that would have been used in the 1950's.
As you know Ross, " I had a little help from my friends"! Left to my own devices, not much would have been accomplished. This forum has been a great help and motivator. Thank you Ross and all the others who helped me along the way.
If you see my truck in person at Truckstock, you will realize that it is far from finished. As Firstrider cautioned me at the very beginning, my project will likely take 5 years and $20K. He was right, and I still have a ways to go to reach both numbers.
Today was the kind of day that will help me reach the $20K "goal". I wasn't counting on all the electrical problems we encountered. Time (and money) were spent chasing down issues with the generator, voltage regulator, signal lights, headlights, and instrument panel. It ended up taking most of the day to get the electrical problems sorted out. We also worked on the wipers. Hopefully they are ready for installation tomorrow.
Part of the electrical troubles stemmed from my decision to swap out my original gauges for a set in better condition I picked up on e-bay. I thought the swap would be straight forward. What could go wrong changing one wire at a time? Well, things did go wrong, even though my friend is an auto electric specialist.
I've had a lot time to get my truck ready for Truckstock. It looks like I'll be using all of it.
Yesterday was frustrating and expensive. Today was going to be a quiet low stress kind of day with lots of time spent helping my wife get ready for week-end company. I was just planning on squeezing in a few little things on my truck. The character and focus of my day quickly changed, however, when I went to town to pick up my truck from my friend's garage. He still had the truck because he wanted to change the oil for me and make sure all the steering and suspension parts were greased and ready to go for my big trip.
The first thing to go wrong, right in the garage bay, was that the truck wouldn't start. That turned out to be a loose starter wire connection. With the starter wires tightened down and the truck started and driving again, smoke started pouring through the many holes in the fire wall just as we were returning from a brief test drive. We are not sure what caused the smoke, but most likely it was oil from the air cleaner somehow leaking onto the manifold and/or into the carburetor. This may have happened because I don't have a gasket between the carb and the air cleaner. The oil, however, was at the correct level in the air cleaner--if anything even a little below the recommended line. There was a recent discussion on oil bath air cleaners that some of you may recall. I was one (as you also may recall) that weighed in to say that I didn't have a gasket and it isn't needed.
As the truck was idling in front of my friend's shop, and we were pondering what caused all the smoke and why it had stopped with the air cleaner off, we discovered that the glass carburetor bowl was almost completely filled with gas. My friend said, "That's not good", and just then, as if by cue, the engine stopped. We really didn't find a direct cause for this little incident either, but when I disconnected the fuel line and re-connected it, the fuel level in the bowl returned to normal and we were able to get the flooded engine started.
When I finally got the truck back home and started putting the dash together, I discovered that some of the gauges weren't working. They were all working yesterday, but not today! Re-installing the wipers didn't go so well either. The wiper posts moved, and the cobbled together linkage seemed to be working well too, but with the arms and blades on, the motor just didn't have enough power to accomplish anything useful. I guess my motor will need to be re-built or replaced. I was being silly to think that something that didn't work 50 years ago would somehow work now.
Later in the day, on my trip to the dump, I noticed an unpleasant squeal. That turned out be be caused by the fact that yesterday when a took the generator out, I installed the generator belt on the shaft rather than on the pulley where it belonged. Still later in the day, coming home from a little errand, the accelerator linkage failed just as I was pulling into my driveway. I used a nut and bolt at the pivot point on the fire wall rather than a pin and cotter pin like I was supposed to have. The nut decided to fall off. All of which begs the question, what else is about to fall off or is installed wrong?
So it was another day with lots of unpleasant surprises, and not a lot accomplished that my long suffering wife could approve of. Just imagine what could all happen on a 1500 mile trip to Kentucky and back.
Time is ticking down to be ready for Truckstock! On Thursday, I'm leaving for a little family vacation (to Kentucky of all places), and we won't be returning until just before it's time to start the trip to Truckstock. Tomorrow is pretty much my last shot to get everything squared away.
I've managed to put about 150 miles on my truck over the last few days. I got 16.7 MPG at the last fill-up. The fan belt that had been improperly installed failed, but otherwise the truck is running great. I can easily go 55-60 MPH. The limiting factor is the handling. Anything above 55 MPH on a moderately rough secondary highway, and maintaining control gets to be a chore.
Unfortunately there still are some electrical glitches. The charging system hasn't been working consistently, and the temp and fuel gauges are currently not working at all. The fuel gauge always reads full and the temp gauge always reads cold. The problem with the charging system seems to be the voltage regulator. Adjusting the points makes it work again, but it's had to be adjusted several times over the last 150 miles. The headlights and tail lights are dim--so much so that I won't be driving after dark. The signal and brake lights are nice and bright, however. The wipers, as already noted, are not working. Rainex will have to do.
My mechanic friend is going to make one last effort to get things right tomorrow.
08-20-2017, 09:31 PM
