4.5LV build (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Woo Hoo! Speedo!

I bought another speedo. $35 for the whole cluster. Thanks Car-part.com. Installed the speedo and it works. I kept the tripometer and reset button intact this time too.

Pic of the refurbed knobs too. I never thought polishing my knob would be so arduous and unfun. Results were worth it though. Usually I just get tears of shame.

IMG_20140409_102129_494.jpg


IMG_20140409_103606_726.jpg
 
Have you thought about modifying the gauges for the letters to read the right way? I am starting to think about how I'll handle the gauges on MY LV project... I want to keep as much of the stock cluster look as I can too.
 
Yep. I didn't want to invest too much into something I wasn't sure was going to work. Now that all five gauges are working properly I can look into having new faces printed to my specs. That will take care of the slight crookedness and the letters reading sideways and needing to use the stock face behind the 80 face on the speedo to fill in the weird shape.
 
No good reason. I just fixed it. It's not hooked up. 80 AWD transfer case and 45 rear axle. I have to swap drum assemblies at some point to 60 series. I'd love to get rid of the two wheel cylinder non-adjustable crap any way.

I gotta flip those parking brake handle bolts and put shorter ones in too.

Edit - it looks like 60 series doesn't fit. I can't use a pinion or transfer case brake with AWD unless I do both axles or lock the center diff every time. I never use a parking brake any way, but I should install something if I want to sell it someday. Might have to convert to rear disks, or cut the flange off a 60 axle.
 
Last edited:
Installed rear seat belts today. Answered my question a couple of years ago about some random holes in the wheel wells and bed. They were pretty clearly seat belt holes once upon a time.

I did not use plates under the bolts yet. I'm waiting for the new ironworker to be hooked up. It's a perfect job for that.

Used the Ulysses app to check my speedo and scan gauge. They are both spot on at 45 mph.

Drove it to the body shop to check on the SWB. Supposed to be done tomorrow.
 
Drove it to dinner with friends last night and had a problem. It blew the EFI fuse with a dead short. We found the shorted circuit was the VSS power wire. Fortunately, the wife was driving at the time so it was her fault. Today I found where the harness has chafed between the cowl lip and the bellhousing. repaired that and ran the power to the guage fuse like its supposed to be so further problems won't shut the truck down.
Put in the heater shut off valve as its getting warm here in Chicago. It might snow on Monday so the switch was better than just taking the heater out. The 80 series switch fit well but will need a cable to operate it from inside.
Swapped out a knock sensor that was throwing a code.

It's been tough working on it today as the SWB is back and I want to go hooligan around topless.

I also drew new window vent bolt access covers and sent them to the 3D printer. I embellished the design a little.

IMG_20140411_093325_370.jpg
 
Epic ceremonial road trip today. The PO said I could have the big repop tailgate badge when it was done. I set done as being able to drive the 60 or so miles to his house under its own power.

The highway is a challenge in focus. The caster is way off. Constant minute corrections are needed. Semis or any slight movement can get the whole thing swaying. It drives great below 45, but above is a challenge.

A huge storm moved through on the way up so we pulled over and waited it out. We caught just a tiny bit on the backside once we got moving again. There was an inch of hail on the ground. Glad we stopped.

Had a good time visiting and a great lunch then took surface streets to a north south Chicago bypass to avoid the highway we came up on. The brakes overheated at one point and we had a moment at an intersection where some poo came out. The crosswinds were gusting well above 30 mph which made the highway portion pretty exciting.

In the end it made it up and made it back. The engine and drivetrain performed flawlessly. I now have a new list of things to work on. I got the finishing touch badge, and scored a light to fill the last hole in the dash.
 
Congrats on your trip. Too bad you got some road gremlins. I lucked out with mine and it goes down the highway pretty good. I have done 80mph with my old F155 and rubber overdrive. Cruises 70 no problem. Yours should be even better once you get it dialed in.
Now post up some pix of the sticker
 
Gumby said:
Drove it to dinner with friends last night and had a problem. It blew the EFI fuse with a dead short. We found the shorted circuit was the VSS power wire. Fortunately, the wife was driving at the time so it was her fault. Today I found where the harness has chafed between the cowl lip and the bellhousing. repaired that and ran the power to the guage fuse like its supposed to be so further problems won't shut the truck down.
Put in the heater shut off valve as its getting warm here in Chicago. It might snow on Monday so the switch was better than just taking the heater out. The 80 series switch fit well but will need a cable to operate it from inside.
Swapped out a knock sensor that was throwing a code.

It's been tough working on it today as the SWB is back and I want to go hooligan around topless.

I also drew new window vent bolt access covers and sent them to the 3D printer. I embellished the design a little.

View attachment 884408
Click to expand...

If you are going to make these pls let me know bc I need four of them as well. Would be happy to contribute $ to project.
 
If I make another batch I'll let you know. The ones I made so far would not clip into the holes. Melting the ABS so that it can be deposited by the printer head makes it brittle. Getting the tabs small enough to bend, but not break is going to be very tricky. I ended up making them too thick to bend and having to cut them off. I glued the covers into place with a little RTV. I still have to trim some of the excess away now that it's dry.

IMG_20140413_111952_084.jpg

The emblem went on just fine.
IMG_20140414_125137_789.jpg IMG_20140414_125145_776.jpg
 
Last edited:
Gumby said:
If I make another batch I'll let you know. The ones I made so far would not clip into the holes. Melting the ABS so that it can be deposited by the printer head makes it brittle. Getting the tabs small enough to bend, but not break is going to be very tricky. I ended up making them too thick to bend and having to cut them off. I glued the covers into place with a little RTV.

View attachment 885596

The emblem went on just fine.
View attachment 885597View attachment 885598
Click to expand...


I considered re-fabricating the hole size to some standard round plug size that is commonly available. Still may do that.
 
Sorry for off topic, but is there anyway to get that IH8MUD sticker anymore? I much prefer it to the regular one.

I love the 4.5LV, by the way. You're building the dream truck of many.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

PG45er
Record slowest build?
Replies
7
Views
682
PG45er
PG45er
NYIronPig
BUILD: "Kermit" 67 FJ45 LWB LPB
Replies
4
Views
1K
cppilot
cppilot

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom