Well, I dropped off my hardtop to be worked on at a vocational tech school. While it is away I have been working on shaping up the 40. This truck is not perfect. Has some rot issues with the rear tub in places but overall it is pretty good and perfect for me cause’ I plan and have been using it to do work and some wheeling fun. Here are a few of the things I did in the last few months.
Right now she runs decent, compared to some jelopys I have seen. But I do have a manifold vacuum leak that is holding me back from tuning it 100%. I plan to pull of the manifolds once I have the hardtop back on and the body repainted.
- Pulled out all the seats, roll cage, center console, glove box, seat brackets, fuel tank brackets, mirrors, emblems etc. and re painted these. Some spots of rust I treated with permatex in a spray can from Napa. Then used primer and epoxy paint.
- Removed the front doors and stripped them down. Had to open up some of the weep holes at the bottom edge and cleaned a bunch or debris out of the door cavities. Included in there were some wasp nest in both doors. I reinstalled with new inner door felt runners and all new window channels. Also cut holes and prepped to install new 4” speakers. I scraped the windows with straight razors to clean the 30yrs of crap clinging there. Used some brass door hinge bushings and now no more rattles!
- Another thing I repaired in the door was a spring had come off and was found in the door bottom. I used forceps to reinstall the spring & repaired the lock mechanism. All summer it was inoperable and you had to hold it shut, then lock it for it to stay shut. Slamming did nothing. After trying for an hour to hook up the very small spring, (using all manner of small needle nose), I took a break for dinner and pondered the dilemma. I remembered my locking forceps. After dinner I locked the forceps onto one end of the spring and then used the forceps to attach the other end…5minutes of effort and had it done.
- With all of the seats and such out. I applied 3 or so coats of spray on bed liner all over the bed and into the floors in the front. I masked off the existing factory mat, and lined all around on the floors where there was no insulation material. I installed new carpets from SOR and a floor liner/reflector mat from CCOT. This all should help with the sound and temperature control.
- I took some time to modify the transfer to get 2wd low. I have a perfect application for this type of gear at my place.
- I replicated a seal for the hardtop to sit on. I used a garage door seal and cut it up to fit. Should work good once it is sandwiched.
- Re painted front and rear bumpers with epoxy. Permatex and primer first to control the surface rust spots.
- I installed tubes to extend the diff breathers & a nice leather steering wheel cover. Also built some boxes to house 6x9’s for the rear.
- Set up a nice crate to hold all my recovery stuff, jack, tools etc. Had to customize it to fit in the back.
Right now she runs decent, compared to some jelopys I have seen. But I do have a manifold vacuum leak that is holding me back from tuning it 100%. I plan to pull of the manifolds once I have the hardtop back on and the body repainted.
