Because the WIFE said I COULDN'T 1973 Frame off

[destin]

cool man

Take some photos from around the starter / dist showing the wires
Also snap a shot underneath you ignition switch

 

[addicted56]

Well I can't seem to find my camera. I think it is in the mess I call a garage right now. I finally brought the cruiser home. I rented a Uhaul trailer but I actually drove it on and off.

Thank you for the wiring diagrams. I was able to get it going. The main problem turned out to be in the ignition. Someone in the past had soldered the on and accessory wires back onto the ignition. When pulling wires and hooking it back up I must have put enough pressure on it to break them back off. I soldered one back on and rewired the other that had a snapped wire. Had no problems after that.

I had purchased an electric pump and it is a POS. Absolutely. Spent 2 hours trying to diagnose problems with the engine running and not running some times. I hooked up my fuel pressure gauge up to it and it only put out ZERO PSI. It is rated for 7 PSI. I should have known it was going to be a POS. I expected it to only last a couple of months but to fail right off the bat is just sad. I hooked up a intank pump my neighbor had sitting around and ran it out of a bucket and the truck fired right up and purred like a kitten and the pump put out 8 PSI from idle to floored. So that is now on the agenda.

I got most of the brakelines replaced though still not bled as my brake flairing tool is a POS and many of them leak. I had to replace all of the rubber lines as they all had clogged and corroded.

I rewired and hooked up the temp sensor and oil gauge sensor. Everything works right now except the fuel tank gauge as I need to find the correct color coded wire and rewire it and I'm sure it will work. I still have some wiring to do though. I have yet to do any of the lights in the rear, I don't have low beams, my rear heater doesn't seem to turn on and I must have pluged my windshield wipers in backwards as out is off and in is on.

Windshield will be in Wednesday night and hopefully get it registered and insured. Once I get the lights working and the brakes on it is off the the exhaust shop and DONE. Well at least until I get the rest of the body work done on the running boards, rear tailgate and hardtop hahaha...it never ends. But I am in a hurry as I wan to enjoy the nice weather which only lasts 2 weeks before getting rediculously hot here.

Pictures as soon as I find the camera

 

[addicted56]

Got most of the windshield in. In need to work on the key still. Got about 1/4 of it in but it is a lot of work and I think I'm going to try the end wrench method or go get the tool from lowes to get it done in a hurry.

Also went to get a new fuel pump. Got a carter rated at 48 GPH and 5-9 PSI. Guess what. It also only put out 1 PSI. I hooked it up with the crappy Mr. Gasket pump inline and I could get 9 PSI out of both of them and the truck ran great. So not sure what I'm going to do. Maybe try and find a spring for my mechanical fuel pump and hook it inline with the electric one and see if that puts out a enough fuel pressure. Also hooked up my fuel sender and it reads fuel but not right. It went from super empty to empty but I have 6 gallons in the tank. Ohh well..more work I guess.

Here are the pics. I'm out of money for a couple weeks so probably won't get much done. Maybe some body work on the hardtop.

 

[addicted56]

A few more. I think I'm going to go with some Autozone tail lights. Also the vendors that sent me my rear emblems didn't send any nuts with them (thanks for nothing)...so I found out that the nuts on the fresh air vents are the same so I will have ot make a trip to fastenall (usually have to buy a bag of 100) or to Lowes which will sell me 4 at the same price fastenall will for a bag of 100. This is my now very very messy garage. And this is after spending 2 hours cleaning it up. This townhouse living is not conducive to a automobile afficiando.

 

[waiting for time]

You might want to check the fuell line from the tank to the pump for dirt.

Truck looks better every week, great job.

 

[subzali]

Considering where that truck started I'd say you've done excellent work bringing it back to life! Great job!

Question - why not just get a new OEM fuel pump and use that instead of messing with all the dumb electric fuel pumps?

 

[addicted56]

Considering where that truck started I'd say you've done excellent work bringing it back to life! Great job!

Question - why not just get a new OEM fuel pump and use that instead of messing with all the dumb electric fuel pumps?

I didn't want to burn up a battery and starter trying to diagnose carb and distributor issues and then find out I was having fuel flow issues. This way I could just cycle the key and I would have fuel up there. I figured the pumps would work fine as they did before I tore it sown. I probably have carb issues as well. I am not sure what they would be though. Once I get more than 5 psi it purrs like a kitten thru out the entire rpm range. With just one pump it sucks all the fuel out of the bowl before you can realigned it above idle.

If I could just get a spring for my mech fuel pump I could throw it back in there as well and probably be good to go.

 

[gisham]

i love this truck man... my favorite color!

Looks like you have about the same rear shackle angle as i do...might be a bumpy ride! If i hit railroad tracks to fast without a seat belt it would eject me onto the hood!

 

[Speed King]

Man, that thing looks great, congrats. I really like the color.

 

[terryjmatthew]

Great job Jason! Glad to see it back from the "near" dead!

 

[Hinecken]

Great Build! I've been reading since the beginning, and it's coming along great.

 

[addicted56]

Great job Jason! Glad to see it back from the "near" dead!

Near dead was right. I have ended up replacing a lot of stuff that would have been OK if I hadn't taken it apart. But since I'm going this far I might as well go all the way. Sure hope to have it done soon. If all goes well maybe I could drive it up to the GAP for a joy ride and see all that is going on there.

Sadly I know this thing has to go before I PCS from here in September/October. I need to hurry up so I can at least enjoy it this summer before it hits the chopping block. Just to many cars so this one and the 450 can't come with me on this next move/deployment.

 

[kurtnkegger]

Nuts

Ace hardware....one nut at a time...they won't be the JIS nuts, but you can get metric nuts all day long out of their bins a lot chaper than 100 from fastenal.

 

[SFROMAN]

Jason,
The 40 looks awsome. I am moving to florida in july. I was just down there a few weekends ago looking at properties and the resrvation looks very promising for mild trail riding and exploring. Maybe We can get together for some exploring when I finally make it down there.

 

[thecrazygreek]

A few more. I think I'm going to go with some Autozone tail lights.

Please say it aint so!

That thing deserves OEM tail lights. Say no to the darkside...

 

[addicted56]

Please say it aint so!

That thing deserves OEM tail lights. Say no to the darkside...

Yeah I know. They are just so outrageously expensive for what they are. Almost 100 bucks for some reflectors...give me a break.

I also need some rear barn doors and probably some new running boards as well. As my motto goes. Don't worry hunny. I'll make more money next week.

 

[addicted56]

So I got a bit done this weekend. Big things were finishing putting the windsheild lock in, bolting on the doors, finally finishing my last rear bench seat, windshield wipers (with some mods to make them work) and some body work on the hardtop. If all goes to plan I will have the hardtop painted and on by the end of the weekend.

Still need to focus on getting it running and driveable as well.

 

[addicted56]

A few more pics...love the color combo..maybe I should keep it that way

 

[Cordarin]

Just out of curiosity, have you tried seeing what you get out of those electric pumps if you supply them from a bucket of gas like you did the in-line pump? Strange for both of them to be faulty, and the fact that if you double them up you get enough psi leads me to think there is some restriction from the tank. Can't hurt to check. just my $0.02

 

[Jonny Tsunami]

Wow, what a journey! Id say your hard work has paid off. Congrats on the build!
JT