Thinking too big?

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Sporin

Sporin

Site Addict
Joined
Apr 23, 2003
Threads
170
Messages
3,502
Location
Windsor, VT USA
Website
www.ukemafia.com
If you've followed my Pg thread you know that I was planning on just getting the old girl into shape and running it as-is. I really don't have big funds, or a welder or fab skills and it's basically "ok." Certainly fine for the trial rig that it is. It's not original so I don't feel compelled to worry about that.

However the more I dig the more I want to fix things write, so tell me how crazy I am....

1. New Wiring Harness?
The old wiring is hacked to death, lots of dropped grounds and patch jobs. ExampleL the fender lights can't even be disconnected without cutting wires making fender removal difficult.

My 55 is pretty simple, makes me wonder if I'm crazy to consider putting in a new wiring harness and modern fuse panel. Thoughts?

2. New Floor?
I need to finish stripping out the interior but the front section in particular is pretty rough as are the areas near the seat mounts in 2 places on the passenger's side. My guess is I will HAVE to have new metal put in there. It's patched a hundred different ways, and none of them very well. I could only be adding to the mess if I booty fabbed and fiberglassed it.

I had a local weld/fab guy recommended who could certainly lay in some basic sheet and bends pretty cheap (Ascutney Custom Fab)

I guess my biggest fear is starting jobs I cant finish or getting in over my head. I'm pretty good at this stuff as long as I have some direction, bu tI would liek to be wheeling the truck sooner rather then later.

Anyone care to weigh in, particularly on the rewire issue? Links?
 
Sporin said:
If you've followed my Pg thread you know that I was planning on just getting the old girl into shape and running it as-is. I really don't have big funds, or a welder or fab skills and it's basically "ok." Certainly fine for the trial rig that it is. It's not original so I don't feel compelled to worry about that.

However the more I dig the more I want to fix things write, so tell me how crazy I am....

1. New Wiring Harness?
The old wiring is hacked to death, lots of dropped grounds and patch jobs. ExampleL the fender lights can't even be disconnected without cutting wires making fender removal difficult.
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can't the wiring harness be cleaned up? are you planning on taking it out completely? With some sauter, tape and some harness stretch tape you can probably get it back to a decent shape harness. For the fender, easy enough to put in some disconnects so you can disconnect the wires from the fender. It will definetly be harder if you don't plan on taking it out.
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My 55 is pretty simple, makes me wonder if I'm crazy to consider putting in a new wiring harness and modern fuse panel. Thoughts?

2. New Floor?
I need to finish stripping out the interior but the front section in particular is pretty rough as are the areas near the seat mounts in 2 places on the passenger's side. My guess is I will HAVE to have new metal put in there. It's patched a hundred different ways, and none of them very well. I could only be adding to the mess if I booty fabbed and fiberglassed it.
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the best way is to do metal patch repair/but weld, BUT I have seen other use weld free repair. See www.eastwood.com for more info, they have kits there where you can repair without using a welder, with that and a cheap bending brake from harbor freight and you might be in business. If you can afford the coin, I would have someone lay in patch panels for you. Then look for other areas of rust and scrape, phosphoric acid etch them, and paint them in order to stop the rust in it's tracks.
--------------------

I had a local weld/fab guy recommended who could certainly lay in some basic sheet and bends pretty cheap (Ascutney Custom Fab)

I guess my biggest fear is starting jobs I cant finish or getting in over my head. I'm pretty good at this stuff as long as I have some direction, bu tI would liek to be wheeling the truck sooner rather then later.

Anyone care to weigh in, particularly on the rewire issue? Links?
Click to expand...

see my comments above
 
i also think a total rewire is overkill, wouldnt really seem justified unless the current is totally shot, or you are doing a bunch of other stuff to compliment like fuel injected engine and stuff. the floor is a different story, if your floor is bad and needs more than a couple patch panels it would be a good project. if you end up going a rewire route i would recomend you check out what DD113 does, you send in your harness and he basically makes it new again and can customize however you want, not cheap but about as much as a generic harness and much better for the application IMOP.
 
Spent a couple hours chasing old wires in the truck last night, pulled all the junk stereo equipment, trying to get good grounds for a few things still. The poor thing has been SO hacked over it's lifetime but I don't think I need to put in a completely new harness, that was crazy talk.

Is it easy to put in a new, modern fuse panel though? I'd love to replace the glas fuses and add some new spots. I have 2 or 3 wires jammed onto fuse ends from add on gages and other things related to the V8 swap (PO).

Thoughts?
 
I would clean up the existing stock glass tube fuse panel and use it only for the stock truck stuff, then add a cheap blade fuse panel from kragen and tap into it whenever you need to add an accessory, run a fat wire from the starter solenoid to the fuse panel, then you have an easy port to attache accessories to, did this on my 40 and worked great.

Noah
 
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