Last year I made a ton of progress on the truck; more than I realized when I reviewed the list. But a man needs goals, and I’ve found that lists help me keep them organized. Here’s the plan for 2025:
Pull the leaf springs and have them rebuilt: Pickup David passed along info for a shop in Baltimore who can rebuild springs for about $230/ea. My springs are flat as a board, so this would be a good upgrade. They’ll rearch the main spring and replace the leaves, as well as press in new bushings. I just need to get them out of the truck.
Cut out the driver’s floor and replace it: it’s an unsightly patch job left over from the previous owner, and I don’t like it. Plus, they missed a section on the vertical part of the A-pillar where it meets the floor, so I want to cut this out and make it right. And the rust goes under the seat support next to the door. I have the corner section already bent and ready to go. IHPA has new floor sections I could buy off the shelf, or I can cut and bend my own.
Buy and install a C-series windshield wiper motor: Both of my wiper motors are frozen solid. Jim at Super Scouts told me about these replacements. They’re about $200 and apparently bolt right in.
Find and install some headliner: the original stuff are sheets of perforated pressboard not unlike the roof of a VW of the era. I’d really like to mimic that look in this truck if I can. This stuff looks promising; it’s a perforated vinyl shell with a foam backing. I’d have to figure out where it hits on the roof and how I’d cover the seams.
Electric Steering conversion: I’ve now got all the components I need for this: the steering motor is in hand, I’ve got a spare manual steering column, and the auxiliary fuse panel is installed. It’s just a matter of blocking out a weekend with Brian and having him help me work on this. Then I can install the refurbished steering wheel!
Air Conditioning: The truck is a greenhouse on wheels. Air conditioning is going to be a requirement pretty quickly after it’s roadworthy. Vintage Air makes some compact units that will work well; I’d like to pair that with a period-correct under-dash blower unit, but I have to keep my eye out for one.
Spray out accessories in gray. I’ve got a bunch of parts set aside that will need to be sprayed in the single-stage gray I used on the door cards:
- The headliner bows, which have already been etch primed
- The radio faceplate I got in the mail from Butch. I’m toying with spraying the glove box door and instrument panel to match.
- The cupholder I welded together, which has been etch primed
- The accessory charging bracket I made (I may have one laser-cut from SendCutSend)
Replace the rear floor. I’m just about at the point where I can put a new piece of marine plywood down to replace the old floor. All of the frame and suspension underneath is needle-scaled and painted. I do still need to sort out the parking brake, which will be easier with the floor out. I’ve got a recommendation for new rubber to put down once the floor is in permanently, and I’ve got a set of four recessed cargo hooks picked out. The final issue will be mounting seatbelts through the floor supports.
I still have to sand, prime, and paint the underside on both sides to rust-proof everything.- This will get bolted down permanently after I get the rear springs rebuilt and re-installed, as well as the rest of the frame cleaned and painted.
Steering wheel repair: My brother-in-law scored me a very old and very tired wheel from a yard up in New York State. I’ve seen other folks online effect repairs with two-part epoxy and fancy OEM-grade paint; I’m going to take a whirl at this when the snow is flying and see how well I can make it work. Done 3.25. This came out really well and I can’t wait to mount it on the truck.
Figure out the clutch situation. I know that the transmission works; starting the truck in gear will move it forwards and backwards. But the clutch pedal has no effect on the clutch itself. I have to figure out if it’s just a matter of adjusting the linkage, or if I need to have it gone through by a transmission shop. Done 7.25. I took it to a specialist and learned that I would never have been able to fix this myself. Expensive, but worth it.
Swap in fancy seat belts. I’ve got a set of IH-branded seatbelts from the green truck that I’ve cleaned up and would like to put in. The floor bracket one one was rusty so I soaked it in Evaporust, but I might weld in some doubler steel to reinforce that. Done 3.25. I need one male side buckle for the driver’s side and I’ll probably need a full set of belts for the rear seat, but this is progress.
Fix the brake lights. I have two wires correctly connected to the master cylinder headed back in to the wiring harness, but they don’t do anything when the brake is pressed. The switch on the master cylinder may be bad; jumping the wires lights up the brake lights just fine. I’ll have to use the old one to test it. Done, 1.17
Weld up the driver’s side of the transmission tunnel. I don’t know why I didn’t tackle this when I did the other side, but it’s now bugging me. Done 1.24. This went much faster than I thought it would, which is nice.
Wire in auxiliary circuits. The truck now has a complete 1963-era fuse panel and wiring. I’d like to add a secondary fuse panel with switched power from the accessory circuit to add things like a backup camera/rearview mirror, air conditioning, charging ports, a radio, and other modern conveniences. I found a video that breaks it down to the basics, and suddenly things are a lot clearer to me. I also found a guide for adding a shunt wire from the alternator to the battery to reduce the amperage going through the bulkhead to the ammeter and back again. Done, 2.10. This went easier than I thought it would.