'88 RCLB C3500 "Roscoe P. Coltrane"

[Erik the Awful]

Dinner?

Turkey season starts October 1st for bow hunting. My wife has her lifetime hunting license and she keeps threatening to take one for Thanksgiving. She'll need to go get a bow first. This is the second year in a row we've had these turkeys roaming the neighborhood. They were sitting on Roscoe for about an hour yesterday morning.

I spy with my little eyes a dually front wheel. Or has that been a thing and I forgot?

The previous owner started converting it to a dually when the transmission crapped out. The cab-top lights were buried in mouse poo in the cab. Thank goodness he didn't go through with cutting holes in the roof. If anybody wants to swap some DRW front rotors for some SRW, I'm up for it, but I'm not shipping that heavy crap.

 

[Erik the Awful]

I talked with "Ricky Bobby", my coworker who gave me the truck, yesterday. We're still trying to sort out the title. He has the title, but it has a lien on it. His dad paid the lien off, but he can't find the lien release, and he never filed the lien release to get a clear title. The bank that held the lien has been out of business for over twenty years. He does know one of the former bank employees who could write a statement saying the lien was paid off, but she's in her 70s and has dementia.

Ugh. I think I'm going to have to type up a bill-of-sale, print off some pictures of the truck as it was when I got it, get a statement about the lien from Ricky Bobby, and see if I can go in front of a judge and get a bench title.

Before the Vermont loophole closed, I was considering pursuing a Vermont title, but the affidavits required stating the vehicle was operable, which Roscoe very much was not. I'm not signing a legal affidavit untruthfully.

Right now I'm waiting for the weather to cool off a bit so I can finish painting the cab and get the rear window reinstalled.

 

[Erik the Awful]

I haven't made any progress in months until this week. I finally pulled the mouse-chewed interior harness from the cab and sat down in the living room with it and the harness I bought at Pull-A-Part. I was hoping there was enough of both to make a complete harness, and excepting one underdash light socket, I managed to make a single complete harness. Then I repeated the task with the HVAC harness, and I had enough there to build a full harness as well!

I went through a full roll of 3M Super 33 electrical tape and about 50 heat shrink crimp connectors. Fortunately, I keep plenty of that stuff on hand.

The weather's cooler, and my goal tomorrow is to finish sanding and painting the cab. Once that's done I can get the glass installer out to put the rear window back in.

I could roll WCJr into the shop and work on getting the rebuilt transmission installed, but I'm trying to keep my shop open for a couple of days just in case a fellow racer who's making a cross-country trip needs to make an emergency repair.

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[454cid]

Progress always feels good, especially when it's taking a piece of crap and making it good again. Also, jealous of that open space in the shop you mentioned.

 

[HawkDsl]

how hard is it to pull apart the firewall connector (AKA convenience center). I got a short to ground , and I'm dreading that job... hoping to avoid it really.

ABTW, on your picking up the project day. I've never seen anything near as bad as that muck in the cab of that truck on your day 1. That is truly amazing.

 

[Erik the Awful]

The firewall connector has a single bolt in the center in the engine side. Pull that bolt and the engine harness separates from the interior harness. Then pull the two screws securing the interior harness to the firewall and the harness is only held in place by sealant. Give it a shove and it's free. Far easier if you have the interior stripped, though.

The paint's drying. Again, this isn't an attempt to turn this into a 20 footer. This is an attempt to put good paint around the rear window so that I can put it back together. I don't give a flying flip about the paint. That said, I did try to make this a learning experience. I used three cans of primer, one can of filler, and one can of gloss black. I really needed a second can of filler and gloss, and this is just the roof, a-pillars, b-pillars, and rear window surround. I might buy another can of gloss, because it's too thin on the roof, but the chances are slim.

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[Erik the Awful]

Yesterday.

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Today I got out and started work on replacing the front bumper. I started pulling the headlights to access the grille screws and found more wiring damage.

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It looks like I'm going to have to visit Pull-A-Part again and get the lighting harness. I also lubed up the tailgate latches and arms. I went to install the tailgate handle and realized I don't have the plastic clips the rods fit into. They're in my Amazon basket, so it'll be a few days before I can finish that. I also still need to put a screw clamp over the tailgate socket to prevent the tailgate from walking off.

I was missing the corner trim piece behind the front bumper that fits under the passenger fender, but I'd already nabbed one from Pull-A-Part, so now it's a matter of finding some screws at the hardware store so I can put it in place. I'll probably hold off on installing the front bumper until I get the wiring harness repaired. Right now the weather's fantastic, and it's supposed to turn cold on Friday, but it'll be Friday or Saturday before I can make it to Pull-A-Part.

 

[89RCLB]

Progress!

 

[Erik the Awful]

I'm such a liar. I piddled around the house for another half hour and couldn't sit still, so I packed up my toolbox and boogied on over to Pull-A-Part. I got a completely intact front wiring harness off a single-headlight truck. My headlight plugs on my harness are absolutely destroyed, so I'll have to buy some pigtails, but that's a minor inconvenience. I completely forgot to get the plastic clips for my tailgate handle, so I ordered those from Amazon for $6 and they should be here Monday.

I was keeping my eyes open, looking for other bargains, and I spotted a 1994 2WD 4L60E hanging underneath a truck. The only things holding it in place were the cotter pin in the shifter linkage and the wiring harness. Just yesterday my son mentioned the transmission was really starting to slip in his truck. I took it as a sign from God and yoinked that transmission. I'm so glad the 4L60s/4L60Es fit in my Mustang's trunk. I think this is the fourth time I've carried one. I figure there's about a 5% chance the transmission is good - especially since the fluid that leaked from it looked like graphite. For $150, it's a (probably) rebuildable core, but if he's flat broke, we'll throw a fresh wiring harness and filter on it and take a chance on it being at least driveable.

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I got home and got back to work on installing the bumper and found that the bumper mounts in the frame are bent, and that the body mount on the driver's side is bent. Somebody did a hack job repairing damage from a light fender bender. I also discovered that the replacement front bumper I have is significantly thinner and lighter metal than the factory chrome bumper. I'm okay with that, and the black replacement bumper looks way cooler than the rusty chrome bumper. At some point I'll get back to Pull-A-Part and get replacement mounts so I can bolt it on straight.

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[Komet]

I love plucking big parts off of cars in the yard like fruit at the grocery store. My transfer case was pre-pulled just waiting for me on a bed frame.