My '95 RCLB C1500

[Canadian Rust Bucket]

Hello all,
I have some recent pictures of my day spent reinstalling the cab on the project truck after a complete upper and lower cab mount replacement. Turns out I can read a tape measure, 'cause it all lined up. (I'm really happy about that, it was a serious point of concern)

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Here she is painted and on the scaffold waiting to roll back into the garage

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After I rolled it in, and cleaned off the garbage pile I accumulated on the frame. You can see the cab is airborne above the scaffold, held up by the winch on the ceiling.

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Cab and frame reunited, no issues. Gotta love when a plan comes together.

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Side view. Shows my floor pan, rocker, cab corners and cab mount replacements didn't botch the job.

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Waiting to drive out of the shop!

 

[1997]

Nice work, jealous of your shop, wow.

 

[Canadian Rust Bucket]

Nice work, jealous of your shop, wow.

Thanks! My dad and I built it and have been upgrading it for the last ten years. The ceiling mounted hose + extension cord reels are the cat's pyjamas. And the winch on the track is good for 1000lbs of lift.
The only reason I can even attempt this frame-off restoration is because of the shop

 

[Canadian Rust Bucket]

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Got my kilmat about 90% installed. Took me almost a day, but it was pretty easy going. There's a few more spots to insulate but I'm saving them for after I get it running again.

 

[Canadian Rust Bucket]

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Been crazy busy with work, but I finally got around to putting the dash back in. It was in really good shape for a ten-owner truck, so I sanded and painted it with the duplicolour vinyl paint.
I completely refurbished the heater box, finished the A/C delete, and remounted the foam firewall insulator on top of the kilmat.
The whole interior is getting redone in black since it needed a refresh anyway. A few years in the woods is not kind to fabrics. You can't really see it in these pictures, but I disassembled the column shroud and gave it a coat of paint too.

I also ran new wire for all four speakers, an amp, and a sub while I had the dash out. The mouse that ate my radio wires was nowhere to be found, even after I disassembled the dash duct. At least I found his nest and cleared it out.

 

[Canadian Rust Bucket]

So I was puttering around in the garage, cleaning up, and found a box I hadn't opened. Checked it, and realised it had my new oil pressure sensor, o2 sensor, and coolant temp sensor in it. I'd forgotten to install them when I had the cab off the first time.
After I kicked myself, I pulled the cab again, but only a few feet back to get clearance.

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After I sheared the bottom few threads of the old o2 sensor off in the y-pipe, I ordered a $5 thread cleaner off Amazon, got the thread fixed, and the new sensors installed.

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While I was in there I replaced the heat shield for the starter wiring that mounts to the rear of the block. Like everything else on this truck, it had nearly rusted away.

With any luck, this will be the last time I pull the cab. Have it down to a ten minute job at this point, though!

 

[Canadian Rust Bucket]

It's been a busy couple of nights, puttering away whenever I can. But there is lots of progress to report.
I got some of the interior lighting switched over to LEDs. I've been leaning towards a purple scheme for this truck since I bought it, as an homage to my grandad's old Ford, which he painted in a vibrant Barney shade of purple. The trucks in the fleet should match, after all.

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I am well pleased with how the lighting has turned out. Though I may go with a base black with purple accents, rather than doing the whole truck in purple. Any thoughts?

Switching from the interior for a moment, I went back to the engine bay and started to piece that back together after the intake gasket (etc.) replacement. I've been throwing new parts at the engine for a while, mostly because everything I touch is so damned rusty or brittle that it breaks, or I simply can't bear to look at it anymore.
The new inner fenders went on with no issue, and line up with my homemade mounts on the cab, since old ones rusted off.

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Battery mounted, new starter wired up, throttle and trans shift cable attached... A whole bunch of small odds and sods got crossed off the list.

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There she is, looking a little dusty but starting to come together and not look like a half-parted out junkyard truck anymore.
Also, the truck hasn't run or moved under its own power since around April, so today was quite the milestone. I got the ******* to fire up and run pretty well after tweaking the timing on the distributor. I still haven't put a timing light to it, but that will happen soon.
I'm mostly just ecstatic that the engine didn't immediately start pissing oil, since I've disturbed so many parts of it at this point. I let her idle for about ten minutes and there were no signs of leaks or issues of any kind.

Once I finish bleeding the brakes again, she'll be ready for a test drive.

Thanks to all who spend their time on this forum. Without you folks I wouldn't be able to make this happen!

 

[Canadian Rust Bucket]

Attempted the brake bleed after work yesterday. The fronts bleed fine, but the rears have nothing but air.
So, after a bit of diagnosis, I figured out the reason the rear brakes won't bleed is there is no fluid coming out of the master cylinder. I think it has failed internally. An AC Delco replacement has been ordered and will be on my doorstep by the 7th.

 

[Canadian Rust Bucket]

Big day today! Took her out for a drive!

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Runs, drives, and stops. Of course, I made it well into the driveway before I realized I hadn't hooked the gas pedal back up! It wouldn't be mine if I didn't forget something important every day. But, even at idle the old girl has enough pep to test the new master cylinder.

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Bench bled the master, bolted it in, bled the brakes... And the truck still rolled freely in park, after I took it out of the dollies. A little adjustment on the transmission end of the shift cable, and she shifts like new. Great success!

Back to the gas pedal. I had pulled it for about the fourth time because it keeps getting in the way. Kilmat install, firewall sound deadening, underpad, the new vinyl floor, all made easier by not having it in there.

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It's not in there perfectly yet, and I'm not done trimming, but it's a step closer to being finished. While working on the floor, and locating the seat and seat belt bolts I realized I hadn't looked at the seats since I stashed them in the basement a year ago. So I went down there, to see what I could see.

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They're pretty rusty underneath, as expected. Particularly the front driver's side. Other than the rust, they're actually in decent shape. I'll still be switching the upholstery with a black vinyl for ease of cleaning, though.

My Cunningham lower steering shaft arrived today, and about ten minutes later was on the truck. Fits perfectly, no muss no fuss. Happened so fast I forgot to take a picture!
I'll be putting their heavy duty bushings and rollers in next, so I can stop cosplaying as a Jeep guy and put the doors back on.

 

[Canadian Rust Bucket]

Spent the day touching up the work I've done recently.
-Fixed a fuel leak at the throttle body
-Fixed leaking prop valve fittings
-Reinstalled distributor and set timing to TDC
-Installed gas pedal
-Made and installed temporary seat
-Found out that with such a light rear end I can spin the tires with 0 effort
-Told my dad to stop sending me the forms to join the local demo derby

Here's a shot of the truck after I took it out for a couple of runs down the driveway:

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It's still missing some important bits to make it roadworthy, but I think I'm over most of the big hurdles at this point. Famous last words, but...

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