Thread: Shop Truck (True Spirit) Project

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Looks awesome, Mike! That 440 should surprise a few would be street racers.

Moving under it's own power. I'm green with envy.

So what size tires did you end up with?

Tom

Looks great Mike! When you going cruizin'? Got some primer on the box of mine today, might get the old dog done yet!!!!!!

"....might get the old dog done yet!!!!!!...."

I have no doubts Dave.

I ended up with 31/10.5/15s rear and 225/70/15 fronts. I may up the fronts to 235/70/15s at some point but I'm going to let the suspension settle and get the rest of the weight in the bed before I make the final decision.

yeah, once you take it out and bounce it around a bit the suspension will settle in a bit.... That's some really tall rubber on the back!!!!!

The truck was aligned Friday so I finally got a chance to drive it. What a slug!!!!! It idled great but when you gave it some gas it would hardly get out of its own way. I know it’s high geared and has a pretty tall set of tires but damn.

I played with the timing a bit and it helped very little, so I figured this morning I’d play with the jetting on the new 750 AFB I bought. I pulled the step rods and guess what I found……one of the rods had not been machined (stepped) at all. It was like a big cork in the jet. That made a bunch of difference.

I guess I’ll set the step rod with the Craftsman stubby Phillips screwdriver I got in a set at Christmas……the one they forgot to cut the flutes into to actually make it a Phillips.

What ever happened to quality control?????

Hmmm.... That probably isn't going to work real good, is it Mike???? So anyway, the truck probably runs fine considering only 1 side of the primaries is working!!!!!

Don't know about the quality control issues... I've had a lot of parts out of the box bad the last few years... I suppose price has become such an issue with all the manufacturer's that they cut a few positions in QC in order to lower their overhead.... I'm sure Edelbrock will make it right, just the time wasted fixing THEIR problem that a guy never gets compensated for....

".......I've had a lot of parts out of the box bad the last few years......"

Yeah me to. Used to be when I was doing it for a living I'd get maybe one bad part a year. Now just doing my own stuff I normally run into 4-5 a year now. So far on the truck it's been.....

Bad new back up light switch (lasted one shift)

bad new oil pressure sending unit.

Bad Ign switch (a NOS unit)

and the step rod.

I actually kind of figured with a build this extensive that I'd find about that many bad new parts. Anymore I don't just automatically assume that a new parts is good.

I did manage to get the bed cover on. After looking at everything that was out there this is what I decided wanted. A regular tonneau cover only lasts a couple of years out here and I didn’t want all the screw holes on the bed rails. A hard cover is too much of a pain, if I find something I want but that is taller than the bed, it’s take the truck home, remove the cover (by myself) and then reverse the process when I get home. This one powered coated aluminum and rolls up into the canister at the front of the bed, I lose a bit of bed room but for most of the stuff I’ll haul it’s not big deal.

The outfit I bought it from did not make one that was specifically for this truck but with some mixing and matching parts from a couple of different applications I was able to put together something that will work. It’s about 5” short but making a filler plate is no problem. It was one of the more expensive ones out there but I figure that I’ll be keeping the truck for a long time and if I didn’t do it I’d always wished I had.

Here’s a picture of it closed……..

And opened.

Mike those roll back covers are nice didnt make one for my truck in 04 ended up with a hard cover . The adds i seen on them they will hold over 300 lbs and the pics showed a guy standing on it .

This is gonna be too nice to drive! :-)

".....This is gonna be too nice to drive!......"


Naw, me and the 5 year old grandson even took it out for a few miles today.

Don't forget to break it in good before ya start "black trackin"!

The last couple of weeks have been putting some miles on the truck and working out the little bugs. The speedometer has been corrected, I fought a pesky transmission filler tube leak (after the second O ring change it got a new filler tube), dialing in the carburetor, charging the AC etc.

My favorite was the backup light/neutral safety switch. When I had the truck inspected and title changed before I tore it down last fall I had to get all the lights working to pass inspection. I didn’t have working backup lights and traced it back to the switch. Went into town and picked up a new one (I believe it was Bosh, but not sure anymore). Turns out it was made in China and lasted 1 time before the internal spring broke. I was a little grumpy and pulled a 30 year old used one from a core tranny I had laying around. It worked and got me thru inspection. Well the TCI tranny I bought came with a new switch so I used that. It lasted about a week and it stopped working. When I pulled it out it was stamped made in India. Anyway the 30 year old used one is in it now and working great.

I did have the local upholstery guy re-do the sun visors and stitch and install a headliner in it. I’m really happy with the work (it was the same guy that did the interior in the 57 Plymouth).

The stripes are supposed to go on next week which I’m really looking forward to as will just about complete the truck.

Looks great Mike! I like the red color and stitching too!