46 Power Wagon Restoration pt. 2

[Bruce in BC]

radiator trick

Buy some foam , cut and glue it in the shape that you need and will fit. Write the dimensions and location of the inlet , outlet and filler. Or better yet make those parts and mount them in the correct position on the radiator.
You get a test fit and the rad shop has a model……...

[Desoto61]

That's a good way to do it. I gave them some drawings and photos with the important dimensions but one lesson I've learned is that while AutoCAD can draw anything that doesn't mean it can be done, so they owe me a drawing showing what they actually plan to do, and I just need to be really careful about checking all those dimensions. Which might be where that foam trick comes in.

[bobyepsr]

Desoto61, there is a bottom channel that uses the same regulator as the vented door. It looks the same as the one with a vent, but is longer to reach the front guide. I would think you could lengthen your old ones. Jim

[Waspworks]

Desoto61, there is a bottom channel that uses the same regulator as the vented door. It looks the same as the one with a vent, but is longer to reach the front guide. I would think you could lengthen your old ones. Jim

Interesting.. Do you know if these are available new/repro Jim?

Greg.

[Desoto61]

I had heard there was a different guide, but I hadn't seen one, if that was the only difference I probably could have, would have saved me a bit of money.

Oh well, I managed to figure out a solution today. The interference was minimal, as the hotrod door lever mechanisms I used have two mounting studs but is mostly open on the bottom, so I only needed a little space.

So after some experiments I decided to re-drill the mounting holes about 3/4" higher. Too much higher and I'd hit the linkage, not enough and I'd just elongate the holes and make mounting it harder, or not get enough clearance and make a bigger mess.

It worked out well enough, my linkage still works, it actually took a little of the slack out and tightened it up a little. The old holes will be hidden so I don't have to worry about closing them up. Only down side is I'll have to modify the cover panel for the new location, but I've modified everything else, why stop there!

[Desoto61]

Also decided to try that electrolytic rust removal everyone keeps suggesting, and one of the two window regulators was pretty rusty and I was hesitant to use the media cabinet for fear of getting blast grit in all the pivots.

So I just used some scrap I had around and a little charger as an experiment. It worked OK, it did come out better than it went in. Might need to take a little more time and build a better setup and try again.

I also worked on cleaning up the pair of cab lights I bought on eBay since I know one of mine is bad. These are pitted but better than mine and were reasonable. I blasted what I could but the inside is harder so I used an Eastwood etch solution on them. Works better at the nooks and crannies and leaves a zinc coating on the parts which are small enough to be dipped in them. Not bad, still slower than blasting but more thorough.

I have new mounting stud pieces for them. Also considering building an LED "plate" to replace the bulb/reflector assembly. You can get conversion bulbs but they wouldn't work as well as something dedicated because of the nature of LEDs.

[bobyepsr]

I don't know where to get that type of window channel. I found one in a door, and the other door of the same truck had the other type. I thought the common type used with one pc. door glass would raise the window more evenly so that's what I used.

Desoto61, are you going to polish the shine back on the stainless cowl light rims? I've gotten pretty good at bumping out dents and repolishing headlight and cowl light rims. I have a buffer that came from a jewery store I use. The reflectors are reproed for fords and are exact fit. They cost $8.75 each from MacsAutoParts.com Let me know if you'd like me to polish the rings. Jim

[Desoto61]

I appriciate the offer! I've gone back and forth on the chrome. I have used stainless fasteners in many places, but for corrosion resistance more than bling. I'm thinking of painting the housings body color and powder coating the rings black, but if I decide to go shiney I'll keep it in mind. Right now I'm thinking the only shiney metal on the outside will be the Dodge and Power Wagon logos and mabye a big C.

As for the reflectors one of my goals was to go with pretty much all LED lighting, it's low load and very long lasting, so I'm tempted to build an LED insert for the housing vice just using a conversion bulb, at which point the reflector is redundant. I've even picked up a pair of LED headlights, which is probably one of the next projects to tackle, I don't remember how good a quality they were.

[bobyepsr]

This is the door window channel that lets a with vent window style regulator operate a one piece window. I welded a support under this one because it was rusted beyond use. I feel that a short one could be lengthened. I would cut a donor channel for the part and then reinforce under the splice. Jim

[Desoto61]

Have a long weekend to work on the truck, but there are so many different tasks that I tend to bounce between many and somehow feel like I don't get anything done. But there was some progress.

I had torn down the plastic as it's dirty and torn and will need replaced before I paint again. So with "full" access to the garage I turned to other tasks (and I really don't want to sand). I installed U-joints in the front driveshaft as well as taking it apart and cleaning an greasing the splines. I think there's some sort of seal supposed to be there but mine is gone. I plan to have the axle shop look them over and balance them, hopefully they can replace that seal. The t-case yoke on my truck is for the larger style u-joint like on the input side, so I'll need to have that modified on my shaft, I also need to order one more lower u-joint as they only had two when I placed the first order. It also got separated and greased, and will need gone through and balanced by the driveshaft shop.

The intermediate shaft will either need modified or replaced as it needs shortened due to the longer transmission (and it's already short) as well as needing one end replaced to mate with the Chevy transmission output. The end is the right size so they may be able to re-use them for the rear and t-case end of the intermediate shaft.

My truck was missing one of the covers for the windshield wipers, so I picked up another set from somewhere, since I am using a different wiper setup I don't need the switch holes, so I used one of the covers to donate patches for the other two. It's annoying to weld something like that though (plus I suck at welding), even with the grinder it's pretty rough, but a little filler will hide it fine.

I also built a better electrolysis tank and used my big battery charger and after some more time and a little scrubbing the regulator came out pretty good. I'll throw a little paint at it and then I can grease it and install it.

(sorry for the small pics, these file size limits are really annoying sometimes).

[Desoto61]

The big project was modifying my bumpers. I wanted to install some fog lights (we get a lot of fog here), and have them better integrated than just bolting them to the top or bottom of the bumper. After cutting a large hole I centered and then built some mounting tabs and welded them to the back to hold the lights. The hole was a little larger than I had intended it to be, but it will allow for some adjustment of the pattern which is good.

The lights are LED and are nice though the covers that came with them I don't really like. Half tempted to remove them and install some expanded metal in the openings for protection instead.

I did hold back for once, I made the tabs out of some 3/16" plate and was going to build a gusset for them but the lights weigh almost nothing so I doubt I have any strength issues to worry about.

[Desoto61]

The custom radiator arrived over the weekend. Very quick turnaround. So I played around with getting it mounted. It fits all right, though the lower radiator hose is going to be a bit of a challenge. It also hits home just how little space I have in front of the engine. I could have made it a little taller, but it should be fine.

The intercooler could probably have been made to fit, but rather than try to cut and modify it I ended up ordering a different unit that should fit much easier.

[Desoto61]

While I'm waiting on the intercooler and the radiator hoses and parts I continued getting parts ready for paint. Mainly the two front fenders. I had painted them with primer surfacer before getting the undersides LineX-ed, so they just needed to be block sanded. Then did a bunch of cleaning and started setting everything up for paint.

Need more hanging space really, but this works well enough. Masked off the garage a little differently but it's quicker and easier and with the cab in the back half it wasn't much use anyway.

[Desoto61]

Found more parts that needed painted black, so had to re-configure my hanging space and try to fit it all in. Not ideal, but neither is having to do two rounds of painting. I'll have another batch of black items, but for now this is the majority of it.

I mixed up a small batch of primer and using a small funnel poured it into the frame halves and worked them around to try and get a good coating of the interior surfaces. Wiping off the excess that managed to leak out. Hopefully that will protect the interior of the frame. Still thinking about alternative methods of filling it though.

Everything gets a coat of epoxy primer, as a base on most of the parts and as a seal coat on the fenders since I burned through the surfacer in a few places. I did that Friday evening, which worked out well since the odd shapes meant I ended up with some runs in a few places, so I could sand them back and give a quick touch up before moving on to the color and clear.

I used my full size gun this time, which I'm still learning. The color wasn't too bad, but the clear is still tricky. The first coat had a lot of peel in it, and many of the parts were mixes of too dry and too wet. After some more adjustment the second coat went better. I did a third coat on the fenders, windshield frame, and fronts of the bumpers. Everything else got two coats.

[Desoto61]

The fenders came out pretty good. I resisted the urge to do much with them today as the clear is still pretty soft. I looked everything over and not too bad, a bit of orange peel on the bumpers, and one big run on one of them. But I've got a spot on part of the windshield frame that got missed, so I'll have to figure out how to feather that in and re-paint it.

I did sit down with a file and re-open the fender bracket mounting holes that had slowly been closed up with LineX and filler. Then fitted some the carriage bolts and mounted the brackets using top-lock nuts on the underside.

The lower brackets are reproductions and didn't quite line up, but I just enlarged the holes slightly and that corrected most of it. The biggest problem was my remedial math skills where I somehow ended up with four fewer bolts than I needed. So I'll have to put those in with the next batch of black items to be painted.

I'll give them a day or two before I move them out and start on the next batch to paint, which will be most of the remaining blue items, but first I need to finish any modifications to the radiator cowl top.