46 Power Wagon Restoration pt. 2

[Alxj64]

Nowhere to hide now!

I got this text message this morning! A buddy of mine spotted you! He works for Weeks Marine over in Ptown so I guess he saw you on the way into the yards. Nowhere to hide now!

[Desoto61]

Ha! Yes, on my way to work too. Had a buddy call me the other day on my way home because he had seen it running down the road in front of his work. Slowly getting used to driving it, and more confident in its operation. Like Bruce it's also a good chance to work on all those annoying little issues, and with that 4BT under the hood it will show you anything not up to spec!

[Desoto61]

Managed to fit all the panels, most were a little tight, and the bed isn't perfectly square, so a little grinding and fitting was needed. Want a little extra space to allow for the liner too, just not sure how much. Might need to have it sprayed in two sessions so I can re-fit the panels once the bed floor and sides are done.

Then I could clamp the panel in place and drill pilot holes for some bolts. I drilled the holes out, ran a bolt in and used some square nuts on the back side which I then tack welded into place.

Used a stainless piano hinge for the box top. I drilled and tapped holes in the top rail to bolt the hinge to the bed, then riveted the top of the hinge to the plate to make it a little more tamper proof (temporarily for now).

I ordered a set of gas struts and a hand-full of different brackets to mount them. The strut I ordered is strong enough I should only need one. The bottom bracket I bolted to the framework the top I will weld to the lid though it will have to be protected for blasting and painting.

To secure everything I ordered a few sets of simple key locks and installed one at each end that latch under the angle iron on the front. Not as convenient as some releases but simple and I'll run a gasket underneath for some water resistance.

I have an idea for how I'm going to do the battery door but I'll show that once I get the details figured out.

[Desoto61]

Slowly working on the bed. Lots of other things going on lately, and the heat doesn't help.

Currently working on the fenders. They mounted to a lip that I cut off when I removed them, so the goal was to recreate it. The fender then spot welded to the lip. Took some thicker metal bar stock and tack welded it in a few spots around the finder opening. Then I could cut a strip of 16 ga. steel and clamp it to those bars adjusting to get then curve correct. Then I went and spot welded the strip in place to the bed side, working from one end to the other so I could tweak and adjust the shape to follow the existing opening as I went. Once the shape was locked in I could cut the supports away and finish welding the strip in place.

Next is trying to fit the fender back in place and weld it on.

[Desoto61]

We had a temporary reprieve from the heat so I tried to tackle a few issues on the truck itself. The blower motor resister went bad so I have no fan speeds. Verified it was the resistor assembly by disconnecting the fan power and feeding it 12v to the different speeds. Luckily it's stull just barely under warranty so should be replaced.

A related issue was that the intercooler on my truck is narrower than the radiator and AC condenser which allows air to bypass the condenser and go around the intercooler. At low speeds this means the fans aren't pulling air through the AC condenser and my AC suffers. To combat that I made a pair of shrouds out of some black coated aluminum plate. They fit to either side of the condenser and block off the sides. Seems to do the job pretty well. Only downside is I had to remove the horns so need to locate a new spot for them.

Still have an electrical gremlin with the speedo to chase down too. It would randomly show speeds I wasn't going, even sometimes while sitting still. Determined that it has something to do with the radiator fans, coming on, but too hot to try and troubleshoot right now.

[Desoto61]

Troubleshooting and repairs

Driving the truck to work a few weeks ago and started smelling something burning, never a good thing but couldn't place it. A few minutes later and definite smoke, in a panic I pull over and shut down the truck trying to find out the source. Long story short I burned out the blower motor resistor pack, so I had two speeds, off and high but good it wasn't more serious.

Bad news was after contacting Vintage Air the resistor is replaced as part of the blower motor. Good news was that I was three days before the end of the warranty on the unit so they sent along a replacement for free. Replacement however was not as simple. On a bench there are 6 screws that would be easily removed and installed. That would mean draining the AC and coolant and removing the unit.

Not sure I saved myself much trying to do it in the truck. The glovebox had to be removed and the mounting bolts for the unit. A screwdriver took out three of the screws, while a fourth required some swivels and extensions with a socket bit. The two at the back however are tight against the firewall and essentially had to be remove using a bit and wrench.

Installation isn't much better. The two rear screws self-tap, which meant marking them off and pre-drilling the holes from the old to the new unit, and even at that it was a slow and difficult task to install those two screws blind. All in all it definitely took longer than removing the unit, but did save me from having to evacuate and drain the cooling and AC.

The other problem has been the speedometer. Speedhut thought it might be a ground issue, which had occurred to me too. I swapped the speedometer ground point and verified the wiring harness for the gauges, but found no problems and it didn't solve the problem.

I suspected an alternator problem, so I verified the ground on the alternator which was shared with the fan controller. So I created a separate ground point for the alternator, but that didn't change anything either. So I just broke down and ordered a rebuilt alternator. So far that seems to have helped. I've seen it blip once or twice, but it has been far more stable and the charging voltage has been a little higher.

Plus side is it's back on the road, still have some troubleshooting to do, and a few things to tweak, but little steps. Also my shrouds do seem to help as the AC has been more consistent and engine temps seem unaffected.

[Ammo]

Sounds like things are progressing. Any time you get frustrated, just think of the countless people (like me) that would love to have your problems. You're able to drive and enjoy the PW, unlike mine that is 1/2 ripped apart. Thanks for sharing your build.

[Desoto61]

Had another strange problem with the speedometer the other day. We had a lot of rain a few weeks ago so I took the truck to work. While stuck behind some traffic trying to navigate all the ponding on the roads I stuck the trans in it's creeper gear and was inching along when the trip odometer just started counting mileage at a good pace, even though I wasn't moving, or barely moving. Took some video to send to Speedhut and had to cycle power to the gauge to get it to stop.

They requested the gauge be sent back for testing, so had to tear it out and ship it off. They serviced it quickly but shipped it ground so it took a few days to get back. Ticket stated there were no physical problems found so they re-flashed the software and sent it back. Definitely seems better damped than it was, so far no issues but only have about 30 miles on it.

Luckily it came back just before Matthew showed up so I got it installed in case I needed to venture out in the storm, which I did, and while it ran fine, I also found some leaks. The windshield gasket has always leaked a little, unfortunately it seems to be because the frame doesn't quite fit the cab right, it's tight at the ends and a little loose in the middle, but with the glass installed and the rarity of these frames I am hesitant to try and tweak the frame fitment, I'll have to look into another solution.

The bigger problem is the cowl vent. When sitting it's fine, but while driving in the heavier rains it seems like I'm getting water driven over the seal and right down behind the dash onto my foot. I've ordered some thin weather stripping I plan to attach to the underside of the vent to see if that will seal the vent.

Worse than that I have some sort of electrical gremlin that only shows up when something gets wet, just not sure what that is. It caused all the lights to come on while parked, and a similar issue with the dome lights. Ended up puling the fuses, but once everything dried out it was fine. Tough to troubleshoot in the kind of weather that seems to cause it. Added and double checked a few ground wires just but will have to wait for another rainy day to really check, and I'm in no hurry for that.

Work on the bed continues, one fender mounted and patched, starting to patch the second fender. Then I can test fit it on the truck to check for any interferences and also figure out and drill the mounting holes to the frame.

The big issue is still the tailgate, not sure exactly what I want to do there yet.

[Desoto61]

Bed is coming slowly, will have to get some pictures up but since Google killed Picasa that's harder to do.

Working on a few other small tasks though. Seems the colder weather is making some of the cooling system joints leak, especially in the cab, have been going around tightening clamps here and there, but it's like whack-a-mole sometimes. Don't want them over tight but it never drips when I'm in the right place to be certain which one needs tightened.

Starting has always been tricky, some of that (I figured) is the battery is currently bolted to the crossmember behind the bed for now, so the battery cables are longer than they will be once the bed is on, even with good 0-gauge cables it's a long run, and while I can shorten them some I was hoping to only do it once.

But if it sits for a few days especially the starter struggles to spin over the motor. If I throw it on the charger or get it started and run for a while all is usually good though.

I eventually did shorten the ground wire and doubled checked all the connections as well as looking for any drains when the truck is off, but they were all minimal. Had the battery tested, and while I'm still not convinced it's 100% they asked about the starter. I hadn't gone through the starter, and while it struggles a bit even when the battery is charged I attributed that to the longer than ideal cables. But to be sure I removed it to take a look.

I have two starters for the motor, one that came with the SAE3 housing that was on the motor, and one that came with the Chevy adapter I put on. They are identical except for the shape of the nose around the gear, but it's enough that while the SAE starter is newer and has a really nice grounding lug on the case it just doesn't quite fit into the Chevy adapter. So after looking at the two I decided to just remove and swap over the nose pieces which on these starters are interchangeable.

With the battery back in it has made a big difference. While it still slows on the compression stroke, it's far less than the old starter. Guess it really was more worn out than I thought, though I am still not sure the battery is 100%. I'll probably go and rebuild the other starter and keep it as a spare, though I'd have to swap the nose again to use it.

[Desoto61]

The Hampton Roads area had winter visit hard this weekend. While most hunkered down like intelligent people I used it as an excuse to finally use 4WD in the Power Wagon.

Topped off the tank to add a little extra weight over the back tires since I still have no bed. Plus side is my math showed about 20 mpg of essentially all in-town driving. We'll see how that holds up going forward.

4WD worked great, no weird sounds, pulled well and was quiet and stable. The KO2s deserve a lot of the credit, even in 2WD they were very good on the snow and ice.

I let the truck warm up with the block heater for a while before starting it Saturday, and it started fine. Sunday I was clearing snow and wanted to just shift it around to shovel under it, so decided to see how it did really cold (about 27 degrees and no pre-heat) I don't have any sort of grid heater on it. It fired quickly (definitely a worn starter before), it ran pretty rough with some white smoke, and didn't like any throttle for a minute or so, but still that was pretty good considering, and after that it was fine.

Today I used it to drive into work and hit my first hiccup. Coming down and overpass and had no throttle. Figured something might have worked loose, all the ice on the roads has made them rather rough. Pushed in the clutch and the engine dies, not good. Drift as far off to the side as I can with all the snow and put on the 4ways, luckily there's not a lot of traffic. Long story short there was something going on with the fuel solenoid. It wouldn't pull up when I turned the key, but it wouldn't move either, so the hold coil was working but not the pull-up coil. I ended up pulling the fuel shutoff lever and wedging it on with my leatherman tool. That let the vehicle start, and when I went back to remove the leatherman to find it had fallen out so the pull up worked with a little help. I was nervous the rest of the drive in but had no further issues. Shut the truck off at work and out of curiosity started it again and it fired fine, so not sure what kind of gremlin that was, but we'll see if it comes back. The solenoid was new and is one of the Larry B Heavy Duty units running off of their relay, doesn't rule out a bad unit but I'd guess a wiring glitch.

On the bed front I finally have a plan for the tailgate, I've got big pieces of steel cut and have started tacking things together to see if it will work out. Pictures coming eventually.

[gyman98]

Thanks for the updates!

[Desoto61]

Turns out it's not electrical, it's some sort of fuel issue. Died today too in exactly the same location, the only thing unique about that location is that it's an overpass which is essentially about the only non-flat section of road I travel on.

I noticed having to downshift on the way up which isn't normal, but figured it might be the cold temps, but it again wanted to die on the way back down the other side. It restarted more quickly, I think because left the clutch in and kept the motor spinning a little longer.

Could be lift pump issue, or just a combination of the cold fuel and a weak pump? Plus side is our cold snap is over today, downside is it makes it a little harder to troubleshoot going forward. I will say I didn't have the same problem on the way home yesterday going over the same overpass and the temps were only slightly warmer.

On the plus side I did get a little video of the truck in the snow. https://youtu.be/sLIRQ2uoVvo

[Matthew Welcher PWA]

As the gremlins get worked out. The trucks I believe become more real and tangent. Think about when your were planning and designing it out in your mind, now it is giving fits and seeking attention through mechanical issues.
I myself see that as very exciting.
Look at how far this truck has come along.

[Desoto61]

As the gremlins get worked out. The trucks I believe become more real and tangent. Think about when your were planning and designing it out in your mind, now it is giving fits and seeking attention through mechanical issues.
I myself see that as very exciting.
Look at how far this truck has come along.

Absolutely, I get frustrated that I have to re-do something, or that it didn't work but it is a great learning event, which is why I try to document it here too. But yes, as I put miles on it and work through issues I get more comfortable and more confident in using it.

I tend to imagine I'll have to rebuild this thing again as I figure out what I should have done the first time, but this time I get to do it in pieces.

[Desoto61]

The fenders on the bed were in pretty decent condition, but not perfect. The bottoms on back sides were worse as they had some sheet metal strips that were poorly attached between the back of the fender and the rear bed step platforms, they trapped water and rotted out. There were similar issues at the front on some sides.

The fender has a wire rolled lip like the front fenders, for one side the area to be replaced ran into that wire. My solution was to cut to the wire, leaving it intact and clean it up. I cut the patch longer than the wire, welded it into place along the top, then tacked the end of the wire to the patch. Then I could trim it along the line formed by the wire, again leaving it longer so I could use a hammer and dolly to roll the excess over the wire. It came out well. I used my TIG as an excuse to get some more experience with it, I need a lot more practice, but a grinder and some body work will hide most sins.

There are holes punched along the inside edge that were brazed to the lip on the bed side. In removing those fenders some of the joints broke loose with an air chisel, but some tore out, mostly the passenger side. Those had to be patched too. I basically welded new pieces in and then re-drilled the holes.

Then I could clean up the two surfaces, apply some weld-through primer to both surfaces and then put the fenders in place and used some pop-rivets to hold them in place while I welded them together. I used a hammer and dolly and made sure to shape the inner lip tight to the fender to minimize any gaps. I'd like to have the inside Line-X'ed like on the front fenders when I have the inside of the bed done. That should help seal up that gap from below at least.

For Christmas I got a big jack and the brackets to mount them. I ended up deciding it would go opposite the spare tire vertically. This kind of balances out the look of the truck, and all the mounting bolts will be hidden inside the tool box.