Got the right side inner cab corner and rocker welded in today. The cab is finally starting to go back together. Was able to remove the bracing across the right side door opening as well once the rocker was in place. Put a little patch on the floor as well.

Welcome to the 'bolt.

My good friend with a ‘50 chevy ratrod keeps a spare tire upside down in the bed with one of those land speed looking aluminum hubcaps with a little finger hole in it to pop it off. He uses the rim like a tool box. Keeps a fuel pump, spare wires, starter, coil, and a bunch of tools and zipties. I always thought that was a great little trick. His bed floor is a screen type thing from a old rock crusher plant so i think he has the tire bolted through it with a wingnut so it stays in place.

If you unplug both wires, put a wire into the plugs. If the lights come on, and the lights didn't come on using the switch it's bad (when both wires were connected to switch). The screws are on the inside of the firewall. I had to remove a lot of crude to find mine.

I think that bumper will hit the license plate too. And kevinski its funny you say that because I unbolted mine from a truck stacked up on another truck and it was in a pile of trucks and it was a little twisted. I took the bumper bolts off with my Milwaukee impact gun. Well i was holding my hand on the head to keep it engaged so it wouldn’t spin in the square. Well when i got to that last corner one it let go like a bomb. I thought i lost some fingers or at least broke them. They were still there but they hurt for a while. Be careful with those bumpers under pressure.

A safer way might be to take it to a radiator shop and have it hot tanked...

Mike B

I was driving my 56 3100 the other day for about 15 minutes and the truck just died. It has it's original 235 6 cylinder engine. I sat on the side of the road and tried to start it. Would not start. I pulled the choke all the way out and it started. When I pushed the choke in it died. Managed to get home with the choke pulled out. Took the carb off and took the top cover off. To my amazement the power piston was jammed in its cylinder. I loosened it up and pulled it out, sanded it with fine sandpaper and cleaned out the cylinder and fine sanded it as well. Made sure it moved freely and reinstalled the cover. Started the engine and it ran great again. So if this helps someone with the same problem that will be great.

A 300 ft lb torque wrench is not all that expensive and would be a nice addition to your tool box...or after you get it together drive it to your local big truck repair garage and ask them to re-torque them for you, but that may cost more than the wrench

Mike B

I drew up the driveshaft maker the most perfectly clear diagram for my last build. I didn’t have a yoke (I figured they would want to choose the one for whatever joints they had) it was a normal gm 27 spline like TH350. So I couldn’t give them a u-joint center to center. But i did give them a illustration picture clearly stating from rear end flange to the tip of the output shaft was like 24”. So they made me a drive shaft that was like 2” too long. I asked the place how they thought a 26” or longer shaft would fit in between two fixed pieces 24” apart. They were like “uhhhh we can just shorten it”.

I ended up blowing it into pieces a year later anyways hahahaha. That was a loud bang.

You can't cut the end that goes into the switch. There is a spring button that you have to push to remove it. You can only cut the stem at the knob end.

Do you have a ballast resister hooked up? Check voltage to coil with engine running. You should not be getting 12 volts there. More like 7,8 volts Point systems need a lower voltage to reduce contact wear.

If you are installing LED lights you will need to replace your turn signal flasher as well. LED lights don't have the resistance needed for a stock turn signal flasher.

I get my underhood lamps from a cadillac at a U-pull yard. They look just like the originals and are cheap. A couple bucks.

You should only have one wire running from the distributer to your start switch. The crank power of the switch should be jumped to the run power of the switch. The R terminal of the starter solenoid is not used anymore on a HEI distributer. The ballast resister if still hooked up should be disconnected as HEI distributers do not need a lower voltage to operate like a points distributer would.

Guess it depends on the level of finish is desired in the end product and budget ?

Remove, dismount tire:

.sand blast and fill rust pits then powder coat would be a long lasting perfect finish.......... at a cost.

Sand blast, finish as required, prime and paint. Paint ? .......rattle can, DIY spray, professional spray..........???????? Budget $20 to $400 depending desired finish.

Drip strip, derust ........body work finish, prime and paint.

Wire brush, treat the rust, prime and paint.

Many buy new trailer wheels 6x16, 6-8 lug for $50-80 each .......with factory powder coat when given the costs involved. Again varies by desired look, original stock, color, tubeless bead lock, etc.

I am looking for a S-10 T-5 mechanical speedo tail housing. Can buy a new one on line for 229.00. Hoping to find one at a swap meet for less then that.

I put a HEI distributer on my 235 to eliminate the points, condenser etc. Also took out the ballast resister and now get a full 12 volts to the coil to start. Motor starts right up every time!

Any of the motors I have seen have only two wires. One is ground and the other hot wire runs to the heater switch which has resistors to adjust the speed.

Don’t just rely on the catalog. Contact their Customer Service # during business hours. They have many things not listed in the on-line catalog.

Check the ground wire at the steering column. May not be completing the circuit for the horn relay coil. I would ground the wire and see if the horn works. If it does the problem is probably the pin underneath the grounding spring is worn out or the wire is broken.

Don't forget changing the dwell setting will affect timing as well. You will need to retime. As a general rule on a 12 volt engine 30 degrees dwell should get you in the ball park. You will need to find a spec sheet for your engine for the correct dwell

As long as your matching a wire the proper gauge 14, 16 etc to the common contact of the relay and powering the coil of the relay with a switch etc. The n/o contact would go to the seat motor.

I would remove the sender wire and ground it to a good ground. The gauge should show full. That will rule out the gauge as being bad. Clean the contact on the sender and wire connector to it. See if that works. if still not working . Take a jumper wire with alligator clips and install between a good ground and the ground connection of the sender. If that works then the ground wire is bad. If still not working the sender is bad.

Usually the number one spark plug wire lands on the distributer cap at the 7:00 position facing the side of the engine. Remove the valve cover and number one spark plug. Put your finger over spark plug hole and have someone turn the engine (power off!) clockwise until you fell pressure which is the compression stroke. Once you feel it continue turning until the timing ball lines up with the pointer. That will be top dead center of number one cylinder. Remove distributer cap and see where the rotor is pointing. Use that tower as number one and land the rest of the wires in clockwise direction 5,3,6,2,4. Engine should run. I usually time my 235 about 8 degrees BFTDC. Manuals say TDC but that was with 50's fuels.

The extra bulb socket floating around may be the high beam indicator light. It takes a tiny bulb compared to the other gauge lights.