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7/13/19: Today with the assistance of my grandson, we installed the bumper and bumper apron. We first installed the bumper arms with the bolts hand tight. When we went to install the bumper and apron, the holes wouldn’t line up. We then loosened up the brackets and then installed the bumper and apron aligning bolt by bolt. Once we got all the bolts installed we tightened them snug. The whole bumper was not centered to the grille. We loosened the bolts on the bumper to get the bumper to slide over to no avail. I even hit it a few times with my BFH.

At this point I decided that the installation of the firewall to fender support rods might help the alignment problem. We installed the passenger side first, pre-setting the length. The rod had quite a gap having to wrench it tight the last 1/2”. The drivers side presented a different problem. The front 5/16” bolt was missing. Taking a better look I noticed that the previous bolt had been sheared off in the fender. I looked on the back side and it was flush. The engine side was recessed slightly but not flat so getting a drill started on center was going to be a problem. I used a die grinder with a 1/4” rounded bit to at least give a chance at getting the bit centered. To make a long story short, I did manage to get the remainder of the bolt out, but had ended up drilling off center so a nut on the backside was in order. Another thing to fix during my frame off resto. The drivers side rod fit perfect but made no difference on the alignment. The front end seemed to be much more solid with the rods installed.

There are too many factors in the alignment of the front end, that I decided we should accept it as is, until I can get a grasp on the alignment procedure. We finished tightening the rest of the bumper bolts and frame bracket bolts.

A few weeks back I bought a clutch inspection cover assembly from Adler Antique Auto Parts. A bit pricy but my only source to quickly obtain the cover. At this point, I am ready to get the “ole gal” registered and start enjoying driving her so I needed to get the covers installed. Over the last few days I blasted them in my new HF blast cabinet and painted them. That was next on the list to get installed. While I was under the truck, I had wanted to see if the clutch fork pivot retainer spring was still there maybe just dislodged. I have an issue where the clutch fork won’t completely disengage the throwout bearing from the clutch fingers causing it to spin when the clutch is fully disengaged. Having previously determined that the fork pulls away from the ball, I wanted to see if the retaining spring was still there. Using a small inspection mirror and a flashlight I was able to see that the spring was in fact still there. In any case the transmission will still need to be pulled at least enough to remove the clutch fork to see what the issue is.

I also noticed that the clutch pedal rod where it engages on the petal was really worn. The hole in the pedal arm was worn too. I welded up the worn spot on the rod and fabricated a oversized plastic bushing on the lathe for the arm. My Grandson who has never seen such an operation was fascinated. I reinstalled the clutch pedal rod and we made an attempt to adjust the clutch. The proper adjustment only worsened the problem of the throwout bearing failing to totally release. I set the clutch with more free travel in hopes it would help pull the bearing free of the clutch fingers. At this point my Grandson and I installed the covers. The two screws on the back of the cover were a real bear to install due to the fact it was located just over the rear transmission support. Fortunately the cover was slotted so we could install the screws first, not having to struggle with both. Tightened the bolts and we were done for the day.

I asked my grandson if he was enjoying wrenching on the truck and He said he was. I can’t think of a better way to spend time with my grandson!