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04/29/21: Over the last couple of weeks, I have been working on restoring my steering wheel. It had the usual cracks and had been painted off white, the same as the rest of the interior. My plan is to eventually change the color, although we haven’t decided on the interior color, the wheel will be black.

I briefly enterained the idea of purchasing a new wheel but the two hundred fifty dollar price tag, put those thoughts to rest.

After watching several YouTube videos on the process, I tackled the task. I vee’d out the cracks, sanded any adjacent paint, used JD Weld to fill them in then sanded them down. Then I sprayed several coats of Rust-oleum Filling Primer. More sanding, more primer then painted it with Rust-oleum Appliance Epoxy spray paint. My understanding with the epoxy spray paint, since its not a catalyzed epoxy, is it needs several weeks to harden sufficiently. Fortunately it will be several weeks before I get back to working on the truck. I have a couple areas with dust so I plan to wet sand it out with 2000 grit paper then compound it smooth.

I cannot believe how time consuming this project was. I could only work on it an hour or so each day, as my hands and fingers got really tired. I have well over 10 hours in this project. I can now see why the new or restored wheels cost so much. Overall, I am pleased with the results.

That's a lot of work but it certainly paid off, looks great .

Thanks, can't wait till I get in on the truck!

That turned out really nice. It is one of the things on my list to do. Ours us not horrible, but it does have two cracks.

And as far as "Appliance epoxy", I too have found that it is s l o w to cure, but good paint.

Steve

Thanks and as far as the “Appliance Epoxy”, only time will tell if I made a good choice. I hope so, I wouldn’t want to do a redo! In either case, I let you know!

Finally made it back to NY! I won’t have much time to work the ole truck in the next few weeks, due to playing catch-up on yard work. I did install my newly refinished steering wheel as I needed to move my truck back a few feet.

After letting the paint cure a few weeks, I wet sanded with 2000 grit and rubbed it out so it feels satin smooth. Now the horn button needs some attention as well as the steering column and shifter.

Very happy with the results!

That really looks good, "Factory Fresh".

Yesterday, I had a little time to get the ole truck ready for the season. I started her up and it sounded great. No valve clacking, great oil pressure and smooth. I’m beating on some wood as I write! I let her run for awhile in the driveway because my access road is still suffering from the after effects of mud season, rutted, muddy pot holes and the required removal of some rocks that seem to have grown over the winter.

While she was running, I gave her a quick wash job to remove the dust built up over spending a winter in the garage.

I also reversed the drivers side brake shoes due to having a senior moment and installing the primary and secondary shoe in the wrong positions. I found this out posting a picture trying to help out a fellow ‘bolter and ended up getting help myself. “Wrenchbender Ret” noticed this and pointed it out to me. Thanks again Wrenchbender! What’s that song by Meatloaf, “Two out of three ain’t bad”. In my case its “three out of four”!

Hopefully, after addressing some of the deficiencies on the access road and a few more days of drying out, I’ll be able to “Hit the Road”! At least, She is ready!

6/17/20:I decided that having doors that latch properly has made it to the top of my priority list and is the number one safety issue on my truck. I have ordered new hinge rebuild kits but in the meantime decided to attempt to fix the floppy latch. The latch is behind the window track and I previously thought the window would need to be removed to gain access but discovered that the latch could be removed by removing the bottom screw that retains the window track. This enabled me to move the track enough to get the latch out.

The original reason for removing the latch was to tighten the cover over the latch which is held on by tabs that are swedged over on the backside. I reasoned it could be tightened by re-swedging the tabs, but that was not the case. I bucked the cover but could not get it tight enough without distorting the latch cover. I decided that tack welding from the back side with my MIG welder would be a better solution. The first issue I encountered was my auto darkening welding helmet did not darken, so I flashed myself. I had this issue before and changing batteries did not solve the issue. I noticed previously the the circuit board had a bit of corrosion and sprayed it with contact cleaner which eventually did the trick. I’m not messing with it again so a new helmet is in order. I did the old look, align the gun, close your eyes, pull the trigger and listen method of tack welding. Not pretty but effective. I ground down the tacks and this tightened the cover nicely.

I found that the latch was still sloppy. The latch and or pin was worn. The pin is riveted from the outside of the latch cover and is easily driven out with a drift. As I suspected, the pin was worn where it passes thru the casing. The casing is also slightly egg shaped so I am going to turn a new pin, and fit it to the worn case.

Removing this pin, also enabled me to remove the latch, so I can now weld and grind out the worn spots.

I’ll continue on the next post.

6/20/20:I turned a new pin and decided to make the pin to stock dimensions and weld the hole on the worn side. This decision was made easy after stripping the latch so only the old pin was installed, I discovered it was worn on only one side, so I placed a bead or two on the worn side, ground it flush and used a round file to fit the pin. It came out perfect. I also welded in the worn area on the latch and ground it down back to the original configuration. I greased all the moving parts, assembled and peened the pin over. I reinstalled and found the rear of the door needed to be raised just a bit. Now the latch works perfectly.

While I adjusted the door, I discovered both hinges on the drivers side were missing the forth bolt that goes deep in the hinge cavity. Not only are the bolts missing, but the captured nut is gone too. I can see the back of the hinge moving without that bolt. I don’t see any easy way to replace that captured nut. Well, the door closes nicely now, so I’ll address that issue in the future.

I also found, now that I’m focusing my attention on the door hardware, the inside remote handle doesn’t spring back to return to the unopened position. I didn’t notice a spring so I assume it’s missing. If the handle isn’t pushed forward, the latch never locks. The passenger side seems to works fine. Another minor issue to resolve!

I received a box of goodies from Classic Parts today, yes on Fathers Day. I ordered a firewall pad and a floor mat and pad. My truck has very little of the firewall pad left and has no padding on the floor (just a cheep piece of plastic floor runner), so once the truck heats up, it gets very warm in the cab. I’m hoping that it will reduce the heat a bit to make it bearable. It looks really nice and in a few days or so, I hope to get them installed.

Your repair looks great, from the outside you don't see any evidence of it ever being apart. It's the little project that seem to make the biggest difference, like have a door close and latch properly. Great work.

Nice job ,I will have to check out mine.

Thanks, the horror stories about aftermarket latches prompted me to try to fix what I have. Having a lathe certainly helps.

Craig, you are right about the little things. Unfortunately you have to get the big things done before getting to those little things.

6/22/20: I started installing my new floor pad and mat. The felt pad was pre-cut with most of the holes already punched out. The foot starter needed to be cut as well as the clutch and brake holes. Fairly straight forward using a utility knife with a new blade.

The mat does not have any pre-punched holes that go all the way so it can be used for trucks with various configurations. It comes with the holes located in the back but not completely thru, so you have to finish the cut I suppose with a utility knife, so unwanted holes won’t show on the face. I want to minimum the amount of holes and slices for a cleaner look, so I decided to remove as much of the interfering pieces as possible. In addition, I bought new felt washers for the clutch, brake and gas pedal where they pass thru the floor board so removing the pedals was required for their installation.

I was able to remove the gas and the clutch pedals but had no luck removing the brake pedal. The bolt is frozen and access is very limited with the shifter linkages and the steering column being real close. I just had the engine out and that would have been the ideal time for getting that frozen bolt out, but hindsight is 20/20. I blasted it with PB Blaster and got to work. After trying every configuration of 5/8” sockets and wrenches I had in my tool box, for over an hour, I was only able to get it to move a small bit, but the bolt also turned. I know I could use a little heat on the nut, but I am a little reluctant because it is real close quarters. I’m at the point that I’m questioning if the work involved in removing the brake pedal, worth not having any slices in the mat. I decided to call it a day. Maybe tomorrow I’ll realize how anal I’m being or maybe just have a little more luck.

The little things took me over a year to finish up on my 1st build. The things no one sees or thinks about...

Your right about the little things. The worst part about these felt washers I’m replacing, is that they fit so tight, they won’t move around with the movement of the pedal rod so I’m sure I’ll be replacing them soon. Oh well, at least we have something to seal the holes. Thanks for following!

Hopefully leaving things set over night would aid in letting the PB Blaster do it's thing. I would be a shame to cut the mat any more than was really needed after so much work to keep it clean looking. I would think the seals should loosen up and wear to the pedal rods after some use.

As I said before, I’m pretty anal and I don’t give up easily, but sometimes you have to cut your losses. I’ll give it another try and maybe I get lucky!

The problem with the seals is there like a captured nut, enabling the seal to follow the pedal rod as it goes up and down. The pedal rods don't follow a perfect circle so as it passes thru the floor, the rod shifts position within the hole where it pass thru the floor. These seals are so tight in the frame (that capture the felt, shown in the picture) that they won’t move (had a heck of a time installing them) so the rod will wear out the hole prematurely. Fortunately there cheap, but not easily replaced. I’m sure that the OEM seals were not that tight.

I got the brake pedal off! Yeah! After attempting another go with the wrenches, I came at it from a totally different direction. I have a nut buster and it worked perfectly with only the cost of a 3/8-24 grade 5 nut. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that last night!

I have most of the holes in the mat cut and I should end up installing it with no slits. I figure since all of the pedals are removed, it’s the perfect time to blast and give them a coat of of my favorite satin black spray paint.

To follow up on the felt seals for the brake, clutch and gas pedal, I took a picture of the two different felts for the brake pedal (clutch pedal is the same). The old seal is only 3/8” thick and the new seal is 1/2” thick. So, I think there lie’s the problem. I installed them anyway and figure I’ll see how they wear. Who knows,it may not really be a problem.

Lately, I’ve only had a hour or so in the evening to wrench on the truck, but it’s amazing how much you can get done.

Glad you were able to get the pedal off and didn't have to cut the mat (which looks great). As for the felt seals, could you shave the new one down or is that just being as you said anal. I speed so much time on the small detail I sometimes loose the overall picture.

Like you I haven't had a lot of time to dedicate towards the truck. I steal a few minutes and my wife finds me, oh well.

A decision I should have made before installing them. I had such a had such a hard time getting them in so they would sit in the correct position, I think I would destroyed them trying to take them out. I think I’ll leave well enough alone until I get to that elusive frame off portion of the build that keeps getting pushed out.

It took over two years just to get most of the engine, drivetrain and electrical wiring sorted out so no major work in the next year that will keep her off the road. I'll do all of those little things we talked about. I would really like to enjoy driving her for a bit.

6/28/21: Well it took a few days to get back to my floor mat project due to other obligations. After sand blasting and painting all of the pedals and associated items, I did finally get it installed. I placed the mat into position several times checking the factory markings and most were spot on. The only hole that was not marked was the foot starter. To get the location, I sprinkled baby powder on the metal floor and pressed the mat into it. The imprint and the subsequent hole, came out pretty good. All of the holes lined up nearly perfect except the brake pedal. I followed the factory markings on the back of the mat, using a 5/8” hole punch and was off by 1/2”. It was one of the only holes that I didn’t check. Can’t figure why? I ended up using super glue to reinstall the punched out hole, let it set and re-punched the hole. You can see it if you really look, but it looks and functions much better than it did with the offset hole.

Overall, I an happy with the results. Now to tackle installing the firewall pad.

Looks good. I was wondering why you didn't do the firewall pad first??

When I got the pad and mat, I realized the the firewall pad was going to be allot harder that I initially thought, so I chose the easier of the two.

7/05/21 Well I got the firewall pad installed today. It was as difficult as I figured, taking about four hours to complete. Overall it came out great and I accomplished what I set out to, making the truck more comfortable to drive (cooler and quieter).


I’ll leave the details of the install to the post where I discussed it in detail [HERE].

Looking good!

Thanks Fox!

Job well done, Phil, looks good.

Thanks Alvin!

7/22/21: Today I drove my truck about twenty minutes away (it’s longest trip to date), to a local garage to get my required New York State inspection. In addition, I had them balance the tires and do an alignment. This may not seem too monumental of a task, but is definitely a cause for celebration. It took me almost two and one half years to get her to this point. When I first put her in the road two years ago, I thought I was ready for that inspection. After all, I had gone thru the lights, horn, brakes, wipers and got them working order and it moved in all gears. Anybody that has followed this journal knows that this was not the case.

After taking the truck for its official first run July of 2019, fully legal with tags, I realized that she was not going to pass anybody’s inspection. She wondered all over the road, wouldn’t stop worth a darn and had little oil pressure. Two years, many shop hours and with much help from our forum members, she did finally pass that inspection.

I want to thank all of you ‘bolters that helped me solve my issues and others that provided moral support!

Right on more trips to come.👍

What a feeling! Fantastic! Way to go. Be proud of the journey; you’ve done amazing work, Phil.
😎

So now your running out of excuses not to drive it this summer. Great work and a solid project.

8/23/21: Today I worked on my front brakes “again”. On a hard stop the truck would pull pretty hard to the left, directly into the oncoming lane. I didn’t feel comfortable driving her until I sorted out the issue. Previously I tried readjusting the brakes, centering the shoe pivot and changed both front brake hoses with no improvement. Today I removed the drums to try Hotrod Lincoln’s suggestion of gluing sandpaper inside the drum and sand each shoe to fit, a poor man’s manual arcing machine. I found if you used a half sheet of regular sandpaper (120 grit) you could keep it in place pinching it to the drum with your other hand. It didn’t take much sanding to arc them in but that was not the problem. The issue was self induced by me installing the shoes improperly. I put the passenger side primary shoe on the back instead on the front where it belongs. The drivers side was installed properly so it was stronger causing the truck to pull to the left. Boy do I feel stupid!

The brakes are much better, and most important, stopping straight, but I do think power front disc setup may be in her near future.

We all live and learn, the lesson here is that now you know and can pass the knowledge along to other Bolters. I'm sure it's been done before.

Now that the brakes are in good working order, I felt comfortable enough to take our truck to her first “Cruise In”, about a thirty minute drive, at an Ice Cream shop, two towns over and the longest drive to date. The last time my wife drove in our truck was about a year ago, before the engine, transmission and rear axles were rebuilt. Also before the new firewall pad, floor mat and pad were added to decrease the heat and noise. After her last ride, she expressed how harsh it rode, how noisy it was and was not looking forward to riding in her again. She was pleasantly surprised at how much more comfortable it is to ride in and added it wasn’t bad at all. It’s still a truck with 4.11 gears, so 45 MPH is it’s comfortable speed.

There was a few of Stovebolts, a 47 1/2 ton, a spotless 66 C10 fleetside and a 47 COE. The 47 was original and in pretty good shape and 66 sported a T5 tranny with a 3.73 rear. The COE was really interesting. He built it to honor his father, the local Ice and coal delivery man. Not originally owned by his father but was similar to what he used. He shortened the original frame by five feet, 2’ in front of the rear end and an addition 3’ behind. It had a 327 and an automatic tranny. The interesting thing was the rear, I believe out of a Ford with 19.5 rims and disc brakes. The fronts were the original Huck brakes. He said it was real fun getting the proportion valves to work right but added it stops real well.

The ride home was interesting too. I have never taken this truck out at night so I had no idea how well the headlights were going to work. I had added headlight relays and I knew that they worked but had no idea if my wiring was going to be good enough to work the entire ride home. They worked flawlessly however the aim was off quite a bit, but still enough to get us home.

We made a few friends, got free ice cream and had a great time talking to the other car/truck enthusiast. Overall a great success and a great evening!

Got my new garage sign, a gift from my wife (her design) for Fathers Day hung. I fabricated the hanger out of old bed frames. It’s not painted so it will rust. I plan on having a stencil made of the same design, for the side of the doors on the ‘52. I love the way it turned out.

Very COOL, that will look great on the 52'.

Now that’s a great Father’s Day gift!

Sir, Nice how your artistic wife made your shop sign showing the Chevrolet/General Motors Advance Design Series outline! Now I want one. Thanks Phil V/r, Nick