It's been a busy spring with the '54. It had been languishing all winter after something went REALLY badly wrong with the ignition system last fall. I broke down and had it towed to a local garage. The guys put in an electronic ignition system and replaced the plugs (which we'd fouled trying to tinker with it in our home garage). Problem solved and the truck is running like a top.
The pros also put some shims in to ease the angle of the driveshaft. As an added bonus, it solved a tranny leakage problem that started over the winter. Now it runs like a top and no longer shimmies when driven over 40 mph.
I got to drive it for two weeks, when the electrical gremlins found me. My signal light circuit kept blowing. Over the course of the past four weekends, we've rewired nearly the whole truck, checked the fuel sending unit (on the same circuit), replaced the signal cam, rebuilt the steering column, and replaced the steering wheel. We'd suspected all of them as the source of the short.
Last night, we discovered that the alternator was bad. Watching the gauge, we saw that a sudden "discharge" preceeded every blown fuse. For some reason, only my signal fuse was blowing (I attribute this to our amateurish wire job using a harness from a '72 Olds Delta 88). Today, we replaced the alternator, and the problem is solved! Yay!
I've also added a number of interior parts including the door panels and frames, all new repro door and window handles, a new interior mirror and bracket, new headliner, and new visor assemblies. I screwed up the headliner, so after I put in all new door and cab weather seals, I'll be replacing the headliner.
Along the way, I put a cheap CD player and new speakers in the '63. Both trucks are running great. As per Phil's advice, I tried out the tractor paint on my horse trailer. Let me just say, "Thanks Phil." Tractor paint is the "bees knees." It is making quick work of a horse trailer that had looked pretty bad. I used a roller - and it is OK for a horse trailer, but I'm going to use a rattle can tractor paint primer on the '59 later this summer/fall.
Weather strip and cab carpeting for the '54 is next. Hope you guys have been having as much fun as I have! (Oh yeah, my crippled baby horse is MUCH better. He should become a good, sound horse someday.)
