Now that the roof project has pretty much wrapped up, I’m turning my attention to the next tasks to tackle. Keeping a list handy will keep me focused on the right stuff. I do have a tendency to wander so I want to make sure I’m working on things in the right order and staying on task. Given that it’s September and the weather is starting to get colder, I’ve got to hustle to get some final things done before I’m unable to. So here’s a list in rough order of importance:
- Continuing work on the wiring: I’ve got to chase down the problem with the turn signals, add a dome light, add a license plate light and see if I can rig up some reverse lights. Oh, and maybe I can scab a radio in place.
- 10.12: the turn signals are back! One of the connections on the temp gauge came loose.
- 11.10: License plate light is mounted and working.
- Continuing to troubleshoot the clutch issues: I’m sure there’s more adjustment I can make to the clutch to get it to engage; I have to figure out what that might be and re-bleed the brakes again.
- Cleaning off and painting the headliner bows: The ones I’ve got are good but covered in surface rust. I have to get them cleaned up and prepped for gray paint.
- Steering wheel repair: My brother-in-law scored me a very old and very tired wheel from a yard up in New York State. I’ve seen other folks online effect repairs with two-part epoxy and fancy OEM-grade paint; I’m going to take a whirl at this when the snow is flying and see how well I can make it work.
- Adjusting the front doors: Both of them have some sag. I tend to believe this is from the hinges needing work; further investigation is required. Luckily, I’ve got spare hinges from the Green truck that I can disassemble and refurbish without taking the Red truck apart.
- Building out an aluminum roof rack: I’ve got some basic plans for how I’d like to construct a rack for the back 3/4 of the truck, but I’ve got to do some calculations for how I’d construct it to bear the weight of things like a rooftop tent, spare tire, and/or solar panels. I’m thinking that I’d rent a TIG welder and get some basic aluminum and do a bunch of practice welding before I go nuts with this, but it’s definitely on the list.
- Send out the spare hood, 4 doors, and inner fenders for sandblasting: The hood on the red bus is covered in three thick coats of paint, but I’ve got a green hood sitting behind the garage that would swap in very easily. The passenger doors are in very rough shape outside; now that I’m more comfortable with shooting paint, I would love to get the rear passenger door broken down, stripped of paint and ready for IH Red.
Completed:
- Building out the bench seats: This is a primary project for the winter. It’s going to take some time and effort to get both seats covered in foam and built, and I have to do some quick work to the frames to clean them up before going to fabric.
- 11.1: Foam ordered!
- 11.17: I’ve got all of the materials, and I’m ready to start on the upholstery process.
- 12.1: The rear bench seat is complete.
- 12.11: Seats are complete and mounted.
- Removing the insulation on the roof & adding sound deadener: Now that the roof is covered, the nasty, thin fiberglas that was glued to the inside roof needs to come down. This is going to be a dirty, messy job and I’m not looking forward to it, but I’d rather do it in the fall when I can wear a Tyvek suit and stay warm as opposed to sweating out a hot July afternoon. The goal is to get things as smooth as possible so I can replace it all with sound deadener/insulator.
- 11.17: Insulation is gone. The roof is wire-wheeled and ready for paint.
- 11.24: Sound deadener is installed.
- Weatherstripping: I’ve got to replace it on the front two doors now that the rears are done. And the barn doors need some love pretty quickly, too.
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- 11.1: Front doors are complete.
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- Mounting the mirrors: I’m going to weld threaded studs to the tops of the doors that I can use to mount the mirrors without drilling through them; this way none of the hardware will interfere with the weatherstripping on the other side. The bottom bolt holes still exist from the original mirror set.
- 9.8: The mirrors are mostly mounted and just need some finishing work.
- 9.15: Mirror brackets are mounted, but I need to fix the mounting post on one of them.
- 11.10: Both mirrors are mounted and complete.
- Matching paint and painting the door cards/heater: I need to get the heater re-installed pretty quickly, so this one is high on the list. There’s a place locally that can match and mix automotive enamel, so I think this will be the priority in the next couple of weeks—before the weather really gets cold.
- 9.8: The paint is matched and shot. I still need to spray clear coat over this.
- 9.15: Clear coat is sprayed.
- Re-installing the heater box: this will be one of the priorities in the next couple of weeks; I want to get the whole thing put back together before it gets real cold, test it out, and make sure all the moving parts work.
- 10.12: the heater box is finished and installed; all cables are connected and the box is wired back into the panel.
- Rekeying the door locks: I’m going to pull the locks out of the green spare doors and see if I can get spare barrels to put inside so that I can actually lock the truck.
- 9.15: Door locks are pulled from all four doors, and new tumblers are on their way. I do need new retainer clips though, which are very pricy. Maybe I can steal one from a spare Scout II door…
- 10.12: Door locks are installed and working. That took some doing, but it’s done!
- Testing out the radio: Speaking of, I’ve got a stock 1967 radio from the Green Truck that may or may not work. I’d like to put it in the Red Bus but not if it doesn’t work.
- 9.8: this is actually a Ford product from the mid-60’s, so it’s not original. Still, it would be cool to use a period-correct radio. We’ll see.
- Adjusting the barn doors to close properly: the passenger side door doesn’t like to latch, so I’ve got to sort this out. And it’s the one with the lock.
- 9.15: I took a look at this and have it closing better now. It’s not perfect but it closes.