3 generations My Dad Jake, My Grandson Dalton, and Myself working on the Ole 52 last weekend. Dad was working on the top, Dalton was spraying some undercoating on inside cab, and I was putting the finishing touches on the front of the cab getting it ready for primer.. It was a great day. Three generations working together. Dalton can hardly wait till we get it on the road. ME EITHER... Some updated pics on my photos page
Ez wiring Well its arrived the wiring harness from EZ Wiring and OMG! I am shaking in my boots. After reading all the instructions it appears to me that I need someone with a bit of wiring knowledge. If I can't con a friend into helping out. Well then away I go. We'll C
You can DO it! (I know this, because I could The main thing is, just take your time. You'll get 'er done!
Hey girl, the hard part is over! The most intimidating thing about a wiring harness is opening the box! Once your heartrate returns to normal, then it's just a matter of going slowly and following the numbers! The biggest question before you right now is whether you are going with the traditional POSITIVE ground GMC setup or are you going to rewire using a NEGATIVE ground system and then are you going to go 6 volt or 12. My vote would be 12 volt negative since you have a chevy 235 and alternator. It's relatively easy to convert and hopefully EZ Wiring gives you some guidance as to what to watch for! There are a few Kansas folks on the forum here that should be willing to sacrifice a few hours of a weekend to help if you need it! (Hint hint guys!) Keep those progress pics coming in! 4 generations of help is awesome!
Check my thread on how to wire an AD. https://talk.classicparts.com/showthread.php?t=9536 It really is simple. Lay out the harness. it should be rolled up in sections....front/engine, dash, rear. Go through the wires and bundle all the wires that go to the same spot (coil, A/C, electric choke, alternator to engine. Front lights, signals, marker lights to front core support. Brake lights, signals, markers, license plate lights....fuel sender if you have moved the tank to the back.) Guages and switches to left side, radio and lighter to center, heat A/C to right side. Think about any accessories, changes, deletions, additions and make notes to follow. Find a mounting spot for the fuse block....make shure it is easily accessable so when a fuse blows at night in the rain, you can change it. Mount the fuse block, pull wires ....ALLWAYS through a grommet..light bundle through firewall to core support , engine bundle through firewall and to engine, rear harness through firewall and down behind inner fender, along frame to rear. Make shure no wires can move and chafe or touch a heat source. Pull dash wires and stick into respective holes. Route bundles along fenders like factory, or under inner fenders for custom hidden wires. Plan where wires will route over to engine. Start making connections after all bundles are located where they are going. I prefer to take the plastic off crimp terminals, crimp and solder terminals, then heat shrink. Zip ties are your friend. Use plenty of them to bundle wires together. When you are all done, put final zip ties around harness, then cut all the others off to make a nice clean install.
encouragement Well you all were right I got the box open and after reading all the directions it seems to me that all it is gonna take is ALOT of time. Took it down to my Dad's this am so he can take a look at it, then Away we go. We still have a ways to go but seems to me its a good time to do the wiring while I have the bed off and the front clip off easier to get to everything. Bought me a creeper so I can creep along underneath the ole truck. Wish me luck.. Thanks for all the encouragement..
Don't forget The big firewall rubber grommet the harness passes through ! it's special and not included in wiring kits , you CANNOT install it later , it has to go in before the harness .
I wired mine....my first time.....in 3 days. Just knock it out in stages and pay attention. It is just 12 volts. It comes from the positive and goes out the negative.
Electron Flow Well no actually ; It goes out the negative and returns via the positive , that's why they originally used positive ground systems..... Reading all those nifty old shop manuals gives you lots of useless information to bother folks with .
hot one I'll tell you what it is one hot son of a gun here in KC KS . My ole truck is located in a metal garage and it is unbearable in there. By the looks of things not gonna get any better till next fri. This weather is sure putting a hamper on my plans. Come on mother nature give us a break.
I hear you! I was hoping last year was a fluke. I guess not. This year is just like last. Nothing but a string of 100+ days and no rain. Well, we DID get 2 hundredths of an inch of rain today just so we could build a nice humidity monster. I love going outside to feel it gently squeeze me all over. I did manage to get a couple little things done on my truck today, however. 'Course I only have a metal roof, wood sides with vents all around the top of the walls. That helps just enough...
Heat I hate it too , as I'm getting older it makes it hard to work . In your hotbox garage , cut a vent hole on one end up high near the peak of the roof and install a 20" + cheapo box fan you've removed the plastic grilles from ~ it'll exhaust the heat that gathers and allow you some relief . I spent to - day spinning wrenches, replaced the tubocharger in my old Mercedes and got the Cadillac Hearse smogged , cleaned up the nasty corroded battery cables my big brother refuses to address , (it die @ my house) , blah blah blah . The danged Mercedes STILL smokes blue ! .
fans Fans Fans and More Fans,,, I have 4 fans in there couple of small ones and couple of med ones. One hangs up near the roof line. I work reg job till about 5 by the time I get to the garage it is about 5:30 and Dang it is one hot oven in there seems like it takes forever to get it to at least 90... Way to hot for Dad to get out there. I'll start early in the am about 6 n work till about 1. My Mom picked up some parts for me yesterday from Classic Parts. I was gonna start on the wiring but Dad said to wait till we get the cab painted so we dont paint the wiring. OF course he makes sense. Well stay Cool Everyone till later on. Keep on Puttin along.
Painting question OKAY needs some opinions here.. We have the truck ready to paint it is in pieces and orginially we had wanted to paint the pieces and put it back together. But Now my Dad thinks it would be better to put it back together and then paint it so if we need to do any adjustments we can do that without scratching it. What do you think??? I am mixed part of me wants to paint it first and then part of me wants to put it back together first.
Another question TIRES,, Someone told me I had to put Bias tires back on this truck because the truck wasn't made to take Radial tires.. Is this true?? Help looking for tires..
Trailer queen Karen - IMO unless you're wanting to build a trailer queen show truck, I would put the sheet metal together, leaving off as much of the trim as possible and then paint. The same reasoning as your dad and may cost less. Now look at my avatar and consider who's giving the advice
