It’s been a while… I mean now that the ‘55’s in click and go mode I think the whole summer’s been out and about and away from the PC.
Nice to see all the familiar names again, and a few new ones on the posts here. Some real interesting threads. And it’s good to see the photos, people are getting good at that. I must figure it out and get some of mine up here.
Does this sound familiar? First time I drove the truck – only after I’d bought it of course – it was all over the place. Made way like a small boat in a rough sea; banged, thumped, groaned, creaked, whined and made lots of serious trouble noises; smelled, blew smoke and had weird stuff that may have once been alive stuck on the underside of the roof; swerved unexpectedly when I was steering straight, had a mind of its own on corners and the brakes generally helped increase my quota of unwanted scary moments by more then I ever want to go through again.
So, it’s been a rolling restoration for the last three winters and a little bit of driving in the summer. But this year I think I’m getting it together.
Finally, to the point - you know how you do one thing and you see an improvement, some big, some small. Well, I have lots of these, but the big new thing this year has been fitting an anti-sway bar. Straight out of the CP catalog and on the truck. It’s been the biggest single drive improvement I think I’ve had (well maybe getting the wheels balanced). I now drive in a smooth straight line and cornering’s a breeze. I just have to recommend you get one if you don’t have already.
Now that the mechanics are straight, my next big job is the paint. The body’s totally free of rust (every time I read ‘rust free’ I really think they mean you don’t have to pay extra for it), just a few minor dents and it's all just about complete - no serious missing bits. But it’s like a 4th generation hand brushed dog shit brown over orange over light blue over, I guess the original, Mariner blue. It’s all coming off and going back to blue. I plan body prep over the winter and a color coat next spring.
Never having gone down the paint route before, I’ll be looking for lots of advice when the time comes – be prepared.
Nice to see all the familiar names again, and a few new ones on the posts here. Some real interesting threads. And it’s good to see the photos, people are getting good at that. I must figure it out and get some of mine up here.
Does this sound familiar? First time I drove the truck – only after I’d bought it of course – it was all over the place. Made way like a small boat in a rough sea; banged, thumped, groaned, creaked, whined and made lots of serious trouble noises; smelled, blew smoke and had weird stuff that may have once been alive stuck on the underside of the roof; swerved unexpectedly when I was steering straight, had a mind of its own on corners and the brakes generally helped increase my quota of unwanted scary moments by more then I ever want to go through again.
So, it’s been a rolling restoration for the last three winters and a little bit of driving in the summer. But this year I think I’m getting it together.
Finally, to the point - you know how you do one thing and you see an improvement, some big, some small. Well, I have lots of these, but the big new thing this year has been fitting an anti-sway bar. Straight out of the CP catalog and on the truck. It’s been the biggest single drive improvement I think I’ve had (well maybe getting the wheels balanced). I now drive in a smooth straight line and cornering’s a breeze. I just have to recommend you get one if you don’t have already.
Now that the mechanics are straight, my next big job is the paint. The body’s totally free of rust (every time I read ‘rust free’ I really think they mean you don’t have to pay extra for it), just a few minor dents and it's all just about complete - no serious missing bits. But it’s like a 4th generation hand brushed dog shit brown over orange over light blue over, I guess the original, Mariner blue. It’s all coming off and going back to blue. I plan body prep over the winter and a color coat next spring.
Never having gone down the paint route before, I’ll be looking for lots of advice when the time comes – be prepared.
whazzat ? .
. But there was a sales flyer from ADDCO who made the thing so I emailed them and they quickly came back with a nice page of instructions which basically said take off the old one and put on the new one. As a last resort I looked in the Factory Assembly Manual I have and there it was, section 3, sheet 5.00 
. 