old knob I thought about that to try and keep the original look but the new switch wont accept the old stem as the shapes are different
moving along Well I am moving forward 1- fused relay in place and wired in 2- shows the interior of relays 3-drilled and mounted 1955 park/turn signal lights I had welded in holes in the fender because previous owner had put in some monster ugly lights and I did not have the originals so I thought I would put in these in photo 4 led amber lights but they were so dim I opted to put in these 55 lights instead. If anyone is considering the led save your money (my opinion) Also put in headlight buckets and light that also have turn indicators in the lower part
part 2 more photos 1-what a PITA who knew the glove box liner would give so much grief 2-glove box door and radio speaker plate on 3-put the smoked glass in the vent windows as well
Good progress. I opted for the '55 park/turn signals too. They look good! I like the "General Motors Truck" on the dash
Progress ! Those bee hive park lamps look pretty good . Remember : you can use # 1157A bulbs in there to make them light up yellow.... I like fiddling the details .
Well got a bit done today 1-the alternator idiot light installed with the 85ohm 5 watt resistor soldered in parallel in case the light bulb burns out there will still be a load on the alternator circuit 2-received the 5 spade wiper/washer switch and the control knob did not work for me so... 3-fabricated the original vacuum control knob onto the front of the electric switch I like the look much better I will install it in the vacant hole above the ignition key as I welded up the original hole
But , But ~ Where will you place the choke and throttle cables ?! . Looking very nice there , especially the wiper knob on the new switch . Not sure why you used a resistor in the charge circuit , it's unnecessary . The resistor doesn't ' load ' anything , it just energizes the field coild to start it charging , then the internal regulator does the rest . If the idiot light burns out , it'll require higher than idle RPM speed before it begins charging , that's all .
I like what you did with the original knob on the new switch... kinda camouflages it like the anti-theft trick Nate posted a while back. I will probably do this with my truck, too... but I'm wondering: Would there be enough clearance to put the switch behind the dash with only the old knob on the outer face of the dash to keep a slightly more 'stock' appearance? What do you think? Damon
Wiper Switch Yes , you can do this , others have before . the clearance might be an issue between the modern switch and the wiper transmission linkages , give that a check first thing .
thanks pmoron It has been a 4 year project. but the first year was spent going to put everything back to original but I realized living far in the boonies that if I wanted to leave my town it was going to be a slow long trip to anywhere lol. I then wanted to upgrade the braking then handling then mph then etc you know how it goes.
Where will you place the choke and throttle cables ?! .( Nate this is for you) How about I take the broken choke stem, cut it off, drill it out, tap it and use it as the back up light control knob. At least it looks a bit stock. I know the choke button is in the wrong location but I did not want to wreck the throttle cable.
another knob in keeping with using old knobs I cut the original emergency brake release rod about 3 inches from the front and threaded the cut end .25 fine to attach to the link from the lokar foot emergency brake unit. installed and put the old knob on . It looks better in real than the photo. Got the under hood wiring done and buttoned up, don't really care for how it turned out as there is a big cluster neat the relay box. On another note, I ran the casting numbers on the engine I have in my barn and it is a 1958 235 cu inch truck engine with a 1958 6848 head SO... what I am thinking is it would fit in my yet to be started project 1954 gmc ??
You can put a Chevy engine in the GMC Chassis with little problem. The GMC front cross member curves forward about 2", so to use a shorter Chevy engine, you cut a 1/2" plate that bolts to the engine front, (where the mount is) and sits on the front cross member. My GMC was that way when I got it. You Don't have to change the cross member, as a few may try to convince you. Bill B.
