84720FourWheel Posted November 21, 2014 Report Share Posted November 21, 2014 I don't see why you couldn't beat out the wrinkle. 1 Quote Link to comment
izzo Posted November 21, 2014 Report Share Posted November 21, 2014 Looks good. Wanna come do mine? :rofl: 1 Quote Link to comment
_chiefjt Posted November 21, 2014 Report Share Posted November 21, 2014 My bumper also had a wrinkle but recently banged it somewhat straight. I used a hammer kit and a rubber mallet. But mine is way worse than yours. Quote Link to comment
Charlie69 Posted November 21, 2014 Report Share Posted November 21, 2014 I beat out my front bumper with various tools and a BFH. Ii laid a quilt down on my driveway and laid the bumper on it so as not to scratch it. I also used blocks of wood as needed. 1 Quote Link to comment
720inOlyWa Posted November 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2014 Blocks of wood.... hey, that gives me an idea. Maybe I can ‘press’ most of it out with some blocks of wood and three iron C clamps and then just finish it off with some hammering. I have a six pound sculptors hand mallet that is a great persuadiator... The bumper looks like it comes right off, so that could be my ‘job’ in the (warm, dry, radio equipped) shop for this weekend. Which reminds me. I just said yes to a guy in Colorado who is buying our 1949 Plymouth station wagon. After 34 years with us, it is going to a new home (and also making some room in the driveway while paying for the machining bill on my 4x4 NAPZ engine rebuild!). The bumpers on that vehicle are easily 3/32nds thick. Serious business steel. No hand mallet on earth is going to change the shape on one of those very much! 1 Quote Link to comment
JoeCool Posted November 21, 2014 Report Share Posted November 21, 2014 That is a nice truck, good progress so far! Quote Link to comment
720inOlyWa Posted December 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2014 I was wondering if the signal lights from Mexico ever actually show up.... I mean, how long does it take to ship that shit from Thailand to Mexico to OlyWa? Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted December 7, 2014 Report Share Posted December 7, 2014 I bought a set of clear/chrome marker lenses from Mexico, as I recall it took a while, but they did arrive. :) Quote Link to comment
Charlie69 Posted December 14, 2014 Report Share Posted December 14, 2014 I have ordered several parts from kentigo not sure of spelling, But parts showed up fine. Quality about the same as or better than the Middle Eastern/Taiwan stuff. A buddy of mine bought a 521 fuel tank sending unit that went bad and Kentigo replaced free of charge. Quote Link to comment
720inOlyWa Posted December 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2014 Well, my signal lights showed up today.... and they seem fine, at first glance. Maybe ‘okay’ would be a better description. It took a little bit of remanufacturing to get them to fit nicely, but they were clearly better quality than the made in singapore washer fluid reservoir, which was simply unusable. It was a nice, easy install job that I did today between rain squalls. Although they aren’t very beefy, I liked the color of the lenses- more orange- and I figure that tis is the place where a 4 by takes a bit of abuse anyway, so anything is probably going to get broken eventually. Still, the original parts were more substantial and complete in a few details. With a little ‘remanufacturing’ I got them to fit just fine. Still need to work on the alignment with the grille, and re-paint the orange stripe at some point. But this is an improvement, for sure. 2 Quote Link to comment
Charlie69 Posted December 23, 2014 Report Share Posted December 23, 2014 Weird. I posted an update to this thread, but it didn’t show up, somehow... Let’s try again. I try to do a little work every day, if possible. So last night, I rehabbed the other headight bucket and finished up the clean up work up front. Now I have a beachhead and I can work my way back into the engine compartment. If the rains hold off today, I will drain the radiator and begin the process of readying the engine for removal. For now though, I can check the headlight buckets off of my chore list. Buckets are back in... Grille is mounted again. Looks about the same as when I began, minus some rust and lots of dirt... and the bungee cords holding everything together! Do you suppose I could take a stout body hammer and a heavy buck and beat that wrinkle out of the bumper? The bumpers straighten easier than you think. 1 Quote Link to comment
720inOlyWa Posted December 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 26, 2014 There is some kind of family fracas involving shopping or the returning of things that I am blissfully excused from today. By this late date, everyone knows that it is a real downer to hang with the Grinch in a shopping mall. Ahhhhhh! So now that I have my Hecho turn signals on, maybe today I can whip off the front bumper and forge that wrinkle out of there. A great day for hammer and clamp work. 1 Quote Link to comment
that-son Posted December 27, 2014 Report Share Posted December 27, 2014 very nice indeed! i actually ordered some tail lights from mexico but stiiil waiting... looking to order the front tail lights from thailand as well. glad you were able to make them fit! 2 Quote Link to comment
720inOlyWa Posted December 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2014 very nice indeed! i actually ordered some tail lights from mexico but stiiil waiting... looking to order the front tail lights from thailand as well. glad you were able to make them fit! My Thailand made washer reservoir was enough to convince me to never go that direction again. It ended up being absurdly expensive and completely unusable. These Hecho signal lights are a whole step better in terms of quality, but still took a bit of dremel tool work to fit down tight to the fenders. No big deal, just a bit of niggling to get it just right. They are noticeably ‘less’ than the original part, but substantially better than the made in Thailand parts. It takes time to get them, but I have not heard of anyone getting stiffed on a Mexican order, so far. I would do the Mexican thing again, I suppose, but I will stay on the lookout for a couple of decent junk yard lenses as well... 1 Quote Link to comment
720inOlyWa Posted January 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 I put a little effort into my trucks every day. Plodding along, making slow but steady progress. The radiator is out of this truck now, and about to get flushed. One of the solder joints on the side reinforcement bars (frames) was broken, so I re-soldered it. Unbelievable amount of caked on dirt and pine needles. I cut the hoses off as they will be replaced automatically. The head went to the machinist, as described in another thread, and a new head will be here in a day or three. That head will go on the 2wd 720 while this one will come all the way out for a top to bottom rebuild next summer. In the mean time, it gets endless hours of cleaning and degreasing, bit by bit. I collected 1949 Plymouths for years and I never saw one as dirty as this poor truck. It was the deal maker, when I saw how bad it was. I had to save it. All of the front clip area is clean now, including substantial parts of the front engine bay. The sides of the well have been given their initial wave of cleaning, but still have a long ways to go. This is the kind of hardened dirt / grease mixture that really only responds to solvents, a soft brass brush, and elbow grease. The air conditioning on this truck was jerry rigged at some point. The fitting near the firewall is some weird kind of deal that is wrapped in gooey mummy tape, for all I can tell. It is not the stock hose, which runs across the front of the engine compartment, but a retrofit hose that goes around the back. It is not stock, it is not a good repair, and it all has to come out of there. My question today is, do I have to be careful about dismantling it, or can I just yank it out of there? I would prefer to just remove all of the air-con stuff from this vehicle, if practical. Can I do it, or should I leave it to a pro? (The hose is kind of in the way of progress) 1 Quote Link to comment
Charlie69 Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 The air conditioning on this truck was jerry rigged at some point. The fitting near the firewall is some weird kind of deal that is wrapped in gooey mummy tape, for all I can tell. It is not the stock hose, which runs across the front of the engine compartment, but a retrofit hose that goes around the back. It is not stock, it is not a good repair, and it all has to come out of there. My question today is, do I have to be careful about dismantling it, or can I just yank it out of there? I would prefer to just remove all of the air-con stuff from this vehicle, if practical. Can I do it, or should I leave it to a pro? (The hose is kind of in the way of progress) That is the way they did AC back in the early days. There was a black tar looking wrap that was put over the copper/aluminum lines. You can remove it. If the system has a charge in it you should have the system evacuated. Quote Link to comment
84720FourWheel Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 Mine is factory and runs along the front of the engine. It seems odd that it would run behind. Unless they changed the routing between 84 and 85. Edit: misread. Get it evacuated, and then cut it out. It probably doesn't have a charge, but might as well play it safe. 1 Quote Link to comment
720inOlyWa Posted January 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 No, this is definitely not stock. My 2wd has aircon and it is totally different from anything I have seen on any other truck or the era. It clearly has been patched together. I almost never- make that never- use aircon, so I would not miss it at all. Thanks for helpful the advice. I will leave it be until it is running again, then take it to be evacuated before removing everything. 1 Quote Link to comment
84720FourWheel Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 I hardly use mine, but it works damn good. We replaced the o rings in the system an vacced it out. My brother does HVAC by trade so we had all the equipment to do it right. Then we filled it up with 134-A. Blew 35 degrees out of the vents. It robs too much power, so I use it when coasting to a stop. Or downhill for some extra engine braking, lol. 3 Quote Link to comment
720inOlyWa Posted January 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2015 Great news: the rest of my engine parts arrived today. I can start glueing it all back together this weekend. Nice! Back to work on my 4 by4... 2 Quote Link to comment
720inOlyWa Posted March 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 Now that my 2WD 720 seems to be on a fairly solid footing, I am turning my attention to my 4x4 version. On Monday, the glass guys are coming to install a new windshield, the last half of a two-fer deal that I made for my two trucks. So I pulled the cowl off and discovered an entire Safeway shopping bag full of decomposing pine needles- the worst! My other truck had a little crap under the vents, but this was absurd- just crammed full everywhere. The shop vac was called in, followed by soapy water and a brush and finally, rubbing compound. While the nuts securing the wiper motor were hopelessly corroded on the 2WD truck, I was surprised to find that they were all pretty clean under all those pine needles on this one. A little penetrating oil soak and I should be able to lift of the windshield trim guard for a coat of flat black paint before the glass is replaced. 2 Quote Link to comment
720inOlyWa Posted March 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 I bagged a black ST steering wheel, with adapter, for my 4x4 today. Really glad to get one as they fit my hands so much better than the stock wheel. Also ordered a new AC switch boot, since I crushed mine a few weeks ago. Another info nugget from Ratsun. Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment
720inOlyWa Posted March 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 Any day that includes a new windshield is a good day... S&S AUTO GLASS, Olympia. The best install job you are gonna ever get- and at reasonable prices, too! 2 Quote Link to comment
720inOlyWa Posted March 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2015 Looking out through the new windshield, I just had to fit the ST wheel on the column today. I am really fortunate in that the original leather is in pretty good shape, just in need of a good renovation. I really, really like the feel of the stock ST wheel wrap! So I sprang for the leather restoration steering wheel kit from merry old England, which you can easily find on YouTube. If it comes out as good as the video, I will be sure to crow about it. If not, this is the last you will ever hear about it. In keeping with the black bumpers and trim, I opted for the mudered-out windshield gasket. Once the new steering wheel is refurbed, it will fit the larger vibe of the truck rather nicely. Mid-eighties, man! 3 Quote Link to comment
84720FourWheel Posted March 26, 2015 Report Share Posted March 26, 2015 Is that cruise control I see hanging from the steering column? Does it work? I'm so jealous of that crack-free dash! :frantics: 2 Quote Link to comment
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