Jeff Balazs

I fitted a 6v pos ground alternator from Quality Power when I built my truck. It has worked great this whole time. Pretty much a fit and forget item. Makes running a 6 volt system totally painless. Jeff

Well if I were totally convinced that the original fuel pump was a reliable solution I certainly would not have bothered modifying my truck. The thing is that they were probably fine back in the day but fuel formulations are radically different these days. I know of several people who have found out the hard way what can happen when their rebuilt pump has a catastrophic failure. Just so you know it has happened to folks on this forum not to mention guy's I know that have other sorts of vehicles. When that diaphragm fails the path is open straight into the oil sump. If you do a bit of searching you will find other issues with these pumps as well. I won't go into a lot of detail but several L6 owners have had the arm come off. And then there are the very common over heated fuel / hard starting issues that many folks have experienced. Personally I think this should be enough for owners to "re think" the fuel delivery system on these engines. I suppose if I only used my truck once in a while and on lightly used secondary roads I might be able to look past all this. But quite frankly it would be just asking for problems here in the very heavy traffic I am regularly in. I do get why one might want to retain the original look of the components. I think if I were at all concerned about this I could come up with a fix that looked right but did not actually function as the old system does. Falsies if you will. I am sure I will probably take some flak for this. That is ok.....I get it. But I think stuff like glass bowl fuel filters belong in a museum and not out on the road. Jeff

Fwiw. I have been running a full time electric pump for more than 7 years and 30K miles. The arrangement I have is similar to what B Kahler has shown. It has worked flawlessly this whole time. I don't understand why anyone would want a "primer" type system. If the diaphragm in your mechanical pump fails you can wipe out a set of main bearings in a hurry. Jeff

Your tires ought to be around 30" diameter.....makes a huge difference!!!!

John; I am running the large Carter rotary type 6V along with a Holley regulator. A very important item is a good filter ahead of the pump. Dirt getting into these pumps is the leading cause of failure. My fuel delivery system has been completely trouble free for more than 7 years and at least 35,000 miles. Try it you will like it Jeff

Well I suppose having your memory fail is better than having your fuel pump fail and dump fuel into the crankcase......again. ?

Uh huh. At least if mine goes bad it cant dump fuel to directly into the crankcase................seems to me that "someone" on this forum had that happen. Wish I could remember who that was? Jeff

Update 6 years on and in daily use. Electric fuel pump is still working fine.........? Jeff

Fwiw I would not concern myself with a return line. It just isn't required. A couple of other things that should be considered are deleting the mechanical pump....which is a potential source for fuel in the crankcase. And the use of sealed canister type fuel filters which reduce the chance of leaks. A pressure regulator makes a lot of sense. Keep it all simple and easy to maintain. You will be happier in the long run. Jeff

IMO the return line is not needed. Good filtration and the use of additives has worked well for me. 4oz of MMO every other tank gets the job done. Hth, Jeff

I have a full time 6v Fuel pump on my 52 B-3-C and it works great. One thing that is very important is to a good pre filter ahead of the fuel pump. When I built my system I came across info that indicated that the main cause of pump failure was dirt getting into the pump. Mine has been in daily service for over 7 years with no problems. I also have a pressure regulator ahead of the carb and another canister type filter there too. Like I said no problems at all with the fuel system this way. Hth, Jeff

I was able to polish my single piece caps to get them decent looking. Made a jamb chuck and mounted them up on my wood lathe. Made a big difference. One of them did not shine up too good but 3 out of 4 isn't too bad. One day I will find a better one. Jeff

I have been running the Quality Power 6V pg unit on my truck for over 7 years now. Works perfect all the time. Fit and forget!!!!!!!! Hth, Jeff

There are a couple of things you can do to make it a little easier to R&R the starter motor. I slotted the heads of the two mounting bolts to allow the use of a screw driver. This makes it a bit easier to get some turns on the bolts when they are loose. I also have a wrench that I cut down that helps some too. It is always going to be a PITA job .......but it can be accomplished with the fenders on this way. Just have to be a bit creative.... Hth, Jeff

You are welcome. Hope this works well for you. Jeff

There is a large cap nut in the center of the top of the steering box. Remove it and you will expose the adjuster mechanism. The adjuster has a limiting collar. It is indexed by a smaller fill plug which needs to be removed to allow adjustment. You should be able to turn the adjuster with a large screwdriver clockwise until you feel a bit of resistance. This adjustment is usually very small perhaps a sixth of a turn or so. Check the play in the steering wheel it should go away with the correct amount of adjustment. This is for minor adjustments and will not compensate for major steering box wear. Hth Jeff

Well latitude makes a difference as well. No problem getting warm here in SoCal. Bigger issue is staying cool enough. Jeff ?

Welcome to the group; There are a lot of different ways to go about sound proofing these cabs. And it all depends on how you intend to use your truck as to how far you should take it. Also as these cabs can be prone to water leaks over time you should be careful about how you do things and the materials you use. My truck is a daily driver.......and I like my tunes. So I have at least 3 layers of soundproofing on the entire interior of my cab. I used Hushmat Ultra along with foil backed insulation and a heavy rubber floor mat on the floor. I even gave the underside of the cab 3 coats of brush on bed liner. The only product that is more or less permanent is the HushMat. All the rest is remove able for maintenance and repairs. Needless to say there are no annoying rattles etc. like most old trucks. You don't need to go to this extreme if you are going to use it just once in a while.......but it does make for a more pleasant driving experience. Hth, Jeff

? Not that I am aware of. But it is a fairly common name in Hungary. Just not so much here. Fwiw it sometimes take a while for penetrating oils to work. Putting fasteners through several heat cycles (or in this case freeze cycles) has worked well for me. Be patient and try not to damage. Jeff

I used CRC Freeze off and PB blaster penetrating oil on mine. You have to be patient and give it time to work. But that is the case with a lot of things on these old trucks. ? Better get used to it. Hth Jeff

Well Mark I doubt California is any better at this than where you live. But what do I know? When I was putting my truck together I knew what I would be up against using a vintage truck as a daily commuter. Being legal as far as lighting goes is just not enough these days. In stock form these trucks simply do not have enough lighting to be safe in traffic after dark or in low visibility situations like fog or heavy rain. I have addressed this by adding a third brake lite in the rear window and an additional pair of brake lites at the rear. My turn signals are separate amber lites at the rear and amber bulbs in the front housings. To help better lite the truck from the side I added amber marker lites in my rear step bumper and have a pair of amber truck lites on top of the cab. What I have can't be missed.......unlike a Pilothouse without these extra lamps. To top it off I just replaced the Halogen headlamps with a 6V Led kit from Vics Garage. The Halogens were just OK .....these Led's are much brighter. Jeff

I want to share my perspective on this with you. I fitted these belts several years ago and they work just fine. I use the truck and these belts pretty much every day. I also have a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit within easy reach. When we put a vehicle of this vintage on the road we have a responsibility to ourselves and others to do so carefully. It needs to be reliable....have very good brakes and tires......and be well lit at night. In other words we need to set an example or we risk doing harm to everyone around us. I think these belts would be quite effective in in preventing most passenger injuries in minor fender benders etc. In the case of a more serious accident I think it is going to depend on what sort of accident you are in and the other vehicles that might be involved. Certainly there is not a lot of padding in these cabs to absorb impact during a collision. One plus I have noticed is that when I drive my truck most other drivers tend to give it a much wider berth than when I drive a much more modern vehicle. Of course you can't count on this but in most cases it holds true. Jeff

No I did not do a specific build thread. Some of it would be here in various old threads. I did do the work myself. Because the different truck models use different size wheels and components it isn't likely that you will find all the answers in one source. Got to do some digging. But I can assure you when it comes to specifics this is the best place to get or find your answers. I went the route I did because I knew I was going to use this truck as a daily driver. And I was being very realistic about the drivers and driving conditions I would be facing. I also wanted a braking system that did not require special tools or frequent maintenance. I think it really depends on how you intend to use your truck and where you are using it as to how far you should take this. Certainly the original type brakes can be made to work just fine for a lot of situations. Or perhaps just go with a front disc kit and a dual chamber M/C. Rear discs are very nice but I could have gotten by without them if I I wasn't able to get them as part of the rear axle swap. You will need to be careful as you wade into this. There will be some fit up issues and you need to be very certain about thing like final wheel selection. You will need to make an adapter bracket for the M/C and may need to make some simple mods to the pedal linkage. Much of this will be specific to your truck model and wheels. My best advice is take your time, do your research and think it all out carefully. It is totally worth the effort in the end. Hth, Jeff

Adam welcome to the group. As far as brakes go I can tell you what has worked well for me. Rustyhope for the front and 02 Grand Cherokee rear axle on the rear. Got a more usable ratio along with 12" discs. I used a matching Grand Cherokee M/C and a Wilwood proportioning valve. 7 years and more than 30,000 miles with zero maintenance or adjustments. Has made driving a 70 year old truck in relatively heavy SoCal traffic a piece of cake. Easily the best money I spent when building my truck. Jeff

So for now I decided to put some Blue Devil in and see if it will stop the weep around this bolt. I have run it for a couple of 1/2 hour sessions so far. It seems to have sealed up after the first session. I went with this for another reason as well. Towards the end of last winter my heater core started to leak a bit. I shut the heater circuit off which stopped the leak. Now that it is winter and we have been having a lot of very foggy days I need the defroster to work. So I figured maybe the Blue Devil might work for this leak as well. So far so good. After the second session both leaks are gone. I will run it this way for a few weeks and then drain the old coolant and put fresh in. Will see how it goes..... Jeff