TrampSteer

Thanks guys. Time for some soul-searching.

Six foot should fit even if I chicken out and take the Focus.

I went looking for the hood piece that would have been on my '53 (truck) and it wasn't even an option that I could find. I have both of the Bunn books and enjoyed them when I knew nothing at all about these trucks. Now I don't read them because I have Don Coatney and Plymouthy Adams to keep me set straight!

Someone did me a favor moving parts half-way across this state once. Forget who that was ... I plan on going up (and back) from Costa Mesa. Don't know if I'll be in a dirty old truck or a bird-dropping-speckled Ford Focus yet. If it is something I can get in my car I can get you a parts ride. How long and wide are they? Mike

I've got staggered tires on my truck. It has 16 on the back, and 15 on the front. Nice rake, works well. Now I am at the point where I need to put on new rubber. I thought I had it all for $500, but now the shop is saying they neglected to note I have SKINNY rims. Measures 5 inches. All of a sudden, the prices start going through the roof. I've looked at radials, period correct bias tires, radials that look like period correct bias tires, and just getting four new rims and tires and being done with it. But I find I don't have much to base a decision on besides my wallet. Running Firestone Deluxe Champion 750-16 and 640-15 around. That's ($194+$165)*2 = $718 for a straight up replacement. Although I don't know offset and backspacing, it looks like I have a lot of choices where I could get a set of rims for about $200 from Summit, and put on four new cheap $100 radials from Discount Tire for a total of $600 (making the bias look worth $118?) Or I could get those radials that look like bias ply tires, but my heart stops when I see the price for one tire, let alone four. I'm figuring you all went through this before me, and there will be no end to the mysteries I will learn from throwing this question out there. What drives your decision in such matters and where might you head with this choice? As always, Thanks in advance. Mike

Still digging Tim. Seat belts in. Threw the fan belt on the test drive. LOL Best adventure ever.

The Eastwood version ships in Cali https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgFq_PE1VFI

Just my two cents on the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and other interesting motivations described here: I got a tank, had it professionally cleaned and sealed. Sent it back a week later 'cuz it leaked. Bought a brand new sending unit for $85 which flat out don't work. Seller is sure I broke it by tightening the screw. Now I watch my odometer - because it works. So I transitioned from a $$$ preventative maintenance philosophy to a "don't fix it if you don't have to" pragmatism. Mike

I got mine from 48Dodger. Think he's got a couple more.

Love that tire carrier. Is that stock?

Hope so! Here's the odd thing about all this. I'm trying to calculate the last time I bought points. It has to be more than 30 years now - between company cars and electronic ignitions. And the reason why I would bother working that out is what I pulled out of the points box - well it surprised me. Never seen one all flappy like that. I remember them being one piece. Of course, never owned a '53 Dodge either. Nothing left but to put it in. Where's my hammer?

If I did everything I said I was going to when I intended to, this truck and the next two trucks would be finished already!

I was just talking to my mechanic friend this evening about this. He says be very careful not to buy the inexpensive points, as they are of an aluminum construction and will not last. Pay for the better copper, steel or whatever. We'll see what I find at NAPA tomorrow. Mike

My daughter and I were a little concerned that we just might have stranded ourselves this morning. After having stopped by the welder to convince him to put in some hard points for seat-belts ( he flat out refused ) we could not warm start. Had gas. Had spark (coil) and there was compression coming in. Huh? We just drove it two minutes ago? We ended up scraping off the crusties on the distributor roter (center post) to fire it up. Just build up on something I have not touched in the year of getting this running. In the POST excursion that we had the rest of the day ( auto part store, mechanic, muffler shop, beach for a walk where we saw a stranded baby seal) the truck was fine. So, I had better do that basic mechanic's maintenance I was taught by my dad. But that is where I started having issues. When I was a young man, driving a 70's purple Gremlin with flapping rusted side panels and a carburetor you had to make sure you tightened the bolts on once in a while - I regularly replaced points, condenser and rotor when doing service. Just plug in your car and poof - parts. Now when I try to order, I get what seem like disclaimers. That this is for an IAC type distributor. Or some other, or that it works for a pile of different ones. OK, knuckle down. You just gotta learn something new. But I couldn't learn something new. The only thing I could ultimately do was crawl under the truck and look at the tag. Thanks to everyone here in the past that let me know that I HAD TO look for a tag (find the distributor type) and how. But hint: you don't have to take it out if you have a cell phone that you can stuff in with the left hand while holding a flashlight in the other. So I could get parts. Did in fact, from NAPA. Had them all in stock. But it IRKS me that I don't understand this distributor prefix. And I am not finding anything that tells me what is going on here. So the question: What do the distributor types mean? Google is oddly silent. IGC - IAD - IAO - IAP - IAT - IMConfused Thanks Mike

I was going to mention the electrical noise. I was wondering if it was a contributor to the issue. Have you checked the engine bay at night with the lights out?

My started incredibly easy any time I got into it, but then one day it just was a pain. Today it even failed to start. Turns out it was the rotor. Cleaned it with a jack-knife. Now it's fine.

OK Jeff, that goes on my "movies to watch" list right now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn1AMf7j9cM

OK - now your starting to scare me as I have to do inner seals next. At least I know I won't have Bobacuda's problem as both my rear drums are left-hand thread.

Sent you a P.M.

I quickly ordered a seat belt kit after having driving at 60 mph for 15 minutes. Two shoulder sets and a lap belt in the middle. Hopefully will be in next week. Whole kit including brackets and bolts was under $300. My friend who did his 60's Willies used the same kit, works great.

Still trying. Hit 60mph for 15 minutes the other day. Need earplugs. (And seat-belts)

LOL - I remember we had to CARRY that old gate out of the way to get the parts you and Tim helped me with. That one looks soo much easier!