FargoMarty

You're always welcome down Dav. By then I'll have the big truck home. Yeah, I'm with you and Pete, I thought the price was a bit rich. I'm a long way from needing a pickup bed fabricated but I'll be going the low side with the trailer type guards, not the later flat tops.

It's not clear from the pic but that's the driver side. You might be interested in this'n: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1970-1980-dodge-pickup-step-side-custom-tray-rare-ford-chev-/182008461246 Regards, Martyn

Hi Pete. This is what I have on my firewall: Interesting that there's provision for a chassis number but there isn't one.

Believe I saw it parked in the main street of Berry the Friday before last. I was travelling through and couldn't stop, but caught my eye from a distance! Very nice. Martyn

Nice. Looks to be a really good starting point.Much better condition than mine. I took the old tray off mine on the weekend. Timbers were far too rotten to reuse but could serve as a template for yours if you're thinking about using a flat tray. Let me know if you want some measurements I'll put some pics up on my build post soon. Regards, Martyn

Don't sweat bullets, it's a cert you can get the fuel pump sweet as so it's Mickey Mouse. (Be calm and collected, I have faith that you will be successful in your endeavours to return your fuel pump to a high standard of serviceability...) I put an electric one in my big truck.

G'day Pete, I'm just a bit North of you, near Wollongong! Sounds like we have similar projects on the go. I've also got a bigger version too. I've had no luck finding an original bed. There's a fella near me that builds them from scratch for a quite reasonable price (very busy though) so that might be a back up option. He even manufactures the original stake pockets. I used a Mitsubishi Express seat in my big one. Check my build post to see pics. It folds forward for storage behind and lifts up for storage below. I'm FargoMarty. Regards, Martyn

I grew up just around the corner in Walsh Crescent! Will look you up next time I'm heading South. Just Streetmapped you to see if I knew the place and it turns out I've been in your house! Normans had it years ago, then the Greenes. I went to school with their kids. Small world!

Looks great Ryan. I'm just up the road at Shellharbour. I'd love to come and have a peek one day if that was OK. Merry Christmas to all forum members too. Martyn

ggdad, you win!!

I had the same issue as whtbaron with an old Holden. Car would run fine nearly all the time but on long uphill runs it'd starve of fuel and die. Letting it sit for a few minutes would result in it starting and driving normally, until the next time. It turned out the culprit was in the fuel tank. When I'd sealed the sender unit a small ball of gasket sealant had formed on the end of the thread of one of the bolts that held down the sender unit and float assembly. Over time the gasket sealer hardened, dropped off the end of the thread, rolled around the tank and would get sucked up the pickup pipe where suction would hold it in place until it starved the fuel supply. The suction stopped when the fuel pump stopped, and it would roll back down into the tank, waiting for the next time. Took a long time to find that one...

Another tip: My garage is extremely hot as It gets sun most of the day. I fitted a solar powered exhaust fan (approx 12 inches in diameter - 300mm). That was just to keep the heat down, but I've found it also keeps surface corrosion to almost negligible levels. I live within sight of the ocean so rust and salt air are major issues, but I have bare metal on my FC sedan that's been exposed for over 2 years with nary a sign of oxidising.

And keep the loose items separate because they tend to breed. I'm rebuilding a 4 door sedan, but I now have about 10 doors in storage! Seriously though, I find it works well to spray unpainted metal or things that will corrode with WD40 and wrap them in clingwrap plastic. Other items I just wrap without the WD40, such as seats or gauges and things with small holes that I don't want blocked by spiders or wasps building mud nests inside.It keeps dust and insects out, costs very little and makes handling grubby items a breeze. It also makes it easy to treat several items as one when they're all wrapped together. You can put all your brake parts inside the drum, wrap it up and all items are together and not lost. It won't keep out a determined rodent but not much else would get in. Regards, Martyn

Sorry, didn't see that 48dodger had already spotted the guard mounting holes.

Chiefrocka, welcome from Australia! What a sweet find. Merle, you can see from photo where the bed side panels are being pressure washed that it had the stepside type guards. Chief, I got mine running after 30 years of being parked by a farmer. Took the head off to free 3 stuck valves, new coil, new plugs and away it went. They seem fairly forgiving. Regards, Martyn

Yeah, that's gold Merle!

Fantastic. Thanks so much Merle, I appreciate your help. I think i was going the wrong way on one side. I'll let you know how I go. Martyn

Hi all, Quick update, even though I don't think the planned engine swap endeared me to many! The little truck is now staying on the original chassis. The donor chassis is too wide to fit without body mods, and I want the body to stay stock. I have a brake question for the brains trust. The workshop manual I have doesn't really make it clear how to back off the front brake shoes. At present one is binding badly and I can't push the truck around. I read a fantastic old post about this by Grey Beard the other night, and decided I'd chase him to clarify some info in his post, then the next say saw the announcement of his passing. Quite upsetting, even though I never had any contact with him. From the pic below I don't know if this is left or right side, and whether the adjuster shown is front or rear. Do both front and back go clockwise to back off? On my truck it seems the front going clockwise backs off, but on the rear adjuster, that seems to work for a bit and then opens the shoes back out. How far do you turn> I find I go easily then hit resistance, but if I push through it gets very hard, I hear a springy noise then it gets easy and keeps turning. Should I be stopping at the first point of resistance? Hope I've made this question clear enough. If not, or if I've missed an obvious post somewhere that I should have seen, feel free to let me know. Regards, Martyn

Thanks Davin, Yeah, it was a lot of fun and very satisfying. Still have a lot of work to do to get it registered but knowing i can move it by hopping in and starting it makes the end of the job seem a lot closer! Can't believe I haven't touched the carb and it now starts first time every time, even after siting for so long. Having said that, it looks like I'm gonna learn more about the gearbox than I wanted to know!

Thans Hank! I love your daily driver. Many thanks to DesotoDav, I now have a set of the hens teeth badges, forgot to mention that. Martyn

Sorry, the link takes you to Photobucket so you can watch the video but I can't seem to navigate back to the forum after that and have to open a new page. There must be a better way. Happy to be shown where I went wrong. Thanks, Martyn

It lives... First drive outside in over 30 years. Hope the link works. http://vid1287.photobucket.com/albums/a628/Crumpsnr/Fargo%20test%20drive_zpskt4he8hj.mp4 The drive looks fairly sedate but I felt like a milkshake in the cab. Lotta fun though!

Now the highlighting's gone. ?? Guessing it's because the linked page didn't directly match the issue being discussed, but curious how it happens.

Ah, thanks Don

Don't know how the highlighting got on the "per 25 screws" in my previous post. Wasn't trying to sound smart or have a shot at anyone.