Los_Control

No mechanic, just curious what type of ignition system, points or hei and have you checked the point gap if points?

That actually is a good idea, may be possible to feed 2 wires through instead of coax. I was just kinda sleep walking and not paying attention to how important ground is with this system. Originally was thinking horn button was a switch and no need to think about ground .... I see now is very wrong. I find it curious how they put extra effort into creating the tabbed plate the horn button connects to.

Yeah, maybe I did not think that one through. I was in clean and paint mode, was 1/2 way done before discovered the copper base. Is just rattle can of rusty metal primer and gloss black paint. Probably easier to sand it clean then mask it off anyways. Hind sight I suppose should have just cleaned it then soak it in oil, since it never was painted from factory. Now it is cleaned, painted,sanded and soaking in oil.

Also curious about the horn assembly, I cleaned and painted it. The base seems to be copper and think I need to scrape the paint off for it to work, is this true?

I swear I have attention deficit disorder .... going to be a looong build. I got side tracked with mowing the grass, then thought would like to buy a riding mower and found a cheap rider that needs work at a estate sale. Came home with a few other items, one is a box of pullers .... funny how life seems to smile on us at times.

You ever think about putting wipers in them holes? I have to admit Texas is pretty lax about safety inspection here, when I had my truck inspected the daughter was sick and at home, so father the shop owner just passed it with out moving from desk. If his daughter was there she would make sure the wipers worked and then lecture me on how old the rubbers were. Wipers are something I seldom use in West Texas, I sure would not want a car without them.

Some things never change, Dodge always had the ugly face only a mother can love. My 1949 or your 1979, ugly as sin. Boy they sure are good trucks though, congratz on your rare low mile find.

I am really looking forward to fixing mine. My other truck and wifes car both have new stereos/cd players, and they are tuned to the local am radio station. It may sound strange in 2020, but living in a small town there is no local fm station, closest one is over 60 miles away. And am lucky they play decent country western, a mix from the 50's to modern ... I get to hear the local police reports, who got drunk last night .... local sales, news reports .... My fm stereo has been on am station for the past 2+ years.

Another vote for the slant 6 conversion. What I have read it is fairly simple to swap the shaft from your original dist, with the slant 6 body. Now you have OEM reliability, off the shelf replacement parts from any local parts store. If I was going 12 volt I would do this swap myself.

That is pro all the way, if I had a nice car that is the way I would want to do it. Same time would have to buy each tool and how often this old carpenter would use them again is questionable. I went to the hardware store yesterday, bought 3' of angle iron and all thread, (ready rod) I figure to make something out of it today. I needed the angle iron anyways to make the rear mounting bracket for the new Tanks gas tank. So use it as a puller then re-use it as a bracket.

I just went and checked, basically the area where you would drill is about 1.5" in diameter. I drilled a hole outside of that and is pure bakelite .. no steel. So if you drilled 2, 7/16" holes in the 1.5" metal for the puller ... they would be to close together for the puller. And would remove to much metal. Want to say this is a poor design, but possible to have proper spear action from the steering column, you need a steering wheel that can break away properly?

I would have to first pull it to tell if that would work ... I wonder what others think? I have no idea how thick the metal would be, if it could be drilled and tapped.

CO54 just gave me a really good idea of using a bearing spliter. I think something like this may be the professional way to go. And the kit seems to have the puller to go with it. He said he used it and worked for him to pull his wheel off. Offered to loan it to me and return it, I thank him but will not borrow tools. Still I think I may have parts laying around to make something like this ... not pretty but maybe will work.

My first thought is to use 2 pieces of plate or plywood with a center hole, couple straps to tie it together. Then some all thread through the straps on each side. Stupid little photo but you get the idea. This gets me behind the wheel, now I need to come up with something for the top. I think I can use plywood and 2x4. For PA pulley, may need to make something from steel plate.

I like that idea, I may be able to do that myself. Over the years I have seen many photos from various members on how they pulled their wheel. The only puller I have today, is a modern day steering wheel puller, just not wide enough to work. Same time, I need to buy a puller for the rear drums to do brakes. I wonder if I could buy a puller like this, somehow add plywood and use it to pull my wheel. The idea is it would be double duty and easier to cough up the coin to purchase it https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vtg-OTC-827-4-Heavy-Duty-Hub-Puller-Owatonna-Tool-Co-Made-in-USA-Tool/392699414214?hash=item5b6eb586c6:g:GqMAAOSwTm1eUnN7 Either way, I think this is the puller I need for the rear drums, can anybody confirm this? Last time I checked ebay, there was nothing available that I thought would work ... maybe I should grab this one?

I did get it, I think the trick was to drag the bench seat out of the bed and put it in the cab and sit down and get comfortable. Then work it back and forth. And it just popped out .... looks like it is the first time has ever been removed. Now is the time to evaluate pulling the wheel ... I do not have proper puller for it. I think I will run a classified want add looking for a wheel in better condition ... technically I can still use this one and repair the cracks, it just wont look as good as it did when new. So I need to research the forum and look for the best puller for the job, then search for the tool. For now I have some pb oil on it soaking.

I would not go as far as saying that myself. PO said "on the oil dipstick Above the oil level there is white milky frothy gunk" If it was mixed in the oil, then I would say Jeff is correct. If the oil looks good, but there is milk shake above the oil on the stick, Then I say JB is correct with condensation in the crank case. I had a 1993 dodge shadow that had water on the dipstick above the oil level. I changed the oil and it never came back, car sat for some time owner was military and deployed over seas. So that would be my first suggestion, change the oil and see if it comes back ... Or I wonder what else could cause this, is it possible a head bolt i a water jacket leaking? I dunno

Thought would do a quick update. So far the zirk fittings are very easy to remove. I did find the upper king pin on passenger side, I had to poke with wire, clean and spray and clean some more. It would not take grease. Sadly that kingpin has a very small amount of play. 3-5 thousands. Never did check again after greasing it. I do not think that fitting had been getting grease during normal maintenance. The existing grease was all dried up in it. For this one issue, has been well worth the effort to pull out all the zirk's. With that said, all the other joints I have pulled out the zirks and poked with a wire, and the grease inside seems quite usable, I bought 10 new zirks and so far replace 3 or 4. I do have the roughness isolated to the bearing under the steering wheel. I can hear the rough sound coming from the cab and it is synchronized with what I feel with my hands. So far cant get the horn button to pop off, soaked it with wd-40 over night, can push down and rotate left and right, just not pop out ... maybe today.

I was wondering about this area, not sure if going to find a bushing or a bearing, but a very possible place for the roughness. I need to replace my steering wheel anyways, I know cracks can be repaired, I must have 200 cracks and not worth fixing. Original wheel, I bet the only grease there came from the factory in 1949. That is a great idea on replacing the zirks, I figured would end up replacing a few of them. By removing all of them, I can work a wire into them and poke around, auger, spray some brake clean maybe, use the vacuum and compressed air ... just get what I can. Then add fresh grease. I would at least feel better knowing I tried to do something. Like with the gear box, I wont get 100% of the oil out, but will be much better then it is now. And think I will stay with oil. I can at least suck it back out and change it ... corn head not so much.

Oil level is fine, about 1/2" below fill cap and no visible leaks ..... Seems awfully thin though for 90 weight, Think maybe a turkey baster and hose and can suck out as much as I can and refill with fresh oil. Grease I am concerned with all the zirk fittings and grease points where normal maintenance you would use your grease gun. Where the old grease is pushed out of the boots, is hard as a rock .... I just assume the old grease inside the boots is just as hard. I think it is very possible it is just rough old grease I am feeling while rotating the wheel back and forth. Thinking maybe try a heat gun and warm the old grease up, then pump fresh grease in and push the old out? .... I kinda doubt the old grease will soften, may be worth a try. Maybe I am just over thinking it and should just start pumping grease into all the zirks and see what happens. Why I wonder what others have done with a truck that has been sitting for over a decade.

I have my truck up on jack stands, playing with the front end a bit, all is cleaned, painted new shocks ordered. I am really pleased with the free play in the steering box, ya need a little but not too much. I have no plans to try and adjust at this point. I cant find any looseness in any tie rod end .... I think the front end was in good shape when parked, also had new brake drums on it so some signs of maintenance. What bothers me, While on jack stands, grab a tire and rotate the front steering from one side to the other, it moves freely with no effort, but there is a slight roughness. Like a rumble or a little bump bump bump while the front steering is moving back and forth. My first thought is to grease everything, and see if it goes away .... I kinda suspect it may be in the gear box? I have been very hesitant to just add new grease on top of the 30 year old, existing grease. Also wonder if there is a good way to flush out the existing lubricant in the steering box with it installed? Just curious what others might do at this stage for a driver and not a full restoration Do I just grease it and drive it, replace later as needed? Just wondering if there is a better way to do a little extra work now, and get longer life out of original parts.

My first thought, thank that angel flying behind you, that this happened in the drive way and not the highway. I would disconnect the watchamacallit to the steering gear box. Isolating it from the rest of front end .... I would bet it is in the box. I had a old ford work truck, going down the driveway one morning, something snapped and it took all I had just to drive back up to the house. Thankful it was not on the highway. It gave no warning, I did adjust it a year or so earlier to take slop out. Unless you have something visually bent underneath, I see no other way for it to be locked tight. And that is just my opinion, good time to inspect all of the components and repair/replace for safety.

I was young and dumb typical 20 something kid ... I bought a 72 corrolla I was going to use as a donor rear end for the car, would lose the independent suspension etc. Same time wife and 2 kids, it was never practical. The jeep was a convertible we all could fit in.

I bought a car, I did not do the swap myself. I will say the craftsmanship of the swap was good, many experienced mechanics looked at it and approved of the quality ...just maybe not the car. This was in or about 1984 when I was 22 years old. Was a 1972 Triumph spitfire, it had a Toyota dual over head cam 1600 cc engine, factory header with dual side draft 2 barrel carbs, Toyota 5 speed transmission. The engine was so tall, the car had a 7" pro stock hood scoop to give clearance for the engine. Had a nice hot rod red paint job. Convertible with black interior. The spitfire has a one piece nose that flips forward, was a looker for sure. This car would cruise at 100 mph and just breathing on the gas pedal. The stereo was loud Whats not to like if you are a 22 year old kid? My very first burn out the first day I bought the car, Walked 7 miles home. I revved it up dropped the clutch and the car never moved a inch, literally twisted the axles on the independent rear suspension and broke the ujoints. Just disintegrated the stock rear end. I had to replace the stock rear end with another, I drove it very easy after that for over a year, by then I was on my 3rd rear end and traded it off for a cj5 jeep Here is a photo from the internet, I had chrome wheels, hood scoop and a chrome luggage rack on the trunk .... fun memories

I honestly did not know the product you showed was available, my local ace does not have it on the shelf, but I could order it online I suppose. For my use on a headliner / back seat that only dogs sit in, I see no way it would fail and will order some.