Little things I wish I had Known

[pflaming]

THe thread "Suggestions. . ." has been a good one. Here's another that might also be helpful, especially to the beginner. Little things I wish I had known. For example:

(1) for faster air excape from the engine, make the inside of the exhaust manifold as smooth as possible.

(2) The newer gas eats up old fuel pumps,

(3) The pigtail of the dash heat gauge is PERMANENT! Don't cut it off!!!!

(4) Tail lights will NOT work if the truck bed is NOT grounded to the frame.

(5) Don't dent the coil, it will short out the inside.

(6) Mopars have left and right threaded lug bolts, the left ones have "L" on them the right one is plain (no R).

(7) Electrical current flow in a Pilot-house:

(a) Battery to Starter #1 cable;

( Starter to Amp guage, #10 wire

© the amp gauge disperses the electrical flow: (1) to the ignition; (2) to accessories;(3) to the light switches: head and panel - this flow goes to the front and the back. Now here's what caught me:

(d) the frame is the return "wire". EVERYTHING is grounded: (a) to the cab, to the bed, to the frame. The cab and the bed must be grounded to the frame because they do are insulated from the frame, the cab because it sits on rubber pads; the bed because of the wood (The bed may be grounded).

(f) finally there is a braided ground from the frame or engine block back to the battery thus completing the circle. This braid carries the entire flow back to the battery.

Edited March 23, 2012 by pflaming
Electrical flow

[JBNeal]

• the speedometer cable slips into the gear inside the transmission and should not be forced loose with a pair of pliers or the gear gets cracked and those gears are hard to replace
• them original battery cables, even though they look okie dokie, could have enough corrosion on each strand inside the insulation to bog the starter motor down enough to leave you stuck at a roadside diner in the summer for four hours until everything cools off enough that the internal resistance drops enough for the starter motor to engage properly
• if you're gonna replace the rotting wire harness with one made from parts at the hardware store, not only match the colors to the circuit, but pay attention to the wire size because too small of a wire will not a properly functioning circuit make
• washing your flathead may seem like a great idea, until ya realize that the starter motor is not sealed, and all that crud ends up inside the starter, which requires the starter to be pulled, disassembled, and cleaned so that it will work again
• practice making tubing flares on scrap pieces before trying to make one on the coiled section coming off of the master cylinder
• do all of your research before purchasing parts so that you'll know the motor in your truck is not original and that you'll have to order engine parts for a different model year than how the truck is titled
• even though bias ply tires were what came with the truck when new, they are a real pain to drive with in today's traffic do not handle as well as the radial tires that everyone else is driving on in today's traffic, especially in wet weather
• when taking the truck to get a state inspection, be sure the inspector knows:

                    *that the truck has a foot starter pedal before he nearly twists the key off in the ignition switch

                    *where reverse & first are on the transmission before he nearly backs into a nearly new Cadillac

                    *that the truck does not have power brakes before attempting to make a new doorway in an old service station

Edited July 31, 2018 by JBNeal
repaired corrupted formatting

[Jeff Balazs]

1) How significant broken lugs studs are on a 3/4 ton. Especially if there are 3 broken on a rear hub!

2) How truly hit and miss the parts supply is...........some items you would expect to be a bugger are fairly easy....and then some small rather mundane but necessary items are practically non-existent.

3) Apparently being a Mopar owner involves some masochistic tendencies.

4) How fun removing a rotted out water distribution tube truly is.

5) Invest heavily in companies that make penetrating oil.

6th) and most important

Never.......never allow Hank to post off topic photo's or otherwise change the subject of a thread

Jeff

[HanksB3B]

Paul this is a very good thread and I apologize in advance and understand how very annoying it is when people like Tim and Jeff turned the last thread into a baseball story thread)

Hank

P.S. Please no comment/questions about this picture.

Edited March 23, 2012 by HanksB3B

[1952B3b23]

Something important that i've realized over the years, when you think a job will only take a couple hours expect it to take two to three times longer. Although sometimes you do get lucky... not to often though.

[Dave72dt]

There is no problem too mundane and simple that can't be enlarged and made more time consuming, expensive and important by finding something else to fix "as long as you're in there".

[Merle Coggins]

Ah yes... the "As long as I'm this far I might just as well do this too" syndrome.

[48Dodger]

6th) and most important

Never.......never allow Hank to post off topic photo's or otherwise change the subject of a thread

Jeff

This is a very very important rule......thou it may never ever be stopped....he just has to many pictures.....

48D

[NobbyofTexas]

I vote to have Hank post some more photos, I like them..

Gary

Miami Texas

[ggdad1951]

learned this last weekend:

check the throttle linkage: make sure the tab is on the correct side of the other tab so the throttle can actually move! THEN make sure to install a return spring on the linkage since the carb seems to "rest" w/o the return spring at FULL BORE OPEN! Took 3 guys 3 restarts to figure that one out (the return spring).

[Dan Babb]

There isn't a fuse panel in the truck, so keep looking for it

Before you buy the truck, know that you can't just get replacement sheet metal

There's no such thing as a simple drop-in V8 swap