JayEstes

They come back perfect, and with a documented wire-list specifically for your car. Its a Waaaay better deal than replacing all the wiring IMHO.

That's a really interesting fix! Glad it solved the problem for you, but I'm still a little puzzled at how it works. The pin you refer to that is supposed to engage in the notch, looks like it's barely only engaged by a half diameter of the pin. It's almost like the turn signal switch has placed that pin at the wrong radio from the center of the steering column - a little bit too large of a diameter. It looks like your 3D print has effectively lengthened the slot, so the pin can settle down properly in there. All that kind of makes me wonder if your switch is original, and is it the right size. These steering wheel and turning signal mechanisms though... they are cheap and clunky - that's for sure. I sure like you adaptation to give that pin a home - easily done. You should keep an eye on that thing for wear.. Not sure what material you used, but it is all pretty tough and slick, but It could be that the metal will wear it down. It's always easy to drop in a replacement I guess.... Just requires eom disassembly. Congrats on a useful fix, and post back here with any updates. Great adaptation!

well, yes, and no. The original one that was always wrong has been replaced by a cheap chinese repro which is always wrong. Don't get me wrong, when you fill the tank it says "way full"... and it stays there until it starts to go down, which is quick, and then it says empty for a a couple of days worth of driving before it goes out. Both were kinda the same, but never right. I'm kinda anal, and I feel, like when I fill the tank, it should point to the F, and then juuuuuust before i am completely out of gas it should point to the E. I know that's being kinda picky, but I'm actually trying to get it to behave correctly. SO, I like this stupid-expensive calibration tool, which makes it behave how I feel it should - even though I probably oughta fill the tank as soon as it goes below half-full like my dad always said....

Those are some great points of feedback - thank you both. I had a look around and thought about it some while waiting on the feedback, and as you guys say, the only way I could really do it without cutting into the harness is to buy another wire with matching bullets connectors, and clip the ends of it to patch it in. If I can find some bullet connectors that work at the sender, I think i am leaning to put the meter match in the trunk. It turns out I have power in the truck already because I put an amp in the trunk. I can grab a good ground from a screw holding the trunk down. Then, I just need to either snip the harness with the sender lead, or create a pigtail with the same connector as the sender. This gives me easy access to the device, and a simple install I think. If anyone knows where i could find matching male and female bullet connectors for cheap I would appreciate the tip. Jay

Howdy ya’ll. I finally bought a Tanks Inc. “MeterMatch” to improve my gas gauge readings. So I’m ready to put this guy in but I’m trying to figure the best place to put it. I am a little reticent to cut the original harness, but I’ve got to be able to read the ohms from the sender. I’m also wanting to NOT work under the freaking dash. So what I’m really looking for is best place to tap into the readings from the gauge, and have a local spot to hold the little module in place. Advice, suggestions? Midlife? Anyone?

Light smoke might also mean leaking head gasket. I'd double check oil and coolant to be sure the coolant isn't low, and theres no water in the oilpan. This possiblity though is down the road from all the other advice....

Wow! A real one. That's cool that someone took the concept and made a bullet-proof one.

I resemble that. These cars are very strangely attractive to engineers I can tell you

Ive got a CAD tool, and some limited self-taught skills. The hard part here is getting the existing shape right into the CAD to start from. I did see a video on how to use an iphone ot build a 3D mesh though. Would be fun to build this thing in CAD and have one fabbed. It would have to be forged from pot metal and chromed/polished. Can't imagine that would be easy tor cheap to get from a vendor. As usual the trouble with these things is there isn't much of a market. I'm interested in tinkering with it perhaps...

Good luck! My personal experience is that if you buy the repops and and fuss with them long enough - you will inadvertently lower your standards and say something along the lines of “well the shiny chrome makes up for the shitty fit”.

Thats interesting. I really like the stuff I have without the texturing. I'm amazed at how hard the stuff is. even behind the wheels, rocks don't affect it much. Minor nics there are 15kmi is good enough for me.

Man, that thing looks like a waterbed! LOL

Man, that really is some great feedback. I love when guys that have plumbed the depths of the rabbit hole wrap it all up for ya. You deserve an award for that Rich!

And this has all made me realize, that given how much trouble I have had regarding brake system, and leaks onto the interior firewall etc, I would paint the entire area shown within the black highlight with the truckbed liner. My impression is that the bed liner is going to be more tolerant of having brake fluid dripped on it. There's sometimes some dripped when I refill, and then I had my rear brake prop valve fail and leak fluid all down the side engine compartment wall. I didn't notice at first, so a lot of the paint I had applies there either came off or softened. Perhaps run a test of the liner. Spray some of that truckbed liner on a surface and let it dry, then apply brake fluid to it, and see if it can withstand the brake fluid better than the paint. This is not an area of the car that is easy to see and the black semi-gloss will be a close match in color. It is an area that gets a fair bit of brake fluid on it, and having something that can take that will be better overall. Do a good job while you have it in this state... you won't have a chance to work it like this maybe ever again - it's worth the time to get this stuff correct!

I might add that you don't really need a primer under that truckbed liner.. It'll go right onto bare metal (as long as it is really clean and dry I always wipe with laquer thinner or IPA right before applying) and it sticks hard. Great stuff - even if a little expensive - IMO.

I prefer Duplicor's engine paint primer. And I use Duplicolors' ford semi-gloss black engine paint everywhere too. If you're careful with this sprayer, you can get a very nice finish with the semi-gloss black: And for the truckbed liner, I use Rustoleum. I find it is not anywhere near as rough as what you would see in a truckbed, in fact, the surface is not even very orange peely, but it is in some sense "rough" as compared to paint. Good thing is, if you put it down on a good primer or primer or bare metal... it is not coming off, and it is hard a nails! I've had mine in the wheel wells for about 15Kmi now. I just went and wiped the road dirt off with a damp towel, and this is what it looks like behind the drivers wheel: Now, for caulk? I am struggling to remember.. I wanted something that dried pretty hard and would accept paint. I didn't want it too silicon-ized because even cured that stuff is very rubbery. I found something at the HW store, but damn if I can recall what it was.... It needs to be something a little more flexible that JB weld, but significantly less than silicone (if JB weld is a 1, and 100% silicone is 10, you want to get something in the 3 to 4 range. This is so the paint or bed liner wont chip off the caulked surface easily. And you don't want it too hard because as the body panels move relative to one another (pot holes on teh road or whatever, it needs to give some). and when you put it in and it's cured, I cover with primer paint or truckbed liner immediately, so it has a fresh surface to bond to. Hope that helps. Jay

Under the fenders, (after I cleaned them well with a wire brush on a 4in grinder wheel), I wiped it down with lacquer thinner to clean, and put a good coat of rattle can primer on. Immediately thereafter I applied some rattle can truck bed liner - I am SUPER happy with the rattle can truck bed liner under the fenders... It's tough as a boot and cleans off really easily! I'm 4-5 yrs hence now and I have zero complaints with that stuff!

Here is something you can try. I found the near final prep phase that worked great for me was a small pan of lacquer thinner and a scotch bite pad and a cloth rag. From the pics I see, you are close to or at the stage I would revert to the scotchbrite pad with lacquer thinner technique. Once you have most of the big crud removed (I would say you are definitely there). I would get a 1 qt disposable tupperware and fill it halfway with lacquer thinner. I get the best and thickest pair of gloves I can find (PVC gloves are the only thing that ever provided much protection from the strong lacquer thinner). Nitrile will melt instantly so don't use that, and other rubber gloves may work for awhile. Even the PVC gets hard and crunchy after several uses, but for the most part it protected my hands. Just dip the pad in lacquer thinner and gently rub the surface with it. After you have scrubbed an area briefly, a lot of crud and grease and oil will be released. dip the rag in the same stuff and wipe away the crud. examine the surface and feel of it with a bare hand after the lacquer thinner has evaporated. The goal is NOT to remove everything (it will do that if you keep rubbing!) but to leave the surface with 1 or 3 things: 1) a very clean and smooth original paint layer, 2) a very clean and smooth original primer layer, or 3) bare metal. For myself the goal is to get to stage 1 or 2, but avoid 3 where you can. As long as the metal is good and the primer and paint are original, and you have all the dirt and crud off - you are good to coat with the base layer of your new primer. Where everything is stripped down to bare metal, just make sure the surface feels smooth with areas that have primer or primer & paint on them. Once I have a whole section ready using the lacquer thinner + scotch brite pad followed by lacquer thinner + rag , I would rattle can engine primer over the surface I had just prepared. Do it early because the laquer thinner softens the paint/primer and scratches the surfaces and you get a great bond with that new primer base. And you want to do it before it can get dirty again or rust starts setting back in (this can happen literally overnight). When I did my engine compartment, I followed this work by going back in and caulking up the metal seams with a hard/firm long-lasting caulk that would accept paint (be sure not to caulk lower edges so if water comes in from the other side it can drain back out). When that dried, I put a full coat of primer over the top of that, and then the paint. I got really exceptional results doing this and it was not a ton of work. One caution is that this method will put a TON of black paint/oil/dirt sludge on the ground under where you are working. Your shoes and pants will get coated, and if you don't put down a drop cloth or large cardboard, it will blacken your floor good. Do the prepwork by covering the ground under you well before you do this work. I wound up wearing tyvek overalls for this work. It's messy but satisfying. For RUST: I have used Ospho a lot. I have found another good solution - perhaps even better - but it works a little slower. That is Evaporust. The instructions call for you to soak a paper towel or something with it and soak it through, then lay the towel over the rusted metal. I find that it needs to sit overnight, and if the rust is bad, the next day I brush and clean it as much as possible and do it again. One benefit over ospho is that it doesn't leave behind the white powder when it dries. One downside maybe expense. However, a friend told be he got a gallon of it for $17 on amazon. I use this mostly for nuts and bolts - the fluid can be reused many times if you are using it as a dipping fluid.

Yes, thx for all the feedback guys. The main issue I have is that the petcock I have doesnt have any method for attaching a hose - it’s not built to accept one. I am going to look into changing it per dream cars suggestion, so I can attach a hose. That solution makes a lot more sense, although the other funneling ideas do sound like they will work. Jay

Hey guys, anyone out there have a clean way to drain the radiator without just letting it run out all over the struct rod support? My drain valve is directly over the strut rod brace, and when I want to drain the radiator, fluid just goes everywhere. There is just a hole in the drain valve, so no seeming way to hook a hose to it that I can figure. Anyone have any great soultions? Maybe some kind of funnel or something? I’d rather not have fluid going all over the place as I am trying to capture and take to recycle rather than just dump on the ground or driveway.

you guys are geniuses. Good thread.

so we all discovered.... once again... that midlife is a genius. how many times do we have to repeat history? He always has the best advice I ever got on the 1 subsystem of the car I don't trust and don't like... Jay

well I didn't see this this listed, so I'm going to throw it out there. I got rid of all rust, and primed and re-painted the spots. Then I cleaned everything well with lacquer thinner lightly - it removes oil and softens up the paint a little. then I used rattle can truckbed liner. The stuff I used left a very hard finish, and it seems tough as nails. It's been about 4-5 yrs now, and I'm very pleased with the results - it doesn't seem to hold dirt very much. It made a nice even coating underneath too that hides blemishes. I put sound deadening on the inside. Anyway, I've ben really happy with the results, and would recommend it for a simpler durable solution.

This is an interesting topic. I'm curious what the reasons are for this? it obviously changes the inertia of the flywheel having 3/4 lb more weight on it near the extremities. But the weight is balanced, so it's not inducing side to side loads, jsut loads in the form or torque. But it's just an attachment plate between engine and trans, so those things should dominate the torque felt by the engine. What does this heavier flywheel do to the engine? Can anyone explain the issues it creates in more detail? Just curious. I'm not looking to run any experiments here.

When I did my rebuild, I pulled out all carpet, seats, belts - everything I could unbolt. After vacuuming and just cleaning it with usual stuff, I didn't have a lot of rust to deal with. But there was a lot of seam sealer (which is like a semi-hardened tar that has body paint on most of it) around. I didn't want to sand everything off and besides, a lot of the paint was in decent shape - why remove it? So what I did was the following: I got a 1in putty knife, some really tough PVC gloves, some scotchbrite pads, and a 5 gallon bucket of "clean-up thinner" (Laquer Thinner) from a local paint supply store. After getting dirt off and isolating areas of rust, I used the putty knife to remove most of the seam sealer (60-70%% of which was either flaking off, or sticking to things it shouldn't be). Then, I used the scotchbrite dipped in a small bowl of thinner, to clean areas where the sealer had been removed and clean and rough up the painted areas. Laquer thinner will remove the paint if allowed to stay on there very long, so I used it lightly, and would clean the surface, and rough it up with the scotchbrite, and immediately wipe it off with a rag so it didn't wrinkle the remaining paint/primer. This left a really clean, primer ready surface. This worked great for getting the remaining seam sealer off, and it got the paint prepped to receive primer over the top, leaving the good original paint/primer in place. The use of a scotchbrite pad soaked in laquer thinner is the most effective cleaner I have ever seen, it cuts thru everything (oil/ grease, dirt grime, paint). It is pure hell on gloves and hands, so get a couple pair of gloves as even a pair of PVC gloves will harden after several sessions of use. Obvious caveats go with this process for respirators and fans. Laquer thinner is a strong chemical. After that, I just resealed the seams with orderly beads of paintable silicon caulk, and then I used rattle can automotive primer over everything. Making damn sure not to paint over anything resembling rust or its semi-hidden effects. I always ground any of that down and put the primer on bare metal once rust was gone. I put on at least 2 coats of primer everywhere, then put down dyna-mat for sound deadening everywhere. This was a fairly long process, but a lot better than trying to remove everything (remember, in my case most of the floor was in good shape). The floor looked great after this, and I think it was a nice medium restore option that left good parts of the car in place, but re-did everything else as best I could. Trying to remove everything with anything less than a full-body dip is a ton more work than it is worth. Hope this addresses your question, and you find some of these tips helpful. It wasn't super fast, but I was really happy with the results, and I felt like the effort was focused where it was needed.