75 Courier: Slow road to a fast "truck"

MulletTruck said:

Cool, I worked on the corner of 11 and Woodward for a couple years while living in the Romeo area.

Whats the plan once you get it on the road? Just drive the wheels off it or tear it back down and polish it up a bit? 

Super close to my house. I'm planning to drive it until something breaks, which I'm guessing will be soon honestly. I'd love to rebuild the body harness over winter, and I'm 100% sure there will be more projects from there. Finishing/cleaning up the interior, engine bay, all of the wiring, etc. But I do just want to get it running and driving before winter to get some seat time.

Speaking of which, my new battery cables came in! Jegs cables, terminal covers and clamps (for running the cable along the frame) came in. Which means I'll actually have to go buy a battery now, and get that rigged up. I do have to figure out whether or not I need the factory starter solenoid, which was separate from the starter, or if I can wire straight to the starter solenoid on my new mini-starter. We shall see. Plenty to tackle this weekend.

Here's another picture of the cooler battery box. In front is the toolbox drawer mat I took out of an unused drawer that will hopefully isolate some fo the vibration between the cooler and the bed floor. Also pictured is the new Power Distribution block that will hopefully split power off the main line to the starter and the alternator wires. I also bought new alternator wire!

On this side you can see the existing drain hole that I'm planning to run at least one cable through. I'll need to drill another to match on this side as well for the 2nd cable

I also bit the bullet and went ahead and bought the battery I need. It fits with a ton of room to spare - next up is to fashion a hold down! (and turn the battery 180*)

Hoping to do some more work on getting all this put into place/ the wire run tonight. I also got some wire wrap, and I would like to run the power cable along the outside of the frame, since the exhaust should be running inside. That's my plan for now, anyway!

Oh hot damn I like that a lot.  Now that's a battery relocation done right.

In reply to Ram50Ron :

I hope so! I still need to figure out whether or not I'm going to run a circuit breaker, but it seems like the thing to do. The original Merkur wiring also included an "external" starter solenoid, but the new Mini-Starter has one built in. It seems like all I would have to do is skip the external one, but that still feels strange. 

In other good news, I think I've found a "used" radiator that will work - spoke with the guy on the phone today to get the overall dimensions that should fit within the frame rails, I'll have to check vertical clearance when I get home tonight. 1966 Mustang 6-cylinder to the rescue!

I know guys used to use the early v8 Mustang rads when they’d put V8s in these. Might want to look into that. I believe there is some very minor trimming required.

Picked up my new radiator tonight - the guy I got it from said he put it in the car but never ran it. Seems really clean and measured right so I brought it home.

aaaaaaand it fits! By the skin of it's teeth. I'll have to hope I don't need to mess with anything on the front of this engine very often. There's maybe 1/8" of space between the water pump pulley bolts and the radiator, but that's enough.

The sides are actually even narrower than the stock Courier radiator somehow. But it looks like it will tuck below the top of the radiator support, which would be nice. Next up will be making mounting brackets!

Passenger side: 

Driver's side:

And of course battery work goes on. Finished the battery hold-down setup, so now I should be able to set the whole deal in the bed and figure where I need to drill. Headed up north this weekend, though, so this will have to continue to be an hour here and hour there kinda work.

Been gone the last 2 weekends and  a week in between, so slow progress. I've been re-building a battery tray from scratch, in more pieces, that will make me feel better about the whole operation. Pictures of that to come once it's done. 

In the meantime, I had a few friends over last night and we managed to get some work done!

Old gas pedal removed, and the new one has a cardboard template - it got too late to make it out of steel last night. Neighbors wouldn't have liked the noise..

Throttle cable installed. It'll need to be cut to length once the gas pedal is in and attached, but it's at least mounted and will work now! 

We pulled the exhaust manifold back off, and put the turbo on. This way intake/exhaust can begin to come together.

Speaking of which, I think there's just enough space between the frame and the transmission to run an exhaust! Going to have to find some decent heat shielding for the firewall/trans tunnel.

The trans tunnel will be it's own project coming up soon!

Cut some of the pedal mounting pieces for the new gas pedal out of steel the last few nights. It's in a bit of a tough space, given the relief where the old pedal went through the firewall, so I laid out the bracket as a triangle instead of the vertical rectangle I had intended before. I will plan to use captive nuts on the firewall to bolt the flat part to, and weld the "extension" to that piece. Looks like it'll give a full range of motion, and the throttle cable will thread through the firewall above the slot for the original linkage.

Until the next time.

Still chipping away on getting my battery hold-down set up and going!" /> Made some progress tonight:

The bigger picture:

Still need to drill holes, and get captive nuts in the square tube across the base. But it's one step at a time!

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Battery hold down is complete! No pictures. The last part I need is to weld the bolts on to the spreader plates that will go under the bed, with the bolt coming up through the bed/cooler/battery tray, and borrow a drill with a 1/2" chuck so I can use a hole saw to open it up for the wires.

I had been getting increasingly frustrated with the layout/space in the garage as I added tools and took away floor space. Most recently, I got a slip roll, a heavy rolling steel cart (Had intended to put the bead roller on it, but that is unlikely to happen now), and a combo belt/disc sander. I also need to be able to replace the fuel pump on the driver's side of the car, and have easy access to the floor pan, and none of that was possible. 

Last week, I ordered the 6-pack of Barrina LED fixtures for so cheap (link) and the 4-ft extension links with them. On Friday, I got 3 of them put up, and got the main workbench I use up on casters to make it easier to move around. 

Today I moved a shelf from the back wall to the side wall by the other shelf, toolboxes from the right side of the garage to the back left, and a few other things shifted to the right side, including floor jacks and the combo sander. 
I also got the courier a little more centered in the garage. 

All the new lights are awesome. Even with only a few of them  hung the difference is immense. I have 2 more to hang up, and I think the lighting in the garage will finally be really good going into winter. Pictures!

After: Garage Right Side

During:

Also during:

(I also got the lawnmower/weed whacker cleaned up and put away for the season in a place that's at least mostly out of the way!)

Next update will hopefully contain more Courier related updates..

... Aaand an updated night shot (or two)

Got a little bit of small progress this weekend. Yesterday I went out and "whipped up" a bracket for the ignition coil. It holds it right at the bottom of the inner fender. I got it welded in today, and it feels sturdy. We'll see if it holds up.

I also spent some time cleaning up this steel cart I got a little while back, and I'm going to use it as a welding cart. I happened to have an Oxy-Acetylene cart around, so i cut the wheels and top off so I can weld the tank-holding portion to the cart. This way I can be setup for MIG before I replace the floor pans.

Man, I love seeing this build pop up again. You continue to chip away at it, and it'll eventually get completed. Also looks like your fabrication skills are improving

Man, has it really been 6 months since the last update?? Lady CJ and I have been househunting pretty hard since January, and are set to close on one at the end of this month. It has a straight 2 car garage, so it will be a little smaller than what I'm in, but I should have the chance to run a sub-panel to the garage before move-in. Also on the quest to make her Mrs. CJ-to-be.

In the meantime, I've chased down more random things than I care to count, and been stumped a few times, too. 

Battery Cable Routing

For those who have relocated batteries, I'm debating the merits of running through the cab (hole in back of cab, hole in firewall) or running under the cab, along the frame up into the engine bay. I'm leaning towards running through the cab, but it's heavy gauge wire and I'm worried about bending it  from ~halfway up to run along the floor.

Fuel pump Fitting:

I have an Airtex E7334 (picture), and the supplied brass-screw on adapter is enormous. I've got 5/16" line coming out of the fuel tank. Any suggestions on where to get the right adapter? I've been striking out so far.

Gauges:

This one has actually been sorta fun. I am whipping up something to be able to run a Tach/Speedo in stock gauge locations. I should be able to keep warning/idiot lights for oil press./water temp.  I'll add a panel on the trans tunnel with other gauges, more than likely.

Process in pictures:

Angle Grinder magic. Bought a used electric die grinder and some amazon bits to clean it up/out to the lines..

Last, I have finally started doing the sheet metal work. In starting the trans tunnels, I realized I have a mess for the lines on the original floors. So i'm going to work outside in. I started drilling and removing sheet metal from the passenger side yesterday. I cut out the bottom several inches of the sill, after drilling out a number of spot welds. You can see the nasty welds where I tried to patch the rust before, with flux core. Not pretty. I finally ponied up and got setup for MIG, so I'm excited to try it all again!

Anyway, first panel seems to be going fairly well! Lady CJ will be gone this weekend, and aside from a trip to the junkyard for a CPS, I have nothing planned. Should give me the chance to do ~36 hours straight of Courier work. 

Sheet metal Pics:

Remove a corner:

Make a template:

Cut and rough form in steel. Still more shaping and "cleaning" to do before this piece is ready, but it's getting there! I'll also cut/replace more sections of the floor before this is fully welded in.

Haven't really posted any updates here in forever. About 6 months ago, my Fiance and I closed on a house.. We immediately re-wired the whole house to eliminate all the knob and tube wiring, and picked up several other projects as well. First and foremost, the 1 full bathroom in the house. Before/after below.. We are really lucky to have great friends a few blocks away, whose house we bathed at for about 2.5 months while we got this done..

We saved the tub and the ceiling, but re-did everything else. Quite an experience.

With that and some of the other major projects done, I am back to being able to spend some guilt-free time in the garage. First and foremost will be organizing enough to move around. It's a disaster right now, so I'm doing what i can to try and get space allocated for everything I have! 

I have lighting figured out, but most of the rest still needs work. To that point, I added the mounting points for a sturdy lower shelf to my nicer aluminum workbench today. hoping to cut and screw in plywood for the shelf tomorrow and begin storing some items there. I have also pulled the black toolbox into my basement since this picture was taken, and it's a little more possible to move in the garage now. Slow progress, but it needs to happen so I can work on the truck. I am hoping to be able to road-trip it to Atlanta for my wedding in April, so I need to step to it!

First time doing mobile pictures/posting so bear with me! Finally slapped some final paint on the battery stuff I was working on a year ago. I also pulled out a whole set of + battery cables I had snagged from an E46 in the junkyard a while back, and figured out how to make all those work - looks like it should work! It would even let me keep the 250A Fuse that should lead to the main fuse box/jump terminal.

I will run the ground wire out the bottom end of the opposite side of the box, and down through the bed to a captive nut I'll weld on the bed mounting tower (frame side).

So, next steps should just be drilling more holes in the bed for the wires, and then figuring out how to tie in a feed to the alternator and eventual fuse /relay box!

Spent a little more time in the garage today, all good results. I wanted to get the upper alternator bracket mounted, but it was interfering with the intake manifold. A little time with the grinder and a file and all seems better. I'll paint in the next few days, whenever it's warm enough to. 

I also drilled a hole in the bed, added a grommet, and ran the cables along the outside of the frame to the "Distribution Block" underhood. I am planning to run wires to the alternator/starter from the upper bolt (with no nut shown here). This is a little close to the exhaust, but worst case I'll add a little heat shield.

The middle bolt will run to the interior for a fuse box/power supply.

Unfortunately I will probably need to get both cables shortened some, as they're both hanging on the floor right now. Turns out, the distance from an E46 trunk to firewall is longer than the length of Courier bed to firewall. Who knew.

Spent some more time underhood today. I bent up some plugs and blocked off the holes from where the heater lines ran before. I anticipate adding a heater at some point, but it won't be off the get go and it won't be through those holes, so I'm comfortable plugging them now. 

I then bent up and made a bracket to hold the BMW distribution block in place, basically right over top of those heater holes. Drilled 2 smaller holes through the firewall and added captive bolts to the bracket, and now it's a very solid piece that I can move/remove later to clean up the firewall more if/when I want to. Name of the game needs to be get it running, not get it perfect.

And one of the cables from the BMW I pulled this from *just* fit the length of the starter to the junction block - the idea would/will be to have the Alternator cable run out the right side from the same post here.

All together, it sits in place nicely up against the firewall. I may need to make/add a heat shield between this and the turbo/exhaust, but that shouldn't be too bad to do.

Been a busy month - out of town for Fiances birthday, had family in town for several days over Thanksgiving, and have family coming in again tomorrow through the weekend. Managed to get the battery ground knocked out this week, when I had some spare time.

Battery assembly kit: I had ordered a relocation kit from Summit, even though I ended up using the BMW cables I had the ground wire left over. it's 1GA and only needed about 6" cut off it. I found the terminals in a bag in my hardware container, not sure if they came with the cables or I'm just crazy lucky, but here we are. Crimped (did the best I could), heat shrunk, and covered well. I have a few grommets on the wire where it runs through the cooler/bed floor as well.

Last piece is a standoff I bought at Ace, and cut down. Welded it right to the frame, on the top side. Basically right under the battery itself, but out of sight.

For perspective:

I also picked up some fuel line and a new filter. I need to see about filling up the transmission and engine with fluids/oil - I would like to to try a few dry runs, then see if I can get the engine to run for a moment before working through everything else.

Had a nice, snowy, 30° morning here. I have been tired at looking at the gaping holes I cut in my floorboard. I had to hold off on welding a new piece in thanks to the door sill being rusted out - today I decided to cut that out. I bent a new patch and welded it in today. I am hoping to clean up a little bit more and get closer to welding some more pieces in today/this week.

My protector when I'm in the garage

Overall, it went okay. Not the best by a long shot, but I've seen worse get ground down to invisibility.

Back in the garage some tonight. Cleaned up a little bit, hooked up the fuel return line (a little sketchy,  but 2 clamps should hold it on right..)

Here's the "final" from the work yesterday, and the mock-up panel I had made for the edge of the floor pan. Now, I hate it and it doesn't fit, so I'll re-make it, probably out of a bigger sheet. 

Before coming in to the house tonight, I decided to mess around with some of my sheet metal "tools" that I don't typically work with. On the right, I made a first attempt at using my bead roller a little better. It's nice to see where I have room to improve. I also tried to replicate the bends on the current floor using my Brake, and it actually turned out better than I expected for a quick go at it.

classicJackets said:

... Aaand an updated night shot (or two)

 

 

In reply to wheelsmithy :

Thanks! That was in the garage when we were renting - I had no idea how good I had it with that much space. I probably lost close to 200sqft moving to the garage I'm in now.

Today was 18°F, but I was able to stop in a local-ish JY that had a TurboCoupe in. I grabbed the upper intake Manifold and the cover for the Clutch Slave Cylinder. I would have loved to grab more of wiring/sensors related to the transmission, and figured out how to pull out the whole Hydraulic Clutch system - but it was just too damn cold. 

At home tonight I cleaned up the intake a little bit and sanded/filed down some of the casting lines, then did a little work cleaning up some of the rough spots on a few of the sheet metal dollies I bought last year. Not much, but the low tonight is 11. I'm game to work in the cold, but not the dangerous cold lol. Hoping to pick back up tomorrow.

Lit up the kerosene heater for a while last night and got back to work in the garage. Cleaned up/re-organized the garage after selling the enormous buffer I had, and it feels like a new workspace. 

Still chipping away at the passenger floor board. I've cut out part of the bench seat mounting bracket, got rid of the last few spot welds at the front edge, and trimmed a few more of the high spots on the floor. Getting the curve on the patch to match the floor is difficult, but I'm only trying to get it so close - it'll replace the whole width of the floor.

Next up will be adding some beads for strength, and then deciding cutlines for the current floor. Progress is progress.

Got back out into the garage for a little bit tonight. I've been working a little bit on putting together this console table. Turned out alright, still needs some grinding and paint. 

Had a spot-weld cutting tool delivered today, started using that + Grinder to take out sections of passenger floor for real. This bit makes clearing spot welds significantly easier, and the floor is mostly rusty enough it doesn't seem to stress the cutting head too bad. I only blasted through the structural sheet on my 1st go of it!

It's been cold, but if I fire up/run the kerosene heater for 30 minutes or so it's a workable temp. Hoping to get more done in the next few days. I may use what raceTruckRon has done with his tunnel as inspiration and frame a little bit of a shape out of something more "structural" on the tunnel side, parallel to or in place of (or both) the duct tape.