WPVT

I found 3M spray adhesive very useful to help things stay put. I used the batting others referred to, and then covered with thick felt, before the final outer layer of vinyl. Trimacar was very helpful and generous with advice.

In 1972 I bought a 1952 Chevy 3600 pickup from my friend's uncle for $25. He had it parked in a field and used it to store junk in. We towed it home, I rented a dirt floor unheated garage, and spent the fall and winter coaxing it to life. It was pretty rusty, but the odometer said 19K and that may have been true. I painted it green with a brush, put a blanket on the seat, and proceeded to put another 50K miles on it, out to California on Rt. 66, up and down the coast several times, and then back across the country to Vermont, with two people, two dogs, and everything I owned on the back. We even brought a hitchiker from Utah to Missouri. All at 40 MPH. I had breakdowns from time to time, but nothing that I couldn't fix with a few tools. People were considerate....I once replaced the cam gear in a restaurant parking lot. Had the engine all torn apart and scattered on the pavement. Got it running again just as snow began to fall. Eventually I had to rebuild the engine. Did that in a two room apartment. Got the rear seal nice and tight so it wouldn't leak. Engine wouldn't turn either, even with a tow. Tore it apart again. It ran well but somehow I realized I had put the little oil scoops on connecting rods on backwards, so off came the pan again. And on and on... The truck served me well, thanks to luck, pluck, and all of the nice old guys who gave me advice when I was broken down. I ended up selling it to a farmer for $75. A clean $50 profit...

I only meant a new windshield that was without all the micro-scratches on the old one.

Thanks. This turned into a topic that seems to invite comment and observations. I think a changeover to LED's would be helpful, as would a new windshield. I've experienced what a difference a new windshield can make compared to a 20 year old windshield, and it's pretty surprising.

When I am driving the lights behind me are often more troublesome than the ones facing me. When lights behind me are so bright as to cause distinct shadows to be cast within my truck cab, that seems unreasonable. I can flip the center mirror, but the side mirrors still project a blinding light. That would be the case regardless of what headlights I had.

Really ? I've had that kind of results when a windshield was replaced, but didn't know that polishing actually worked. Maybe I'll give it a try sometime.

Great information. I can tell you that although Vermont has a very strict state inspection process, I have never experienced any headlight inspection other than on/off, high beam/low beam as part of the inspection. I guess maximum candlepower has ceased to be an issue. All in all, the newer headlights probably allow most people to see better. If we want to drive old cars, I guess that's the environment we'll be driving in, and that makes us, not them, the problem. So it goes....

Getting back to my original point... As an experiment, I tried driving with my high beams on (old style headlamps), straight into traffic for an hour. Not once did anyone flick their beams at me to tell me to dim. My point was that I believe that the brighter lamps cause drivers' retinas to adjust (dilate), so that they don't even notice my high beams. In other words, with the new LED's what is considered normal has changed and left me in the dark.

There was one of those fittings on a Chevy 216 that I used to own. It was on a small diameter oil line that passed through the water jacket into the block. I saw a small water leak and tightened the fitting, inadvertently breaking the solder seal. In this instance, the fitting had to be positioned onto the line (it was not at the end of a line), screwed into the block, and then soldered. I replaced the head gasket many times, trying to eliminate oil in the cooling water before I figured out the actual problem, that tiny soldered fitting.

I'm glad it all worked out. When I have been faced with this same problem, first I crank the engine for 20 seconds. Then, I pump the throttle rod and look to see if there is gas squirting from the accelerator pump. If not, I remove the top of the carb to see if there is fuel in the bowl. If not, then I know the mechanical fuel pump is good enough to run the engine fine once it's started, but not good enough to suck fuel and pump it to the carb at starter cranking speed. I've run into this situation numerous times on different vehicles that sit for a while in between usage. Until you rebuild or replace the fuel pump, you can carry a ketchup-type squirt bottle, fill it with gas, and use that instead of ether.

Then that's the culprit. Once you get a new starter in it, take the time to upgrade the cables and switch around the ground connection as I advised, and you'll have a very dependable truck again.

As an addendum.... Those are great trucks, When you get this problem straightened out, take the time to install heavier gauge battery cables. The auto parts store will give you cables intended for 12 volt systems, and they are too light gauge. Also, run the ground cable to one of the bolts that hold the starter on, instead of to the chassis as it is now. With the battery ground going to the chassis, you are asking the current to travel through lots of rusty metal and old fasteners before it reaches the starter. Many folks feel they have to convert the trucks over to 12 volt, just because they don't do the above.

You said that you jumped it with another good battery and nothing happened. So whether your battery is good or bad is immaterial. The purpose of the contactor on top of the starter is obvious, and yours is obviously shot. So with the good battery hooked up, and the bad contactor removed, touch the cable to the stud on the starter. If it doesn't spin the starter, you have a bad starter. Make sure your replacement contactor is correct. They made different styles on some of those, and they all look similar. When it's all said and done, the foot pedal has to depress the contactor button sufficient to make firm and positive electrical contact.

A few things going on here. When you say the voltage drops, I'm guessing you are looking at the ammeter on the dash ? If so, that's amps not volts. When you say that you jumped it, but it wouldn't start, do you mean it turned over but didn't fire ? Or do you mean nothing happened when you depressed the start pedal ? A common culprit on these trucks is the foot actuated contact that sits atop the starter. When that contact gets burnt, you can step on the starter and nothing happens, regardless of how fresh the battery is. It would be helpful if you could explain in more detail what is happening.

Pump the accelerator with the air cleaner off, and watch and listen for the sound of the accelerator pump squirting fuel. If it doesn't squirt, that means the carburetor fuel bowl is empty. If that is the case, you can start the engine with starter fluid. If it starts and runs, then your problem is that the fuel pump won't fill the carburetor at starter speed, but it will at engine running speed. If you stop the engine, and it restarts easily, that's because the carburetor bowl still has fuel in it. This procedure doesn't determine whether the problem is a weak pump or an air leak, but it will establish that the problem is no delivery at starter speed. I have more than one vehicle that needs some help if it's been sitting and the bowl goes dry, even with a rebuilt pump. Sometimes starter speed just doesn't seem to be adequate for fuel delivery.