Closer to Stopping

We all have our faults. One of mine is the occasional tendency to over-think things. With the rear brakes in pieces and no instructions despite hours upon hours of searching online, I was more than a little worried that I wouldn't have them done in time for the big day on May 30th. I could have easily found someone to do them for me, but the more I thought about it the more I wanted to get it done myself. After all, this is John's old truck. And my friends have done so much for me already. I really needed to put the big boy pants on and get to work.

After taking a couple days to not think about it, I went out and gave all the parts a good cleanup.



Then I grabbed all the pictures I had printed, took a deep breath, and went to it. And suddenly, like the childhood moment when you realized you could ride a bike without falling over, it all started making sense.



Big thanks to my friend and fellow '49 Chevy truck owner Richie for stopping by to check my work and bringing with him a couple of tools I didn't have so we could get everything on. Just some adjusting left to do, then we can make it a roller and get it over to Steve's lift for the install of the new master cylinder and brake lines.

We're gettin' there...


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Great day yesterday! I'm very lucky and appreciative to have friends who actually know what they're doing. With major thanks to friends Alex Jim, the truck now sports new wiring from the firewall back, with tail lights, turn indicators and the horn all good to go...


"Okay John, which junior high home economics class did this wiring job?"

With the wiring being far more involved than originally thought, we didn't get to the rear brakes. Hopefully soon. If need be, I can attach the wheel cylinders myself so we can at least get the truck on the lift to run the lines and add the new master cylinder. But with zero brake job experience, I'm thinking I should probably have some help putting the shoes on. After all, being able to stop is kind of important...

One way or another, we'll git 'er done and be ready to roll for the big day on May 30th.


Alex underneath, Jim up top, feeding the wires


Tail lights just about ready to rock


Alex tries out the driver's seat


Wrappin' it all up with a couple cold ones - Thanks again, friends!


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Smooth Shiftin'

Nice find in the mailbox after work yesterday! Only needed one set but doubled up because they were just a couple bucks each. Always good to have spares... Now that pesky shift linkage should stay where it's supposed to and not bind up.

Friends coming to the rescue today, as we take care of the rear brakes and tail lights. Then it's just a matter of gettin' 'er over to Steve's to mount the new dual feed master cylinder, run the new brake lines and bleed the system, after which we'll be ready to roll mechanically.

The final piece of the puzzle will be insuring and registering the truck. The 30-plus year old registration papers that my brother saved should help to make the DMV part of the process fairly painless. Honestly, I don't care how long the lines are that day. I'll be smiling the whole time...


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New Battery Time

Hadn't planned on getting the battery today, but figured why not? The battery place is right down the street...



And now the "to do list" is one item shorter as we prepare for the first drive!


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