Been kinda messing around with the old ’69 Chevy and got the front lights all working. Not hard work but I did learn a couple of things. But first….this is what I took out…..this hacked up mess left behind by the previous owners. I have seen worse, and they at least put all this together and it was working. Mainly all I had was bulbs out in the front, but wanted good wiring so I replaced the front light wiring harness. The green piece you see is actually a garden hose, which had wires running though it. It worked to keep the wires from flopping all over, so it was safe…….but not really great. I also found a wire going to nothing, so it came out. I still have a red wire in the truck attached to the fuse box which I need to take out since it also goes to nothing.

But I now have the wires in correctly. I also have to replace the front engine wiring harness….Post that later. This picture also has the old radio and speakers that I also took out included in the pile of stuff going to the trash. 

After putting the harness in, I had to get new bulbs. Since I upgraded the side markers to have lights in them, instead of just reflective markers I had to get the right bulbs. After getting them and testing them they were too dim for my liking. So I got a bigger brighter bulb. This turned out to be a mistake, as the bulb touched the plastic marker and melted it a little. So that is a no go…….back to the parts store and new technology to the rescue…..LED bulbs. They are bright and produce NO heat. So this is the result.

New Front marker installed…..

New Front marker with light on…..

New turn signal markers in front grille installed and headlights on.

So all is working up front and in the back. Good thing about the new wiring harness along with turning the side markers in lights side markers, they also blink with the turn signals…..safer. But, I did have another small problem. Since I am using a combination of LED and non LED bulbs when I turned the turn signals on for the first time they flashed rapidly. Not horrendously fast….but faster than normal. So….back to the parts store. I had to get a new type of flasher module….(hmmmmm sounds like Ray Stevens could make a song out of that, maybe the Streaks brother). It fixed the problem like a charm. Will post a pic of the new module soon.

Here is the new Flasher relay. This little thing is what makes your turn signals flash. There is a metal strip inside the reacts to the current that lights the bulb and the heat that current makes. The heat bends the wire slightly and that in turn breaks the loop…..so the light goes off. When it cools it goes back on. Happens pretty rapidly….so you get a flash. 

This is made to work with LED lights and regular ones. It stops the hyper-flashing I spoke of before. So now the flash happens at a lot less current and a lot less heat. 

So….three trips to the parts store, but all is working.

Here is the difference in the bulbs. The regular glass bulbs are 161 type. If you went to a parts store and asked them for bulbs this is what you would get more than likely they are 2.7 watts and not very bright, plus they HOT when lighted. Here is one of the bulbs: 

The new battery is photo-bombing here.

The LED bulbs are listed as 194 cool white bulbs and even though they only put out .5 watts, they are much brighter. So, benefits are LED’s – brighter with no heat made by the bulb. So, if you add up I replaced 4 traditional bulbs at a total of 10.8 watts and the four LED bulbs use 2 watts so I am removing that load off the battery and alternator. Drawback is that the LED bulb is about $14 for a pack of 2….traditional bulbs are a couple bucks for 2. But, I feel its worth it. I wanted good light and no risk of melting the lenses. Here is the LED bulb: 

Next on the list is a complete flush of the cooling system and unfortunately a new radiator. Current one is seeping a little. Also a new heater core. This project will be a complete flush of the system. I will have to drain all the antifreeze….replace with water….add a chemical flush component….run the truck for about a 1/2 hour to an hour each day over the course of three or four days to simulate driving it to circulate the chemical flush and drain and refill until I get totally clear water out. After that I will install the new radiator. I want it all clean so no junk gets into the new radiator.

So…..check back for that project. It should be fun since its getting hot in Tennessee. Its July. 

Mikey

Good news and bad news. Good news is that the 69 Chevy is now completely mine, not the bank’s. I paid of the signature loan last month. YEAH!!!

Bad news is……I need a new lawn mower and a new roof on the house. Lawn mower has been bought and roof goes on in a few weeks. Probably not much work will be done on the old truck this year. But I will try and focus on getting the garage really. With lights, new toolbox and storage areas. Got me down….but it had to be done. Will post progress as it happens. 

Just have to work on paying these items off as soon as I can.

Since this is a blog about restoring a Classic truck. Delays happen. So I will be sharing those as well.  

New Shingles go on the roof tomorrow, if the weather holds out. It has rained here a lot over the past few weeks, and its bad news. I now have a couple of stains inside my house. I am so glad the new shingles are going on tomorrow. Will post pics before and after. I hate this will prevent me from doing much on the old truck. But I hope to get a few things done. 

Roof update: Its done. Crew did a good job. House looks so much different. Here are the before and after: 

Before:

Note: I thought I had caught a UFO….see the pole sticking up in the top pic. Not in the second. I was further back on my driveway and caught a pole in the neighborhood behind me. Darn…..I wanted to be on the news with some bubba teeth in talking about the aliens. 

Front After: 

Back After: 

Now…I need to get new front shutters (black) and a new white door in the carport. I want all the red gone. But, that is later. 

New Shutters ! Put the new shutters on. Looks a lot different than before the work. I am pleased. Also you can see I got the garage cleaned. Need to get that red door replaced sometime. 

Roof is paid off……:)

Got the new harness and got it installed. That is good news. I had to get a wire coat hanger and straighten it and use it as a hook to pull the wires thru. Here are some pics.

Found out that the left side must have been pushed in….in a accident probably. You can kinda see this in the gap on the left one compared to the right. Its bigger. If you saw in in person you would also see the edge of the light opening is curved out. Kinda hard to see in the pictures. Looks like someone replaced the bedside because I do not see any bondo or repair. But, it could be well hidden. Well when the media blasting happens on the bed all will be revealed. I still have to get the rear backup lights (you can see the old cruddy one on the bumper in the top right picture), that is what the green wire goes too, but I have the tail-light housing already. I will be ordering the lenses, backup lights and bulbs next week and will have these in and working in a couple weeks. I really hate putting those new lamp housing on a rusty bed…..but I know later it will all come out and the bed will be like new.

I found the hole up in the frame that is for routing the side marker light wire. Great that is was already there, so I don’t have to drill one. 

New lights are in the rear. Here are some pics.

New Side Light

Old side marker (reflector)

Lights on!

Update……got all the lights working you can see the backup lights and taillights are working and now have got the rear side-marker lights working. So the rear is done….other than the licence plate lights.

Moving onto the front lights. Consisting of the Parking lights and side-markers to side marker lights just like the rear and headlights. 

Update 10/5/2017: I was able to order the rest of the items needed to get the front lights working. I will post pics and the process next week when I start this work. It should not take too long. 

I’m Back…………Well had a few things come up that I have not worked on the ’69 at all, for a couple months. I did have my daily driver (’02 Dakota), break on me. Had to replace the radiator filler and radiator cap, lucky that the hoses were fine. Got that fixed and went ahead and did a tune up on it.

But, that’s ok. On the ’69 I have shifted to trying to get the rear wiring and lights to all work, this week. I have someone trying to track down a steering column in good shape at the moment, so that will be later. I have the new wiring harness and will be planning it out and trying to get the wiring replaced this week. So I will be posting that process and pictures will be coming.

Update- Well got out there today and inspected how to get out the old wiring and get the new stuff put in. I noticed the connection to the rear backup lights is different than the new wiring harness has. So, I have an e-mail in to the place I ordered it from trying to make sure I will be able to use the new wiring. It looks as if I will but want to make sure. 

Here is what I will be replacing: 

New Wiring Harness

Right Lamp Housings

Left Lamp Housing

Left is the new wiring. Middle /Right are the old lamp housings. Have new ones for the brake lights (below) and have to order the backup lights (top). 

Here are the new lamp housing side by side with the old ones. I will be painting the new ones white to maximize the glow that will be seen. The side marker at the top is just that a reflective marker. The new wiring harness has been updated to include a bulb so this side marker will light up RED like new trucks do today. FIRST UPGRADE to the old ’69……many more to come. 

Check back next week.

Mike