Thank You!

where did you find those headers and what did they cost?

Gordon

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1983 Dodge D150 Truck
225 slant 6
Black in color

Plans:

Rebuild engine
Turbo charge it
Paint it Canary Yellow
oh and get signal lights (broken column)

The headers are from Clifford Performance. It has been long enough that I do not rememebr what they cost new, but if memory serves at all, around $300 is my guess. Do a search on this site for "Clifford" before you buy anything. Sometimes they have shipping/production issues that can keep you waiting for parts for months. (That may be straightened out by now, but I am unsure). You othe roptions are to watch Ebay and the Parts for sale section on this site. Headers pop up in both fairly regularly.

Where did you come up with that engine paint ?? Looks sweet....

NAPA Farm & Equipment paint, color is Caterpillar Yellow.

I finally got around to fixing up the interior. I pulled the shot vinyl flooring, what I found was not as bad as I had expected.





After much rust grinding, and removal of my old auxillary heater, I gave everything a coat of rust-converter paint.





Since I do not own a welder (yet ) I patched the holes from the aux. heater with rivets and silicon, and of course some new sheet metal.



Finally, I gave the entire floorboard a coat of Herculiner DIY bedliner.





Tonight, I hope to get my new carpet installed, along with properly mounting my audio amplifiers. I also have brand-new stainless steel sill plates from http://www.sillplates.com to finish making the interior "pretty".

-S/6

Almost forgot, I installed twin 12" electric fans a coupel of weeks ago as well. I installed them using an adjustable thermostat that is supposed to control both fans, but I recieved a defective unit that works well for one fan, but sends power to the second fan at all times, even with the ignition off. So in the interim, I have the seconf fan wired up to a manual toggle switch through a relay. Seems to work well, as the one automatic fan seems to keep things below 200° by itself, even idling in traffic in 90+ degrees (thus far). I am currently running a 185º thermostat, which is the temperature things cool down to as soon as I begin moving again.







-S/6

A couple interior progress teaser pics. "Project creep" has limited me to merely fitting the rug tonight.





I am actually quite impressed with the carpet from JC Whitney. The molding on the carpet is nearly perfect. The only molding deviations I have found are the trans tunnel is slightly too tall ( I think I can make it up with an extra 1/4" of insulation on the trans hump) and the floor-mounted high-low switch indent is WAY off, though it is of little consequence. They molded the spot for the high/low switch so far off it is on the firewall. Since I need to cut a hole for the switch to protrude through anyway, no big deal. Overall, I am extremely happy with the JCW carpet.

On to project creep....what other projects have I decided to take on? Besides deciding to redo ALL of my radio wiring (which was mostly last done a decade ago in high school ) I have decided now is the best time to convert the rear cargo light to a third brake light. ;D The wiring is all there, I just need to pick up a trun signal/brake signal isolator and wire it in. In leiu of that, I may attempt wiring it in directly to the brake switch. Of course, I need to find some acceptable red bulbs (I am leaning toward LED's) to mount behind the clear lens of the cargo light.

Progress, slowly but surely.

-S/6

Hey, did somebody call for the lighting guy?

You may want to rethink how you're doing this. There are no acceptable red bulbs, only Chinese trash for the ricer kids (wrong color red, quickly fades to pink) and even if there were a decent red bulb on the market, the optics moulded into the cargo light aren't suitable for CHMSL (3rd brake light) use. They don't distribute the light properly. If you were to make it light up red with the brake lights, it'd probably be better than nothing, but as long as you're working on it, why not do it up right from the start? LEDs are equally problematic to make work right, for a few key reasons: their output is extremely directional. Signal and brake lamps designed around LEDs have very fancy optics to spread the light through the required horizontal and vertical angles. Otherwise, you just get very narrow "straight back" light that's essentially useless unless the observer is directly in line with the CHMSL. And, none of the so-called "LED bulbs" puts out even close to enough light for the brake lamp function. LEDs' output is also highly temperature-sensitive, which is why LED vehicle lights have electronic controllers built in to vary the voltage reaching the emitters depending on temperature and input voltage.

I can think of a few good ways to do a CHMSL on a truck like yours (and mine). Some of them even let you keep the cargo light, as well.

As far as separating the turn signals from the brake lamps: Whatever CHMSL arrangement you wind up with, definitely wire it directly off the brake lamp switch, rather than using a trailer-type isolator. Those isolators tend to be unreliable over the long run, leading to improper light operation and, occasionally, wire fires. Me, on my '89 D100, I separated the brake function from the turn signal function so as to have amber rear turn signals (and I didn't add any new lights, and I didn't lose my backup lights—details if you're interested).

That carpetwork is lookin' great!

DS

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I am interested in the details of how you isolated your turn signals and brakes for the rear lights....though I hate amber turn signals in the rear. I like the look of pure red lenses out back. I am merely curious to see how your setup works.

I did drop the LED light idea. I have instead ordered a cheap third brake light housing from JCW to canniballize. I will use it's reflectors, lights, and red lens, and graft them into my original cargo light housing (I am fairly handy with a dremel. )

I also ordered the brake signal seperator though...you say I should not use it? At least it was only a few bucks, not worth sending back. Since I am going to be fairly deep into the dash wiring to re-wire my radio, it should not be too difficult to wire the third brake light into the brake switch.

I am not concerned with losing my cargo lamp, I have much higher wattage lights mounted out back for lighting; though they do not illuminate the bed directly (I use them for reverse lights on occasion, more often for people that like to drive behind me with their brights on ), the ambient light they provide is actually brighter than the cargo light ever was.

-S/6

Cut the wire "1" that runs from the brake lamp switch "A" to the turn signal switch "B". Your existing brake lamp wires at that point become your turn signal (only) wires, and you run a new wire from the brake switch "A" side of the cut wire, to the rear of the vehicle to power the brake lamps. Cut the reversing lamp wire "2" downstream of the reversing lamp switch "C", and connect the reverse lamp switch "C" side of the wire to the turn signal switch side "B" of the cut wire "1". Install amber bulbs in reversing lamps.
They are better-performing and safer—not only as turn signals themselves, but it's known/shown that following drivers consistently react quicker and more accurately to the brake lamps when the turn signals are separate and amber (rather than separate and red, or red combined w/brake lamps).
My rear lamps look completely stock:


Brake lamps are on with foot on brake, off with foot off brake.

Shift to "Reverse" while not signalling any turn: Both reverse lights come on solid bright amber.

Signal for a right turn in any gear but "Reverse", and the right reverse lamp flashes bright amber. Left reverse lamp remains unlit.

Signal for a right turn in "Reverse", and the right reverse lamp flashes bright amber while the left reverse light burns solid bright amber.

This is how Australian-market Chryslers (and many other cars) were wired up for many years. Works great.
Not if you want to be in and out of the job only once!

I think if I were more motivated (and had more time) to put high-mount brake lamps on my truck, I'd probably mount a pair of these, one on the left and one on the right, facing rear:

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Cool stuff Dan. Thanks for sharing.

A little more progress. After fixing the disaster that was my former radio wiring this was the mess I needed to get under the carpet.



The original wiring wasn't that bad, but I try not to use electrical tape for anything anymore. At least most of the connections were soldered. Now all connections are soldered and shrink-wrapped.

After sorting and pushing it into loom.



Then I became ambitious. I decided I really did not want the wiring showing up as a lump in the carpet, and wanted more temperature insulation and sound deadening in the floorboards. So I pulled the carpet back out, and picked up some heating duct foil-backed insulation from Lowes to line the floorboards.



Where the wiring runs there is no insulation, so most of the thickness of the wiring is "masked". I think after the carpet (and it's insulation backing) is reinstalled, you won't even be able to see or feel the stereo wiring unless you know where it is.



Last thing I accomplished tonight was mocking up the mounts for my stereo amplifiers.





Both amps I acquired used (thanks Greg! ), but the price was right. The blue amp will be bridged for the subs at 400 W x 1 (RMS), the silver amp is 50 W x 2 (RMS) for the door speakers. The pioneer 6x9 door speakers have really been underpowered by the head unit, until now. ;D The stereo won't be winning any competitions, but should sound good, and should now be able to easily mask the noisy flowmaster drone of my true-dual slant running down the highway.

I made some 3/4" steel spacers from a scrap piece of tube I had laying around, so the amps would be raised off the carpet to aid in cooling. Here is the blue amp mocked up, without the carpet.



With any luck, tomorrow I will have the carpet reinstalled, the stereo finished, and the seat & seatbelts re-installed. Chuggin along....

-S/6

P.S. I can already hear Dan grumbling about booming stereos from us 'young whipper-snappers'. Don't worry Dan, this is not the stereo that you hear rattling every car at an intersection and rattling windows rolling through residential neighborhoods. I don't listen to it that loud, but I like to hear the full range of tones from my music. The head unit alone does not have the power to accomplish that in my truck. I hate tinny (aka sounds like a tin can) treble and non-existant or 'poppy' bass.

Eh? Speak up, sonny, I can't hear you when you mumble.

Any guesses on my age?

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Seventeen, just like me?

Yeah. That made me Seven when my grandaughter was born... Yeah that's it....

The wife swears to her friends I'm, like 12.