'Rufus Maximus' - Build Thread

[85lebaront2]

also pay close attention to the lower part of the cowl. with the duct out and firewall insulation removed, this is the time to find out whether the cowl caulking has failed and allowed rusting to get started. this can be a real pain the get seam sealer out through what access is available but still very important. treat to whole seam for rust before re sealing. the cab side of the cowl and firewall are one piece with the engine bay side of the cowl welded to it. this seam can rust through and often it rusts through to the interior. most common in bullnose trucks parked near or under trees and left to die. some die!

Make sure they actually put the seam sealer in the pockets. Darth had none on the right side, if I hadn't removed the heater ducting I would never have found it. I wondered why I kept finding the carpet wet on that side.

[Danny G]

Make sure they actually put the seam sealer in the pockets. Darth had none on the right side, if I hadn't removed the heater ducting I would never have found it. I wondered why I kept finding the carpet wet on that side.

Are you talking in the crack itself. The seam seal on the driver side fit well was a fillet between the pan and the side wall but the crack itself between the welds was wide open. Fortunately clean in this spot I can see the gray primer in there.

I took a break from working in the cab and then fell asleep on the couch. I'm painting three of the main dash supports now. I'll have just the dash speaker support and the tubular ones left but I fly out Tuesday and am low on paint so they probably will wait until next weekend.

I got through the wire harness on the passenger side got everything cleaned and inspected. Was happy with what was there and started sleeving and labeling connectors.

I'll probably review the evtm for these wire colors under the mid dash after I'm done painting. I have a feeling they are radio/courtesy light related.

Also looking for a drain plug replacement but haven't found any. I swear I have found these in the past.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Make sure they actually put the seam sealer in the pockets. Darth had none on the right side, if I hadn't removed the heater ducting I would never have found it. I wondered why I kept finding the carpet wet on that side.

Are you talking in the crack itself. The seam seal on the driver side fit well was a fillet between the pan and the side wall but the crack itself between the welds was wide open. Fortunately clean in this spot I can see the gray primer in there.

I took a break from working in the cab and then fell asleep on the couch. I'm painting three of the main dash supports now. I'll have just the dash speaker support and the tubular ones left but I fly out Tuesday and am low on paint so they probably will wait until next weekend.

I got through the wire harness on the passenger side got everything cleaned and inspected. Was happy with what was there and started sleeving and labeling connectors.

I'll probably review the evtm for these wire colors under the mid dash after I'm done painting. I have a feeling they are radio/courtesy light related.

Also looking for a drain plug replacement but haven't found any. I swear I have found these in the past.

The cowl seams continue all the way down into the kick panel vents.

Behind the cover plate on each side, if the sealer is bad you will rot the floor, or worse the lower hinge mount. DAMHIK!

I have a label maker.

It might be a good thing to put a tag indicating which connector is which, because the EVTM only shows the wires associated with 'whatever' not ALL the wires in a connector.

Knowing it is is 'CXXX' helps a lot.

What drain plugs are you looking at?

[Danny G]

The cowl seams continue all the way down into the kick panel vents.

Behind the cover plate on each side, if the sealer is bad you will rot the floor, or worse the lower hinge mount. DAMHIK!

I have a label maker.

It might be a good thing to put a tag indicating which connector is which, because the EVTM only shows the wires associated with 'whatever' not ALL the wires in a connector.

Knowing it is is 'CXXX' helps a lot.

What drain plugs are you looking at?

Technically if I depinned the connectors I could slide a heat shrink sleeve on there with the connector info but I'm content with the Dymo D1 labels inside the cab lol. Unless they start falling off.

The plugs I am talking about is the metal ones in the footwell that are held in with two screws and become giant rust spots.

I have to look tomorrow but I swear when I pulled back the carpet there was a cover plate over the transmission tunnel... I don't remember having one in my other automatic, though I could be just forgetting.

I'll pull that cover on the kick plate wall and look in that tunnel for rust. I was going to snake a hose down from the cowl and hit all of that with internal frame coat/encapsulator from Eastwood's. I was thinking that cover had a vent option on some models for floor venting outside air. But could be misremembering that too.

[Danny G]

Technically if I depinned the connectors I could slide a heat shrink sleeve on there with the connector info but I'm content with the Dymo D1 labels inside the cab lol. Unless they start falling off.

The plugs I am talking about is the metal ones in the footwell that are held in with two screws and become giant rust spots.

I have to look tomorrow but I swear when I pulled back the carpet there was a cover plate over the transmission tunnel... I don't remember having one in my other automatic, though I could be just forgetting.

I'll pull that cover on the kick plate wall and look in that tunnel for rust. I was going to snake a hose down from the cowl and hit all of that with internal frame coat/encapsulator from Eastwood's. I was thinking that cover had a vent option on some models for floor venting outside air. But could be misremembering that too.

I have decided not to replace the jute and "rubber" fire wall cover... If that was actually rubber. It holds too much dirt and moisture.

I will be using a combination of foil backed sound deadener and a closed cell foam. This should give me all the sound and thermal insulation I could ever need with a thinner, waterproof material that will also not hold dirt.

Closed Cell Foam (ccf) has an R value of 8 per inch. Typically 1/2" jute is around R2 - 3 from what I can find.

This means unfaced 1/2" CCF will be about R-4.

Under the 1/2" CCF I'll be using Siless hybrid deadener. It is 0.2" think. It consists of a 50mil butyl mastic deadener, followed by 100m OCF acoustic foam insulation, then a 50 mil mass load membrane. Typically butyl mastic deadeners are around 80mil this come in at 200mil.

 

[Gary Lewis]

I have decided not to replace the jute and "rubber" fire wall cover... If that was actually rubber. It holds too much dirt and moisture.

I will be using a combination of foil backed sound deadener and a closed cell foam. This should give me all the sound and thermal insulation I could ever need with a thinner, waterproof material that will also not hold dirt.

Closed Cell Foam (ccf) has an R value of 8 per inch. Typically 1/2" jute is around R2 - 3 from what I can find.

This means unfaced 1/2" CCF will be about R-4.

Under the 1/2" CCF I'll be using Siless hybrid deadener. It is 0.2" think. It consists of a 50mil butyl mastic deadener, followed by 100m OCF acoustic foam insulation, then a 50 mil mass load membrane. Typically butyl mastic deadeners are around 80mil this come in at 200mil.

That’s a good combo. Deadener/foam/deadener does a good job. 👍

[Danny G]

Make sure they actually put the seam sealer in the pockets. Darth had none on the right side, if I hadn't removed the heater ducting I would never have found it. I wondered why I kept finding the carpet wet on that side.

Are you talking in the crack itself. The seam seal on the driver side fit well was a fillet between the pan and the side wall but the crack itself between the welds was wide open. Fortunately clean in this spot I can see the gray primer in there.

I took a break from working in the cab and then fell asleep on the couch. I'm painting three of the main dash supports now. I'll have just the dash speaker support and the tubular ones left but I fly out Tuesday and am low on paint so they probably will wait until next weekend.

I got through the wire harness on the passenger side got everything cleaned and inspected. Was happy with what was there and started sleeving and labeling connectors.

I'll probably review the evtm for these wire colors under the mid dash after I'm done painting. I have a feeling they are radio/courtesy light related.

Also looking for a drain plug replacement but haven't found any. I swear I have found these in the past.

Ok thanks to the 85 EVTM in the documents section I have these wires sussed out. They go to connecter C333 electronic radio.

They Yellow with Green line (which I can only see when I take a picture of it thank you Samsung) is always hot powered by fuse 8 as part of the courtesy lighting circuit.

The Yellow with black hash marks is radio power from fuse 11 when the key is in acc or run.

And lastly the blue with red stripe is the radio illumination control/dimmer. The light switch provides power to fuse 17 which then depending on the potentiometer output adjusts radio brightness.

So with that said I am going to cap these guys off I think as I currently have no radio and just add labels to the wires. I think I have a 3 wire plug in my electrical supplies. Maybe I'll make a new C333 connector.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Technically if I depinned the connectors I could slide a heat shrink sleeve on there with the connector info but I'm content with the Dymo D1 labels inside the cab lol. Unless they start falling off.

The plugs I am talking about is the metal ones in the footwell that are held in with two screws and become giant rust spots.

I have to look tomorrow but I swear when I pulled back the carpet there was a cover plate over the transmission tunnel... I don't remember having one in my other automatic, though I could be just forgetting.

I'll pull that cover on the kick plate wall and look in that tunnel for rust. I was going to snake a hose down from the cowl and hit all of that with internal frame coat/encapsulator from Eastwood's. I was thinking that cover had a vent option on some models for floor venting outside air. But could be misremembering that too.

Okay, those are not oval "drain plugs" on the floor.

They are to access the cab mounting bolts.

I don't know of a source for the oval plates themselves, certainly Raybuck, Tabco, or any of the usual suspects don't have them...

The drains I'm talking about are the rubber necks at the back of each wheel well, up behind the plastic fender liner.

They are at the bottom of the cowl pockets, and before the compartment formed by the kick panel cover plates (the ones that will fill up with debris and rot out three layers of metal, and your lower hinge mounting plate)

The slotted cowl found on bullnose trucks almost guarantees that there's a lot of organic debris/mud collected there.

(I have good photos of these, and the garbage inside, with the fenders off my truck a few years back)

There is an option for fresh air floor vents on some trucks.

I'm not sure, but I think it depends on if you have A/C or not.

Good possibility that a pickup will have a blank plate where the shifter/transfer case stick should be on a 2x automatic truck.

Easier to stamp all cab floors with the hole and decide 2 holes, one hole, no holes in the plate as the cab rolls down the line....

Good luck! You're really going to town with this cab.

[Gary Lewis]

Okay, those are not oval "drain plugs" on the floor.

They are to access the cab mounting bolts.

I don't know of a source for the oval plates themselves, certainly Raybuck, Tabco, or any of the usual suspects don't have them...

The drains I'm talking about are the rubber necks at the back of each wheel well, up behind the plastic fender liner.

They are at the bottom of the cowl pockets, and before the compartment formed by the kick panel cover plates (the ones that will fill up with debris and rot out three layers of metal, and your lower hinge mounting plate)

The slotted cowl found on bullnose trucks almost guarantees that there's a lot of organic debris/mud collected there.

(I have good photos of these, and the garbage inside, with the fenders off my truck a few years back)

There is an option for fresh air floor vents on some trucks.

I'm not sure, but I think it depends on if you have A/C or not.

Good possibility that a pickup will have a blank plate where the shifter/transfer case stick should be on a 2x automatic truck.

Easier to stamp all cab floors with the hole and decide 2 holes, one hole, no holes in the plate as the cab rolls down the line....

Good luck! You're really going to town with this cab.

Yep, he is really "going to town" on this.

[mat in tn]

Yep, he is really "going to town" on this.

Danny ,if you are painting the metal frame of the dashboard (as I do) pay close attention to the fact that it IS the ground connector for the gauges and more. it becomes very important to use "paint cutting" lock washers on all bolts and screws . where it mounts to the cab and where any wires are mounted. these are not heavy load carrying circuits and a little resistance goes a long way in driving you crazy later.