WHYDTYTT: What Have You Done To Your Truck Today?

[fords4life]

That's good progress, especially if you have a "little one". How little?

He'll be 3 in January. Grandma is babysitting, but gottta get him up and going, fed, drive to Dad's shop since he has more space to work on it, take the dogs with, put the kid down for nap, etc.

Also got the slave cylinder pulled from the transmission. Should have the upper intake manifold, power steering pump and brackets, and lower intake manifold pulled tomorrow. Just have to figure out what to do with the wiring harness since it goes across the front of the motor. Was hoping to leave it connected to vacuum solenoids and other stuff on the passenger side but that isn't looking promising.....I can't believe they're isn't a harness connector somewhere to make pulling the motor a little easier.

[Gary Lewis]

He'll be 3 in January. Grandma is babysitting, but gottta get him up and going, fed, drive to Dad's shop since he has more space to work on it, take the dogs with, put the kid down for nap, etc.

Also got the slave cylinder pulled from the transmission. Should have the upper intake manifold, power steering pump and brackets, and lower intake manifold pulled tomorrow. Just have to figure out what to do with the wiring harness since it goes across the front of the motor. Was hoping to leave it connected to vacuum solenoids and other stuff on the passenger side but that isn't looking promising.....I can't believe they're isn't a harness connector somewhere to make pulling the motor a little easier.

That would make it difficult. Not enough slack to make it go to the back and tie it to the hood part way up?

Three is a cool age. Lots of energy and more questions than can be believed. Have fun and remember these days.

[Rembrant]

That would make it difficult. Not enough slack to make it go to the back and tie it to the hood part way up?

Three is a cool age. Lots of energy and more questions than can be believed. Have fun and remember these days.

I didn't do anything to my truck today....it's still at the body shop and my garage is empty, so I decided to see if I could rehab these old bezels I scavenged from the junkyard yesterday.

Still installed and filthy...

The bad: The "Fasten Belts" lens was missing, and 3 or 4 of those other lens were broken and/or only attached on one end. I very gently removed a Fasten Belts lens from another spare bezel, and then glued it in place, and then glued all of the broken lens back into place.

After all that, I plugged the drilled choke knob hole with a black plastic plug from Home Depot.

I then finished cleaning everything up with Q-Tips to get into all of the corners, and the old things cleaned up pretty well. I re-did all of the silver edging, except the inner one on the radio bezel...that one is still original.

Question is now...what to wipe on them to restore the black? Armor All? What about Mother's Back to Black? Has anybody tried it on the black weave bezels?

Anyway, I don't even need these things. It was something to do really, and I hate to see them go to the crusher when they literally take a couple minutes to remove and cost me about as much a coffee and a donut...lol. Besides the fading, etc...they're in decent condition. Not a single crack or missing tab.

They'll be handy to have as spares, and I can always stick 'em on Ebay later. If I go ahead with an aftermarket AC system later, I can always use this instrument bezel to cut/install vents, etc.

[Gary Lewis]

I didn't do anything to my truck today....it's still at the body shop and my garage is empty, so I decided to see if I could rehab these old bezels I scavenged from the junkyard yesterday.

Still installed and filthy...

The bad: The "Fasten Belts" lens was missing, and 3 or 4 of those other lens were broken and/or only attached on one end. I very gently removed a Fasten Belts lens from another spare bezel, and then glued it in place, and then glued all of the broken lens back into place.

After all that, I plugged the drilled choke knob hole with a black plastic plug from Home Depot.

I then finished cleaning everything up with Q-Tips to get into all of the corners, and the old things cleaned up pretty well. I re-did all of the silver edging, except the inner one on the radio bezel...that one is still original.

Question is now...what to wipe on them to restore the black? Armor All? What about Mother's Back to Black? Has anybody tried it on the black weave bezels?

Anyway, I don't even need these things. It was something to do really, and I hate to see them go to the crusher when they literally take a couple minutes to remove and cost me about as much a coffee and a donut...lol. Besides the fading, etc...they're in decent condition. Not a single crack or missing tab.

They'll be handy to have as spares, and I can always stick 'em on Ebay later. If I go ahead with an aftermarket AC system later, I can always use this instrument bezel to cut/install vents, etc.

Good job, Cory! They really look good.

As for getting them black, I wouldn't use ArmorAll until I was sure that's the right approach. I say that because I'm afraid nothing else will stick after the ArmorAll is used.

So, Back To Black or something like SEM's Black. BtB is brush-on, right? Will that create an even color? Wouldn't a paint, like SEM, be sure to give a more even color? But, would it require masking things somewhat?

[ArdWrknTrk]

I didn't do anything to my truck today....it's still at the body shop and my garage is empty, so I decided to see if I could rehab these old bezels I scavenged from the junkyard yesterday.

Still installed and filthy...

The bad: The "Fasten Belts" lens was missing, and 3 or 4 of those other lens were broken and/or only attached on one end. I very gently removed a Fasten Belts lens from another spare bezel, and then glued it in place, and then glued all of the broken lens back into place.

After all that, I plugged the drilled choke knob hole with a black plastic plug from Home Depot.

I then finished cleaning everything up with Q-Tips to get into all of the corners, and the old things cleaned up pretty well. I re-did all of the silver edging, except the inner one on the radio bezel...that one is still original.

Question is now...what to wipe on them to restore the black? Armor All? What about Mother's Back to Black? Has anybody tried it on the black weave bezels?

Anyway, I don't even need these things. It was something to do really, and I hate to see them go to the crusher when they literally take a couple minutes to remove and cost me about as much a coffee and a donut...lol. Besides the fading, etc...they're in decent condition. Not a single crack or missing tab.

They'll be handy to have as spares, and I can always stick 'em on Ebay later. If I go ahead with an aftermarket AC system later, I can always use this instrument bezel to cut/install vents, etc.

So, dash parts, or Timmy's, which is it going to be?

I might try something like 3M's Scotchgard plastic protectant.

Or one of the other UV inhibiting gels.

But adding a bunch of silicone oils pretty much excludes ever painting them.

[Rembrant]

Good job, Cory! They really look good.

As for getting them black, I wouldn't use ArmorAll until I was sure that's the right approach. I say that because I'm afraid nothing else will stick after the ArmorAll is used.

So, Back To Black or something like SEM's Black. BtB is brush-on, right? Will that create an even color? Wouldn't a paint, like SEM, be sure to give a more even color? But, would it require masking things somewhat?

Gary, the Back to Black is just a fancier version of Armor All as far as I know? I've had the bottle for years now and usually only use it on exterior black plastics that get all faded.

I thought of painting them, but I've already done the silver edging, and I really didn't plan on going that crazy with the restoration. I wasn't really trying to make them look new per se...I was more or less just trying to make them not look so worn.

[Rembrant]

So, dash parts, or Timmy's, which is it going to be?

Haha! So you know about Timmy's huh? I know they were showing up in the northern states, but I didn't think that they made as far as Connecticut.

Tim's is a bit of a religion up here...

I probably go there sometimes...or every day...lol.

 

[salans7]

Haha! So you know about Timmy's huh? I know they were showing up in the northern states, but I didn't think that they made as far as Connecticut.

Tim's is a bit of a religion up here...

I probably go there sometimes...or every day...lol.

I'm in Florida and I'm very familiar with Timmy's. It's VERY hard to watch any kind of YouTube creator content from Canada and not hear mention or physically watch somebody stop in at a Timmy's. lol.

[ArdWrknTrk]

So, dash parts, or Timmy's, which is it going to be?

Haha! So you know about Timmy's huh? I know they were showing up in the northern states, but I didn't think that they made as far as Connecticut.

Tim's is a bit of a religion up here...

I probably go there sometimes...or every day...lol.

No, they're not down here in South Western CT.

But they are as Canadian as hockey and maple syrup.

I've spent time in the big cities, and traversing the (seemingly desolate) plains.

But TH is everywhere.

 

[Gary Lewis]

No, they're not down here in South Western CT.

But they are as Canadian as hockey and maple syrup.

I've spent time in the big cities, and traversing the (seemingly desolate) plains.

But TH is everywhere.

Didn't know about Timmy's, but read up on it. (LOVE the internet. Earlier today heard Creeque Alley and remembered to read up on it as I'd always wanted to do from the first time I heard it.)

Anyway, didn't get out to the shop today so needed to "do something to my truck today". Given that I ordered the bezel on the left from Dennis Carpenter. Hopefully I can make it fairly well match the instrument bezel on the right. But I'm guessing I'll have to paint both of them to get a match.