Pulled the doghouse eaves today. The top piano hinge is held in place by two screws. Seems easy enough, huh? I have a feeling this will be an ongoing theme... To quote Christopher Titus, my inner retard will say "Gee, this should only tak an hour or so..." Reality will be that it takes five. every time. D'oh.
Anyway, the two screws were shit. No doubt, they are some soft metal - it didn't take much screwdriver-turning (yesterday) to cause the slots to stretch. Bummer. I took a look underneath the cowl, and there's those nasty-assed square nuts holding it together. And they look to be welded down. Ugh. So, I squireted in some WD-40, and walked away until today. Came back out with the kids, pushed the truck out into the sunlight, and tried again. No dice. I'm sittin' there on the fender thinking I really don't wanna have to drill these damned screws out. Grrr... So, I take a chance and grab me a 1/2" combination wrench and give the nuts a whirl. And whaddaya know, I couldn't get the wrench on them, because the ignition coil was in the way. Popped the coil loose, and whaddaya know, the nust came right loose! Yay!
So, spent the next 15 minutes pulling the doghouse off. Carried it back to the shed, and took some pictures.
And while we're at it, here's some bonus pics... The first is a metal tag on the engine block. It says "Engine Reconditioned by Authorized Ford Dealer," and has the block number stamped on it. The second is a metal tag on the frame with, I suppose, the Chassis number on it.
Popped the headlights off this morning. The reflectors arerust-pitted something awful, and need to be seriously cleaned, polished, and re-chromed. It might be easier to buy new ones. The black on their shells is some sort of crappy paint job - it misseda bunch underneath of them, near the bolts, and it pretty much chipped right off.
I sprayed some WD-40 on several of the bolts that tie the bed to the fenders and frame. I probably missed a few, but I don't know where they are. I guess I'll figure it out, eventually. I eyeballed the bottom of the bed against the spring supports. Yeah, the spring yoke is higher than the floor of the bed. I need to figure that out, but haven't had any luck googling it, yet.
I notice there's some parts missing, too. Looks to be missing the back fender supports and all but one shock absorber.
To date, I've also had no luck figuring out what this crap inside the doors is. It looks like a block of... I dunno, really thick asbestos tile? I'm figuring they were stuffed in to cure a rattle, but I can't yet figure how they got them in there, or how to get them out. Google hasn't help me figure those out, either.
Last modified on 12/18/11