This page was last updated: March 10, 2010

Anne's Orange Truck

This is the truck on the day we brought it home.

With Craig's help, and garage space, we rebuilt the engine and trans. The engine was not bored, it was only .003 oversize in the worst spot. We bottle honed it, and replaced the rings. It has a Comp Cams Xtreme Energy cam with .432 lift, but only 250 duration. For comparison, the 340 used a .430 lift and 268 duration cam. The stock 318 cam is only .390 lift! I rebuilt my AFB and used my MSD coil, and wires, along with a MP orange ignition box. The brake lines were all replaced, along with the master cylinder. Headers are Hedmans. It's hard to believe how easy it is to install headers on this truck, especially compared to the Duster.

This is the engine after it was re-installed. The hoses and wires have been straightened out since this was taken. It runs well, and has good oil pressure (it has a new hi-volume pump).

The dash was another little project. I used some old gauges I had around and replaced some of the factory gauges. The ammeter is notorious for melting stuff and sometimes starting fires. I bypassed it and installed a volt meter. You can see where the plastic stud in the upper left corner had gotten pretty hot. I made a sheetmetal piece to mount the gauges in. This will let them be behind the dash, like the factory gauges were.

The finished dash.

The truck still needs work. There is rust to repair, It needs carpet and weather stripping, and I want to get a tonneau cover for it. I was thinking of a hard tonneau, but I may go with a soft one with the velcro strips. It would be easier to haul big stuff that way.

The conduit mirrors had to go. I got some mirrors off a van in the junkyard and they looked like they would fit nicely. They didn't. The contours of the door are different. A little work with the grider got the backet to fit reasonably well - for now. When it's time for bodywork, I'll get them to fit a little better and add a brace o the inside of the door like the factory did. The brace reinforces the door skin so the mirror doesn't shake.

I'm not sure if Anne like the truck, but Coco loves it!