75 Dually Project - 22s and stylin

OK other than all the York and air ride stuff I have been working on, I did get my battery box finished today. Once the paint dries I will show you guys the battery mounting system I came up with. It is super simple, but secure which is really what matters.

I got the battery box installed along with the batteries today. Went to our local battery supply house and got them to make me a positive line to run to the starter.

I had left the wiring for the electric fuel pump/fuel sender on the donor vehicle until I was ready for it. So tonight I went out and pulled it, but the end had been cut! Oh no! So I went and pulled my wiring diagrams and got all serious about finding where these two loan soldiers are supposed to go. So after that I went out to look at the truck I noticed a couple hanging wires close to the main harness, and they had a piece of tape attached to them where I had written "Find out where these go?" on it. Low and behold they were the same color wires as the ones I was looking for. I don't remember cutting them, but I must have done it when I yanked the engine... And I thought I was being extra careful labeling everything... Well at least the mystery is now solved! Duh!

These came in today! Getting closer...

Several months ago I had put a picture on this thread of the dash in my 61 Chevy parts truck, and talked about potentially putting it in the dually. Well today I got out the implements of destruction, and went to town on both dashes. The dually dash came out super easy (trust me when I say I was surprised), and the 61 dash fought me at every turn. However I won that battle! So out it came kicking and fighting. I graduated from bigger hammer school folks...

Seeing that I am mostly done with the air ride stuff for the time being I wanted something else to tackle. So now the hard work begins. I will tack it in and start to add all the sheet metal fillers.

This is going to be a lot of work, but nothing I can't handle. However the end result is going to be worth it.

Got to playing around with the new dash after I got all the old switches and knobs pulled. I put the 91 burb instrument panel in the gauge opening, and it does not look that bad. OK it does not look that good either, but I just don't have the budget right now for new gauges, maybe sometime in the future, but not right now. I would like a full set of Autometer in there, hmmm a speedo, tach with playback.....

I worked on the dash this weekend. Yeah I know my trial balloon with the old gauges above was a dog, but hey you gotta try...

So after taking all the components out of each dash unit I found that there was a ton of similarities in the speedo. In fact the bolt patterns were the same to mount it to the rear plate! So that got me to thinking, what if I could use all the old gauges out of the 91 burb? So I tore it completely apart and then tore the 61 dash down as well. So I spent some quality time at home depot finding some of the small parts I needed, then I got back to the shop and made the dash unit below. The speedo is bolted in to the original location. The only thing I had to do to it was trim the bottom to fit the housing. All the other gauges are mounted from the back using JB weld and some small standoffs so the back lighting would come through. Right now I have to find some plexi glass to finish up the front, and I still have to finish up the wiring and install the lights for the turn signals.

Now to get that dash welded in...

Dam, that turned out NICE! Well done.

Swap out the fuel gauge for one from a '85-'87 camaro......
Be able to see the whole gauge then, it's the same size that you need.....

Like this one....

THE TRUCK RUNS! Fired up on the first turn of the key!!! After 2 years of sitting and tons of work that was a major hurdle. Talk about a happy camper!

Now that it runs I am going to finish up the Accuair install and run the calibration phase tonight. I am going to take video of the calibration and post it on YouTube. A long night ahead but man I can't wait to see it lift off the ground under it's own power.

HELL YA BRO..........AWESOME!!!!!