Figured I'd start a project thread since there's several things that will get done to the truck.

Got it started (yay!) and drove it out of the weeds yesterday. It was putting out lovely oily smoke (it needs oil), but still, that's good considering it's been sitting a few years. Once we moved it and later popped the hood, we discovered that the heater has been bypassed, meaning the "beater with a heater" status is actually just "beater." Not a problem at this time of year, but it could be come winter. The engine seems to be running fine, so it just needs all the proper fluids (i.e coolant, oil etc...)


Today, I pulled the bench seat out to clean underneath it. ( looks as though the previous owner had one of those mats made of wooden beads) There was rust underneath, but it's far less rusty than what's under the mats in the front (And even there, it's not rusted through). The original factory jack equipment is still there, so that's a plus.


The seat itself is in pretty rough shape, but I've seen worse ones get restored.


I also re-did the inner door lining on the right side. It had come off of where it was supposed to be, but (luckily) it can just be bent back into shape.
The passenger side sunvisor clip also got glued (very strong glue, so it should hold) back together.

Now for the negatives: The bed (as I've mentioned before) is rusted through in several places near the cab.

It will likely get patched or replaced eventually.

The left rear reflector is just barely hanging on (cosmetic issue, but still.) I could pull it right off with little effort, if I felt so inclined.



And now question time:

What is this cord here for? It seems to be designed to connect to... something, but i've got no clue what. It's got a circular end with two circular holes. (similar to a European plug, it seems. Maybe I just answered my own question...)

 

Electrical

Did a little bit of an electrical test tonight.

Main headlights and all marker lights are working.
Of the Highbeams, one is out or has bad wiring.


Hazard light relay (or whatever it is) works fine. oddly though, the signal indicator in the dash only indicates the right hand side.
Right turn signals work, but left turn signals have an issue (possibly related to the above?). They go on, but then they stay on, without blinking. (with headlights on) or go through a few cycles before staying on (without headlights on). hitting the region above the front light seems to reset it to go through another cycle, so i'm guessing a bad connection? The left turn indicator inside also does not flash. (older cars need a certain amount of load to reset to another cycle, so maybe there isn't enough load on the circuit?/ could just be worn out from age. my father's 69 cougar had a similar issue with one if it's signals) I'll have to diagnose what the problem really is.

 

Pull & Save

visited a pull & save today. Got some misc parts for the truck (new rear view mirror and left taillight housing) as well as a trim piece and headlight shroud for the pulsar. (due to a bit of a fender bender recently).

Once i get the fuel pump (from a subaru...) mounted and installed, we'll see if that's really the problem with the fuel not getting to the engine. In other news, a closer look at the idler arm has revealed that it won't need replacing for a long time, so there's a plus.

Truck is coming along well. should have it running properly within the next few days.

 

taillight and fuel pump.

Installed a new left taillight from a '76 today. Only difference between the two was the connector used in the wires. a couple snips and connectors later, fully installed.
lighting test to see if it was hooked up correctly revealed that NEITHER reverse light is activating when the car is in reverse.

Got a fuel pump (from a subaru) installed as well, only to find out there may be a bad relay. It flashes ground/no ground on the circuit tester.


What could be causing the no-reverse lights?
Any clue where the fuel pump relay is?
I'm not very car smart so any and all help is appreciated.

 

well it looks like your truck still has a mechanical fuel pump so i dont think there is a fuel pump relay

 

the plug in the bed coming out of the tail light cover is for the light that was in the camper shell that it proble had on it at one time. mine has the same plug that you are talking about and it goes to a light on the inside of the shell

 

There is no provision on that head for a mechanical pump. Late 20r's had mechanical pumps but early 20r's all have in tank electrical pumps

 

Yes, the original pump (still there) is an in-tank model. But I still don't know where the relay is...

 

pulled the bed off today. The bolts, despite being rusted, did not break.
Once it was off, we looked in the fuel tank and discovered that the stock pump was no longer properly grounded. No big issue though, as the new pump works fine. It was also discovered that the gas gauge was rather corroded and will probably only read at 3/4 tank or greater. (makes sense, since the gauge in the cab read empty, even after pouring five fresh gallons of gas in.)
There was also a mild issue relating to the tank being a bit dented, but it got acceptably resolved.
Found out today that the alternator is bad (or under-performing) as well, so that will need fixing.

 

Where at in spokane are you? Maybe we can meet up sometime? Share each others knowledge. Two head are better than one right? Even though i'm not the smartest

 

Current status as far as priorities: 1. alternator. 2. lighting (electrical system's all buggered) 3. everything else....eventually.

I'm about 15 minutes south of Spokane, in the middle of nowhere.

Knowledge? pfft. I've got next to nil. It's my ASE certified father doing most of the diagnosis. I only know what he, the toyota corona owners manual in the glovebox, and the chilton import book for that time period tell me, plus a bit of knowledge found along the way.

 

Hahaha nice off the palouse? Like valley ford area? Or down off the pullman highway? Either way i'm fairly close man i live on the lower south hill area off freya!

 

By pullman highway, i'm assuming you mean Hwy 195? If so, then yeah.

 

Yeah 195 hahaha

 

Got the right side mirror (re) attached today. Legal without it, but might as well, right?
The only problem is that the darn frame piece for it got bent to heck when my dad dropped a tree on it. It's attached, but not quite correctly. (but it won't be going anywhere unless someone hits it, so it's alright.)

 

I spotted the other '77 that's around here today, parked alongside a rather rusty 80's SR5. The '77 is in rather better shape than mine. In fact, it had no visible rust that I could find. (the bed was partially covered, so there may have been some underneath.) All in all, it looks rather well maintained. It is, however, a manual, so I'm less likely now to make him an offer on it.

I'd have a picture, but my phone derped and didn't save the darn thing.

 

You really don't like driving stick that much? I think it's quite fun and actually i don't care to own an automatic honestly!!! But i saw one that was black and slammed out drivi g down sprague by the costco the other day!!!! Same body as yours but black it was sick!!!

 

I can drive a stick, i just don't like it all that much. Plus, I'm not the greatest at it and kill the engine at least once a week.
As for making that guy an offer on his nearly identical, but far less rusted truck, there isn't all that much point in doing so, not to mention it isn't on the market and would likely be a bit outside my budget if he did part with it.
I've also always liked my truck, pretty much ever since we got it 10 years ago. I doubt that would have changed a ton had it been the (more common) manual.
Besides, a '77 longbed has quite a bit more carrying capacity/space than an '85 Nissan Pulsar NX.


In other news, not much has been going on with my truck, other than I finally got a replacement exhaust strap (those rubber things.) So now my exhaust won't be bobbing around so much. Pulled the right side taillight as well to start troubleshooting the "no reverse lights" issue that will have to be resolved before I get it licensed again. Only problem was that the dang reverse light (at least the right-hand one) was blown AND rusted in the socket. so now I've got to reattach that wire. And I don't even know if that was the main problem either, as the other side is also nonfunctional.

 

Reverse lights are both working now. next step is to repair/replace the alternator. After that? maybe try to get the other high beam workin or get the motor running a little stronger. (it's rough right now.)

 

Not terribly much to report here. Diagnosing the charging issue is a bit delayed at the moment. Plus, my Daily driver, the 85 pulsar, has begun giving me a bit of trouble. When starting it after sitting for a day or so, it runs (and drives) fine for a minute or so, then the RPMs just drop off. The engine is still running, but at a speed lower (or at least the guage says) than what it idles at. when this happens, there is no throttle response whatsoever, and it has to be shut off to get going again. (and turning it back on is a hassle too). My father claims i'm not giving it enough time to warm up, but it was not doing this a week ago and I haven't changed my driving habits...
It's happened two times in a row (and twice each time), and it's beginning to concern me, so the longbed is sitting for now.