More stuff.

I've been pretty busy with the old truck lately.  In my last post I had put on a couple of new headlights that are a considerable upgrade to the stock ones.  I got such a good deal on them that I went ahead and got another set for the high beams.  They rock.  I also got around to putting that new exhaust on.  I bought it what seems like a year ago and only just got around to doing it.  It was, of course, not with out it's challenges.  I took the truck over to a friends house to take advantage of his space.  The old home owners association dislikes my truck enough without having to see me going at it with a sawsall.  So Andrew and I cut out the old exhaust and got everything cleared out.  I couldn't resist firing it up without the pipes on it just to see what it sounds like.  It was really loud.  We spent a day crawling around under and around the truck and had just about got it all done.  Then I had the bright idea to give the pipe under the drivers side a jiggle to see if they were tight enough.  And there was the beginning of the problems.  That jiggle broke the antique exhaust manifold that's been on there for ever.  Long story short,  I broke the drivers side, the passenger side had a stripped stud and, I eventually found, a crack.  So two new used manifolds from craigs list, a lot of laying under truck, a bunch of new grade 8 bolts and some new gaskets and the truck thumps.  I'm guessing I gained about thirty horses and whole lot of additude.  Grandpa's old truck that once was reluctant to do fifty-five is now happy to clip along at 70.  All in all, I'd say it's been a success.  I made a recording of the exhaust sound before we made the swap, and I'll make one of the after now that it's all done and post it.  You can hear it for yourself.



I also, thanks to the old guy truck network,  came up with a new set of wheels for it.  Three inches taller, two inches wider and a lot more shiny.  Check it out.

I'm not sure what Grandpa would think of these, but I like them.