While in the shop, Dave pointed out that it looked like the shifter was about to break. I told him that it actually had broken and he was looking at the repair. I didn’t have time to fix it then. About a month later the headlights went out (the electrical system is the weakest part of this build). I took the truck in and had them fix the lights and investigate the shifter linkage. The whole column would have to be replaced… or we could convert it to floor shift. I went the floor shift route. It’s an automatic so I chose a short shifter and had them put it as far forward as possible. I think it turned out really well and they even recut the custom floor mats to fit perfectly.

The panel truck maybe problematic, but it’s a huge relief to finally have competent mechanic close by.

Last night I had trouble getting the truck started. Putting the key in the ‘on’ position didn’t power anything on even though the starting position did. I spent the night at my friends house where my truck was parked at and investigated the problem today. Rotating the key moves a long metal bar back and forth. That bar actuates a multi-position linear switch at the base of the steering column. I thought it had gone out of adjustment, but it seems really fidgety; it worked better when I LOOSENED the mounting bolts. I’ll have to look into it further the switch may still be at fault. I did manage to get it to start…

It was then that I noticed the voltage was really low. I popped the hood and discovered that the engine was missing all of its accessory drive belts. The A/C and alternator belts were lying in the street intact, but the power steering belt could not be found. I assume the P/S belt broke, got caught under the other two belts, and forced them off. It must have happened right as I parked because I didn’t notice any steering problems last night. John helped me get the alternator belt back on and I man-handled the truck back to my house.

I’ve decided not to sell my Subaru because of this. The truck will be much less stressful if I’m not relying on it. So, tomorrow I’m headed back to the DMV to get the car reregistered and then it’s to the parts store to guess at what length belt I need (and probably buy an ignition switch too).

The trip was 270 miles (I’ve done it a couple times already). The truck has a 30 gallon tank and used 19 for the trip: ~14.2mpg. I think that’s pretty good for a 350 in a big truck. 30 gallons means it could go 425 miles nonstop. I cruised at 70mph most of the time. With the 3.25 rear end that’s ~3100rpm. The water temp didn’t get above 200degF the entire trip.

The electrics worked fine when I went for the test ride, but there has been lot of weird quirks since picking it up. Most of the problems are the result of the “wireless” door-jam connections. They’re not properly adjusted so the connections are either weak or non existent. Right now the switch for the rear door doesn’t work. The key-less entry wasn’t working either… which is a problem on a car with no door handles. The truck only starts in neutral, but the sensor doesn’t always realize it’s in neutral.

Jeff and I pulled door panel and kickpanel and played around with the wiring. We got the the keyless working, but the range is really short. I also found the emergency push button for opening the driver door when the keyfobs fail (previous owner didn’t think it had one). Once I get back to Las Vegas I’m probably going to have a friend’s shop replace all of the wiring in the doors. Right now it’s a whole mess of crimp connectors and multiple wire colors. I turned up the charging system since it was only running at 12.3volts before.

The engine is really cold blooded. It starts fine but you have to baby it for at least 3 minutes before it will idle by itself. Then it’s probably another 5 minutes before you can back it out without killing it. The previous owner told me he had wired the two electric fans direct because he thought the temp sensor had failed. I think the thermostat might be stuck open as well.

It has a Holley 650 double pumper carb that runs pretty rich on idle (makes your eyes burn). I might play with that. As for driving, it feels really smooth as is. No hiccups of anything when accelerating. I’ll probably switch it to fuel injection eventually. There’s enough room under the hood for a blower, but I think I’d go for twin turbos.

I hit the headlight bucket on the post of Ryan’s garage. I kept wondering how I could be so negligent… till I climbed into the driver’s seat again and noticed that I couldn’t even see the passenger headlight. I’m not in too much of a hurry to fix it anymore. A friend pointed out that I was bound to screw something up and that I should just drive and enjoy it.

I bought an iTrip for my iPod. The truck has a cheap CD player, but I’ve only got 2 CDs in my house. The radio reception is terrible since the antenna is in the headliner on the right side. I was worried I’d have to velcro the iPod to the roof in order to get good reception, but I found out I can stow it right next to the radio’s chassis and get perfectly clear sound.

I took the picture above to show how much the truck has been channeled (body lowered over the frame rails). If it was still stock, the door sill that the marker is sitting on would be level with the truck floor.

Best of all: the old lady across the street thinks it’s “pretty boss”.

I naturally have a heap load of buyer’s remorse…

I plan on mitigating that by heading to LA and working with Ryan’s friend Jeff get rid of some of the electrical gremlins and start building a functional interior. If you remember, I wanted to build a vehicle like this as Hack-A-Day’s flagship, so we’re going to cram this with as many monitors and as much WiFi gear as we can muster. I’m hoping the final result will be a mobile work space with enough amenities to put most home offices to shame.

Mom and Dad: How come you are chatting with us? Seen any near naked ladies? or is this not that kind of auto show?

Eliot: no, it’s that kind, but I think I’ve been desensitized

Mom and Dad: Do we want to know how? Dad says not.

Eliot: my cohort has been taking pictures of them since they’ll do a wrapup post of them

Frank’s booth babe post is up on Autoblog now.