The Shop Truck #3 — Status Report

Kevin had The Shop Truck for almost 90 days, and in that time he replaced a lot of parts and did way more work than he could ever have anticipated on a truck that is, as we both noted, shockingly clean.

He runs a shop called Associated Equipment Service, in the same Hyde Park mixed-use complex where three of the Blast Cars staff live. (Me, Corey, Pam) He has since sworn off project trucks, and if he wasn’t such a goddamn nice guy, he might not have ordered the front axle shaft to be rebuilt out of the goodness of his heart.

But I have the truck back, and I need to fix the luxurious 1987 power doors and power windows this weekend with Corey. It makes sense. After Kevin and his big, burly, strong, tattooed staffers rebuilt the front-end; re-timed the engine; replaced every belt, hose, and drop of fluid in the vehicle; recharged the A/C; and welded some metal under the driver’s side floorboard, Corey and I get to play “car nerd” and wire up the power actuators. Note: This will be the first of many times you hear me praise Timken for providing the front-end (and rear-end) seals and bearings.

Yes, Kevin was much cooler than I was in school, no doubt about that. I’m not just sucking up to him because he did, oh, $3,000 worth of work on the truck this summer. Not at all.

There once was an antenna there.

See all that? It’s gotta be replaced

Newish tires. Good tread. Like.

• The door panels need to be replaced
• The stereo turns on but there’s no sound
• The speakers are clearly broken and not original to the truck and don’t actually fit where they are placed
• The antenna is broken off. I get to lean how to fix an antenna
• The power door actuators are broken
• The power window motors are broken
• Turning the steering wheel in traffic is more about HOPE than expectation. I have to have that looked at. Alignment?
• The neutral safety switch is definitely broken.
• The gear indicator is gone — no idea if i’m in D or 2 or 1
• The wipers need to be replaced. Might be the easiest thing I do to the truck. We’ll see.
• Uhh..The brake light is on.
• The sonofabitch still stalls in reverse sometimes
• The rear toolbox is for sale. Anyone want it?
• The exhaust is shit. New system needed. That will be a fun story.

Anyone know how to weld?

That’s the project we’ve taken on. It’s going to be a learning process, which is why we created this site in the first place. Feel free to sound off, share advice, or generally troll and flame me.