Been doin' a little work on the old truck cap I've put on the truck.
Seeing how I paid 50 bucks for it a couple years ago, I don't feel bad about sinking a few more dollars into it.
The rear hatch was cracked and broken from some previous owner, probably from slamming it down on something sticking out past the bed. They had tried to fix it with the biggest "glob" of body fill I've ever seen. To make it worse, it was the flexible bumper repair stuff. Great stuff, but
absolutely the
wrong application for it. So I ground it out, roughed it up and re-glassed the pieces back together. I slipped the broken pieces back into alignment and the piece that had been punched right out into it's old home. I then "V-d" out the cracks, re-flowed some resin into the fissures and added a little insurance by working some glass mat fibers into the resin to give it strength and tie it all together. Next, a few layers of mat for reinforcement, a bit of filler to smooth it all out and it's stronger than the day it popped out of the mold:
A "spritz" of 3M Super 77 glue on the dangling and cut weather seal, a good soaking with silicone "rubber rejuvenating" spray and it's all fixed up and ready for another 20 years of service.
Wanting a bit newer look (it's an old Leer cap that was imported in the 80's and re-branded by Action Truck Caps in Moncton), I fitted a CHMSL from a Pontiac Trans Sport. You can see it in the pic above. I picked it up for 20 bucks from a local yard that had a trans sport with a crushed rear hatch. Problem was, my cap is flat and the light was curved. A bit of heating and reforming fixed 'er right up. Little bit of work with a cut off wheel, die grinder and a rasp fitted it right in:
My cap was only "factory wired" for a dome light, so I needed more circuits. I also didn't want to have it wired so the cap couldn't be easily removed. So, out comes the split loom and a quick rummage through my electrical "box o' bits" turned up a couple weather pac connectors (I always clip them off wrecked vehicles or ones I'm having hauled away, they're like gold!). Run the wiring down the cap and to a stake pocket, heat shrink, make a couple brackets and it's all neat, tidy and disconnects with one simple connector:
The cap's dome light is wired into the cargo lamp control in the cab. It isn't powered unless the cargo light is on. Some might wonder; "Why bother with all that extra hassle, just wire it to 12V and use the dome light switch".
Well, here's the thing:
My wife also uses the truck. By wiring it in to the cargo light switch, it's in the "auto off" battery protection for the interior lights. Plus, it only comes on when I want it (cargo lamp switch instead of interior lighting). No dead battery for me, no matter how hard she tries to screw it up......:hihi:
Plus, I can turn it on and off with my key-less remote if I need to check in the bed after I've gotten out of the truck. Hit "unlock" and the light comes on with the trucks lights. Nice feature if you ask me......
The cap also had a couple flat struts. I'd had enough of using vice grips to hold it open, so I went looking for some replacements. Grab the yellow pages and start calling around.
Yeow!
The nearest truck cap seller is an hour away by highway and they wanted 100 bucks a piece for my specific struts!
Jebus! That's twice the price of what I paid for the whole damned cap!
So, on a hunch, I head off to the local RV place. They use struts for all kinds of doors and covers on trailers and RV's. Turns out they had some 40lb and 60lb struts on the shelf for about 25 bucks a piece.
Great!
Only problem is, they're more of a universal fit deal-e-o and waaaay too long to fit as is. A bit of quick work with the drill and wrenches moves the lower mounting point and everything is workin' fine:
I mounted them so the door sits slightly up instead of level like the stock mounting:
Level has me banging my head getting in and out and it never fails that when I'm trying to maneuver something big into the bed it always needs just that little bit of extra "upwards" rotation to clear. I bought the 60lb struts and they're a little bit "strong", but not unobjectionably so. But, they're also brand new right now and they'll only get weaker with time and couple winters....
I ran dedicated wiring from the front to the back rather than trying to tap into pre-existing wiring. The stock wiring is usually barely adequate for factory purposes and this was just easier all around. To save a few bucks, I just bought a 25 foot trailer 4 wire kit and snipped the flat 4 connectors off. It was cheaper over all (less than 20 bucks) than purchasing 100 feet of wiring, it's the right gauge and it's a lot easier to thread through the frame since it's all bonded together. It follows the factory loom and is split loomed from front to back for protection and neatness. A side bonus is the split loom is mostly empty and has lots of room left for running the power and control wires for my Raptor and prefilter WIF detector. I also slipped my trailer wiring into the split loom as the PO just had it all hanging. (sorry, no pics).
Moving up to the engine bay, I needed a way to pass the trailer wiring, cap wiring and a few other items (boost gauge sensor, etc) through the firewall. Hmmm....yup, there's the nicest, cleanest way right there:
I popped out a "blank" in the firewall blanket and there were several pre-indexed hole points for me. I just drilled a couple, slipped in some grommets and passed the wiring through. A couple weather pacs and some split loom clean it all up and make it easily removable. Next time I'm in the scrap yard, I think I'll look for a wiring bulkhead connector and swap that in to make it even easier to remove. All my connections are soldered and double wall "weather sealed" heat shrinked.
Well, now I'm inside the cab. Crawl up under the dash, a couple quick simple connections to go and we're done.
Wait! what?
Christ!
ARGHHHH!!!!
Fffffff...............
Freakin' PO used a plethora of those damned "scotch locks" everywhere under the dash!
:mad5:
Another hour and a half of tracing down wiring mistakes and solder/heat shrink has things electrically sound, secure and clean again.
There's only one way to do automotive/aerospace wiring gents, the
right way......
While I was at it, I made the trailer brake controller removable by using the recently discarded flat four trailer connectors:
I don't tow, but like the idea of having the controller in the truck for quick and easy use. I've been known to help out a couple friends on occasion hauling cars and we're probably going to need it next summer with a rented trailer. The rest of the time it can sit in the glove box, keeping my interior "clean" and out of sight.
Except, I was so burnt at this time, I put the wrong connector on the controller.
at:
I should have put the exposed ground connector on the "live" truck side of the wiring. Oh well, I'm out of heat shrink and that will have to wait for another day.
I made a quick pass and sanded it all smooth and worked out a few imperfections. There's one or two spots that still need a little filler and smoothing.
I have to make a couple bit's and pieces inside the cap for hanging dogs leashes and other "sundries" (dog food, water cooler, etc). I'm thinking about making ('glassing) a locking overhead bin, nets and hangers like the newer models have:
I'm thinking of mounting a rear wiper to the cap door for those miserable days when rear vis sucks. I've had a couple already and really don't like the loss of rear viability in crappy weather. Wiring that up is a snap. Most likely use a minivan setup or something similar. They're certainly plentiful at wreching yards...
Probably throw in a couple 12v power points as well. Heck, I've got a 3 port 12v adapter with a 5v ports built in sitting int he drawer somewhere, I'll probably cut that up and use that...
After that some carpeting/insulation on the interior walls
Last thing to do is tear it all apart and sink a couple hundred into color matching it to the truck to finish it off. I've got an HVLP, but for something this big an visible I'll pay a bit more and have a pro do it.
Should look pretty good and be very functional for our uses.
I only have about 150 bucks into the whole deal right now, and another 2-300 will finish everything I want in it. So for 350-400 bucks
total (maybe 500 at the worst), the cap will be done to our specs. No too shabby!
I still prefer a truck without a cap though......
