[LordNatedawg]

It has been a busy weekend. I'm just trying to tie up loose ends and get my truck to a safe, daily driver status (as much as possible for a 60s truck).

First, it was time to address my motor mount perches. They were wrong and didn't line up properly on the crossmember. The previous owner drilled holes in the frame to make them fit, then welded them to the old crossmember. I got them swapped with correct perches (part #T82244), and I also changed the oil soaked rubber mounts (part #T82282). All the OE holes lined up once I set the motor down. For the first time in 6 years my motor is now bolted to the frame AND the crossmember. What a difference that made. My truck barely vibrates on the highway now. It honestly drives smoother than my 2012 GMC, and I don't consider my 2012 to be a rough ride.

The next thing I solved was my headlights. I tried to use LEDs as an "upgrade" when I did my rewire, but they were awful. Horrible beam scatter, didn't illuminate anything outside of the cutoff, and likely blinded oncoming traffic. To solve this I bought a quad-headlight relay kit from Painless Wiring and converted everything back to halogens. Now my headlights use standard 9003 headlight bulbs instead of being sealed beam. I haven't aimed them, but it is a night and day difference in clarity and visibility. I can actually drive at night and see where I'm going!

The last thing I installed was more of a comfort item. I wanted a tachometer. I felt that my truck didn't have as much power as it should have, so I wanted to see what my RPMs looked like. Turns out I was definitely lacking power due to driver error. Initially I was shifting too quickly, which led to running out of gears before I was at cruising speed. The motor sounded like it was going faster than it actually was and I was shifting before I hit 2,500 RPM. Extending my shift points out to 3,000-3,500 RPM allowed me to get my truck up to a freeway speeds without issue. Now I can comfortably cruise at 70mph.

Please ignore how my tach is mounted. I realize it is...less than ideal. I'm using an existing hole in the dash for now. I'll move it to my steering column after I get a hose clamp of the correct size.

All of this prep work means I can now safely drive my truck more than just for grocery runs. Just in time, too. My 2012 sprung a coolant leak, so I am in need of a spare vehicle until I can get that fixed. 6 years to turn a beater into a daily. And I am nowhere near finished

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I ordered a front sway bar kit. Should be a simple install, but I'll let you all know how it goes. Lastly, I need to fixed my warped brakes. My proportioning valve was never my issue when I had brake drag. I had preload on the master cylinder. Once that was fixed I stopped experiencing brake drag. But the previous events of drag and lockup obviously heated up my rotors, and now they're warped and hot spotted. At the very least that is a simple fix.