ColoradoDriver

On 5/3/2022 at 7:45 AM, 1958 F.W.D. said:

Have you submitted the request through the website? That's the only way archive requests are fulfilled; in order to maintain fairness. Requests are fulfilled in the order in which received and usually run 4-6 weeks to process. 

Good looking truck by the way, not a lot of rot. Should be a fairly easy restoration. How are the mechanicals? 

I did submit a request, its been a few weeks now. I'm patiently waiting. Yeah the truck has very little rust, nothing I can't take care of myself, mechanically the truck is sound, only two things I can find that need work are one of hub caps is cracked, its a female screw on type. I haven't been able to find one yet. And while warming up I get an idle surge, im sure it's either the governor weights or throttle springs. Seems to go away at operating temp, maybe old fuel too. Anyway its a solid truck, a little elbow grease and patients and it'll be back to doing what it's ment to.

6 hours ago, Vladislav said:

Welcome to BMT!

Nice looking old R-model. And looks like the truck has plenty of potential. Wish you good luck on bringing it into working order. Also would be cool if you not limit your activities with just making it road worthy but also find resources to improve the look. This way you may please lovers of old Macks and also jobs you're going to do will be done with pride.

Dash panels you're looking for is relatively easy assembling stuff. If I were you I'd start looking for a set of parts over junk yards. Preferraby still installed on a truck. Of what I saw on the pics you posted in another thread you would need a steel channel which goes from the left door sill to the right one. There's a piece of angle steel or so installed there at the moment since some previouse owner needed something to put parking brake knobs into. But factory dash wouldn't fit on it. Also there used to be a heater box which installs right below the dash. R-model was made the way the heater is a separate part so you can assemble all the dash without and put it later on.

Vlad

Thank you, I will definitely make her something to be proud of. I'm waiting for a response from the Mack history museum to see if maybe they have the original colors and specs. If not I want to emphasize the gold, I'm thinking either white and gold or black and gold. She will definitely be show worthy. I will be posting a thread in another topic of my progress. 

I have a bunch of pictures on this topic, if you interested in any other in cab pictures let me know and I can post them

The restoration of my 1975 Mack R685ST is not only a exciting adventure for me but also a daunting one, but by all means worth it. From the positive ground to negative ground conversion, to the truck not having a single functional wire, or the truck having no dash this gold bulldog will be back to work making money just like it was built to do. This topic is going to be about the cab/interior. The biggest part of the cab portion of the restoration is the missing dash. The man I purchased it from also purchased it without a dash so who knows where it is. I have about four options for replacing the missing dash, 1: Part a dash together by purchasing parts as I find them. 2: purchase an entire dash with instruments included, as ideal as that sounds to me I have yet to see an entire dash for sale. But I will be on an aggressive search for one, I will also be posting in the wanted portion of the market topic hoping someone will have one for sale. 3: I could try to buy a steel dash from a little older r model and making it work, definitely sounds more appealing the plastic in my opinion. But will draw back from original and I tend to lean twords as original as possible when approaching a restoration but I also know that's not always an option, they are also not easy to come by. Lastly number 4: build a custom dash, this is probably the least appealing option but probably the cheapest and would result in alot less searching for parts. I'm no fabricator but I have a great imagination and eye for solutions, and even better I work with very talented fabricators who are always look to put there name on a project so building one would be pretty easy. The man I bought it from had the same idea but as you can see in the pictures was building a simple dash... I will build somthing closer to the original dash. I will sleep some nights on the four options I gave myself, meanwhile I am very interested in your opinions and ideas, maybe you can think of a fifth or sixth option, if you have any input or know where I can find some of these options please let me know. Safe trip.

Thank you. Yeah not much rust, there's a few small holes but nothing that I cant take care of. From what I was told she spent most her life on a peanut farm in southern New Mexico, so thankfully not much humidity down there.