Support

Until I came across a set of halfway decent hood support rods on eBay, I had been propping the hood open on the front lacing.

This is risky, because the hood could slip off, and based on the number of scratches along the rear of the grille section and the scratched surface of the hood corner, this practice is hard on the hood as well.

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Tail Lights

Originally on these trucks, you had ONE stop/tail light, and it was located on the driver’s side. On Cornelius, as I have seen on many others, people have added a stop/tail light on the passenger side. Then, turn signals, originally manual in nature, were added in the front and in the rear. The end result is an unsightly twin set of lights in the rear of the truck and more to maintain.

I decided I wanted to replace this twin set of lights with a single set of decent-looking stop / turn/ tail lights and began a search. Again, I could not find anything that represented an original set of lights, so I decided to find a set of lights that looked original for the application.

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New Shoes

I looked quite while for a set of artillery rims. One fella on eBay wanted $750 for a set of four rusty “versions” of artillery wheels (yikes!!) , so I decided to go another route. Wheel Smith manufactures some gorgeous reproduction wheels, and their artillery steelies looked perfect for Cornelius. So I had a set of five made up, to have one for the spare, of 15×6″ wheels, with a 5-1/4″ bolt circle and a 3-1/4″ backspace. Powder coated red, they look amazing. I had some triple diamond stainless reproduction hub caps that I purchased at Restoration Specialties, and Wheel Smith modified them perfectly to fit the new rims. Finally, I also purchased a set of stainless trim rings from Wheel Smith to top everything off.

So the rims are no good without a good set of tires, and for these I turned to Coker. I had been undecided as to whether to go for a set of radial “bias-ply look-a-likes” but decided to simply find a good set of bias ply tires for Cornelius instead and I am very happy that I went this route for several reasons: First, they are a LOT cheaper; second, Cornelius likely won’t be driven above 40 to 45 miles per hour occasionally – so it’s not like I will need radial drivability for highway excursions; and third, I had driven bias-ply tires on my ’53 IHC R-110 Series pickup for almost 12 years, so I am used to them, how they handle, and what their limitations are.

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Stop It!

So the truck is now running, but the stopping part could use a little more attention. The brake pedal is precariously close to the floor before any strong pedal is felt. An inspection of the brake fluid in the master cylinder indicates that the fluid is both low and in need

of changing. I had to remove the flooring in the truck to get a decent look at the master, so I decide that a good place to start would be with replacing it.

As it turns out, the master cylinder in the later K-Series is the same as the one in the D-Series. Why is this important? Because Rock Auto carries the Raybestos MC1722 master cylinder for the K1 for a mere $114!

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Tanked

So the truck seems to be running pretty well, but needs gas. I start filling the tank, and almost immediately start smelling strong gasoline fumes. Yep, my next repair. I had anticipated this because the previous owner had replaced a very rusty original tank with a VW tank and made it work… for a while. I was fortunate enough to purchase an original tank when I bought Cornelius, but it needs work.

First step is to clean it good, and the inside looks great. Then I drop it off at a body shop near me to have some dents removed and to have it painted. It came back looking fabulous! I replaced the original rusty attachment bolts with some new stainless bolts, nuts and washers from Fastenal.

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