Operation: Gertrude. Kendelrios M715 restoration thread

[G744]

Whatca' gonna' do with that funky winch install?

If it is a 12-V job it won't play nice with the 24-V system...

 

[67Beast]

One month tomorrow from recovery.

View attachment 889241

Coming along nicely!

 

[marchplumber]

One month tomorrow from recovery.

View attachment 889241

Over achiever syndrome? Hmmmmmm



DAMN! Ken, looking sweet.....when ya coming up to redo the Raven Deuce? LOL


SOooo glad you found an actual Money Tree....(can I have some seeds please?)

 

[kendelrio]

Whatca' gonna' do with that funky winch install?

If it is a 12-V job it won't play nice with the 24-V system...

The winch is definitely 12v. Probably going to pull the bracket off until I decide to either install a 24v one or a hydraulic one.

 

[G744]

The original Braden winch install on a 715 was pretty lame, too.

The extended bumper caught many a knee in a painful embrace...

 

[kendelrio]

Today was rust prevention and rhino-lining my brake light brackets:



And welding in and grinding down holes.

 

[67Beast]

Today was rust prevention and rhino-lining my brake light brackets:

View attachment 889367

And welding in and grinding down holes.

View attachment 889368

View attachment 889369

Those holes in the tailgate are for the stock rear reflectors. They should be the same military standard ones in red that are on the rear sides of the bed corner.

 

[kendelrio]

Those holes in the tailgate are for the stock rear reflectors. They should be the same military standard ones in red that are on the rear sides of the bed corner.

Ah. Makes perfect sense. I'll have to find some and if I do, I'll re-drill. NBD. I just hate random holes.

 

[marchplumber]

Ah. Makes perfect sense. I'll have to find some and if I do, I'll re-drill. NBD. I just hate random holes.

OMG!!! A Marine that "hates random holes" ROFLMBO!!! OMGosh!!! Bwwwaaahahahahaaahaha

Sorry, I apologize.......................=( Couldn't help myself

 

[kendelrio]

OMG!!! A Marine that "hates random holes" ROFLMBO!!! OMGosh!!! Bwwwaaahahahahaaahaha

Sorry, I apologize.......................=( Couldn't help myself

Well, ones we didn't make...

 

[kendelrio]

OK, been a busy week.

First, my new oil and temp sending units came in:





Spent a day troubleshooting all of my gauges and am happy to say they are all working.

Then, I took a concrete bit to the truck to knock any loose paint/debris/oil off and was.... surprised...







Then was body work and paint:





Then was wiring and adding the rear tail lights and marker lights:






This coming week will be adding the roof channel to the windshield, front marker lights and taking the winch bracket off and finishing paint.

 

[kendelrio]

Oh, and the BO drive light didn't work because of a broken bulb...

 

[kendelrio]

Yesterday was tackling the exhaust leaks and cleaning up the exhaust manifold.



As you can see from the old gaskets, they weren't in the best shape:




Cleaned up the manifold, resurfaced the ports, treated with a rust neutralizer, then high temp primer and paint, new studs and voila:



My buddy who is an awesome welder also got busy attaching the soft top channel to the windshield:




And now the windshield can hold the top and is ready for cleaning and prep/paint



There was also a spot in the front fender that had been beat up pretty badly, so the dents were hammered out, a skim coat of filler, and now it's ready for prep and paint

 

[67Beast]

Yesterday was tackling the exhaust leaks and cleaning up the exhaust manifold.

View attachment 890027

As you can see from the old gaskets, they weren't in the best shape:

View attachment 890028
View attachment 890029

Cleaned up the manifold, resurfaced the ports, treated with a rust neutralizer, then high temp primer and paint, new studs and voila:

View attachment 890030

My buddy who is an awesome welder also got busy attaching the soft top channel to the windshield:

View attachment 890031
View attachment 890032

And now the windshield can hold the top and is ready for cleaning and prep/paint

View attachment 890034

There was also a spot in the front fender that had been beat up pretty badly, so the dents were hammered out, a skim coat of filler, and now it's ready for prep and paint

View attachment 890035

Nice, making good progress.

 

[kendelrio]

Today was only about half a day... cold and rainy makes it hard to get going!

Mounted the windshield weatherstripping and windshield and installed the canvas top:





Then it was mark and mount the front blinker/marker lights












As far as putting the top on, due to the issues I had with the footman loops on my deuce, I already knew to remove them before attempting to slide the top on. It's 4 bolts and makes life SO much easier!



Tomorrow is pressure wash, final paint and assembly.

 

[kendelrio]

Woof... where have I been? Busy! There will be multiple posts today.

Lets see... what's been going on?

After the blinkers, the lights and brackets that @G744 so kindly provided arrived, so i mounted them.



The previous owners had put LED turn signals in when the system was 12v, and I liked the look of the plates covering the holes, so I went with them. The only problem was the hardware to mount to the engine bay was too short, so I repurposed some exhaust manifold studs in order to get the correct stand off.




I finished 98% of paint. (Still have to do the cab interior and some details on the exterior:





I took the canvas top into Lowes and had them color match it so everything would match.

Then it was a test drive. She was really running horribly, so new plugs and wires. In the process of doing that, I found plugs 2 & 4 were wrong on the distributor. Another test drive:

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

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She is running great!


Then i installed 24v wipers and blades.



Then it was a call to the insurance company then off to the OMV for plates.

I spent a couple of days just test driving her in different environments and speeds rain/sun/cold/heat (because Louisiana weather is awesome like that!) and she consistently ran great!

We went ahead and ordered some LED ditch lights to mount in the old spotlight mounts (because we know i love my lights!):





Just the headlights



And with the ditch lights

 

[kendelrio]

My battery box came in, so I removes the temporary box, prepped and installed it:





I added a keyed kill switch





Then this last Saurday, it was a dreary rainy day and I asked my sweet lady @IRIS_Always if she wanted to go for a ride in the rain and of course she said yes.

We were going to a local boat ramp down a gravel road, so I dropped her into 4wd and ran through the gears, then checked 4wd low, and no issues.

Almost to the boat ramp, we saw a muddy road going up a hill and **someone** said "Wanna check it out?" So we did...





A little compilation video (it has music, so careful with your speakers!)

Then on Sunday, we were moving the M1061A to the shop to add a dovetail and long story short, the main power wire to the coil inside the distributor failed.

3 days of fighting it (mainly due to my ineptness) and she's now running great again!

Oh, and she and Bertha get along!

 

[M813rc]

That standoff of the turn signals from the rear bulkhead is how the larger military turn signals fit in the M715, since the back of the light gets stopped by the front bulkhead hole not being large enough for them to go through.
The smaller diameter lights like you have would normally fit inside the hole and the bracket would be flush against the rear bulkhead, the space at the rear of the bent bracket was to clear the wiring.
Once I realized I didn't need that space on two of my trucks (large turn signals) it sure made replicating the brackets easier, because they could be flat!

I have to say I like the cleaner look of those rings you have around your turn signals, rather than the half-finished utilitarian look with the gaps on stock 715s. Since the one I'm working on now isn't exactly stock, I may see about making a set of similar rings.

I'm really impressed with how much you got done in a short period! My own projects tend to go at a glacial pace by comparison. My rather pathetic and unconvincing excuse is I'm always doing several projects at once.

Cheers.

 

[kendelrio]

I'm really impressed with how much you got done in a short period! My own projects tend to go at a glacial pace by comparison. My rather pathetic and unconvincing excuse is I'm always doing several projects at once.

I've been fortunate that I've been "on the beach" from offshore since December. They're paying me to stay at the house and I'm using the projects to keep from going NUTS!

 

[M813rc]

Having looked at your "post-mudding" pictures, an idea you may consider or discard at your choice is some mud flaps.

The 715 I am currently working on came with some simple rubber flaps front and rear, which look to me like a good idea as I have always thought the M715 fenders stopped a little high. I don't like leaving a plume of mist behind me in the rain, or want to take a chance of slinging a rock into someone's windshield, which is why I added mudflaps to my M1028A2.

Anyway, just a thought.

Cheers