Well...it's been MONTHS! But that bracket although looking correct, wasn't. It's either a 2WD or /6 bracket and wasn't long enough to reach where it should have to hold up the muffler.
Not much to report -- after I had the alignment done the truck starting have a really bad power drain leaving the battery nearly dead after 24 hours. It turns out when they took the wheel off to straighten it out they disintegrated the foam in the horn pad to where the horn was "on" all the time (horn has been disconnected since I got it). When messing around I felt the horn relay and it was HOT! Needless to say I pulled it and removed the horn pad! Glad I caught that shortly thereafter.
Since it's getting colder out I'm looking for indoor projects and at the present time I'm trying to come up with a way to fix the horn pad (haven't been able to track down another in over a year!). When I find a fix that works I'll post up what I did.
Other than that I pulled the Macho out of the garage yesterday and gave it a short ride since it's been sitting for a while. It should be nice this weekend so perhaps another ride or two.
I'm still hunting down parts -- looking for some low back buckets -- and a console. And the elusive AM/FM/Cassette deck. I keep coming up with a lead here or there for buckets and a stereo deck but they never pan out.
I was able to score a really nice set of mirror bases at the yard last weekend -- all of the sets I've acquired so far have been pitted/faded -- this set is neither. As with most of the parts specific to these older trucks...patience and persistence are key!
I really have to decide what I want to do come next spring -- paint on the Macho (doesn't cure the stripe predicament), paint the roof/hood/bumpers on the Canyon Sport, or paint on the crew cab. I really wish I had an "in" for body/paint work or just a rapport with someone local who does side jobs rather than having to bring them all into a shop.
Other than that it's living the life in a nice heated garage...I figured the rarest of my 3 trucks should get the spot in the garage...