The Rodding Roundtable
Motorhead Message Central => Rodder's Roundtable => Topic started by: kb426 on September 07, 2022, 04:37:33 PM
I'm looking at options for this project. Is there an inexpensive front suspension that is readily available for this? Has anyone seen someone use the frame from a 2 ton truck and turn it into a 1/2 ton before? Any thoughts on what you would do? :)
I feel that there are a lot of the original frames available and it would be much easier to modify the original 1/2 ton frame than to work with one of the large truck frames.
I can't answer your question about the frame. As far as inexpensive front suspension is concerned, a Crown Vic front crossmember is about 6" too wide...so that's not a good option. How about a Welder Series MII crossmember? They come in different widths and they're pretty inexpensive. https://welderseries.ecwid.com/Mustang-II-Crossmember-Kit-for-Coil-Springs-p51209443
Now, how about something out of left field? A Fox body Mustang has just the track width you're looking for. Tubular K member kits for them are available in a lot of variations. You might have to cut the frame mounts lower to get the ride height you want, but maybe it's close since your frame runs high enough for clearance on a solid axle. Or build a C notch high enough and long enough to bolt the K member in place. https://www.uprproducts.com/79-95-mustang-tubular-mild-steel-k-member/
Strut mounts would need to be fabbed, but engine and rack mounts are on the K member. Stock control arms would place the springs under the frame, or use coilovers. Stock dimensioned springs can be had from 400lbs/in to over 1,000. https://theinfamousproject.com/mustang-oe-aftermarket-spring-rates-comparison-chart-everything-you-need-to-know/
Ford Aerostar van. First cousin to a Fox Mustang but no struts. Power rack and pinion on most of them.
The 2 1/2 ton frame is straight front to rear, and will need a C notch in the rear to set right lowered. If it was me, I would section about 2" out of the frame from just ahead of the rear axle to the rear of the frame. Use 73 to 87 half ton rear springs and hangers, the frame is the same width, and mount the rear axle on top of the springs. To clear the bed sides the rear axle has to be about 61" wide to clear.
The front fenders on a 2 1/2 ton mount about 3" higher on the cab than the one ton on down, and the hood is thinner by the same amount.
Here's what that Aerostar setup looks like. I didn't realize they bolted in. https://www.studebaker-info.org/Tech/Frames/buddy/aerosusp.html
my brother has a 54 with a jag front in it
I am aware of the aerostar conversion. I made some calls and have confirmed that there are no jags or aerostars anywhere close to me. The local salvage yards have scrapped all of the older parts. I think this maybe a wait to see what appears before anything else happens. I've looked for months for a donor car and nothing has come up. Most of the adds are from dealers with close to new vehicles. Time is on my side on this one. :) Thank you for the comments.
Here's another version of K-member which retrofits the Fox body or SN95 suspension bits to a 1964-1970 Mustang. As a result it's made to bolt onto frame rails located much lower than a Fox. It can take anything stock or tubular control arms but does require a coilover strut as opposed to the separate coil spring of a Fox or SN95. And it comes in a version with LS motor mounts to put a GM engine in that Chevy. https://www.cjponyparts.com/aje-suspension-tubular-k-member-mustang-1965-1970/p/KM20/
I have disassembled the truck. The cab is on the cart and parts are all over the yard. :) I have purchased a 91 corvette front suspension with the factory crossmember. When it gets here, I will see if the crossmember can be used. I'm leaning towards using the 2015 mustang irs that I have. I think I will build another chassis from scratch. This maybe a fenderless hot rod. ????
I remember someone talking about turning one into a roadster pick-up but I think the cab is too wide to be un-fendered. Maybe if you narrowed the cab the width of the cowl vent ( 11" )it would still be wide enough for two people and the windshield wouldn't be so much in line with the front tires. Narrowing the cab in the center would make it easy to narrow the hood at it's center line and the sides of the hood would still fit the cowl. GPster
I spent the morning doing hammer and dollie work on the front sheet metal. A little plastic will be all it needs. The upper grille bar was almost flat when I started. It's a usable part know. :)
I think you could proportion it correctly so that it has the look of a T bucket or roadster pickup. If you upscale the tire/wheels and keep everything in proportion. I have had plans to build one of these for years and I have some of the parts. I need some time.
A light day for me. I removed the glass from the cab. I used a razor knife and a hammer to cut the rubber moldings. :)
That truck looks pretty solid . Very little rust . Waiting to see what you do on this one .
This was not the most productive day for O&S. I was going to repair the left side cowl panel and weld the vent door closed. I got the panel straightened all right but when I went to grind some areas to weld, I found lead. Lots of it. 1/4" thick. I did the repair and ground down the welds. I've had an hour to reflect and I'm going to cut the panel off and put a repro on it. I hope the repro is close. :) I don't have a long term plan but I want it to be as good as I can do it. When I found the lead, in retrospect, I should have quit. I kept working thinking I could make it better. I'm pretty sure the lead was done at the factory. :) The last pic is of the 48 chevy rear cab mount. I couldn't figure out how it was bolted on. After cutting the small panel at the rear of the cab open, I found out that the bolts that go through the frame were missing. :) The cab was sitting on the 2 rubber bumpers on the rear.
To reply to the roadster comments. I'm sure you people remember the Painless Wiring roadster. ( http://www.myrideisme.com/Blog/1-painless-way-to-a-roadster-pickup/ ) I hadn't thought about this much until I started working on the body. I have no rules on this one. When the front suspension arrives and I start doing so measuring, I may be able to come up with a mental image of where I may go with this. It isn't as easy for me as IDJ. :) I used to be a roadster guy. With age, I'd still want a top for the days that the weather god is unhappy with me. It's all doable. I have time to do what ever the game plan develops in to. My mind is in runaway mode right now. LOL.
When you mentioned fender-less I thought of a '28-'29 Ford roadster pick-up.I had thought about doing it with a '48-'54 Chevy truck cab. I'll just have to wait to be surprised with what you come up with when you get that front crossmember. GPster
O&S spent part of the day cleaning on the truck. I removed the heater and the firewall cover and got after it with the water hose. I flushed areas that had been cleaned before and about a 5 gallon bucket full of mouse nest came out. I think I have it clean now but I'm not real confident. :) The rear cab area was full of crap. There's places that I don't know how a mouse could get in. I installed the left side door again. the adjustment had to be changed after working on the cowl panel.
I emailed you a bunch of stuff to think about.
:shock:
^^^^^
Kool. :)
I like this topic. I have thought about one of these projects for years. Here is a crude piece of art work I did a long time ago. I think I will play with it some more. I want to work with tire size some.
I'm headed more towards Matt's track drawing. WZ JUNK sent me some pics of a hot rod styled one that has a straight front axle. It's cool looking as can be but I did that already. Those of you that are long timers might remember the "rollin dumpster". I'm more like an indy car suspension setup rather than the straight axle. At this point I don't know if it's possible to make the suspension components I have work together with a sleek styled rod or not.
With you having that Corvette front suspension coming let me make a suggestion. There's a company here in Ohio that started out in the 70's making street rod frames using Mustang II/Pinto front ends. They are now building frames around Corvette front ends. Check out Progressive Automotive in Baltimore. Ohio. Maybe they can give you some ideas. GPster
GPster, I'm aware of that. :) I looked their stuff over quite well before installing the crown vic under the F16.
.
Thank you, Matt. You covered both grille thoughts I had. :)
Another piece of the puzzle arrived.
This is going to be a really interesting build.
What is that front end out of ?
1990 corvette.
O&S was in low gear but my 1st obstacle is almost completed. I put the vette suspension on 2 stands and removed the hubs. I found a bolt pattern template on the internet and printed it off. I could see there wasn't enough space to offset drill new stud holes. This is going from 4.75 to 4.5 bolt circle. I started looking for studs with the largest knurl I could find. I found a 16.5mm that was .100" less than I wanted. Turned out to be as large as I would find. Then it got interesting. That was a 14mm stud. The 2015 Mustang irs is 14mm. :) I picked up all the store had and ordered enough to do both front hubs. I have a 4.5 hub that I chucked in the rotary index table and set centers in the mill. I removed it and put the vette hub in. The center that goes in the wheel is the same size on both wheels. That made my offset correct. I milled a hole small enough to allow a press fit on the knurls. I removed the hub and used the press to install the studs. Then I used a spacer and nut to tighten them and make sure they were square. I test fit into a wheel and they fit as they should. I did a tack weld on the back side of the flange to insure the studs didn't come loose. Then I changed jaws on the rotary index table and put the rotors in and machined them with the same offset as the hubs. Having one setup from center allowed me to have a simple setup. :) Tomorrow when the rest of the studs arrive, I should be able to bolt some wheels on and start laying out some stuff.
I think it's Corvette, C5 or later. Can't wait to see how that gets packaged under a pickup truck. Corvettes have the engine set well back in the chassis.
Do you know how to make a vette look better? Put Ford wheels on it. LOL. One pic shows the clearance from the spindle to the rim with deep back space wheel. The hub conversion is completed. The pics are of the front end upside down to reveal the fiberglass spring. The real black part is the spring. The other pics are a rough location to show the 96" wheelbase. The c4 has 96". The AC Cobra was 90". That should make this interesting to drive. :)
40 plus years ago I helped my brother in law build a Cobra. He bought a partially burnt Corvette and we grafted the Cobra body to it. The Vette was longer so I helped him cut the center of the doors and rocker panels and then we added the right amount to make the Cobra fit the wheel base of Vette. There were not that many Cobras around at that time and you could sense something was different when you looked at it, but it was only really apparent when the car was next to a real Cobra. It had a 427 Chevy engine and the car handled like a light weight Corvette. Ah, the good old days. :)
It's been two days. I expect pictures of a "Rolling Chassis" GPster
That is not unreasonable Joe. He has done one faster
I haven't bought the tubing yet. :) Soon.
O&S did a little today. I removed the left cowl panel and installed the replacement. I had trouble finding some of the spot welds to drill out. The rest of it was normal. I have a tiny bit of welding to do but for the largest part, it's done. One less item on the to do list. :)
O&S put in a few hours today. I filled 35 holes on the firewall. I need to do some more planning before filling anymore.
I ordered some of the metal for the chassis today. I did a little shopping around and got a price that was less than 50% higher than June 2021. :) One of the prices I was quoted was 235% higher. I need one stick each of 2x4 and 2x6. I'm glad it isn't more. This is one of the lower cost items in building a rod. :)
I have a thought in my mind that I would like 33 Ford curved louvers in the engine area side panels. I went to Rootliebs website and did a little looking. I won't be doing that. I was a little surprised at the price increases. More and more I'm aware that I need to do everything for this project. :)
I have lover dies for my bead roller but I have never tried them. I think you could do curved louvers with them if you were handy.
Are you planning on using the original steering column?
I doubt that I use the column but I might. I cut it right above the steering box when I removed the cab. I could adapt to it easily but I wouldn't have modern turn signals. :) John, I hadn't thought about using the roller. I will look into that. :)
I have some aftermarket self canceling turn signal switches that would fit if you would like to try one.
I'll keep that in mind. Thank you.
This one showed up at a local show yesterday. It is sectioned, chopped. and narrowed. He said that if he did another one, he would not narrow the cab. As rough as this one looks, it is actually well built with air conditioning and other features.
O&S has spent more time thinking about this project instead of working on it. I'm going to spare everyone the diatribe of thinking and proceed to some progress. I have spent hours removing clutch head screws. I'm not done yet. :) I have the right floor removed and trimmed and a pattern made for the metal. I was concerned about the cowl repair rusting so I sanded, ground and bondoed the panel and area. I shot 2 coats of epoxy on it to hold it till later. I have removed most of the dents that I could get access to. My plan at this point is to get the rust repair completed and finish filling the holes in the firewall that a rod wouldn't use.
I used to see one about like that in South Des Moines, but it was a Ford cab in gray primer. Looked like huge fun with a tiny flatbed no wider than the bed floor would be and a tank right behind the cab. Whoever owned it drove the wheels off it. I don't recall ever seeing it at a show because it was always moving.
:)
I have spent several hours this week removing screws from the cab. Most are out now. Clutch head, phillips and straight. Most were rusty. And tedious to remove. :) Some broke off leaving more work. I'm still not having any success finding a donor car. Transportation problems have kept the steel for the frame from being delivered. This is becoming a test. LOL. One thing that is different is that if I get irritated, I walk away and start over the next day or two. :) If all of the parts were laying there, I would be in road gear, sometimes I'm in no gear. :)
The steel for the frame rails arrived today. I'm going to finish the floor in the truck before moving on to the chassis.
I am suggesting we start a contest to see when this project gets to roller status . You will have this truck done before I get the doors to fit on my T coupe :lol: . I am going to factor in supply chain issues and my prediction is Dec 20 . Winner gets to become grand master of team smart !(or some equally prestigious title ) 8) Looking forward to watching this build as I have all of your previous builds .
8)
I've spent hours looking for a donor car with no results. I may end up with a 350 chevy vortec that is a hydraulic roller cam engine that needs rebuilt. If that happens, an available automatic will probably be added to the project. Part of the goal is to end up with a reliable, fun hot rod that wasn't expensive. Ratty is not part of the plan. There are no rules on this one even though that could be a mistake. I've been watching long enough to know that stock appearing units sell easier than modified. :) I seem to always sell after the build is completed. The thought process is not moving at a good pace. There will be more thinking before too much gets done. :)
Regarding your comments on the price of steel, I heard a radio story tonight about a shortage of precision ball bearings. Part of it is that Russia was an enormous supplier of steel to the world until the Ukraine war got their products banned in much of the year. They said the price of steel has more than doubled in 2 years, which you spoke to previously.
After an embarrassing amount of time, I have a tiny bit of progress to share. The right side floor repair is partially welded. The plug welds are done and the toe board is tacked. I rolled 2 ribs to kind of emulate the original and the area where the trans cover goes was offset rolled. I ran out of time to complete the welding today. :)
That's a pretty good mimic of the original.
O&S finished welding the floor pan in. I have a kick panel repair to do along with the holes on the left side floor where the brake cylinder and a hole for the pto control was cut. I made the patterns for those 2 before I was surrounded by no desire to proceed. LOL.
Love seeing these updates and hearing about other rodders' thought processes. Now I have to get od the GD computer and get to work on mine. Working in installing interior heat shield and sound deadening so I get start running some wires
O&S has been limiting his exposure to iron oxide by not working much. I'm sure the EPA approves. LOL. I filled 2 holes in the floor and 3 in the firewall.
O&S has entered into S.S.D.D. :) I removed the brackets for the rubber seals on the pedals and the starter rod. More holes to fill. :) I did fill a few today.
O&S branched out today. :) I repaired the kick panel as well as more holes in the firewall. I think I have 15 holes left. :)
If you are going to plug that oval hole at the center top, you will have to come up with an alternate cowl vent drain
I haven't made the decision about the cowl vent so for know it's staying. I'm saving the wiring loom hole at the top also.
O&S decided that the firewall had drug on too long. All the holes are filled and the next item is started.
O&S got started on a good day. Then it wasn't. :) I got the panel cut for the cowl and got it welded in. I ground the welds down and laid down some bondo. I was using the da when the motor on the air compressor gave up the ghost with some smells and a few sparks. I finished sanding by hand. I had intended to shoot primer over the bare areas but that went down the drain. I cut up some plastic and taped it over the bare areas. There's cheap motors and better motors. I ordered a better one at a substantial cost. It will be here next week so I will have air again. :) At least they are available. :)
O&S stripped the rest of the firewall and shot epoxy primer over all of the bare metal. Just in case it ever rains again, I'm ready. :)
:) :)
That looks neat. Those look like tri 5 Chevy 2 door or 2 door station wagon fenders.
Nomad wheel wells. I like it. :) They sell those for around $900 each. :)
Yep and thats cheapest (55 Nomad qtr). Any similar era quarters are fair game but shape and size of those are potentially relevant. Assuming they could hang off the stock bed rails for a cab-width bed. Doesn't look like you'll be altering the cab and I don't recall a bed. I "made" headlight pods from the front fenders, added a tail pan. Put a little bend on bottom of hood side panel to balance the Nomad qtr one. Its all less than a suggestion. Pure whimsy.
looks pretty neat
I'm thinking there was one KB build or thought with Fairlane sedan quarters and that would be the inspiration. The car back half thing may work with many even stranger combos of cab and bed and even mix brands. Seems like a potentially valid approach to getting some back fenders while keeping the fenderless hot rod look up front. Hard to say if from other angles it would look awkward or cool / unique that way, or to whom. KB will work something out, of that I'm sure. Bad fast too, once the plan is there. :)
No pressure, Bill. :)
There IS a pair of Tempest quarters I cut off laying here next to me. :shock: ha. And a rough Nomad gate complete, and a skin. :)
I smell thinking. Carry on.
The referred Fairlane rear was the rollin dumpster. I decided against using it because of how narrow it would be. The nomad quarters could be put on like a cameo. Because there wouldn't be a top with a reveal down the middle, there wouldn't be the general indication that a mistake was made. :) Might be but not as obvious. I haven't cut any of the tubing to length yet. I need to find some dimensions of that quarter panel to see what I would end up with.
I can measure tomorrow but just lip patches are in the $250 range and the rest could be made on a 4' brake, in halves. You'd lose the fancy tail light area but if you did quarters you wouldn't have the inside half. Inward from lamp. Fabbing the sides using lips leaves the bed corners / tail lamps open to other more practical interpretations. Maybe flush modern (like 88 up chev pu) tails could work in.
fyi I kept the wheelbase and used 15" wheels as reference and the length came out like you see with wheel position good. I think. Had no intention of making a postable image on that when I started. Just a hunch, but that 55 truck roof width fit good on the Nomad. Do you want to see a flat back end on that? Hey I can just overlay images of truck and Nomad. :idea:
I remember you having to explain "reveal" to me. Have steered clear of cab narrowing in my thoughts since the red sketches but have wondered if altered track width is a way to go instead, without fenders.
I smell a flat-backed image brewing. Anything you want to try? I agree if you are going to build a box, no reason you can't have cameoesque slab sides.
:)
Taper the whole truck front to rear. No fenders in front, louvered hood sides down to the frame, and bed sides cab width at the front, and tapering out to cover the rear tires at the rear.
That! ^^^ 8) With Alcoas and super singles on a dually axle. :shock: Cartoonish, but would need top fuel mill hangin out everywhere to back it up.
Howzabout intertwining another interest by using just one front wheel, hidden. No nitro hemi just a pie slice with meats out back. :lol:
Heres some meat n taters. Only promise is I triple checked and the truck shot used had bigger rims in back but looked like 15s up front and I had the sizes close as I can with that. What should I measure? Say jamb to front of TL hole then top to bottom ahead of wheel?
Its not a perfect length match but likely do-able. Heres that Trans Am fender vent you always wanted.
It's getting more interesting. :)
Well a Nomad qtr is 30 x 80" with wheel center at 38-9" from door. Length is from door to frt of TL hole, with tape measure running along bottom of gas lid. :)
Go, man.
54 Chevy tail lights ought to do the trick on a flat back end. ;)
A slant on the louvers might be a thing. Or more or less or different.
Hot rod headlights mount on grille shell.
Cut cab at character line rather than windowsill.
Converted stock windshield (same angle, chopped) to cowl mount roadster configuration.
Hood front curve scaled down and reversed / inverted for rear pan shape.
Moved bed up slightly from last edit and eliminated Nomad lip at qtr bottom front and its partner I had on hood side bottom rear.
Bullitts off the F16. Thought about using gymkhana wheels to keep the faith. But the salt flats wheels look more appropriate to me, from previous image.
54 Chevy car tail lights.
Shaved gas hole.
Still just wild blue yonder in color and intent. Maybe a little better shade. Also embiggened image for your fullscreen slopfinding pleasure. :)
It does look like something. Tried doing a freehand quarter view but man that ought to be more technically rendered requiring fuss. Sketch I started didn't lead me to believe we are talking up something too disjointed to look good.A fictional character but with potential, as I see it.
NOW, I'm getting excited. The lip at the bottom was already on the removal list. Your comment about just purchasing the wheel lip and fabbing the panel has me thinking. ;D
You could just find a van that you liked the wheel openings on and just use the sides and side doors for metal. You might even find you could use some of the floor and wheel tubs. GPster
Good point. ^^^ 8)
I believe a tolerable match between curve of cab and bed sides is a very relevant factor. A deal breaker. Fabbing from new or already partly curved would be ideal, to me. Because that would enable matching cab and bed heights for just a flat topped look over the whole truck. I'm not sure that is desireable however, might be too wierd.
I just don't have a reference to compare cab and qtr contours. Wait, maybe maybe at work. I'd want to cut a cardboard template. If the Nomad matches well as-is that strengthens the whole quarter buying case. Still awful high. One must value one's time for that to make sense.
I agree the suggested lips aren't a lock but dang if it don't just seem rightest. Craftily blending generations in a next-of-kin context isn't uncool. Wonder how HAMBers would react. Might crap a moon rock.
Bear with me. I kind of tend to want to leave the windowsills and vent windows and just chop the windshield then make a removable hardtop from the roof. And then, as with my 55 job, build bed rail caps that would stick up and carry the area between body line and window bottom (on door) all around the bed, matching the window bottom line cut of cab. Because roadster windshields just look silly like crooked fencepost death invites to me and when labor is considered theres a pretty big win. Don't think I have shown it that way but...
the result is two very different things as far as is it the fair weather only kind of roadster or is it a full function pickup.
Bill I feel confident that you've watched Grand Willys Marcus do enough big panel fab with improvised tooling to inspire you to consider this wildassed street freak idea. Plus I sense you wish to express wilder capabilities than you have. So I encourage, and caution, and like to watch. :)
Maybe I'll see about showing the higher cut line stuff. Lets hear any other thoughts please. Just stoking the fire and now I'll put my feet up next to it. :arrow:
Fiddlestix. 48 Chevys don't have vent windows. OK. Strike everything I said about a hardtop with windows, it ain't feasible. Strike raising top of bed to meet top of cab flush. Boy I'm batting 1000% today eh.
Never mind. Sorry about this page and back to business, I think I've thrown enough gas on this fire to just watch it burn so to speak. Glad to maybe have played a part in cool results :)
Matt, one door is a 52 with vent windows. I can get another door, I just haven't decided on which year. I like the removable top idea. The possibility of a fold up cloth top over the window frames is not out of question. Now that I know a tiny bit about convertible top cloth, I could be dangerous. I have had some other stuff I have been using my feeble brain power on. I'm about finished with that and will get serious with some layout on this. A 4 season vehicle is becoming more important as I age and I travel year round. Years ago I would go 50 miles to a show. Now I may go 1250. Not being miserable has become more valuable. Lots more thinking before doing. Multiple heads are better than one. :) Several years ago in Pueblo on sunday morning when there's plenty of time to talk, I met 2 guys from Aurora Co. They had been life long friends. Together they had built a 29 model a pickup. It was a neat piece. Several times one of them said "2 heads are better than 1". Not meaning that they agreed all of the time but looking at something from a different perspective cause you to "broaden your horizons". :) I look forward to all of the input on this forum. Age and exp. are here. Very valuable. :) Thank you to all who contribute.
It occurred to me that this might be one of those rare vehicles on which Moons would look at home. :)
A folding top might sit on top of the bed sides, making a slight drop from door tops to bed sides look very reasonable and natural.
Whats new? :)
You know I have had an add on market place for nearly a year now "1955 new takeoff Chevy Wagon"
Would this help you any?
(https://scontent-ord5-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t45.5328-4/251716631_4414420675343396_5019033875008387892_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_p720x720&_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=c48759&_nc_ohc=YYY34rL6BLcAX_lnhAW&tn=hNv56wJOnGi72t8t&_nc_ht=scontent-ord5-2.xx&oh=00_AfBRBoFrVElCmoaC0LsbnMV3a3KlhO00zVF7wrpUWKf35Q&oe=6396135D)
Dave that would help. :) That being said, here's the status report. Stuck in neutral, completely. Lack of a cheap donor car, miss matched components and one of the real killers is the mustang rear is the same width as the last gen of crown vic in width. This has led to a lack of motivation on my part to heat the shop and get going. This would be another project I would be building just to sell. I would rather do something that I would want to drive for a while. It may get built if the availability of different parts happens but for right now, I will do some more work on the cab as the weather allows, wondering if somebody might buy it. :) I'm ready to go to a fenderless highboy again. :)
The early 00s V8 Explorer has virtually the same suspension except several inches narrower
I was thinking I was remembering that 416 had some possibly relevant wheel openings, yep.
Was glad to see updated intentions, KB. :)
Those helped me realize that I sit on a fence. There was a near stock Mach1 I did all but paint on and the owner did an online review stating we treated his car like it was ours. I liked that response and customers like that secure feeling and just before he drove off I got this greeeatbigo smile pic of him in it. On my employee side, no praise could have been greater.
Until a decade later, other day my 55 customer explicitly verbally conveyed his appreciation of "Doing good work but not doing too much". Somewhere long about then I came to a realization. I draw a pretty hard line between work and personal. Thats the fence, and Bill is sitting on it with me in a way.
Is the 48 an exploration of your definition of an ultimate personal cool ride, or is it to be a product with appeal? A guy either cares about the rest of the world or he don't, with a build. The way I see it.
Thats my point. I interject based on interest or friendship. With KB trucks its pure friendship.
Pay stuff is another matter entirely. Interest or friendship mean nothing. Apply ability to object, next please. Whether I can dig it is beside the point. Like this post, unless it stokes the mental processes. Spring is coming, tick-tock.
I've bought the this is the keeper pitch all along as a linear progression. And it may be that, but if manufacturing is whats really happening, somehow I unhitch mentally because thats work not pleasure.
If that didn't make sense, well thats fixable. I'm slow to pick up on lots of things but sure enjoy brainstorming with you guys on the RRT. 8)
IDJ I think you're establishing a healthy balance with that. This is recreation. You can dream anything you want, we can kick it around and have fun discussing it. Work is work. There's a reason why they pay us to be there. Sometimes the boss wants to hear what I have to say. Sometimes I get the idea with a single word or glance the smart move is to stop talking and get back to work.
Hope I'm not being to glib about this. It's easy for me these days, I've found the job of my dreams, though they still have to pay me to be here and I sometimes have to do things I don't enjoy. Nonetheless, I've spent spent more years than I care to admit being labeled that guy who can't keep his * mouth shut...even though I'm still convinced I was right more often than not.
People like Matt have lots of creativity and are able to convey it with pictures. I certainly don't have art capabilities. :) My wife and I just had a short discussion about this subject. She has talent but states she is a copier, not an originator. This brings me to the conclusion of the discussion: I we made a serious effort to focus, could we be more creative and get closer to the talented folk? I have no idea how long it takes for Matt to come up with ideas. In chassis fab, sometimes seconds are all I need for a solution to a problem, sometimes it takes months. LOL. I won't ever be able to draw but I could cut pictures apart and place them on paper for a visualization. Would more effort yield results or just time spent? I'm just voicing thoughts so take it as such. This pic is a painting my wife did for me years ago on a piece of wood. She copied a magazine pic.
Nice work 8) 8)
The significance of this pic is I have a matching set of doors. Theses are off a 1951. I would rather have the 53 door handles but that may happen. I had this pile of parts for sale for 45 days and next to nothing has happened. I'm thinking about this project but the cold has allowed me to have a good reason for not working. Still no donor drivetrain. Still not happy with the irs width. It is 6" wider than the front. All I know for sure is if I don't get in gear on something, I have nothing to drive this season unless I find something to buy. :)
Warning! This thread may come back from the dead. Sometimes, bad plans won't go away. :)
Looking forward to it!
Do you call this supplies or provisions?
Makings. :)
Room for thinking.
How about a similar year GMC grille surround? Better yet, two of them, one upside down.
Frank, I went looking for the GMC surround. No used ones in my area. Chevies of that era outnumber GMC's by atleast 10 -1. New is above $400 for ether painted or chrome. Interesting idea, though. I had considered doing a grille like the Ring brothers truck at the SEMA show but that was before I saw their truck. I lost my desire after that. :) As you guys know, I have done nothing with this since around September. I didn't like where I was going. After looking and thinking for an extended time period, I decided to give this a shot as something unconventional but useful for a good driver. That may be the worst idea I've had. :) We'll see if I can make this just ok or better than ok. :)
O&S had to make a decision today. I wanted to be able to set ride height on the c4 front suspension. I realized I had no way to compress the suspension to allow a pair of struts to be bolted in. I realized that I couldn't remove the factory frame clip without destroying it. I wanted to maintain it to obtain some measurements from it. I ended up cutting the fiberglass spring in 2 places to remove it. That allowed the removal of the frame and being able to set ride height for frame placement. That also caused the purchase of a pair of coil over shocks. The pics show the motor mounts removed and all of that bracketry gone. One pic shows it at the desired ride height of 6" at the bottom of the crossmember. Hiding inside the crossmember was the build sheet for the car. I had not seen one for a vette. Lots of info. :)
Measuring and thinking. At my age, that could be counter productive. LOL.
That calls for countermeasuring. Thats my counterthought. Devoid of counterintelligence. :)
Get that cast sports car fangledy stuff outta there.
Speaking of countermeasuring, the back of a 72 GP hood is five and a half wide then down the middle once the slotted area at rear is lopped off theres four foot to get and another half foot of fiberglass beak ahead of that. Or bend it at peak to fit the deuce shell at top. The tapered contour is right at two foot wide where hood and header meet.
Lots of vehicles have a wedge contour in the hood. I'm no help aside from wildcard input such as that. For if you are even thinking hood. :o :idea: :arrow:
Matt, cast sporty car stuff is here to stay. :) I like to go around corners. :) A few pics from today. This came from red dirt country.
O&S is right on with the name. :)
More thinking and measuring.
I did what I believe to be the final mock up of this mess. :) I set the bottom of the frame rails at 8". The front crossmember will have 6" under it at ride height as desired. The rear will have 9.5" under it. The wheelbase will be a little over 104". The pinon has a 1" offset to the right so that allows an adequate amount of room for the steering shaft. It's still a mess but it's starting to look like it might work. LOL.
The pile is growing.
I'm working but am so slow, it's not worth mentioning. LOL.
Get crack-a-lackin, Methuselah! ;D :arrow:
Just messin. :)
Hope its not dread keeping you from enjoying the project. Visual progress daze are like one out of five blah progress days on old trucks. On a good day. SOP. Par. You're doing good!
I don't know what is slower than O&S but I'm there. :) After a ridiculous amount of time, I have 2 rails welded up.
It's raining here. That is a good thing but it's messing with my plans. LOL. I squared the rails up and started cutting crossmembers. Nothing is welded. My plan was to have the perimeter frame welded and on the trailer so it can go outside. Oh well. :)
Here's another example of why progress is so slow. Without building a serious jig, I was pretty sure that I couldn't get all of the holes in the right place for the front sway bar mounts and the frame support crossmember. I believe most of the pics are self explanatory. The next to last pic is about cutting spacers to be welded into the 2" tubing where bolts go through.
This is a pretty ambitious chassis, should be a radical looking truck.
Quite a few hours with slight progress.
Strong like bull!
Quote from: kb426 on May 24, 2023, 06:14:32 PMQuite a few hours with slight progress.
Progress is progress. Or I could post something like: "Well , at yur age... "
;D ;D
Tony, I think you are accurate. :)
Another day of quite a few hours and not much accomplished. The sleeves through the front frame rails are close tolerance. The frame has 3" of taper from front to rear. That made the bolts for the front crossmember too tight. I had several options in mind. I settled on reducing the shank on the bolts where the passed through the outer rails. I removed the front crossmember and sanded it to match the taper as good as I could. Nothing is exactly perfect. :) I wanted no more than 5 thou in any gap. I didn't quite make that. The rear member and the braces are partially welded. Next will be cutting the rear trans mount and a center k member and then flipping the chassis and welding everything. I'm about out of argon. The price has gone up to $152 for a large. I know I used to pay $114 but I don't remember if there has been another price increase. There are no options. :)
I forgot to close the valve on my argon bottle last month and wasted about a half a bottle. I had never made that mistake before. I guess I had been waiting for a time when it was a worthwhile mistake. :-[
The rear end of the frame is welded. The engine and trans is close to placement. The pinion has a 1" offset to the right so the engine has the same. Lots more thinking.
I'm impressed you were able to set up a pickup with the rack ahead of the engine, where it is in a Corvette. Inability to do that often badly compromises Corvette suspension in other cars.
O&S put in a half day today. I had purchased polyurethane bar stock for bushings for the irs carriage. I machined .035" from the od and bored a 5/8" hole in the center. I have the 2 rear brackets bent but not trimmed. It was necessary to notch the frame where the upper a arm runs under it. 5/8" x 4" grade 8 bolts were close to $4 each. :)
O&S has a tiny bit of progress. I spent time trying to come up with a way to make brackets with the equipment that I have. The throat on the benders I have wouldn't allow the brackets to be one piece. I will install some diagonal braces on all of the parts welded to the frame rails. I walked away a couple of times waiting for a better idea. I think age is catching up. :)
O&S started out today by removing the sway bar and mounts. The rubber bushings in the lower a arms were fun to remove. I raised the chassis up to waist height. Too much work to be bent over for hours. :) I assembled one coil over and started to see what cleared and what didn't. There are 2 different companies that I'm aware of that have produced c4 conversions. I looked at their lower brackets and combined parts of each. I made one and figured out that I can do it a little different and make it stronger so tomorrow will start on version 2. :) I'm blaming the lack of brain power on covid rather than aging. LOL.
O&S has the front lower coil over mounts done. Lots of time and machining. These are held on with 3 - 3/8" bolts to the lower a arm. I have fabbed some struts to set ride height so I can put the uppers at the correct height to allow the shocks to have adequate compression travel. I have found that compression is way more important than rebound. :) The pics show all 4 brackets being machined together, the completed part and on the a arm. I'm without an explanation on why it's taking so long to do some of this. :)
They're nice brackets.
O&S had a partial day. That way I have an excuse for little progress. :) I had one of the coil overs in and that a little more clearance would be good. I used the plasma cutter end removed about a 1/4" of material. Everything is real close on this front. The radiuses will get finished out as this goes on. I used the 4 parts that were removed from the plates for the shock brackets and turned them into braces. I got started on plating the cutouts above the rear upper a arms.
O&S got started on the upper mounts on the front. There's several angles involved in this. :)
Good thing you have multiple angels working on it, I'd hate to think you had to tackle it alone. :)
O&S does not hold back. Those who have followed my threads for years have seen multiple repaints and redos. Here's another one. The height struts I made are square tubing so there's no side movement. I had a piece of 4" tubing around them checking for clearance when mocking up. I must not have held it centered enough. You can see in the pics that the spring is making contact with the a arm. Tomorrow I will remove the upper mounts and start over. The shock will have to be leaned forward to clear the a arm and the lower frame mount. Just another day in paradise. :) Chalk another one up for the blind old guy. LOL.
I hate redos, maybe it is because I have to do some many. I feel your pain. :)
After having a couple hours of walk away time, I realized, I checked clearances at ride height which is 12.5" of shock travel. I had to undo the upper a arm and lower the lower a arm to install the shock at full ext. height of 14". Because of the geometry of the c4 front suspension, at full drop, the clearance went away. :) Now I know where the arc of travel is. LOL.
O&S front and center: I don't know that anybody will say this is good but I solved the problem without throwing everything away. I didn't want to reweld were the original brackets were. I used the plasma cutter to remove the bracket and then trimmed off a bunch of weld. By the time the bracket was trimmed up, it was short. I wanted thick material under it to avoid flexing. In retrospect, I should have done this in the beginning because it allowed better welding. As I went to make everything clear, I just kept making more problems. :) I ended up trimming the lower frame mount and redrilling the bolt hole on it. When I got close, the a arm cross bolt didn't clear the coil over mount. I have to remove the upper a arm to install the coil over as it is. 2 lbs of crap in a 1 pound box. :) I put in a pretty good day and have one side completed. I hope tomorrow goes faster. :)
Doesn't help that this suspension wasn't made for coilovers in the first place. Not that converting these suspensions to coilovers hasn't been done. You're getting it done, but you're right, there isn't a lot of room for error in the dimensions.
O&S has completed the left side. I'm ready to move on to something next on the list. That's not quite 4 days for 2 coil over mounts. Is that a record? :)
That is fast for me. Keep at it. Whatever gets done is something that had to be done, and you are moving towards the end.
O&S moved on to mounting the drivetrain today. I used a crossmember from a Ford truck and modified it to work. I bent up some brackets and milled one for adjustment slots. I had 3 ideas for engine mounts and didn't like any of them. I took a break after 4pm and went for a cycle ride. When I returned, I had a better idea. I started cutting parts for it before I quit. O&S at his finest. LOL.
O&S had another day of a little progress. The right side engine mount is welded from the top. The left side needs one angle cut on the brace and more welding. The mount consists of 1x2 .125 wall layed down for the top and the same material angle cut for the brace. The round tube is 4130 3/4 .058 wall. I ran out of argon today. $173.59 with tax. :) My machine shop friend came over and looked at the front end. His remark was about how close everything was. :) He does industrial engines where space isn't much of an issue. :)
O&S has developed a new habit. 1st thing in the morning, cut off part of what you did the day before. LOL. I didn't anymore than walk in the house and I started thinking about another way to brace the engine mounts. I cut off the diagonal on the right side and started looking at what would be better. I ended up with .250 x 1.5" flat metal and cut a part for each side. The part that is on the side of the 1x2 is welded on the side of the tube. The short side should be under the most stress from the weight of the engine so I have doubled the amount of material I'm using for a brace. I removed the engine to be able to weld the lower portion on the frame. I tacked the top until I installed the engine to make sure I could control any warpage. That worked out well. I finished welding the trans mount and moved on to the rear. I spent hours aligning everything to make it as close as I could. I checked driveline angles using the Spicer calculator and can up with 2.25 degrees of angle on the ujoints. :) Next is to make front mounts for the rear carriage. The ride height is set so I think making brackets should be fairly simple. :)
O&S has the rear mounted except for braces on the 2 rear mounts. I'm not comfortable with using the rubber bushings for alignment by themselves. I put 2 additional brackets in the inside of the frame to add a little more rigidity. The weather may be wet tomorrow so I put the cab on so I can start cutting the floor for clearance on the driveline. Once that is done, cab mounts might be next. :)
O&S had a short day. I positioned the cab and measured for cab mounts. The original on a 48 is 2 at the front and 1 at the rear. The cab was designed to pivot with flexi frames. I'm leaning towards 4 per side. The cabs aren't really strong so maybe this will be a good idea. :) I used the plasma cutter and rough cut a hole for the driveshaft. I'm going to need to cut the rear of the seat frame some. The front can remain uncut. Time for thinking again.
I didn't realize you were putting such a short little bed on it. That's going to be very sporty, nice.
The later truck cabs had two rear mounts. the smaller ones had a rubber bushed shackle type mount on each rear corner, and the big trucks had two mounts one on each side of a crossmember at the rear of the cab. the rear mounts were similar to the front ones.
I built my own rear corner mounts for my truck as it is a 48 and only had one in the center at the rear.
Four cab mounts per side seems like overkill. Four in all sounds good with common bolt and biscuit size. On the 51 F1 I put those instead of the shackled rears. Noticed on it and the 56 Chevy that a pair of small mounts are used out past the firewall. Eliminated those on the Ford for looks but a total of six (or four) sounds like plenty to this guy, especially on an O&S frame. :)
I thought to self... a guy could hang a different random junkyard fwd car front clip, facing rearward, where a bed would go, once a month or so. :lol: Hood covering a small box. Maybe a round S10 front clip. Or a bed off a 4 door one.
Ha?
So, Matt, would I look like I'm coming and going? :)
O&S is back to his current progress rate. I worked on rear coilover mounts today. I had to remove some material from the inner lower spring ring to allow the lower mount to sit flat. The empty bolt hole will have a spacer underneath the plate to allow it to be bolted in 3 locations. If that looks problematic, I will add another. The lower mounts have the brackets angled to square with the frame. The upper mounts are made of 1 90* bend and the opposite side welded in. The bender doesn't have enough throat to do a U. It just occurred to me that I could have bent 2 L's and welded them together. :) I have to set this mess back on the ground to set ride height before welding the upper brackets on. I used to get this much done in a couple of hours. LOL.
Well, like radio Tonto used to say: "Git-m-up, Scout!"
I figure you'd need to wear a bat hackwards. But on the interstate, tailgaters with sleeping passengers could have some fun with it. :twisted:
Lovely bracketry and such, please continue. :)
Short day for O&S. I repaired a Willys pickup starter this am. Got the upper brackets welded. Time for grandson's 4th birthday. Off to the zoo. :)
Second pic answered my question of if you were going to thread that punch so it wouldn't fall out. :lol:
Looks good.
O&S got caught up on household duties. This arrived today. I have a thing about rotating mass. :)
O&S had another short day. The driveline pic is of all new parts. I have never had a complete driveline that was new in any of my projects. :) The only places the shaft didn't clear was the belly under the seat and the cab rear flange. I didn't need to remove the area behind the seat. The good news is that flat metal will fix all of this. :) I welded another brace on the top of the upper brackets before putting the shocks on. Now I can measure for spacers on the shock ends and the one under the lower mount. I settled on 6 cab mounts. The brackets have been cut to length and some will need to be trimmed. Some will have a 1.5" on top of the 2x6 frame to weld to the frame. More trimming.
O&S showed up for work today. LOL. I started out by installing 2 angle braces on the rear carriage mounts for the differential. Then I cut up the parts for the cab mounts and drilled holes that will work in 4 of the locations. :) There are 3 different elevations on the cab mounts. I fabbed a simple k member for the frame. It's installed under the drive shaft. I bent up a driveshaft loop. After putting the cab back on, I think I may shorten the drive shaft loop so that it could clear a flat floor panel. I'll measure tomorrow.
Looks great from where I sit.
O&S started off by mounting a tire on a wheel for the rear to check clearance. What I got was a surprise. The 96 Mustang wheels clear the caliper with room to spare. The 2005 don't . :) I removed quite a bit from the brace on the top of the caliper. Now the wheel fits. :) I drilled the 6 holes for the cab mounts. A little hot metal is a good way to start your day. Who needs coffee? LOL. I shortened the drive shaft support so now flat metal can be put over it. I moved on to the bed frame. One pic is of my frame jig. :) That was enough exercise for today. :)
You're doing good. Neat, no-frills stuff. :)
O&S did a little work after finishing with the 72. I bent up some brackets an welded them on for bed mounts. I'm not happy with the lack of clearance on my front upper coil over mounts in relation to the upper a arm. I redid the right side before I quit.
O&S lumbered along today. The 72 is outside. It rained on it twice and I was goofy enough to go dry it off. :) I finished the left side upper coilover mount and installed the coilovers. We know have adequate clearance. I drilled the bed frame for mounting bolts and put some bolts in the holes to hold it in position while I do more fabbing. I welded in 2 braces on the front of the bed frame where the fuel tank and battery will be positioned.
O&S is back to normal. This morning I cut out what I did a day ago. I decided that I needed the 2" lost from the fuel tank sitting on braces. I removed the 2 braces and ground everything down. The truck that became the white 51 had an 1/8" plate floor in the bed. I saved half of that. I used the plasma cutter to rough cut to size and then finish cut with the cutoff tool and sander. The 2 pieces are flush welded to the lower side of the frame so I have 1.875" of height. The metal is rust pitted some. It will be hidden from view. LOL. The fuel tank is offset to the left. I needed clearance for the mounting bolts to clear the main frame rail and this gives room for the battery on the right side. I have most of the day in this. The energizer bunny is running down. :)
I know this isn't your favorite project, but I'm liking it better as you make progress.
Jaybee, I appreciate that. :) This project has no rules and I really like that. LOL.
O&S had a moment of confusion this morning. I had a friends service to attend later so that was taking up some badly needed brain power. I started out with the safest item I could do. I calibrated the fuel gauge sender and installed it. I have a new fuel pump for a 1996 Mustang gt. It is the same capacity of the 96 explorer 5.0. I plugged it into the fuel tank and can see that with some work, it is doable. Little more engineering. :) With the mounting of the fuel tank, one of the bed frame bolts had no room for the head. I could shave the head but I had woke up with a better idea. In the past I had installed crush sleeves in most tubing but I hadn't done that to the bed frame yet. I decided to make threaded inserts and weld them to the bed frame eliminating the need for nuts. I had a piece of ugly 1" shaft. The amount that is inserted into the 1X2 is .750" diameter. There is a small flange that is partially welded on the back side of the tubing. I have several hours in making the 4 adapters. :) I ran the truck outside to clean up the floor. The rear shock springs have not been adjusted to ride height. The front shocks were .5" above the desired ride height. I don't know if there will be enough weight when finished to what it needs for the desired ride height. There is a chance I may need shorter front tires. :) Wait and see on that. This was the 1st day of real summer temps. After finishing, I sat on the patio with a smile. It was 98 degrees. I have waited 9 months for this. :)
Looking good. Should be a fast little truck. Loaded up and ready to head to the Goodguys in Des Moines in the morning.
I see why you're going fenderless. the front wheels sit way forward. Very aggressive.
Half day for O&S. Today was spacer day. One pic is of the spacers under the rear lower a arm coil over mount. The rear uppers are the same for both sides. The lowers are different. The right has 2 .2" spacers. I removed the lower mount to install them. Next was to install the left over fuel pump from the white 51. Most of these lower hp. engines use a 109 liter per hour pump. I had a new one that I bought for a spare for the truck. Those of you that remember, know that most of the donor parts from the 96 mustang failed. LOL. I had used this pump for the 8 stack injector deal. I purchased the $35 tank adapter from Tanks instead of the $200 fuel pump deal and went to work. One of the benefits of this is less recirculation of the fuel from bypassing the pump from over capacity. Aereation of the fuel is something to be considered.
Nine months gestation huh? What are you making over there, babies? :shock:
Wonder what this truck would look like with a 59 or 60 impala rear section behind the cab , narrowed so the rear tires are still exposed ?
Matt, that's interesting. :) C.K., the bed is 51" wide. I'm going to cover the fuel filler so I think that would make it too tall for the impala sides. Interesting thought. A month ago a 4 door rust bucket showed up in my town. No engine or trans, rust everywhere, the dash is the only useable item I saw. He only wants $3200 for it. :)
My first thought was unless that thing is a road racer of some sort its gonna need another axle to look right.
Second thought was to attach a stubby trailer with sides made from junk old car quarters. For the articulated locomotive visual effect, which could blow minds. Then I thought no, KB likes bikes so take one along.
The mini gooseneck aspect is to assist in adding visual weight where a bed is visually expected and to add wow when pulling into the fairgrounds.
But I figure a pallet strapped down to the bed frame might do. Or that Model A trunk I mentioned earlier. :lol:
O&S started off the day with a fuel pump test. That went well so I moved on to making O2 sensor bungs. I thought I had an 18mm tap but after about 5 minutes of looking, I went to town and bought one. I have exhaust pipe laid out and the thinking has begun. :)
How about making a bed out of a rear cab skin and the skins off a pair of doors? From the picture that should give you enough length and if you use to just under the window openings it would give you enough height for the gas tank filler. Have you thought what you're going to do with the places in the cowl where the fenders bolted? GPster
KB... namaste :)
If this is the rough profile you have had in mind this whole time, I'll call you a sly dog and tip my hat. All thats needed is a flat sided box out back with a curved profile. A tilted flat gate could even be a thing. A fancy guy could go boat tail, even. I say its a brilliant KB thought, this thing. The bobbed frame didn't make sense in the pickup context but it wasn't supposed to. Applause. Standing slow claps. :)
A couple other things came to mind also. Bike style pipes over the rear wheels. Or mini stacks if you're a real glutton for tinninis. Rumble chair for Team Smart members. :)
Joe and Matt, good ideas. :) I have no decision made yet about the rear. My brain power is limited to doing one task at a time. LOL. Today is exhaust. :)
O&S is reminded of how many projects go. I had purchased some pre-bent 90 degree bends for the headers. They weren't going to work. I boxed them up and sent them back. I ordered more exhaust bends and a right rear cab corner and some brake parts to freshen the front brakes. My driveway slopes so anything outside the shop takes a little effort. It takes me almost an hour to set up the crane and remove the cab and push the chassis back inside. :) Part of the O&S exercise program. I did add 2 braces on the rear carrier mounts. I started to unbolt the axle assemblies. Next is to swap the 3:15 carrier for the 3:55.
I continue noticing there's not a bit of extra space for coilovers on this suspension. Everything has to be positioned exactly right.
O&S had a good day in the shop. That means that there was a minimal amount of blood loss and I don't thing I messed anything up. LOL. The 1st pic is of the inside of a super 8.8 in case anybody cares. :) The changeout wasn't bad. Both the fill and drain plugs have magnets. The 15,000 mile unit had about the same amount of debris as the 90,000 mile unit. That made me feel that the initial break in was where the wear is. ???? In order to fill the unit, I had to buy a 3/8" street ell to connect my funnel. The crossmember blocks the filler a little bit. That synthetic gear lube is pricing so I tried not to spill any. After finishing the changeover, I removed the lower washers I had roughed out for the carriage mounts and turned them all to the same diameter in the lathe. The carriage will get some work when I take this mess apart for some paint.
O&S worked on small stuff today. Sometime ago WzJunk mentioned that he now had an emergency brake. The Mustang rear had good cables so I set out to make them useful. I used nutserts to fasten them to the rear carrier frame. I fabbed a bracket for the cables to be attached to the driveshaft loop. The attachment area on the cables is about .090" from the cable stop. I machined the bracket to allow for that to work. There were extra cable brackets that I removed from the cables. That took more effort than I expected. :) The part that has the cable ends in it has a 5/16" hole for a an adjustment rod to run through and back to the brake handle. I mounted the rear brake line holders to the frame with 1/4" nutserts.
O&S spent a few hours in the shop this afternoon. I fabbed up the uprights to hold the radiator and grille shell in place. I took a 30 minute job and turned it into several hours. The bases are 1/4 x 2" strap. The uprights are 1 x 2 .125 wall tubing. I used the mill to cut them to length and make them as square as I could. I welded the bases to the uprights and quit. I ordered some more parts today. The list is getting shorter. :)
O&S set a record today. LOL. I have one tube in place with a lot of hours! In the spirit of making this useful and needing a mount for the Team Smart rumble seat, I decided to add a receiver hitch at the rear. I had decided on using 2 x4 in an upright position under the 2 x 4 that is the last crossmember. I got to thinking about that and decided that the horizontal position would add more strength. I had 2 pieces of tubing that I machined in the mill to make as square as I could and welded them together. The chassis is tapered so I ground a taper on the tube. Then the tube had to fit against a weld on both sides so I machined a relief in the top of the tube where it fits against the weld. After looking all over, I found a part that I used a long time ago that would work as a receiver for a 2" hitch. I put it in the mill and machined the ends square. Then this mess got welded into the chassis. There is an area on each end that I will use my pencil torch to weld. I bought one of those several years ago knowing that I would need it someday. :)
O&S had an exhausting day. LOL. I had some distractions so not much got accomplished. ( nice excuse) I hammered a flange on the new header pipes and welded in the O2 bungs. I cut and welded the extensions for the headers. I hadn't decided where I want the mufflers to be so I stopped at that point.
O&S looked at some different locations for mufflers before deciding on simple and effective. After making a decision, I cut the rest of the header pipes and welded them together. I had mixed emotions about welding versus clamping but decided that because of fairly close proximity to items that it might be better to weld them together. I'm going to use lap clamps on the mufflers and tail pipes. I used a 66 mustang radiator on the "rolling dumpster" project and the distance on the mounting flanges was 2" so 1x2 tubing made mounting simple. The ebay version had less distance so trimming was in order.
I like that style of clamp. I find them easy to use, they provide a great seal, and you can reposition things or take them apart when needed.
O&S had an interesting day. I was going to get the radiator and grille shell mounted. The radiator supports weren't parallel. I stuck them in the mill and made a 25 thous. cut. Still not right. There is either a twist in the mounting tube or it's not perpendicular from end to end. A shim under one upright took care of that. I had to weld on some extensions to the cooling fan on one side to make mounting it doable. I plugged a battery into it and it moves air and doesn't whine. :) I mounted the grille shell in a similar way as I did in the rolling dumpster. I didn't like it. I lowered it and think that will be the better way to go. I have to get the sway bar mounted to see where there might be interference. After that, I opened up he box with the headlights in it. That last pic is what I found. :) One more phone call tomorrow.
Over here in the land of little progress, I at least made a decision. 1st thing this morning I moved the sway bar 1.25" forward. That was necessary for the bar to clear the coilovers and the rod end apparatus that I will fab later this week. There were natives lost in the yard so I took time to mow. :) I cut the top of the radiator supports some to lower the grille shell. I was not happy. I removed the front crossmember and started lowering it 2". Tomorrow, I will do a little machine work and weld the crossmember back together. The 2" drop will accomplish what I was looking for. Bracing the tube will take some creativity and it won't be as good as before. When I get this back together, I will know if version 3 is necessary. :)
O&S turned a couple of hour task into most of the day again. I needed to shorten the crossmember by about 45 thousandths. I stuck it in the mill and did the task. After tacking it together, I removed it and welded up all but where the brace on top was to be. I spent a lot of time fitting the 2 angle braces on the top. During all of this, I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out why the radiator wasn't flat against the uprights. After doing a lot of measuring, I realized that the mounting brackets on the radiator weren't installed properly. It will take some washers to remedy this. :) The grille shell is mounted at the front of the radiator. That will make plumbing the condenser much easier. I may change that tomorrow. That was enough thinking for one day. :)
You just built in room for some adjustment shims in your radiator mounts, that's all.
O&S had a light day. I spent way too long making lower brackets for the grille shell. After removing the radiator uprights, I was able to weld the last area on the angle braces on the crossmember. I have removed the frame stubs and have something of an idea for the extensions that will hold the headlights and taillights.
Here in the land of brain damage, I have the 4th try at frame horns. Unless the idea god helps me, this is it. LOL. These parts are 1 degree downhill from the frame rails at ride height. The access hole is to get to the fasteners for the headlights and turn signals. I will machine a cover plate for the hole with a slot for all of the wires.
O&S had quite a few hours with some progress. The 4 year old grandson showed up in the afternoon and things slowed. :) I started out with welding the bottom of the frame horns. The 48 Chevy steering wheel gave up it's hub for a wheel adapter. It took effort to remove the bakelight from the wheel to get to the metal support arms. The od was turned and it was faced on front and rear. GM was kind to use the same splines and horn riser for decades. :) I ground down the welds on the frame horns and mounted the grille insert. The mounting studs on the headlights were longer than needed so they got shortened. I removed the sway bar and removed the end bushings from it. It's time to make the new sway bar ends. That's about the time my 4 year old assistance arrived. :)
that front end looks nice and tidy . 8)
Yeah man, thats slicker'n owl snot on a greased glass doorknob! Nice. 8)
O&S accomplished a little today. I took a break in the am for the fair parade. LOL. I started with 2 3/8" bolts that I machined the head from. I threaded the end for 3/8" fine thread to match the rod ends for the sway bar. I machined a spacer to go between the jamb nuts. I machined adapters for both ends of the rod ends. One is in the sway bar and the other is in the lower a arm. I need to make some spacers to allow the rod end some flexibility and a washer to go inside the lower a arm to hold the spacer in place. None of the bolts are the correct ones.
O&S started out as the yard man today. Later, I cut some spacers for the sway bar rod ends. 1/8" thick from 1/2" .065 wall 4130. ( I'm about to run out of some of the race car stuff. :)) I made some encapsulating washers from 1" 3/16" thick material and welded a 3/8" offset on to one end. Not perfect but workable. I pulled the engine and trans. I'm not satisfied with my motor mounts. Those of you that know me or have followed my build threads know I redo a lot. Dummy comes to mind. :) I spent the last couple of hours sitting on the patio enjoying the 97 degree temp while looking over the interior books I have. I have said forever that hot rods are a reflection of personal taste of the builder. I would like the interior of this one to be better. I'm waiting for the idea god to help me out. LOL.
O&S is tired of reporting this. After redoing the bracing on the motor mounts, I put the engine back in and get to looking at it and decide something is wrong. I put the driveshaft back in to double check from the rear forward. I figure out that the measuring point I was using on the formed corvette crossmember is .5" off from the centerline of the chassis. So tomorrow, I will cut both mounts loose close to the bolt boss, 1 will be shortened and the other will be lengthened. I'm out of words. :)
Oh, no! I presume it's the front which is 1/2" off center?
Yes. It won't be a difficult correction. I wasn't aware that my age and IQ are the same. :)
O&S showed up with his head on the correct end this morning. I corrected the problem of the engine offset. The angles of the mounting struts are different because of the different lengths. I did some measurements and came out close. :) The left side was lengthened by .5". That was easy. a piece of 1/2 by 2 strap was cut to length and I was in business. After welding it on, the measurements were applied to the right side to make the proper center distance for the motor mounts. After welding it up, the engine and trans were installed. :) I rolled the cab in and welded up some holes in the top and the cowl. Enough fun for one day.
:)
O&S had a day of high humidity. What better way to enjoy it than to put the cab out in the sun. I stripped the rest of the dash. Then it got another bath. I think that might be number 6. :) I raised the cab up in the air and got underneath it and ground down the plasma cut areas. I squared it up so it looks decent even though it will be covered. I squared up the right cab corner for the repair patch. I made a repair patch for the last section of the floor. I got started tacking it in when I decided I was too tired to do it very well. :)
O&S started by finishing the welding on the plate at the back of the cab on the driveshaft tunnel. Not pretty but effective. Upside down with arms extended is not something I do well. I plated the end of the cab where the repair panel goes. That ties the inner and outer together. Then I trimmed the repair panel to fit and welded it in. The radius edge is unfinished on the repair panel. Hammer and dolly required. I used a slide hammer to remove the 2 dents on the right rear of the cab. Then I welded up the holes. I ground down the filled holes on top of the cab. The cab is back on the chassis.
O&S thought he couldn't get any slower. LOL. The drive shaft tunnel is completed. The front portion is bolt in in case some strange reason occurs. :) I fabbed an adapter for the rear mount on the ac evaporator. The front mounts are from 2 x .125 strap. They will be trimmed before the final install.
O&S got started with mowing the yard. Getting a good sweat going is how you start a summer day, isn't it? :) I have the pedals hung, the hydroboost in place and the lines run. The return to the reservoir isn't done yet. The brake pedal rod will have to be lengthened about .375" to put the brake pedal at the correct height. Seems like I had to do that in the past????? There's a brace and doubler plate to be done. Then the hole for the clutch cable can be run.
O&S has the clutch cable adjuster mounted to the firewall. The firewall doubler was done but not attached to the firewall. I had no threaded insert for the light switch so I rifle drilled a bolt and cut it off to bolt it to the dash. I started on running ac lines. I mounted the ac condenser to measure for lines. I don't have some fittings to complete the task so I need to mock up what I can an order what I'm missing. It was 106 degrees this afternoon. I'm pretty sure I smell. LOL.
O&S started the day using a set of dies and the mighty mite bender that I bought at least a decade ago. I put a bend in the output line from the compressor to the condenser. I fabbed up as much of the ac lines as I had parts for. I knew I would be short some fittings but after laying everything out, I ordered 6 fittings and some more hose. I'm using bulkhead fittings to go through the firewall. I've tried other methods and think this might be better. :) I'm trying to make sure I have all of the parts here or ordered to finish this. Lots of thinking. :) I use that term loosely. The pics of the front are where this is headed. Feel free to comment.
Looks great. I have been wanted to get a feel for the end product. If you hurry, you can make Salina :)
You're good with the tubing bender, and obviously with visualizing how you want it to come out. You've got a nice rough in, now you're into the details that take so much time but make so much difference.
Thats gonna be wild, man! :)
Slip roller? Cut stock hood? Balsa wood and fabric? :lol:
What are YOUR thoughts on it, Bill? How is the good to bad viewing angle ratio of the hodgepodge in person? You need your lamps back up there for lookin at purposes / art reference pics. It will undoubtedly be freaky which is kinda the idea. :)
To all of the above, thank you and I have no answers, yet. Making decisions wears me out. :) I think I passed the point of simple is the best. I have a lot of thoughts floating but need time to absorb and decipher to come up with a conclusion. Then I have to see if I have skills and equipment to implement those thoughts. :)
O&S had half a day. I started out with boring a steering u-joint from 36 spline to just 3/4". You can see from the pic that that wasn't real simple. Then I moved on to a steering wheel adapter based upon the hub from the 48 steering wheel. I machined a flange and have it welded to the hub. Tomorrow will see it finished. :)
O&S finished the steering wheel adapter. I used the spindle on the mill to start the tap to make it as straight as I could. I did some test fitting with the original steering column and determined that the placement would be fine for me. I brought in the PT Cruiser seat that I removed from the wrecked car a few months ago and sat it on the original truck frame. The height and placement will work for me. One item of the seats that is both positive and negative is the length of the seat bottom. If you look at one of the pics, you will see the distance from the door frame to the seat bottom is substantial. That's good for egress but the shorter seat bottom is not so good for long days. I don't know if there is a better answer at this point. More thinking. After mocking up the steering column, I don't think one ujoint will be enough to clear the headers. More checking to come.
nice looking steering wheel 8)
O&S may have set a record for time to fill a cowl vent. I had waffled on keeping it. The last truck I left it in, I never used it. This morning, I looked at it and decided it was history. MY plan was to use the top of the vent. That took a little work but did work out. I had to straighten out the flange on the top. Then the part was too large for the hole. I gently ground on it for almost 2 hours to get it to fit reasonably well. (blind old guy). After fitting it, it got welded without any surprises. One less decision. LOL.
Well, where O&S closes a vent you'll need to open a window...
O&S had a couple of hours today. I finished up the ac lines. After I had changed my layout, I had to cut another hole for the no. 6 line. Now I have a hole to fill. :) I have service ports on both sides of the engine. When suppliers run out of $6 fittings, they seem to have the $16 ones. :)
O&S ran the heater hoses and the ac drain line this morning. Then I got started on running the ecu wiring. The ecu needs to be inside the cab. I had seen some builds had run the wiring above the engine and put the ecu up high. I used the cowl vent hole and cut a hole to feed the ecu plug through. When I finished that, I was dissatisfied with all of it. I cut a hole straight from the location on the rear of the engine and ran the wiring through it. This might be the best of the compromises. :) I filled the holes I had cut for the ecu, ac line and filled the 2 holes where the cowl vent brace was. I started aligning doors before installing the bear claws. There's a lot of compromises. I have to decide how important equal door gaps are. :) I removed the inside windshield molding and didn't find any disasters. :)
O&S tackled the the door gaps. Be mindful that I didn't want perfect gaps, but functional ones. :) I ground off the tight spots and welded them up. I ground them down and hit it with the 80 grit da. The left door needed 2 times of welding. There was some rust in between the seems of the door skin and the heat caused it to contaminant the weld. :) I started removing all of the components from the doors. The pic of the tool is an Eastwood tool that I highly recommend if you are working on rusty bolts. Since purchasing this years ago, I don't remember having to drill out a fastener. :)
O&S started out by disassembling the doors. It took some effort but wasn't too bad. I started to install the bear claw latches. I did the right door 1st. I thought I was in good shape. Then I discovered that the latch was too thick to allow the window channel to fit properly. Tomorrow, I will do what it takes to move the latch towards the outside of the door to clear the channel. I thought this would be simple. LOL.
I purchased the mini bear claw latches for my truck a long time ago but I have not installed them. I am hoping you will solve the issue for me.
The minis are thinner but aren't as sturdy as the standards that I'm using. I say that with some confidence that I will succeed. LOL.
Ditch the striker bracket, bump out the door a little more?
Have you looked at how prefab kits are arranged for that body, for potential inspiration?
I think moving it outward is not the best direction to go.
Door gap fix job looks fine. :)
To be clear about the above post, I mean go with a smooth B pillar face to mount the striker on, and position the latch aft of original location sufficiently for window channel clearance plus inboard as far as possible. Just my take on that.
Also my take on stubborn screws in pic. It only failed on a 69 Mustang so far. All about feathering the trigger. The handheld hammer beat kind has a much lesser success rate.
Matt, I did look at the others on the market. I'm modifying the striker plates. By this evening I should have a finished unit. :)
I have faith. :)
Matt, I appreciate that. :)
O&S will start by saying the left side will be slightly different from the right. It seems that hindsight is the better sight I have these days. I'm going to start with complications. The latch was slightly too thick to clear the window channel. If you mounted it towards the inside of the door, the release lever wouldn't clear the window apparatus. I aligned this up to be close to the original latching points. The release handle is hitting the top of the latch assembly because of the radius of the door. (I didn't find that one out until I had everything else in place) LOL. The release lever on the latch is too close to everything to use the quick release ball joints I have used in the past. Is that enough? I started out this morning with .125" thick metal to mount the latch to on the side of the door. I used countersink fasteners and thought it would work. When I installed all 4 fasteners, they hit the door jamb. I made another plate from 18 gauge. That was better until you put all of the fasteners in. That's when I made the decision to redo the striker plate. I bent the ends of the replacement enough to give clearance to allow the fasteners and the washer on the stud to clear. After welding that to the striker plate, I removed the original that I had welded in. I had some 16 gauge metal that became the last plate to attach the latch to. It was galvanized underneath powder coating so it had to be stripped. After everything cleared, I welded the latch plate in. That means that once again, the latch is the 1st item to be installed in the door. LOL. That's one of the items I will see if I can arrive at a better solution on the left side. I will need to fabricate a link to run from the door handle to the latch. There is the inside door apparatus to be resolved, also. :)
sweet
^^^
X2
:)
Deuce door handles ? 8) I will use mini bear claws in the T coupe if I ever get the doors to fit . I have test fit them and they 'just' fit between the door edge and window channel . I will probably be using deuce door handles because they lock and they look better than the A ones that lock . Cant get locking T handles and the bear claw goes in right where the stock T door lock lives . Only way I can use T handles is without the lock so no go . I will likely be using the stock interior door handles but it has been so long since I looked that I cant remember how I was going to do that.
O&S spent more hours on door latch hardware. I have used quick release rod ends in the past. There wasn't enough space for that on this build. The door handle shaft didn't quite clear the latch. I trimmed the latch and found the arm was too thick to clear the back of the door where the panel was doubled. I got creative and removed part of that panel on the inside of the door. I had some 3/16" rod left over from another project. I put the rod in the mill and drilled .090" holes in it in several locations. I had 1" x .125" strap left over from a trailer job that I cut a short piece to attach the small pieces of shaft to. I drilled a hole through the strap and inserted the shafts and then flush welded them on the backside. One of the pics will show a pin in the shaft to hold the shaft in the levers on the handle and latch. I drilled the remaining hole for the door handle and welded up the enlarged portion of the 1st hole that was left exposed by the handle base. I moved over to the left door. I wasn't happy with the way the hinges looked or fit. I removed the door and machined the holes on the hinges to move the door farther to the outside. I flattened the hinge flanges so the don't look quite so bad. The door didn't close all of the way without hitting something. I spent way to long trying to find where the restriction was. I ended up using a board and bending the door in the hinge area like we used to do 50 years ago. The last pic is of the door in a natural hang. I made a short video of the operation of the right latch. It is on my youtube channel: kb450div4
O&S says: 2nd verse, same as the 1st. :) I don't have the inside linkage done yet but the largest part is completed.
O&S finished the outside door latch on the left side. I'm still thinking about the inside door handle connection. I fabbed a simple bracket for the steering shaft support rod end. After welding it to the chassis, I cut of a length of the 48 chevy steering shaft from the column. The newer versions are 3/4" diameter. This was 13/16". :) I machined one end for 3/4" and the other for 3/4" double d. The pic shows extra length to be trimmed for the final column fit.
O&S spent some time freeing up the inside door operators. One has a broken spring. After thinking, I think cables are what I need to make the inside work well. I made an air cleaner from aluminum and a standard round filter. It clears the line that hood sides should follow. I think it will need a brace run to either a valve cover bolt or something around the alternator mount. Too much mass for just the rubber hose. :) I think I will paint the cover to match the engine. I took the da sander and did a little work on the inside to see what will need to be blasted and what will clean up. I removed the rest of the weatherstripping from the doors and cleaned up some small parts.
O&S cleaned up some of the stainless on the dash. Some is ok, some not. :) I moved on to working on removing paint. I removed the trim rings around the door windows and cleaned that area up and hammered a dent on the right side. I priced some seat material this morning. It takes time to call and ask. :)
The frame you built gets the job done. It looks enough like you've channeled the cab over the frame I went back to check earlier in the thread just to be sure. I'm starting to like this one better than the last one you did, because it's going to be a lot sportier.
Nice side draft pizza pan. Needs this on it- :)
It IS tight inside them hokey-era no-jamb-overlap doors, thats for sure. Good function is no picnic and having a key lock adds the extra coat of hassle.
Keep mowing down puzzles :arrow:
O&S spent a little time looking at options for the lower panel under the hood sides. Then it was back to removing paint. The easy part is completed. :)
O&S says that some days you find what you don't want. :) I spent the afternoon with the original hood. I cut, bent, manipulated and still ended up with not much useable. Nothing I tried ended up in a smooth transition to the grille. More thinking ahead but probably starting from scratch. :)
As I see it, this is going to be like chopping the top on a barrel-roofed car...very cool when it's done right and an enormous amount of head scratching and visualization to get there. Here's how I see it, just my impressions. As always, I could be wrong and on some of it I probably am.
- You're not too far into the nose of the hood, which is good because you'll want basically a straight line from the cowl to the hood.
- The arching line along the side view of the hood could be a really interesting detail.
- Getting that line will be complicated, since the forward portion of the hood flares outward on the stock hood. It needs to flange under like it does at the rear in order to look right.
- Moving to the transition from the top of the hood to the side, that part is pretty well make or break. The radius needs to tighten, move inward, and upward smoothly from back to front. By upward, I'm referring to the midpoint of the curve. That midpoint is higher at the radiator than at the cowl.
- Oh, and you have to be able to open and close it. I think the side view arch needs to meet the radiator shell right where the curved top of the radiator shell meets the straight sides.
To accomplish that, I think your side fill pieces are going to need to start way back on the hood, probably clear back by the end of the Chevrolet emblem.
What if you start by deciding what your side arch should look like? Maybe stretch the vertical side of an angle, tack it to the hood at the back, clamp it to the hood edge at the front, and start rolling a sheet to fill in the blanks. That way you have the 4 edges of the hole you're trying to fill defined. Shrink the horizontal leg of the flange toward the back end to make a gradual transition and help avoid a kink from the existing hood to where it narrows toward the grill shell. Once you have your hood skin defined, flange the bottom edge and plug weld it underneath the flange so you won't have to deal with keeping it all straight as if you butt welded the whole length of the hood.
There are those who attempt to plan, and those who just walk up to the vehicle and do. Guy in the next stall at work is the latter and is currently building up the Stude truck hood. No measuring, no idea how it will look, just build. I have forgotten what fabrication is because I don't get that work anymore. Any I have done normally gets cut away or smashed by a coworker. Or just never leaves. Although the Model A job's hood is now painted. Quite hacked up since my involvement. So I quit offering solutions or conjuring possibilities or referencing prior work. Because it has no effect and is unwanted, I try to keep my nose out of other peoples' project designs these days. They prefer to struggle through in their own way and are best left to do so. Any input I may have had for this one was probably expressed long ago and any thought sharing now is moot. I do know you are not a metal shaping person, Bill. Wishing you luck solving the puzzle you made and just consider me a spectator or student.
If I could take the snark outta that and just say I wish I could help but don't know how... well that'd be the root sentiment. The hood in the next stall is at seven butt welded pieces and still growing and I just have to think that a dab of advanced shaping trickery could go real far in reducing headaches from this type of challenge. Jealousy of such opportunities is my own fault. Eyes open :arrow: :)
All of the above comments have validity. :)
This was a real short day for O&S. I was out of town for much of it. I bolted up the hood hinges to use as a locator. I did some trimming on the front to get it to sit on the grille shell. It's just not good. :) I'm brain dead enough that I will reserve my comments until I have a plan of action.
That's...a lot wider at the back than the front. Doesn't make it easier...
The above comment definitely has validity. And the angle shown in the above pic may never look natural in a factory way due to the abrupt width bottleneck.
I just thought what if a guy was to snip out the filler section of grille shell below radiator (leaving radiator where it is), flip it over and put it up top... then he might be able to locate the outer shell higher and establish a straight hood line from cowl angle to grille. Wouldn't that, in profile, generate a hood line that jives with what the eye expects behind a deuce grille?
Then I thought just turn the grille over. Gives a nice formed bottom to the nose and on top... there would just be the v shaped, rounded strip around the grille. A hood nose could tuck behind that maybe, or a favorably contoured transition panel could be butt welded onto that back, ex bottom edge to extend it to meet a new custom flat fronted hood gap. You'd have more freedom to blend shapes that way, adding a little header panel to the shell, than being locked onto the 32 shell top contour.
I don't think it would really lose any of the deuce-ness, the grille itself makes that statement but how many are upside down? :idea: :arrow: :shock: Its a topsy turvy world after all.
There I go. :roll: Turn the page. :lol:
Matt, that's an interesting thought. I'll add that to the idea stack. Thank you.
Zag while others zig. Where will Dodge parts work their way into the build? :)
^^^^
Soon. :)
O&S made a road trip this morning. I now have metal to play with. Back in post 69, Matt posted a pic that had a straight line from the rear hood line to the floor. I'm leaning towards that. I took some cardboard to mock up a truck box. That would be quick and simple. Not sure I'll do that. Lots of thinking, not many decisions. LOL.
O&S had an interesting day. It started off with a decision being made! I took the original hood and wacked it close to the firewall. I welded the center seam together, top and bottom. I aligned it best I could and started tacking. I had to make some pie cuts to get it to cooperate. :) I cut it to match the front of the firewall to the best that I could. I bent up some 1" x .125" strap to give it some strength and add a lip for the hood. I quit before starting the welding. Tomorrow, I will be fresh and not as prone to blind and stupid. LOL.
No hood...probably the smartest decision, given the challenges of making a hood that would gracefully make the transition between the very wide cab and much narrower grill shell.
I'm not sure where this is going, but I think you are on the right track. :shock:
That ^^^ is what I think too. :)
Bill while you were doing that or before I saw the day's progress, well I was itchin to run a pic through the idj mill and see something.
My findings indicated that what is pictured below is possible IF you were to go like that one cardboard on cowl side pic shows...
all the way back to a small flange left at door gap then following the bead across the top. Everything ahead of that goes away and the new straight hood line starting there appears simplest. I approximated the position of the hood gap over firewall and added burnout haze.
Turned out not far from where you are headed. I would just caution you to experiment with tape because if any cowl sides are left they really get in the way of this view / shape and I'd hate to see you having to pinch down the cowl sides aft of hood or something. I don't think you'd need to lose any toe board, just go straight from door gaps forward and in this view its the top half of door providing all the curve.
Just trying to help and hoping this might. :)
Good pic, Matt. :) Lots of thinking ahead. 2 very different radiuses.
I think a person could bend one like Matt proposed using the old acetylene bottle bending technique. I would make a crude wooden buck once you have both ends and the distance between them. Make the hood a little bigger than the buck and then trim it to fit the truck.
Keep in mind that my thoughts are random and could easily change.
Curious about the profile with different grille heights, since in theory you now can control the cowl angle if you were to cut all the way back next to the wiper bead? Feed me a square side shot and convey thoughts. It always amazes me how guys can eyeball evaluate proposed theories with all the clutter and confusing contrast that exists in person looking at mockup stuff. Burnout haze helps vision in that last image.
I think the key in that view is at base of windshield post... side of truck goes outward from there but we need inward. Not one step out then five steps in. For rod-like eyeflow from front.
John's bottle bend is about all the bending required... in the pictured version.
Fun thought task. Even funner to see what actually shakes out. :)
Matt, I forgot to get a good side shot.
O&S is tired. :) I knew last night that I would have some fun today. The 1" strap was not headed towards the grille shell when I quit yesterday. I made some miter cuts and tried that 1st thing. I ended up cutting the radiuses from the hoop and tacking the main loop in. Then I bent and twisted the 2 ends to get them to make the sheet metal line up and point towards the grille shell. Then I welded the mess together. The hoop has short welds about every inch. Where the hood is welded to the cowl, I was unable to get under that area so planishing the weld wasn't possible. That means that filler will be required. :)
O&S had another light day of progress. I have radiator support rods in place. There is fender shims behind the brackets on the front. As you move it in to adjust, it gets shorter. This is the beginning of a support system for the hood and side panels.
O&S invited Gilligan and the Skipper along today. :) I made 2 patch panels for the cowl and then decided that it was time to make some dies for the bead roller that could do deeper offsets. The originals I have were designed for .040" material. I went to the local metal supplier and picked up 2 scraps of 2.25" shaft. I faced the ends of and needed to cut them to length. I drilled them in the lathe for .935" diameter for the bead roller. After that, I have a mandrel that I made years ago to put items on to machine without being tied to the chuck. Then the parts were put in the mill and a 3/16" cut was performed to allow the drive pin in the bead roller to fit. After a long day, I'm about to flange the 2 panels and weld them in place. 2 hours turned into 8. LOL.
O&S has the 2 small panels welded on the bottom of the old hood - now cowl extension. I got started bending 3/4" tubing to do the rest of the hood side panel supports. I had to move a lot of items to get the table where the bender is mounted can be used. I have a few bends completed. That was the stopping point for today. O&S at his best. LOL.
O&S started off by making 3/4: tubing bends. Then I decided that the radius was too large to do what I desired. I have the 2 lower hood panel supports in place. Maybe accomplishing one thing per day is how this is going to go. LOL.
O&S did yard work for a few hours so that gives me an excuse for not much progress. :) I have dzus tabs welded to the hood side panel supports. I have cardboard mocked up on the left and right side to simulate the panels. I have to decide how to fabricate them now. More decisions. :)
O&S made a tiny bit of progress. I have several sheet metal panels cut to size. I have one bed side close to completion.
Looking good!
x2 8)
O&S put in a full day. (for him). :) Both bed sides are welded and ground down. The front and rear panels for the bed have been bead rolled and are ready to go find a longer brake.:) The left side has holes drilled. One of the pics shows how much overhang there is underneath. One pic is of my makeshift bead roller table. This worked better than I expected. :)
What gauge material are you rolling KB? Mine is fighting me with 18ga and yours look good.
Wish I worked at your speed when I worked in my shop. :)
Dave, I'm using 20 gauge. If you look at the pic of my bead roller, the bracing was necessary to be able to do 16 gauge. My roller is an old Williams Low Buck tools unit. I sure wish I had adapted a drive unit to it. :) 20 gauge is light for body panels but that's what my brake can handle in 4' lengths. Another compromise in my world. :)
O&S says "lets put this to bed". :) I know, real cheesy. LOL. I was fortunate to use a friends brake this morning to bend the front and rear of the bed. I thanked them but that didn't convey how much I appreciated the use of the brake. The bed is bolted together. The bed rails still need end caps and there is some trimming to do. It needs to go back on the truck to do the rear roll pan and tail light mounts. I'm thinking about the bed cover hinge. O&S at his best. :) One pic is of the 34 Ford hood hinge that will be the centerpiece for the hood.
O&S had a road trip this morning to pick up the seat at the salvage yard. I ran a few more errands and came home to do a tiny bit of work. I decided to use plywood for the bed floor leading up to the fuel and battery area. I cleaned the seat up and laid it on top of the stock seat riser. I will need to make mounts for it to sit correctly. More thinking. :)
That's coming together nicely.
Hot diggity, box ahoy :)
O&S had a short day. Maybe that was good, less time to do poorly. :) I'm on the 2nd attempt to mount the seat. I started off with using the plasma cutter to cut down the existing seat mount. After 2 try's, there's not much left. I had pieces of 2 x 4 tubing so I bolted those onto the seat frame. Not good in any direction. Then I took 1/4" x 2" flat strap and bent a hoop for the front. I put the seat back in and the measurements are close to being what I want. One of the items that I look at is the seat being tall enough that my armpit is at least 1" higher that the window sill. The distance from the seat back to the firewall is important. Tiny bit of progress. :)
Looks like a nice seat. :)
O&S got a little accomplished. The seat is mounted. I will make reinforcement plates for under the floor. I have one side of the bed rails capped.
they fold AND flip forward . 8) 8) 8) 8)
O&S was lame today. I welded up the 2 remaining end caps on the bed and did spot welds on the 3/4" tubing hiding in the top of the front and back panels. I disassembled the bed and got ready for more sheet metal work. I cleaned up the shop and gave up. Brain power was gone. :)
Two bed times in one day is an awesome feat. Especially if one was in the garage. :) (when the garage is not an oven)
Good to see you getting some clean sheetmetal fab in. Beats dealing with crusty shag any day. :arrow:
Matt, clean metal is a plus. :)
O&S changed gears today. I didn't have the brain power to work on the hood. :) I made a drawing of the bracket to hold the fuse panel, fan controller and the stereo amp. I decided the trans tunnel would be more fun. The pics show using a r8 spindle hole saw adapter I made when I was building race cars. The cover held in place with clecos and then partially welded. That took a full day! O&S at it's best. LOL.
O&S has had enough fun for the day. The trans tunnel is in and bolted down. I used nutserts on it. I made a simple panel to hold the electrics that will be under the seat. I decided to put the stereo and the ac controller in the dash so I cut a panel for that. I'm going to cut the holes before putting it in the dash.
Is the AC panel going to be removable? On the lower hood side line could you make it curved, and incorporate the fender opening as part of the curve? I think that would give it more of a finished look.
Frank, I haven't decided yet. A removable panel was the last thought I had as I walked into the house. :) I'll cut more cardboard and see if I can make curved sides without other complications.:)
O&S made it into the shop with a clear mind this am. In just a little bit, I was doing yard work. LOL. After lunch, I figured out that the dash panel I made for the speaker grille location wasn't large enough for both the stereo and the ac controller. Back to home plate. After building many trucks, I know that you can't always decipher the stereo display in the daylight. Having any control that is a long reach is not good. If you take your eyes off of the road, you may not be on it. :) I mocked up a piece of cardboard for an under dash panel. Mixed emotions. I cut some cardboard up for a quick attempt at a radius behind the front wheel. More mixed emotions. :) Thinking takes up a lot of time. :)
O&S got a late start today. Grandkids involved. :) I made a pattern to get the cowl radius as close side to side as I could. I was concerned that it might move around so I welded in some braces. I may fill the rest of the area in with sheet metal??? I had to cut out the area on the cowl where the hood center strip would go. I took a piece of .125 x 2" strap and made a filler plate. One end was curved to match up to the original cowl line but the rest was to try and keep a straight hood line from the cowl to grille shell. One of the pics shows the angle of the hood hinge bracket on the grille shell. Tomorrow it will get cut and the angle changed.
A couple of days on some other parts of the car to bring fresh eyes...
I have about a half day in today. O&S at his best. :) I cut the mount on the grille shell loose and changed the angle and welded it back together. I cut a piece for a hood side panel. it's roughed in. Before I did that, I realized that if I made it longer and changed the seam where the fender bolted to the cab, that it might be better. The bottom of the truck cowl sticks out a little to far so tomorrow, I will figure out some way to pie cut that area and pull it in to make the side panel easier to fit. I have more ideas in my feeble brain so I'm hoping that I will have the front sheet metal taken care of in a couple of days. This morning one of my thoughts was that hood panels need to be easily removed to allow access to what's behind them. That's when I changed my focus on making the side panel cover as much as possible. I want to be able to remove a side panel and leave the lowers in place. More thinking. :)
End of the day for O&S. I worked slowly, trying not to make mistakes. :) Yesterday's panel served as a pattern. I have both side panels bent, one with fasteners and neither finish trimmed. This was from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. :) Lots of steps in this.
O&S has the right side panel hung. I cut up the metal for the hood and then found at least 3 ways not to bend it. More thinking ahead. :)
:idea: I see unity and repetition, with the raised areas on side panels. :)
Piano hinged hood suits me. Points for sheer boldness of idea.
Quite the epic saga. I need more Junior Mints. :arrow:
Dust removed from tool. ???? :)
O&S is not finished with the right side but getting close. More trimming, edging and a slight hump at the cowl to work out.
That"s looking good.
O&S has had enough fun today. :)
Interesting, and bold. No belly button rod here, and I mean that in the best way.
Jeez , I am impressed ! I will need to do that hood thing some day . I hope mine turns out near as good as that . Last time I did that kind of thing I made a 1 pc body for my FED from front of engine to back of nose cone . That was early 90's :o
Interesting :) :idea:
O&S started out with yard work this am. I spent some time aligning the hood panels with the hinge. I drilled some pilot holes. I'm going to rivet the hood to the hinge. No rivets anywhere around me. :) I believe it was in the 49 Ford cab that I used on the rolling dumpster that there was a few spare parts. One of which was the shifter for an old Ford truck. I machined the base to bolt to the t5 and then bent it to where I think it will work. I ground down the top end and threaded it for 1/2 x 13. I sanded it with the 80 grit da to remove all of the surface rust.
O&S flopped along like a fish on the ground. I started off by bolting the bed sides together to make some measurements before fabbing the bed cover. I looked at the shifter handle and decided it was too plain. I ball milled some on the sides. I went to bolt it on and found the aftermarket shifter had a different bolt pattern than any other shifter out there. I put the lever back in the mill and machined another hole to fit the pattern. The pics show the metal cut for the bed cover. One is completed, the other lacks the center support.
O&S has the bed cover frames welded and the bed covers cut and bent. The center post and hinges and latches are left. :)
O&S got plenty of exercise today. Not much accomplished. :) The bed sides received some finish work to make it easier to assemble after painting. I made nut inserts for the center bar and welded them in. The bed cover frames were an 1/8" out of square after I finished welding them. I clamped them to the side of the gantry crane and bent them. :) The pics show the bed covers tossed on. Lots more to go.
I'm really starting to dig this thing.
O&S made little progress today. I cleaned up the 72 to go to the Hooker Ok show tomorrow. I made some pivots for the bed cover hinges. They don't work as I wanted. I spent a couple of hours messing with parts to make the bed cover work. To use the pivots, the linkage is substantial in size and the bed cover frame will need to be modified. I made a cad mock up of the rear roll pan. The radius on the bottom will be tighter than the pic shows. 2 taillights per side. Still thinking about layout. :)
That type of cad I am very familiar with ! 8) 8)
O&S had one of those days. I turned something simple into an all day job. I decided to add raised panels to the roll pan. It was too long to rotate in the bead roller. I cut it in half to do that. The piece was 48" long to start with so I had to add another 3" to it. That was my plan in the beginning. There's trimming to do and alignment before doing mounting holes.
Another day in O&S land. This morning, I cut off the left end plate and moved it .125" and welded it back on. By the time I lined everything up this morning, the roll pan was too wide and the side panel was too low. ??? I must have had more than usual brain damage yesterday. The taillights are mounted and 2 mounting holes are drilled for the tag on the right raised panel. I have 3 holes for the tag light and the 2 back up lights to drill. I thought about frenching the back up lights on the gray truck and wimped out. I'm thinking about it again. :) O&S is tired. :)
Love it, no one is going to mistake this for another truck from behind.
O&S had a half day. I took a simple project and blew it up, again. I was going to make matching panels for the front of the bed to mount under it. I cut 2 parts and laid them out. Ran them through the bead roller. Flanged the ends and looked at them on the truck. I didn't like how it looked. I flattened out the flanged end on the straight end. The panel had warpage from the bead roller. I took them to the english wheel and rolled them with a flat roller. I wasn't impressed with the results. I bent up some 90 degree parts and welded them to the straight end of the panels. They're bolted on but I have mixed emotions about them. If they were primered or painted it would be easier to make a decision. :)
they look like they belong there 8) 8) 8)
O&S spent half of the day doing yard work. After lunch I tackled the under dash console. It took almost 4 hours for layout and machine work. O&S at it's best. :)
Unproductive day for O&S. Too many distractions.
O&S did stuff today. Not much of it was on the project. :) When I quit yesterday, I decided that the waterfall console would come back out. The ac control slot was .187" off to one side. I added two holes for pushbutton switches. I'm not sure what they will control. More decisions. :) I spent more time on the bed cover hinge design. Anything that works like trunk hinges is too large to not invade what little storage space is available. No decision made yet.
Not a lot of space in that sporty little bed, but it suits the truck. Here are some ideas, just to think about the geometry if nothing else. This first one is the Bilt-Right hinges from Yogi's.
(https://cdn.mysagestore.com/fb54f3c5992b96d001bb16e8e92d968d/contents/SRS400L/SRS400L.jpg)
These next two are from a 2000s Ford Focus, first one is in the open position.
(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/DwMAAOSwtzZegFWy/s-l1600.jpg)
Here they are in the closed position. In an OEM application the flanged end of the hinge bolts to the trunk opening and the flat end attaches to the edge of the deck lid.
(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/zg4AAOSwj7lf6hmp/s-l1600.jpg)
Jaybee, thank you for the input. The focus trunk hinges could be an option. I have piano hinges tacked in place to see how this will work out. Back to work. I use that word loosely. :)
Thanks, food for thought at least. I described the attachment backward, but it shouldn't matter to the motion. The flat end attaches to the body, the flanged end attaches to the decklid, but the relative position of the parts should be exactly the same if you reverse them.
The decklid initially lifts almost straight up from the weatherstrip, then the whole decklid rotates almost in place. It ends up with the edge of the lid about 1" clear of the body, about 3" toward the rear of the car from its closed position, and the lid rotates to about 110 degrees before hitting the integral stop.
The flanged end is about 3" from the hinge pin on one side and the strut mount. Maybe you could cut the rest of that off and attach a different bracket.
O&S almost has a bed cover. After spending way too much time trying to come up with something very functional that didn't take up space, I decided that I needed to get on with it because of the time factor. The 1st item was to cut .250" out of the cover frames. The hinge pin moved the frame over so clearance became an issue. Issue, LOL., the frame didn't clear the bed side. Issue is for pc people. :) I clamped and checked for clearance before welding the frames to the hinges. The covers are clecoed in place. The cover is a little too long where it attaches to the hinge. I have to decide what to do about that. The overhang allows the covers to open 45 degrees. I want them to be close to 90. More thinking. The bear claws are bolted in and the latch pins welded in place. The pins I purchased were too long to clear the bed sides so a quick trip to the lathe took care of that.
Ah, nice. I was mistaken about what you were trying to do. the center hinged setup looks good and should work well. Will the bed cover be able to lift out if you want it to?
The bed cover is removable. Not easily, though. The center bar comes out with all of it. I will have to be real careful after painting to assemble. :)
Random thoughts from O&S. One pic is of a bed cover corner welded up. All 4 were done. I had 2 gas struts left over. I was kind of excited. Then I found out they weren't strong enough to do the job. I think I may use a mechanical strut just to avoid the twist that one strut would cause. The bed cover will be glued down with silicone. If that doesn't hold the center adequately, I will install a few more fasteners. The hood is riveted to the center rail for the hood hinge. Enough thinking for one day.
I dig what you did for tail lights. 8) :idea: Keep on thinkin' :arrow:
I like it. Will the center be sealed or guttered somehow to keep water out?
Flexible rubber of some kind. Maybe held with velcro???????
O&S put in quite a few hours, not much accomplished. :) One pic is of the 2 small filler panels that go under the side panels next to the radiator. The next 2 are of the panels I'm almost finished with that will be non-removable for any normal maintenance. I tried using the extended side panels and a short cab panel but that didn't fit worth a (fill in the blank). I used my 30" roller to roll the bottoms and then put a little bend to the upper panel. I made a pattern that was close for both sides. I found out before I punched the mounting holes that they are way different from side to side. I was double checking when I noticed that.
O&S spent the last couple of hours on the patio enjoying the last of summer and contemplating how to finish the side panels on the project. One of the thoughts was a early corvette alcove. No thoughts past that. :) I fabbed 2 panels for the underneath part of the side panels. They are nutserted on the frame and the lower rail for the engine side panel. My plan was to make the side panels removable without any attachments. I failed. :) The front lower panels are bolted to the side panel. because the a-arm rises up, the side panels have to be slid reward to remove than. Unbolting the lower front panel is required. The rear panel stays in place. The last panel to be fabbed will fill the area in front of the lower cab corner. Many thoughts about this including how rocks from the tires will impact it. I hope the idea god will smile on me tomorrow. :)
Nice, I like how your lower cab corners are coming out. I think that will help the cab look a bit stretched toward the front, which will make the cab itself look sleeker. I have thoughts, as always you'll probably come up with something better than my ideas, but maybe something will help.
First thought is 70's style, thin and flat cycle fenders, which does nothing to solve the challenge of finishing off the new cab front. So we move on.
Maybe something like this, transition panels which would run under your hood sides but at an even steeper angle to close off the cab front and flare inward toward the frame. That might be a flat taper, might be a curve/recurve thing.
(https://www.theglobeandmail.com/resizer/NdK-Cln0dmE96zCWdXoZ1zqPiRk=/600x0/filters:quality(80):format(jpeg)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tgam/WGDXT6YKJRHANDVZTIUTH7NNWY)
Or something swoopy-scoopy like this Ferrari, with a curve that would start right at the front of your new cab side panels and go no higher than your existing hood sides.
(https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/160119094419-1963-ferrari-250-gt-swb-berlinetta.jpg?q=w_1200,h_800,x_0,y_0,c_fill/h_618)
This one kind of combines both those things.
(https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/51b1db3ce4b07fc87bcfa925/1375289585503-61KQ70JQB9O86JVQLPRZ/IMG_8832wb.jpg?format=750w)
Or go Detroit style, will still closing off your cab sides. Again, you'd obviously wedge inward to match your hood sides.
(https://dia.org/sites/default/files/styles/responsive_exhibition_image_1520_x_760_/public/2022-06/detroit-style.jpg.webp?itok=JYt6vXwv)
The idea fairy said hey how about some acorn nuts for the control arm stuff. :shock:
That's interesting, Matt. CAD time. :) The lower cab panels have tension on them from the rolling. Trying to put a bead in them might be best done by welding a bead to them. More thinking. Making the acorn nuts would be a lathe experiment. I might be able to machine a bullet and place an oring or set screw to hold it on. All of the front suspension is metric so I would see if I could use the metric change gears that came with the lathe. That would wait until paint is applied and it's cold outside. :) Jaybee, those are good examples. Off to work.
I was just messin with you about squirrel bait. :) But yeah... machining!
If you had a step you wanted to extend onto the cowl lower side panels, (I was trying to draw just a couple inches worth tapered out there) I'd expect a slice / bend out / weld up gap for that. A bead on the lower filler panel could terminate at any point along it, abruptly or tapered out. Maybe only have it on the diagonal part and not along the bottom. The bottom edge I suggested was just a my eyeball thing as far as shape tuning. That would be the CAD study plus then a marker to see a step.
I'm not selling steps but having one there is a place you can use a little of the hood / grille era styling to blend out onto the cab. No step for a stepper and I am sure you are a step ahead of me by now. :) Step on it! :arrow:
Matt, I did some measuring on the cab bead. It is around 2" wide with a 3/16" crown. I would make dies for the bead roller to do that. I might be able to turn that in to a full day job. LOL.
O&S knows in the morning if there's brain power to do much. Today wasn't that day. I started off with doing mentally unchallenging items. I had talked about this on the gray 51 but chickened out. I frenched the back up lights. While the roll pan was off, I added reinforcements on the lower portions of it. I used cad for 2 mock ups for the lower side panels left. One of the pics shows the tire clearance that has to be respected. One of the pics has embossed areas such as most of the rest of the truck. The other has an attempt to show a cab bead along the lower edge. Because of the bead sticking out some, the panel would need to be shortened some to give tire clearance at full lock. I used 1/4" rod to make some supports for the bed cover.
Matt, you caused me to think about a bead all of the way across the bottom of the door to match the lower panel. I'm running out of good weather time so I may do something simple that can be replaced later. I have about 30 days till the annual first freeze in this area. It warms up after that, but I need to have lots done before that. :)
I made a prototype of the hinge that was in an earlier post. I was interested in the movement as the hinge opened. It makes and interesting path or arc. Depending on where you start the movement, it can actually move back slightly as it moves up.
I will post a photo of prototype made from hardboard. I noticed in the last post of photos that the link to make the photo appear is in the upper right after you click on the link. I think part of what is going on is that I bought a new iPhone last Saturday and it is doing something different to my photos. Lets see what this does
That seemed to work on this end. I may use this style of hinges on the 41 Willys project I am helping to design a tilt front end.
You mean like maybe a vinyl molding, Bill? Providing :idea: spark is what I enjoy most.
By the way while we are sharing thoughts, mine about the bed lid center rain seal is a T strip. Looks like inner edge of lids drop down when opened so have stick on rubber lined T strip.
Like this:
T._______
l
With the period being the rubber, stuck under the top of the T. :o
"I may use this style of hinges on the 41 Willys project I am helping to design a tilt front end."
That's exactly what attracted my attention to those hinges in the first place. That unfortunate pile of rust is still sitting in my brother's yard in Iowa. :(
Matt, the t style was one I have considered. I will go looking to see what's available soon.
Yessir and I believe you'd want a functional gutter under that with drain (to hose or hole) for actually keeping water off the bed floor. Having a peak in the T might allow larger rubber to be stuffed there but being flat as the lid is some rain while standing still might get past.
O&S has had enough fun for one day. Real close to disassembly and paint.
I must say it looks a lot more finished that most cars of that type.
I am just trying to figure out what hue of metalflake to recommend 8) 8)
I like it. O&S rocks. 8)
"I must say it looks a lot more finished that most cars of that type."
That's very fair to say. Those panels that cover the frame came out looking really nice, the whole front end is coming out with good lines.
The view from the cab is really dramatic because it narrows down so much.
Can't quite get a good enough view at the bed cover hinge area to see if it would be useful, but boaters use this stuff to cover piano hinges in order to help keep them from passing water. https://www.boatoutfitters.com/vinyl-hinge-seal
Jaybee, I'll look into that, thank you.
Yesterday, I used the english wheel and rolled the 2 panels a little before beading them. I don't know if I did it the proper direction or amount but it did take the twist out of the panels. That's something I will try more in the future if I make more panels. This project was my take on mass centralization. All of the heavy parts are between the axles. I didn't want the fuel tank as high as it is but didn't like any of the other options. I also wanted enough ground clearance that I can use it as my daily without being careful. :) I'm still thinking about cycle fenders. ?????
So you might go knock down some cones with this thing someday, is that what I'm hearing? At some of these meets big enough to have an autocross playground?
In my understanding from the brief time when I shaped things, pre-stretching is done in the opposite direction. The amount is the part that requires the knack. It is more important when beads are involved. Steps, not so much. My finding was that any amount of prestretching done helps but few do it and I haven't seen anyone overdo it.
Normally when wheeling, a guy is working a zone. So I found it sort of difficult staying precise enough for prestretching for like a series of beads. My style is to leave out features that serve no purpose but guy in the next stall steps everything and prestretches nothing.
Its a subject just like planishing... some know nothing of it and do fine. But once you know about it and try it, you learn to selectively apply it and achieve a next level with your stuff.
It done me good to see you delve into shaping your panels as you have. Your skill set has no boundaries as far as this eye can see. As always, you can show a pic and tell an idea and request stuff like with fenders. Or FLAKE colors. Rainy trend ahead and you know me. :)
Were you imagining fenders all around?
When will you lop off the roof? :D
Matt, I don't know if I will be where autocross is but performance and handling are important to me, everyday. :) When wheeling, I stayed close to the pattern but went all of the length of the panel. I think I may have been upside down. LOL. Fenders are a possibility but only cycle style and I would want a bead like the 30's spare tire cover. Metalflake ??? I have thought about doing something from the 60's on the roof. No decision yet. The roof question is unanswered. I thought about it quite a bit before getting to involved in the fabrication everyday. I barely have enough brain power to do one item at a time. :)
O&S changed tires this morning. When I repaired a rear brake on the 72, I noticed that the date code on the tire was 2013. This caught me by surprise. I thought I purchased all 4 tires in 2017 or 2018 for the truck. A week later, the memory spark occurred and I remembered that I purchased 2 wheels and tires for the white 51 and they didn't fit front or back for different reasons. They sat in the shed until 2018. I purchased 2 245 45 17 tires for the front of the 48. I removed the 235 55 17's and replaced the dated tires on the 72. One of the 245's wouldn't pop up on the bead. That turned a 2 hour job into about 4. After that, I made hood support rods. I machined 1" flat strap to be welded to the 1/4" rods and a flat washer at the end. I bent the rods the match the angle of the hood and used a nutsert for the swivel end. I'm going to look for an OEM plastic holder for the other end when the hood is closed.
As an addendum, the different tire size dropped the front around 3/4". I wanted a slight rake and now it's there. :)
It's really coming together now. I know this one has been pretty frustrating for you, but I quite like it. Extremely sporty.
Light day for O&S. A young man arrived to buy a part I had and he asked a few questions. :) After thinking for a while, I decided to install the parking brake handle next to the shifter on the floor. The pics are of the brackets, I fabbed, inside in down and up postions and a floor doubler that will be under the sheetmetal. I will need to get a short length of cable to connect to the junction block for the e-brake cables and that is finished.
O&S did yard work in the am. It's close to the end for this year. That's sad for me. :) One of the pics is of the beginning of an arm rest. The rest are panels welded in to cover the open space between the cowl and firewall. I don't know what I'm doing there yet but I wasn't going to leave it open. ?????
O&S exercise program was in place today. I hadn't mounted a throttle pedal yet so I tackled that this am. I welded some 1" tall spacers to it and cut and bent the bracket to make it fit a flat firewall instead of angled. The angle of the foot portion is off but I'm going to wait until everything else is in place to modify it. I disassembled the truck for paint. Many things left to do. :)
O&S cleaned out some of the shop this morning. I removed a substantial amount of grit and dirt from the last couple of months. The tailgate needed some welding on the bottom where I had cut into it too deep when trimming for side panel clearance. The frame is stripped to bare and ready for blasting.
you are a busy man !
i wish i had your energy, well done on this build so far, I'm liking it 8)
The weather god smiled on O&S today.:) The forecast was for 30 mph winds. That would have meant no blasting. It was calm when I left coffee this am. Like an idiot, I didn't remove the door hardware yesterday before quitting. It was about 9 am when I got started blasting. At 3pm, I quit. The chassis and attaching parts have been blasted to a reasonable level. I did the roof of the cab and the door jambs. I did the stained areas on the cab and did some of the insides. There are some areas that will need 80 grit or more blasting. Depending on what the weather brings tomorrow, I may work on the inside of the cab some more. I don't know about the rest of you but I was tired by 3pm. I didn't stop for lunch from fear of the wind coming up. If the weather changes, I can sand and handle the rest of it. The blasting is a real pain but I sure do like what it does. :)
Welcome from the O&S solar powered paint booth. Some chassis parts painted. One pic is of the battery cable order, starter, ground, alternator back to batt and power feed for the fuse and relay panels. I use Batterycablesusa. I have no idea if they are the lowest cost but they do business real well. I've used them several times in the past 5 years. I flipped the chassis and finished welding the center k brace. I started da-ing the frame.
Looking good, as usual.
What he ^^^ said! 8)
Thank you for all of the comments, guys.
Yesterday, I had a thought. What if i could find an International rear twin window from a 50's pickup and put in? If there was a rusty cab somewhere with a good real panel, that would be doable. Dumb idea?????
I like the color. The twin rear window idea sounds cool, too.
The twin window deal would be enough to throw most off of what truck you started with . 8) 8) 8)
The Hackshack will not be asking me to be the relief painter. :)
It is blue. O&S succeeded in doing that. Painting once a year is not the best way to do this. :) My goal was no bare spots. I believe I accomplished that. Having poor eyesight does make this trying. Late today, it will be dry enough to put it on some dollies and move it around so all of the stuff can go back inside.
Where did you get that blue? I love it. It's bright, and it's a real, clear blue without purple undertones. The last few years, purplish blues have been very common and I just don't like them all that well.
Summit single stage urethane. Not as cheap as it used to be but relatively affordable. All single stage fades in the sun without clear. If you use cheap base and good clear, it lasts quite well. There's no clear on this. The only part exposed is the frame horns. I expect them to be rock pitted in short order. :)
Yep, you really blue it! :)
This hack would rather have you sand bondo anyway. :)
Matt, my body wouldn't cooperate. Not mental or physical. I did something you told me to try. Pics to follow.
Inside of some panels shot. Pic of frame in sun.
Well, how do you like it thus far? I know only time will tell. :)
Quote from: kb426 on October 01, 2023, 02:58:46 PMMatt, my body wouldn't cooperate. Not mental or physical. I did something you told me to try. Pics to follow.
Tell me about it. :roll: Five weeks straight at 30 per, coming off a normal mix, is my limit. Seventh week coming up Monday.
I don't often phrase things in a should or you oughtta context but do recall urging you to experiment with clearcoat gloss levels. Be interesting to see just how you apply that, if thats what we are lookin at. :)
Your paint work looks good from here! I hear more and more reports of "Summit" brand stuff being used successfully.
Matt, I purchased some white epoxy and them used some of the paint that I had trouble covering with in an experiment last year. That's 3 wet coats on those panels. As far as the color choice, because there is flat and round on the outside of the truck, I have mixed emotions. My thought a week ago was to use the plain color on the outside and use the metallic on the chassis and the interior. What I see on the hood is important. I'd rather have something that makes me smile than "just ok" as in solid colors. When I get some color on the outside of the panels and lay it out in the sun, I will decide to proceed or get another plan. :) I struggle with colors a lot anymore. The 32 was easy. Everything since then has been painful. There's a lot of parts to paint. I'm trying to take advantage of the few warm days left to get as much done as possible. The stuff that needs body work and blocking can always be epoxied and then finished next year. Not how I want it to be but the weather has plenty of control. :)
Precious good weather days :)
If we are talking white and blue, a Shelby-esque accent "panel", not so much a stripe, that could possibly hop onto the dash and or grille a bit... might be cool to look at. In them colors. A masking challenge is different. You could do something like that and whack it into a couple scallops.
But, ahem :) ... what ya need is one of them Super Duty scoops. Or a big Dragmaster. So's youse can face it forward when you feel froggy or turn it around and gaze into it. I'm pretty sure I have brought that up on every truck. An early T/A shaker would look good or oh... yeah Cobra Jet. Mmm. :idea: :arrow:
Just don't overly exert mind, body, nor spirit. Harmony, not mastery. Om.
Finally looked at IH back windows. Splitting your existing window? I think I like that. Might help the round hole square peg thing some from behind. Plus adds another dimension of mysterious intrigue.
I can tell already, this build may cause some onlooker danger. Good thing Kansas is mostly two lane or you'd forever have somebody in your blind spot trying to sort out what it is. You'll need to have an FAQ script well rehearsed when you get on the road, finished or not.
O&S was faced with wind warnings today so I decided that painting was not an option. I started off by changing oil in the bosses vehicle. I moved on to the cab. I noticed after blasting that an area on the floor had some holes next to the door drop so I cut that out and welded in a patch. That was under the trim to hold the floor mat in place. The hood hinge mount on the cowl was too high. It left a gap under the hood for a ways so I cut that loose and lowered it. I moved on to da-ing the cab with 80 grit. It's getting close to time for Mr. Bondo and block-sand on the cab.
KB I propose a flattened main body color with a metalflake shelbyish stripe down the hood . That should make you smile as you go down the road !
C.K., thanks for looking out for me. :)
O&S is back to tedious. I completed stripping the outside of both doors. I started grinding some areas for plastic and later realized that the whole top will need some work and a huge amount of the rear of the cab. I removed most of the rest of the undercoating that was in the front wheel well areas. I wiped the cab down with metal prep and tried to get a plan of action in regards to how much good weather I have left. ???? :)
O&S is back in the land of boring. At 4am, I was aware that my plan of attack had fatal flaws. A change of plans today has changed the focus on the rear of the cab and the firewall. I'm resigned to the weather shutting me down before I get the cab painted. I need to get the most done to leave the cab on the chassis next year to finish it. :) The pics should be self evident about what I'm doing. :)
Where are the bondunes? :)
^^^^^
I blew them away. :)
So I think I just noticed the two different colors. The lighting musta threw me. Did you cocktail a couple colors or is there two, or...
Thats how Arkansans ask a question. By trying to get you to finish our sentence.
Anyhow, have you ever sanded down a slightly older Ram, Dakota, or Durango? The chip resistant coating (rock guard) on those things goes halfway up the truck. Thick, but smooth.
Pre-paint rock guard could be sprayed fairly smooth and faded out higher than a guy normally expects to see rock guard. There used to be a clear 3M aerosol for pre-paint that was pretty smooth.
But in the here and now, auto part and home improvement stores, and Walmart, have clear Duplicolor and Rustoleum Rock Guard that can be peeled off. Because its all clear Plasti-Dip. I imagine that whether you covered either paint or epoxy with it, that such a product could be your new buddy. :)
It seems that when I did my 58 Yeoman in the early 90's, I had used a spray can of "paint softener" that you could use in the deep door jambs so you wouldn't have to sand the old paint. Is there still such a thing?
Matt, there is 2 colors, the blue metallic and the solid color that on the Kirker chart is called coastal blue. I'll look into the chip guard. That will be needed. :)
O&S was at his usual speed. The chassis is back on wheels. It sure takes longer to assemble than disassemble. :)
Phil, I'm unaware if there is. I used a wipe on product for household use but it wouldn't have had enough strength for auto finishes. I try real hard to prime and paint door jambs after blasting and not mess up because they are so tedious for me. :)
Bill, OK. Got it. Thats kinda snazzy yeah! :)
Phil, search term "adhesion promoter". Bulldog brand has been around a long time. No application for it here though yep.
've used Bulldog, but only on plastic interior panels, when I am dyeing them. It works great for that
Thanks for the replies on the adhesion promoter. I'm not restoring the Corvair, just making it road worthy and hopefully looking good. Whoever painted the white car red didn't do a good job in the door jambs. I will be taking the doors off, and will fight that dog when it's time, I guess.
O&S plodded along. The engine is back in, driveline, trans has oil, I was able to find the bolt in the accessory drive where the lift chain was in place. :) The battery cables are run and holders for brake and fuel lines. I ran the exhaust and I'm going to do some changes. The left side is too close to the e-brake connection. I can add 4.5" to the header pipe and move the mufflers reward and accomplish 2 items. The 1st is some clearance, the 2nd is I had planned on using the floor of the cab for muffler hangers. Moving them will allow a hanger from somewhere on the chassis that has no connection to the cab. I ordered some bubble flare parts when I realized I had depleted my stock. LOL.
Bill, you really work fast.
Looking great, making progress. It's great that you value getting things right over getting things done, to the point where you do things over when needed. The yesterday I was having a conversation with my brother over the way some builders are all too willing to put bad, sometimes even dangerous work on the road. especially if it's hidden underneath the car.
O&S removed the header pipes and added 4" to the length. The exhaust is in need of rear hangers, the rest is finished. We all have heard about brake caliper corrosion on corvettes so I kitted the front calipers, installed new pads and hoses. One less item on the list.
O&S plodded along today. I mounted the front sway bar. It's powder coated so I decided to leave it black for easy of maintenance. I ran out of gold 12 points so I used black oxide bolts. Not impressive. I mounted the inlet air temp sensor in the air cleaner flange. The throttle body is in a different location from an explorer so I had to deloom some wires and lengthen the IAC wiring. It's loomed back up. The radiator supports are back on. SHort of muffler hangers, brake and fuel lines, I think the chassis is finished. I took and hour and put it in the shed outback. That requires a little manual labor. :) With all of the paint work to do, it needed to be out of the way. Now it's back to Mr. Bondo and seeing if I can get some paint in a few areas before I call it quits and start assembling the truck for the winter.
Looks like the hood drops over that air filter, is that correct?
Yes.
That ^^^ is neat. 8)
Trosley would need lots of tall wavy capital AAAAA's to illustrate that. 8)
Quite the hot rod brewing. Chassis looks really good. :)
Mr. Bondo is stuck in bondo prison. No further updates unless I escape or are paroled. LOL.
He has friends on the outside.
Am I the only one who keeps wanting to put a Shelby-esque stripe along the rails between wheels? :)
Maybe some tape for a test when painted. :)
Be brave , go straight to metalflake . Trust me :lol:
C.K. is trying to corrupt the innocent! :)
The weathergod smiled on O&S today. It got up to 90 degrees. I painted some panels, complete with dirt , a few nats that I removed with tweezers and some color stripes due to incompetence. :)
Looks good from here. You make me tired just reading your posts...you get a lot done. I haven't been in the shop for a couple days, been under the weather or something. Plus, it's cooling down here, also. Don't like being cold.
Flake first, then pearl coat. :shock:
I love that metallic blue, and it would look good with a set of these lower body stripes as Matt commented.
(https://i.etsystatic.com/38529203/r/il/9f4420/4523652100/il_794xN.4523652100_1mre.jpg)
I was in Denver a lot in the 70's. I used to drive by Kenz and Leslie garage. One day there was a gt350 just like that sitting outside. White with blue stripes became my favorite. :)
Don't laugh, O&S worked all day to make it look this poor. LOL. The weather is not conducive to sanding outside so I removed the doors and raised the cab off the cart. I have brushed and sanded the underneath side some. I removed a bunch of rust from the inside. There were 2 panels crudely welded to the rear of the cab where gas fillers could have gone. I removed them and cleaned those areas out as good as I can. I stuck some sound deadener between the back of the cab and the uprights to replace the welting that used to be there. I will work on the inside and the firewall tomorrow. Monday or tuesday could be warm enough to paint those areas.
O&S put in about a half a day. This consisted of using an angle grinder and a wire brush cup to aide in removing rust. It sure does get heavy above the head when using. :) More sanding and then laying down some sound mat on some easy areas. I had 2 boxes and wanted to see how much more I will need. Sure seems like I need a lot more than I used to on a project. :) That was 30 sq. feet.
Nice, everything you check off is something done.
O&S has had enough fun for the day. Whether it turns out to be right or wrong, I welded a panel in where the factory speaker grill was. I filled the 2 holes on the right side of the gauge cluster. I put seam sealer in all of the places that I was aware were in need at this point. Most areas have been sanded with 220 and I started masking to paint the inside and firewall. That took almost a whole day!!!!! :) O&S at it still. LOL.
O&S took advantage of mild weather and painted the firewall and inside of the cab. I use that term loosely. Doing the inside of the cab is a challenge for me. There's times I almost dig my siphon gun out of the cabinet and see if it will still spray. The cup on top limits where you can be. I painted the floor to help with the adhesion of insulation. On one of the other projects I had some dry overspray. I couldn't get enough glue on that to hold the mat on. Lesson learned, one of many. :) There will be interior panels in many areas on the inside. I painted the console even though my plan is to glue fabric on it.
Must be the lighting in your picture but the metalflake doesn't show up well . ;D
No it doesn't. LOL.
The flake must have all blue off. :)
I enjoy witnessing your "push", Bill. A guy has to keep his head in the game to cut the fluff and just accomplish and dismiss project objectives. There are so many project-havers and so few bam done wheres the next one-ers. Selling them off soon and climbing the build ladder may be rewarding but I always have thought I'd like to see you get attached to one and wear it out. So I imagine each one you start will be that keeper. But I'd hate to see you stagnate. I guess having the project stream while also having a trusty sentimental keeper would be the ultimate existence.
Might be more painting weather yet this week so stay the course and keep siezing opportunity. :) :arrow:
O&S has got them blues. :) Slowly making progress. Weatherman says I have 6 decent days ahead. I hope he's right. :)
O&S heard the Rollin Stones sing "when blue turns to gray" today. :) The last of the prepped parts are painted. Everything else needs work. And more work. :) We had 40 mph wind this morning and then it went down. The afternoon wasn't bad.
O&S tackled the hood sides on the top and the roll pan. There was 2 weld seams on the roll pan plus the end plates to deal with. When I did the center weld seam, it looked so good that I did the full length where I bent the radius. 1st app of primer. :)
O&S has had enough bondo. Tomorrow it gets masked and primed. :)
O&S used to get Popeye arms from blocking. Now he just gets tired. LOL. 2nd app on doors and 1st app on cab.
I get Olive Oyl arms that flap in the breeze.
The weather god is still being kind to O&S. However, today was not fun. The pics show the hood and roll pan in the 2nd app of primer. The doors had some bad spots that weren't going to clean up so I blocked them and shot the spots for no. 3. Next was the not fun part. Hanging the parts wasn't too bad. Trying to make sure everything is blue was tedious for a blind old guy. :) The cab sat outside this afternoon in the sun. That's my high temp baking booth. :) I know that the paint is supposed to be done catalyzing after 8 hours. Exp. has shown that the primer still shrinks. If I had the privilege of time, it would sit for a week.
I checked your weather. Looks like you will have a few more nice days and then it turns to near winter.
Bill, you are right about urethane primer surfacer. Build-and-shrink-wise, I consider it as comparable to clearcoat. Have we had the polyester primer talk at some point? As you know, in recent times there has been honing of techniques for most effective labor at this stage.
Been optimal outdoor spraying weather all weekend here. And before, and for another day. We are having a beautimus string of I/O days. Thats when its the same indoors as out. Perfect for being a human. :)
Matt, I tried the P.P. on the bed of the 32. I didn't have a nozzle large enough to spray it well. It was so difficult to sand that I have stayed away. It was Evercoat that I used. I have no idea if I did something incorrectly or it's just that way. Too tough for this old guy. :)
I am going to spray epoxy then single stage urethane tomorrow morning. Wet on wet with no sanding between them. Keeping my fingers crossed. This is a good place to practice as the top of this vehicle is hardly seen except around the edges. The purpose of this project is to preserve the vehicle more than a cosmetic repair.
Years ago, a guy I worked with had an older Harley, and I agreed to paint his fenders and gas tanks. Black. Everything really came out nice, and when I picked the tanks up by the gas caps, one wasn't tight. BIG ding in that tank. I took care of it and he was happy. Those were the days, my friend, I thought they'd never end...
O&S started out the day by installing Notchhead parts to hold the hood and bed cover support rods in place. Not cheap but look pretty good. It will be interesting to see how long they last with repeated removal of the rods. :) I blocked the outside of the doors and hood panels. The hood will need one more app of primer. I shot what I believe is the last of the plain blue parts. In case anyone is curious, that was 5 qts. of mixed material on all of the blue parts.
Quote from: kb426 on October 22, 2023, 08:33:32 PMMatt, I tried the P.P. on the bed of the 32. I didn't have a nozzle large enough to spray it well. It was so difficult to sand that I have stayed away. It was Evercoat that I used. I have no idea if I did something incorrectly or it's just that way. Too tough for this old guy. :)
The stuff all looks good, nice bright color. 5 qts RTS sounds like pretty good coverage. Curious if you used a sprayout card in the beginning to establish number of coats for full hiding.
Feather Fill isn't a popular choice among PP users. I must have sanded most brands except that one, and detect no difference in sanding. But I sand it just like filler or glaze because thats what it is. 80/180.
The 64 Imp I did around the time I signed up here needed it but I used K36 instead and it cost a lot that way. At work, the reason urethane primer is pretty much used as just sealing coats that get blocked a little is that it shrinks less. The fact many ignore is that like filler, polyester primer sticks just fine on bare metal.
You are right, nozzle has to be big enough for it to turn out smoothish. A 1.8 will do, I believe. Many men add cleanup thinner. Most times I sprayed poly it was HOK or S-W and a splash of DT870 or 885 in the last coat for less texture.
Matt, no sprayouts. With the white primer, 2 coats did the job.
O&S block sanded the cab today for the 1st app of primer. I think I can say that I sanded off around 80% of 5 coats of high build primer. The pics are before and after of 2nd app of primer. TB has taken over. :)
Tired Body? Time for Bed?
Rest well, Popeye. Doin good. :)
O&S blocked and painted today. The roll pan and the doors are blue now. The weather wasn't as warm as expected but it was pretty calm. A nat got into the paint right next to the driver's door handle. It's nice that I will get reminded everytime I open the door. LOL.
That'll buff out.
O&S had a light day. 3rd app and 1st app of primer on the hood and grille shell. I believe the vendor of the grille shell was wrinkle city. :)
O&S spent the last 2 days blocking the cab, Not finished yet. I spent a couple of hours laying out fuel system and wiring diagrams. The high temp was 36.
This wasn't the pics that O&S wanted to be posting. The cab was marginal after the 2nd blocking. Rather than gamble with results, this is the 2nd app on the grille shell and 3rd on the cab. The left hood is getting it's 4th.
This truck is going to be too original, too unique, to half-* it. Love your work.
O&S got a little accomplished. :)
Looks slicker'n owl snot on a greased glass doorknob. 8)
slicker than cow slobber ! 8) 8)
The O&S exercise program was in effect today. Almost all of the cab is blocked with 220. Tomorrow I will do 400 and mask. :) It was 78 degrees today. I wish I had been ready for paint. :)
Here's a few pics and a walk around video for all who are really bored. LOL. {https://youtu.be/6i3UHjSzvSM}
You tried hard and did good! :)
Really nice! The weather is being kind to you, too.
Looking good.
Looking good KB. Thumbs up.
The weather god smiled again today. The insect man sent gnats my way, though. Unless there is something bad happen, the O&S paint shop is closed on this project. :)
8) 8) 8) 8)
O&S had some goals today. They were met, just a few hours longer than planned. It would be fair to say that everything fought me. LOL. My wonderful wife provided assistance in installing the rear window. If anybody knows how to put one in by their selves, I'd like to hear about it. :) The wipers are installed and tested. The windshield and garnish molding is in. The rear window is in. The chassis has been moved back in to the shop.
No 'flake :'( :( at least blue is my favorite color :wink:
O&S is back in low gear. The radiator, condenser and cooling fan are bolted back on, mostly to have less parts laying around. :) My plan was to get fuel and brake lines done today. The fuel lines are run. That is 5/16" nicop line and efi hose for flex purposes. Under the bed is a flare union on the pressure side and efi hose to make assembly easier when the cab is on and it's time to install the bed. The pressure line needs a clamp at the end of the fuel tank down stream from the filter. Lot of hours, not much accomplished.
O&S started off in a common method. I redid part of yesterday. :) I redid the fuel lines at the rear. Then I moved on to the brake lines. They are run to where the lines run up to the master cylinder. I started on the battery mount but wanted to think about what I was doing before making a part and having another better idea. :)
O&S is moving forward. :) I finished up the battery mount this morning. There is a clearance reason for the top plate being angled. :) I installed simple muffler hangers. The cab is on and bolted down for what should be the last time. The bed sides and front are bolted on and the assembly is bolted to the chassis. That was a pretty good day. :)
O&S installed more parts today. The perimeter of the bed is together. All lights on the rear are installed. I purchased another stick on 3rd brake light for the rear window. The headlights and turn signals are bolted on. The lower cab front filler panels are on. I discovered that the wipers are for a different size knurl. That's one of very few parts that have been incorrect on this project. :)
Looking good there, Bill, but where's the stick on brake light? I'm looking for ideas for the Corvair when I get it back on the road.
I'm hoping to get the Vair primered this coming week. When can you come and paint it?
Phil, it's in the rear window. On a slanted window, it might not be worthwhile. You need to get a better painter than me. :)
I'm just so impressed, and I am willing to admit I really didn't see where you were going for a while. Lack of imagination on my part, I guess, but you're really pulling off a difficult build.
Bill, I'm looking for a third brake light for the Vair, because it only has two small tail lights, but I'm going to eliminate the backup lights and have four tail lights to help the peeps behind me see me. When I had my 63 Ford Galaxie, I was stopped uptown to make a left turn, and I looked in the mirror to see a truck barreling down on me and swerving at the last minute to avoid hitting me. C'mon, those tail lights are huge. I did put a third brake light in the rear window anyway, and also installed one in the 58 Chevy wagon (again, two small tail lights).
The Vair was a cream color from the factory, then painted red. I'm still on the fence as to what color it's going to be. I was going to go back to the cream, as it's a straight color. I've painted one VW Bug and a Chevy PU with metallic; the Bug came out great in dark blue, the gold PU had terrible streaks. Guessed I was going too slow with the paint gun on that one. I also painted a fiberglass bed cover on one of my Ford Rangers that came out well with metallic. It's been 20 years since I've used a paint gun. Will have to wait and see how it goes.
Quote from: jaybee on November 12, 2023, 12:03:55 AMI'm just so impressed, and I am willing to admit I really didn't see where you were going for a while. Lack of imagination on my part, I guess, but you're really pulling off a difficult build.
X2 8) 8)
Bill added a heightened element of forum suspense with this build. And it ain't overwith. I may have driven him to it pestering about plans and seeing things in 2D first. Its a puzzle wrapped in an enigma and I think O&S explored new territory. At this point the enigmatic wrapper is torn away but our puzzle box still doesn't have a completed picture on it.
I am glad to see how it went / goes and still, my imagination even being a strong point, I suspect I / we / KB included... are all in for a suprise. :-o
Matt, the one item this needed was a curved hood from the sides. That was beyond my skill level at this time. I think if the hood and side panel would have been rounded to ease into the cowl that it would have looked like it belonged there. :)
O&S completed the sound mat and then insulated the cab. I have sound mat cut for the inside of the doors. I'm planning on laying them down and sliding the mat in and then flipping them over and using a thin board to roll it out. The openings in the door don't allow much. I'm going in from the top through the window opening. That's a new way for me.
"opening in doors doesn't allow much"
^^^
You ain't lying.
O&S started many items today. None crossed off the list. The evaporator is installed. All of the plumbing to it has been run. I pulled a vacuum on the ac. In the morning I'll see if I did my job well. The hydro boost is in place. Because of different thickness of the firewall, the push rod is short. The pedal hanger has 1/2" spacers attached to it. I think tomorrow I will figure out a way to remove .125"from them with out damaging the this plate that they are attached to. The pedal return spring is attached to that plate. I cut and shortened a steel radiator tube for the top hose. I had an unused hose that I cut an angle out of. The angle isn't quite right so until it gets clamped down, I won't be able to see if it will work.
O&S now has brakes and hydraulics. I removed the pedal hanger and cut .125" off from the 4 stands with a die grinder and cut off wheel. I ran the 2 brake lines from the front and rear to the master with the proportioning valve under the hydroboost. I installed a filter in the return line to the power steering pump and completed the lines. The brakes have been bled and the hydroboost pressured up. I had 3 leaks on the brakes that required a little tightening, no flares needed to be redone. No leaks on the power steering but using a drill to run the pump doesn't get it to full pressure. Cautiously optimistic. :)The firewall is shaped differently from the Mustang that the pedals came out of. I'm going to angle cut the brake pedal arm and move the pedal away from the firewall to where it is even with the clutch pedal. That will allow the full stroke of the master.
8) 8) 8) 8)
O&S plodded along today. I cut a radiator hose to fit the lower outlet. It has antifreeze in it and so far there's no green on the floor. I removed the pedal hanger and cut, bent and welded the brake pedal. The steering column is in but probably not for the last time. The shafts have been cut to length. It will need an additional brace where it passes through the firewall. The rubber bushing isn't tight enough to hold it from moving.
I can't see that you ever said, is this engine another Mustang 5.0 engine?
96 explorer, gt40p heads, less duration on the camshaft.
Good engine, and they made tons of them.
Some days, O&S is in low gear. Today must have been compound. :) I started off by feeding the efi wiring through the firewall. Then I made a decision about the relays to run the system. My original plan was to put them on the fire wall but then I thought it would be cleaner to have them under the seat with the rest of the components. After taking inventory of everything thats going there, I changed my mind and made a simple bracket to mount them on the firewall. These relays have the fuse on them so there's a few less wires to run. About 4am when I woke up for no good reason, I realized that by reversing the throttle cable attachment, I could solve my throttle problem. The cable was going to be 180 degrees from the original. Remember that word, reverse. I did some careful measuring and used the existing cable ball for one of the locators. I drilled a mounting hole and a hole for the new ball for the cable. I connect everything and it won't go full open. I have the cable pulled off to one side and I'm thinking that the original didn't look like that. ??? Then the light comes on. I put the ball on the wrong side of the centerline. I flipped it but it needed reversing. LOL. Then the throttle pedal didn't have enough travel so some cutting, bending, welding in patches and I believe I'm in business. I have allowed clearance for Dynadeck and some carpet under the bottom of the pedal. Maybe I got it right. :)
O&S got started today with gluing some insulation on the roof of the cab. My glue order arrived yesterday. :) I moved on to wiring. I used my hydraulic hole puncher for the 1st time. I purchased this more than 10 years ago but never had clearance on both sides or the right size of dies to use it. I installed a bulkhead on the former seat riser to connect a power cable from the battery to be a distribution point for the bulk of the harness. It feeds power to the fuse panel, the ac system, the 70 amp relay that is controlled by the ignition switch that feeds the panel and possibly something else. :) The stereo amp and subwoofer have the power circuits completed. The cooling fan controller has power to it.
Quite a bit of time thinking caused O&S to not make much progress. All of the rear lights are connected and tested. I put 5 gallons in the tank and tested the fuel pump. No leaks. The fuel gauge wiring is run to the firewall. all of the wiring except for the pump is loomed and run on the left side. I started on the headlights and front turn signals before I quit.
Looky at all that pretty blue :)
O&S plodded along again. All of the exterior wiring is installed and tested. The leads to the fuse panel are not cut to length yet. I need to connect the back up light switch and the speed sensor before I put the trans cover in. I'm planning on running all of the wires down the right side of the tunnel on the inside of the cab. I have to make 2 cover plates for the frame horns to seal off the access holes and make wire restraints for the front lights. I mounted the headlight relays on the left side kick panel up high. I have been purchasing relays on ebay for years. They all have the same color of wires. I don't use the normally closed so I remove that wire. I connect everything and there's no headlights. The last bunch I purchased had the blue and yellow wires swapped in position. I didn't bother to look. LOL.
Looks good from here. I just checked your weather forecast, and you need to plan on being done by Thursday. :)
Looks really nice, it's coming together.
O&S is still plodding. The back up lights and speed sensor wiring was run under the trans tunnel. I changed out the shifter for a new Ford t5 unit. The cheap unit I purchased didn't come with a boot and there wasn't anything close in size that I found. The Ford unit came with a boot. I installed the trans tunnel and went to put the console in and found that the corner of the AC bracket on the dash was in the way. Little bit of work and that was resolved. I cut all of the circuits to length and connected to the fuse panel. I found a plug for the ac compressor in my left over crown vic wiring. That's one less item to search for. The alternator wiring has been run. I moved on to the ignition switch. The hole in the dash was too small. I have an 1.25" drill bit so in a few minutes that was taken care off. I need to make a spacer to make up the distance on the switch from the dash to the switch body. The wiring from the switch is run to the fuse area. The starter wire is ready to be run the firewall and connected. And one more day has passed. :)
O&S got started by spending an hour on a fifteen minute job on the spacer for the ignition switch. :) I spent some time refreshing my memory on what I did on the ecu wiring about 5 or 6 months ago. The 4 relays on the firewall are for the ecu, o2 sensors, ignition coils and the fuel pump. The fuel pump is controlled by the ecu. I installed a diode in the power to the ecu relay. That is the black shrink wrapped object under the relay bank. The control circuit on 3 of the relays is controlled by the ignition switch. The power feed for the relays in 12 gauge running back to the battery. I didn't want to find out if the cables next to the muffler could stand the heat so I moved them outside of the frame. That took care of the neat installation. :) I installed the inertia switch and completed that circuit. The hole in the bed appears to be pretty snug so tomorrow I'll remove the battery and see if I need to enlarge the hole. Quite a few hours, not much accomplished. Must be normal. :)
O&S got in a few hours this afternoon. I mounted the obd2 port under the driver's seat. The 12v connector on it is also the keep alive for the ecu. I spliced into that wire and ran it to the bat side of the fuse panel. I connected all 6 of the computer grounds and ran a dedicated line to the ground terminal on the fuse panel. That ground goes directly to the battery. I removed the battery and fabbed some 90 degree brackets to attach the cables to. I didn't like the angles they would be if they were directly on the post. I pulled the cables back out of the bed and used my hole punch and enlarged the hole to 1.375". I had a piece of 1.25" 058 wall 4130 that I ran all of the cables through. That is in place where it passes through the bed floor. The wires are snug but I'm going to put some kind of restraint on it so it can't fall down out of the floor.
O&S put in some hours yesterday and most of today. I've had enough close detail work for a bit. :) The only thing left on the front of the truck is the ground wire on the ac clutch. The binary switch is connected, the cooling fan is completed, the starter is completed, all of the gauges are connected. The gauge controller is completed except for the dimmer wire. I didn't connect that on the last one but I ran a pig tail from the controller for it. The lights on the ac controller aren't connected yet, the 3rd brake light is left, dome light and the power windows are left. I'm going to put a brace from the pedal hanger to the dash brace before I install the gauges. The nuts holding the gauges in will be interesting. Might require a mirror. :) I have 4 speakers to install as soon as I arrive at a good solution for mounting. :) Speedway Motors had black fabric wire loom on sale so I purchased some. I sure like the look of that better than the plastic conduit. Not cheap but pretty nice. :)
Agreed that the woven loom looks tons better than the corrugated plastic stuff. It looks better than wires hanging loose, but only just. Tape-wrapped loom looks pretty good when done well, but it takes forever.
Years ago, one of the early figures of the Street Rod revival hung out here, Skip Readio. He obtained an old school machine that braided right over the top of the wiring harness. He was marketing custom braided harnesses when traditional rods were really exploding.
There are a couple places that will do that on your custom harness. Rhode Island Wire is one of them.
O&S would like to tell you it started instantly but that wouldn't be correct. I crank it over and nothing happens. I bring it up on tdc and leak it to verify that it's on firing. Still nothing. I change to my spare computer. It blubbers a couple of times and that's it. I check the schrader valve on the fuel rail and there's fuel but not what I expect. I hot wire the pump and I have pressure. I unhook the battery connection on my hot wire and it fires up and dies. Then I 'm checking wiring to the fuel pump relay and the little light goes off. I check the inertia switch and it needed reset. I know that I reset it before I connected the battery. Anyway, it fired right up. Having fuel does make engines run better. LOL. More of the no memory syndrome. :) The pic is of the shiny stainless headers that instantly turned gold. {https://youtu.be/zJgLd1y51Pk}
O&S worked on an assortment of items today. The bed floor is back in. I had to cut 2 4" squares out where the top tail lights are. I think I'll make some alum covers for that. The bed cover is back on. The pic shows where I weighted areas for the silicone to dry. The parking brake cables are mounted to the floor. All of the stereo equipment is connected. I'm waiting for the idea god to help me with speaker mounts. I did clean up a bit. I feel good about having less boxes around. :)
I didn't pick up previously that the back of the truck is in the contrasting blue. Really nice.
Jaybee, camera failure to show the correct color. All of the outside panels are the metallic color. :)Possibly the operators fault. :)
O&S had a reasonable day. (for an old guy) :) The pics show the wiring to the fuse box completed. I still lack the dome light but I believe all of the circuits are run to the panel. The wiring to the power windows won't get finished until the doors are back on. I think I will fab a metal cover for the looms next to the trans tunnel. The parking brake is operational. I used some 3/4" plywood for the speaker mounts. I glued black vinyl to it. The ac system is charged. I had 36 degree temp at the outlet so it should be ok. With the bed covers glued down, I had to trim the support rods a little over an inch so as to not force the cover from the frame when open.
Lots of stuff going on. I see now how I got fooled by the camera, a reflection off something light in the background or an open door, maybe. Cool, I still like it.
O&S got in a few hours this afternoon. I used a piece of radiator hose to make a boot for the wiring where it passes through the firewall. Because of the amount of wires, I was able to stack them and make a rectangle shape with the hose to almost fill the opening. The hose is .250" thick so I don't think I need to worry about the sheet metal cutting into it. The wiring is stable and doesn't have tension on it so I believe it will stay in place well. I started putting the front sheet metal on. For some reason, the lower side support is off a little on both sides. Tomorrow I will see if I can find a simple solution. When you look at the panels straight on, the color match is pretty good. From an angle, you can tell it was panel painted. :)
8) 8) 8) 8)
It's like a bolt from the blue! :-o
Dig. 8)
Oncoming motorist: Honey, look! Thats a 32...
-vrooom :arrow:
wait ... Watahelwazat? :blank:
:lol:
That is a good looking job
Thank you for the comments. :)
O&S got in several hours today. Slow progress. I stripped the side panels and started looking to see what the solution was. I ended up with the width of a 5/16" nut for a spacer on the cab end and installed the front end before the radiator shroud. That would be .125" on the radiator end. Now it fits like before I disassembled for paint. :) I got started on interior panels. That's black .125" abs plastic. It may become white on down the road. Mixed emotions because it is behind the seat. The pic of the hood open is just plain goofyness. That brings out the kid in me. LOL.
This thing is just so "honest" in that everything is right out there to see. It just screams that it's mechanical and proud of it.
O&S plodded again today. I made a decision about a dome light and proceeded to cut a plate and get it mounted. I used a single 12v led. I don't have a door switch yet. More research. :) I have the headliner in. When you see the pic, you will see gray sun visors. That was all that was available months ago when I ordered parts. No one could tell me if they would have black in the future. Now they have black. LOL. I installed 2 small panels to cover the original fuel filler openings in the back of the cab. The inertia switch is mounted on the right side. I went to a junk yard and got a horn from a late model blazer. I'm thinking about where to mount it. I ran a wire for dash lights for the ac controls. I think the horn wiring is all that's left besides the dome light switch. That's a lot of "I think" for someone with no memory. :) I purchased some of the waffled alum heat shield to put above the mufflers. I have it in place but haven't decided how to fasten it yet.
O&S wired the 3rd brake light, installed an wired the horns and partially fastened the alum heat shield above the mufflers. I'm going to have to remove the driveshaft to have enough clearance to complete that task. The seat is back in and the dash is closer to being assembled. Of importance is that the Highway Patrol has ok'ed me for highway use so now I have a tag. :) I also found out that the seat belts I had left over from a prior purchase are too short for any body above a skinny teen ager. :)
O&S is in low gear again. I cut the radio delete plate for the power window switch. I'm going to get some stainless washers to put on the 2 mounting bolts. The left kick panel had no access hole to run wires through so I used a hole saw to cut access. The wiring on the windows is complete short of plugging in the motors. I reset the toe in on the front end. I may have to make a new fixture to do it properly. I noticed that the shifter is a little lower on the original Ford unit I had installed. That allowed the lever to bottom out on the seat. I put the lever in the press and removed some bend. I checked the 12v power outlet and found out that my volt meter was the only thing that would register voltage. A replacement is installed now. I have the abs cut for the kick panels. I'm going to glue white vinyl to them. I ordered door jamb switches for the dome light. It will be several days before they arrive. That's my fault for not making a decision sooner and resolving that. :)
Nice! :)
O&S has had enough fun. :) I'm trying to use up materials so some of my ideas aren't able to be as nice as could be. I cut 2 panels that partially cover the area behind the drop down console. I have material cut for the door panels but not used yet. I removed the kick panels and glued white vinyl to them and the console panels. I have the dynadeck cut and laid in place. Both kick panels have to come out to run wiring in the doors. Then I'll install the dimmer switch. Nobody is going to be asking me for interior work. :) I'm thinking about options to cover the wiring next to the trans tunnel. All out of brain power for the day.
Use a quarter of a length of PVC tubing covered with carpet to cover the wires.
Frank, that's a good idea if I had carpet. :)
O&S started off with making door sills from alum. I decided to make a cover for the wiring next to the trans tunnel from the same alum and covered it with black vinyl. After the mail man arrived, I replaced the new seal on the trans with another new one. Different brand. :) While the shaft was out, I put some more screws in the heat shield above the mufflers. I ordered another set of spark plug wires for the engine. By using 2 sets, I have enough short wires to make it look kind of like it should. :) After that, I started it up and backed it out under it's own power. I had the stereo on so there's some un-needed talk. I backed it out in the street and drove a short way. Nothing fell off. :)
{https://youtu.be/3IyOn-ggFeU}
Looks really nice out in the sun.
O&S is sitting reflecting on everything that happened today. Today was mount the doors day. I had carpet laid on a long step stool to lay the doors on. I blew the inside out as best I could before installing the sound mat. I got that done without cutting myself. There is very limited space to do that. I put the right side door on and marked it carefully where I thought the window wiring should go. I removed the door and drilled the hole. I put the door back on and instantly knew that was a bad plan. The F1 doors open differently and I had used similar locations for the Chevy. Abject failure. :) I drilled the left side door in different locations but I'm doubtful that will work, either. I had purchased weatherstripping for 48 doors. In 49 they changed the style. I think you can guess why. I didn't end up using it. :) I installed the door handles and realized that the linkage inside needs to be shortened. I locked the handle and it will move just a tiny bit. That was enough to open the door. Small problem, just more time. With the doors on, I went for about a half mile drive. When I accelerated, it had a stumble and some kind of a miss. When I got back, I plugged in the code reader and it came up lean on both banks. Numerous places to look for that problem. I took some pics late in the day so the light isn't the best so you could see more of what it looks like. Head on is unlike anything I can remember seeing. :)
Far out, man! 8)
That's groovy! 8)
I can dig it. 8)
You did just enough. Well enough. To have something way out. :idea: It is quite the head scratcher / eye hook. :-o
The full boogie shakedown is coming, I have faith. :)
I dig it. Truly one of a kind.
I did some research. The window wiring seems to be handled by 2 items: the door jamb contacts such as Magnum shooters or running the wires with the lower hinge. Tomorrow will tell. :)
The problem with the Magnum shooters is you can't troubleshoot the wiring with the door open. And the geometry of the hinges are really complicated. I have done it with the lower hinge by milling an 1/8" slot into the top of the door part of the hinge deep enough for two wires and gluing the wires into the slot, with enough wire to reach the window motor and a plug in the cowl for the switches.
on Your previous post, I gather used aluminum Van running boards and cut new sill plates out of them. Polish with a bit of steel wool and screw them down. But I see you already did them another way :D
O&S found the new pcv grommet wasn't tight. I tossed it in the solvent for it to swell up. No dice. I put 2 wraps of gray tape around it and shoved it in the hole. I drove the truck later in the day to do the speedo calibration and it put up the lean code again. It just took longer to do it so maybe I'm looking in the right area. :) I removed both door handles and modified the link from the handle to the latch to shorten it. Now, when they're locked, they're locked. :) The window channel next to the latch is back in and the window motors are installed. I was getting tired and had lots to do so that's when I went for a drive. By then it was 70 degrees out. :) That will soon pass.
O&S tightened the exhaust flanges on the collectors and it runs better. It's not there yet but I have a small leak to deal with. I ran the wiring to the window motors along the bottom hinge. I ordered some colored seat belts that were a proper length and have them installed. I weighted the truck without the side glass or a shifter boot. The rest is there. 3010 lbs. I went out and played a little. The steering is very quick and the spring setup is close to what I wanted. I had the shocks at almost full hard and that was too much I backed it off on rebound and now I have a starting point. I started adjusting brake bias. I thought I could leave the proportioning valve open but that didn't work as expected. I have it half way now and may close it some more. I think they call that tinkering. :) I put up a short video, no side windows or shifter boot. Plenty of noise. :) {https://youtu.be/NaWuk_inWQM}
You never fail to amaze, Bill. Another awesome build!
OK, she should drive really well at less than 3,100# once you get that side glass in. This one is so cool.
8) 8) 8) 8)
If O&S wasn't so determined and possibly retarded, he would have quit by 10am. LOL. Nothing gets done if you quit, though. Here's the synopsis: After a long day, I have the passenger side window in. The glass needs to be put in the vent wing and the covers on the inside of the door. That's enough of a description for today. :)
Some days we burn bright, some days we just smoke. :o
Don't fret a li'l traction loss :)
O&S is closer. :) Both windows are in and operational. I ordered peel and stick weatherstripping for the doors. That is installed. Door panels, e brake and shifter boot remain for the inside. I want some useful ext. mirrors. I saw a pic of 67-72 chevy pickup mirrors on on of these. I'd like to see if the mounting flange matches the radius on the beltline or it's just there. :)
O&S didn't accomplish much today. I jacked the truck up and looked for exhaust leaks. The right side header had a couple of bolts that were a little loose. I didn't like the angle of the header pipe on the collector so I removed it and added 3/4" to it to change the angle. I put the spare ecu in to double check everything. I went for a drive to see if I had air leaks around the doors or windows. None that I can feel or hear. When I can back, I connected the code reader and it shows lean only on one bank?????With it idling, I removed a vacuum cap and it almost died. I expected it to speed up. I may end up removing the upper intake and double checking everything. I have some more injectors I may swap out while it's off. More thinking before doing. :)
O&S is very pleased to report that the new mass air sensor is defective or not the proper calibration.:) Why would I be happy that a new part is defective? Because it means the blind old guy didn't make a mistake. LOL. I pulled the invoice and double checked the part number. It was as listed in the catalog. Most Ford units are calibrated for the size of injectors. There are a few exceptions such as a Fox body cobra that has 24 lb. units instead of 19's but the ecu is programmed to compensate for that. In the shed is a box of old sensors. The mass air from the white 51 with the 4.6 was in there. The injector size is real close on those 2 applications. Yesterday when I was looking for exhaust leaks I was aware that most of what I had been dealing with I could hear but in putting my hand in the area, I felt nothing larger than a pin hole. After thinking about this yesterday evening, I decided it was time to look elsewhere. The mass air is on top and easy. I removed the new one and it looked spotless. I sprayed it with contact cleaner and put it aside. The 4.6 unit is listed with a different part number. The configuration is the same as well as the plug in. I sprayed it off and installed. I fired it up and could tell from the cold start idle that it made a difference. I shut the engine off and installed the new one. No good. I reinstalled the 4.6 unit and later in the day went for a run. All smiles. No codes. Now I need to decide if I buy another and see if I can get good one or not. :) I purchased a universal 1" spacer for my steering column. That allowed the steering wheel to be raised so I can have a horn button. I had to do some machining on the spacer but I was still ahead in time in using it. I made an abs bracket to hole the 3rd ac outlet. It may get moved after I try it out. I used some of the polyurethane bushing material to make handles for the inside door handles. End of day with a smile.
O&S got in half a day today. The dome light switches finally arrived so now I have a dome light. That allowed the dimmer switch to be bolted down. I made the 2 corner fillers for the bed floor. The arm rests will also be the door pulls. I'm thinking about that. I have material laid out for the shifter and parking brake boots. I need door handle springs to return the handle to the closed position. The 1st set of springs was too light so there's another trip to the hardware store ahead.
getting down to the small stuff 8) 8) 8)
O&S made a trip to the hardware store with the fish scale. When I found the 4 lb. springs, I said "that's the one". It took some mistakes to get the springs in place to clear everything and work properly. :) I made a pattern and made the door panels. I still suck at gluing vinyl and wrapping it around edges. :) The bolts sticking out are where the arm rests will be. Jaybee had mentioned the marine vinyl for the bed cover hinge. I went to the website and checked it out. They sell that by the inch with a 60 inch minimum. It was $120 without shipping!!!! I like the idea so I will by some marine vinyl and make my own. :)
Yikes! That's a lot for what amounts to a strip of vinyl. I don't blame you for trying to make your own. Hope it works out.
A boat upholstery shop likely has a piece big enough as scrap for what you need that they will give you.
Frank, I live in the desert. :) Good idea, though.
O&S put in a few hours doing small stuff. I installed the filler panels at the front of the hood side panels. Rain X is on the windshield, stuff like that. I'm thinking about door pulls and the shifter boot????? The shop is cleaner than it was.
That ^^^ looks tidy. :) Nice.
O&S has a shifter boot, now. :) The material is not a match for the rest of the white but I may buy more material and redo the white. (thinking) The factory armrest position is too low for me to be useful. I made some simple handles for door pulls until I have a better idea. When i downloaded the pic, I noticed that they look like tp holders. LOL.
QuoteFrank, I live in the desert
I see lakes on the map of Kansas :D
What is the black thing at the back of the door?
Frank, that is the interior door handle. It is attached to the linkage for the bear claw. To the best of my knowledge, the nearest boat shop is in Wichita at 200 miles away. :)
Quotethe nearest boat shop is in Wichita at 200 miles away.
I didn't say it would be easy.
O&S fabbed a couple of plates for the headlight wiring to fit through. I'm not real happy with grommet choices so I think I will wrap the wiring in rubber where it passes through the plate. I haven't been out after dark yet to see if my headlight adjustment is anywhere close to correct. After that is completed, I will need a dab of silicone to fill the top corners on the plates. I have driven it a few miles. I'm going to change the throttle pedal position. I can tell that it won't work for all day trips. Somebody requested a walk around video so I'm posting a link. {https://youtu.be/59ln3ydC738}
It's so small, and pure hot rod.
O&S moved the throttle pedal about 2". The foot position is way more natural for me. The previous position was about where it was in the 32. That wasn't a good place for all day drives. :) I drove it to coffee this morning and didn't have to walk home so we're off to a good start. :)
8) 8) 8) 8)
O&S is tinkering with small things to get it where it needs to be. Yesterday's care package had 3 items. 2 won't work. LOL. I jacked it up today and put 90 degree elbows on the exhaust to point to the rear of the truck under the rear suspension cradle. They end in front of the rear axles. That killed the sound in the cab so unless your on it, it's pretty quiet. I have more wind noise around the doors than I want. Not from leaks. I'm wondering if I should have removed the drip rails????
I thought you were going to remove more than just the drip rails. ;)
That would require a decision. I think locked up might be a good description. :)
O&S did a little work today. The mass air meter was mounted next to the throttle body. I had read that the turbulence caused from that location could cause problems so I ordered elbows and tubing to move it. I wanted alum. but bought 4 times the length in 18 gauge stainless for the same price as the alum. ???? While I was doing this, I checked resistance on the new sensor and the 4.6 unit I have been using. That brought up a question so I checked 2 others I have. A stock mustang gt from 1989, a 1999 explorer 5.0 and the afore mentioned 2. You will get resistance from the ground, sensor ground and the sensor return. Nothing when connecting the positive with any of the 3 other connections. The 1989 read 3.7. The 99 explorer was 3.95. The 4.6 read 4.03. The new sensor reads zero. The positive and sensor return have been reversed. No wonder it didn't work. :) All of the factory sensors are marked a,b,c,d from left to right. The new replacement isn't marked. With the research that I did, Ford hasn't changed the location of the wires in the sensors. I think I'll purchase a different brand. :)
The new mass air sensor arrived today. O&S installed it in the cold and went for a test drive. It's better. I didn't kill the ecu memory because of working in the cold so it will be a few heat cycles before I know if everything is correct. :)
O&S did the 1st oil change at 125 miles today. I drained the break in oil out and filled it with regular stuff. I watched it drain with a light and saw no particles. :) I'm still having an issue with an occasional part throttle stumble. I hooked up a pressure gauge and found that the pump is down on pressure by 5 lbs. I'm ordering a new pump to make me quit thinking about it if nothing else. This one has surprised me that it wasn't good from the start. As I remember, these systems idle at 36 psi and hit 40 with throttle. I had between 30 and 31 at idle. I used a new Airtex pump that I had laying on the shelf. I used it on the 8 stack injector project and put it back in the box. The performance isn't bad enough to put up ob2 codes but it isn't right, yet. :)
O&S is pleased to report that the new fuel pump cured the stumble. It sounds a little different at low rpm under a light load so I'm optimistic that something is crossed off from the list. :)
I took a look at the non-moving windshield wipers this afternoon. The arm has a pinch bolt. Try as as I could, I couldn't get a wrench in that place without removing a bunch of parts. When I figured out that taking out the gauge clusters was the only way to get to it, I passed on it for now. The replacement stereo arrived late yesterday and I installed it. So far, it's working. Then it got interesting. There's a long story that I won't get into now. I purchased 2 Ridetech shocks with lighter springs for the front. After removing one shock and doing some measuring, I realized that I would have to re-profile the lower mounts. I trimmed one a little and could see that I will need to find a way to clamp that mount in the mill to do it nicely. It was late enough by then that I put the original back in and put the truck back in the shed. We have some serious cold coming in so it's going to wait.
O&S put in several hours today. I had to remove both gauge clusters to get access to tighten the pinch bolt on the wiper arm. I took a pic so you can get an idea of it's location. The wipers are working now. I can't say for how long, though. :) I went to work on swapping the front shocks. I removed the lower mount on both sides and put them in the mill. I removed .200" from one spot and another .200 on a different angle to have clearance for the shock body. I went from 700 lb. springs to 575 lb. springs. I didn't drive very far but it did make a very noticeable difference. I will play with adjustments if the weather ever warms up again.
It warmed up a miniscule amount today so I heated the shop and did a little work. I started off with replacing the ignition coils and the TPS. Now all of the sensors and ignition parts are new. Time will tell if that was a good idea. :) The pigtail on the V.S.S. was poor. I purchased a replacement and installed it. I had purchased a specific size tool for replacement of the tailshaft bushing on the trans. I jacked up the rear end of the truck, removed the drive shaft and used the tool to remove the bushing. It worked as it should. It came with a driver to install the new bushing. It took longer to remove the driveshaft than to remove and replace the bushing and install a new seal. :) Now, I'll see if that fixes the problem. I installed mirror set number 4. I think this is as good as it gets. They are black plastic and will be painted to match after it warms up. The driver's side is pretty good and the right side is useful. I will tinker with adjusting it some after driving in traffic and finding out where it needs to be aimed.
I like having a right side mirror, and I don't mind the symmetry.
It warmed up into the upper 40's today. O&S put the 48 in the shop and played with alignment. I purchased a wheel mount for caster and camber and a set of the toe in plates that I could buy cheaper than make. The wheel adapter needs an adapter to fit my camber gauge to it. This thing is a spook to drive on ice which we've had plenty of the last week. I found the rear to have almost an inch of toe in. The rear came from a salvage yard. I should know that anything I get from a yard is beat up somehow. :) I set the rear and changed the front some. Both ends need camber adjustment. After I get an adapter made, I'll tackle that. I went for a drive and all seems well but it was on dry pavement. :) The mustang irs is simple to adjust except for one item. The upper arm which sets camber is under the bed floor. It isn't easily accessible from underneath. In hindsight, I should have checked it before I put the floor down. The rear was spotless when I got it. Not any sign of damage. I checked it for wheel runout but not alignment. I have purchased 2 rear ends from salvage yards. Both had bent axle flanges. The Mustang rear is heavier than the earlier versions that I have used. Another lesson learned. :)
That's a TON of toe in, no wonder it was spooky. On the other hand, with all that toe, the tires would never last long enough to ozone rot.
O&S has been entirely too boring lately. I have been working on interior panels and finding things that don't work. :) I've been chasing an occasional stumble at low rpm and small throttle openings. Sometimes acts like a lean stumble. All of the sensors are new. All ignition components are new. I decided to swap out injectors to see if that could have some effect. I pulled the top of the intake and put a newer set in. They have a different plug but I had adapters left over from the 32. I reassembled and went for a test run. Same as before. I decided to swap them back. The originals are in and I fire it up. I have a leak. Turns out an oring on the top of an injector has a chunk out of it. Thats the 3rd time the intake is off. I have a spare oring and have it back together in short order. Now I've added one more item that doesn't appear to be related to the stumble. Back to thinking. :)
Early this morning I'm on my way to coffee and it's snowing lightly. Not a problem, I have wipers. :) For a while. About half way, the arm slips on the shaft and gets out of alignment. The shaft is not splined. I will have to align it again and then remove the motor. It will get welded or pinned, whatever looks to be the best repair at that time. I was very disappointed in this development. I think I've put 6 wiper motors in old trucks and this is the 1st one to give trouble. On another note, the truck is no longer squirrely on the icy stuff. It drives like it ought to. :)
I figured it would handle better. The way it's set up, it should be well balanced front/rear, but the rear wheel alignment was WAY out of spec.
O&S spent part of the day chasing ghosts. :) I checked voltages at various points on the engine and came up with nothing. I jacked up the rear and removed 3/4" of spring preload and changed the rebound adjuster. I'm playing with adjustments to change the ride quality. :) I purchased a Ford Taurus fan that has been a popular swap for cooling. I plugged it into a battery and let it run for around an hour to see if it was DOA before attempting the swap. It will involve a far amount of work. The fan that came with the radiator will barely keep up with the engine in cool weather. I ordered some 70 amp relays to handle the fan. After doing so, I ran across a thread where a soft start controller was mentioned. I sent the company an email asking for some info. I'd like to have that if it's still available. The owner mentions that it's modeled after the Ford CCRM such as on a 96 mustang. There are some similar products out there but they each have a down side for my application. I see that Dakota Digital has a fan controller available. It appears that all it does is control the relays, no soft start. That's no different than the Centech unit I have now. The journey continues. :)
O&S had a day. :) I started out checking tps voltages. No problem there. I tackled the wiper motor. I spent at least an hour getting it back in time. Then I removed it and determined that it's time to cut my losses. The only way to get to the motor is to remove at least one of the gauge clusters. The master cat5 cable is stuck in it. I was able to remove the wiper motor and then play with the cable. I have exp. with such. I know that the only way to remove it will be to disassemble the gauge. No warranty if you do that. Dakota is very easy to deal with on this but I will have to send the gauge and cable in for repair. That means I will have no gauges. While I'm working on this, I see that I have a rock pit in the windshield after the snow we had last weekend. The city had spread sand at intersections and I remember hearing some noise while in traffic going back from coffee. I have less than 300 miles on it. You'd think it was from a 96 mustang. :)
Shakedown time...so important and so aggravating.
I put up a project video. It's just a compilation of pics. If you're suffering from insomnia, it could be useful.
{https://youtu.be/VxOe8n5bmI4}
Preparing for paint. A strange looking subject
Holy Moly Batman, where's the rest of it? :)
Sorry, I meant to post that photo in the thread about what I was doing today. I guess I should not have had that last beer at the end of the day. :)
That's quite all right. :)
:lol: ^^^ :)
Good stuff, you two. ;) ;D
The tunes on the vid kept me awake tapping a foot... familiar melodies in an instrumental surf vibe. I must say I came away feeling as though I had been to a car show. Right on. Nutshell documentation and a fine sales tool. Chock full of rodding. What could be more legit?
Building clever frugal rods one after the other, back to back. Thats what. Yet another amazing journey by Kansas Bill. :arrow:
I found it informative and entertaining. Impressive. I applaud the jamming a little GM edgeways up your build (and the thread). :)
I made a condensed video for those that might want to see an overview.
{https://youtu.be/vptpoNTBFrE}
Thank you, Matt.
Awesome, thanks for the video!
O&S had one of "those" days. After the 1st wiper motor failed, I bought the high priced one in a horizontal mode to allow more clearance where the wiring and ducts run. It didn't clear the dash. I trimmed the mounting bracket about 3/16" where it wasn't important. Still didn't quite work. I put a spacer of a little over 1/4" to give it some clearance. That allowed me to bolt it up and find the right side arm hits the cowl vent bracket. By then I've figured out that the switch can't go in the original hole and even remotely clear the motor. I test run it without the arms on and it's binding on both arms for some reason. I'm ready to cut my loses and move forward. I have around 6 hours in figuring out that I'm in trouble. :)
sounds like you had a tough day. Sometimes the harder you work the behinder you get . Walk away , fix something else and then get back to it .
Bill, I've found that Rain-X works well. The faster you go, the better it works.
Phil, Rain X is standard at my place. C.K., I have a plan. :)
Color me totally embarrassed. I called the tech guy and he told me what I was doing incorrectly. Sheesh. Getting senile is tough. :)
Going to let us know??
O&S is pleased to report that the record is 2 for 2 today. Phil, the simple answer is I installed it facing the same way that every wiper motor I have installed went. Not that one. I didn't think there was anyway it would clear the dash brace the other direction. It is close. :) I might have 30 minutes as compared to my 6 hours of work yesterday. Switch is in the correct spot, wipers go back and forth. It's a heck of a deal. I hope I'm done being stupid for a while. It sure seems easier with age. I bought a new starter when I was buying all of the parts last spring. It never sounded right, always drug the instant it was energized. As I said, I was planning on replacing it before it almost failed to start when hot. The better starters that I had been using were all gold zinc colored. The one I took out was all cad. The one I received today was all silver. I had a small panic moment. It came with a dyno test sheet and the numbers all look good. I installed it and it sounded right and did it's job. The new unit is China and the previous unit was Malaysian. ???? Maybe I just got a bad unit. :) The right side gauge cluster is removed and in the box, ready to be sent in for a little warranty work. I can still drive the truck, I just have no gauges. LOL. Those of you that have followed my builds are aware that I don't hide my mistakes. It's part of life to make mistakes if you keep learning. Yesterday was brain damage. :)
Glad you got that taken care of, Bill. Dermatologist told me today that the biopsy he took on my nose near my eye needs surgery. Crap! He also took a biopsy on my right shoulder; we know that one will probably need surgery as well. The center is down to only one surgeon now, so it will take a while to get it take care of.
I sandblasted the four Corvair wheels this afternoon. Getting a couple cans of paint tomorrow at the auto paint store, $25 per 16oz. can. Marina Blue. Wish they'd been black, it would've been cheaper.
Today was spring day. :) I purchased a pair of 400lb. units for the rear. I removed the 500s from the rear and changed out the fronts 575s for the 500s. It's better. I need to add some preload to the rear and remove a little from the front. I'm not sure the front isn't still a little to much. In another note, UPS seems to have lost the gauge cluster in Rapid City while it was on the truck for delivery. When I called Dakota and asked about options, I was told that they could do a special order of the one unit,,,,, in about 10 weeks. I'm going to start the claim process tomorrow. The shipping store was able to talk to a person this morning who said it would be delivered today. Not so, exhaust pipe breath. I don't like my options at this point. :)
O&S is very pleased to report that the gauge fiasco is about to be rectified. This morning, I check the tracking and it's the same since tuesday. About 8:15, an email arrives with a tracking number. ????? I open the email and it's an automated response from Dakota Digital. I call Dakota and give them the rma number. Yes, it's been repaired and it's on the way. I ask some questions and the salesman connects me to the tech that did the repair. I had to leave a message and asked for a call back. About noon, the tech called and told me what he did and that they do a full test on every instrument that goes out the door and it passed as a new unit. The tracking says I should have it on tuesday so I'm quite relieved at that. I hope that's the end of this story. :)
I think you're about 300# lighter than a C4 and 700# lighter than an S550 Mustang, so it makes sense your spring rates required some guesswork. Plus you're dealing with less overhang both front and rear...quite a bit at the front!
O&S is pleased to report that the cluster has arrived and is installed, without event. :) I have no excuse to continue work on the interior panels and I have the Ford Taurus fan to install. I'm debating on whether or not to purchase a copper radiator and remove the ebay alum unit. In 2018, I bought a copper unit from Advance Auto for less than $200. Can't do that anymore. I hate buying twice but when I'm done, I want to be done for many miles. :) The ebay radiators are pressure tested I wonder how long it will last with road use. Surely constant heat cycles has some effect on the life of them. ???
I've been fighting a decision on my door panels for a few weeks. My sewing machine isn't powerful enough to do what I want. I have looked at other options and wasn't convinced that it would be good in the long run. Today I decided to make metal panels, bead roll, flange, etc. and paint them white. I have enough metal left over to do that. We have some crappy weather ahead but when it warms up, I will get started.
Sounds good :) I kept trying to come up with a witty cluster fudge remark. :)
O&S plodded along for a bit today. My upholstered panels weren't working as intended. The final blow was the light color showing shoe marks every time anything got close to them. I had enough abs to make new panels. The console panels are black, the kick panels are white. I haven't made a decision as to leave them white or paint them to match the trim in the cab. I plan to paint the new door panels in the trim color. I don't have a plan for embossing them yet so I moved on to spraying in the yard. :)
O&S ordered some 55 and newer arm rests for the truck. Is it a truck??? They have angled bases that will need a wedge to be made. The bolt spacing was the same, though. The AD version looks like ancient history. The 55 version has some trim and I can remove the top and upholstery it to match with whatever color I decide. I'm still chasing the miss. I swapped o2 sensors, checked plugs, swapped mass air sensors with all 3 that I have. I think it's a lean pop. I have looked for any air leak I can find. We all know that a vacuum leak is most prominent at idle. It idles like it should. I can unplug the IAC and it idles as it should. If I remove a cap on the unused vacuum lines, it instantly speeds up. I have replaced the pcv valve and checked for vacuum in the crankcase. I haven't found a thing. I have checked and rechecked for a leak between the mass air sensor and the throttlebody. NADA. I'm leaning towards the import mass air sensor being less than perfect. Out of ideas so I think I'll order a different brand and see what happens. It doesn't sound right off idle. In using the others, it sounds different off idle and then is out of calibration limits. I have looked at other systems but I really prefer the reliability of a factory system. I'm not ready to give up, just frustrated. I have not had this happen before in many installs.
Hmmm,
- Bad spot on the TPS?
- EGR system operating as it should?
New tps but it and the original both checked 100%. All egr has been deleted. When I removed the 90 degree elbow from the intake manifold, that took care of that. :)
mustang parts ?
Only the valve covers. LOL.
I kept hearing a small exhaust leak somewhere. I jacked up the truck and found that my cheap slip joint clamps were leaking some. I installed 2 dinosaur clamps and that ended that. Taking the mufflers off won't be near as easy but I'll deal with that when the time comes. :) I ripped out the threads on the 2 areas on the blue car show bag that were wrinkled and trimmed and resewed. It's not perfect but it's going to work for now. I have enough material to do another but until I get a better idea on how to improve it, I'm going to move on. In search of a crank case vacuum leak, I connected my shop vac to the oil fill tube on the valve cover. I had a vacuum gauge stuck in the dipstick tube. It would pull about 2 inches of vacuum. That's a large capacity shop vac. There's no way a pcv system is going to pull that volume so I'm going to quit chasing ghosts in that area. While doing that, I pulled a cap off from a tube on the intake and stuck the gauge in that orifice. It registered zero vacuum so I don't think there is a leak from that direction. The only thing not checked would be the intake tube. I wound need to remove the air filter and put a plate with a hole over the inlet to check that. The tube and hose was all new when installed. The truck idles perfectly so I think I have eliminated the chance of a leak in between the mass air sensor and the intake manifold. ????
Sure sounds like it. Do you have the ability to do a smoke test?
No.
WAG from Ford-dumb casual observer... :)
Any chance turbulence due to breeze across the exposed air intake could be confusing the MAF? I hear tell that can be a thing.
Matt, when they're real close to a fan or out in the wind, that can be an issue. This one is farther away than the 32 was so I don't believe it's an issue.
Last night, I ordered a different brand of mass air sensor. If that doesn't fix it, there will be a decision to make. :) This morning I ordered a new T5. The rear seal is leaking just a little on the trans. I checked that shaft for straightness when I put the rear bearing cradle in. I don't know what's going on but by the time I rebuild it and maybe replace some shafts, there's a pile of money in it. This truck needs to be 100% because of the distances I travel. My sense of humor is wearing thin with the trans and the efi. When I have the trans out, I'm installing a repair sleeve and another main seal. The engine drips too much for me. :) That's today's update. :)
Make sure the plug in the driveshaft yoke is sealed, we just had this problem on Josh's 89 Mustang.
^^^
Will do. :)
I have a pattern for the door panels made. Nothing exotic but a little bit of metal work. Next will be to see if the metal will comply with my wishes. :)
O&S has stories. :) The 1st: this morning I have a shipping update on the trans. Postponed at least until tomorrow, maybe monday. USPS delivers the crank seal and sleeve. Check out the pic. Box had no damage. Might be wednesday for a replacement. 2nd: Door panels are on but unpainted. Left one went on as planned. Right one didn't have quite enough travel for the door handle. I found this out after bolting it on and closing the door. It requires unbolting the panel on the inside to move the panel and unlatch the door. Some work with the file and it's all taken care of. Minor in the world of building stuff. :)
I'm not able to upload pics, either.
O&S got to thinking about the bare metal door panels and decided to not wait on warm weather. I heated the shop and put the panels in front of the heater. A couple of hours later I shot epoxy and then waited another hour and shot 2 coats of urethane. I will have more than 8 hours of drying time above 60 degrees so I'm semi confident they will be fine. :)
I'm still unable to upload pics.
I use a LOT of UPS at work. They're now in the game of figuring out how bad their service can be and maintain business. Pretty bad since the USPS has deteriorated badly over the past five years, and from what I hear Fedex is just as bad. Prices have increased. At least 1/3 of my packages get delayed by a day or more, even on overnight shipments. Don't even think of taking the upcharge for Saturday delivery, that just doesn't happen.
KB I cant wait to see the pictures ! I am sure the metalflake turned out perfect! ;D
C.K., cut back on what ever you are taking. :)
Door panels are installed. As you would imagine, it's much quieter in there, now. :)
Pictures! Sharp. :)
I'll take twenty bucks worth, CK. Would love to see the world through metalflake glasses. 8)
That looks good, and it carries the utilitarian feel these cabs were built with. Is this one intended to be your long term ride?
??????????
:)
I'm just asking if you're planning to keep this one long term, drive it for until you get the bug to build, or something else. I apologize if that's the wrong question to ask. You've done both, and I'm curious how you're ending up feeling about this one.
Jaybee, no apology required. The answer is I don't know. Until it is completely debugged and many miles on it, I won't know if I have accomplished a long termer or just another project. I should have answered your question with words. :)
O&S installed mass air sensor no.3 this afternoon. The alley is to wet to go for a test drive but it sounds right. :) This unit came in an anti-static bag and had a qc. sheet. I hadn't seen those specs before. That might become useful in diagnostics.
O&S is still working towards a solution on the intermittent miss. I think I have ruled out an electrical issue. There's something going on with the pcv system but I don't have an answer yet. Uncharted territory for me. :) I wasn't satisfied with how the door panels looked so I had another idea. I cut 2 panels from abs and installed them behind the arm rests.
That will save the paint from fingernail scratches. Cool.
O&S spent the afternoon working on the 48. The black inserts I installed behind the arm rests didn't quite line up with the line on the door panels. I removed them and trimmed them a little. I'm much happier now. :) In reading on a Mustang forum, some users reported having 2" of vacuum in the crankcase. I had none. I have an adjustable clamp on the fresh air side of the pcv system. I installed my vacuum gauge in the dip stick hole. I found out I could have 10" real quick by shutting off the fresh air side. I backed it off to 2" and went for a 30 mile drive at 70mph. When I got back to the shop and jacked up the truck, there is way less oil leaking from the crank seals??? It didn't run perfect but it is drivable. There is an occasional miss fire but better than before all of the messing with the pcv system. The setup is almost identical to the 32 except for the efi system. I'm wondering if the more powerful eec v is able to detect minor issues that the eec iv couldn't. I'm chasing ghosts but think I'm moving in the correct direction. :)
O&S had a day of exercise. :) I took a 4 hour job and completed it in a little over 8 hours. I'm tickled over that. Today was replace the rear main seal and transmission day. I got lucky with some things, somethings, not so much. I started off by thinking I would have to remove the console to get the trans out. I pulled the floor covering up and removed the shifter boot. I got to looking and decided that if I removed the shifter, I might be able to remove the trans without taking the console up. I had a piece of the original floor that I had to cut out with a saw that allowed the trans to slid back another 2". The trans weighs 75lbs. That's more than I can handle laying on my back so I used a floor jack to remove it knowing that going back in wouldn't be easy. I pulled the bellhousing and clutch and made sure the main seal was the culprit and not the rear of the pan. I removed the seal and examined it. I couldn't see anything wrong with it but I wasn't surprised at that. I installed a repair sleeve and a new Ford seal. I installed everything and let it run on jack stands for at least 5 minutes with the trans in gear. No oil ran out, yet. :) It's back in the shed and ready for the next task. I think I will be a little sore tomorrow. :)
Better than me. I managed to break off a brake bleeder and order new calipers, hoses, pads, and disks for one of the dailies.
O&S made some filler panels that go above the door frames to cover the ends on the headliner. I connected my vacuum gauge to the dipstick tube again and raised the vacuum to 3" in the crankcase. I went for a drive and the only thing leaking is the drain plug. I used a new copper washer but it seems to not be limber enough to seal. I have purchased some nylon washers so the next oil change that will be addressed. I ran the ac some and it's working as it should. The weather is about to change so the heater will be more important once again. :)
As I pulled in the shed yesterday, I heard a strange noise. Turned out to be the electric fan. It was scheduled for replacement but maybe a little sooner. :) After thinking about this for most of the day, I ordered a copper radiator. I have run alum. radiators in most of the builds. I wasn't happy with the welding on the tank on the one in the 48. Rather than chance it, it's going to be replaced. I found a unit that is meant for the 5.0 conversion with the outlet on the correct side so the changeover won't be too terrible. :) The grille shell has to come off to change out the fan so it made sense to do it all at once and get it over. The new trans had a different speedo gear on it. I'm running down the road looking at the tach and speedo and see that there is a 10 mph difference from where it was. I had to dig out the instruction manual to relearn the setting procedure but it just takes the time to drive one mile. :)
O&S modified the throttle pedal today in hopes of finding long hours comfort. :) I had the rear tires balanced. Things are smoother now. :)
Little things make all the difference in being able to be comfortable on the road.
O&S had another day of exercise. I removed the alum. radiator and fan. I installed the 3 core copper radiator and then cut to fit and made brackets for the Ford Taurus fan. I have it running on the low speed right now and I can see that won't be enough. I will install the 70 amp relay and wiring the next time it's in the shop. The fan is quiet like the good oem units are. :)
O&S implemented his latest idea. LOL. The wiring mess in the pics is an 80 amp relay and the wiring to run it including a maxi fuse. The spade connectors can be swapped and run the fan in low speed on the 30 amp controller that is also used to trigger the 80 amp relay. Mind set is 1st: to have a backup in case the 80 amp relay quits and 2nd: if I get into a winter situation and just need the low speed, I can change it quickly. Might be a waste of time in doing that but I was going to try it before I went forward. :)
Those pics really help you see how dramatically the hood angles out from the radiator shell to the cowl.
After I swapped the trans out, the stereo wasn't sounding right. A few days ago, I went looking and found that I had unplugged the sub woofer cables by accident when I thought I was going to have to pull the trans tunnel. I had plugged in the wrong plug out of a 3 plug cable. That left me with no sub. This was do to no memory again. When I started working on this over the weekend, I figured that out and corrected it. I still had distortion at low volumes like the amp wasn't working. I unplugged the amp and that shut the sound off completely. I changed a bunch of settings on the head unit and it didn't go away. I called Crutchfield's tech line yesterday and asked questions. The tech said I needed to set the gain on the amp. He told me the way they do it so today I went to work. Now, I'm pretty happy. But here's what I don't understand. Before I disconnected the battery for the trans swap, I thought it was fine. I haven't touched the 2 gain switches. I wonder if for some reason they could have vibrated and changed the settings? Maybe I'm just missing a little more brain power. I'll see what happens in the next few weeks to see if it goes to pot again. ?????
Today's tasks were quite simple. I tackled exhaust leaks and the drain plug leak. One of the mufflers had tell tale black around the seams in 3 places. I have had both header pipes loose and only found one spot that needed attention. I bought a tube of Permatex high temp silicone and ran a small bead around the offending areas. The tube says to let it dry for 24 hours before putting into use. I let the truck set for several hours before starting it and driving to the shed. I'm cautiously optimistic about the outcome. While the truck was sitting in the air, I connected the shop vac to the oil fill tube on the engine and turned it on. I removed the drain plug and inserted a rubber plug in the hole. I removed the steel and copper washers on the plug and replaced them with a nylon unit. I replaced the plug and shut off the vacuum. It looks dry so far. :) The steel washer was a strato seal unit that the o ring had lost it's capacity to seal. I left it on because the copper washer I had didn't cover the entire flange of the drain plug. Tuned out that the leak was in between the strato and the other washer. The nylon unit seems to have rectified that problem. My mistake for reusing the original strato washer. :) When I put the truck in the shed, I noticed the dome light was still on. I found that the right side switch came a part, letting the dome light stay on all of the time. Another new reproduction part bit the dirt. I can order a different brand but they all look the same so you just have to get lucky and get a good unit. Nice. :) I'm using the same style as a Ford F1.
I had some sound mat left. I jacked up the truck and wire brushed and blew until it was as clean as it could be short of media blasting and then put 2 pieces that are approximately 17" x 17" under the floor. Now I feel better because it's all used up. :)
I've used that Permatex before on pipes that almost but didn't quite seal. Much better than the old school exhaust putty, the stuff that got to be sort of like baked mud.
O&S is pleased to report that the latest spring change has resulted in good ride quality. I'm going to lower the front ride height about .5" but the short ride I took over known bumps and railroad tracks left me with a smile. This was the 3rd change. LOL. I used an online calculator as well as previous exp. to pick the 1st set of springs. After that, I've been going down 100lbs at a time. I would say that my original calculations were very poor. :)
I wonder how many vehicles built like yours never get the attention to detail you have given . I would think many would still be riding on the first set of springs and the owner just learns to live with it . Good on you for sticking with it and seeking out the best combination . 8) 8)
O&S installed the new dome light switch today and raised the rear shock preload just a bit. I have about 5/8" of rake, and there is not quite 8" under the frame rails. That part is about where it needs to be. I gave the machine shop owner a ride today. He said it rides good. I said "it does now. " LOL.
Wow, That's a big spring rate change. It's also potentially the difference between a car that gets driven and a car that sits in the garage between polishings.
O&S tackled the exhaust leak that seemed to be coming from the left side. I removed the header. The front tube was leaking from the bottom where I couldn't see it. I used 3 pieces of 2X6 tubing for risers to hold it in place in the mill. I removed about 20 thousands to make it flat. The flange on these is better than 3/8" thick. I think the reason for that is so that don't have to mill them after welding. LOL. The 2 pics are from that operation. I have installed and gone for a test ride. It's better. There's a tiny leak but I don't know if it's from the collector flange or the seam on the muffler that I put the silicone on. My hearing isn't good enough to tell. :)
Minor work today. I set the tail pipe height with the truck in the air. When it was on the ground, the pipes were 2" lower than I wanted. That got remedied today. Lower a arms were what I used for height the 1st time. Sheesh, where's the brain power???? :)
O&S earned the title today. I was going to remove the alum oil pan and install a steel one left over from the 32. Should be 2 hours worse case. Many hours later, the front crossmember has been trimmed in stages. I'd cut some and trial fit. Cut some more and repeat. When I removed the alum pan, I looked as best as I could and I don't think the front seal was leaking, not positive about the rear. After installing the steel pan and letting it run for a while, I changed oil and went for a short drive. I'm cautiously optimistic one more time. :)
Yesterday, I pulled the plenum of the intake and vacuum tasted everything I could. I found nothing. I glued everything back together including the throttle body. It still has the intermittent miss. However, the oil pan is dry. I put about 30 miles on it today ranging from 60 to 80 and there is no regularity to the miss. I have used my Torque program and all of the numbers it puts up are within the Ford obd2 manual that I found. I have wiggled wires, rechecked connections and most items twice. I also think it's weak on power in 5th gear. I'm wondering if the explorer tune was soft because of emissions or fuel mileage. I'm about to make a decision as to pursue or change efi systems. :)
You may be onto something with this latest thought. Does the truck have a wideband O2 sensor you can read? If you have less restrictive intake and exhaust, that may be enough to mess with your tune. A little Google work on what mods required a tune on Mustangs of the vintage you got your engine out of would probably give you some idea.
Sounds like a job for HPtuner (alterations via tune ["canned"?]), rather than just monitoring with Torque and comparing to stock parameters. Because the engine is in a different package, powering a different weight, gears, way way more drag, altered exhaust, etc. Just an engine-dumb bodyman observation.
Jaybee, no wideband, Matt, not a bad idea but I still think there is something malfunctioning on the system. I just pulled plugs and checked the spark plug wires for resistance. I didn't find anything, once again. :) It's not in my behavior to give up but I have about extinguished my thought processes for this.
If you ain't already, put some extra sweet gas in it, see how she runs? Are you getting a normal amount of knock retard? That 02 sensor stuff is yep a sticky wicket, don't they need a certain temp range to function proper? You're getting open loop, right?
Just tossing out a clueless batch of variables which might intertwine with ambient conditions. It might stumble if the computer encounters lugging in high humidity, etc? Is the computer for stick or auto? Is ot learning? Crank trigger relearn?
Blah blah... shots in the dark with all I got. :) If good will vibes from peers are worth anything a solution will boil out soon. :)
I have made some small changes to the wiring harness. I wondered if my splices on the power feed to the efi relays were 100%. I removed the splices and put ring terminals on all of the wires and they are connected with a bolt and nylock nut. Then I covered it with shrink wrap. I went for a 60 mile cruise this afternoon. When pushing the wind, (25mph) it hiccuped a few times. With the tail wind, there were no hiccups. I don't have any conclusions at this point so I'm just going to drive it. When I pulled the plugs last week, it looked as normal as I've seen. I have 120 miles on it since the oil pan change and it's clean and dry. :) I think the seat may be the next task. ????
Matt, I tend to think I have an electrical problem rather than efi. But I'm not sure about anything. As I have said in the past, several times I have said " what did I do". :)
What about your grounds? These systems are extremely sensitive to excessive resistance creating errors of even a fraction of a volt. I think the stock harness contain at multiple grounds, maybe the block, battery, and radiator support at the OEM level?
Jaybee, I think I have around 20 grounds that all run to the engine or to the battery. The ground from the battery runs to the engine block as well as the power distribution center under the passenger seat. There is atleast 6 grounds from the ecu that run directly to the ground post that a battery cable connects to. You would think this was a glass car from looking at the ground system. :) When I disassembled the 96 mustang, I quit counting at around 30 ground wires. Since then, I have been very proactive with grounds and relays. When I look at factory stuff and realize that everything costs money and they wouldn't do it unless it was necessary, I believe I need it to. :)
Yeah, I think that's fair to say. It's a far cry from the days when a ground strap from the battery to the engine, one from the engine to the body, another from the engine to the frame (unless it's a unibody,) and reliance on the electrical bits to bite into the metal bits they're mounted on is all you had.