The Rodding Roundtable
Motorhead Message Central => Rodder's Roundtable => Topic started by: kb426 on January 12, 2021, 06:05:42 PM
I'm starting a thread even though I'm not sure where it will end up. I just thought this would easier for the followers and avoiders. :) Step 1 on the front suspension. I removed this from the crown vic chassis that provided the drivetrain for the 72 F100. It sure was easy with the body off. :)
Old Crown Vics will never die, eventually they'll all live under old pickup trucks.
O&S accomplished a little this afternoon. The front clip is disassembled. The cab is on the cab cart. The left fender extension was folded under about 120 degrees. The front valance was around 90 degrees. They are starting to look like usable parts. :) I knocked out the dents on the fenders some. It's better than it was. :)
That cab looks pretty solid.
8)
Maybe I am just lazy for thinking about bed so much but...
Have you given any thought to what kind of bed or box to use?
I assume Pontiac powerplants and metalflake like on a bass boat are out? :) :?: :idea:
I have thought about that. I found a source for a perimeter bed that is priced lower than Mack Hills but still with quality. I looked at a modern approach such as how the chevy's used a late model stepside on the ad series. I have come to no conclusion yet. :) I don't want a flat bed, though. I have seen several and that doesn't work for me.
Hmm. I wonder if a Splash bed is anywhere near within range. The look would probably polarize you or I at a glance in a quick photo edit. I woulda said Flareside but that brings the 92-5 to my mind. Is there any pics of like a 98 model narrow bed on an F? In my mind's eye Splash and Lightning beds both have potential.
"Perimeter" bed... is that plain pickup bed? And would you use 48 style bed or pockets if that.
Stake bed, flat? Nah. I admit that yesterday when I got home, I had been thinking and wondering on the look of F6 wheels on Panther ride height... (which does look cool) and stared at an early stage photo edit from the F1 job. I had devised a way to add a pack of kool to the profile that was real subtle. Anyway I wondered what if a guy sectioned the cherry F6 cab down the center to widen it and kept overall truck width? Or if he widened only the roof (insert ditch). But I didn't go farther with that, thought it silly.
Since I was right there though, I tried extending the cab just ever so slightly in case that was a thing, and then I tried one piece side glass with window bottom moved down to belt line. No sir, you don't want no part of them two ideas.
Heres a freshy though, or maybe not so... been seeing stuff about coupe and roadster pickups and I wonder if theres anything that could look good, bend up easy, and be a fleetside look using oh, say 48ish coupe rear fenders and with the profile of a panel wagon but sans roof above belt and aft of cab. :idea:
Theres always that- if its under the sun, its been done - factor. And like you said, things available that are found will guide the plan. Plus you done this a time or two. :)
I looked at the splash bed 1st. I wasn't happy were my mind was picturing that. The later model flaresides are full of angles instead of radiuses. I looked at a 2000 flareside. An enlarged splash is the thought that came to mind. If I had access to panel truck sides, I would try to adapt them like a cameo. I think that would make an interesting unit but I wouldn't cut the height at the door beltline. I would lower it so it didn't look like a panel with the top removed. A forward slanting tailgate would make that look panelish rather than the vertical gate on a cameo. I doubt that I will find a panel with the top smashed or something like that for a donor though. :) If I was to get real industrious, I could use flat metal that had been slightly rolled and adapt parts of the fenders to create the reveal of a panel. Time to quit thinking. :)
How about a 49 to 61 Studebaker bed? You could modify F1 fiberglass fenders to fit it.
I happen to know where there is a nice one. :D And a guy with a trailer to haul it. :D
That's a very interesting thought. I will see what's available and probably find that to be a determining factor in the decision. :)
A 48 bed is serving as a scrap bin behind the shop. :shock:
KB your thoughts conjure beginnings of visuals in my mind and I gotta say ask yourself if it is the bed rail style which kills jollies about late model bedsides. Like if you could have them but beneath a pair of any old stepside's rolled bed side tops (" rails" )
The reason I mentioned 48-back car fenders is their shape and lip... believably similar if proportions also work. For use with fabbed (outer?) bedsides, to create a medium width bed that would have skinny wheelwell intrusions on the bed floor. Then the fenders stick out but only car much. Like 10th gen fullsize narrow beds.
Hey wait. Looking at gens to be sure I was on the same page about years, there was a pic of a 97-04 long bed. Those skins as outer bedsides on a narrow bed, topped with rolled rails which cast shadow over where they meet, and some car fenders. Wonder how that will sound in the morning. Point being those bedsides ought to be a dime to give a dozen away and if the lip area is trashed, so what? The gentle roundness of them seems like a fit at a glance.
If you plasma cut a pair off a longbed at molding and rail to get at the juicy center... theres probably enough steel with the nice curve and you could cut vertically over the wheel to adjust length then bend new lip to suit, for an integrated 50s car quarter panel ( or Cameo truck) style.
It follows that if for example you were to use 10th gen scraps, the same gen salvage gate could work into that also. Upright or with Camino angle.
What rail I saw in the outside rearview would be real important to me ifituz mine. Maybe that comes from being a muscle era coupe guy but keeping mirror adjustment to frequently admire the flanks for a re-grin is part of my essence. For what its worth, not much... the 60-96 bedside top rail shapes would be my second choice after earlier rolled rails. On the F6, if doing a wider bed. Ah, bedtime at last. :)
Good point about bed rails. Lots on contemplation ahead. :)
It often takes several paragraphs to produce a nugget worthy of pondering.
I just measured specimens of the new and old, just steps away with tape in hand... theres enough vertical expanse (around 22") on the bedsides I mentioned, above the body line. Thats as tall as the vertical part of F1 sides. I just wanted to qwik chek if that was viable and it appears so. Imagination required. :)
Lotta good thoughts there. I'd totally forgotten about the Ranger Splash. For a time it was the style to use a midsize pickup bed with old style fenders spliced on the outside. I quite liked that look and as long as you don't paint it seafoam green with salmon and red pinstripes I don't think it has to look dated. The Cameo style is always going to get second looks, it's just so cool. I've always loved the looks of the Studebaker pickups, too.
Last night I looked at pics to see what others had come up with. Lots of repeats as you all know. However, at some point, you have to decide f you like the original looks enough to retain them. I did rule out a cameo side because of cab width. You would have to start out with a 57 or newer to have enough cab width to go slab side. Having a bed narrower than the cab is usually all right. Wider than the cab looks like a bad marriage ready to fail. :) I notice several had used 55 fenders on their bed. I'm sure that was from the lack of availability of original fenders in the past. It's not a bad look but once again, are you trying to keep the original look or not. The one use of 55 fenders that I have seen that was really good was on a 1950 Dodge. Their original fenders look like trailer fenders. :) I looked at grille pics also. I had contemplated leaving the teeth off of the grille bar. I found a pic of that. It made it look like an International of the same era. Not doing that. :) I had thought about the angled headlights from the Chryslers that were popular back in the 60's. Lots to think about. :)
Last night I did this image and others including a pic edit, to explain myself. Wasn't impressed with how it ended up and I doubted that anyone could grasp the concept, but it evolved a bit. My thoughts were directed at purchasing as few new bed parts as possible and modifying sparingly. Knowing nobody would bite at using car fenders mounted on bedsides that are out farther but under the stock rail.
This uses stock everything but adds the rounded bedside contour by allowing the stock fender to pass under the 10th gen F150 bedside sections. Forming a lip around the fender opening is the only trickyish part, the rest is bending straight bends more where they already exist. The ends would butt up to the stake pockets with pie cuts and bent tabs and the opening lip could be made that way too. Distance / angle of rounded bedside panel from flat one could be adjusted for the best look. The result is subtle enough to not detract from 51 identity, in my opinion, but adds intrigue. Whether it would be good looking is not only subjective but also difficult to discern in 2D.
What I mainly don't want to do is clutter your thread. But it would be fun to play with grilles. Still, believe it or not. :) Let me know if the art department can do anything to help you and know that I am happy to assist within reason. Your interest in my work projects has always been appreciated and if a helping mind is wanted, offering what I can would be my pleasure.
Plug welds along the newly altered top and bottom bends are assumed here:
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ldkAytdvX-Q/YAMhLpzyPsI/AAAAAAAAN-4/eD_eAVIlVqYZxyUaTAlPdJ35S2-eF1lxACLcBGAsYHQ/s1541/Resizer_16108175364560.jpg)
I doubt that the suggestion is a keeper but I share the desire to seek the unique. :)
When you mentioned the f150 side, my thought was to wrap it over the bed rail and gain about 4 " of width per side. It would need curvature to avoid looking like I double walled the sides with flat sheet metal. The end result would be similar to the older Stude bed. Time to digest. :)
Alteration of the rolled bed rails' angle (the flat part) might not carry a big visual penalty if height is retained. I wonder if theres a way to use any of the flat top rail styles at all, and look at home.
Reckon I ought to surf up Stude trucks for a peek. I know they were made using car cabins, so to speak.
No, that was not an attempt at poetry. Just turn your head if you must belch, please. :)
Study hard. :idea: Throw yourself a curveball and scope out old foreign truck beds too. Ya never know where inspiration will greet you.
Chevy stepsides after 1955 have flat bed rails. I had considered using them to make it easier to fit a bed cover. After finally getting a cover on the 51 and seeing how much happier I was with the usefulness of it, I wish I would have done it 3 years earlier. :)
I ordered some used parts off ebay. A positrac carrier and a mark 8 rack and pinion. I disassembled the carrier and it all looks good. It was packaged well with no surprises. The rack and pinion came from Wisconsin at a salvage yard. It wasn't packaged the best. The 2 transfer lines were both broke at the fittings from shipping damage. You guys in the rust belt know the rest of the story. The steel lines were rusty so it might not have taken much to break them. I notified the shipper late friday of the damage. I'm not anticipating an problems over that. I sent them pics of the damage and the oil all over the package to show the end result of what transpired. Whether I use the mark 8 irs or the crown vic rear that would have to be narrowed, neither were posi's so that can be rectified. The outer spider gears will require some machine work for the retaining clips if used on the mark 8. I have enough tooling that it shouldn't present a problem.
That seems like a good idea to me. Put just enough contour onto the bed side to take away the flat side. Just my opinion, not my truck, but IMO the flat rather than flared top to the bed will be more aesthetically pleasing as well as making it easier to put on a cover. The trick is in how much "old" to show on the outside.
A simple thought. How long a bed are you thinking about? As easy as you seem to be coming up with these vehicles, Find the backs of two (or more) of those cabs and use them as the front and back of the bed. Use the back side of one cab as the inside of the front of the bed so that the cab and bed curves are roughly paralell (I still can't spell that). Then fill in between the two cab backs with metal for the desired length and decide if you want to graft some fenders into the sides for the "SPLASH" look or if you just want to cut some style of wheel openings into the bare sides of the bed. That would give you something that matched the curved of the side of the cab. GPster
That's an interesting take, Joe. However, I have exhausted the supply of these trucks in my part of the world. There are a few left but most are not buyable by someone like me. A restorer might get them. :)
O&S was in low gear this afternoon. I brought the crown vic suspension in for a little exercise. You know that bending and twisting is supposed to be good exercise for us old guys. :) The disassembly went pretty smooth except for one of the coilover bolts. I sure was glad I wasn't a mechanic working on flat rate on that one. The other side I was able to knock out with a sledge and brass drift. I beat on the other side some and the sound of it didn't even change. Time for a new plan. This was the 1st time to use the H.F. press for something really stuck. That bolt made some noise when it turned loose. :) I have measured the crossmember about every way I could think of. I removed all the casting flash and anything that will be in the way of clamping it for welding. I decided to wait until tomorrow to cut it incase I have any other thoughts about this. Where the unit bolts to the frame is flat so I'm going to use that to clamp tubing to it to hold it straight. The bottom and top of the casting are flat also so it will make it relatively simple to clamp for welding. Because this came from a car without oil leaks, I'm not anticipating any problems with contamination. :)
I had a thought today. Years ago I built a model of a 56 F100 and used a 63 Ford F100 long wide bed. I pinched the front of the bed in to match the back of the cab so it was tapered from front to back, with the rear tires in the stock 63 wheel openings. It looked pretty cool to me, I'll have to see if it's still around here. It worked fine in 1/25 scale.
Does your F6 have electric wipers? It was kind of common back in the day. I have had a F1 and parted out an F6 with factory electric wipers. Made by American Bosch.
63 Furd long wide bed model? Why would anyone make a long bed model? :?
Everything about the 56 seems wider. Which reminds me of a joke. Why do cowboys roll up the sides of their hat brims?
I think 51 was the first year wipers were standard equipment but vacuum or electric and such is KB territory.
He just mentioned a leak free car though. :shock: I thought those were just an urban legend.
It has electric wipers. There's only one wire attached to it so non-functioning would be correct. Does anyone know if there's a 12 volt retrofit motor for it?
Quote from: "kb426"It has electric wipers. There's only one wire attached to it so non-functioning would be correct. Does anyone know if there's a 12 volt retrofit motor for it?
Yes, Newport makes a system for it. When you order it make sure you mention it has factory electric wipers. The holes for the transmissions are in a different place for electric than for vacuum.
I converted mine to run on 12 volt with a Runtz resistor.
Frank, I meant just to replace the motor. :) I have the Newport system in the F1.
O&S was in low gear again today. After cutting it in two, I spent hours checking my measurements. I had 4 pieces of rectangle tubing clamped to the outer portions and some 3/8" strap clamped to the center to line it up. I still need to remove the existing engine mounts and clean up everything and reassemble. I need to decide if I want to use the stock coilovers or spend the money for something like Ridetech units. That's about an $800 decision. :)
Quote from: "kb426"Frank, I meant just to replace the motor. :) I have the Newport system in the F1.
I could not find a retrofit motor for it when I had mine. Today with the internet you might find one. The problem is the motor drives out of both ends, and the blades travel opposite each other. With the vacuum setup the blades both travel the same way at the same time. So the left wiper transmission is in a different position.
Newport does make one for the electric motor. https://newportwipers.com/product/1951-52-ford-truck-replaces-factory-electric-wiper-motor/#wiper-motor
Thats a pretty nifty welding capability there, opened up your rodding options nicely. :)
I wanted to point you at these stale leftover images in case theres something in them for you. And I had an idea... but about chrome.
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PRa9h6R8yU8/XnWBGMndOjI/AAAAAAAALfQ/aF0IlB0hvXIC72g0yCUtMaAaMPyTvnv5wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/51F110.JPG)
(http://[url=https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PRa9h6R8yU8/XnWBGMndOjI/AAAAAAAALfQ/aF0IlB0hvXIC72g0yCUtMaAaMPyTvnv5wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/51F110.JPG%5Dhttps://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PRa9h6R8yU8/XnWBGMndOjI/AAAAAAAALfQ/aF0IlB0hvXIC72g0yCUtMaAaMPyTvnv5wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/51F110.JPG%5B/url%5D)
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MdtU81M6mpc/XnZj9yF2EII/AAAAAAAALfk/DC6fUw4FfDMKh3WxIMYMRpNT2LnvRPJ4wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/51F114.JPG)
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lkatBvIVMXs/XnZj8nMB2PI/AAAAAAAALfg/D63xxd80lDkiYMa4kfKWCrBOttb8bKCJQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/51F116.JPG)
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sOtuKNN_Xf4/XnZkEleuaqI/AAAAAAAALfo/zb34xwtZZNk_vZkL8INr2pspW7fsB5LIQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/51F117.JPG)
Not trying to make work for you by putting links, its that the pics may be too big so I didn't put img codes around them.
My chrome thought is this, in case plating brand new sheetmetal items could be affordable for unique Cameo-esque wow factor. Patch frame openings in valance. Slice front fender front bottoms and valance off, even with where a bumper would ride. Just below the forward step in fender leading edge.
Merge what was lopped off into one piece and add flange at top of part. Chrome that and hang it under the re-flanged cut valance and fender edges with some of that top flat showing. Voila, wraparound one piece chrome "bumper". Or face bar.
Same out back, fender bottoms behind wheel merge with roll pan. Chromed sassy fat looking and a good spot for trick integrated exhaust exits.
Now nip off the outside edge of your running boards and rip some square or round tubing to occupy it's space. Chrome the outside face. Or maybe stainless angle there. To visually complete the ring of chrome dressing like them mirrors at a shoe store.
Whatever, I dunno. Idea is now dumped on your plate and if you'd rather the dog ate that one theres no need to be sneaky. :)
Don't forget to throw in the gate fins with the Rancheroey lights thing:
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EX_zCCJC6As/X3ET5no3nKI/AAAAAAAANko/_0lcJn9KClMfARn1_5FCuurvEEzUKZZqQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/TAIL33.JPG)
Heres that playground image F1 pic edit blog page for a cold windy day.
http://chevroldsmobuiac.blogspot.com/2020/09/51-f-1-50-art.html?m=1 (http://chevroldsmobuiac.blogspot.com/2020/09/51-f-1-50-art.html?m=1)
:arrow: :idea: :shock: :)
O&S finished the crossmember today. I've watched some other's cut off the motor stands and weld flat plate on the holes or just leave them. I decided to remove the stalks from the mount plates and weld them back on. I can't imagine I'll be able to use them for anything other than running wires through them but it will make people wonder if they can see them. :) I used the spray can overhaul on the ugly a arms and gave everything a bath before I started. The next item is to narrow the sway bar. After that is completed, this will get reassembled.
I went searching for a little info on narrowing a sway bar and found a post back in 2007 by 348 tripower and a comment by Phatrat. After reading that, I'm just going to weld the unit. :)
O&S broke a sweat this afternoon. The sway bar has been shortened and welded back together. The front end is back together except for brakes and a good rack and pinion. The ebay claim has begun. On top of the rusted lines, the right side swivel joint is wore out. It did allow me to confirm all my measurements before starting on this project. :)
I'm going to share some of my goals on this build as compared to the white truck. The white truck is reliable, goes around corners very well, makes almost 20 mpg. and is very good as a road burner. On my list of changes:
1: 2 inches lower ride height while maintaining 6" of travel at the spindle for suspension travel.
2: Way less wiring to deal with. I have learned from the last couple of projects how to thin the wiring and not lose capabilities.
3: More horsepower. The 4.6 is around 250hp. The truck will run 90 in a quarter. I want at least 400hp.
4: Independent suspension front and rear with healthy sway bars on both ends.
5: Healthy exhaust at idle but quiet without drone at highway speeds.
6: More fuel mileage. Maybe not an option without an LS engine.
7: No more fat engines. That leaves the SBF and the LS as options.
8: No more white. White is great in many ways but hot rods are supposed to be striking and leave you with a smile on your face when looking at them.
I know many will think that a redo makes more sense and it might. I don't like redos. I did that on the 32 and I'd rather start over. A redo means I failed in some ways and another build is a fresh start.
What do you guys think about this? Be honest. :)
I think those are all reasonable goals and it sounds like a truck I'd love to drive.
I think you are right about the white , metalflake hardly shows up in white :lol: . LS sounds like the easiest route to 400hp. rebuilding the other white truck would be cutting up a lot of good work just for a new idea . maybe better to let a new owner enjoy it as is and use the cash for phase II. I never have a problem with having to choose about a re do as I have enough of a problem finishing the first time :oops:
Seems reasonable goals..
400 hp at crank or rear wheels? Narrower engine is good choice
Wires still scare me. Less is more better.
My 1962 Falcon 6 cylinder car ran near 90 mph in the quarter mile. Lighter car , less brick shape to push thru the air.
More MPG : careful on engine parts choice, will work well, produce good power.
proper metal flake alignment in the paint will help aerodynamics (its gotta, I swear). :lol:
Automatic transmittin or manual? I prefer 4L80E for durability over the 4L60E unit. OEM 4L80 converter is heavy, lighter smaller aftermarket converter is $$$
Hastily done metalflake jobs typically leave a surface similar to a golf ball. Golf balls tend to fly pretty far , something about boundary layer aerodynamics , so yes , definitely , you should see an increase in fuel economy with the metalflake ! I wonder why the manufacturers have not caught on yet? Likely something to do with the random orientation of the flakes causing radio interference , or errant readings on emission control sensors :lol:
Tony, 400 at the crank. 1st choice is manual. I have a t5 that I purchased 2 years ago because you couldn't find them easily anymore. My engine goal would have way more than 300 lbs. ft. of torque. I like the look of the newest Tremec but haven't decided how much money I want to spend on this project.
I wonder, is it possible for people who are around metalflake to become "flakey" on their own???? :)
Voting yes to #8
Drive whatever wrecked late model Mustang or Camaro meets your specs and is at the auction the day you go under it and don't build it as body on frame. Just bed on body. Sounds like a job for a boosted six or so, and that many gears couldn't hurt. You'll need some boat speakers near the tailpipes for that nasty idle.
:)
Quote from: "kb426"
I wonder, is it possible for people who are around metalflake to become "flakey" on their own???? :)
yes is the answer for that.
For a small block ford. The best T5 is rated for 310 ft.lb. of Torque. T45 is not a whole lot better. The T3650 is good for the torque and reasonably priced. There are several adapters for a SBF to the T56, but the adapters are in the $700 range.
Overdrive automatics, the 4R70W from a 99 Explorer V6 will bolt to a W series V8 but needs to be beefed up internally to V8 specs, and needs a stand alone controller.
For the engine a 408 stroker W motor can be had for about $3500 built up, or much less if you buy a stroker kit for a 351 and do it yourself. The later 351W came with roller cams and EFI.
If you want to change makes, there are several engines that will make 400 hp with little modification, but most of them will still need a T56 to hold up.
My 32 had a 3550. The 51 has a 3650. They both are rated at 350 ft. lbs. I did some looking this afternoon. There were several places that sell a roller 408 short block for 3 grand plus shipping. A good set of heads is around $1800. By the time you get valve gear and a camshaft, you will have another $600. That leaves a front cover, oil pan and pump, balancer, intake manifold, distributor and front accessory drive. There are long blocks out there that might be a better buy. We all know about small parts adding up. I can buy a used ls for less money but it will be used. If you get a rebuilt unit, they get up above the 408. The electronics for the auto trans are a little bit spendy. I'd much rather have a manual but that might not be a good option when all the numbers are added up. My original estimate for an engine and trans was 12 grand. I don't know that I want to spend that much for that part of the build. I've been successful finding donors and engines in the past that weren't near as expensive. They aren't as easy to find right now in my part of the world. :)
O&S was in low gear this afternoon. The replacement rack and pinion is mounted but not for the last time. :) I spent way too much time shortening the tie rod ends. Cut some, measure some. Repeat. :) I need to install the jamb nuts and make a spacer to fit in between the mounting bolts and the bushings that are in the rack and pinion.
Very lame update. The lock nuts are installed and the toe in set. The camber is less than 1/2 degree different from side to side. The suspension is fully extended. When it's loaded, I will check things again. There's not supposed to be bump steer on modern vehicles. I'm curious what I will find. :)
Looking good, how much width did you take out of the center?
4.75". That is what it took to mount up the different rack and pinion. That will leave me with around a 27" width between frame rails. Any narrower and I would start to have space problems. Some have used a mustang rack. I don't know what that measurement is.
What is the rack out of?
1996 Lincoln mark 8. It's almost identical to the cougar and tbird from the same generation. The length of the input shaft is different but the mounting points are the same. I don't think it would make any difference which you would choose because you have to fab the steering shaft to column anyway.
Quote from: "kb426"1996 Lincoln mark 8. It's almost identical to the cougar and tbird from the same generation. The length of the input shaft is different but the mounting points are the same. I don't think it would make any difference which you would choose because you have to fab the steering shaft to column anyway.
Just curious so I can add it to my data bank. :wink:
The actual number is 4 5/8" difference in the mounting holes. The crown vic is centered on the left hand mounting stud. The right side is slotted for production tolerance. I could have gone a little farther than 4.75 but I might have run into rack mounting troubles.
O&S found out that many engine builders don't update their websites. I have called several places in the last 2 days asking about short blocks. The sales people all acted like I was lost when asked. The answers ranged from we don't do that to we haven't done that for sometime even though they still list them on their websites. I wasted some time. No great loss in the winter. :) I made some spacers from 5/8" 4130 tubing for the rack and pinion mounts. It warmed up this afternoon so I brought the mark 8 rear in and took many measurements on the components while sitting at ride height. Everything is back outside so there is room in the shop for my wife's car. :)
I made a deal to buy an efi 302 and a carbed 351w from a guy 50 miles from me. I'm planning on at least one being a good core to build an engine for the f6. I've done business with him before and he seems ok. They have been stored inside for several years. I have spent enough time researching engines. This will be the only economical way to do this. Strokers and good heads in the future. :)
351W would be my choice. I have had a couple and they worked out well.
I started welding the louver panel into my hood side today . I was going to go in tonight but it hit -54C here today :shock: about -40F plus the wind chill,so about -65F ish . I should really weld the panel outside as I would not have to quench the welds :lol:
BUURRRR!
No I grindeded all the burrrs off before i weldeded :lol:
Quote from: "kb426"BUURRRR!
Hey there what ya gonna put the engine or engines in. Are you thinking a 347 stroker or maybe something like a 406 or there about ?
RIPVW, which ever one I decide on will go in the f6. The choices will be a 347, stock bore and stroke 351 or a 392 or 408. When the engines get disassembled, it might be easy to decide. :)
Oh I can understand that. It is a case of the best of the best...
....or the least worst... :lol:
C.K., I don't know if either of these came from a Mustang! :)
mustang.... :lol: :lol: :lol: You might want to check just to be sure!
Many phone calls the last couple of days. Many of the parts I will need are on back order. Covid strikes again. :) I'm formulating something of a plan so I think I'm making progress. :) Many are spring delivery so that won't be too bad. I'm in the deep freeze right now so there's plenty of brain time instead of work time.
Yeah I am standing down for a week waiting this crappy weather. Freezing at night and not out of the 30's during the day. They are predicting snow tomorrow and Saturday. So that is going to be a site to see is people from Worshington trying to drive in 2 inches of snow. The local media have their drums out booming Snowmagedon! Glad I don't have to go out and dodge these idiots.
8)
It got up to 57 degrees today. I brought the crown vic front end in again. I woke up one morning wondering if I have the two halves parallel with each other. I put the unit on stands and rechecked toe in. I have one of those cheap bubble camber tools. I checked it at about 20 degrees which is what I keep reading is the standard. It's a fraction of a degree off from side to side so I'm going to quit thinking about it. :)
O&S made slight progress today. I brought the cab in and stripped everything except the door hardware. I hammered and dollied a few dents. I would call it a beginning. The 2 around the ribs in the rear have been taken care off. I started on the roof. Needs lots more time. :) I kept the cowl vent in the last one and have yet to use it. This one is getting removed. Either that or an electric operator. The lever takes up a lot of space under the dash. I didn't find any surprises. :) The trash can was empty when I started.
:)
The E series front bumper is available painted without holes for the air dam, But it's quite a bit too wide. After reworking you could have it Chrome powder coated.
O&S made the 1st road trip in so long that I don't remember. :) I went 50 miles to Syracuse, a small town on the Colorado border. I picked up what appears to be a mustang 5.0 and a 1978 351 w. The man had access to a Cat skid steer with forks. We had the engines loaded in a few minutes. :) The 5.0 turns over properly. The 351 turns a few degrees and locks up both ways. My thought is a few stuck valves. The 5.0 has good compression while turning it over. I'm hoping for a standard bore block with nice cylinders. It's going to cool off again so it will be a while before I inspect the 5.0 to see what I purchased. :)
Might be interesting what is found inside the engines. :T)
I bet they are better off than that last cab was. :wink:
Glad it was a smooth snag and you knew what to look for. :)
I ran a leakdown on the 5.0. It has either some stuck or bent valves. I didn't hear any air escaping to the crankcase, though. From what little I have been able to find out, only mustang's came with the cast alum. valve covers. I don't know if they have been changed out, though. :)
O&S played outside this afternoon. It was 50 degrees but the sun was shining. :) I pulled the top end of the 302. I found lots of carbon and dirt that was in the runners of the intake that I believe is the reason for the leaky valves. I also found standard bore cylinders with no lip at the top. I didn't take the dial bore gauge out to see how much taper there is but it looked pretty good. There was some sludge that had dried out and looked like lumps of coal. :) I will disassemble everything and vat the stuff to see exactly what I bought but I think I got a good core for a stroker. I winder if the 351 is full of carbon and dirt also? :)
You should be able to drill that block for a roller cam spider.
You're looking at it. :) That's the triple x block that is a roller block.
It was time for O&S to get some more parts examined so I can make some decisions. I pulled a head on the 351. I saw something that was new to me. One cylinder had rust with the piston at almost bdc. That's why it would rotate a few degrees before locking up. It had some barnacles at the top of the piston that held the ring from going past it. Some quick work with the tip of a screwdriver and it was rotating. I sprayed that bank down with wd40 and turned the engine over several revolutions. You can see in the pics that we have entered sludge falls again. Both of the engines I purchased have similar sludge buildup. The 302 efi engine has minimal cylinder wear and the carb 351 has a lot of cylinder wear. I have disassembled 8 engines since 2007. The cleanest of the bunch was the 1991 F150 5.0 with 187,000 miles on it. It was as clean as any I have seen that had many miles on it. The 5.0 in the 32 had 80,000 miles on it and it wasn't any cleaner than the high mileage engine.
O&S completed a couple of house projects so it's time to make a little progress here. I brought the 351 in this afternoon and disassembled it. It needs to go to the vat to be able to tell anything. :) I did take the dial bore gauge to the cylinders. The taper wasn't bad but there are 3 different size of cylinders. Maybe this was common in 1978. 1 was larger than the others. It was only 2 thou out of round so that makes me think it was that size in the beginning???? 6 of them had 2 thou taper but were 4" in size. Once it's clean, I will check for cracks and any other damage to see if it's a good core.
This will either be interesting or boring to you. :) The following info is a fairly complete list of engine prices. The 3 sbf units all have $1900 cylinder heads and a $2400 Holley efi system included. They also have $3380 for the new TKX 5 speed and a good clutch added.
347 stroker - $10740
351 stroker - $11365
351 stroke stroke - $10565
The next couple are new crate engines all with either t56 or TKX trans, clutches, bellhousings and front drive accessories included.
GM 6.0 (360hp) cruise and connect - $14970
GM LS3 (430hp) cruise and connect - $16666
Dodge 5.7 hemi (385hp) - $14971
Ford 7.3 godzilla (430hp) $16210, I used an estimate for the front drive of $1500 because it isn't available yet. The ecu is aftermarket at $3550 as the Ford unit isn't available for a few months. All the Ford units have been 2 grand or less.
Used 5.0 coyote (430hp) with the MT82 trans - $8500 This will need power steering added somehow. Could be as little as $200 and as much as $510.
I really didn't want to use a wide engine but after getting into this, it made sense to look at all the combo's that I would consider. A new coyote setup is a little less than 15 grand.
Coyote for the win . :D
My feelings on these engines in reverse order:
Coyote - These are great engines. Powerful, free revving, sound fantastic, and it looks like you can make the price work. Fitting them under a lot of hoods is a real headache and rebuilding one costs cubic dollars.
Dodge late model Hemi - I don't know much about them but they have a great reputation. Early on getting them warmed up or using them for swaps was difficult but I think that's all handled now.
Ford Godzilla - This one looks to be all potential at this point. I'd love to see Ford develop an all new family of pushrod-based engines.
GM LS-architecture engines - Huge fan. This is the engine family which kicked off the modern muscle car era. There's a reason they're in everything...but they're in everything.
Small Block Ford - Now that you can get decent aftermarket heads for them they're very easy to like. Ford in a Ford, sounds like a great idea, sometimes hard to make it fit.
I don't think I've contributed any original thinking there, but that's how I see it.
Interesting information on prices for the engines. Ford in a Ford would be the idea for me.
I sit here like a stick in the mud old timer... 2 small block chevy long blocks, both 383 cid and an empty 4 bolt main chevy block with a nice .030 over bore without any rotating assembly for it. I have no cylinder heads for any of the 3. :lol:
I am running all Ford in my Ford TCoupe. 27 Ford TCoupe Powered by 1972 351W, Gt 40 heads. Dual 4's Ford FMX Automatic, 1993 Ford explorer Rear 3:73 Track Loc. I wanted to do a TCoupe so before the build I decided to keep it ALL Ford. Heck even the dash gauges say Ford in that Ford script. There are a couple of шевроле parts like steering column and Brake master Cylinder. Probably a few others. When this train wreck was launched I was so tired of sameness it seemed every car had the 350/350 and I kinda am known for taking my own road when it comes to building Motorcycles and automobiles. The Ford in a Ford just seemed like the right thing to do. Hmm I didn't want a lifetime to build project but so far I am alive and so is the project. 8)
It's friday and I've spent entirely too much time researching engine parts and prices this week. Every combo I have listed has some sort of compromise when compared to what I set out for goals last year for the next project. Either not complying with the parameters or more money than I wanted to spend on that segment of the budget. :) The pic attached is the 351w. I have bolted it together and it's going up for sale. It had the largest number of negatives of the bunch. The coyote is probable next of the "no" list. I didn't want a "fat" engine. The combo I priced had the MT82 trans, not the TKX that I wanted. If you buy an engine and add the rest, it got real spendy. I looked for LS manual trans drop outs. That didn't end well. You can buy an LS by itself for not much money. By the time it's ready to go, it was the same price as a coyote without the ecu being prepared and wiring changes. All I found had over a 100,000 miles. The godzilla is waiting on the control pack and the front accessorie drive pricing. There are unknowns about that setup as well. So for now, I'm going to build a chassis and mount the cab. When that is accomplished. I will see what is available. As of now, it probably won't have engine mounts for a while. :)
How about Electric power ? :lol:
C.K., I would be afraid the magnetic field caused by metalflake might render the ev controls ineffective. :lol:
Or give them superpowers! :lol: good one !
Here's what you need for a motor Mostly built with junkyard parts and you already have most of them. None of the work is beyond your talent and tools.
Thats got KB all over it! ^^^ :)
I shy away from engine discussion but have wondered if the given parameters could be met with a snail on a 300 I6.
That was interesting. The $800 cam is kind of the end of a low buck engine. Up to that, he hadn't spent much money.
Quote from: "kb426"That was interesting. The $800 cam is kind of the end of a low buck engine. Up to that, he hadn't spent much money.
Yes, but he made 400 hp naturally asperated on a bone stock 351W bottom end. It had 8.6 compression with cast pistons. And if you want, I can hook you up with an outfit that does custom grinds for a lot less than that. He has done it for me in the past and I have had zero problems.
That is such a neat idea . Not something for the 1 800 guys but an interesting challenge for the tinkerer/fabricator.
1st look: ebay heads that have rockers and supposedly have had a valve job, $520, Intake manifold with fuel rails and a throttle body, $574, Cam could be at least $400. That leaves custom pushrods, cam sensor distributor and a efi management system. If the efi system doesn't have ignition included, you would need the MSD stand alone controller. $475 plus coils and wiring. The total is up to a couple of grand and you can do the same hp. with a good set of heads and similar cam. I love odd job deals but this is marginal in results. I hadn't been able to find a roller cam 351 block, either. I don't know why the man choose cathedral port heads. The rectangle heads seem to be better in many ways. Am I missing something?
Cylinder heads have nearly always been the downfall of Fords. I'm not sure why, but that's how it's always been. I've been reminded of that again as I'm considering the prospects of an SN95 Mustang. At the moment they're the least expensive of all the Mustangs due to the way values fall and then rise on used cars. Fox bodies are already headed up and these cars will be next.
The 4.6 2v makes more power than the 5.0 cars, the rotating assembly can be very reliable up to 450hp, but...the cylinder heads. An OHC engine that runs out of breath at 5500rpm?
Fords downfall in performance has always been in the exhaust port . Getting a V8 to fit between shock towers in the early mustangs etc was the reason for that.
Seems like the engine program is getting a bit complicated? I understand you are heavy in the cypher mode.
the exhaust ports on my Ford inline 6 engine 1978 200 cid were quite small. I put some effort into them for port and bowl work to help flow.
Progress is about to begin. I ran to Garden City this morning and picked up enough steel to finish the chassis and bed frame. The older stock was priced very reasonable. The new stock was 2.5 times higher than it was several years ago. The important thing is they had the inventory to fill my order. :) My plan is to have very little inventory of steel left when this is done. My lack of storage space has a lot to do with that plan.
Hot diggity! :) 8)
Happiness is bringing home exactly what you went for.
O&S worked a little on this today. The rest of the steel is moved to the garage and the 302 was brought in and disassembled. I haven't measured everything but there was no glaring problem. :) The worst thing I see was a shortage of oil changes. :)
O&S was busy today. I finished stripping the block and have all the steel parts vatted. The block and crank all measure good. There's 1 thou taper on the cylinders. As near as I can tell, this is a 87 or 88 mustang engine. It has forged pistons and all the casting numbers correspond with the info I have. Now it's time for decisions. I have to decide how much money I want to spend. 400 hp. is possible with a stock stroke engine with really good cylinder heads and a streetable camshaft. I can just freshen the engine and spend very little or step up by around $2500 to double the HP.
Minor update. Pistons are cleaned and the heads and valves are cleaned. I ordered a bunch of parts today but not enough to finish the engine. More decisions ahead. :) It's been quite a while since I had to clean ring grooves. I've been using new pistons on my engine builds. It didn't take long to remember how tedious it is to do that. LOL.
O&S finished a few tasks on the block today. I had a soft plug in an oil galley that was stuck. My efforts for removal had failed so far. I thought about making a tool to use as a puller from the back side but decided I would try something different 1st. The plug is .5" od. I drilled it and tapped for 3/8. That was a starter. I ran a 7/16" coarse thread tap through it. I took a bolt with a nut and washer and threaded into the plug. I tightened down the nut and it removed the plug. Mission accomplished. :) I dingle berried the cylinders. Then I threw the block back in the vat for about 15 minutes. It's clean enough to be a good start. I have cleaned cylinders by hand before and never thought I got them as clean as they should be. All the abrasive grit is our enemy for the parts having a good chance to a long life. :) Slowly moving forward. :)
I was taught to wipe the bores clean in the opposite direction that the hone was spun . Always did that in the hydraulic cylinders that I machined
O&S did some yard work while some bolts, pulleys and the alum brackets from the front of the engine we being vatted. All the soft plugs, the crank, rods and pistons are in. Clearances are real nice. :)
A friend is changing a camshaft in an LS engine.. He found a take out cam from a OEM Supercharged (?) engine. His app is a turbo LS. He commented about new camshafts are hard to find right now. No cores available or in short supply.
O&S was cleaning more parts. I was down to the lifters. After washing them in the solvent tank, I noticed one of the plungers was moving different from the others when I blew air through the lifter. I found out that many of the lifters were sludged up and sticking. It was a chore to get then apart and cleaned. A couple had the internal plunger completely filled with hard sediment. They were probably fine when working however many years ago when it was parked but after sitting, it was close to rock solid. I have another set of lifters but because these were low mileage, I wanted to use them. If I charged by the hour, I'd be broke on this deal. LOL.
Quote from: "kb426"If I charged by the hour, I'd be broke on this deal. LOL.
Yes... years ago when I was a car flipping , rebuilding, repairing guy the hours I pput in on the old cars to drive them , resell them, trade them.
O&S spent several hours assembling lifters today. It took a couple of tries to find a method to hold the lifter, push the plunger down and install the keeper. I managed to let a few take off to outer space and ended up robbing keepers from regular hyd. lifters. They are small and blind old guys are in trouble when trying to find them. :) Some of you may like pretty parts. The pics are a few items that have arrived.
O&S was on the job for a while today. The fedex man was glad my house was among the 1st on his route. Plenty of boxes. The glass kit form Auto City Classics arrived. They have packaging down pat. That isn't my 1st from them. They arrive undamaged. I'm impressed. :) After lunch, I did a little head work. Nothing new to most. Port match, bowl blend and thermactor bump removed. Slowly moving forward. It was 103 with 14% humidity this afternoon. I had a breeze blowing through the shop. Very pleasant for summer. :)
O&S ordered more parts and finished up the cylinder heads. They are under a trash bag in the corner. :) New springs, seals, port work. Still not much but better than they were. The springs are 120 lbs. on the seat versus 70 for oem. I intend to be able to rev to 6 grand. :) More parts ordering to finish out the day.
That hill o' parts must represent a mountain of research and deliberation. I marvel as though standing at the foot of the great pyramid. Nice going. :)
O&S at it's finest. I struggled mentally today. What I was doing required reverse thinking as in laying out wall paneling on the back side. Lots of layout time trying to avoid mistakes. The 1st pic is the crush sleeves that go into the front rails that bolt to the c.v. cross member. They are 1/2" black pipe. Bored to size on the inside to .635 for .625 bolts. That was a light cut to remove the seam. The 2nd pic is a rail in the mill. I use the dro for measuring. It sure beats blind old guy scribe and marking. The od of the crush sleeves required the holes to be bored to size. I thought I would get both done today. :) Not so exhaust breath! One is ready for welding. I started off the day with mowing and cutting up the 2 x 4 in a good saw for the miters for the offset on the frame rails. A few more parts arrived. None to be excited about. :)
O&S is finished for the day. T.B. has set in again. I have the 2nd frame leg machined and all the crush sleeves welded in. The drawing I found on the internet had the offset of the bolts and the center pin backwards. I went to line things up last night and didn't like what I saw. :) I found a different drawing this morning that has the offset in the correct orientation. I knew there was offset involved but didn't know until after the initial layup that there was a problem. It was easily remedied. I flipped the legs in the mill and changed the offset of the center pin which allowed the bolts to be in their proper location. The offset on the frame legs is welded and the measurements checked on the crossmember. That was enough fun for one day. :)
O&S got a little accomplished today. More parts arrived. Ac and fuel tank are off the list. I left out a pic of the front frame rails yesterday. The 2 x 6 rails were derusted some and cut for the front rails. Measure many times, cut once. :)
How do you deal with mill scale? :)
60 or 80 grit on the small grinder for welding and blasting before painting.
O&S started off the day with yard work. A little weed pulling makes welding look wonderful. :) The 1st task was to install a main seal repair sleeve on the crank in the 302. I put up some pics incase someone is unaware of these. I had the rear main cap off to check everything. The tool works with the cap on. There was plenty of clamping and moving on the 2 frame rails while getting the front legs welded in. The front legs are stubbed in at 12". That's twice what most are. I don't know if it will be a benefit or overkill. :) This was the easy part. It will get more interesting after this. :)
O&S was in low gear today. I did yard work for several hours and then got started by bolting the rails to the front end. Then the thinking began. With the concept of worst 1st, I cut apart the lower a-arms adjusting bushing and rotated them. This is a normal deal for a c.v. conversion. I had some left over brackets from a prior project. I modified them to fit over the existing brackets. I need to cut some metal to weld them to the frame rails. Then the 2 plates can be bolted together for front end adjustment. That was the stopping point for today. I spent more time thinking than working today. :)
O&S is plodding forward. I used the new plasma cutter for the 1st time today. It works fine. I free handed some cuts without a guide so there was some grinding involved to finish the parts. The lower a arm supports are finished. My ebay grille arrived. The description said "no bondo" As you can see in the pics, there is bondo. I did a little hammer and dollie work to straighten the lower portion and plenty of bondo fell off. I have sent an email to the seller to see if there is any adjustment on price for that. :)
Will you need to narrow it? If so, where? :)
Yes, right next to the headlight buckets. I'm thinking 8" just as the grille you did in your 51. I will measure the original grille to be sure, though. I don't think there is any width difference between an f1 and an f6 but I don't know for sure, yet.
I think I took out 6". About a headlight's worth. You gonna use the 51 park / signal lamps or do you know? Just curious. :)
No decision yet. I need to examine the ones I have to see if they are usable.
That sucks that the "no bondo" grille has pull rod holes and of course damage. And bondo. Not that you can't use it but dang. Evil knows no boundaries.
My thought on the F1 was if not using stock signals, theres the flat spot on bottom of headlight hoops to deal with. Be a good spot to mount a different lamp.
Then theres the corresponding features in the valance to shave, plus another in the center either way. But those help locate the headlights and establish how much width to remove.
I noticed the headlight hoops are integral rather than seperate so it won't be any easier than what I did. Perhaps if 51 hoops were used, they could overlap the grille center like a 51.
Just points to ponder on that. I already got the new chassis thrill just seeing your rails together. :)
Carry on and pace yourself enjoyably.
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tbF7LiV-aJc/YNe7jJYu53I/AAAAAAAAPSI/Rqt4q3-0kfo9kSFiJCXKJT9iTEYzC8oKQCLcBGAsYHQ/s599/Resizer_16247507594590.jpg)
Just rattling your cage. :)
Just to add more confusion. I like the looks of the front of a 47 Ford car grafted to those trucks. But then I tend to march to a different drum.
O&S played catch up this morning after being gone for 3 days. Yard work and cleaning the 51. I noticed it got a pencil size rock chip on the front of a rear fender. It's ugly. I spent somewhere between 2 and 3 hours on the grille this afternoon. I removed the rest of the bondo and did hammer and dollie work. I need to weld up the holes but it won't take too think of mud to finish it. One of the hammers I used was a small sledge. I was gentle. :)
John, I looked and couldn't find a pic of a 51 with that front end. I have seen the 47 truck with the car front end before. That was an improvement. Matt, I won't take the v out of the middle. I did find the lower air vent to be interesting. I have done no thinking about a center emblem. That could be way at the end. :) I spent some time talking to a guy I met 3 years ago from the Springs. He has a 63 Fairlane wagon he turned into a 2 door. It's plain and simple but has several custom touches that blend in so well that most won't notice them. My kind of deal. He told me it took 6 years to build. I got the impression that he was done. Turns out he has retired from being a body man. He's now doing a 57 Del Rio wagon. He started describing what he's doing and my mind went into gear. I started a list of things I'm thinking about doing to this truck. There was somewhere between 8 and 12 of these trucks at Pueblo. Many are stock appearing. Some have some mods. Most are in the rear at the roll pan or bumper area. I took pics of the rears to help me in the decision of tail lights. Many times I find that I see what I don't want rather than what I do want. Process of elimination. :)
O&S has reached a new slow. LOL. I pulled weeds for a while this morning before moving on to more desirable jobs. Yesterday, I picked up the seat that was in the F6. Plenty ugly. This morning I stripped it and threw the refuse away. I don't know if I will try to use the seat or not. It might have been thrown away so it's my mess now. :) I brought the mark 8 rear in and measured from the axle centerline to determine where the frame height will be in relation to the mounting points. I removed the front mounting arms and plated the remaining frame. I will flip the rear to weld the underneath side of the plates. I've been laying on my back to do this in the past. There's no reason to do this at this point. :)
I enjoyed the crud pile pic and juicy mod talk! :)
I spent a lot of the morning doing yard work so the next few days can be hot rod city. :) The rear fenders arrived right before lunch. One box had a hole in it. No damage there. A nice crease down the side of the fender, though. I filed a claim but I'm not optimistic on results. :) I moved then to the shed and disposed of the boxes. I did order some more parts today. Shortages are making decisions easier. I did bring in the rear and flip it and weld the underside of the plates I started on yesterday.
Ouch on the gouge in the new metal. Rats. Those are some pretty nice fenders though, aren't they? They look to be F-1s like we got at work.
Yes, I believe they are the same that you have. I found many selling what they called "their" fenders. Eventually, the trail led back to Dynacorn. I found the best shipping and price and bought them. They were drop shipped from Dynacorn. :)
I filed a claim this morning on the fenders. We'll see. :) It was after lunch before I made it to actually work on something. :) I cut off the extra length of the frame rails and have a bulkhead tacked in. The bulkhead allowed me to level and square up the rails. It will have to have the driveshaft and many other items ran through it. After the rear is mounted and the other supports are in. I may remove it to machine holes in it. Maybe not. Unknown at this point. The 2x6 rails are ballooned some so clamping parts together to flatten the vertical side is part of the operation. O&S at less than normal speed. :)
Man its cool every time you do that. 8) Hot rod city. :)
Is the bulkhead a new approach for you? Made me think of if it were mostly fixed but split across component holes for a removable lower "cap" (as in rod or main, in machinist-speak). :lol: For added serviceability, if desired. Looking kind of like stocks used to detain lawbreakers in colonial times when apart but not obvious when together. Just a thought with added complexity of course. :) Machined holes only would be slickest from the roadkill's-eye-view. :wink:
How about one of those Interceptor emblems or Panther tail lights on that puppy when you get done? :-o ~:)
Matt, because the irs has a fixed driveshaft position, the opening can be smaller. The downside is you have to have enough room to install it. I haven't decided where to run the exhaust yet so there could be holes for that.
Today, O&S was a worker. Still slower than I should be but there is measurable progress. :) The front stub is on. The radiator support is tacked in. I installed crush sleeves for the bolts. The sway bar is mounted. I had to make clamps for the rubber bushings. I used 1/8 x 1" flat metal. Parts are cut up for the kick up over the rear. Once it's tacked in place, I can see if my engineering was correct. The instrument cluster arrived today. Might be the last one to be purchased right now. :)
O&S made measurable progress again today. The parts that run above the rear carrier are welded and on the frame. The idea that I had for the rear carrier mount didn't work out so I modified the kick up and have a simpler plan. The pic of the rear in position is around 1 inch above the carrier mount height.
O&S achieved a new rating today: no speed. :) I spent all day making 4 brackets and cutting two pieces for rear ride height struts. Nothing is bolted down yet. The rear isn't in the correct position to start mounting parts. There will be spacers made for the 2 bolts that go through the ends of the coil overs. A comment about some of the parts I have purchased. I cry when I buy Ridetech parts but they come packaged better than almost anyone else's parts. Everything is in the box in separate bags or wrappers. It makes me smile when I open a box and it looks like an engineer designed the layout. :)
O&S spent more time measuring and thinking today than welding. The rear is in position and the rear brackets are welded in place. They will get braces. The front mounts are Laid in position. Lots more work on them.
Coming along nicely KB.
Thanks Dave. :)
O&S is on wheels. I was able to roll it out and sweep the shop. The rear is mounted minus some braces. The rear hoop is on minus 2 braces. Being able to roll it around is an accomplishment because of lack of shop space. :)
8)
O&S made little progress today. I was in low gear all day. The cab is on the frame for cab mounts. The only definitive measurement that I have been able to use is from the axle cl to the back of the cab. I marked off the frame and clamped a piece of tubing in place for the back stop. I spaced under the cab to where it's level and centered. Then the inner fenders were bolted to the radiator support. That's when I discovered that I had the angle of the radiator crossmember off. The radiator support is not vertical. I knew that 7 years ago. :) I cut the support loose and will reposition it tomorrow. I'm glad I had tack welded it. I wasn't sure about the height of it so I was prepared to have to move it. No foul language, no temper, just I have to move it. When I was 17, a man told me that a man whose equipment never breaks down either is a liar or he never does anything. In this case change it to "never makes any mistakes" and apply it to the original statement. :) I'm pretty sure it won't be the last before this is completed. :)
O&S made a little progress today. I started with positioning the radiator support at the proper angle and welding it in. I was curious what the wheel inset was with a fender on. The left side was 1st in line in storage. The pic is ambiguous but I think I have what the desired outcome is. The left fender and inner fender had a serious dent that came front the ground up behind the front wheel. I worked on it some when I disassembled the truck. 2 hours later, it started to look like a fender. :) Not good but way better than it was. I moved on to cab mounts. I have 5 out of 6 tacked in place before TB set in. The 4 rear mounts will have 3/16" plates on top of them to support the floor in as wide as an area as possible. I will use a layer of body welting between the mounts and the body when it's mounted for the last time.
I'll be interested in seeing what cab-to-bed spacing you end up with.
Matt, the white truck has 3/4". That's my plan at this point.
O&S did yard work this morning. I removed the cab and welded the cab mounts. Not much progress. :)
O&S started out the day by flipping the truck around. I pulled the cab and ran the frame out and used a floor jack and 4 x 4 and twirled it around. I then changed gears and assembled the engine and trans. I set that in the frame to get a rough idea of where everything would be. I will do some measurements and get a rough idea of the trans mount and engine mounts before removing it. After removing, there will be some braces installed in the frame. After the bracing and all the rest of the welding is done on the frame, I will do the engine and trans mounts.
O&S spent most of the morning measuring as much as I could to determine placement of various parts. Here's a tech spec for you: the pinion on the rear is offset .875" to the right side so the engine is also. I tried using 351w exhaust manifolds. Too many problems. One pic is of the clearance from the water pump shaft to the radiator and electric fan. After the measuring, I removed the cab and put it back outside. I brought the chassis back in and put it on stands. I cut some tubing to finish the step down on the rear stub and welded those in. I welded the underneath side of several places and developed TB. :)
O&S removed the bulkhead crossmember and cut a u in it for the driveshaft and possibly exhaust pipes. The pic is poor but there is an area machined in both sides next to the outer frame rails to run brakelines on one side and fuel lines on the other side. They are below the centerline on the crossmember. I installed a short connector brace on the large crossmember to the front irs mount crossmember. I put the driveshaft in place to check some measurements. Tomorrow, I will put the engine and trans back in and double check before installing any more crossmembers.
I did a volare clip in a 51 years agowith a 351 windsor . 69 mustang headers fit with a slight tweak of the collecters
O&S used most of the morning to measure around the engine and driveshaft. I decided that the location for the cross member was too close to the driveshaft. I ended up moving it rearward to avoid a possible problem. The pics are using the mill to fish mouth the tubes, the welded cross bracing, the 2 reliefs that I cut in the bulkhead crossmember yesterday. I ordered block hugger headers this morning. After measuring again, I think they will be the only units that will clear most of the obstacles. :)
O&S had less than half a day in the shop. I'm making support brackets for the upper portion of the front suspension cradle. I have to make spacers to go on the back side of them. The brackets will have some angle on them. Without spacers, removing and installing the front cradle could be a chore. :) Portions of the brackets were machined to be perpendicular to the frame mount portion. Very little progress. :)
You are doing a great job. It is fun to watch. :D
O&S had another half day. We have parts pics. The trans arrived with the box as you see it. I spent most of the afternoon working on the front braces on the front suspension. I modified the underneath side profile some where the flat met the radius. The spacers I used are 3/16" on the front and 3/8" on the rear.
8)
Wow on the boxing. Somehow it seems like the most critical items are the ones always packaged in the cardboard equivalent of a hair net. :roll:
In the late 80's, I raced with 2 brothers from Salt Lake City. They were bag boys for United Airlines. They mentioned the Samsonite gorilla commercial where the gorilla beat up the luggage to prove how good it was. They said the gorilla was a wuss and wouldn't last a day. LOL. I just expect the worst with shipping anymore. It only takes one person to wreck something and make the rest look poor. :)
Hughes Perf Changed packing on transmissions years ago. We always used HD boxes.. An expanding foam was introduced. Spray in, expands. Boxes were strapped to pallets, then plastic wrap around them. The dock workers still manage to break the boxes off the pallets and the transmission out of the boxes with broken bell housings and pan rails of the trans case. I've seen photos of busted boxes and transmissions and you wonder how the H did the dock worker do it? I spent a few years working nights on docks, running forklifts, loading trucks in the early 1970s. You have to be an idiot to destroy stuff that I have seen
You have to be an idiot to destroy stuff that I have seen
Those are the only people you can hire anymore.
Your work is looking great as usual KB. You should be rolling it out of the paint shop by the end of August.
:D
O&S was in low gear again. I made some parts for braces on the rear end mounts and the front suspension upper supports. I have been walking past the rear end for way too long, looking at these 2 loops that have no use to me. Today they went to the trash bin. I ran the chassis outside so it could work on it's suntan while I cleaned up a bit. :)
Chassis looks nice to me, I see big car ride quality. Plus theres clever all over it. :)
Thank you to all who have commented. I will try to be brief on descriptions so as not to take up much of your time. It's summer and we all are busy. :) In case anyone was curious why I braced one side of the mounts, my goal is controlled flex rather than rigidity. Time will tell if that is a good idea or an eminent point of failure. :)
O&S struggled today. I needed a piece of 22 gauge sheet metal to make a spacer ring for the bellhousing. All I had was 20 gauge. I spent plenty of time trying to sand it down and realized if I wasn't careful, I would kill the day and get nothing accomplished. :) I aligned the bellhousing with feeler gauges in 4 positions and center punched the 2 holes that needed drilled and tapped. I put the bellhousing in the mill and drilled them and started the tap with the mill. When I get the spacer ring finished, I'll machine the other two holes. They require plugging of the existing holes and machining the holes before tapping. I installed the cab back on the frame. When I finished welding the rear bulkhead, it caused some waring on the frame rails. They sucked in which required elongating the mounting holes on the frame. Not a big deal, just took time. :) I bolted the block huggers on the engine and put it back in the frame. I moved it around until I thought I have the best compromise of clearance on everything. I measured and double checked everything before I removed the engine. I have a plan for the trans and engine mounts that aren't cool but very functional and durable. I will spend some time thinking about that in case I find a better idea. :)
I had a tight cam bearing in the engine. The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that it could cause a problem rather than loosen up. I ordered some new bearings and pulled the crank and front cover from the engine. I replaced a few bearings that didn't look good and then the cam spun easily. I reassembled the engine and got started on the trans and engine mounts. About 4 pm, my feet told me that I had stood in one place long enough. I quit soon there after. :)
O&S has reached consistency. SLOW. :) I made 8 tabs for the trans and engine mounts. They were cut with a plasma cutter and ground to size. The holes are drilled in the mill for accuracy of location. The trans mount has crush sleeves for 1/2" fasteners and once again I used the mill for accuracy. The plate for the mount is 3/16" plasma cut. I put it in the mill and machined it to parallel for width. The mount plate has the holes elongated 1" for fore and aft movement incase I need some adjustment. I put the plate in the bender and went 22 degrees on my measurement. That makes 44 degrees of angle. :) The actual mount is 3/4" below the bottom of the frame rail. The 2" tube will be even with the bottom of the frame rails.
Your process and finished work is much better than mine. I usually cut with torch, rough shape with a hand held grinder and finish with a hand file. :D Poor people have poor ways. Most tings I make have to be "adjusted" in order for them to fit and work.
I really think you have earned some time off.
WZ Junk, I've seen your work and it's very good. :) Thank you for the compliment. :)
O&S plodded along and went until TB set in. The 1st motor mount adapter I made was narrow and had a 90 degree edge on one side. I decided that that might be less than it could be. The 2nd version has flanges on both sides of the actual mount. I did find out that my 20 ton press wouldn't do a complete 90 degree bend on 8" of 3/16" plate before the jack bypassed. :) I have the engine and trans in the chassis and lined up pretty close. I was about to tack in the trans mount when my feet told me it was time to quit. When I was taking pics, the offset on the trans mount looked incorrect. I measured twice and double checked my calculations twice. The 7/8" offset looks excessive. :) I did do some yard work this morning so I don't have a complete day in my lack of progress. LOL.
Quote from: "kb426"I did do some yard work this morning so I don't have a complete day in my lack of progress. LOL.
Slacker :D :D
O&S stayed after it today. It was almost 5 pm when I rolled up the cords and cleaned the shop up some. :) This may be one of the more unusual engine mounts you've seen. The plan was to tie the 2 frame rails together with the engine mount crossmember. The engine mounts are Dodge pickup slant 6 parts that the cobra kit car guys use. The steering shaft will be a problem on some level. Plenty of compromises. :)
I like the mounts. Everything looks clean. The simplest solution is always the best.
I have used a steering universal from an Astro van in the past. Other mini vans might have similar joints. They are designed to work at greater angles than the Borgeson style joints. If you think about it the driver in these style of vehicles sits nearly over the top of the rack and pinion.
Thank you. I used one of those in the 32. I had read about it being an inexpensive solution to the problem. The salvage yards around here have smashed all the older units. Finding anything with age is tough. :)
O&S is back at it. The fuel tank is assembled and the top mount is welded in. More thinking needed for the strap attachment on the other end. :)
O&S put in half a day today. The pics are some belting spacers that go on the cab mounts, the 2nd bell housing register spacer from new material that I believe is the proper thickness to let this work, a poor pic of the end of the tank strap that I doubled up and welded the doubler to the original and the straps fastened to the rear frame rail. I will probably add a nut under the frame rail and weld it to the rail. I'm not comfortable with coarse threads in 3/16" material. :)
O&S was slow and steady today. The pics are of the additional nut welded to the frame for the tank strap, a shot of the bellhousing shim wrapped around the trans hub, using the mill to start the tap, the amount of plug that was drilled for the new holes and the finished project from the flywheel side. The 22 gauge metal was perfect. It's very snug in fit. The plugs for the existing 2 holes were made from 1/2" alum rod. I turned the od to .473 and threaded the rod. I used loctite on the threads when I installed them in the bell housing. I cut off the extra and used the mill to face them down. The 4 bolts fit perfect. I have several hours in the layout and machining. For those that may not know, I converted a t5 bellhousing to a tko - tkx.
Kool stuff. I've been following along. Look like different shoes? 8)
O&S did more thinking than working today. I have a pair of new 2010 Mustang gt mufflers that I have saved. They won't fit. Too wide, too fat, etc. I have a new clutch cable that I bought for a spare on the white 51. I took it out of the package and went to install it to check for clearance. It's the wrong one. The clutch end is double the length it should be. I have no idea what year it might fit. :) I researched mufflers for a while and don't like what I find. I want a healthy idle and quiet going down the road. I won't say it's impossible but nothing I looked at will do that. I'd rather be quiet than loud so I'm going to order something similar to what's on the white truck. There are space considerations also. I cut and welded the 90 degree extensions on to the header adapters. I got started on one side for the pipe headed towards the rear. I'm doing a swan's neck over the trans crossmember and then using tight angles to level it out for the muffler connection. I will need tight bends for the tail pipes. If I ran them under the trans crossmember, they would be straight and simple. You know that the trans will have to come out someday. Removing the exhaust to do that doesn't sound like good engineering to me. :)
O&S woke up with a mindset to redo yesterday's start on the exhaust pipes. The more I had thought about the swan's neck approach, the less I liked it. I used up the rest of my Speedway bends. I should have ordered more. :) I made brackets for the rear brakelines. One side is longer than the other so the bracket is welded on the other side of the frame rail. I cut the alum. driveshaft that is leftover from the crown vic that I used for the blue 72. Tomorrow I will put the 4 jaw chuck on and see if I can get it all aligned properly. If not, it's off to a drive shaft shop for welding.
Looks good. 8)
O&S was about 60% successful today. I spent hours with the 4 jaw chuck machining the driveshaft end. 10 minutes machine time and the rest in set up and centering. :) The shaft was too long to do everything properly in my lathe. I jury rigged and had .004 total runout. I tacked it and checked, moved it and more tacks. I thought I had it in place. When I finished welding and checked it, it has .012" total runout. I don't think that is good enough. I will order a new driveshaft on monday. I can get a new unit for $9 more than the cost of welding and balancing the old unit. I am disappointed but not surprised. It was closer than my last attempt but for a high speed application, it will vibrate. About 4:30, the phone rang. It was the freight man. He was 30 minutes away and wanted to make sure I was there. He arrived and we unloaded the crate. The bed looks good. The top of the crate looked like shake shingles. That made it real easy to uncrate. :) I have both tabs for the front brakelines ready to weld on. There are a reverse of the rear units. It leaves the brake line running under the frame rail and on the outside so a wrench will be easy to use on it.
O&S got started with a realization that the front brake hose brackets weren't symmetrical. I wanted them facing the same direction. I fixed that and then put the tires on. Then I found that one side rubbed the tire at full lock. I had to bend the bracket to alleviate that situation. Then I double checked measurements and cut the metal for the bed frame. Tonight's stopping point was the frame tacked together minus 2 cross pieces.
O&S was greeted by rain this morning. I finished welding in the crossmembers on the bed frame. The front bed frame mounts are from 2 x 3 tubing. I put them in the mill and machined them to the dimensions that I wanted. They have a .125" plate across the open area of the tube and a crush sleeve for a 1/2" bolt. I have marks scribed on the chassis that were measuring points for the cab, crossmembers and the front axle centerline. I measured from these points for a couple of hours before tacking in the bed mounts. I'm going to put the cab back on before I finish welding them. I want to make sure. :) TB has set in. :)
Good man. Being sure is essential. :)
Another draggy day for O&S. I used the taller hoist to put the cab back on this morning. The down side of that is pushing the truck back up the sloping driveway. :) I spent hours moving the bed panels around to find what I thought was the best position. I was using a digital level working with fractions of degrees. I trust it more than my eyes with the optical illusions created by not being 20' back away from the truck to have a good line of sight. I have a few more holes to drill for the front panel left to do. I'm going to run it back outside and take a look before drilling the holes in the frame for the chassis mounts. The mufflers arrived this morning and I believe the offset outlet will make running tailpipes un-complex. :) The pics show a piece of 3/4" hardwood between the cab and bed. The last pic shows the wood laying next to the filler neck. I'm using a 3/4" thick floor so the filler will be below the top of the floor.
After an embarrassing amount of time, O&S has the bed mounted. There is some welding left after the bed is removed. I ended up cutting both mounts on the right side loose and moving them. I don't know if poor eyesight is the reason or something else but it appears that one of my scribe marks on the chassis was off. :) I will measure all the bolts needed to bolt the chassis together and get 12 point fasteners to bolt it all together.
O&S spent a lot of today with yard work. It's time to be thinking about other areas that need solutions. The steering column is on that list. I took a piece of exhaust tubing and laid it in a possible position in the cab and started looking at where I would have to do the least cutting on the motor mount bracket and still miss the header. I trimmed the original trans cover a bit and it will clear the trans. I didn't want to cut the main crossmember in the cab but it will be impossible to remove the trans without a lot of work. I will need to devise some bracing and make an area around 4" removable.
that yard work will wear you out...
O&S has the bed removed from the chassis. There were 4 more fasteners that needed holes drilled on the front panel. It's now under a tarp on the hf trailer. I finished welding the bed mounts. I wasn't satisfied with the way the top tank mounts ended. A few cuts and a big whack with a sledge and I was able to weld them and make them look much better. I moved the cab back and pulled the engine and trans up so I could remove the engine mount crossmember. I cut and welded a brace in on the left side. Tomorrow I will work on angles to figure out where to trim for the steering shaft. TB has set it. :)
Tony, everything wears me out. :)
This was a very light day for O&S. I pulled the engine crossmember and machined it for the steering shaft to go through it. I have a piece of tubing to replicate a steering column. I put the original seat in the truck and used measurements from the white 51 for steering wheel location. I believe I'm in good shape. I ordered 12 point bolts for the chassis and I have been looking at aftermarket steering columns to see if any will do what I want. :)
KB I think I said this on one of your last projects. You are incredible!! You have went from just the front suspension from the Crown Vic on Jan. 12 2021 to this in 7 months. Wow great work.
Mike
Quote from: "50 F1"KB I think I said this on one of your last projects. You are incredible!! You have went from just the front suspension from the Crown Vic on Jan. 12 2021 to this in 7 months. Wow great work.
Mike
Yes, isn't he though. It's enough to make you puke. :D
Thank you for the comments. :) To the best of my knowledge, everyone who is active on this forum would qualify for an advanced user so the comments are coming from experienced people. That means a lot to me. :)
O&S fought the bear today. He didn't win but he sure wore me down. The aftermarket tilt columns get quite a bit of bad press. You can pay any price for them but most are made in the same area. I was ready to build a simple column like I had in the 32. I wanted cancelling turn signals. I wasn't finding anything that was making me believe I found a good solution. I went to the shed and pulled out the 88 F150 column again. I proceeded to strip it of the column shift and the ignition lock. The column shift part wasn't too bad. Some of the parts were rusty or gunky so it took a little effort. The key was stuck in the tumbler. That means the locking pin won't retract. I spent an embarrassing amount of time removing that assembly. I modified the original f150 u-joint shaft and started lining the parts up. I may have to trim the engine mount crossmember a little at an upper corner. I pulled the pedal assembly from the attic and the diameter of the column will cause clearance problems. Tomorrow, I will address that. I painted the headers and pipes with high temp coating mostly to keep them from rusting. I've had good results on tail pipes but not so good on the headers.
O&S quit early in the shop. I hadn't made any mistakes yet and didn't want to risk it. :) I started out with cutting the ends of the f150 column off. I put them in the lathe and made cuts perpendicular to the shafts. I used some more on the 1.625" chrome moly tubing for the center. I put it in the lathe for accuracy of length and cuts. I cut 2 plates from 3'16" plate and machined them in the lathe for the adapters to go from the original column ends to the 1.625 tubing in the center. The plates have 1.5" holes in them. I used a piece of 1.5" tubing for an alinement bar. I sanded off the welds on the 2 end pieces that will be visible and painted. The wheel spins with little effort. I just ordered a u-joint to go from 36 spline to double d. If the turn signal switch will pass current, that's all that I will need short of a steering wheel when I make a decision about which one to get. :) I have some other parts to get ordered so I'll try to do that still today.
O&S started the day with yard work. Most of the sheet metal except for the cab and hood went to the vat. There is enough sheen on some of it that I can see the dents better. :) I have some parts lined up to build a tail gate.
O&S had quite a day. I started off by getting the pedal assembly down from storage and putting 2 holes in the firewall in a similar location as the white 51. I looked at the new 2003 hydroboost unit and matched it to the pedal assembly. The hydroboost plunger is in the wrong location for the pedal. I was unaware that in 1999 they changed the pedal ratio. I have another pedal that I will cut apart and remove the pin from. Then I will bore a hole in the pedal I will use and weld in the pin. :) I messed with the column for a while and wasn't happy with how it was looking. I pulled the engine crossmember and trimmed it some. Same results. I pulled it again and cut the top on the tubing out. I started making some progress then. I roughed out some brackets to get close to where the column will end up. The pics show the approximate position. I can't believe how much time I have spent on this steering assembly. :) I seem to have developed some brain damage along the way. LOL. The new driveshaft arrived today. It took less than 10 minutes to put the yokes on and install it in the truck. It does appear to be what I ordered. :)
O&S had a short day. The steering column is in. The pedals are mounted but that's half the job. The register for the hydroboost hasn't been cut yet and I usually make a firewall doubler plate to spread the stress of the pedal assembly over a wider area. I haven't started that yet. The extra pin was removed from the spare brake pedal. It is slightly under 9/16". The hole will have to be bored to size. I had the original seat in for setting heights on the pedals and column. It's an inch higher than what I have been used to. The brake pedal is close to the steering column. I will put it in the press and do a little bending when it's out for the other pin to be installed.
Ya... the 2nd and third pedal look close to the column . Or is it an optical illusion?
You are correct, Tony. H.F. press to the rescue. I used to use an assortment of methods but having the press break dies does allow me to have more precision with bending.
That vat looks to be a good friend to have. :)
Matt it is. I found out by accident that you need to heat all the double seams and braces with some kind of a torch to remove all of the residue and moisture left over from the process. I have streaks of red rust coming from seams on some of the parts on the 51. I didn't know why. I found a video of a shop that has been dipping bodies for a long time where they showed an employee using a propane troch to heat those areas. :)
O&S plodded along today again. I machined the brake pedal for the new pin and pressed it in and welded the back side just as the original was. The pics show that as well as the new pedal spacing, a simple brace for the pedal hanger to the dash and the firewall backing plate that isn't installed yet.
O&S was greeted by a somewhat cooler day today. The high was 82. There was considerable humidity. I started off the day with fabbing a frame for the tailgate. The uprights were cut to length in the mill. The round tubes were faced off in the lathe. The top tube is 2 pieces welded together. After completing that task, I made a post office run. The new u joint for the steering arrived. I got to looking at what I had and ended up taking a stub shaft that has the 36 spline end and turning into a dd shaft. It's stuck in the end of the column for an extension. Then I had some steering shaft left over from possibly the 53 chevy that donated it's 3/4" round stock. I stuck it in the mill and turned it into dd also. The top u joint and the shaft will be drilled for a center shoulder bolt. The other parts have set screws in them. This gives me around 5/16" clearance on the header. I will have to remove the engine crossmember again. The set screw on the front side doesn't quite clear it. I will machine some from that side and weld the hole on the cab side back up. I believe that will finish off the steering column. Steering wheel choice is left. That hasn't been easy to do. :)
I like how you made the gate frame so much I'm not gonna quiz you on the part not made yet. Be interesting to see what you come up with. Steering shaft looks nice too, both thanks in part to your other friend, the mill. Or lathe, or drill press or whatever you call it. That thing seems mighty handy. :)
Matt, if the tools left, I'd quit. :)
O&S got a few more items accomplished today. I started off with drilling the last steering u joint for a shoulder bolt. The new clutch cable arrived and it looks correct and will work with all the parts I have. One less thing on the list. :) I welded up the cracks in the inner fenders and repaired the lower bolt mounts. The bolts had been ripped from them. The rear mount has a u shaped channel for a doubler. I put a straight edge against them and chuckled. A few minutes later with a 3 lb sledge and a solid block of steel, they were pretty straight again. I bent up some .125" strap to make lower mount attachments for the inner fenders. They're welded in place and the inners are ready to be removed again. Tomorrow I will look everything over to see if there is anything left to do with the cab on. When that's done, I have tail pipes and mounts and possibly some brackets for fuel lines and brake lines and a drive shaft loop.
O&S started the day with yard work. I spent some more time working on the inner fenders fitment. After looking and measuring for quite a while, I figured out that the cowl isn't symmetrical from side to side. :) That makes the left inner different from the right. At least on this truck. LOL. I did more removing than any thing else today. The cab is back outside on the cart. The bed is disassembled and inside the shop. I pulled the engine up and removed the crossmember again. I cut a patch for the back side of the cut out area and welded it in. I put a simple brace inside to offer a little stiffness. I stuck the crossmember in the mill and removed some where the locknut on the steering u-joint was hitting. It's back where it belongs again. T.B. set in so I quit.
I'd hire that yard work out.. :lol:
Looks good.
O&S has 1 part to share today. Lack of planning has left me waiting on more parts for the tail pipes. :) I thought I could make them work without ordering more bends. Not so exhaust breath. I fabbed up a driveshaft loop. It's made out of 3/16" plate welded to saddles and attached with t-bolt clamps.
Nice loop, exhaust breath. :)
I was kinda studying the inner fender stuff. I think you have more parts than I do, I'll be making the lower sections. I believe you are right that they need a sturdy connection at bottom rear. It sounds like your asymmetry is reverse of the 51's. Watch out for those inner fenders, a lot lot of variation appears to be the norm on them.
O&S spent the morning placing an order for resto parts. I went outside 3 times trying to make sure I didn't forget some 5 dollar item. I wouldn't say I got it all but it won't be from lack of effort. :) The UPS man dropped off the exhaust bends after lunch so I got after tail pipes. I had to order some hanger parts that won't be here until tomorrow so everything is supported by a jack stand. The pipes end before the back of the bed. After I build a roll pan, I don't think they will be visible.
O&S got in part of an afternoon today. I had to run to Garden City this morning. I was going to pick up a few bags of blasting media while I was there. Their inventory was incorrect. They only had coarse, not fine. I have the tail pipes hung. I'm not pleased with my mid mount but I haven't had a better idea. I drilled a hole in the crossmember tube and welded a bolt in to attach the hanger to. Functional but not cool. Nothing is clamped down yet because everything is about to be removed to paint the frame. When the rear end is removed, I will drill the 2 holes for the rear hangers.
O&S spent most of the day laying out fuel line runs and ordering parts for such. I'm going to use ni-cop for the hard lines and use hose to connect to the throttle body. The only fabbing done today was a bracket for the fuel filter. I wanted it to be accessable without taking something apart. There is less heat exposure at the back rather than the middle of the truck next to the exhaust. There is an adequate amount of room to get into the area between the frame and bed rail to facilitate a change out if necessary.
O&S got started with a little yard work and kind of a lazy day start. I fabbed up a bracket to hold the clutch cable away from the header and welded it on. Then I made a simple bracket for the roll over valve for the fuel tank. After that, it was time to strip the chassis and roll it over to finish the few places that I couldn't get to from the top. The end of the day has all the underside welded up. I will flip it and check the top to see if I missed anything and then it will be time to clean it for paint.
yeah , that clutch cable is close to a heat source..
^^^^
Yes it is. A heat shield or some of that DEI wrap will probably be used in the future.
O&S started out with more yard work this morning. I finished going over the frame again. :) There were a couple of welds that I didn't like the look of so I redid them. I had to slot the front cab mounts after drilling the original holes. I cut that area out of the 4 brackets and welded new plate in. When I put the cab back on, I will use the 2 rear mounts to line it up for drilling the fronts. The frame is ready for blasting. The wind has been blowing to hard to be blasting outside. I weighed the bare frame before putting it on the trailer. 287 lbs. I drilled the holes for the tail pipe hangers on the rear and welded a little on the underneath side of the front mounts. I radiused the square corners also. The robot had missed some areas on one side of the rear cradle so I ground that out and welded it up.
O&S put in a pretty good day. I got started blasting the frame. I wanted to do more but it got to windy. I cleaned up the mess and moved on to the next item. I pulled the rear apart to install the posi trac. I had to machine a recess in the side gears for the axle retainer. Those were hardened. :) I ended the day with the rear reassembled minus the seals that should be here tomorrow. That doesn't sound like much but it was a full day for O&S. LOL.
O&S didn't get the correct seals so the irs didn't get finished. Next on the list was to paint the chassis. It finally warmed up enough to do that. 106 degrees and 11 % humidity. LOL. Yes, it has some dry spots. It is the same color and because it's all hidden when assembled, I'm not loosing any sleep over this. :) Lacking a rotisserie means the underneath side may not be real good. :) I get down on my knees and do as good as I can see. This thing was dry before I got my gun cleaned up when I was finished. :) Ugly Olds used to ask me why I had the heater turned up so high. :) RIP, Bob.
O&S had a light day today. I loaded the frame on some carpet on the little trailer and wheeled it outside. I had some prep work to do on the rear end. I put all the parts on stands and painted them. I had planned on painting the bed frame the same color but I'm out of gray. :) The bed frame is hidden for the most part so no telling what color it will be.
Another light day for O&S. The engine is painted. It took longer to mask than paint. :) The UPS man just left after dropping off the rear end seals. That's the latest that I've had freight delivery in a long time. Tomorrow will be a full day of reassembly. Hopefully without scratching everything up. :)
I received my $100 refund on the 53 grille from ebay. I had to file a claim with paypal. That makes it look better. :)
Frame and mill look primo. 8) If you stirred in enough upsidaisyum before spraying, them underneath spots ought to be just fine. :)
O&S had a decent day. The 1st pic is where I started. I had to modify the lower spacers on the front shocks. I'm not laying blame on Ridetech for that. The a-arms maybe different and there is a chance someone changed out the front shocks before and left out a spacer and tightened it and collapsed the space. I put them in the lathe and removed 3/16" on all 4 spacers. I hadn't made spacers for the rear yet so that got done. I jumped on both ends and the frame moved up and down so I'm optimistic about the spring rates being acceptable. The calculation was done using weights from the white 51 and using Ridetechs on-line calculator. Several measurements and some guesstimates involved. :)
O&S kept chugging along today. The engine and trans are in. The exhaust is on. The fuel tank is mounted. The suspension components are all torqued. The drive shaft is in and oil in the trans. The list is getting shorter. :)
Man... you're bad fast. :) :-o Looks fantastic! 8)
You got the distributor on the wrong end though. :P
That's a very strong and tidy chassis. It's a shame to have it too low to see...almost. :)
Thank you Matt and jaybee.
O&S is back to a crawl today. I put the bed frame on the chassis to make a table out of it. :) I drug the sheet of 20 gauge out of the storage shed and laid it on the bed frame. Then I started on the front engine accessories. I bought a newer model alternator that has almost double of the output of a 87 mustang. I machined a simple offset adapter for the top mounting lug. The lower mount was the same as the original. I purchased a universal street rod style Sanden ac compressor. The original mustang had weird connections and the rear bracket was missing. I didn't get a compressor with the engine so there was nothing to start with. I used cad to layout a simple bracket. I thought I had it made in the shade but the offset for pulley line up was incorrect. I machined a hunk of 1/2" plate to correct the offset and take care of the front of the compressor. The rear will be more involved but the front sets the location so I can slot the mounting holes to allow for any fabrication issues.
Another light day for me. Had a few errands to run. The easy part of the front drive is completed. I'm considering different options for the power steering pump. :) The factory cross over brace had the correct angles to line up, it was not quite 2" short. Sliced and welded took care of that. :) The bare parts are painted with flat black lacquer. Quick and economical. :)
I spent most of the morning measuring and ordering parts. I bolted the bed back together and started messing with fenders. I spent some time knocking the dent out of the fender that the freight company attacked with the fork lift. I thought I could use a spoon and knock it out from the back side. That didn't give the desired results. I hammered and dollied but reached the point of chasing highs and lows around. I have days that I suck and the best thing to do is move on and come back to see if I can make it better. I drug out what's left of the wiring harness from the 88 f150 and gave it a quick once over. I'm going to try and use it for this project. I removed the efi and charging parts from it for the 78 F150 conversion. None of the efi circuits will be needed for the Sniper system.
Mmm, spaghetti. :)
I remember that crease and its a sight better now. You may have to leave it low or do some pinpoint shrinking. I sometimes have luck with mig dot or stud gun zap then fast quench with wet rag and air to shrink small deep spots. Maybe a tiggy torch can do same, if needed. :idea:
I have a heavy anvil dolly with a really rounded casting on the handle end which once I smoothed off the casting flash works well for spots like the forklift made, if it is up into the bend onto the top of fendsr.
We are going to confuse our readers with thread deja vu :lol: unless of course they are F truck fanatics. :twisted:
Quote from: "idrivejunk"Mmm, spaghetti. :)
I remember that crease and its a sight better now. You may have to leave it low or do some pinpoint shrinking. I sometimes have luck with mig dot or stud gun zap then fast quench with wet rag and air to shrink small deep spots. Maybe a tiggy torch can do same, if needed. :idea:
I have a heavy anvil dolly with a really rounded casting on the handle end which once I smoothed off the casting flash works well for spots like the forklift made, if it is up into the bend onto the top of fendsr.
We are going to confuse our readers with thread deja vu :lol: unless of course they are F truck fanatics. :twisted:
Shrinking disc.
x2 on the shrinking disc . I have a stainless pot lid that I will one day make into a shrinking disc . It has nice curled edges that will not cut anything if it rubs against something 8)
Sorry about that, Bill. I was out of line and should know better. :roll:
Matt, no apology necessary. I appreciate everyone's input. We all learn from the collective minds. :)
Quote from: "idrivejunk"Sorry about that, Bill. I was out of line and should know better. :roll:
Matt, your way is the best if you have the skill. I don't, but I can do it with a shrinking disc.
Oh I just apologize because I know everybody else in tarnation has one. Wasn't thinking of it because I don't and figured theres one deep small area that bumping won't address, maybe at one end. My ways are outdated but they do still serve me. Our hero knows these things anyhow. :)
Pestering KB was my main objective, I don't know about the rest of ya. :wink:
O&S started out the day by taking the 78 to coffee. The dakota had a flat tire. When I returned, I fixed the flat. Not a big deal, just work. :) After that, the 78 got a bath. I was plenty dirty. Then I cleaned up the sheet of 20 gauge. It has some shipping damage so I chose the best end and made a cut for the tail gate. The rest will be used for repair panels on the floor of the cab. I worked on the dented fender some more before I came to the conclusion that I had created a high spot and it would still need filler. I lowered the damaged area and moved on. I pulled both sides of the bed back off and drilled holes for the fenders. I used the measurements from the white 51 that has a factory bed for a placement. Nothing about any of theses fenders is symmetrical. I average the numbers and go. I bolted the bed back together and put 3 bolts in the fenders per side and ran it out to take a look. By then, T.B. had set in. :)
8)
O&S was met with wet weather in the morning. No bare metal in the rain. I chose to work on the other end. I mounted some of the sensors and the Sniper with the air cleaner. I realized I didn't have a coil bracket left over in the pile. I found a scrap of 1/4" alum. and went to work. The bracket is mounted on 2 water pump studs. I spent some time looking at the back of the bed. I have an idea for the tailgate and tail lights. 1950 Pontiac is involved.
O&S has the beginnings of a tail gate. Nothing to cool. I am way out of practice with the bead roller to try anything beyond simple.
Looks nice!
O&S made a little more progress. I made some brackets for the tail gate hinges. I used small bearings for the inside of the tube. I have the tail gate bolted on but I'm not satisfied with the fit. The tube at the bottom is .250" away from the bed rail. I'm going to pull it off and modify the brackets tomorrow. I think I will lower it to .125" That gives a little space to avoid rubbing when things happen that aren't supposed to. :)
O&S started out by removing the tail gate and taking the hinges and welding up part of the holes. I put them in the mill and moved the holes .125" closer to the bed frame. I'm reasonably satisfied with that now. I started on latches. I don't intend for this gate to be regularly used so the latches may reflect that. I got started on the roll pan. I wanted something different from the last one. In case you're wondering, the reason there is 2 parts welded together is the brake isn't long enough to do it in one piece. ;D I have the recessed tag holder in but have to sand it down and there will be endcaps added. I had been rolling pretty good but it was late enough for t.b. to set in.
That looks bad in the good way, I like it.
O&S had a pretty good day. I didn't have to throw anything away and start over. LOL. The roll pan was removed and end caps cut and welded on. I sanded all the welds and clamped it in place. I moved on to tail lights. I used 20 gauge metal to build mounts for the lights. They are held on with cleco's until I decide how to fasten them to the bed post. After I finished up and was taking pics, I realized that the lower outer radius on the mount doesn't match the radius created by the light. That will be rectified when the mounts are removed for more work. ;D I am not a fan of the stock tail lights and mounts. I spent a lot of time before deciding to do the Pontiac lights. If I would come up with a better idea, this could be subject to change. :)
Are those the mini-Pontiacs or fullsize?
I thought 39 Chevys in that spot, maybe grafting housing onto the pocket.
Pan looks neat! :)
Thank you. Full size 50 Pontiacs. I have a set without blue dots. I think I will try the blue dots and see how long it takes to get a ticket. :) I may change over to an led unit so that might go out the window. There's a guy I know in Pueblo who has stock tail lights on his 50 F1. I followed him down the highway. Not much light. :)
Yes, safety is an anti-concern for many. I dig blue dots. 8)
Also, I applaud your usage of the stock location. That much of the original design is valid, and best in my humble opinion. :)
O&S made reverse progress today. I trimmed the tail light mounts to match the radius of the tail lights. Then I removed the skin from the tailgate. I wasn't happy about any of it. There was a twist in the tailgate that I thought I could remove. Not so. With the skin off, this has been rectified. The tack welds on the skin caused the frame to bow some. That has been straightened. The skin was 20 gauge. It was nice to work with but the more I thought about it, the more I thought it was too light and would get dented by anything. I wasn't falling in love with the bead roll, either. I picked up a piece of 18 gauge and as soon as I have another plan, I'll finish it. :) The roll pan is now fastened. I have sheet metal screws on the top edge but I think after it's painted, I will use drive rivets to hold it in place.
And here I was, sitting here thinking how blissful it must be making one's own build decisions. ::)
The fact is that there has to be something to say no to in place. First. For example if I had made blister hood sides for the Model A, it would have "Mustang" hood sides now. In the future, I'll suggest only stock and anyone wanting alternatives will have to at least ask if not also pay. Live and learn, I reckon.
I hope whatever you land on, you like. :)
Matt, many builds ago, I incorporated various elements that I liked or had the skills to do. Now the phrase "cohesive design and good flow" are what I'm trying to accomplish. I'm not a stylist so that concept is a stretch for me. Trying to stay close to the original design of the truck while blending custom touches is where I want to end up at. :) To not have hindsight regrets is a great goal. :)
Hmmm, I seem to specialize in hindsight regrets. :shock:
I reckon having hindsight does involve some chasing of one's tail. ;) And I get it. Its like art, but not exactly.
O&S put in half a day trying to mount the ps pump. The 1st bracket took several hours and was an abject failure. The mounting bolts interfered with the pulley mount. The 2nd is close but I can now see what I need to do to eliminate a compromise in spacing. I think number 3 will be the one. LOL.
O&S quit early today. The ps pump is mounted and the belt is on. The pics show bracket number 3, how close some items were and how the alum bracket was machined out with a die grinder for clearance. When I had enough clearance for the pump on the alum bracket, it was 30 thousandths out of square. I threaded the unused hole and made an adjuster to put a slight amount of tension on the pump. That solved the problem. :) I had a belt that was too long. I went to the parts store and picked up the next 2 shorter versions. The 1st step will work. The next step would have been too short so I was very fortunate with that part. I spent a lot of today bent over and T.B. has set in . :)
I was feeling it today myself, stiffening up after a week's work. I call it lack-o-wanna. :lol:
This brings to mind I wonder how bad a manual rack would be in an old truck.
Matt, I've had enough of "manual" in an old truck. The last 10 years has changed my opinion on that. :)
O&S tackled the 53 grille today. It's now shortened to fit the 51 grille opening. It needs blasted and Mr. Bondo to show up. All I can say is it's better than when I started. :)
Nice welds on such crusty stuff :) Can't wait to see how that looks once its up there. 8)
I wonder what oh... say a 1962 tailgate script panel would look like in your gate.
I'm thinking of taking the revel on the grille and removing to so the grille resembles the 56 more. That's a fair amount of cutting , hammering and welding. Still thinking. :) I need to get on with the tailgate so the back end of the truck can be at least primer so it could be moved outside so I can work on the other parts. Cold weather is closing in on me. :)
O&S got started with yard work and cleaning the 51 after it's trip to kill insects yesterday. :) I went to the shop thinking I would work on the tail gate. I looked at the grille and said now or never. I had the vision of Ed Roth on one side and Mark Moriarity on the other and in unison they said "big mess, big success". I sliced and beat out the reveal as best as I could while dealing with all of the collision damage on the lower part. It's ready to be blasted and bondoed for sure now. :)
O&S decided to do something different with the tailgate that I had never seen before. I might find out why I've never seen it done before. LOL. It's very plain so I may do something to it. Maybe not. I'm going to look at it for a bit before I make any decisions. The one thing about a tail gate, a few bolts and it's off and you can start over quickly. :)
You've been zigging while the world zags, I see. :)
O&S had a productive day. Clear mindset of my goals did help:) The front bed rail fillers are in. The rear bed rail fillers are finished, also. I made some small filler panels to go over the square tubes on the tail gate frame. I thought I could metal finish them but there is some scratches that will require filler. I'm happier with the way the tail gate is looking. I'm still not ready to quit on it but I'm needing an idea. :)
I'm trying to swear off of ideas so I stopped at the shallow end yesterday and kept them to myself. You won't like them but the more jovial jocularity has to come out first :idea:
Thot 1: An inlaid and intricately carved western scene on a thick, wooden panel. Hee-haw! :lol: Some worked fancy leather and brass too.
Thot 2: Billboard. You can sell that space.
Thot 3: One of those big flat white panel lights. As a backup light / outer panel.
Thot 4: I was coming up short on serious thoughts for it and enjoying observation. But theres that tall script 60s thing I said.
So I uh... could you define the parameters? Want double wall or no? Want to sit on it, Potsie?
Would it be tasteful to have just matching V8 emblems, center front and rear? Or looking to give another go with the roller maybe? It would be cool if the gate had stock embossed type letters like a Merc gate but said interceptor. Yeah, right. Or you could see about playing off the rail cap angles and stepping a raised V across your panel. Like the emblem V but stretched out. CAD some stuffs, let us peek.
See there, I better quit. Gotta throttle my idea mill. But you've seen a whole bunch of variations from me already. I can link you to ye olde blog page with several playful, unheard-of variations if you wish. At least now I know all but which one won't be used. :)
Heres my card. " Have pencil, will scribble" :lol: 'Cause I'm a paladin, see? Myeah. :shock:
P.S: Then pocket shaves and end caps are purt near invisible. :) Nice!
Matt, anything with the bead roller would have had to be done before the panel was installed. The throat isn't tall enough for more than about a half inch to go through. I'm stuck in neutral on all of the rest. There's a good chance that it will stay single panel. I don't think I will use this truck for items that aren't tied down in the bed. :) But that could change easily. I have your pic blog bookmarked. I have looked at it several times for ideas. :) Decisions have been tough to make for some reason. ?????
My ideas tend to want to put lettering there. Like the center script bumpout only, from a stock gate. Or the Super Duty embossed strip from a new aluminum job, bonded.
Adding an outer layer opens the opportunity to style it with roller. Plus the option of using the depth, the distance between inner and outer, for styling. Maybe you could shave the handle hole on a 70s gate skin with the recessed center and plop that over somehow. A second layer would also not have to cover the whole space. It could even be fiberglass. Think on that.
Of course maybe a paint treatment, a darker color in the inset center just on the flat face maybe. With an emblem centerpiece. Or two toned in that stretched emblem V style with emblem at the focal point.
Could a ribbed running board section go across there?
Would a Mach1 door molding stretch across there?
You could use stick on moldings with the single layer. Couple of base model chrome spear door moldings from a 2000s yukon tahoe flanking a Ford grille oval perhaps.
Is there something that could be done with pieces of the stock hood side trim?
Are there some stick on Ford letters that are raised chrome, off of something?
I know you're about less is more. I kinda like the plain but with a V8 emblem for grille and gate.
Cut a proportionally correct but downsized template of the area from plain paper. Lay it on another sheet and outline four or six gate shaped boxes with a pencil. Fill in two or three with initial basic shapes or ideas, no matter how weak. Then stare at those until another vague idea pops up then rinse and repeat. Pencil is the fastest way to generate, develop, and cull, for me.
There were two books we read in art school: A kick in the seat of the pants, and A whack on the side of the head. About learning to generate ideas. For example there was a list of things like:
Invert it. Make it tiny. Make it huge. Turn it inside out. Freeze it. Smash it. Melt it. Turn it on it's side. Associate it with an animal. Make it look natural. Make it futuristic. Paint it black. Chrome it. Push harder on an idea already tossed out. Finger random dictionary words and pair them with it in your mind.
Etc. Its a rectangle. So yeah. Try stuff on paper, just real loosely. Try not to gather elements from other things as many of my thoughts do. I still don't have a good feel for what you're after and that hinders me. If I can cap this off with a dab of critique, Bill... I'd have to say the flat tops of tail light pods bug me.
I took a mirror from a 442 yesterday, held it up to the F. Interesting shape but would require too much stalk and look gangly dangly. Right now I'm thinking of if outside rearview housings could make tail light pods with the right pieces. But thats getting away from ideas you might actually implement at this point and can just be filed away for another job.
Here... a one-line laugh....
Put the inside skin of a double walled gate on the outside so it looks like the truck got dressed in the dark and put it's gate on inside out. Ha. :lol:
A quickie
Sorry for the clutter. Only wanting to assist. But I tell ya what...
That quicky with a couple slots in the bottom section could emulate the grille interestingly if the shapes were right.
My idea mill has a heavy flywheel. Much inertia, slow to start and to stop. :) You have to sort nuggets from ore but I bring cartfuls from the mine once I get up to speed. ;)
I'm with you on the tail light mounts. That may get addressed today. :)
Check out this tailgate scratch build. The process starts on this page and continues in the next several pages.
http://www.ozrodders.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=20217&start=3495
Many years ago I had a 73 Chevy stepside that I made a fiberglass insert for the tailgate. I painted a desert scene mural on the panel before installing it on the tailgate. It was eye catching.
Years later I parted out that truck. A guy here in town gave me $250 for the tailgate just for the mural to hang on the wall in his shop. I traded the engine for 100 pounds of fresh frozen shrimp. :lol:
Marcus sets the bar pretty high. :) I have been following his build for years.
Yeah I do too, on AMS. Freakin amazing, that tailgate.
Frank, that sounds perfect. Put a couple flourescent tubes behind it like a billiards lamp. That was a cool thought exercise. 8)
I'm rooting for radiused top outside lamp box corners. :)
Ask and yee shall receive!
O&S had a light day. I've been looking at the tail lights almost since I did them thinking it needed more work. I had thought about different ideas but kept wanting the back of the tail light covered and didn't have something like a small headlight receptacle to turn into a light holder. Modifying what I had won out. Every time I walk around the back, I smile now. The area under the bed rail after you put filler panels from the bed rail down becomes un-paintable for mere mortals like me. :) I fabbed a filler panel to take care of that. I have one side done before I decided I'd had enough fun for one day.
like what you did to the taillight mounts , they look more 'finished' now 8)
+me. :)
The under-rail filler works fine for me in the abbreviated format, especially along with the reshaped pods.
Since its my day to buy a lottery ticket I'll go all in and wonder out loud if there are some old fender sections that could be spliced in to round the bottom corners of the roll pan. Because unless them fenders get a good sized width extension at bottom rear inner, theres kind of a square peg round hole thing going.
After the day's work, I am hung up on that grille-esque gate boxing sketch. I like it. Got an old, not plated 51 grille crossbar?
I imagined that briefly with a Team Marlboro paint job, tailgate scheme like the front of a pack with the V shape. But no white this time, I remember!
That set of thought rails brought me to Hirohata Junction. Where they were using black and silver to mix with a musty can of green metallic for a two tone menthol color scheme. Then somebody passed me in a no passing zone again and broke my train. I wouldn't put it past me to draw more stuffs though. Feedback is how to switch rails and get back to the idea mill if'n you care to venture. Meaning a few tailgate words might prompt further activity / participation in that party. :idea: :arrow: :shock:
Need time to think, Matt. :)
I like the way those tail light housings came out, the whole back end of the truck looks better as a result.
That Willys Overland tailgate is also VERY sweet, Frank.
I'll second that. To me it looked like you had them on upside down :twisted:
Another light day for O&S. I installed the other filler panel at the bed rail. I decided to use the bead rolled panel for the inside of the tail gate. The worst part of it will be hidden by the floor. :) The pic shows it clamped on an rough fit. I pulled the fenders and front panel. The front panel on theses trucks has open ends where it bolts to the sides. I left that open on the white 51 and it bothered me every time I washed the truck. I filled both ends of this one. 2 of the 4 wheels I ordered arrived. I put one on the rear to check spacing. I wanted the tread on the front and rear to be real close. I think I have accomplished that.
O&S was a worker today. Both drip rails are removed and welded. I was going to finish them but this has to sit outside so I thought if I left them that there would be less rust to deal with. I removed the cowl vent and have it filled. It needs more planishing but that won't be done until the welds are ground down. The to do list is getting shorter. ;D It's still a roll of toilet paper but now it's the standard size instead of the giant size. :)
Boy, yeah you hit it a good lick today! :)
How was the flushness you encountered after trimming the rail? Looks like it must not have been off by too much. I did a '62 that another had started once and that part was a struggle. What you just did looks beautiful.
Thank you, Matt. I went back and looked at the pics of the white 51 and it was the same as this one. It will take some bondo to be flat. I think if you tried to cut it to be flat you would end up with about a 1/2" hole on the top side of the door opening. My cowl vent isn't as nice as yours. I don't have a shrinker so I sliced the front side to pull it together to form the contour of the cowl. While the hole was open, I straightened an area on the firewall that had been abused a little. :)
O&S changer directions for a while today. I made a bracket to hold the power steering reservoir. I measured the dimension between the unused lugs on the ac compressor and used 2 3/8" nuts to run the bolts into and cut a piece of 5/8" chrome moly tubing for the center. I used the dro on the lathe to measure the cut to get it very close. I bent a piece of 14 gauge and welded it to the tube. A little flat black paint and it's finished. I started on the lower valance this afternoon. I worked on the bent area some more. I will never get it to metal finish level. ;D It's better than it was. I filled the 3 unused holes that were for the 51 grille. They are a little low so filler will be easier. I may not use the original turn signals. More decisions ahead. ;D
You don't happen to have a loose 4.6 crank pulley laying around do you? Josh just picked up a Procharger for his Mustang, and he has an underdrive pulley on it now. He needs a stocker or the blower won't make much boost.
No 4.6 parts at all. Everything I have is on the 2 engines in the 51 and the 72.
No problem. He can probably find one locally.
O&S plodded along today. I started off by filling the gas filler opening. I filled a 1" hole where an antennae was. I filled in the 3 holes that were on the lower side of the panel at the front of the hood. I need to decide what hood latch I'm going to use now. Other than that, it's ready for bondo. I filled the center depression on the lower valance and took the depressions out of the turn signal mounting area. I'm not positive what I will use for turn signals but the originals aren't on the list. :)
O&S only got a few hours in today. The bed is removed for body and paint. I worked on the roll pan some. I bent a lip behind the tag area to provide some stiffness. It's ready for a little bondo and primer. I spot welded some nuts on the inside of the rear sill to bolt the tail gate to. No more long bolts through the sill. Their purpose was to hold a tail light bracket on which I don't need.
O&S crossed some more work off the list. The running boards have had dent removal and crack repair completed. They need media blasting next. I have the easy half of the hood latch completed. The original are was cut out and filled. The lower part is under the plate, making it much stronger than being on top with 4 - 3/16" bolts holding it on. :)
Smooth move on the latch. As long as the pin can reach it, thats a no brainer. :idea: I am inspired by you doing that.
Those long bolts through stake pockets are just, well... a good thing to be shed of, I tellya whut. :)
I can hardly track the blur that is retired guy speed. I'm reckoning that you have a weather related, lady parks in garage type goal in mind. ;)
One vote for park/signals in grille slots.
What I actually came to say is that a brand new mental picture, fairly complete, of a paint job for you... well actually two... hatched but one is peeping at me much louder. For once I'll be brief. No idea if these have potential.
Black (feel free to substitute colors) truck, white panel on roof's top and rear (ask how). Grey grille. White panel on gate, grey outline. White panel (stripe) on hood center rib, starting where flat hood begins and ending between cowl vent and w/shield. Bold, but not too... white/ grey checkered stripe two squares tall, on boards in cab shadow and on valance and pan but not wrapped around.
FWIW, when I picture an F bed with glossy black rails, pockets, and fenders but with bedsides satin in and out... thats kinda neat.
Anyway, the one that grabbed me and probably already blipped our radars is Grabber blue. Or Gulf. But same treatment as above, but: No checkerboard, no white roof. Still grey grille but maybe silver instead. Just black stripe down hood top only, a blackout area on the gate, the GT stripe if you want too. On boards, nose, and tail as above. Stop short of a Maverick emblem :lol:
I just like that one. It seems like a fit. An injection of the era vibe that I get from you as wanting to convey. The sorta cop colors one would be more like an indoor show feel as opposed to the bad fast and rode hard, grasshoppers in it's teeth type raceway gate vibe. I dunno. Forgot I was here to maintain redundancy on my own thread. :arrow:
Interesting thoughts, Matt. White and gray would be good. Grabber blue would be too dark of blue for me. The lighter blue has crossed my mind several times. About every 3 days I think of a different color. LOL. Fat fender vehicles are very color sensitive to me. That's one of the reason's I haven't made up my mind. I have looked at google pics at least 4 times and didn't see anything that was in my price and skill range that got me going. With age, this has gotten a little more difficult. The only decision I feel fairly confident is that it will have a black and white interior because of compatibility with several options. :)
"Color sensitive" is a new term on me. Sounds like one I should try to understand. Can you give me a nutshell example or something?
The blue found on Mavericks seems like a medium shade to me. We may not be thinking of same one.
Both Chevelles I had were white and black stock interiors. I liked the look but auto interior contact surfaces oughtn't be white. Says the guy who eats mostly in his car. ???
Matt you are correct with the Ford grabber blue. It's just darker than the gulf color. Color sensitive to me is how a color can change a vehicle completely. Case in point: my friends 56 gmc was green from the factory. It's painted a plain red. It became short and stubby after being long and lean in green. 32 ford highboys are a slender vehicle. The colors don't change the way I perceive the overall dimensions of the vehicle very much. Large and shapely bodies seem to respond to color changes more than sleek or smaller vehicles do to me. Eventually, this is a personal thought so I may be the only one that thinks like this. :)
O&S started the day off by removing the nails that hold the hood belting on the top of the cowl. I beat the depressions up as good as I could without being able to dollie the other side. (arms not long enough) I scraped tar off the firewall after that. The "deluxe" cab is causing me grief. :) I thought I would try some holiness after that. After filling 67 holes in the cowl and firewall, I'm back to unholy. :)
Thats a fine example and insightful observation, Bill. When I use the term "visual weight" thats akin to your concept. I'd venture that what you describe would be more dependent upon color value than hue. I mean is it mostly about light or darkness or the color itself? Or had you thought of it that way. Sorry and thanks. :)
My banter/ retort observation is that on almost anything in the world, contrast is attractive. Example: Raised solid white letter tires are more fun to look at than blackwalls, regardless of them having gone out of style alongside cattle rustling. :)
What! Cattle rustling has gone out of style? How come I wasn't told. Now I to find something else to do in my spare time. >:(
That comment about colour changing the look of the size of a vehicle is so true . When I went from plumb crazy purple to a bright yellow my front engine dragster (full body) looked longer. Jeez I just had a thought ... maybe I should ditch my purple underwear :lol:
C.K., that drew a smile. :)
Welcome to the O&S fun park! I started the day with motivation to remove the rest of the factory tar- sound deadener material. Several hours later I was successful. I used a 4" razor scraper. After that, I moved to rusty door parts. Boy was that fun. :) Only 2 bolts twisted off. After that, I removed both doors. The best part of this story is about a tool. A few years ago, Eastwood released a .401 shank screwdriver that you put in an impact hammer. I bought one and have used it a little with success. The 1st time I used it, I plugged it into 120lbs. of line pressure and removed tail gate bolts from a 76 Ford pickup. When I was putting it up, I was using the original package and read that they recommended 40 or 50 lbs. of pressure. It thought about that and decided that you could bend the sheet metal with too much pressure. Today i have the regulator set at 50 lbs. It breaks the top 6 bolts loose and 1 of the bottom. I come back a little later and get 1 more bottom bolt loose. I beat on them some more and nothing happens. My options are heat, drilling the centers out of the bolts or more pressure. I turn the regulator up to 90 lbs. and get all of them broke loose. That tool isn't much money and has been very useful for breaking hinge bolts loose. Most are phillips head and easy to mess up. ;D
You musta et yer wheaties this morning. :) Heap big motivation shown and the brown bottom disease don't look too bad. Cab, not too shab. 8)
Resist any spontaneous impulses to manipulate that brace. Unless... ;)
** coughbearclawsahem **** :shock:
If you wish to ditch the pesky squares... no, not us... the hinges :lol: I know a guy willing to bet you could give those the old shave-ola in a day. One hung anyway. And that is unrelated to any above comments about purple. Which I feel packs a great deal of visual weight. :-o
Aww, I'm all out of fun park tickets and wound up on cotton candy. Time to go. :roll:
O&S had a lite day. There was some cleaning on the doors and cab. The seams on the cab where the cowl and sides meet, the side and the top and the area right at the door latch that cracks with use were all welded. The driver's door had suffered a latch failure at some point and the owner torched out an area to get to the latch. I trimmed that back and got started cutting out rust. I found some on the bottom of the door that I wasn't expecting. :) There is a pretty good sized dent on the lower inside of the right door that I started working on. Mostly ugly stuff. I have washed that cab several times and I'm surprised at how much dust I removed today.
IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE! O&S had an interesting day. I started off with repairing a 1" deep dent on the inside of one of the doors down at the bottom. I used a couple of pieces of rectangle tubing and drilled a hole through everything. I used a 3/8" bolt to suck them together to pull the dent up. That went pretty well. I ground the area some to get ready for bondo and spied pin holes. I took the scribe to the bottom and found enough holes that I cut the panel out. I looked the other door over and cut a larger area out of it. I welded up the cracks in the center of the doors. The passenger side hinges are pretty good. I blew the dust out of them and was satisfied with the amount of clearance in them. The drivers door needed the pins removed. I have some long carbide bits that I purchased when doing the white 51 just for that purpose. The top pin came out with the normal amount of effort. The bottom doesn't have enough clearance from the top to get a straight shot at it. I was drilling from the bottom and the drill bit wandered off center. I flipped the door and started in from the top. I was drilling with an 1/8" bit. I was about to break through to the other side when I was concerned that I was getting off center. I flipped the door over and started drilling again. As the bit broke through to the other side, it caught and broke a small piece about in the middle of the hinge. I used roll pin punches to try and remove the broken piece to no avail. I used larger bits to drill down through the fixed part of the hinge. I ended up with the die grinder and a abrasive cutter wheel cutting the top part of the moveable hinge and cutting through what was left of the pin. One tap of the hammer and it was removed. I will weld up the top of the hinge and mill it down to the correct height. I'm going to try and find some bushings to install in the moveable portion of the hinges to renew them. They make 5 thou over pins but the holes are larger than that. I flipped the cab over to get at the bottom. I straightened a few places and started removing the tar from the bottom. I usually try to do the worst thing 1st but it's been difficult to determine what that is. LOL. My "almost rust free cab is appearing to have hidden surprises. :)
QuoteMy "almost rust free cab is appearing to have hidden surprises.
I don't understand your complaint. The rust was free wasn't it? :twisted:
^^^^^
Must be part of the "bonus" plan. :)
O&S had a good day. :) I started off by cleaning the rest of the bottom of the cab. The cab mounts were ruined so they got repaired. There were cracks to repair and holes to fill. I'm not quite ready to flip the cab upright yet. There is more work ahead. :) For those who might wonder how the scraping went , here's a short video:
What a lucky duck! :)
That stuff durn near jumped off. And my... thats a prime choice cab. Good score there.
I was able to drill a hole in a stick of pallet wood to put over the protruding stud and set cab on firewall when stock. Can't say setting on the back doesn't freak me out a little but the F1 had the structural integrity of mashed potatoes and a smashed back panel. Yours appears solid as they ever were. :)
Matt, the cab is laying on a mess of carpet pieces. I laid it down real gentle. I don't believe I caused a problem. :)
O&S had a diverse day. I started with filling the hole where the pedals and steering column came through. Fedex finally delivered my rear tires that were shipped a week and a half ago. I mounted them on the wheels for the rear and put them on the chassis. After lunch , I ran an errand and saw the glass man was cleaning out his old shop. He had some cars sitting in the weed row that might have been tow-ins. I asked about some seats. He told me to take a look. In the weeds was a 99 taurus. That was one of the few options for seats. I asked about them and he told me to take them. :) The driver's power seat was left in a poor position but with an assortment of tools, I removed it. In the last month I have sat in a TMI and Scat Procar low back seat. Neither of them fit me. The taurus will work as good as anything I think I will find. They don't appear to have broken down foam so I am really pleased to find these. :) I finished patching holes in the bottom of the cab. It's time to move on to the next area. :)
You're eating a whole lotta bites of elephant there.
I seen the video on Youtube the other day... Glad to see you are fashion wise with ripped jeans. :lol: :lol:
O&S was a multi-tasker today. I started out by filling the holes in the trans cover. I'm going to vat it and then weld a piece in the lip that was rusted. I was able to blast a few parts this afternoon. The grille is ready for bondo and the running boards are ready for finishing and some kind of paint. I blasted some areas on the doors that are a pain to sand. The weather will change tomorrow and I don't know how long it will stay unfit for outdoor work. :)
O&S spent the afternoon pricing and ordering parts. I can kill hours doing that. :) Lots of decisions. :)
O&S had a fractured day. I started off by making 2 short braces that go under the floor. The main brace in the middle will be cut back around 6" to make trans removal possible. I will make a panel to cover that area but I want a brace also. I used 5/16" nutserts in the tube. Next, I welded up the bottom of the hinge that I had to cut to get off the door. I machined it back to original height and proceeded to install bushings. My 1st idea of a 5/16" od bushing turned out to be a bad choice. With the inside diameter being .281, there wasn't enough material left for a good press fit. Plan b had 3/8" od bushings. I used the boring bar to get the hole to the right size for a nice press fit. I had bought a high precision drill bit to finish the bushings. The drill bit is 1 thou larger than the pins. After pressing in the bushings I put them back in the mill and drilled them. After this was finished I put one of the hinges in line with a dial indicator and checked the play on a pin. It read 1 thou. :) I'm sure it's a little looser than that but they are a real nice fit. The bushing is oilite bronze. Next I ground down the welds on the drip rails. I spent quite a bit of time on them. Gentle would be the description with the grinder and sander. Then I started working on the top. I thought it was covered in rust. There is red oxide primer mixed in there. :) There is small dents all over the front and back of the top. Bondo everywhere in it's future.
Over at the O&S fun house, we had various activities. I started off making the filler panel to be removed for trans removal. The part closest to the trans needs to be trimmed back. I took the grinder and wire brush wheel and cleaned the bottom of the cab. I installed sound mat on the bottom where there will be no bolts or more work. (that I know of) :) I put the cab back on the cart and ran it outside. There was a little tar left at the rear of the cab where it meets the floor. That's gone. The cowl vent has been ground and is ready for bondo along with the welds on the cowl. Then I removed some more paint. I made a pass over the rear of the cab to show where the dents are. Some are where the braces are and can't be hammered out. That was enough exercise for one day.
Here at 6 red rags over calamity, O&S had a full day. I was stuck in low gear, though. Some days are like the brakes are still on. :) I started out doing some more hammer and dollie work. Then I made pieces for the door jamb for the new door latches. After that, I removed the rest of the paint that was easy on the cab. I'm down to some areas on the interior and the rest will need to be blasted. T.B. is here again.
I can relate to granny gear syndrome :)
Good stuff. I was suprised to see mat on at this stage.
Nice going, bushing the hinge. Enjoying the show. :)
That ain't Alan and Jimmy you hear, that's O&S singing "it's five oclock somewhere"! I love blasting. I hate blasting. Blasting lets you see how good the metal is. When you see, usually you find something you didn't want to see. :) I started off by cutting a hole for the gauge panel and ignition switch. The wind went down to almost nothing so I moved everything outside and blasted Until I was worn down. There's a few little things that could use some blasting but if the weather goes south, I'm ok. I found a spot in the passenger side that needs repair. I blasted everything that I couldn't get to easily with a sander. I hit the underneath side of the top so the sound mat will stick real good. This was the nicest day that I've ever blasted on. There was a slight breeze from the north that didn't drift the residue more than a couple of feet. I have T.B. :)
Like the cluster 8)
O&S had a real light day. I did some more metal work on the front fender extensions. One was bent at a 90 degree angle when I started on this project. I had straightened it some and thought it was about ok. I compared the 2 side by side and went back to work. It's way better now. :) They're both ready for bondo. The tires for the front came in and I put them on the wheels. The stereo and speakers arrived and the Nu-relic window regulators. Less on the list. :) I rolled the cab outside and took the air hose to it. I blew for quite a while. I don't think I have all the blasting media out yet. :)
O&S put in a few hours this afternoon. I was doing small stuff inside the cab. The wind was blowing so I had it outside helping keep the residue from rust removal and tar removal out of my way. The passenger side sun visor area had broken metal. I removed the driver side and found the same thing. What causes something to break the metal under a sun visor mount???? I've not seen that in any of the other trucks I've done. :)
Heavy sun? ;D
The user is trying to use them to block the sun coming in the door window, sometimes they pull down on them to help with lower sun. when you put them back for the front window you now have to bend them back up. Teeter totter... Not good. Vickie's truck was like that on the DS, not one ever installed a PS visor. No proof just my $.02
Could be, Dave. It was a surprise to me to see both sides. There is a few other oddities I found. Some of the spot welds on the rear of the cab on the center brace are pulled loose. There's sign of damage anywhere around that area. ???
O&S had a fair day. I started off with cutting out the rust and welding in a panel in the floor. I welded up the broken sun visor mount. I had removed the id tag from the firewall so I welded up 4 more holes. That brought the total to 72. I ground down the welds on the inside of the firewall and did some more work on the inside of the cab where the sound mat will go. I shot epoxy on those areas and under the dash as best as I could. The top has been prepped for bondo. I welded the 2 broken spot welds in the rear of the cab. That worked poorly. I hammered them down when hot as best I could but there not as good as the originals. :)
Looks nice and fresh in there. :)
O&S got started off by mounting the firewall doubler plate, cutting the hole for the clutch cable and cutting the hole for the lower steering column to go through. I had planned to prime the backside of some of the parts. I was looking at the calendar and counting days and started to look for short cuts to get this finished in 45 days. The nats were swarming around the primed parts. At that point I realized that I did not have the energy or days to get this done before the weather shut me down. I made a decision to prime all the bare parts except for the cab and the grille. My plan is to get the inside of the cab painted and the body work on the grille and the cab close so I can put them in epoxy primer and then assemble this for final fit. It will be drivable after that and will either get taken back apart for painting or sold in black epoxy. If I would speed up and have more good weather, the plan is subject to change. :)
The s word :(
Steady as she goes, Bill. Do whats best for you.
O&S completed the mission in good time. I changed the oil in the wife's car and hit all the panels with 80 grit da that hadn't been sanded before. It takes some time to hang everything for painting. I put 2 coats on everything so I expect it to last for awhile without complications. :)
O&S had a variety of tasks today. They all add up to little. :) I assembled the bed and put it on the little trailer. I dug out the rest of the sound mat and put some in both doors. With the bottoms cut out, it was easier to do. I used up what was left in the cab to see how much more to order. I ordered another 36 sq. ft. I should have just a little left over. I straightened the windshield flange. How many times have we fought leaking windshields? :) Anyone up for a box of worms? I bought a cheap power dist. panel off ebay to see if it would be a good addition to wiring the truck. The jury's still out on that thought.
O&S was stuck in low gear. In retrospect, that's better than no gear. :) I chose the easy door to do 1st. There were several ideas I had that I wanted to see if I was FOS. :) If I do door bottoms again, I will do some measuring and cut the patch to size, then mark the door and cut it. That would do away with the pattern making. I didn't think that through on this deal. I purchased 33 Ford locking door handles. Carolina Customs makes some spring loaded retractors that will work with those handles that will make connecting to the latch fairly simple. The inside door handle will take more work. I did some research on the locking bear claws and read that sometimes they fail and there is no simple way to get the door open. The latches I purchased are Trimark made in Iowa. They are commonly used on big trucks and trailers. I believe that to be a safe choice. I have the door lock hole to fill and this door will be completed except for the inside handle apparatus.
O&S plodded along today. I welded up some tiny pinholes in the right door. I removed the paint from the face of it. I got started on the left door. I thought the latch part would take the most time so I did it 1st. It wasn't too bad. My pattern came out pretty good which made the rest of the fit reasonable. 1st thing this morning I realized the parts I ordered last night wouldn't work because of where they had to be located. I called Carolina Customs and cancelled the order. I ordered some small parts from Austin Hardware and will give it a go on my own. I have an idea. :)
O&S was a real slacker today. The Engine performance Expo began and it lasts 3 days. I won't watch all of it but there is a lot of hours to be lost in the shop. I was unable to planish the right door as good as I wanted. I don't have the skill or strength to reach back into that door cavity to do it enough to have a flat panel. I decided to try something different on this door. I will do the repair in 2 pieces. I have the 1st part welded in and planished. I will find out if this is a good idea at the next step. I keep finding more rust in the bottom of this door. I cut a little and clean it up and see some more. I don't think I'm done cutting yet. :(
Theres as many ways to skin a cat as there is cats. Intriguing stuff. :)
You may recall the door bottom episode in my series, Mr. Heavy Slappingspoon was the guest star. If you got two good hands, you're way ahead of where I was. It was all I could do and more, just to squeak by on planishing a skin patch. I was glad we got door shell bottoms so the contour which affects overall crown so much could be restored. One door was rusted through clear across the bottom, leaving no support for the skin which sat too flat then.
Good luck with the latches. I want to say the F1's strikers ended up right at the cab rear brace height, or just above.
O&S had some progress today. My plan for the left door left just as many problem areas as the right door. I must be the problem. LOL. I removed the paint from the outside and got ready to hang them back on the cab. The cab is spread on the left side. I'm going to see if there is something I can come up with to make the door gaps better besides welding on them. I may have enough parts tomorrow to finish the latches. The doors are on temporarily for the 1st time in quite a while. I think I will get plenty of practice taking them off and reinstalling them until they are ready for the last time for assembly in epoxy primer. :)
Looks great with shaved rails. 8)
O&S measured the door openings side to side twice. The left hand was .125" wider than the right. The simplest fix was to shim the door hinge to center the door in the opening. I started out with 2 14 gauge shims in the hinges. I ended up with a 20 gauge on the top hinge and 14 on the bottom. The shim is under the outside bolt to angle the hinge and gain a little more from the angle of the hinge. UPS was here by 2 oclock so I had the pieces to finish the outside latches. The lack of space in that corner of the door is making this real interesting. :) One of the pics shows the linkage I fabbed up. That's 3/16" rod and quick release rod ends. The door gaps are fairly even from front to rear but side to side are different from the extra cab width in the door opening. I didn't find any reason for the widths to be that much different. ????
QuoteI didn't find any reason for the widths to be that much different
Easy, it's a Ford built when they could sell anything with four wheels. Chevys are just as bad.
Those quick release rod ends look interesting . Where do you get them ?
https://www.mcmaster.com/rod-ends/quick-install-ball-joint-linkages-6/
C.K., those aren't near as good as the ones we used on Morse cables for racing but they are cheap and will be more than adequate for door linkage. :)
O&S put in a bunch of hours with little progress. I started off by doing the left side door apparatus. As you might imagine, it didn't take near as long as the right. :) I wasn't happy with it. When I went looking for door handles, all I found were white boxes. You could pay any price from different suppliers. The pics all looked the same. Unlike the ones I used in the 32 back in 07, these have double sided keys now. That also means they aren't exact repros. There was slack in the shaft and the mounting boss. I messed with it for a while and moved on to have time to think. I installed all the sound mat except for the firewall where I still have to work. I had a lunch break and decided to thread the square shaft for a nut to take up all the slack. One of the pics is of the inside of the door. If you can make out the area past the arm on the shank, that is where the nut went. Pretty good trick to get it on. I have a tappet wrench that is long and slender that allowed me to tighten the nut successfully. I did the same thing to the right side. That handle fits a little better but this is better than the tiny set * on the arm holding everything together. I'm thinking about the inside handles. I have to install the window regulator 1st to see what I have to work around. I don't have any good pics from the white 51 to tell me where contact might be made. oh, well. Just more work. :)
My granddaughter's husband just stripped a Cavalier for racing, and the inside handle actuates a cable to the latch. You could mount it most anywhere.
Frank, I pulled a pair from the 2nd doors on a Windstar. They were smaller than the mustang units I used in the white 51. I'm not to the "enough information" limit yet to make a decision of what to use. :)
When I bear claw my model T doors I am going to use the stock interior door handles . Just getting ideas of what I might use to actuate them to the bear claw . Those pieces look tidy .
Coming right along. :) Slick solve on the square thing. Those 33-4 handles or deuce?
Matt, those are 33. The 32 are non locking.
O&S had a day at the fun park. :) I started off by filling the un-needed holes in the dash. I ran out of argon as I finished. That makes around a bottle and a 3rd of welding, if I remember what I started with. :) That's the large bottle also. I checked to see if the wiper switch would fit the hole. I started eyeballing locations for the light switch. The harness comes off at a right angle to the handle so it wasn't going to fit in any of the existing holes in the dash. I put the window regulators in for a power and obstacle check. I'm very pleased to announce that they passed on all accounts. Nu Relic has improved the wiring harness since the last set I purchased which had wiring issues that they took care off. I think quality control got improved. The wiring is now wrapped in the classic braid. It looks very nice. Not cheap but the best there is in my feeble opinion. :) It warmed up to the mid 70's so I moved outside. I brought the hood around and removed the 2 trumpet horns from it. I was curious, so I connected power to them. Very slight noise was emitted so they went to the dumpster. I removed all the trim and started stripping. The primer on top had turned to a solid mass. I used a purple stripping disk for a change to see how it worked. They work great on painted surfaces. There was too much wind to blast but in retrospect, blasting the top of the hood would have been a better option. The hood has some cracks to be welded and the forward brace needs work. The never ending supply of repairs until you're done. LOL.
Looks like a pretty good day's work.
What did you use on the hood KB? I used a DA on the outside of Vickies, I will have to blast the inside.
I used a purple stripper wheel for a 4" grinder. I bought 2 of them and was concerned that they would melt like scotchbrite does. Not so. It just kept wearing. It wasn't as good on rust that was thick but on light stuff, it was quick and good. I went out and got the other one. It says: Elite Abrasives, 4" clean &strip it, type 27 extra coarse.
O&S had another look at the calendar today. I looked at what I had completed in the last 2 weeks and decided I was more out of time that I thought. :) I retrieved another bottle of argon and repaired 5 small spots on the hood rail. I made a decision to prime some of the parts that needed some more work because of lack of time. My plan is to get the inside of the cab painted and some bondo on the outside of the cab and primed before I assemble everything. The inside of the doors has some paint removal left. The rest is about going forward without cutting corners. I have the cab and rear fenders left to prime. I ordered another gallon of epoxy. I will end up with around 2.5 gallons to cover everything with 2 coats. I don't remember using that much in the past but I'm sure that means I don't remember. :)
O&S was at it's finest today. I think the only way I could have gotten less accomplished was to stay in the house. :) My plan was to install the evaporator. I installed the windshield wiper 1st because of where the motor hangs down. I put all the parts together and one of the arms rubbed at full stroke. There are 2 slots on the motor mounting bracket that slides the motor sideways to center in in the bracket. I changed it 6 times before I quit. It slightly touches on the right hand side. I could see that I might spend all day and not get it any better. I moved on to mounting the evaporator. I had 2 ideas that I wasn't crazy about. I took a break and went for a short cycle ride. I returned and had a completely different idea. 3 sets of brackets later, it is solidly mounted. :) I have the bulkheads for the hoses in the firewall. I'm planning on putting the battery on the firewall so space is at a premium. The top heater hose will have to be installed before the evaporator is installed. There is enough room for a screwdriver to tighten a clamp but vision will be very difficult. I have this unit mounted higher than the white 51. It's far enough from the firewall to install sound and thermal mat and not rub.
O&S put in about 1/2 of a day today. I drilled a hole for the condensate drain on the ac and then pulled the seats from the storage shed. I got some height measurements and it all looked odd. Each corner of the seat is a different elevation. The floor pan from a Taurus was not the easy way to start from. :) I have 2 outside brackets made. The inside brackets were going to hit the floor on top of a rib so I made some individual brackets for the inside on the drivers seat. I'm going to look them over in the morning and see if I can come up with a better idea. The motor on the driver's seat does work. :) I removed the seat belt latch. It had a device that is energized in an accident. I'm not sure how it works but I don't want to find out by being stupid. :)
It yanks the lap belt tight just before airbag deployment and may contain explosive.
^^^^
That was my thought. I think I'll cut off the wires before disposing to lessen the chance of something happening.
Stuff like that must be deployed before legally tossing in trash. Send it 12V from a safe distance. Fun side project! :)
Matt, that's good to know.
O&S was slow and steady today. I started out by changing the 2 inside angles on the passenger seat to almost level with the seat frame rail. That was a little easier to work with. All of the inside mounts are different in angles and height. :) I pulled the seats back out and radiused the brackets. They will get painted when the inside of the cab is shot. I put the steering column in to center the seat as best as I could with it. When I did that, I noticed that the upper column mount wasn't quite correct in angle so I removed the bracket and bent it until it aligned with the column very closely. I connected power to the driver's seat and moved it to check the range of motion. I believe that there is enough to handle most body sizes. I had 2 throttle pedals left over from truck projects. One from a 76 had the straightest mount so I choose it. I cut the shaft into so I can set the angle after measuring the travel for the throttle arm on the engine. I will machine a coupler for the splice and weld it together.
O&S crossed another item off the list today. I now have operational inside door handles. I still have the skin on my hands. :) I need to add a return spring on both sides but that will be simple. I took 2 pics showing both sides that might be clear enough to see what I did. I made an alum. bracket from a left over motor plate from the top fuel car to attach to the lever on the bear claw. I threaded some more 3/16" rod for 10-32 threads and attached quick release rod ends to that rod. The rod is welded to the original inside door latch apparatus from the inside handle. It's so close in the door that most of the parts have to be assembled outside and then placed inside and bolted to the door. It's testing the dexterity in my fingers. :) This truck had the original defroster vents on the dash. I checked to see that they will clear everything that is in place. I finished out the day doing some yard work. :)
O&S was in reverse for most of today. I removed all the parts from the cab. :) I was able to install more sound mat on the firewall. I welded up the door locks and some small holes I had drilled to install the door handles before I found a different way to do it. It warmed up to a very pleasant temp after lunch. I took the doors outside and used the purple disc and removed the rest of the paint on them. Then I ran the cab outside and did the same thing to it. Tomorrow, the cab goes in bondo jail. I'm not good at that and it might be painful to watch. I won't update until I have something to show that is worth looking at. :)
Godspeed, friend. :)
It's not reverse, it's a planned detour...
O&S made it to the shop for the 1st time in 4 days. Also operating at about 50% power. I'm not done with this cold but today was the last kinda warm day for about 10 days. Remember that sharing the shop with my wife's car has hastened this project to drivable status. The bodywork is way far from being good. The inside and firewall is whimbolen white. I wanted the inside to be completed so when paint time arrives, it wouldn't require a complete disassemble. I would have rather masked off the outside but there wasn't drying time to allow that.
Looking good.
Yes it is. Howdy Pugsy. 8)
Hope you get to feeling 100% soon, Bill. I think I hurt myself block sanding this week. Don't do that. :)
O&S had a light day. I started low on gas and ran out after some manual labor. I reinstalled the door handles without loosing any skin. As close as it is, that is an accomplishment. The doors are back on the cab. The weather will change by tomorrow so I decided to bring the chassis back in. That's where the manual labor came in. Lots of stuff to move and no other way than pushing to get it back into the shop.
The chassis looks really good, a solid foundation for that cab.
O&S is not dead, yet. :) I'm 10 days into this cold and I can say that nothing in my life has taken me down like this. Off to a story. Some time ago when I primed the engine oil system with just a ratchet and extension. It took very little time to pressure it up. As you might imagine, with that method, you can't build full pressure. I didn't anymore than get my tools put up and there was a drip of oil under the rear main. New seal and repair sleeve had been installed and with the engine out in the open so it was able to see and install just as I had done for years. This bothered me a lot. I wondered if there was a crack around a galley plug that I didn't see when I installed them. Today was the day to check it. I removed the back end from the engine and could see that there had been some oil coming from the main seal. I cleaned it up and attached a drill to an extension and ran the oil pump for about a minute. It was dry. 5 hours later the floor is dry. I have no idea what has happened. It's all bolted back together and I'm starting on fuel lines. I had this idea that I could use my push to connect dies to form a roll on the tubing the same diameter as a factory hose barb. After 2 attempts, I have the correct size. :) I'm using 3/8" nicop to run from the tank and to the rear of the engine and hose to connect from there.
O&S has fuel lines. Not pretty, just effective. :) The cold is still sucking my energy. :)
I must have missed it. What fuel tank is that?
Tanks universal. Having the fuel pump lowered sure made connecting lines interesting. :) Had I paid attention, I wouldn't have glued it in yet. Lack of planning on my part, again. :)
Thanks
O&S spent most of the day in the shop. Still not up to strength.:) I started out with running brake lines. There are run up to the firewall where the master is located. The wiper motor is installed. The front and rear glass is installed. I had the assistance of the wonderful Mrs. O&S to install the glass. They were very snug. There's no way I could have put them in by myself. Everything got run outside and the cab is sitting on the frame. Not bolted down yet. That was enough for today. T.B. has set in.
O&S is still plodding along. The 1st time I had the cab on the frame, I had slotted 4 mounting holes. Before I painted the frame, I cut those areas out and welded in new metal. So I had to re-drill 4 holes to bolt the cab down. I used cab to frame welting inbetween the cab and the mounts. It got up to 86 degrees this afternoon. I brought the rear fenders around and sanded them with 400 and shot black epoxy on them. Sitting in the sun, they were dry in minutes instead of hours. That's the last of the body panels to be shot. This morning, after I finished bolting the cab down, I put a jack on the right side behind the cab. I jacked it up to see if it would pick up the front and rear at the same time. I looked at the other side and the rear was completely in the air but the front was still touching the ground. I opened the door and it worked. That answers some questions about torsional rigidity.
What are you using for a fuel filler KB? Thinking about giving Vickie a few extra inches of storage in the cab of her truck.
Dave, I picked one of the Tanks straight necks. This one is under the middle of the floor. I could have chosen a side exit tank but The puts it inside the rear fender. I did that on the white 51. I wanted this to be as simple as it could.
O&S had an agenda today. I got started by finishing up the brake lines. After bleeding, I see I had a leak in a rear caliper. I thought it was a copper washer on the hose. Not so, running out of the caliper. That blind old guy around here nicked a seal when installing the piston. That's the 1st one is years but I'm still not happy with myself. The pedal assembly is bolted on, the clutch cable is connected and the steering column is connected. I put fuel in the tank and disconnected the inlet on the throttle body and powered up the fuel pump. I let it run a little and then strained the fuel and found nothing. I connected the 2 fuel lines together and let it circulate for a few minutes. I then reconnected the lines to the throttle body. I think it's good to go. I'm at the mercy of delivery times on some of the parts I ordered. I thought it would be running this week but I don't think stuff will be here to do that.
No doubt about it , you do nice work . 8)
Looking good and moving along quickly.
O&S spent more time on machine setups than working today. I removed the 88 F150 steering wheel and cut the hub from it. I don't care for those cheap aftermarket adapters and aren't too crazy about the $100 billets ones for this truck. I put the hub in the lathe and trimmed the plastic back to a minimal covering. I took a piece of 3/16" plate and cut a circle out of it. I have a spindle adapter I made decades ago that has been my go to lathe holder. I chucked up and turned the od of the plate until it was concentric with the arbor. I aligned the plate with the steering wheel and center punched holes to mount to it. I put the plate in the rotary index fixture and drilled the holes every 60 degrees. Then I did some measuring to index the wheel with the spokes how I wanted them to be at straight steering. I used the 2 holes that are for attaching a puller to the hub for removal to hold 2 stubs that locate the adapter plate and keep it from free rotating on the hub. I tapped the plate holes for the steering wheel mounting bolts. I have a hole on one side to feed horn wires through. The center nut holds the plate onto the stub pins and the whole assembly to the steering shaft. I now need to come up with something for a spring loaded hub cover. I got started going through the wiring box to see what I had left over. About 4:30 the UPS driver left the high pressure fittings and hose for the power steering. I had to pull the pump and remove some more material from the mount to clear the fitting. I expected that. :) There will be some more machine work on the fitting for the steering rack. Nothing just bolts on to this assortment of components.
Light day for O&S. I started by finishing the high pressure hoses for the power steering. I machined the fitting for the rack and cut the hose and installed the hose ends. Simple process even though it does take time. :) I have return springs on the door handles now. I have the wiring out of the sniper box and I'm going to compare requirements of the equipment needing wiring and start laying out a wiring diagram. There will be lots of small stuff in the next couple days so until there is enough to make a decent update, I won't update the thread. :)
O&S changed directions today. I had this idea for a battery holder when I couldn't sleep last night. It took way too long to fab but that's all my fault. I used button head bolts from the inside of the firewall. They have a fairly large diameter head. The bolts are jam nutted so the bracket can be removed without disturbing anything inside on the firewall. I used 1/8" x 2" strap and bent it in the press break for the back and front. The floor of the mount has a step so the battery can't get into the fasteners. I'm thinking about options for a hold down bracket. The next time the primer gun is in use, this will get turned black. I'm using a group 75 battery. Every truck I have done has had the battery under the bed. I wanted this one to be easily accessed.
O&S started the day by finishing the battery mount. I welded pieces of 3/8" .058 wall tubing to the angle parts. I used 1/4 all thread and a piece of 3/4" tubing for the top plate the ends are radiused and I used wing nuts on top. I moved on to sheet metal panels. I made kick panels and door inspection covers. There is a hump at the bottom of the door post. I used the bead roller and some dies I made to match a 32 Ford bed roll to roll the bottom of the panels. I used an offset die and made a recess around where the speakers go. I cut the holes for the speakers and used nutserts to fasten the panels to the cab. The door panels were gone on this cab. I have the panels cut and the edge rolled. The corners need more work and the holes need drilled. These parts will get primed the next day it warms up enough to do that.
I see you maintaining the pace of your work by moving constantly from one part of the truck to another. It's working, all the work is top quality, but how do you keep it all straight? I assume you have some punch list or organizational structure behind it.
Jaybee, there are many factors that drive what I'm doing. This time of year, the weather is involved. The forecast had a couple of warm days so I did the panels and anything else that will need primer. :) Included in the list is some days, I'm low on brain power. The last 2 weeks on fighting the cold has dealt me some days that I'm not sure I had a brain. I'm sure age has something to do with that. The punch list is in my head. I've been doing a project per year for a while and I think the repetition in tasks helps the old mind some. :)
Thank you for all the comments, guys. I'm appreciative that someone would take time from their day to see what an old guy is doing. :)
O&S had a variety of tasks today. I finished up the door panels. In the pic you will see some heat discoloring. If you drill the holes in the wrong place, you get to weld them up. More blind old guy stuff. :) I'm pleased to say that the rest of the power steering hoses arrived today and I powered it up with a drill and there are no leaks. :) I was using the Siless brand thermal mat on the firewall and it wouldn't adhere. I don't know why. I tried several times and gave up. In the past I have used Low-E brand insulation. I wasn't able to find the exact product but this stuff is very close. It arrived today and I have the firewall glued in place. The ac evaporator is in place for what should be the last time. The bulkhead fittings are in place for the ac. I made some small spacers that allow the ac fittings to tighten up. Otherwise, I have to machine a lip off the fittings. I installed the gauge cluster to see if there are clearance problems. So far, everything is clearing.
I enjoy every bit of it, even though I don't always comment. What's that instrument cluster? I like it very much.
Good stuff.
A can of spray adhesive may solve your sticking issue.
I watch every day , reply sometimes.
Jaybee, that is a Dakota Digital VHX universal. In the last year going to shows, I've seen cars that I have seen for years and they have changed out the cluster to either a New Dakota or a Classic Instruments unit. The new units do lots of stuff. Not cheap but good. 123pugsy, you are correct, a good adhesive probably would have solved the problem. The shiny insulation is far superior to any of the other products I 've used in insulation qualities. I've tried to be very careful with component selection as to not have regrets when this goes down the street.
In other words: Keeping it trendy! :lol:
I'm just curious... saw some white.... wondered if you ever came up with a color. Nice progress on aspects covered since my last reply. :)
Matt, the answer is no. I decided on black and white for the interior because of compatibility. :)
Cool. I was hoping that was the case and understand painting the firewall probably with stuff on hand. It is in my mind to offer further assistance via imagery but man, I been so dipped in F1 and shown the futility of the imagery so often in recent times that... ugh.
Keep up the good work. :)
O&S walked out the door this morning with a plan and some resolve. I decided to finish the doors. As you all know, if you mess up with glass, it breaks. This is not my favorite part of a build. I was doing good until I got to a vent wing. I tried 3 times and couldn't get the glass into the frame. The other frame had a cracked original glass in it held by a wire. :) I removed the glass and compared it to the new glass. The old one is smaller. I don't know if that is the only problem but tomorrow, I'm taking the vent wings to a glass man along with the original and let him install them. :) I have the rear window channel in place. The power window regulators are installed and both goin the correct direction. I installed sun visors and the wiper arms are on. This morning I found a puddle of red on the floor. I removed the pressure fitting on the rack and looked it over. I installed a small oring inside of the copper sealing washer. I hope that solves that problem.
The weather god smiled on O&S today. Not only did it get warm enough to prime, it was warm enough to paint those parts. :) The brake caliper kit arrived and is installed. I have a leak on the tee at the front that needs attention, now. I'm going to replace the tee and start over with it. The vent wings are in but I didn't get any farther on the doors. It was 82 degrees here this afternoon.
O&S put in a full day but accomplished little. I'm fighting some little things and they're ahead in winning. :) The windows are in and working. I put the inspection panels on. There is a top panel that I need to upholster and it can go on and the doors will be completed. The arm rests go on after the upper panel. The rear caliper I kitted is leaking again. All of the kits are listed for a 1.75" piston. The piston measures 1.78" I wonder if that is the trouble or it's just misprints. I ordered a rebuilt caliper. I've had enough fun with that. I ordered a DEI heat sleeve for the clutch cable. It's supposed to be good for better than 1,000 degrees. I thought I would give it a try. :) The O2 sensor is installed for the sniper. I have the wiring connected but not run. The ads say it takes 4 wires to run. When I count that bundle, it sure looks like more than 4 to me. LOL. The wiring is laid out for the AC and I need to fab a panel for the controller.
soon you will be driving this one too ! 8)
O&S got started with picking up the rebuilt caliper. It was on time which is pleasant to have happen these days. :) The caliper cured the problem and I have brakes now. :) The saying " a picture is worth a 1000 words" might apply to what's next. On the table is the remains of the 88 F150 harness. The fuse panel and the light circuit is what's left. On the table is a box with a lot of the wire removed and the remains of the power dist. panel I purchased on ebay some time ago. I would like to use the maxi fuses and there are 2 70 amp relays and 1 30 amp relay still attached. The sniper and Vintage Air harnesses both have relays in them. That leaves me with needing headlight and cooling fan relays. I haven't decided if I will modify those harnesses so I can relocate all the relays to one location or not. Lots of decisions coming up. :)
Funner kinds of decisions though. And you've had practice. Wiring now looks not unlike a typical basic old car's. :)
O&S has 1 thing to report today. The Trooper was here and did the vin inspection. I've been to the court house and have a title and tag on the way. :)
8) 8) 8)
Right on!
O&S spent part of the day ordering some electrical parts I couldn't find locally. Then I moved on to mounting the radiator and running a few hoses. There is one heater hose left to connect to the heater. I need to find another Gates unicoil or get a preformed hose. Just another bump in the road. :)
O&S made a little progress today. The cooling fan is mounted along with the ac condenser. It's full of antifreeze and so far there's no green on the floor. I picked up a formed 90 degree hose and that enabled the connection of the water valve to the bulkhead on the heater. It's plenty close in there. I made a bracket to hold the ac control panel. After I took the pic, I decided that it needs to be moved back under the dash some. 2 more holes to drill. :)
O&S was stuck in low gear again. I started off by painting the fan shroud with flat black. I moved on to relocating the heater control panel and connecting all of the wires. I hooked up power and everything is working properly. I needed to make a spacer to mount the ignition switch. It took 2 tries to get a workable solution. That turned into a couple of hours of machining and thinking. I had looked at placing the stereo in the dash but didn't like everything about it. I thought about mounting it in a console but I want it to be easy accessed. I taped off the area and got brave with a cutoff tool. :) I think it will work fine. I got started on the console but not far enough for any pics. I had to put the seats back in for measuring. It was nice to sit in them instead of on the floor. :) However, they will be in the way for all of the finishing so they will get removed, again. :)
The little things that take 75% of the time...
Reminds me of when you download or install something on the computer and it hangs up at 99% complete for almost as long as it took to get there.
I had a good exp. to share. On another forum, someone mentioned BatterycablesUSA.com. I decided to give them a try. The local options didn't have the correct hole size in the terminals for what I wanted. I ordered around noon on friday. The order was in my hands today. The cables are very nice and exactly what I ordered. It was a pleasant surprise. :)
O&S got started today with fabbing a simple console for the truck. It has holes cut for speakers, the power window switches, and the cup holders are roughed in. There is a small compartment on the rear for the registration and insurance card. I shot flat black on it but I may glue black vinyl on it. I picked up a piece of metal and made a hurtz shifter lever. It misses the console by at least a 1/2" in all the gears in the rearward position.
O&S accomplished very little today. It took several hours to get the console bolted down. Several attempts before nutserts were installed and it was bolted down. I installed a cable throttle kit. There's an angle on the firewall where the cable passes through that is going to cause a problem. Tomorrow it will get removed and I'm going to have to flatten that area on the firewall where the cable attaches to it. Late in the day, I had to drain the antifreeze down. The intake manifold has a water crossover at the rear. One of the outlets had a plug that was leaking. I removed that plug and replaced it with a brass unit that I've had for years. I believe that is the end of that problem.
O&S crossed 2 items off the list today. I made angle cut spacers for the throttle cable. That allowed it to run perpendicular to the throttle arm and solved that future problem. I shortened the cable up some and took some of the angles out of it. The effort to make it open the throttle is far less now. I knew that to make the tfi distributor operational with the sniper, the shutter wheel from the distr. needed to be modified. One window was .150" larger than the others. In sequential fuel injection, something has to tell the ecu where number 1 is. hence, the wider window. The sniper is batch fire so it needs none of that info. I welded a piece of metal .150" wide to the shutter wheel. I sanded the weld down because the clearance inside the distr. is real close. I had it on a spare distr. to spin and verify that all the clearances are correct. :) The pic of the shutters shows the stock on the left and the modified on the right. I'm back on wiring now. I'm still searching for info on how to connect the tfi distr. to the sniper. 5 years ago, there were some people who solved the equation. I'm trying to track that info down. Now, it seems the preferred thought is to buy the $500 Holley distributor and ignition box. :)
O&S has added new meaning to "an embarrassing amount of time" on the wiring. 1st off: I was able to talk to a Holley tech guy yesterday morning. He told me that I would be unsuccessful in trying to use the tfi distributor with the sniper for controlled timing. I had read on the Holley forums that several years ago, people had tried it with very limited success. The distributor creates a magnetic field that causes the ecu to make errors. So on monday, I will be searching for the Holley distributor. The pics show the current status of the wiring. The 1st shows it laid out on the table this morning. Yesterday I fabbed up a bracket to hold the fuse panel under the dash. The 2nd shows the wiring running from the firewall access to the battery. There are 3 main feeds for the fuse panel and switch, a relay tap for the efi, a.c., headlights and the cooling fan. All of the main grounds will terminate at the battery. Next to the battery is the fuse for the efi and relays for the efi and headlights. I have a 70 amp relay connected to the ignition switch to transfer power to the fuse panel rather than using the ignition switches internal contacts. I need to wire the gauge cluster, stereo and interior lights. I have wires running to the front and rear for lights but they won't be connected until the sheet metal is all back on the truck.
O&S has something to share. :)
A good day for sure. Sounds almost as good as a Chevy :)
You are my hero. I would need time lapse photography to show any progress here. I spent my morning just cleaning a small part of my shop. My 5 year old granddaughter told me yesterday to clean up my shop, it was to messy.
Nice to get that engine going. Congrats.
Hot dog! Looky there. 8) Has a nice "vlap'mm" sound to it. :) For a Ford. :lol:
Yeah, I watched the video this afternoon... F16?
I have stayed up on the progress when I can, just dont comment much on the build.
Tony, the F16 is what I have named it based upon the F6 cab and the rest being from the F1 dimensions. Thanks for the comments, everyone. :)
Quote from: kb426 on November 29, 2021, 08:50:50 AM
Tony, the F16 is what I have named it based upon the F6 cab and the rest being from the F1 dimensions. Thanks for the comments, everyone. :)
ah, guess I was not paying attention. :o . :o . :o
Tony, I hadn't mentioned that yet. :)
O&S did some wiring and put the rear fenders and the bed on. It was almost 80 degrees this afternoon so I went for a spin around the block.
Terrorizing the neighborhood already :twisted: how appropriate. You sly old hood that needs a hood, you. :)
Nice little cruise clip there.
O&S had many things to accomplish today. I started by mounting the tail lights. Then I removed the seats and the console. The holes were trimmed for the cup holders and I moved on to the stereo. All the speakers are wired and the stereo works properly. I ran the dome light wiring to the switches before installing the kick panels. I cleaned up the wiring behind the fuse panel a little while the kick panel was out. The dash is put together. I tried the suggestion for the tfi and the sniper timing control. I was not successful. Today was the last day to order the Holley dist. before the 5% price increase so I ordered it. I'll be surprised if it arrives by the end of December. :) I changed all the wiring back to stand alone ignition and put 12 degrees of fixed timing it. It sounds like it should. That was a full day.
That's great, and a fine day to go for a drive.
Sounds eager. Feisty, even. :) It was clear, calm, and 78°F here today. And about dark when I got off work. :roll:
O&S glued down more insulation, glued the door seals on and installed seat belts and put the seats back in even though they will have to come back out again. :) I went and got a piece of 1/2" plate. The master cylinder will have to be changed to get a good peddle. The front has quick take up calipers and I used a standard master cylinder. It takes 2 pumps to have anything. I purchased a crown vic master and will machine an adapter to bolt it to the hydroboost setup. That will be tomorrow's task.
O&S started out with adjusting the door latches on the truck. I left the doors closed all night to see if the seals would compress. They didn't enough to not warrant adjustment. I had not put the slotted nut plates on yet. I drilled a couple of holes and slotted the original latch pin hole and adjusted them to where a light touch closes them. I can't see daylight but until it's at road speed, I won't know if they're tight enough. I started off with a chunk of 1/2" plate for the adapter for the master cylinder. I used the mill and bored the pilot hole for the master cylinder to size. It was 1.580". I have no drill bit that size. :) I drilled the holes and then made a stub shaft to extend the plunger rod. The original fasteners were metric at .340" diameter. I used 3/8" grade 8 fasteners to bolt all of this together. I bled the brakes and I have brakes now. :) That was a relatively simple fix. Having compatible parts makes life easier. :)
Give those door rubbers ye olde dollar bill test. ;)
O&S has a dome light now. :) I have wired in the maxi fuse holders on the main power feeds. Ugly but effective. I ran the ac hoses from the firewall forward. The kit I purchased wasn't for a unit with bulkheads so I'm short some fittings. My fault for not checking when it arrived. The threads weren't cut well on the compressor fittings and I messed with them for almost an hour before I got them on and tightened. Patience was very necessary on that.
I found out that the fittings I need to finish the ac are in short supply. There is a company in Florida that I have used before that showed them on their website. I placed and order but it will be monday before I can check to see if I was successful. :)
Quote from: kb426 on December 03, 2021, 09:56:20 PM
I found out that the fittings I need to finish the ac are in short supply. There is a company in Florida that I have used before that showed them on their website. I placed and order but it will be monday before I can check to see if I was successful. :)
If you can't get it, send me a part number I have some fittings here in stock.
Frank, I'm using reduced barrier. Thank you for the offer. :)
O&S was something of a worker today. I got started by changing the thermostat in the engine. I had to remove the alternator and mount to get at it along with several other parts. It took a while. :) I ran the wiring to the back of the truck and connected the tail lights and tag light. I haven't found a light I like for back up lights yet. I have tail and turn lights. I have one brake light and one flasher light. It appears that the 33 year old turn signal switch has a problem. :) The wiring to the rear is loomed. I loomed a little on the front and put a few adel clamps in to hold hoses and wiring. Then I installed the front fenders and the lower and upper valances. I was going to bolt the grille in and discovered the bolt pattern is different on one side. That gave me a reason to quit. :)
O&S just stopped for a quick lunch. Here's a couple of pics. I wish the grille was finished but I'm extremely happy with the look. :) It turns out that the turn signal problem appears to be in the wiring going to it which means I did something incorrect. I have an idea where to look but don't have a solution in my mind, yet.
For once, O&S wasn't defective. The new electronic flasher wouldn't play with the rest of the light system. I found an old flasher and stuck it in and now we have everything.
That's looking good.
Yes it is. That front end will get some double takes. I believe you did good with the grille / headlight choice and your grille mod has great effect. 8)
Thank you for the comments. :)
Last update for the day. The hood is on but not latched. Tomorrow's task is the upper latch plate and the latch. The lower was all I had done.
O&S worked all day but got little accomplished. The hood latch I'm using is a volkswagon that everybody sells. I spent several hours on it. It is functional but I'm not satisfied with it. I will be looking for something else. I made brackets for the running boards but only have one mounted.
Truck looks nice and low 8)
You could roll-your-own O&S "Easy hood latch" using any bear claw latch plus mostly things you have laying around. Since Altman's is $190 for the kit and its just a door latch on L brkts.
The big truck boards are cute. :)
Matt, that may happen. I'm thinking and looking. :)
O&S mounted the right running board and removed the camber locking tab from the front end while the truck was in the air. I could see by looking that it wasn't right. :) I covered the upper door panels in black vinyl. The arm rests and panels are installed. I went out and did the speedo setup and filled the fuel tank. I put around 20 miles on it. It handles like a big go kart. LOL. I have lots of items to finish but it's about to go to the shed and my wife's car is going into the garage. :) The video is with the timing set at 10 degrees. It runs better at part throttle than full throttle. The wind noise gets loud past 65 mph. The door seals aren't good enough to stop that. :)
Quote from: kb426 on December 07, 2021, 07:21:44 PM
Matt, that may happen. I'm thinking and looking. :)
O&S mounted the right running board and removed the camber locking tab from the front end while the truck was in the air. I could see by looking that it wasn't right. :) I covered the upper door panels in black vinyl. The arm rests and panels are installed. I went out and did the speedo setup and filled the fuel tank. I put around 20 miles on it. It handles like a big go kart. LOL. I have lots of items to finish but it's about to go to the shed and my wife's car is going into the garage. :) The video is with the timing set at 10 degrees. It runs better at part throttle than full throttle. The wind noise gets loud past 65 mph. The door seals aren't good enough to stop that. :)
I don't know which is tougher, you or it. :) Bad to the bone, Bill. 8) Wow!
Great pics too. :)
I went back to my spreadsheet and looked over the time line. 1-4-21, I removed the cab from the chassis of the F6. After that, the front crossmember was cut and welded back together. Months went by with little or no work. 6-4-21, I went and picked up metal for the frame. 6-5-21, I started disassembly of the 5.0 engine. From that point on, I worked most everyday except for car show days. Some days I put in 8 hours, some had 4 or 5. So as of 12-7-21, it is drivable, several items left to finish, not including body work and paint. When I started welding the frame up, I thought I would have it painted by now. :) Boy, my time predictions are really bad. LOL.
Dont feel bad , when I started my T I figured 4 years at a relaxed pace as I was going to just buy parts and slap it together . It will be 10 years in January since I started and I am probably 70% complete :shock: It would probably be a lot further along if I could just buy parts and use them but every time I see stuff I keep seeing how I could make the parts myself and have something a bit better . Good thing I enjoy the build process . I have not had a streetable toy since 82 . The drag racing bug took away any streetable vehicles I had as every car had to get faster and less well mannered .
Light afternoon at O&S. The ac fittings arrived so I could finish the hoses. I'm not going to charge it until the distributor is changed out. The suction line is not in a friendly place. :) I adjusted the tops of the doors in some. That improved the wind noise but didn't eliminate it. I put another 20 miles on it after doing a little work. I went past the scales and weighed it. 3240 lbs. It is lacking the bed floor, the dynadeck floor mat which weighs around 20 lbs. and whatever I use to finish the headliner and back of the cab for the interior. If I use abs again, it will weigh less than 10 lbs. I need to make a shifter boot but unless something goes wrong, that shouldn't weigh much. :)
That is less than a new mustang weighs by quite a bit as I understand .
Quote from: chimp koose on December 08, 2021, 09:42:06 PM
That is less than a new mustang weighs by quite a bit as I understand .
About 600lbs. They're not small cars, that's for sure.
I took the liberty of edit the thread title to 1951 F16 since you recently named the vehicle that.
Tony, thank you.
Is it pronounced F sixteen or F one six?
sixteen.
Are you testing with the short tig weld video on youtube?
Tony, that's my back up welder that I put up for sale. It's been under the bench for 2 years. I don't think I need it as much as I did. :)
O&S was surprised by both the fedex and ups drivers today. I now have the hyperspark ignition. I knew that I would have to change gears on the distributors. I knocked out the roll pin and put the distributor in the press and removed the gear. I did the same with the new unit. What I wasn't expecting was the new distributor has the old shaft size. It's the difference from .468 to .532. They make a gear to do that but I didn't want to wait 4 or 5 days for it to arrive. I had an old cam sensor from the 5.0 that I put in the 32. I removed the shaft from it and chucked it in the 4 jaw chuck. I dialed it into zero and cut the stub end off from it. Then I machined a bushing out of part of the shaft. I pressed into the gear and drilled it for the roll pin. Then I used a spacer to match the size of the bushing and pushed the gear on the shaft in the press. I have the distributor in and was looking for a good place to mount the control box. There are no flat places on the inner fender so I guess I will have to make a mount for it. I was getting tired so I quit before I messed up something. :)
O&S completed the wiring on the hyperspark today. The control box is under the hydroboost on the left inner fender. I had a buyer for the welder and we spent a couple of hours talking hot rods so speed was not part of the day. After going through the re-configuration, it instantly fired up and started the learning process. I took it out drove it for a few miles. Yes, Tony, it will do a burnout. Twice as a matter of fact. No video, though. The stronger valve springs are doing their job. It will rev to 5500 easily. It has 50 miles on it now so most of the break-in is accomplished. :) I put the trim back on the hood. I thought that would make it easier to not lose over the winter. :) The truck is not a rocket but the engine is only 225 hp in stock configuration. I don't know if the different intake manifold and the sniper add any power or not. It has excellent throttle response and runs like it should now. If the reliability is there, I will be happy with it's performance.
What color of metalflake will you be using on this one ? :lol:
C.K., I'll be using the one that's similar to the flip flop pearl that if you don't have the correct viewing angle, it will be invisible. :)
There is enough roundness on that truck to have the pearl show itself a lot . I always thought a 53/54 chevy would be a great candidate for a pearl paint job for the same reason
Quote from: kb426 on December 13, 2021, 08:32:48 AM
C.K., I'll be using the one that's similar to the flip flop pearl that if you don't have the correct viewing angle, it will be invisible. :)
So you're using the flake so big theres only one on each panel then correct? ???
Quote from: chimp koose on December 13, 2021, 08:06:21 PM
There is enough on that truck to have the pearl show a lot .
Did I fix that ^^^ for ya? :lol:
I think if KB could lay hands on enough Vantablack, he might consider a dark color. :)
You did good, Matt. :)
I installed the new turn signal switch yesterday. That took care of the lighting problems. I found a method of bleeding the hydroboost systems on a Ford power stroke site last night. I think I'm gaining on the fluid escaping the reservoir but it's not good yet. I messed with the front end alignment this afternoon. I went to far with my corrections so I get to redo it. :)
O&S is reasonably confident that the problem with the p.s. fluid being forced from the reservoir is solved. After doing the bleeding procedure about 25 times yesterday, I did some more research last night to see if I missed something. The only thing that came up is air in the system. Then the light goes off: you're getting air in the system without a fluid leak. :) This morning I put the truck in the shop and look at the supply line to the pump. What I saw instantly confirmed where I thought the air was entering. As the hose goes into the pump, there's a pretty good angle. I used a spring clamp on the hose. It had enough tension to keep fluid in but not enough to keep air out. I removed the 2 clamps on the supply line and put worm clamps on it. It has run for a while with no fluid escaping. I think that was it. :) Ford has used those spring clamps for years. There are no Ford dealers close to me. I ordered a bunch from an ebay seller. The material wasn't as thick as the OEM's so they aren't quite as strong. I'm going to throw the rest away so I'm never tempted to use them again. LOL.
I will never reuse one of them after I get them off. Terrible things they are, especially the part when using the wrong tool and it slips off and squishes one's finger.
Those things were standard fare when I fixed wrecks but I never bought the tool or got a finger under one, or used an aftermarket one, or used them on anything but radiator or heater, or liked the style. But OE ones seemed to work real well on radiator hoses. Can't loosen but like any, re-use on existing hose is best done with clamp in exact previous orientation. It sucks finding out that the aftermarket ones suck so hard that they allow sucking. :) Gotta love freshly manufactured store bought scrap.
I have a plier made just for opening those clamps . Sure saves aggravation !
I've used the flat metal spring clamps and the round wire clamps in recent years. On olde cars that is. My 2006 Silverado had a few spring clamps on the cooling system. Plastic quick connect hose ends on the heater hoses of that truck
O&S did a little work today. The new Ford power steering reservoir arrived yesterday, I installed it and it's dry around the cap. :) I installed a horn from the 88 F150. As soon as I get a horn button fabbed up, I'll have a horn. I have a bypass toggle switch to turn on the cooling fan anytime. I had the fan wire from the sniper connected to the switch. On the wrong terminal. :) I have corrected that and now the sniper controller works. :)
O&S is living up to his name. :) I wanted to get the Dynadeck in today. I pulled the trans cover and installed the back up switch on the trans and ran wiring up to the fuse panel. I loomed up the wiring running to the console from the firewall. I wasn't satisfied with the location of the throttle pedal. It didn't feel natural when you got in the truck. I removed 2 inches out of it. It's better but I think there's more drag on the cable than there should be. More tinkering ahead on that. I spent a substantial amount of time making a pattern for the Dynadeck. After putting the mat down and putting the seats back in, I went for a ride and the noise reduction is very good. For people that don't want carpet, it's a very good alternative.
O&S received some parts today. I bought an inexpensive convex peep mirror. It works all right but it will probably be temporary. I want some better mirrors than what was on the white 51 so I'm looking. :) I ordered a set of oem style door panels for a deluxe cab. I cleaned up the metal trim parts and shot them with flat black. They are on the doors and look ok. I'm still fighting with the decision of how much original look I want in the interior. As of now the doors are the only place that hasn't been modded to some extent. The steering is not centered in relation to the travel on the rack. I made a tie rod extender that will solve that. I will have to thread and shorten the right side while lengthening the left side. The adapter is 14mm x 1.5 mm thread. It has male and female threads. I ordered a tap and die to do that. The only 14mm tap I had was for spark plug threads. :) After that gets resolved, the steering shaft will have to be rotated for the turn signals to operate properly.
O&S spent the day making little progress. My tie rod extender didn't work. It was too long between male and female threads so I made a different part. I didn't get the rack quite centered but I need to think about what I'm doing some more. The area where the window anti-rattlers goes was bent on both doors. I made a tool and straightened that area. That allows the window regulator to stop where it needs to. The sniper coolant temp sender has gone nuts. It reads about 50 degrees warmer than ambient temp before you start the engine and around 100 degrees hotter after it warms up. This allows the elect. fan to run way sooner than it should. I don't expect there to be any difficulty getting that warranteed. It's not finished until it's finished. :)
O&S started off thinking that he had a good idea for the hood latch. Matt had mentioned making my own bear claw latch. I decided to give it a try. I ordered a latch that had a spring loaded handle on it. I set out to use as much of the Volkswagen latch as I could. I made a plate to bolt the latch to the truck and was going to use the Volks latch plate for the safety catch. The pin that goes in the bear claw is 11/16" in diameter. I made mine 10 thousandths smaller in case there was alignment problems. I used the top plate from the Volks and removed the metric stud and threaded it for 3/8". I machined a short piece of shaft and bent up a u shaped bracket and welded them together for the pin to go in the bear claw. I welded a 3/8" flange nut to the top of the apparatus to thread the stud into. It has jamb nuts on top and bottom. Things were going pretty good until I figured out that the length of the safety catch was a problem. I shortened the catch and then it was going to take a slender tool or something like that to disengage it. There wasn't enough room to put a finger between the hood and the upper radiator panel. That has doom written all over it so the safety catch idea went in the toilet and I'll start over on that. The bear claw works well. The threaded adjustment allows just a light tension on the rubber bumper on the front of the hood. 50% success is better than zero. :)
Thats the beauty of using a door latch, it has a safety catch built in. Two clicks to close fully. A man like yourself could probably even utilize the lock function if'n he was of a mind to. The Altman version comes with a block off for the safety catch hole. And uses a nylon bushing on the striker pin, not just like but not unlike those found in a muscle or smog car door jamb. With the factory setup, wasn't all the adjustment on the hood side? I found I needed a bit of wiggle on the latch side too. Theres no rule that says you have to use a vertical pin. Another stout L bracket with a plain ole replacement striker through it might work too, but possibly require a less pretty hole on the latch side. There could be a good old fashioned hood pin used as a supplemental safety, mounted inverted in the original catch location. Just rambling out loud like a Middle Aged Tempestuous Troublemaker. The stock front inner panel of them hoods is a strange critter.
Truck is lookin good. Thanks for the adventure stream. You all must be having a warm snap like over here but I bet its windy just the same also. :)
O&S is pleased to report some progress was made. When I started this morning it was a simple decision to use the hanger for the original safety catch. I took some 1/8" metal and carved out an appropriate shape for a hook. I cut a hole for it to protrude through. The hook will catch under the gold plate so the metal is more than double thickness. I have a spring on it but not the correct length. Next trip to the hardware store will cure that. That proved to be a simple solution to complete the hood latch. The release is hidden from sight so most will not figure out how to unlatch the hood, thinking it has a remote cable. A phone call to Holley has a new coolant temp sender on it's way. I called Vintage Air and described my problem in loading freon. He told me where to look. I went and got a refill adapter with a gauge. That allowed me to fill the system as it should . It was 44 degrees today. To get the system to run, I had to run the heater wide open to get the compressor to cycle to finish the job. :) I have a problem with my old gauges or the refill adapter on the can. I will address that later but for right now, the ac is crossed off the list. :)
I hadn't thought about that before, it makes good sense.
The sniper coolant temp sensor had failed to read accurately. It was not a problem to have Holley send a replacement. Mission accomplished. The rear springs have sagged some. I jacked up the rear and removed the wheels and raised the spring locators about an inch per side. I haven't driven it yet to see if that did what I wanted or I may need some stronger springs. This has the same rated springs as the white 51 but the geometry is different. Happy New Year to everybody. :)
Last post of the year for O&S. :lol: I fabbed up some filler panels to go between the rear fenders and the running boards. I decided to just make cosmetic panels instead of something that kids can jump on. ;D I shot epoxy on them and bolted them on. The weatherman says we're going to freeze for the next couple of days so it will stay in the shed.
Those make it better. :) You did a bang-up job this year, Bill. Must be tough stashing that mean looker. Happy New Year and many more, to you and yours.
That's very helpful to the profile of the truck.
:)
I sure like that instant paint. There's hope on the future. :)
You can have any color as long as its black. Man that thing looks like a sin. The stance is wicked, you nailed it and paint don't affect goin' fast.
8) :arrow:
Arguably as intimidating as a Fighting Falcon but more down to earth and easier on the ears. I'll nurse these Junior Mints until intermission is over. :)
that truck has an attitude for sure 8)
It warmed up around lunch time so O&S heated the garage and did a little work. I had ordered a plain horn button and a 1.5" tall steering wheel adapter. I flipped the adapter upside down and bored a hole to allow the button to slid into but the outer ring fits on it to hold it in place. I drilled 2 holes through the adapter for 1/4" bolts as the adapter was drilled for 10/24. The steering wheel still has 4 - 1/4" flat head bolts in it as well as the 2 that hold the horn button in place. I don't have any black oxide bolts but that will be rectified. :) I didn't like the way the right rear brake caliper was working. I got a rebuilt caliper and swapped them out today. It is better. The truck stops very well. I could put softer pads in but I don't think that is necessary unless I would decide to autocross.
Nice. Sometimes it's hard to keep up with the cold at this time of year.
Today we have quick and easy. I purchased a 3rd brake light that is self adhesive for the rear window. I hope it adds the protection that we need from distracted drivers. :)
Bought one of these and wired it into my 3rd brake light. Flashes 3 or 4 times real fast them 4 slow flashes. This one is for LED's but do make them for regular bulbs. Maybe yours does that already.
34ford, it's just an on off light. It's wired to the brake circuit only. I should have someone follow me and report how effective it is. :)
Tossed together some edits for ya hoss :)
Thanks, Matt. My internal visualizer isn't as good as art work. :)
You're welcome, Bill. :) Have s'more. Just very rough impressions for glancing.
O&S accomplished very little today. The metal for the bed floor arrived yesterday. 2 out of the 4 parts were bent. repairable bent, not send it back bent. :) There are 2 4' pieces and 2 that are around 29" long. Those 4 pieces will be welded together for length. The pic is of the rough cut parts. The filler neck sticks above the bed floor. That will be addressed but I haven't got a plan yet. :) I have 2 decent days to do some work before the weather freezes me out again.
Another day of slight progress. The bed parts are welded together and I have some bolts threaded and the others are just holes with cleco's.
Good stuff KB. :) I hacked a bed floor out today that is 3/16" plate. ::) You took the high road, fancypants. :)
Also scrolled down your preferred color selection chart and only one induced a double take. Coastal Blue. My one pick, for what thats worth. Tinting with Wimbledon White might be a thing, as might accenting with a dark blue and/or that. Or adding flattening agent or satin clear. I could not directly grab the color from their site so as always this is an approximation intended to give a vague impression. For entertainment purposes only and with two fingers crossed for good old blue. Might be sharp. I'll let you get back to it now Bill. Keep it up every chance you get.
Thank you, Matt. I was very curious about that color. :)
I vote for the last blue ....does it come in metalflake? 8)
O&S did the 1st oil change on the 5.0 today. The break-in oil is history. All I can tell you is there were no visible particles that came out. I now know where the oil will run down the crossmember from the oil filter. :) I removed the aftermarket throttle cable and installed a new unit for a 72 Ford maverick. I welded the end of the pedal from the 88 F150 to the existing pedal. That provided the correct notch for the maverick cable. It's a little bit long but works better than the other did. I'm not satisfied with the amount of pressure the pedal takes so the geometry needs changed. Starting over would be a good description. :)
Maverick part!!! :D Lookythere, we may have us a grabber-to-be already. :lol:
Here we are... the first, pale blue edit over the last, coastal blue one. At like 50%. The lighter shade can pass for 1950s whereas the coastal by itself may be a bit 90s. But thats a "color sensitivity" thing, very subjective. One would need to mix one's own cocktail, to taste. :)
Quote from: chimp koose on January 18, 2022, 05:32:35 PM
I vote for the last blue ....does it come in metalflake? 8)
He told me he drained the break in oil through a paint strainer and since that makes it paint... the flakes in the strainer are being saved for use in the paint job. :twisted:
I'm pretending to be an electrical designer. :) The wiring in this is very functional but ugly as all get out. I can hear Dave saying " you never have time to do it right but you have time to do it over" in the background. ") I don't always have a good idea to start with. With time I'm able to see ways to improve. My goal is to simplify the wiring on the truck. I have spent some time listing components and the "what seems to be " logical order of power distribution. I ran across some relays that have fuses built in a couple of days ago. I ordered some to see if they are good or crapola. If they are good, I can redo all of the underhood wiring while removing the redundant circuits running back to the fuse panel. For what was supposed to be a very simple job, this has grown in my effort to make this as durable and as simple as could be with my skills. I looked at buying a different fuse-power panel but ran into complications with ground triggered relays. I am reminded that there is a reason why modern factory wiring has grown complex to someone that connects 2 wires to the battery and the light glows. :) It's going to have to warm up before this happens but I will remove the wiring from the truck and modify as needed to attempt to meet my goal.
I am at a point now in life were third time's a charm. :-[
O&S is out of the deep freeze for a couple of days. Todays task was to drill and tap the rest of the bed floor fasteners. Mission accomplished. :)
I finished out the day ordering more small parts. I was out of headliner material and needed some more items to do the bed cover. And, more bolts. I have never counted all of the fasteners necessary to build a truck. Trucks are simple yet I buy some items by the 100's and still run out. :) I like it more when I spend $100 instead of $1000. :)
Today I removed the instrument cluster and boxed it up. The lens had developed some cracks. Dakota said they would warranty it. So it will leave tomorrow. It's the end of January. If I don't get in gear, it will be May and I'll be wondering where the time went. I'm planning on no longer than a 3 week turn around on the cluster. It's time to get a "to do" list up and get stuff finished and crossed off. There's about 100 days until the 1st show. There will be plenty of poor weather that will limit time in the garage as well as small parts that might need painting such as the bed cover frame that will need some descent weather to do. When the list gets written, I might find I have 100 things to do. LOL. Painting the truck is not included at this time. :)
O&S has a grin from ear to ear. I found the UPS driver early and picked up my parts. The truck was already up in the air and ready for a spring change on the rear. I want to say again that I'm impressed with Ridetech packaging. I've seen nobody do it better. Their stuff is expensive but very good. I can't say it's better than all of the rest because I haven't used them all. :) I have to remove the rear shocks to replace the springs. It's a little of a pain because of the lower shock mount. In a couple of hours I was finished. I raised the fronts about 3/8" on the adjuster. I changed the rebound adjuster on all 4 corners. I installed the wheels and put it on the ground. I torqued the wheels and went for a ride. The intersections going north of my house are rough from years of street sealing. I can now run through fast enough to get into trouble. :) There's a set of railroad tracks not far from my house. I went over them at 65 mph and it's almost like they're not there. Now both ends of the truck are where they should be. The Ridetech tech I talked to was good. All of this was basic math. Unless I decide to start hauling blown fuel hemi's in the back, I believe I'm done changing springs. One less item on the to do list. :)
your truck looks great. 8) 8)
And ride quality was a thing you worked toward on this one. Applause! :)
The truck is really coming together into a nice package, I'm envious.
I sometimes read another forum where guys from Ridetech have been participating for years. They've worked really hard to go from a way to plug air ride into old cars to fully engineered suspension systems, with or without air ride. They're deeply involved in the Pro Touring scene, where handling is just as important as ride and more important than stance.
I spent several hours perusing pics trying to find a color that jumped out and grabbed me. I thought about painting the white one 2008 bullitt green. That is one of the colors that I thought might do the truck some good rather than detract. It would be just like black in trying to keep it clean. I had almost ordered some of the color Matt was playing with and shooting some panels. I thought it would be better to spend more time thinking before doing that. Am I over thinking this??? :)
My dad told me once that they correct way to pick the color of your car was to match the color of the gravel road in front of your house or the dirt in your driveway. Dated information today but it made sense to him at the time. I actually picked the color of the new wood shop at school based on that information.
I go with the big car, dark color, little car bright color idea some but not always. Personally I stay away from metallics because I know they are harder to repair and I keep my stuff a long time.
You could get a color chip chart and throw a dart at it. :)
So, I am not much help.
There may be some unseen natural force which makes F1-6s impossible to pick colors for. I figure best thing I can do is leave you be and let your mind burn on it without tossing any more of my logs on. When I went dark green it was WA119B for the pearl effect.
This hard to keep clean thing keeps making mention. Your truck will not get dirtier if black. As a man who has driven black daily since 2009 let me remind you that black touches up with a felt tip pen. Dirty black is it's own look.
Let me know if you want to see something new. Changing parameters as you go is your right. I worked within boundaries of the previous set. Bullitt mention makes me wonder if you've reconsidered formulas containing mica.
If you put your best effort into the appearance, you should be able to put any part of the spectrum you wish to work for you. :)
John, I agree with your big car small car analogy. The 51 is in the middle but the fat fender deal causes complications. Matt, I appreciate what you have done. Any of my future requests will have been checked to see if they can be mixed in lower cost paint. :)
O&S got a slow start today. There was an oil leak on the side of the oil pan. Turned out to be the low oil sensor which I have no ecu to operate. After some research, I found that a 20mm drain plug was the answer. I jacked up the truck and removed the sensor and screwed in the new drain plug. I think that problem is solved. I got started removing the wiring harness to improve the cosmetics of it. I have the dash disassembled to allow reaching in to remove wiring. Lots of sharp edges to avoid. :)
That Bullitt shade of green would look good. Re-peeking at the chip chart with expanded parameters, these stood out to me, for yours, from top of chart to bottom: merlot, mocha frost, hugger orange, pale agave, mack green, light sapphire blue.
Thats half solids, half other. I think all are plain b/c or s/s. I'm fairly sure my good intentioned color interventions are most often a hindrance, I can see that now. Like me listing half a dozen picks like I just did really isn't helpful but to me it seems like it would be. Just isn't though, that I can see coming from anything I've done. Anybody else's photo edits are more accurate and just as free also on the right message board.
Heres a diversionary tactic to maybe nudge you out of a color rut... Pick your color for my car then explain your choice.
Do pipe up if you want to see something in particular. I'd have made a Bullitt color one but if it isn't exactly that hue it won't "read as" such. Be a sharp look though, with your wheels.Just not a bargain bin generic industrial color manufacturer's bag though so I doubt a suitable substitute is available.
Mine has Akzo coatings on it. Made my own basecoat in top shelf Sikkens Autobase Plus (Sikkens) for maximum pearl play. Their Colorbuild primer was used for blocking and for PT in '01 she wore dark blue that. Used middle shelf Lesonal epoxy and clear and those have performed as though they were top shelf.
Since then, the Wanda brand (also under the Akzo umbrella) has gained popularity and color range while being discovered and successfully used by numerous hobbyists seeking the right color for amateur (mostly spot repair) paint jobs. I haven't used it but every report is positive when price is bearable.
So maybe see if Bullitt can be mixed in Wanda. Because if you never reach for a star, its sure you'll never grab one right? As you are well aware, sale value isn't affected by paint brand, only appearance. Finding a loophole to leverage for more bang for the buck ain't getting any easier and I don't envy your position of having to search for them.
O&S worked on wiring today. I rerouted some of the relay feeds to the right side of the truck. I removed the buss bar and direct wired all of the fuse feeds. I moved the wiring on the fan and relocated the power feed for the sniper parts. I'm about half through with relocating the relays. The pic shows the fuse panel without the buss bar. The mess above it is the wires going to the steering column. I haven't made a decision on what to do with them yet. They are pulled up out of the way but if you look under there, it is ugly. :) There are long but I haven't come up with a good way to shorten them and not create a problem along the way.
As always... "sort of" color renditions here... british racing green and dark garnet. :)
Thank you. :)
O&S had a good day. The UPS man had my gauge cluster back from Dakota Digital. Of notice is the fact that they turned it around in 1 day. I appreciated that fact. :) I completed what I was doing in the re-wiring and was able to put everything back where it belongs. I ran the 3 mid-level vent hoses on the evaporator. They're hanging down under the dash right now waiting on me to build some brackets to hold the outlets. :) I'm still not real happy with my power feeds running across the firewall. The next step would be to run an 8 gauge wire across the firewall to a connector to split the power 3 ways when it get's inside the cab. As I sit here typing, if I had thought of that and ordered some parts, it would be done. :) Hindsight vision once again. The pic of the relay panel will show the relays with the fuse in the feed circuit. Unless the relay's are of poor quality, I see no reason for this not to be a good idea. If that plastic block was available in a different orientation, all of that wiring would have been obscured. :) When I started the truck, everything worked as it should including the gauge cluster. It's nice to go forward. :)
I like the Garnet, though I admit I rarely favor green on a car.
I picked 2 color choices and ordered a quart of each. I'm going to paint one half of the hood with each color and drive it. Maybe that will help me see what they look like at various times of the day. :)
Neat idea 8)
Quote from: kb426 on February 07, 2022, 06:16:42 PM
I picked 2 color choices and ordered a quart of each. I'm going to paint one half of the hood with each color and drive it. Maybe that will help me see what they look like at various times of the day. :)
Yeah , the metal flake will be easy to see on the hood?
O&S accomplished 2 things today. No.1: I now have back up lights. When backing out of the shed, I had a fair amount of light shining from the led tag light. These are about 1/2" in diameter. I mounted 2 in the roll pan. When this get's taken apart for paint, I'm going to french them so the lens is flush with the face of the roll pan. No. 2: I'm going to add this to possibly save someone some grief. :) I had a problem with some fuel coming out of the rollover valve after it was parked with a full tank of fuel. I thought the valve might be too low for it to work so I mounted it under the top of the rear fender. I filled it with fuel and drove home. It did it again. I removed the cap to make sure there was no residual pressure. 2 days later there is a damp spot on the floor. ???? Today I ran it in the shop and turned on the heat. I came back an hour later and there's a damp spot on the floor. Now I'm thinking the hot rod god is messing with me. :) I decided to relocate the roll over valve as it wasn't working any better being 12" up in the air. I pulled the line off the vent on the tank and fuel came out. I plugged it and removed the cap. No pressure. Un cap the line and a little fuel came out. Then the light comes on. Both the mounts for the fuel gauge and the pump are around 3/4" lower than the top of the tank. I'm sure that was done so you could flush mount the tank and not have obstacles. When I fill the tank, I fill to the bottom of the neck. That means it's over full. Most tanks have the filler neck lowered into the tank a ways to prevent this from happening. I always fill up as much as I can for consistent fuel mileage measurements. I won't be doing that anymore on this one. All of the others I have installed have the gauge and pump attachments level with the top of the tank so this doesn't happen. So color me a slow learner. :) I have not hesitated to tell when I make mistakes and this is just one more. I hope that this info might be helpful at some point for someone. :)
Did the donor have a dash trip computer thing that tracks gallons used? Just a thought. On that hood... yeah! Theres more'n one way to skin any cat but firsthand is best. Good thing you whittled the color range down to two but that two tone mental image reminds me of the Joker's car in some Batman thing. :lol:
IDJ, there was no donor on this one. The gauges have a bunch of functions but no mpg that I have found. It has 0 to 60, quartermile, dual trip meters and a clock and top speed. That's all I can remember. :) It has warnings for fuel, temp, pressure and I think I read that there is a speed warning. I don't remember about that one.
Oh. Asked because my little ones have that stock, in a seperate-from-gauges "driver info center" that tracks oil life, MPG, range, and gallons of gas used trip readout. The last two seem redundant but I keep it on MPG. So I thought maybe the ... oh yeah never mind. Am bodyman and I've slept since you got it running. :lol:
Theres probably an app. Torque would do, if... oh there I go again. Ha. My knowledge is inapplicable, must remember.
Carry on. It does suck having to stop short of a full fillup. But its good that you tell all for the record. :)
Matt, I have Torque. While I'm not an expert, I haven't seen any fuel mileage screen. I haven't used it on any thing newer than 2007 so maybe the newer models have an output Torque could access. The F16 has no OBD port of any kind so there's nothing to access that way. It is possible to connect a laptop with a $60 cable. I think I can build that cable for around $15. It's not a priority so I haven't looked into it.
The weather god has let it warm up some the last 2 days so I decided I would shoot the bed floor prior to putting it back in. Bare in mind that there will be a bed mat over this so I spent no time with bondo on the welds. I shot epoxy on both sides and then 2 coats of black urethane on the top side. The bed mat I ordered is black so it seems to make sense to have a black floor. :)
I was just exercising my own ability to err. It eventually dawned on me that you used aftermarket engine management this time. My mind was still on white truck which I remembered as stock computer with weeded harness.
My bad. Bed floor looks a lot better than the one we made at work for a 67. Yours appears quite functional. :)
KB, you seem to know your stuff pretty well when it comes to working with these electronic engines. I've done some digging into the feasibility of using Torque or RealDash to build a dashboard on an Android tablet in lieu of conventional instruments. I'm still a little unsure of how well it could work given the current state of the art. The big issues are lag or latency in response time of the readout and the fact that Android tablets need a little trickery to charge them at the same time you're sending them data.
Here's a gallery of RealDash electronic dashboards from their website. http://realdash.net/gallery.php
Someone might know this one. None of the aftermarket EFI systems seem to have an OBDII port. Is that because OBDII is only allowed on factory systems which are emissions compliant?
Jaybee, I think a rewording will answer part of your question. Obd 1 and 2 were required by the gov. for emissions reasons. Nothing else that I'm aware of. OBD 2 only pertains to emissions so anything else that pertains to your car has to read by a specific diagnostic scanner. With what little I used Torque, I became aware that if there is not a sensor required for emissions, you won't have a reading. Newer units such as after 2008 have canbus through the diagnostic port. That allows almost a full dash readout to be possible. GM is know for being the most used friendly in that aspect. If you go to Speedhut's website, they list a gauge package that plugs into the port and they list models that it should work on. I looked at the Torque dash several years ago. People were using usb chargers connected to the ignition on side to charge or provide power to the android device. It would be simple to connect a relay to the ignition side of the switch to run anything you needed for that. I used a bluetooth adapter but you could have a cable from the port to the android device and eliminate one more component. I think you will be limited by the amount of time you want to spend on this. Some tinkering and you might be surprised at what you can do. I'm pretty sure you could use a raspberry PI and do all of this with some programming. If you're intrigued by Linux, you could have some fun while learning. I hope I have provided some insight for you. :) I had time hours later to look at realdashes. There's some neat stuff! If it's not too painful, I would look into a permanent display for the dash and use that software if the issues can be worked out. :)
O&S had a pretty good day. I finally received the check from the freight company for the claim on the rear fenders that was filed July 1, 2021. LOL. I have the bed floor bolted back in. Some how, I scratched it. At least I think I did. There is a chance one of the grandkids did last night when they came over. It's nice that it's a bed floor and I have a mat ordered to cover it. :) I was unhappy with all of my connections on the battery posts. I made some brackets to move some of the connections. The maxi fuses on the positive side are still ugly but I haven't decided if I will do something about that or not. I tend to be concerned with function rather than appearance on some items. When I had the batteries under the bed floor, it sure made this easier. :) I have the center outlets for the ac temp. mounted. I was going to make sure I'm satisfied with their functionality before making a more permanent mount. I installed throttle pedal setup number 3. The f150 pedal had a catch in it. I had changed the geometry on it and it didn't help at all. I bought a 96 mustang pedal on ebay and mounted it. I had to miter it some to change the height of the pedal. I'm not 100% satisfied with it but the catch is gone so that was a good step forward. The 2 colors for the hood arrived this morning. I looked in the cans and have mixed feelings. I may spray 2 panels and lay them out side to see how they look before doing the hood. :) Decisions! LOL.
Still making good progress all over the truck!
Thanks for the feedback on adapting what the racing world calls a glass dashboard to a fuel injected hot rod. What you're saying makes perfect sense. When the EFI didn't do anything but spray enough fuel into the manifold to keep the O2 sensor inbounds and manage idle the CANBUS didn't have much information because it didn't need or use much information. As they added increasing parameters to the EFI system, incorporated transmission control, and eventually spread out to control distant corners of the vehicle there was more to read, with OBD2 as the data port. At that point you can do more with Torque Pro, Realdash, or others.
I have seen that you can add to that with Raspberry Pi or Arduino. You're right, it seems to be a matter of how much you want to dabble and learn.
As far as interfacing with aftermarket systems is concerned, I suspect they're mostly proprietary to keep them as closed systems. There are options like Megasquirt, but they aren't as plug and play.
O&S went to the shop to make some progress today. I have the frame for the bed cover welded up. I have to attach the hinge, latch and gas spring mounts before shooting some primer on it. The 1/8" strap on top was to give it some arch so water shouldn't puddle on it. We'll see if that is enough. :)
O&S tried to set a record for least accomplished today. Somedays, not much goes right. :) I started off by bolting the hinge to the frame. I doubled the frame where the gas springs attach and welded the ball mounts on. I fabbed a pin for the bear claw latch and have it mounted. When I put it in the bed, I found out that how I planned to mount the hinge wouldn't work. I removed the hinge and flipped it 180 degrees. I mounted the bear claw latch and started on the gas springs. This cover will have 1/4" plywood and Haartz convertible cloth material on it. It will be way less weight than the steel unit on the white 51. I had ordered 2 gas springs of the same capacity as the white 51. They were way too strong for this. I had some that were less than 1/2 the capacity of those. I installed them and used them for mock ups in reality. The frame works well now but there will be around 30 lbs. added with the cover so I will possibly be buying more gas springs. :) My plan was to get the frame mounted and in primer by the end of the day. I'm just one day short of my goal. LOL.
O&S ended the day at where I wanted to be yesterday. :) I have the latch operational. I welded nuts on the frame to run the elevator bolts through. The elevator bolts are spaced a foot a part on the perimeter to hold the bed cover on to the frame. I had thought about machining some spacers to fasten the bolts to and decided that I had spent enough time on this until I'm sure all my design works as intended. I shot black epoxy on the bed frame for time being. After I did the latch, I had a couple of thoughts. The 1st being that I could machine a rod to align the 2 rod ends to where they are parallel while operating. I didn't have any 3/16" rod to do that with. That will be rectified. The next was that if the latch handle was flush mounted in the tail gate, It sure would look nice. This would involve making a wood buck in the shape of the handle. Then forming a panel and welding it into the tailgate. I would have to cut a an access panel on the inside to be able to planish the weld on the outside skin. This would be something I could do later on in the year. I need to make a gasket to go behind the handle also. When I ordered the handle, they didn't have a gasket listed for it. I should have done some more research to see if one was available. :)
O&S was tying up loose ends in preparation for the next cold snap. I made some brackets for adjuster / stops at the end of the bed. This cover doesn't encapsulate the tail gate so there wasn't anything to level it out. I'd like to tell you that I made it and the pressure in the gas springs perfectly level but that isn't true. :) When putting the bed cover frame back on, I had no. 8 screws attaching the hinge to the front bed panel. I drilled and tapped them to 1/4". I believe that I'm ready to move to gluing the foam and Haartz material to the plywood for the cover. I have a friend who is an interior guru who told me what to do, not how to do it. :)
O&S had a plan today. 1st thing this morning I was moving vehicles around and had the heater started in the shop. My wife commented that I was moving with resolve. :) I removed the bed cover frame and sat it on saw horses. I clamped the plywood to the frame and drilled the holes for the elevator bolts. I bolted the plywood to the frame and seated the elevator bolts. I removed the plywood and placed it on the saw horses. I laid out the landau foam and glued it down. I used a 9" paint roller to apply the glue. I laid out the top cloth and made sure there were no wrinkles in it. Then I glued it down. I left the underneath side edges longer than they need to be. When this gets taken apart for paint, I will probably trim some excess back to around 2" of overlap per side. My left over gas springs aren't strong enough. I will look over the charts and get 2 more on the way. I need some kind of wiper to seal up the edges. Time for more research. :)
Looks good from here. I plan to use some old gas cylinders for my tilt front end assembly. I will drill them to remove the remaining gas and then use them to limit the amount of tilt.
O&S had a plan. It met failure. :) I thought I could trim a piece of abs sheet and make most of the headliner in one piece. After a couple of hours of trying, I admitted defeat and cut it in two. The seam is overlapping and glued together. The ends have 2 more parts. One is the tight radius in the corner behind the door heading to the rear window. The other goes straight up from the door frame to the top. I'm not done trimming those parts. I used 2 more of the small led lights for the dome light. I have the area behind and under the seats left to do. I purchased enough black carpet to do all of that. I think I will use the abs to do the radius from the door post to the flat area on the back of the cab. I will have to heat it up and put a radius in the panels. Once I trim the carpet to size, I will need to get the sewing machine out and edge all of it. I am an amateur at this so it takes lots of time and the results aren't great. :) More learning ahead.
O&S trimmed up some rough edges on the headliner and made a piece that is the beginning of a shifter boot. This part is underneath the dynadeck and seals the hole around the trans shifter tower. It is bridging over two voids that need some foam glued in to seal it off. This will allow the shifter boot plate to be flat instead of scuplted over different elevations. I didn't get a pic of this. I would have had to be under the truck to get a decent shot. :) I realigned the front end again. It drives very good. I wanted the camber to be 0 degrees and I'm out of adjustment. I'm .6 of a degree from 0. That's within spec but I would like it to be closer. :) More research down the road. The weather is changing so I'm out of business for a while.
I bookmarked this method for making a one piece headliner. Mask off the car with the exception of the roof, slather mold release all over the roof, and lay fiberglass on the outside. Make it thin enough it remains flexible. Trim it to fit inside, then contact cement your chosen headliner material to the inside of the fiberglass shell.
Jaybee, one of my friends used to do that all the time. I'm not real excited about working with fiberglass. If this had been summer and I could do it all outside, I might have done that. :)
I have plans to do this method for the wz junk truck. I have a spare cab top out back set aside just for this process. Since it is chopped, and the headliner needs to be slightly smaller than the outside, I think the stock outside shape might fit the chopped inside.
The new gas springs arrived for the bed cover. I am going to have to install a brace on the cover frame. The new springs are the correct capacity but the frame has a slight bow in it when it's closed. I'm out of material so a shopping trip may be necessary. The bed mat arrived. I laid it out both directions to see if I could flatten it. I think it will be 100 degrees in the shade before it flattens out. LOL. I worked on the latch some. I made a spacer for the 2" bolt going through the bear claw end and flipped the handle bracket to correct the geometry some. Today is the 1st day that it has got above freezing in the last week. I plan on making some more progress in the next few days. :)
The way to take the bow out when closed is to relocate the pivot points so once it's closed the strut is pushing it closed instead of open. You want it so at a point where the cover is nearly closed it starts pushing down instead of pushing up.
Bottom pivot near the cover, and top pivot extended down from the cover 2 to 3"
^^^^
Good point. I hadn't considered that because of not having a handle on the top to overcome the force. :)
O&S plodded along today and accomplished a little bit. I removed the 2 brackets that I made for the battery cable attachments and drilled and tapped one more hole in each one. The hole is on the angle part of the bracket. This allowed me to cut off the furthermost hole from the post and shorten the bracket. There's still nothing cool about it but it's less obnoxious than it was. :) The sniper's throttle actuation was hyper sensitive off idle. I had changed the cable and pedal arrangement 4 times trying to find a solution. I improved it but it still wasn't right. I googled it and found Holley makes a bracket to move the cable connection farther away from the throttle shaft to change the ratio of leverage. I was a little skeptical that it would make enough difference. I was surprised at the difference it made. I moved the point .875" which is around 30% more than the original. It fixed most of the problem while creating another one. The throttle pedal is now higher than I wanted. The pedal has to have more travel to compensate for the increased travel of the throttle lever. Raising it up from the floor was the logical solution. I think modifying the pedal will be next. :) I raised the adjusters on the rear coilovers about .4" from where there were. I keep adding weight to the rear and loosing the ride height I wanted. I have a spare tire in the bed but I will need a floor jack and some tools to be road ready. What I did may not be enough. :)
O&S snuck away from yard work for a while today and painted 2 panels for color tests. In the photoshop pics my friend did, there was green and maroon in matt finish. In the low cost paint materials assortment, I ordered a quart of British racing green and wine red metallic. The green is very close to a color used on Mack and Chevy trucks. One look at it in the sun and that was a no sell. :) The maroon is a high intensity pearl metallic. The kind that only looks good in the sun. :) The panel didn't make me get real excited but it could be a very good color to go along with the shape of the truck. I took some pics later in the day and the colors don't look great in the pics. There are pieces of grass that have blown on them but not stuck to the paint. :)
Hmmm, a color that doesn't look good in the sun or one that doesn't look good when it's not in the sun...the search continues?
I like washington blue ...when its in the sun , in the shade it gets way too dark .
I'd have to drip a dab of green in a puddle of the red and stir just in case something cool were to emerge. I agree that the wine red hue could be very good and I get the bit about shimmery ones being mud in the shade. Making glossy paint colors in a rendering is still kind of unexplored territory to me. Few attempts have been made due to the time involved. Its something I'd like to improve on.
O&S made a tiny bit of progress today. I removed the bed cover and welded the brace I fabbed up to it. Had I chose this option to begin with, all these parts would be in primer and I would be crossing something off the list. LOL. So much for hindsight again. :) I took the maroon panel out and tried to take a few more pics of it. The camera I'm using doesn't have enough resolution to show everything that's in the color but my thought is that it's not as dark as it needs to be to compliment the shape of the truck.
When you first showed that color, it reminded me of a stock Ford color but at the time I could not recall what vehicle. On the way home suddenly aloud I said "Probe!". Maybe also Escort.
I like the out-of-the-ordinary color wheel positioning of that hue. Mass tone toes the violet line but is red. It appears to use gold pearl which pushes the brighter face tone back toward red from violet. Thats the secret to eye grabbing pearls... the amount of color shift allowed by color coated translucent six sided flakes. In low light and / or at oblique angles, a sort of hazy tone can result. So vivid, dramatic effect formulas are definitely sun worshippers.
So, is there a next darker choice? Cocktailing what you have with black might darken it enough without hurting the effect too bad.
Have you by chance flipped through 60s GM color chips? They seem to have been semi adventurous exploring that color family and in modern pigments some of those might be very sharp while having an older look from the all-silver opaque aluminum 4 sided flake metallic effect. And change less going from sunlight to open shade than something with mica.
That ended up being a thought dump, Bill. :) Your pic efforts are kindling for the image furnace. We might get some rain this weekend. ;)
The bed cover is looking like a sturdy unit. :)
With the new pic it seems to me that has to be close to a good color. Maybe just a shade more toward maroon as it could turn out to be a hair too bright on such a large vehicle. Might work, though it's hard to tell from a pic on a computer screen.
I tried rubbing up one fender, took half a day.
Wow! You did good. Thank you!
No sweat. I didn't know if I had it in me to really make shiny. Now I do. :)
The truck got it's 1st road trip today, albeit a short one. 60 miles round trip. The distance from the seat to the throttle pedal isn't going to work for me. I'm not sure where I will make changes from here. The independent suspension on both ends makes a Cadillac out of a hot rod. The only time you know what's there is if you are pressing it around a curve or corner. :) It needs more bottom end power for me to be happy. Using an aftermarket efi and a double plane intake manifold lets the engine give up some of the torque that a factory efi engine has. No thought's on a solution to that. There is the obvious cost but the parts shortages have changed the option list substantially from 5 years ago.
In attempt to make a color decision closer, I ordered 2 paint chip charts from Summit, who sells the lower cost paint that I have been using. The charts were $8.48 and the shipping was $11.99. :) When the sun comes back out, I'll take them outside and see what's different from the older charts I've been using. :) Obviously, having accurate info is important.
I spent a couple of hours looking at colors on the charts and pics on the internet yesterday. I crossed a few more off the list. :) I did run across someone who had the light blue that Matt did on one of my pics. He told the percentage that he cut the blue with pure white so if I decide to do that, I have a good starting point. It warmed up today so I ran the truck in and started doing small stuff. I removed the throttle pedal and cut 3" off from where the foot pad was. I'm going to drive it around for a while and see if that was enough to solve that problem. If that is acceptable, I will roll a sheet metal pad for the foot and either make a bolt on mount or tack weld it to the throttle arm. I have been dissatisfied with the IAC on cold starts. I worked in the software for the efi and made some changes. In the morning, I will see if I'm successful. Some of the settings will be done by experimenting. There's not a gold standard that I found for a reference because of so many variables in an engine. I started writing down what I did so I have a reference to return to if something is moving in the wrong direction. The good news is that you use the hand held tuner and the small scribe and it takes a few minutes to make changes. The accessibility of change compared to any factory system I have been involved with is really good.
I started working on some nerf bars for the front. I used 1.5" round tubing. I bent some parts and I'm not real happy with it. The dies I have are 6.5" radius. That's real good for dragster roll cages but too large for what I wanted. So I'm back to thinking. :) The changes to the IAC made no difference so I'm doing research to see what the possible reasons for that are.
O&S got a tiny bit accomplished today. It was too cold in the morning for me so I waited until afternoon to get started. :) I removed the bed cover and removed the hinge. The front of the cover was higher than the bed side by around 3/8". After I put the cloth on, I really didn't like the way it looked. I ordered a new hinge with a much wider flange. This will allow me to lower the front where it's parallel with the bed side. I did a quick sand job on the exposed areas of the cover frame with hopes that the weather will stay decent long enough for me to get those areas painted before I reinstall the cover.
Your IAC just needs a P O N T added first. :)
O&S did small stuff today. UPS didn't bring the new bed cover hinge until almost 6pm. I took the heat gun to the bed mat to remove the curl at the tail gate area. I heated it and put about 30 lbs of weight on it. I helped it but it needs some more work. The ac condensate line had a kink in it where a 90* turn was required to exit the firewall. A trip to the hardware store provided a nylon elbow to rectify that problem. I welded a small pad on the throttle pedal arm and sprayed some flat black on it. I went through the setting procedure for the IAC and didn't find anything much different than it was so I believe I'm back to looking at contributing factors that affect it's operation. I'm pretty sure I will find I did something incorrectly, I just don't know what yet. LOL. I pulled the front wheels and adjusted more preload into the front springs. The front valance was dragging on the edge of the street if you back the truck into the drive. I raised it 1". If the weather forecast is correct, there will be no work tomorrow.
Quote from: idrivejunk on March 15, 2022, 08:27:15 PM
Your IAC just needs a P O N T added first. :)
:lol:
Over here in the land of really boring, I went to the shop for a while and have the new hinge mounted on the bed frame. I put the upper flange in the mill and slotted the holes .25" to make leveling easier. The wind is blowing in between 30 and 55mph so I left the truck in the shed.
O&S had the bed cover mounted and then removed for painting. I thought I had a good pic but it has optical illusion all over it. The new hinge allowed me to level it front to rear. The bed front now has nutserts and button head fasteners. I'm going to paint it black to match the bed cover.
O&S turned it blacker than it was. A rotisserie sure would have made it turn out better. :)
That bed cover is coming along nicely. it's going to add a nice finish to the truck and be good aerodynamically as well.
:)
O&S plodded along for a couple of hours today. I flipped the cover over and trimmed some of the material back to make the sides and ends closer to the edges. I bolted the unit together and installed on the truck. After leveling the cover I realized that the latch had to be relocated. I had made it non-adjustable. Quite brave of me. :) I adapted a bracket to the latch and attached the bracket to the tailgate. I may revise that when the tailgate gets' painted. By machining a slotted plate to weld into the tailgate, I could make this nicer. :) For now, this is crossed off the list. :)
looks nice!
Looking good!
I have been chasing an erratic idle air control valve operation. I tried a different setting procedure today. After a few cold starts, I will know if I gained anything. In reading through the Holley Sniper forum, I read that it is a known issue for RFI to be a problem on small Ford's because of the proximity of the ecu to the distributor. There are people selling a plate so it must be wide spread. I made a bracket from left over alum. and installed it today.
I just took a trip back through this thread but I don't quite get the answer to what I'm wondering about. Is the engine a stock, freshened 5.0 with an aftermarket intake and Sniper EFI? When I went back I recognized the discussion of how you started with a 5.0 and a 351W but weren't happy with the big Windsor and moved it along to a new owner. I also see a comment about finishing the heads and setting them in the corner but not a lot of other discussion of the engine.
I ended up using the 1987 mustang 5.0 engine. The 351 was not a roller block and the cylinders had lots of wear. The 5.0 was a low mileage engine that was full of sludge. I vatted the block and heads. It has new rings, bearings, oil pump, etc. The only upgrade was valve springs so it will rev past 5 grand. The intake is a Professional Products that I purchased about 30 years ago. It had been up in the attic with a Holley carb that was a factory replacement for a 1969 428 cobra jet. That carb is on a friends 1969 Mach 1 that has a 390 and 4 speed. It was doing me no good sitting there so it's on "loan". If somebody had a standard bore stroker kit on the shelf, this would probably be a 342 by now. :) It's never ending though. It would need heads, a cam and the stroker. When you get done, you will have another 5 grand in an old design engine. That wasn't one of my goals but right now I'm not willing to put a bunch more money in the engine department until the availability of newer engines gets better.
The Coyotes are fantastic engines but they'll devour your checkbook. Even the F150 versions are expensive to get used, and if you start to modify them you're looking at serious money. I got to ride in legitimately fast Mustang that dyno'd at 700hp, he showed me the dyno sheet. It was so fast my back tried to climb the seatback, but I don't want to think about the money involved. The car had everything from locked out cam phasers on billet pulleys and an oil pump with billet steel geroter gears to aftermarket halfshafts and forged wheels with track day tires.
Jaybee, one of my goals for this was no fat engines. No coyote, hemi or big block stuff. That left me with sbc, sbf, ls and godzilla. :)
O&S plodded along today. I had half of a plan in my head from months ago. That went out the door in less than 5 minutes. I had thought about carpeting the rear panel of the cab. After removing the seats and seeing how dirty everything was, I decided on easy clean to be a priority. I had some 1/8" abs left over that became the center panel. It is fairly rigid so I don't think any strange noises will originate from it. I used 1/16" on the radiuses on the ends. The carpet is cut but needs the edging sewed on. I have not done that before so there maybe room for some education there. :) I'm planning on carpeting the firewall above the dynadeck. I need to make a pattern for that and do some research on how to attach it to the firewall over the insulation. Lots left in the interior but there are less bare spaces now. :) I don't think the pics show much detail, just lots of black. There are some dirty spots on the rear panel that will need some chemical to clean them. A quick wipe of water was not successful. I didn't have any button head fasteners to install, yet.
The Coyote is a fat engine for sure at nearly 10" wider than a 260-289-302. They require an enormous amount of underhood space.
The ABS bits look good, and if you get a little buzz from them I'd bet a little Dynamat on the backside would fix it.
O&S worked on the interior for a while today. I remade the 2 panels above the doors. I had heated the ends of the last pair and didn't like the end result. I have ordered some flange head screws and some button head bolts for the rear panels. I cut some pieces of carpet for the firewall. I'm not happy with the way the dynamat lays out on top of it so more work can be ahead. :) Every time I add something, it get's quieter inside. :)
This is pitiful. :) My bolt order came in. The button head fasteners that are hidden by the seats are in place. The flange head screws have been installed on the abs panels.
O&S spent some time with carpet this afternoon. I cut a piece that went from under the seats to up the firewall. I have the 1" plastic conduit full of wiring running down the firewall and on the side of the trans tunnel to deal with. Unless I come up with a better idea, I will fab a cover for the firewall and have a cover made from carpet to cover the area around it. A lot of trucks have a console down the middle to deal with that. The upper panels on the doors have vinyl glued on them. The glue is turning loose so I'm looking at different options for that. The glue that I used to buy is out of production and the replacement I bought isn't as good. :) More thinking ahead.
I installed a set of front brake pads late today. The old ones were better than 50%. The new pads moved the caliper and necessitated grinding on the calipers for clearance. :)
Ladies and gentlemen, let me show you my rickshaw spray cart. LOL. It's now painted green and I have removed the wheels from my old lawn mower and it's almost ready to attack dandelions.
I did some work with the efi on the 51 this afternoon. Holley has put up a video on setting the idle speed. It has a key component that isn't in the instruction manual. :) "Disable the spark control before setting the idle". The engine has to be warmed up before doing this but I think I made progress. I won't know for sure until driving it from a cold start. I'm anxious to see how this works in the morning. :)
All this painting and STILL no metalflake!!! This would work better if it had a shot of gold flake accent 8) Maybe lettering John Deere in gold flake :lol:
O&S made a minuscule amount of progress. The glue had failed on my upper door panels and the removal didn't go as well as I had hoped. The panels weren't quite tall enough to cover the factory black lower inserts so I cut out some new ones from abs. I heated the ends to match the factory layout but they are plain and simple. I'm tinkering with the sniper but I'm still in learning mode. I'm making some progress but I'm not satisfied with the results yet. :)
O&S did some work today. I made another panel for the driver's door. I had a wrinkle in the 1st one that I wasn't successful at removing. I tried 3 times to heat it and flatten it but it was easier to make a new panel. :) I dug out the sewing machine and proceeded to relearn how to sew. :) Doing this once a year or so hasn't been the best way to maintain what little knowledge I have of doing this. :) If I knew what I was doing, you would say that I'm binding the carpet. I'm attempting to put edging on. :) I'm saving the most visible parts for last. It's getting better as I go. I'm using black vinyl and wrapping it around the edge of the carpet and sewing it together. I started with the pieces that are hiding under the seats. :)
O&S is not proud of himself today. The carpet edging is beating me up. Trying to sew a very straight line proved to be very difficult. I think I may have reached a point on material thickness that is more than my machine with my skills can handle. :) The pic shows a panel I made to cover up the wiring that ran down the firewall. It is held in place with velcro. I'm going to work on it some more but I was at a place where I knew today there would be no improvement. I moved on to the seat on the dr650. I made a pattern from the original vinyl seat cover. I used convertible top cloth material for the new cover. It was a very poor fit. That material has almost no stretch. I got started on plan no. 2. I using the top cloth for the top of the seat and vinyl for the rest of it. I have the parts cut out and was feeling tired so I quit. Tomorrow I will attack once again. :)
O&S was something of a worker today. There has been a clunk in the front end. I have been under the truck a dozen times looking for loose or broken parts. A week ago I jacked up the front end and set it on jack stands on the crossmember. I used a floor jack underneath a tire and could see a tiny bit of movement in the lower ball joint. I decided to replace upper and lower a-arms because they all have bushings and the same amount of wear in my mind. :) The 1st side was a bear. The nuts on the ball joints had to be cut off. The 2nd side was better. I have a pretty good day in doing this. I went for a test drive and the clunk is gone. :)
O&S jacked up the front of the truck and finished up the front end job. A couple of days ago, I had rotated the new trailing arm bushings and made a thin nut for the tie rod on the left side. The trailing arm bushings are about 20 degrees off from where they need to be for any of the crown vic conversions. The factory mounts them on an angle and all of the conversions I have seen have them flat with the bottom of a frame rail. The right side bushing plate was off from where the original was. I stuck it in the mill and slotted the bolt holes. After bolting on the bushings, I set the camber at 1/2 degree negative. I wanted zero but there isn't enough adjustment in the bolt to accomplish that. That is within the specs. The truck drives very well. If I see abnormal tire wear, I may change that. For now, the front end is crossed off the list.
I have no spare tire for the truck. 15" wheels won't clear the disc brakes. The Mustang gt wheels I have are too deep of back space to work on the rear. Today I ordered a matching American Racing wheel. It's a little over 6% higher than the one's I purchased last fall. In some ways, I'm glad that I could find one. :) I'm going to buy a cheap tire and hope I never need it. :)
O&S put some time in the shop today. 1st up was a tool to tighten or remove a Ford ignition bezel. They sell these but a little time and scrap metal and 3 - 1/16" roll pins and I was done. I should have done that years ago. :) I took the best pair of old hood hinges and cut the bottom of the rivets off of the arms. I punched out the rivets which are also the pivot pins and removed the arms. I cleaned them up and then welded around the perimeter of the holes. I stuck them in the mill and machined the holes. I put the piviots back in and pressed them into the mounting plates. I welded the pins to the plate. Job completed. I shot some flat black on them for rust prevention. When ever the hood is removed for painting, the rebuilt hinges will go back on.
Quote from: kb426 on May 02, 2022, 07:07:01 PM1st up was a tool to tighten or remove a Ford ignition bezel. They sell these but a little time and scrap metal and 3 - 1/16" roll pins and I was done. I should have done that years ago. :)
I made one of these from an old socket for the wiper nuts. If it doesn't fit I use needle nose pliers and a screw drive between the blades. Nice adaptation.
And here I thought those hinges were designed to have a ton of slop in them...
How's this for a slow news day: I now have a spare tire. And a matching wheel. LOL.
After doing yard work, I decided to do some small items. The 1st was removing a vibration in the left hand kick panel from the speaker. After removing the panel, I installed some sound deadener where the panel fit on the body frame work. With that panel off, access to the hood hinge is easy. I installed the left rebuilt hinge. I assembled all of the parts and the vibration is gone. :)
Today's task was to install the right side rebuilt hinge. The hinge nuts are blocked by the evaporator which means end wrenches and short twists. :) I spent quite a bit of time adjusting the hood and reached a stopping point Where the sides are equal but the front of the sheet metal needs to be raised to make the gap even all around the cowl. I don't know how much I will work on that when the truck is taken apart to paint. I think with age, these hoods get bent and don't fit as originally produced. I have time to think about this and see if I come up with a good solution. :) I went for a short drive and noticed that the hood doesn't move much while going down the road. I wonder how long the hinges will stay tight? :)
Rember the fit and finish of these years, of all models of trucks, was not good. They were work vehicles.
Houston, we have a problem! I opened one of the cans of the blue paint when it arrived and thought it looked way too light on toner. When I shook the can, it sounded like water instead of paint. This afternoon, I mixed up a tiny bit and shot a test panel over the black epoxy primer. I had 6 coats and you could still see black. I'm going to arrange for the paint to be returned. Here is where it get's interesting. I don't know if there was a mistake in formulation of the paint or the supplier has changed formulations and this is how it's supposed to be. I will make a call tomorrow and see if I can find some info. I'm back to square one of paint choice. I sure am glad that I found this out before being ready to paint finished parts. :)
Jeez that does not cover well ! Must be a paint issue . 6 coats of anything should cover well
Trivia for painters: I contacted the head of Kirker and asked questions. I have talked to him several times since 2003. I asked if decreased VOC content made for thinner viscosity. He said no. I asked if any of the solid colors should have less toner so as to be more translucent. He answered, no. This confirmed my thought that the paint wasn't mixed properly. :) Notice the difference in the color of the lids. The white is new paint from the same supplier.
Candy white ? :lol: never knew they made a translucent white . What base color do you use with that?Maybe they thought you were painting ghost flames .
O&S made the decision to disable the truck. It's in confinement now. :) Paint jail doesn't seem like the correct term. By having it inoperable, I have more reason to work on it. I don't expect this to proceed rapidly but we'll see if the paint god smiles on me. :)
I hope you're right and the paint was just a bad batch. I like the color you picked. It looks like it belongs on a truck from that era.
I have never seen a truck of yours I didnt like 8) I still miss pictures of the 32 you had.
I'm starting over on color choice. The blue would be a crap shoot unless I change brands. I'll have plenty of time to think about that while I'm sanding bondo. LOL.
Never too late to try metalflake!! 8)
C.K., no better than my eye sight is, I think I better stick to something simple. I appreciate the fact that you don't give up. LOL.
More nekkidness from O&S today. The rest of the front is off. It comes off way easier than it will go back on after painting. :) I block sanded the epoxy with 220 and water and found more low spots to attempt to straighten. :) It's about to get real boring so the updates won't be often until there is something memorable to report. :)
I welded up the 2 turn signal holes in the front fenders and did some more hammer and dolly work before lunch. About mid afternoon, the wind died down so I moved everything around and did some blasting. All of the areas that have welding or are rough have had the epoxy removed. The underneath side of the hood is now blasted. The weather is about to turn cold for a couple of days so I'm very glad that is done. :)
O&S turned into Mr. bondo today. I sanded the surface rust off of the parts from the humidity from the rain we had this week and got started. All of the front parts except for the hood have been coated and sanded.
progress!
O&S managed to get a few parts in primer for the 1st application. :) The hood and the grill are what's left of the front end.
Now, I'm serious. LOL.
Amazing how long they can look like you're not making any progress, but you've already done a TON on this buggy.
O&S exponentially. :) I finally have the hood ready for primer. Hail dents and waves. I feel like a surfer chasing waves. :)
O&S was successful with today's task. I finished the bondo on the grille and have the hood and grille in primer. All of the front end sheet metal are in primer now. That's better than 2 weeks since I started on the front. I didn't work on sheet metal everyday. O&S. LOL.
What are you using for primer?
Summit epoxy and urethane high build primer. I know Summit used to sell Kirker. I don't know that for sure any more. The price is good. :)
Thanks. I have never used Summit's primers, but have used their single stage top coat and was happy with it.
O&S has T.B. :) Block sanding the 1st time when you're looking for problems takes effort. Everything but the hood is in the 2nd application of primer. I had holstein parts for a while. I had broke through in spots so I spot primed just in case. I want clear conscious about my work on this. :) Knowing that I didn't take chances gives me some peace of mind.
O&S had another day of block sanding. T.B. to the extreme. :)
FINALLY! O&S was able to get the cab in primer. This is 3 days past my original goal. There was a bunch of redo on the cab. Even today, when the sun hit it just right, I found some other spots to do more work on. I'm just glad to reach this spot. :)
O&S is singing "hot fun in the summertime". :) The hood got blocked and the 2nd app of primer applied. I sanded the grille and painted it black. That's the 1st outside part to be painted. Only 18 more to go. :)
Seeing that grill in paint makes my mouth water a little.
yes grille is nice !
Thank you. :)
O&S was a worker today. I blocked the fenders and other front end parts again and applied the 3rd round of primer. There's a spot on one fender that I'm concerned about. I started block sanding on the cab but didn't get it all finished when I decided to quit. It was 103 but there was some light cloud cover so it wasn't horrible. 8 hours of pretty good exercise. :)
That's coming along nicely.
2nd app of primer. It no longer looks like a refugee form a hail storm camp. :)
I like this truck more and more.
O&S has a little color. :) I did some smaller parts today to see how the color was to spray. It will test my skills. :) I tried to take a pic outside and failed. The color is called carbon fiber metallic. It's a silver gray with large metallic. Oh, the new horrible freight paint shaker quit all ready. LOL.
That metallic laid out nicely! That is my worry with spraying metallic , that you can get it to look funny if you spray it heavy . If I ever get to paint on the mini chopper it will be huge metalflake ! I have watched videos of how they spray clear and then fog with dry flake followed with more clear to seal it in .
The bear chased O&S all day. It started off with problems and stayed that way all day long. :) The front fenders are painted. Orange peely. They will need cut and buffing. I changed from the small gun to the large gun to try and get it figured out to paint the cab and bed sides. I don't have the magic yet. LOL.
Cab sanding is completed. Masking and spraying ahead. I hope the paint god smiles on me. :) This is going to be a tough spray for me. :)
I love the color. Looks fantastic.
If your paint lays out like it did on the first parts you should be fine 8).
Ladies and gentlemen, I present a cab with paint and 4 coats of clear. (cut and buff looming ahead) I wasn't able to do it good enough to not need buffing. Too much orange peel and the Kansas wind deposited the fluffys from the dandelions in a few places. :) Lots to do before I leave friday morning for Pueblo. The last pic shows the orange peel in the reflection. :)
Looks great. Peel looks not too deep.
O&S has the front inner fenders and the running boards painted. Moving along at a turtle's pace. :)
O&S had a good day. I managed to get all of those parts on without scratching them. :) After putting a couple of these trucks together, it's getting easier. LOL.
O&S started the day by putting connectors on the tail light wiring. I used the flat sae plugs for that. I installed the bed floor, the bed cover, the dynamat and the carpet. I bought some soft durometer stick on rubber to seal around the doors. I haven't been able to get doors adjusted good enough to not have leaks. I think it's because the doors are bent but I have no good way to repair them. :) Then I blocked the hood again. It still had a few low spots so I primered it again. That's the 4th time. It's been a long time since I primed anything 4 times. :) I put up a pic of the engine compartment with the inner fenders painted. Now I can see a few things in there. :)
O&S painted the underneath side of the hood and the top of the air cleaner today. Nothing to get excited about. The weather forecast for this weekend has turned wet so I Rainxed the windshield and made sure the wipers are working. :) Tomorrow, I will put the hood on and that should be it. The multi-colored truck is ready to go. I was looking forward to 3 days of good weather but it looks like we might get 2 before it get's wet and cold for the summer.
C.K., when I clean up the gun, there are small flakes of alum. left in it. This paint is real close to metalflake. :) I want to thank Matt for sharing the pics of the 51 that his shop was doing for the idea of the grille change. I knew I didn't want a 51 grille but didn't have an idea at that point. He made it an easy decision. :)
In our P.C. culture, we shouldn't say we are multi colored so here is my multi-cultured truck ready to leave in the morning. I don't remember ever taking an unfinished anything to a race or show. :) I'm curious if there will be interesting conversation because of that. :)
I saw the size of the flakes in one of your pictures . 8) Weird thing about metalflake is that it rarely photographs well , as in the flake rarely shows in pictures.
O&S made it to Pueblo and back in good shape. I left sunday morning and drove through sprinkles 4 times in getting home. It was 54 degrees when I left and rain was expected. When I arrived home, after unpacking, I removed the hood and bed cover. I will remove the bed tomorrow and get on with the painting.
The bed and hood are off. It's time for Mr. Bondo to go back to work. The wet weather is supposed to be gone tomorrow so we can get back to summer. :)
Once again, panels that I thought were pretty good have proven to have problems. Just another day in paradise. :)
Bodywork is one thing automotive that I find humbling. I understand how , and I can do it . But not in a timely manner and not to the level I would like to be able to .
O&S is making slight progress. I have the bondo work taken care of and some panels blocked.
It never ceases to amaze me how many dents, high spots, and waviness exist in something you'd swear is totally flat.
Into most lives, some gray appears. In the O&S world, this was a good thing. :) I have some parts in primer for the 1st app. The bed sides are almost ready for primer. I don't have enough space to lay out everything and do it well. The brain power is a little lacking also. LOL.
O&S plodded along and has the bed sides primed. That leaves the tailgate.
O&S just sat down. Feels real good. LOL. I started off today with redoing the mounting points for the latch and handle. They had screws in them. I cut an access hole to allow nuts on the back side of the panels. I flanged the panel to allow the access panel to flush mount. I'm not happy with the inside panel. I'm thinking of some kind of cover panel on it????? I did some more bondo work on the outside and shot primer on it. All of the parts are primed, now.
O&S spent half of the day doing yard work. In the afternoon, I blocked the rear fenders and applied the 2nd app of primer. That will be enough for them. For those that wonder, I have spent over $1100 on paint materials and I may need another $125 of clear. That is using the Summit low cost materials. :) Gallons of sealer, primer, bondo, paint and clear. That doesn't include the tape, paper and sandpaper I had. In comparison, the 78 F150 was a fairly simple project and it took about $760 in paint materials.
O&S started off thinking that the hood would get painted. There was a low spot next to the cowl. It didn't clean up with blocking so I added some bondo and primed the bad spot again. The rest of the day was spent blocking. At the current rate of progress, I will need 2 more days of blocking before the bed is ready for paint. Assuming I don't find something I have missed. LOL.
slow and steady 8)
O&S was in low gear today. I started off with doing some spot repair on the bed sides. I blocked one fender and the front bed panel. I moved on to the tail gate. I added some bondo to several areas. It will only be passible when done. Later this year, I may build another tail gate that is straighter everywhere. :) It rained some this afternoon so I didn't prime the tail gate where I worked it. Some progress, not good progress. :)
Slow work, but it's impossible not to appreciate your attention to detail.
what Jaybee said ! :)
Thanks for the comments, guys. :)
O&S had a less than wonderful day. I started out with good thoughts but by the end, I don't think I accomplished what I wanted. I blocked the hood and wasn't happy with the results. I spot sprayed the last of the primer I had and late today, knocked it down some. I don't think I'm there yet. There's a spot on the tailgate that I'm not sure what to do with. The 3 areas that I spot primed on the bed sides came out good. I'm not as short of time as I was last month so if I need to do more work on the hood and tailgate, It will be ok. It's just more work. LOL.
O&S just came in from playing shody bop. LOL. I spent part of the morning working on the hood and tailgate. It was dead calm today so I didn't want to let that go to waste. The rear fenders, roll pan, inside of the front bed panel and the rear crossmember got painted. I don't believe I messed anything up. :) It feels good to see some paint. LOL.
O&S sanded. And sanded and sanded. :) The bed panels are ready. The front bed panel is ready. The hood is almost ready. The only thing left is the tailgate. :)
O&S decided to paint bed panels today. I don't think I messed anything up. I won't know until they're out in the sun. This leaves the hood and tailgate. :) It was 101 degrees with 17% humidity. Quick dry paint. LOL.
Looking good.
Your heated paint booth is producing good results.
8) 8) 8)
O&S got a few parts assembled without scratching them. Yet. :)
O&S is pleased to say that all of the parts are painted. If I can finish the truck without a train wreck, I'll be most happy. :)
8) 8) 8)Shiny!!
O&S has the tailgate installed and one fender cut and buffed. I have around 3 hours in that one fender!!! And the paint was good on it. I started with 1000 grit paper. It takes a while to do anything with that. :)
And now for the metalflake accent stripes ! 8) 8) 8)
O&S got started on the other fender. It took 2.5 hours. :) I did the bed sides, the top angle on the bedside and the tailgate. I bolted the fenders on with a few bolts to have less mess around. :)
O&S made a little progress today. I ordered some flange head bolts to use on the fenders. I was not happy with the stainless flat head ones I had previously used. The bolts arrived yesterday so this morning I bolted on the fenders and the braces for I believe the last time. I had the fenders laying on the back of the truck in the shed. When I removed them, I noticed that the rubber isolators that mount the rear end cradle and the back had separated from the metal bushing that bolts to the chassis. That allowed it to move up and down about 1/2". It took some work to remove the rubber parts. I had a transmission crossmember that I had saved from a F150 that had a u- channel in it. I cut a length of from it and machined it to the original height of the bushings. I welded the parts on and drilled a mounting hole and bolted it together. The rubber parts were under tension from the coilovers. The rubber parts were 1996 issue. :)
Good catch on those bushings, and a perfectly good solution.
O&S had another delightful day of exercise in the sun. :) 1st up was the hood. I have around 3.5 hours in cutting and buffing. I installed it and put the trim back on. I'm not keen on the color of the trim with the silver. Little bland. I have most of the driver's door and most of the back of the cab started in color sanding. 3 grades of sand paper left. :) I think I may sand the whole cab with the rough paper before moving on.
I really like the front view of that truck. Good work. Looks great.
O&S had another day of exercise. Wax on, wax off. :) Everything except the grille and lower valance has been sanded with 1000. It doesn't take much for the 1500 and 2000 to do it's job at this point. I removed the running boards to allow buffing on the fenders all the way to the bottom. If my time management would have been better, all of these parts would have been buffed before assembly. One way it's easier to install and the other way there is the risk of scratching after buffing. :)
That is really coming together. It's subtle but effective. Do you feel like the trim needs to pop more?
Jaybee, I have seen some powdercoat their trim black, that's more than I want but I don't have a good idea at this point. :)
O&S just set down. I feel the magnetism of the chair strongly. :) The majority of the buffing is finished. It needs a through bath and some detail work but for the most part is finished. The pics aren't very good. :)
Someone once made a very powerful case here that every garage must have a pondering chair.
Looking good KB. :) :)
O&S started off by giving the truck and bed a bath. Then I sanded and buffed several areas. :) I proceeded to assemble the truck. As I was taking some pics, I see more spots that need more buffing. I think I'm down to about 100 little things to do. LOL. For those who care about this kind of info, I started this on 6/7/21 when I picked up metal for the frame.
I believe you are ready to start the next one. Good job. :)
O&S worked on small stuff today. I fabbed a simple wood tray to hold the spare tire, jack, jumper cables and a jack stand. I made a couple of simple abs panels for the bottom of the rear fenders to cover up the running board holes that weren't being used. I did a few other things that aren't worth mentioning. :)
Going on 14 months for a full, ground up, high quality build. I'd say that's pretty impressive. That's a truck to be proud of.
Thank you. It's off to Salina this weekend unless it rains us out. :)
O&S is off of vacation and back to work. :) I removed the front fenders to repaint and painted brake calipers.
Man do you get stuff done ! 8)
O&S was something of a worker, albeit a slow one. :) The fenders have been repainted. No bugs, just some dirt. :) Matt and I talked about the grille color a little bit. I thought my black choice was a mistake. I had an idea that I won't know is good until all of the parts are back on the truck. The silver is translucent. I sanded the black and shot some light coats of silver over it. It is darker but I don't know if it's dark enough to look good or just look like a mistake. :)
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Those are good ideas, Matt. I was tired of trying to keep the black clean already. :)
I like those ideas, they greatly reduce the visual weight of the black.
I showed pics of the truck to Mrs B a few days ago. She likes it too.
O&S did cut and buff today. If I got paid by the hour, I'd be fired for sure. LOL. I'm way happier than with the 1st time. Now the whole truck looks on the same level of workmanship.
looks good. Having it all at the same level of quality is every bit as important as the level of quality.
O&S has the truck back together. :)
8) 8) 8) . Now we should start guessing when you will start doing the next one ! It takes me a year to get done what you do in a month. Hats off to you !
I love that thing. I'm not a truck guy, but I dig this one.
2.5 weeks ago I sent the wiper motor in for warranty. It worked about 30 seconds. :) It arrived yesterday and I installed it this morning. Something that shouldn't have taken long took 3 hours from start to finish. Lots of the dash has to come out. There's still limited room after that. It's working now so I'm not ever planning on needing to work on it again. :) I took the fuel sender apart yesterday and removed some burrs where the pivot shaft goes in. It's free to rotate now so I'm cautiously optimistic that I solved that problem. All of the electrical tests were positive so the movement of the float arm was last on the list. It worked for 1500 miles and then started giving trouble. I hope it doesn't make a habit of that. :)
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Interesting Dagmars. :) I like them.
More thinking. :)
I was wondering what you were going to do down there . Are those some kind of driving light ?
Rubber bumpers as in cadillacs and 57 chevy. I had considered fog lights. Lots of choices. :)
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Very interesting. More thinking. :) Thank you.
That cow catcher on the bottom matches the contour of the centre hood badge . KEEPER ! you just have to figure out how to close in the space on the sides of it . That little mod would set the truck apart from any other ..... tastefully 8) 8) 8). You got any paint left for the filler panels ?
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D was my original idea. I don't have dies to bend that short of a radius so I had moved on. I haven't gone so far as to see if someone sells tube bends in tight radiuses. Tube fittings for gas lines are an option. :)
Square tubing would look a bit industrial unless you did curved ends. It can be done and would look good.
How about something like a length of stainless tailgate cap? One edge could be scribed to to match the curvature of the sheetmetal on the truck, some sort of brackets to cap the ends like the round tubing idea. Maybe a nice, brushed finish on it.
This would be a bit out there but have you thought of that teardrop shaped tube that is used on dragster axles ? My last dragster had it . Also doesnt that original piece look like the part from an original early 60s bumper guard . I am sure i have seen a very similar oem part used on an early 60s chev bumpers .
When I returned from this weekend, I have over 3000 miles on the truck. The only 2 things I'm unhappy with are fuel mileage and power. I had a slight tail wind and some dead calm times in Colorado and made 18 on one tank. 17 is normal. A headwind will drop into the 15 range. Today I pulled the dash apart and worked on the wipers some more. It wasn't as good as it should be. I redrilled a mounting hole on the wiper motor on one side. This allowed me to slid it a little over a 1/16 of an inch. It's centered now. I have a few other items that I will tinker with a little. This is a better driving truck than the white one. The chassis has no idea what body is on it. Running down the road or around a curve at speed, it does what I expected. What it needs is a 427 windsor. :) If nobody buys it, I will address this somehow. :)
Hmmm, too much weight for the motor, or maybe the tune isn't quite right?
Jaybee, I'm thinking it's the difference in the cruising rpm efficiency from the change of the factory long runner intake versus the standard 4 barrel manifold that's on the truck. However, the 302 is 18 hp. down from the 4.6 that was in the white truck. The sniper display has a consistent afr at 14 -1 running down the road. I had a discussion with Edelbrock years ago on the torque changes that you would see going from long runner to a conventional single four intake and they felt you would loose 20 lbs. ft. down low and gain that back at upper rpm with a standard single 4 intake. I have no knowledge on whether that would affect fuel mileage or not. In my opinion, it's underpowered. :)
I think you're right on target. Everything you say makes perfect sense. I also think your intake manifold and camshaft may now be mismatched if you're running the stocker. Everything about those engines was optimized to the long runner intake...and running out of breath by 5,000rpm.
It's still an incredibly cool truck and nothing about this situation is unfixable. You might even find a buyer who'll never much notice if it's underpowered and gets poor fuel mileage because they won't drive it that much and mostly through town to a show and shine. I like to think of it getting driven a lot more than that because it is cool and well built, but an awful lot of hobby cars don't get out of the garage that much.
On the way home from Colorado, I killed a bird with the grille. I was watching in the mirror and didn't see what happened to the remains. When I cleaned the truck, I found a few feathers on the radiator and nothing else. Today I'm checking the oil and looking under the hood. Behind the brake booster under the wiring is where I found him. How did he end up there????? :)
I bet he is wondering the same thing.
The truck has been sold. I have been paid and am waiting on a truck to pick it up to carry it to the new owner. He chose an enclosed trailer. We will both sleep better. :)
congrats on the truck sale . It was a nice unit 8) 8)
Congratulations! I like that truck a lot and I hope the new owner enjoys it.
Interesting :)
I believe it's the end of the road. :)
Excellent, a job well done!