Projects 31 Model A pickup (re) Build

good work mate i give you the polished turd award for today

 

Wow, replacing that grille did wonders. Keep up the good work!

 

hahahaha that polished turd award is some funny shit

 

not sure about down under, but that's no compliment as far as i'm concerned. To clarify, the truck might have been a turd when I got it, but i'm not polishing anything.

Regardless, continued stripping the body (stopped on the driver's side door b/c at this point I'm resigned to replacing the entire skin). Finished the other side of the bed. Also found a new patch that I wasn't aware of on the rear of the cab (I knew the doors and cowl had been done when purchased): guess I'll add that to the to do list. Some more hammer&dolly work on dings in the cab. Still have to finish weld the inside of the bed, then prime and paint before re-adding the side panels, since they'll be be buried.

 

By no means an expert on auto suspension. I've read through most of what I can find on this site and and from what I gather, I should ideally redo the hairpins/ladderbars. They are basically parallel with the frame rails and then mount to brackets on the frame w/ heim joints. There's plenty of movement at the heims, but from what I've read, they should be mounted as close to center as possible to prevent bind.

Do I need to redo these bars, or at least the brackets, or have I misunderstood the principles of this type of suspension? Only caveat is that the rear spring is as low as possible, and there's not alot of room for suspension travel back there.

 

Finished the gauges tonight (small victory). All told, cost about $120 in new gauges and several hours plus some creative thinking. I was going to paint the needles but decided that since they were all orange and I could actually see them, that I'd keep them that way. The ammeter (or millivoltmeter) is now a voltmeter and the gas gauge is one that matches my sending unit on the gas tank. All are 60 degree gauges.

I tried to simply replace the sending unit on the temp gauge per http://www.ply33.com/repair/tempgauge, but the remaining nipple on the original gauge was too butchered and I couldn't preserve the hole. Otherwise, it would have worked as instructed.

And sadly, I left the cab out while I worked on the bed in the garage and didn't check the weather, instant patina: now I have some more work to do. Neighbors are probably less stoked than I am.

 

sorry if i offended you mate, that wasnt what i was trying to do. was just commenting on the truck being a turd when you got it. i think you're doing a killer job. sorry again

 

Still working on finishing the patches on the bed and finishing up the subframe as I get time. But these showed up at my door today and looked so pretty I had to share. Little premature but it was a killer deal and gives me something to look forward to. 15x6, chrome hoops and black powdered centers, Ford pattern for the front and two GM for the rear.

 

SWEET!! Your doing this build EXACTLY as I am in my head for my build.

 

I think the truck looks totally killer right now man. You did do a very nice job! Keep up the good work.

 

Been busy doing some other stuff to free up some time and $. OT but finished and sold this panhead then wrapped up this frame jig which has been a project unto itself.



So, tonight, I started fixing some of the chop.Someone just put sheetmetal inside as backing and threw some wire at it then bondo'd everything over. More than anything I was curious what was underneath, but I also didn't want to see that extra metal inside the cab. The warping/oil can was so bad (you can see the sand marks from beforehand), I just cut it out and went to work with the hammer and dolly, some sheetmetal and the TIG. Long way to go, but it's already 100xs better than it was.



Also got all my glass from Bob's. Very pleased with the deal with the HAMB Alliance discount.

 

A tad more metal work: left rear corner of the cab is starting to come back into shape. Started cutting the patches out (they were tacked right on top of the original metal: no primer, didn't cut out the rust, etc).

The firewall really bothered me, and I need every inch I can get so, I drilled out the spot welds and hopefully can get the cab off and cut it out this weekend. I figure if I flip a stock firewall and recess the center, I'll get back almost 3" of leg room, if not more; and it should look a hell of alot better. Not to mention addressing the wiring at a later date. Plus another 1" from lowering the floors.

 

Keep up the good work man.

 

Got the firewall and most of the front half of the floors out today. Started reworking a stock firewall. I'm going to reverse it, but still have to do a recess in the center. Also flattening the firewall: the recess at the bottom would have had to be cut out anyways, but also flattening it, it's just long enough to reach the floor boards, so I won't need any additional patches or panels. You can see the difference b/t the two sides in the picture.

 

Good work but I love that frame jig! peace

 

After staring at this and thinking about it for hours on end (literally), I changed my plans. The idea of a center recess wasn't working with my main goal of keeping as much leg room as possible. And it also was going to look like shit no matter what, in my opinion: i wanted to retain as much of the stock look as possible.

I also didn't realize how little more room I needed to clear the engine. After looking over everything several times, I decided on the following course of action:

• move the cab back 3/4", which gave me just enough room to clear the engine if the firewall was flat. And I have just that much room to move the radiator back too, since I am running a hood.
• flatten the original center of the firewall that I cut out.
• cut, fit, tack back in. Voila.

Hard to tell in the pic, but the entire face of the original firewall is now flat.
Still have much to do to finish it, most of all re-working the outer flange since it's reversed, but now I have something that I'll be happy with the form and function of the end result. I also figured out a solution to my brake pedal, but that will be for another day.

 

I've felt that way about a couple of my kids at times...

 

2nd comment about that: perhaps I should change the wording..... to be clear, I sold the Elky b/c of the kid, not the other way around.

The wonderful brake pedal made by the PO (sadly these are the best welds they did on the whole truck), which happened to land on the left side of the steering column and was uber short on leg room, as was the firewall. Now that the firewall is being taken care of....


I present to you the $1000 brake pedal (I say that b/c of the time I have making it to fit in the exact space available and the cutting the firewall in 3 dimensional space). Now I know why the PO hacked it up and put it on the other side of the steering column: it was far easier. And it was one thing to build it as part of the cab but another to build it such that it or the cab could be removed w/o have to cut anything: I learned that lesson before. Countersunk stainless bolts turned down on the lathe and only the necessary hole in the firewall. Also cut out the master cylinder bracket and moved it back 3.5" to get back to a 6:1 pedal ratio, which took me from a 4.5:1 to a 6:1 ratio on the pedal.

 

Great work . The po sure made a lot of work for you. Looks like it will be safe and good for the long run.

 

Still working on all the details of the firewall, but already a world of difference: chased all threads and started welding new mounts for things like throttle (and bent the pedal), heater, Headlight switch, etc. Reworked the heater a little to give it a smaller profile (it's still huge), and hammered out the weld to stretch firewall once i welded in the center. Still have lots of holes to fill and patches to do and hammering to reverse the flange


Previously installed firewall: about 7" deep.

 

Nice work and detail. I think my PO and your PO must have been related. At least their "work" looks similar.

Keep cranking the wrenches.

 

Since I was finally test fitting the firewall today after bending the flanges, so I needed to address the gas tank and windshield filler trim (which had 3 tack welds to the dash already) since they will all bolt together. So, I finished cutting out the gas tank,

then went to work welding the dash to filler trim so it was good and solid. Also had some holes to fill in the trim where the PO used drywall screws to mount the windshield. Also had make a recess in the dash for the windshield frame. The PO had simply cut out the windshield frame to clear the bulge of the dash and then mounted it about 1" out from the cab and used spray foam to fill the gap. I'll deal with the windshield frame at a later date.


Here's the recess cut into the windshield frame that I'm not looking forward to fixing. Also made it hard to get glass cut.

 

You said it, convenience. But, as long as your dash can be unbolted, weld and seal it up.

 

Good job on the PU. It's a great hot rod to have.

 

Good grief, that truck had all sorts of little "fixes." Really nice job so far. I have a feeling builds like this are going to become in fashion over the next few years as some of the current fads die off.

Great work... I especially like the flattening of the firewall.

 

Got the front half of the old floors out, and the shifter (I kept the rear portion but finished welding it in). Then fit a generic cross sill from Howells and used some leftover lengthwise, where the shifter will mount. All flooring and panels are/will be .125" steel and fully welded, since I won't really have a frame on the subfloor in order to save an inch or two. The cab will have .250" 80A (hardness) rubber b/t it and the frame all the way around. Everything that mounts will have, or has, nuts or slugs welded in (like the shifter), for ease and to avoid sheetmetal screws and exposed nuts. I modified the shifter and linkage to clean them up and so that they worked in the new locations. Finally some visua
l "progress".

 

scott; this is the greatest thing since sliced bread. thank god that the ruin agood vehicle for shock value is drifting away. saw o lot of nice old bikes ruined the same way in the late 60-70 period. nothing wrong with either 2 or 4 wheels that show and craftmanship. most are way better built than that t.v. over nite crap.

 

Nothing too exciting or ground breaking. Continuing on the tedious details the firewall: lots of fitting and planning and welding. I don't want to have any regrets or have to redo anything after paint. Took a break to put some mounts on the subframe for the bed finally, since I finally knew the final position of the cab. Now I can wrap up the bed.


And since I wasn't planning on anything fancy on the motor for practical and monetary reasons (vintage speed parts for the motor seem outta hand, and I don't really feel like dealing w/ multiple carbs for the way I plan on driving it), these fit the bill nicely. Got them from Squeak Bell (awesome guy to deal with), aside from the quality, the best part is that he only had like 5 pairs made, so I won't be seeing many others like them (yeah there's the PML ones, but those big square lugs on the back sides look hokey to me).

 

I am liking this! That truck is turning out really nice. Of course, I am a little partial...

 

Redid the seat this weekend. It was 2 pieces of ill fitting plywood against the back of the cab and on the floor. The upholstery and work was actually pretty nice and comfy, so I just modified what was there to fit and to give it some slant and rise. Plus I'll get a little storage behind the back of the seat once I finish the hinges.



I also decided that I didn't like the dash being attached the windshield filler trim. I hate doing things twice but I would have regretted it down the road. It made for a bitch getting the gas tank and dash in and out. So I cut them apart, but now I really had fix damage the filler trim done by the PO since it was covered or supported by the dash anymore.