Made one of these this weekend and it worked out great for it being just me and my dad in the garage pulling the cab.
Very cool, gonna have to make one for sure. On another note, made a lot of progress this weekend, pics to come.....
So this weekend, I got the front suspension torn down. Took it all to the car wash for pressure washing. Took it all to the shop to start putting all new bj's bushings, tie rods etc in it. The trans was just about done when I left the shop today, so it should be wrapped up tommorow, cant wait to see the end result there!! Got the engine oil pan removed and found a bunch of gunk, looks like the valve covers were off of it for a while and water got into it. We plasti-gauged the bearings and all is tight, and honestly, all in all it looks pretty good, a few oil changes with some running in between would probably work, but I decided to do a basic rebuild on it with new gaskets, bearings, rings etc just to be on the safe side. After its all torn down I am going to send it down to the machine shop for a bath at minimum, maybe so touch up work if needed. Get the intake bead blasted and polish up the valve covers. Running boards look good, no excessive rust or damage, just a lot of old paint. All the mounting points on the boards are solid. Here is the naked front end. I am going to measure it all up when the cab is off and see where we stand, if it is all straight I will probably work on getting the previous weld job cleaned up before sending it out for blasting. The dr and pass front corners are rusted pretty bad. Will have to replace the inner and outer cowl panels it looks like. Also the dr door sags pretty bad, looks like at some point it was in a minor accident. Here is my shop helper checking for bondo This is Kyn, best dog in the world. Always keeps me company when workin on the truck, she told me she cant wait to go for a ride when its all done. Here are the front ends of the rear fenders where the boards mount up, pretty bad rust here and alot of filler, hopefully it is all fixable. I got the shitball steering column and master/booster out..tossed it all out. I want to go with a frame mounted booster assembly, found a nice one online, have not bought it yet of course, long way to go yet. So thats where I'm at right now, the only other thing is I went to a co-workers house that works in the body shop and he gave me a few lessons on welding, made a few nice welds if I do say so myself. So the next two big purchases are going to be a MIG welder and an Ingersol Rand stand up compressor. Going to try and tackle the body work on my own, with help from friends hopefully. I'll put up some more pics as I get further along.....
Oh yea, had my first f-up yestersay. I had sent the radiator out for cleaning and it has been sitting in the shop so I thought I better get it home so it doesnt get damaged. I decided to put it in the front seat so it didnt slide around in the bed of my truck but my pass door was locked so I went around to unlock it. I leaned the radiator up against the side of the truck....Well, I found a bunch of leaves on my flooorboard from a few days before so I remembered I need to blow out the inside of my truck with the airhose, so I jumped in and backed up to get closer to the shop so the hose would reach, and you guessed it, the radiator fell over and got run over!!! Its toast, the only good news is it didnt fit anyway. I found out after I sent it out of course that is was too long, and that explains why the original half ass cut just the sides of the support off so it could hang lower. I'll be getting a new one for it anyway, but it sucks throwing money away like that....
Damn...that is some bad luck there! I just ordered one from Classic Parts..seemed like the best deal on a new desert cooler and got the matching fan/shroud too.
shadams, did you ever know for sure what year or make the front suspension is? My son just got a 52 a few months ago and his front suspension looks almost identical to yours. Any help would be appreciated.
Good lookin' pup. I like the truck too. I've got a '50 Jimmy 5 window that I've got in the Q to work on next. Plan on an OT mill (4200 Trailblazer straight 6). Thanks for the ID on the front suspension.
Made a lot of progress this weekend, got all the glass out of the cab and 1 door, the other door has stripped screws....anway got the doors off and got it all unbolted. Then lowered the frame down on the jack stands so I had some more room above the truck and the cab is ready to come off. Also found a "patch panel" welded in with the worst welds EVAR, cut the welds and pulled it out, big rust mess underneath. Lots more rust than I expected and its going to be a pain in the ass. Only nice thing in the whole truck....the dash.... Firewall is OK, but has been hacked up. Cleaned up the front frame a little, what a mess. Really confirmed my thought of getting it blasted, let someone else get covered in nasty black shit. Plus its hard to get a 4" cup in all the nooks and crannies. Whole garage is covered in parts, running out of room, started stacking stuff up in the yard and covering it with tarps, I hear banjo's playing already..... Got new wheels! Dont even know if they are going to fit in front, but got a good deal so I couldnt pass them up. 15x8 wheel vintique series 12, 4" back spacing.
I think we are runnin head to head with the progress on our trucks......you just had some bigger issues then I did..your makin great progress tho!
Subscribed. Looks like you did take a smokin, but I am glad to see your light hearted about it. Keep on keepin on brother and soon enough you'll have one kick ass 5 window! On the flip side I bought a 53 3100 and STOLE it from the guy. Its still a project truck but every day I work on it I find something that was done that impresses me, and 5 things that I cant, for the life of me understand what they were thinking.
Thanks pottsie, it will be the bomb..... Made some progress today, got all my Posies stuff here!!! 3" lowered leafs, new axle saddles, new u bolts and lower sping plates with shock mounts, shock studs, new shackles and front eye bolt and soe Bilstein shocks! Here is the naked frame. I used a plumb bob through the rear upper shock mmounts after I measured to make sure they were in the same spot from the rear of the frame. Then I bobbed it through the front shock hole and measured for length. The left side was 5/16" longer than the right side. However, I did an x check and it was dead nuts exactly the same. I think I am good....any objections?? My next step is getting the frame cleaned up and re-welding the crappy clip job, then I found a guy in San Antonio to sand blast, epoxy prime, epoxy black and epoxy clear the frame for $375, which I think is a damn good deal after spending about 2 hrs with the wire cup to do a 6" spot and come out looking like I just crawled out of a coal mine..... Pic of the completed transmission with all new gaskets, seals, clutches, etc and kevlar bands. Still need to get a converter for it and paint inside the bell housing and pump. Pic of the completed rear diff. The only thing left to do is cut off the saddles and weld up the new ones, then repaint some spots and run new brake lines. I also am thinking I will get my wheels powered coated just so I dont have to mess with them after that. I am trying to figure out what color I should do them in though......hmm.. I sold my 09 Sierra HD today, I will be driving my beater s-10 till I get this truck done since I will have a lot more spending money coming my way now that I have one less truck payment, so I am going to get my compressor and welder, wooo hoo!!!!
Got all my PSC front end stuff last week. I ended up ordering the Polygraphite Super Kit which has every part for the front end minus control arms, springs and sway bar. Got the engine apart further today and found a few things out. Crank turned .010, block bored .040, chrane cam 113841, double roller timing chain.The bad, found 1 slightly bent rod and 1 cylinder with slight pitting in it, possible hydrolock issue. Block and heads going for stripping and magafluxing(sp?) then a light rebuild and lots of new goodies. Oh, also bought a March Performace pulley set, going to buy new chrome accessories for the front end, new valve covers/oil pan etc.
Got the bottom of the clip rewelded, ol' Uncle Ed comin through like a champ! Everythings off to the blaster/coater. I decided to go with powder coating in the end, finally found a guy that seemed intersted in doing it, rather than just "eh, whatever" Annnnnd this is where I ended up. Not much to look at but seemed to know what he was talking about, a big plus was he met me there on a Saturday morning when he was closed so I could drop everything off. Said he drove 35 miles to meet me, what a guy! Last but not least, got my saddles cut off and ready for the new ones once the frame is done. The motor is a Spreen Engines in Boerne, hopefully have that back in a week or two, then I can start putting the chassis back together.
FRAME IS DONE!!!!! Here is all the other stuff I got coated, control arms, hood springs and hinges, battery cover, sway bar, hood latch panel and lower grille panel and front fender supports. Got all my bushings and ball joints installed and ready to go as well. If you notice for example, the lower grill support, battery cover, had some pitting from the rust after sandblasting, but I think it gives it some character, but the hood latch panel is spotless and looks brand new up close... In the green recycle bin is all my chrome accessories (water pump, alt, p/s pump and starter) and March pulley and bracket set, in the cardboard box is the valve covers, oil pan, etc. To the right in a stack are the rotors, pads, calipers, seals, bearings etc. Oh yea, HOBART 187!! Have not installed my 220/230 plug yet so havent used it yet but cant wait. Springs disassembled, coated and reassembled, in place and ready to go onto frame. Had to rearrange the garage AGAIN to fit everything, but once I get stuff bolted to the frame it should free up some room. Hope to start on it tomorrow! I'll be back... BTW, doesnt the cab look teeny tiny, like a clown car cab??
Well, I was just about to have my 15x8" smoothies powder coated and just chance wether they were going to fit or not. Glad I didnt. After getting the front end back together I came to the realization that maybe Camaro front clips really are too wide. Ok, too wide may not be the right way to put it. If you were building a stock height truck and skinny wheels, it would be just fine. But if you want it down low, it will work with the right tire/wheel combo, but is not ideal. No kidding, it has been covered a million times i'm sure. But lucky for me I did some measuring first and noted the wheels would stick out past the running board brackets at least 2 inches, and after looking at pics of trucks on here noted the running boards stick out about an inch past the fender, which would put the wheel edge probably about flush with the fender, so with tire it would be a problem. I told the pc'r to hold off and ordered some 15x6's and when bolted up they are just to the inside of the brackets, so with the 205/215's I planned on they should work. Anyone need 2 Wheel Vintique series 12 smoothies 15x8 4" backspacing 5x4.5/4.75 dual pattern? I'll give you a good deal on them! Anyway, dropping them off Sat for coating and will get them and the rear suspension hardware back next week. Still working on the engine, so no updates there.
I too have a camaro clipped truck, it is hard to listen to the 1,000 people that say the clip is too wide but it really is. If this is going to be your truck you love and drive everyday wouldnt you want it done right?
Sure. Dont know if you read the whole thread, but I bought this truck with the clip already on it. No real choice but to make it work. Besides, I'm going to have to rework the fenders anyway, so if I need some more room I dont see that being a big deal. Just found out my wheels are done, the guy said they look killer! Cant wait to get them back. Of course I'll post pics so you guys can rag on me about my choice of color. Also will get my rear supension hardware back so I can reassemble the rear end, at least temporarily before I ahve to take it back apart for welding.
Ha! You guessed it! Hey, its what the wife wanted so what can I say.... I stripped it down and primed then painted with rustoleum semi gloss engine block paint. If I had to do it over again I would have powder coated it with the other stuff but it seems pretty tough and the finish looks great.
Ok, so I didnt do them in pink, but SUPRISE! They are red. Now I tossed and turned over this because I think red wheels look great on an old hot rod, but everyone and there mom has red wheels. In the end, its what I wanted so screw it. For something a little different, I went with a deep red "chrome" finish powder. It starts with a reflective chrome base then a translucent red over the top to give it that deep shiny look. This pic does not do it justice, it looks very nice in person. The only thing I was bummed about is the gap around the inside of the wheel was full of blobs, really looks bad up close. Tonight I went to a car meet at a local restaurant and was looking at other guys wheels and noticed they had black plastic/rubber inserts in thos gaps which tells me it aint easy to paint/powdercoat in those gaps. I was thinking about some sort of self leveling sealer rather than a plastic insert, but that may be over complicating it. Anyway, tell me what you think, good or bad.... BTW, plan on short bullet caps and thin trim rings to finish them off....
Those look good.Second coats with powder are hard enough with some transparents and getting coverage in those deep areas are a nightmare.
The chassis looks great!! what a differance then what you started with, BTW that Hobart 187 is a great little machine!!
good to know about the axle - if I can get all the pitting off of mine, I'll follow your advice and get it coated. I'm digging the red wheels - they turned out killer - can't wait to see them on the truck! What tires you gonna run?
I feel your pain. I have a couple with camaro subs and both were bought as projects. I managed to get 8" wheels on both but it cost $$$$$$$ and they both are bagged. Enjoy you ride as the work sure looks nice.
The Jalopy Journal
