Thanks! Cant wait to start on the body and get to the point you are at.. Thinking about Diamondback WW 205/75-15 front and 255-70(or 75)-15 rear. I need to get my rear shock situation figured out so I know how wide a tire I can run, the shocks are pretty close to the tire, as well as the parking brake cable. Yea, 8s would be nice, but I think it will look just fine, thanks for the compliments.
Got the rear end all reassembled. Have not welded my mounts yet, think I should wait until everything else is in so I can set the angle correctly. Here is what I lack in shock length, see what you think.. Got lots of new goodies to get on the truck. Aluminum direct fit radiator and 16" electric fan, aluminum rear mount gas tank, transmission crossmember and frame mounted booster/mastercylinder. Any tips from you guys who have installed any of this stuff? Radiator: Probably the easiet of the 4 add ons. Looks like it fits right in, but the radiator support I bought at the junk yard is twisted. I'll have to heat that sucker up and try and get it straight, and then of course fab up some sort of crossmember to hold the whole front end on... Champion, with a generic 16" fan. Looks nice, but I dont have a whole lot to compare it to. I considered a nicer one but at twice the cost I couldnt justify it. This one has a built in trans cooler and is all tig welded, just like the one that was double the price and has a lifetime warranty. I guess i'll find out if my gamble was worth it when I get it running. I'll have to report back... Performance On-line Tank: I cut out the spare tire mount but left the pieces that were inside the frame. It was already butchered up from the P.O. so it wasnt reusable anyway, but I have so far not cut the rivets holding the pieces in because two of the rivits also hold the rear leaf spring mounts in place. I suppose what needs to happen is remove the rivits and then install bolts? Will the one remaining rivit for the leaf mount hold them in place still? After that, the tank has flanges on it which I assume sit inside the frame rails and they provided these steel strips with bolts welded in spots. Not sure how that all goes together in the few minutes I looked at it all. Also not sure about the orientation of the tank. As I have it sitting the filler neck will be at the top right of the tank, or do I rotate it and have it at the bottom left. Again, just sitting at work thinking back on the few minutes I looked at it last night, I am sure it is fairly straightforward, but any tips will help. Total Cost Involved Booster/ Master: This thing is sweet, and a lot bigger than I thought it would be overall. Very nice product though, that pedal assembly is welded up nice and came bare so its ready for paint. Got all the brackets and pedal in primer. The main bracket fit right where the OG master cylinder went and looks like there is plenty of room around it for exhaust and trans crossmember. BTW, I went with the frame mount because when I got the truck it had a firewall mounted booster and the firewall flexed pretty good due to a terrible install, and the brake pedal was a hack job of angle iron welded together. I thought the frame mounted with og style brake pedal would go in easier with less fabbing. We'll see.... I got my steering gear done and cleaned up, Its primed and painted now!! Just need to install it on the truck. Crossmember: I was looking at the crossmember and it could fit several ways, but the frame starts narrowing pretty quick in front of where the old mount sat. I noticed if I spin the crossmember ends to where they are laying flat inside the frame it barely puts the crossmember forward of the original one. I'll figur it out once I have the engine/trans back in. Had to get my wheels back to the powder coater, there were a few thin spots on a couple of wheels that he said he can fix, I just hope it doesnt look worse!! My engine, grrr, is still at the machine shop. This is a place that does mostly race engines so he told me to be patient with him as it is his busy time of year, but patience is not my cup o tea. He called me last Friday to ask if I wanted a full valve job on the heads or just clean up, I left the decision up to him, I want it right... Oh, also got a Ingersol Rand dual stage 80 gal. compressor yesterday!! Got an $100 off coupon in an email from tractor supplly and had to jump on it. Now I got a huge wiring project ahead of me to hook up my welder and compressor. My current box is CHUCK full of half size breaks with no empty spots so it looks like I'll have to install a aux box for my power tools. Lastly, my money tree is just about dead. I had a budget set aside and was adding to it with the sale of a couple vehicles and some other stuff and after I get done with the engine it will be depleted. Good news is with my new tools I can get a lot of stuff done that wont cost much, and save up for body type goodies.
by lookin at those pic, i got the same on my 51 pickup. mine came out from under a 77 malibu, the same place i got the motor im runnin. complete front clip
Well, I really wont know for sure until I get the truck back together. Worst case scenario I need a longer shock, but I still think with some weight on it they will work. I had posies send me some pics of a truck they did and I have it set up right so....
just a heads up, check your paper work on your compressor. my sanborn paper work says not to leave it on the pallet or it voids the warranty. i mounted mine using some rubber blocks and anchor bolts into the concrete.
Roger that, havent wired in in yet, then it is getting bolted down. No way, you got me whooped, your cab looks great! Thanks!
Man you have some work to do! But I see you are a patient man! You wrote nicely about everything and took pictures! I would have gone mad!
Man, that frame looks fantastic! I wish I had spent that much time with mine! I got in a pretty big rush. I'll do my next one right, I'm still learning.
Welp, nota whole lot done lately to the truck. Got the gas tank put in, looks good. Mostly been working on the garage. Got my welder and compressor wired up, kicks ass. Got a boat load of air tools from my boss on the cheap, all snap-on/bluepoint too. Two snap on air drills, straight and 90 die grinders, two 3/8 ratchets, 2 1/4 ratchets, 3/8 and 1/2 impact and an air hammer with a shitload of bits for it. All for $175. Got a sand blast cabinet from a buddy and rebuilt it, got a bunch of bags of different grit sand, kicks ass, got a lot done with that things already. Then I got hit with some bad news. My engine has two cracked heads. That sorry son of a bitch who sold me this thing needs his ass kicked. The block checks good "so far" which means they havent checked it yet. If it is toast I am going to come unglued. My wheels went to shit. Took them back for some touch ups and they look worse than before, the owner is no where to be found and the poor guy trying to work was busting his ass to make it right but I told him no thanks, picked them up and they are all powder coat chrome now, doesnt look too bad but the gaps around the wheel center look horrid. Anyway, ordered a brake line set, adj proportioning valve and a ass load of fittings, going to tackle that this next weekend. Later...
Bad luck on the heads, get a few of us together we will hold him while you kick his ass. Keep plugging away......Jim
Sorry to hear about the heads... some people have no concience about seeling stuff, I dont get it?? Hopefully the block is cool. Get some pics up for us of tank and all...hell show us all those tools too... We all love pictures!
Oh, forgot to mention. When I bought this truck it had a painted grill in it. I had a 49 that I was selling and the grill was toast, so when I sold it I gave the guy the grill out of my current truck since I wanted a chrome one. Been kicking myself ever since. So this weekend I was out and about and stopped by a roadside fleamarket down the street from my house, saw both front fenders and a grill laying on the ground in a pile. The grill was in great shape but is missing the top bar and the fenders were a little rusty around the edges but the headlight holes and were perfect and no dents/bondo at all which I cant say about mine. $175 for all, now I have a little mini junkyard in my backyard.
nice truck & nice work you have going. You have made a lot of progress, can't wait to see it all finished up. consider yourself lucky; My AD was/is much worst than what you started with. good luck with your build!
Alright, you asked for it... So here is my comp and welder ready to go finally. Should a gotten a compressor long ago, I am a clean freak and was constantly blowing out the garage with my blower. Much easier with 175 psi. Anyway got a regulator/filter/oiler and chingos of air tools. Rolling the welder and bottle around on skates right now till I get a cart made. Made my first weld!! Filled in an ugly hole with a big blob of metal around it. Ground it all down and filled in the hole, then ground some more and TADAAA! Note: Do all that BEFORE sending the frame out for powdercoating. Oh well, next time... So I started on the brake lines. Not as hard as I thought but not easy either. Think I did alright so far, ruined one six foot piece though, and broke a 3/16 double falre button that wasnt mine...Here is a pic of the front line ran and then the booster installed. Still waiting on a brass tee for the front, rear adj prop valve and rear brake hose, then need to bend up the rear axle lines. (edit: I redid the lines later with the olive Napa brake lines, much nicer and easy to use, read on) Got the tank in, at least temporarily. I had emailed the place I bought it from and asked if the rear crossmember had to be removed to fit the tank, they said yes. When I got it it was obvious that it should have stayed. Now that all the holes are drilled it s no thang to take back out, then I need to weld the cross member back in because the tank bolts to it on the back side. Looks really nice though... So I mentioned before the wheels went to shit. Long story short, the owner of the joint bailed back to England due to some run ins with the law and left his helper high and dry. Really has nothing to do with it, other than me deciding to cut my losses. The wheels had some thin spots on the previous job, so I took them back and rather than just touching them up, he recoated them with the red powder and then they were just a flat red, rather than the anodized look. Rather than starting from scratch he wanted to try recoating them with the chrome, then the red, but ran out of paint. I told him to stop where he was and went and got them, wasnt real comfortable with nineteen coats of powder. So when I got there he had already recoated them with the chrome. Actually look pretty nice so I am going to run them as they are and see how they hold up. I got all the powder info so if I want at a later date I can get them redone.. OG Ramshorns after soaking in vinegar (did them before I got my blast cabinet) worked great though. Anyway, High Heat rustoleum..BYW, did them aluminum first, but it was too much. I went over the aluminum with the black, thinking it was the same as just doing another coat of aluminum, since it was the same paint. We'll see if that comes back to bite me in the ass later on. Thats all for now, except I bought another grill from the HAMB classifieds, I figure between that one and the one I bought last week I can make on good one and have some extra bars for back up. Still have not heard anything about my engine. I told the guy I wanted it back by Friday but got busy and didnt call and did not hear from him either. We'll see what happens tomorrow.
Hhaha...I knew you had photos to load up!! Looks good man, Hey dont forget to use residual valves on your front and rear brake lines where your running the frame mount booster and master cyl....I didnt see them mentioned or installed so I thought Id thro it out there.
Yep, they are there. Thanks for watchin my back! Anyway, not as much progress as I would like, and def not as much as you, but its getting there. Thanks!
The Jalopy Journal
