Projects Broke down and hired help to work on my Unibody

This is VERY cool! This is how I got started, my dad would let me rip into anything that I showed an interest in. You learn so much more by DOING the work rather than watching. Hope the boys read our comments and know how cool we all think they are. Nice work!

 

Got too busy to take pics today ... oops! We had the radiator in and out several times trying to figure out a way to make the fan shroud we have work with the truck. No matter how much we trimmed it just wasn't going to do the job. So we just went ahead and bolted the radiator and the trans cooler back in for now. It didn't seem to over heat the little bit I had driven it before the tear down. Ill figure out something later.

We found out the hole we ran the wiring harness through the firewall was on the under side of the fenderwell . I talked to my buddy that owned the truck before me and he said he was going to route the wiring through some tubing on the underside of the fenderwell so it would have a cleaner look. In the end I just want this to be a nice looking driver, nothing fancy, so I'm going to move the wiring back to the inside of the engine compartment.

We pulled the fender and the well to decied the best way to move the harness.

We also did a bunch of piddly things that needed to be done, and got to cross them off our punch list. They really like doing that lol. There are things that we did that aren't on the punch list, so I let em write em down and then cross them off ... they like that too LOL.

And the big part of the day was that I got the OK from my sister in law and her husband to take the boys to Bonneville with me. All my guys pooped out on me this year so I was going to go alone. They are really pumped. First long road trip without their parents. First car event of any kind ever ... Bonneville, not a bad way to start your hot rod experience =)

 

Messed with the steering column. Tried to find something to temporarily cover up all the stuff they ground off the column (well I did most of the grinding, wanted them to go home with all their fingers lol). I had a can I was keeping some junk in on the bench. Had em empty the can, cut off the other end, sand and paint it semi gloss black.

Wrapped it around the column and have it held on with larger black wire ties. Also had em paint the rest of the column with the same semi gloss.

I know covering the holes with a can seems kinda trashy, but surprisingly it doesnt look too bad. Its mostly hidden anyway.

I picked up the blinker/emergency signal assembly offline. Its pretty bulky and ugly, not what I was hoping for. Ill paint it or something to tone it down. Also Ill replace the flasher pull knob ... yikes, its really ugly lol.

The boys are doing good though. Im really proud of em.

 

Cool deal man you need to find them some of the old coveralls to wear and give them some gearhead shop names that thay can stich on them.

 

Congrats to you, great job with the kids, and nice truck as well. I'm sure they and you will enjoy Bonneville.

 

Looks like they are having some quality time with Gramps.Loved the time my Dad spent helping me learn to work on equipment and cars.Miss him a bunch.Started teaching me at age 10.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

Awesome thread can't wait for my kids to get older to help me out so far a 3 year old just wants to steal my tools not work with them and the 9th month old would more then likely prefer to chew on em.

 

Thats a good idea, Im sure they would dig it. I know they dont have any hot rod style shirts either. Going to take care of that when we go to Bonneville

Bonneville has become close to my favorite thing I do every year. The car thing is very new to them, but Im pretty sure they will have fun. I gave them Worlds Fastest Indian DVD for a homework assignment lol.

LOL, well I am also a Gramps, but these guys are my nephews =). My 8 year old granddaughter always makes sure I bring her a new hot rod shirt from Bonneville.

You have some good times coming man!


I had them run the wires for all the rear electronics down the frame. I also had them lift the side of the truck up again before they left, now I can fit under it and check their work lol. Its all blocked, floor jacked and jack stands. I make sure they do it safe.

 

This thread is bad ass so far. It's good to see kids around my age doing car stuff..

Truck looking very good also!

 

That's great ! Its very good that you are taking the time to do this . someone has to teach them. keep up the good work. bet they can't wait for there first raise . skinnydude

 

Good for you, it's hard to believe Kids don't know the basics........but I don't get this computer thing, its black magic. Those boys will be ahead of 90% of there friends.

 

Hey now, lets not give them any ideas. I do keep em stocked up in soda and chips too

 

If I was closer I would like to help for a trip to bonneville.

 

You're an inspiration to them ... and me!

 

Thank you !

 

now thats great family time

 

Just stumbled upon this thread and it hit home with me. I have two daughters and they spent their time growing up around both my boat business and motorcycle shop. Now they are all grown up and in their 30's. They still walk into my shop and take a breath.....then a big smile appears on their faces ....every time. Over the decades I have always worked with local authorities and taken in troubled kids to work in my shops. It gives them structure and an environment unlike anything else in their troubled world. Many success stories came from doing just what your doing with your nephews. Skills and knowledge you taught them that will be with them for the rest of their lives. Very rewarding and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Good on you!!

 

Great job getting them involved, they will learn skills they will use the rest of their lives. Working on stuff, problem solving, building somethink from scratch are skills that i use everyday. These are all skills that i got from my dad, and i am so happy i was exposed to it at an early age. Good job!

 

Yeah they love the creeper. They can still use it without a LifeAlert necklace, LOL.

 

good looking truck and good on ya for getting those kids involved...

going to look at a '62 Uni Custom Cab with the big back window tomorrow myself. hoping it's not to rotten. a buddy says the big back window f100 uni's are supposedly rareish....

 

Awesome build!! It reminds me of my cousins sons helping me with my old 51 wrecker.. I gave them an old carburetor and screwdriver, told them to take the lid off and they messed with that thing for hours! Its the first time I have seen them drop the video games or their cell phones that long.. definately a fun and humbling experience.. trucks coming out nice btw!

 

First time I have seen this thread, sorry it took so long. Truck looks great! I like the changes in the wheels (steering also) now if you can just do something about the plant. lol

 

this is great , I was just hoping to find a young neighborhood kid to get interested in helping and learning the other day

 

Not a whole lot to report picture wise. They are finding out that you have to take the same parts in and out several times to make things work.

We took the radiator out for the third time because we had taken the grill out for the second time and when we went to put it back it forgot some of the bolts were almost impossible to get to with the radiator in. Sorry boys it has to come out .... Noooo Uncle Mark, cant we just squeeze in and try. So I let em try ... no go lol.

We did get the harness moved. The front end is all back together with all the bolts in (finally). When they pulled the trans cooler originally I stuck a pen in the hose to block the fluid from leaking out and the pen fused to the hose ... weird. So tomorrow we will finish up the lines after a trip to the parts store.

Next we will start the process of hooking all the wires in. I read a lot of threads on this and I think we will just be crimping and not soldering. I have a very nice crimping tool so I think we will be fine with this.

So hopefully before we head off to Bonneville the truck will be back on the road. Might even have time to get the tires and wheels mounted.

Ill get more pictures up soon. They are pretty pumped to take a ride.

 

teach them early that its always easier to remove parts for access than struggle and contort to avoid the extra "work". nothing drive me more nuts than people working on something for twice as long just so they dont have to remove and extra part!

no need to solder everything, but you are gonna use non insulated butt connectors right? then heat shrink over them. then you can be sure the crimp is solid and gonna last.

great work, cant wait for my kids to be old enough to put to work!!

matt

 

I'm not surprised at their age they couldn't understand how you knew the bolt head was 9/16ths. They just don't have the experience. The next step will be to teach them that the bolt is a 7/16 and the reason why. (I work part-time in a hardware store. I have stopped trying to keep track of the times someone asks for, say, a half-inch bolt and when I show them one, they tell me it's too big. Finally, it takes a half-inch socket so they need a 3/8ths bolt. Same thing with metric stuff.)

On the plus side, the kids learning at this age is good. Both my wife and I grew up helping our respective parents and tried to teach our kids the same. My daughter (now 22, then 16) did one side of the car's brakes by herself. I just helped a little with the lug nuts and jacking.

 

Just a few pics to post from the last couple of times they've come over. I havent had a lot of time to spend on the truck so we are a little behind schedule.

Wyatt figuring out the wrench sizes



Takes both of em to get things tight and right.



Some old uncle lending a hand. I really need to grow my beard back to hide some of those extra chins =)



Posing with the front all back together ... they thought lol. Today I made em dial it a little better. Its not perfect, but I think they did a good job. Didnt take a pic of the final result. Hard to really see in pics anyway.



Lastly I thought this was kind of amusing. We needed a new water outlet and thermostat. I had em clean up the corroded crap really well. One scraped and the other held the shop vac to keep the little scrapings from going down the hole. This was the first time they ever used silicon ... I was ok with it.



A cool thing that happened today was I gave them a few things to do (nothing you can see in pics). And then I did a couple of chores in the house while they were doing their thing in the shop. They got it all done without any supervision. Im really proud of their progress.

We are off to Bonneville on Friday so no progress for awhile. They are really pumped about the trip.

 

Very very cool.

 

Thanks!

I went out to the shop when I was done putzing around in the house and Dalton was sitting behind the wheel of the truck looking at the peep mirror. I just kinda chuckled and asked him what he was doing. He said he was practicing backing up lol. And he said ... You know uncle Mark only five and a half months until I get my permit.

I promised him when he got his permit he could drive the truck. I bet time is gonna click off really slow for him right now

 

Too cool. Digging the silicone job!

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