Projects B is for Build - Olds Powered 34

...the puzzle pieces are coming together in between the 'hands on' stuff. One weekend it will all 'pop' together and you'll surprise yourself.....

 

Live update from the garage. Finally rolling again for the first time in over 2 years!


Posted from the open road.

 

Pictures...it happened.

 

Nice!
Good milestone

 

More!

You've been kicking ass on this thing!

 

So this weekend, I told the girl that I'd be M.I.A., put out the dog, brought in the cat, and made some progress on this thing.

The first order of business was to get the rear axle under it again and get everything rolling.
Bear's Performance was nice enough to send me a set of new axle shafts for the 9"... 31 spline, big bearing, 5 on 5.5. They came in just before the Canada Day weekend, and after Norwell's party on the Saturday, I was pretty pumped to put things together on Sunday and make it a roller. Of course, as everything came out of the box, I realized that there was no way I was going to get the bearings pressed on without a press. And being Sunday of the Canada Day weekend, nobody was open who could do it. So they went back in the box, I brought them to the city, found a shop who pressed them on free of charge last week, and was ready to try again. Other than some time lost, no big deal.

So, as I mentioned, axles shafts went into the axle, I checked to make sure everything was aligned and nothing was binding, and we were in business.



I bolted on some wheels that I had sitting around, and the 9" was rolling around the driveway for the first time since I picked it up at Christmas in 2011.
Sure looks better than the dirty, muddy, rusty mess I started with.



Once that was done, it was just a hop, skip and a jump to a rolling frame. A few bolts slid into place, and we were in business!



Next up was to see about putting the box on... An awkward job when you're by yourself.



With the bed on, I noticed it wasn't sitting level. It would rock on an angle from front drivers side to rear passenger side. There was also about an inch gap between the frame and the bed on the drivers side. You can see it just behind the cab in this shot.



I got underneath to see if something was catching and holding the box up. I was really hoping that the box hadn't gotten tweaked in the past two years of moving it around.
Thankfully, it turned out to be the mount for the (controversial) panhard bar. It sits just a bit higher than the shock mounts, and the way the bed sits over the frame, it was getting hung up on this mount. Since the wooden substructure is getting replaced anyways, I just cut a section out of the wood to give the mount room.



We haven't put the final mounts in place for the bed yet, as we needed to make sure the wheels would be centred in the wells. With the box on, I was able to make minor adjustments and line everything up. I think the wheels are about perfectly centred now. So it's just a matter of securing the bed to the frame. The bed also sits level and square on the frame now.

With the heat and humidity being what it was, I decided to take a break and contemplate nerf bar designs while I chugged some water. I'm thinking a full width bar that incorporates the license plate and taillights will be the way to go.



I finished off Saturday evening by tearing apart one of my carbs so I can sort out what parts I need to replace.



All in all, I felt very productive on Saturday.

 

That's some big steps in the right direction being made.

I dig the rake it's already got going on.
That dropped axle is going to have it sitting spot on!

 

Sunday was hot. High temps, high humidex and high UV index had me moving fairly slowly. My goals for Sunday were to make some progress on the seat, and strip the bed down to bare metal.

I ended up only working on the seat. There was a lot of measuring and test fitting, which killed most of my day. The good news is that I have the dimensions nailed down and the boards pretty much smoothed to shape. They just need to have the webbing added to the seat bottom to help with comfort, and to have a new riser built to keep everything in place.

My seat is about 18.25" deep, which is about the same as stock. The riser underneath will be 6" high, and the foam will be about 5" to start. The back of the seat will have the foam taper down as it rises, being thicker at the bottom than at the top. Essentially, it'll be a nicer version of this:



I finished off my day with about an hour of just sitting in the truck, feeling out gas pedal positioning and making sure I was comfortable with the steering column length. The gas pedal will be about 2/3rds of the way up the firewall, necessitated by the size of the transmission tunnel. There will be a wedge shaped foot rest added to the side of the transmission tunnel once final gas pedal placement has been decided. Luckily, I am only 5'7", and don't require a great deal of legroom.
One issue that had worried me was the placement of the shifter. I wasn't sure how far back it was going to end up, as it mounts to the tailshaft of the Hydro. Luckily, it seems that it will come out about 4 inches ahead of the seat, which, with a gooseneck shifter, should be perfect both aesthetically and functionally.

 

"The riser underneath will be 6" high, and the foam will be about 5" to start. The back of the seat will have the foam taper down as it rises, being thicker at the bottom than at the top."

Are you putting any angle on the seat base to hold your butt in the seat, or just using the taper in the foam height to keep you planted?

 

Looks like you have plenty of leg room, going by the angle of your left leg. I never owned one of those trucks, but some owners on here have said they were tight.


Looking good up on all the wheels again.

 

Most likely, but I haven't planned on it yet. I figure it'll most likely get a taper from front to back, to help hold me in as you mentioned, and to help with comfort and hip alignment since my leg will be up high.
I'm going to spend some more time sitting in it before I do any foam shaving.

Thanks Frank! I do have a fair bit of leg room all things considered. When stock, I fit in a '34 truck cab fairly comfortably. With all the work being done, I haven't lost any leg room front to back, but I have lost it side to side. I can wedge my left foot in between the steering column and the cowl, but my right foot has no where to go except on the transmission tunnel. The limited space between the steering column and the tunnel has the brake pedal.

I knew what I was getting into running this big Hydro, but I still didn't fully envision the loss of foot room width wise. It's a hotrod though, and it'll all work out in the end...even if I have to drive barefoot.

 

Looking good AJ!
And I hear you on the tight space. Turns out my 5 inch channel made it really uncomfortable to drive.

On another note, do you have any pictures on how you installed that '40 dash?

 

Vroom Vroom....

 

Candy-Man actually installed the dash when he had the cab over at his shop. I didn't want to just narrow the centre and cut the speaker grille, because depending on how much you narrow it, it can end up looking very silly.

Neil re-contoured the ends of the dash so that the didn't flare out and also reshaped the part that rises to meet the pillar.

You can see pictures here: Post 142, or here on Neil's blog.

I can take some more detailed pictures next time I have the dash out if you like.


The other way, suggested by Frank (F&J) is definitely more involved, but also turns out quite nice. The dash retains it's stock look, but fits just fine. You can find his explanation on his thread here: Post 46

 

Soon I'll be a little bit lower making those sounds...

Vroom Vroom!

 

Oh, you real fancy now!

 

Saturday was a write-off this weekend. I had friends up and it rained for most of the day. bgbdlinc stopped by for a few hours and we talked hotrods and customs and had some bbq.
Sunday, I got a few hours of work in. First off, I wanted to mock up the truck with the hood and sides on, just to give myself a boost. The hood and sides will need to be lengthened, as we stretched the wheelbase 1.5", but this gives you the general idea.



I had the girlfriend in it as well. She is much softer on the eyes than I am, though she'll have to crank the seatbelt tight once this thing is on the road. She only has about an inch of headroom...



I also started stripping the bed down to bare metal. I don't think this thing has ever been stripped before, as there are five or six layers of paint, plus some bond. It looks as though the truck was originally black, with repaints in blue, red and white. I also came across yellow and green paint while stripping the bed, that I didn't see when stripping a part of the cab. I wonder if there was green and/or yellow lettering on the bed. I do know that this truck was used for a number of years as a runabout for a gas station garage.

Either way, the metal underneath looks to be in great shape. There was a good 1/4" of bondo where the bed was shortened (poor welds and an uneven surface), but other than that, it looks like the main work required will be to straighten out some of the dents and dings. Still lots of paint left to strip though, so we'll see if there are any other sins waiting to be uncovered...



I'll be back on it next weekend.

 

cool truck!

 

That foam chunk for the seat; it needs to be wedge shape to get her butt lower. It will make a huge difference in headroom, unless she is too tall ...because then her legs will be bent too much.

 

Looking great, AJ!

Was nice meeting you guys this weekend! We just made it all the way back home.

 

When I get around to actually building the seat for real, then I'll wedge the foam front to back to make it a little more comfortable, provide some headroom, and help hold your ass in place.
I'm only 5'7", so I fit in most things no problem. She's 5'10", so she is going to be a little more cramped no matter what.

Glad to hear you made it home safe. Hope you had a great time in Canada! And yes, it was great to meet you as well.

 

We should see how someone thats about 6'1" fits in it this weekend!

 

In the passenger side you mean, right?


Posted via telegraph.

 

It's true. Could tie a red hanky around his toe.

 

I really, really have no idea why there is a large picture of feet cluttering up my build thread.
Inspiration pictures? Please. Reference pictures? Great! Random feet just because I mentioned the word 'toe' earlier, no thanks...

 

Despite the lack of updates, I have been chipping away at things... in some cases literally.

With everything I have on the go, I haven't had a chance to put a solid weekend of work days in... I'm still stripping the bed down. That's taking a while as there are multiple layers of paint that need to come off, and in some sections, a nice layer of bondo. The tight angles, and beads from the wheelwell also slow things down. I have to spend time 'detailing' to get the paint off.


I also pulled the trigger and made a final decision on headlights last week. This was something that I had been wrestling over for months now.
I initially wanted Guide headlights, as they would give me turn signals and fit the period look I'm after. But there are a lot of guys and gals running Guides. Additionally, I felt there were a bit too chunky for the look I had in my mind.
I made a decision and picked something up, but more on that shortly.


Saturday, I only had a couple of hours as my grandparents were coming for a visit. Instead of killing time taking the bed off the frame and getting set up to grind on the bed, I decided to find out what kind of shape my doors are in...

You see a ton of 32-34 cabs for sale that are missing the doors. The doors that you see for sale are often rotted at least 4" up from the bottom. Doors are definitely in demand for these trucks.

I started with the drivers door, removing paint at the bottom first. I figured I may as well encounter the rust and bondo first, and get it out of the way. Working along, I kept waiting to hit the rust and rot. I just never did! Aside from a small section (maybe 1" long by a 1/2" high) along the lower bead, this door is absolutely solid. This picture doesn't really do justice to how clean and solid the metal looks.



Once done, I moved on to headlights. I had been after a headlight with a 'shallower' bucket depth-wise. But everything that I had been looking at was either fairly small, or looked very street rod.
Last Tuesday, I was looking at coverage from the A-Bombers weekend in Sweden. I saw a Deuce with 28-29 Model A headlights. They looked pretty good, and I thought to the pair that I have sitting in a box in the garage. And then I realized that 30-31 A lights are rounded, and might be perfect for what I want. Long story short, I found a pair locally, and picked them up on Wednesday. Of course, I forgot to take a picture.

I am planning to make an integrated upper shock mount/headlight combo. My plan is not revolutionary, but not common. I had them all planned out, and then another build thread on here recently detailed my exact plan. C'est la vie.

I really dig the 'Rolling Bones' look. Big headlights slung low out front. However, that would look completely out of place.
I wanted to pay tribute to the 50s style of headlights placement. Sometimes they were bang on perfect, other times they were almost goofy in their height and spacing. I wanted a bit of that, but a little more aesthetically pleasing. Using a vice grip, here is how they sit as of now. Well, one... I didn't have a second vice grip.



Some will say that I should centre the headlight between the grille and the tire... I considered that, but the way these look has really grown on me.



Right now, from the ground to the bottom of the bucket, they're bang on at two feet of altitude. Once the smaller tire and dropped axle go in, they should be about 20.5" off the ground. I think the look will be exactly what I was after.



Sunday was spent removing more paint and bondo from the bed. The metal is fairly solid, but a lot of the dents and pitting were levelled out with bondo. More than 1/4" in some areas... I'm glad for a decent mask. There is lots of dust.

 

First off, feet are gross and mine are no where near as good as those, hahaha.

Secondly, that door is super solid! You got a lucky break for sure!
(I wonder what the rest of the cab looks like?)

You should stick to your headlight mount plan, but use a headlight bar of some kind.

Great work duder!

 

Congrats on the door being in good shape. One less thing to have to work on. They can be a bitch to find and when you do they are usually rotted as you have stated.

 

...for sure you lucked out on the doors (and they look spectacular in bare metal...heh, heh). Another element to the headlight positioning (totally subjective) is having the headlight centred on a horizontal line between the tops of the tires. I think you're close so maybe you knew that.....