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Projects B is for Build - Olds Powered 34

Discussion in 'Traditional Hot Rods' started by Speedy Canuck, Feb 26, 2013.

  1. Ok, where am I here?
    Way behind my intended schedule for this heap, but there were more pressing events that took higher priority. Back to work now though.

    As alluded to above, I decided to take the bed apart so that it could get fixed properly. It fought me the whole way. It seems that in the past, the front of the floor, bed sides where the stake pockets are, and front panel rusted through.
    The previous owner welded in a big piece of sheet metal. However, he managed to weld it to the floor, the bed sides, the front panel; as well as welding the bed sides to the substructure. It took way longer than it should have to delicately cut everything apart.
    But now that it's apart, I've been stripping off 70 years worth of paint, as well as a liberal helping of bondo. I almost have everything to bare metal, then I'll turn my attention to the cab itself.

    I also got around to stripping the second door down to bare metal. It seems that I've really lucked out. Usually 32-34 doors are pretty rotted and require major reconstructive surgery. Out of both doors, this is the worst that has to be repaired. A little rot right at the bottom centre of the bead. Helps to counter balance the bed a little bit.

    [​IMG]

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    Last edited: Jun 19, 2014
  2. In other news, a few new parts and pieces for the build, and some other miscellaneous stuff.

    First, at the Barrie fall swap, I found another 1940 Ford rim.
    I have the four that the truck is currently rolling on, plus I had a fifth that came as a spare. A spare is fine and dandy, but 2 extra rims means I could mount up a different set of rear tires. I'm thinking old style narrow drag slicks, or maybe the winter tires that NortonG traded me for a while back.
    Either way, this new rim came with trim ring, and had an old Goodyear Safety All Weather tire on it. Still holds air, good for rolling around. And like all good things...

    [​IMG]

    I also came across an ad on Kijiji for a set of chromed backing plates with hubs and drums. The price was too good to pass up. The backing plates are 'driver chrome' and are a good candidate for painted centres due to some flaking chrome.
    There has been some concern that I am turning into a Gold Chain'er with shiny parts on my hotrod. No worries. These will be swap meet fodder.

    [​IMG]

    I have Fenton Valve Covers and a Fenton Starter Changeover for the Olds. I've been searching for a Fenton fuel log for a while now. One recently popped up, and while it was a touch more than I wanted to pay, it was worth ending the hunt. Another piece of the Fenton Olds puzzle.

    [​IMG]

    And here's the thing I'm most excited about... I know that Fenton made a 2x2 intake for the Olds motor. I'd entertained picking one up, but they have the Rochester 4 bolt carb pattern, and I wanted to run Holley 94 carbs. I also didn't want to run bolt pattern adapters. I knew that Fenton made a 3x2 intake for a Y block with the Holley/Stromberg pattern, but I had never seen or heard of one for an Olds. Long story short, I'd fantasized of finding a Fenton intake, but had come to terms with running the Edelbrock.
    Recently something popped up on eBay that caught my eye. I took a gamble based on a one line description and some blurry pictures, but came out a winner...
    I now have a Fenton 3x2 intake for the Olds!!! It has been polished at some point, but looks very clean and solid. The Edelbrock is going on the wall; I'm going to clean up this Fenton intake and run it with its old polish.

    [​IMG]

    Apparently the Fenton 3x2 for Olds is just a Sharpe intake with the Fenton name cast instead. I'm very excited. It also looks like that it has larger castings so that I can open it up and match the ports to the heads. Fenton is on the left...

    [​IMG]

    And last but not least, I drug out the flatty from under the bench. It's time to put it back together, get it running, and send if off to a new home. It's a 39/40 block, and doesn't have any cracks. I need to get it running before the swap meet weekend after next...if I don't sell it before then.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2014
  3. bgbdlinc
    Joined: Jan 11, 2002
    Posts: 522

    bgbdlinc
    Member

    ...damn cool auction therapy. That intake is KILLER....congrats -it's a rare piece...
     
  4. NortonG
    Joined: Dec 26, 2003
    Posts: 2,117

    NortonG
    Member Emeritus

    Gold chainer indeed! Look at all that shiny stuff!
     
  5. Thanks David! I'm very happy with it. Would have rather'd it unpolished, but beggars can't be choosers. :)

    Can it. I don't want to have to keep that shit shiny.
     
  6. Last week was mostly a write-off. Rained the majority of every day, and the garage is cramped enough that it makes working in there tight right now. Bunch of stuff to sell at the swap!

    I got the flatty together and turning over. It's on my engine cart and ready to go to someone else.

    The bed is fully stripped and ready for repairs. It's a good thing Candy-Man had so much practice on Jeff's coupe, because there's some work to be done. Now I just gotta call and warn him. :eek:

    Matt from GearDrive sent me some of his torque tube driveshafts a while back. I had a rough idea of how I wanted them, but decided to get around to mocking them up. Raining, so why not?

    When they're in, the will follow the same vertical angle as the wishbones. Other than adding a driver, the full weight of the truck is resting on the suspension already.
    If I were to pull the cab off, you would see that the tubes also shadow the contours of the frame, narrower under the manifolds of the engine, and wider as the frame widens for the cab.
    They end at the mid-point of the doors, and will have down tubes that connect to a full length exhaust.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Thankfully, the transmission crossmember is 'humped' to clear the exhaust on a stock Oldsmobile. These same humps are the perfect size for the torque tubes and allow me to tuck them a little higher up under the frame.

    [​IMG]

    And just to see how they'd look from a distance... I'm about 10 feet back from the cab, and am crouching down for this picture. They'll just be visible aft of the wishbones, and below the frame. Exactly how I wanted them. Still easy to reach the caps though, for those times I want to run it uncorked.

    [​IMG]

    And lastly, a little plug for Matt (SaltFlatMatt) and GearDrive here on the H.A.M.B. He's a solid dude, and makes a quality product. I know I don't have a good picture of them, but these torque tubes are a thing of beauty. And the machined caps look awesome. I'm really, really happy with them.
    If you need exhaust, talk to Matt.
     
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2014
  7. Jeff Norwell
    Joined: Aug 20, 2003
    Posts: 14,809

    Jeff Norwell
    MODERATOR
    Staff Member

    Looking just fine.......
     
  8. Lots of life has been happening in the past few months. I was aiming to have the cab stripped down in August. Obviously that didn't happen.

    My parents are boaters. They have hundreds of hours of experience with cleaning up and refurbishing the teak used in railings, floors, and many other applications on boats. That process usually involves stripping off the old varnish, sanding, staining, and revarnishing. Anyways, I co-opted them into giving me a hand on the truck. I promised that I only needed them the first part - stripping off the old.

    We hit the cab hard on Saturday and Sunday. 70+ years worth of paint is off the entire cab (except for the passenger half of the firewall), and only the brown primer under the original black lacquer remains on about half the cab.
    The metal is turning out to be in surprisingly good condition, considering this is a truck.
    The chop will need to be cleaned up, as it was poorly cut, and poorly welded.
    A few small dents in the cab, though nothing bigger than a quarter. There are two areas of rust through, both on the cowl, just above the rockers. You can see the hole on the drivers side in this picture here… right behind the firewall. The passenger side is a match.

    [​IMG]

    After we got down to the brown primer, I got out the compressor, some surface prep discs and took things down to bare metal. Got about half of the cab done last night, should have it all finished Saturday of next week. We'll strip the roof next Saturday as well.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I also added a second headlight. Obviously they aren't permanent yet, and one is a little cockeyed, but it's an approximation of the finished product. Excuse the cropping of the picture, I couldn't back up any further in the garage for a better picture.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2014
  9. Glad to see you're hitting it hard.
    That's all good from many angles
     
  10. Lookin real good!!!
     
  11. this truck is going to be so badass!
     
  12. Jeff Norwell
    Joined: Aug 20, 2003
    Posts: 14,809

    Jeff Norwell
    MODERATOR
    Staff Member

    Looking awesome..!!!!!!!!
     
  13. bgbdlinc
    Joined: Jan 11, 2002
    Posts: 522

    bgbdlinc
    Member

    ....I love bare, shiny metal with grinder marks.....
     
  14. HOLLYWQQD
    Joined: Apr 23, 2006
    Posts: 722

    HOLLYWQQD
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from central NY
    1. New York H.A.M.B.ers

    until tonight when i browsed through this thread i had not realized that the truck you are re building came from my buddies dad (Rick Ivanchack) . i remember the truck now that i am seeing it here and i saw the rock farm chop shop on the tail gate and realized that it is my other buddy Bman that did all of the striping that you sanded off :eek: ....small , small world man , i remember discussing your build with you the first time i met ya while standing near my old 8x2 hemi powered roadster and the crazy thing is , the guy who sold ya the trucks son was standing only a few feet from us while we were talking and none of us realized it !! the re build is coming along great and this truck is going to be awesome !! i am excited to see it done . keep up the great work . and the chassis stuff Neil did rocks.... maybe some day soon i will get to that sedan body i grabbed from him last year !!! and while i have your attention i want to express my condolences for the loss of your friend , and a great man ! RIP Norton G
     
  15. Thanks guys! Even though the bed is apart now, it's starting to come together and look like something.
    I have the the right size rear tires (7.00-16), so one of these weekends I want to pull off the rear tires and switch them out. That should help give it some rubber rake and attitude.

    It's definitely a small world. That is who I bought it from. A year or so back, his son, your buddy, shot me a PM on here about it.
    I do remember meeting you then and that conversation. Funny that none of us realized or made the connection that day.
    I'm going to keep hitting this thing hard in the winter. Hope to have it looking like a truck again by spring.

    B-man's pin striping looked good. I felt a little bad cutting through it, but I had to get to bare metal to fix the rust. I see that your buddy got his dad's old 33 track nose coupe and B-man is doing the lettering on that as well. Looks good!

    Thanks for the kind words. It means a lot. I remember at the RoG, he really wanted me to introduce you, because we both followed the coupe build, and then had a great time watching you tear up the beach.
    After we talked to you on the Sunday, as we're walking away, he goes "So what's his name?" I realized that I'd introduced HAMB names, but not real names! haha
     
  16. More progress this weekend. The cab is completely stripped of all paint. The roof got done as well. The entire cab is almost down to bare metal... Just the roof and a section of back need the brown primer sanded off. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures.

    I got some practice taking off and putting on tubes and tires. I pulled the rear 6.00-16 Garfield whitewalls off the 40 rims, and put on the 7.00-16 Firestone Deluxe Champions. They're the right size rears that I want to run. Unfortunately, a picture of how the frame sits will have to wait, due to the snow we got this weekend. I wasn't opening the garage door for nothing.

    ImageUploadedByH.A.M.B.1385413696.985023.jpg

    I also pulled the tires off my spare 40 Ford rims and off of two of the four Wide 5 rims I picked up for the FutureCoupe. Those old tires were so dry and hard, they fought me to the end.

    The cab and bed are just about ready to go to The Candy Factory, and as soon as Neil has space for me, I'll be taking things down for rust, dent and chop repair.


    Sent from a typewriter.
     
  17. fab32
    Joined: May 14, 2002
    Posts: 13,985

    fab32
    Member Emeritus

    Your truck is progressing nicely. Makes me feel bad about selling mine after having it for about 30 years. It just kept getting shoved back with other projects. The new owner had had it for less than 2 years and it's all done and looking spectacular.

    Frank
     
  18. Hot Rod Trash
    Joined: Sep 16, 2006
    Posts: 138

    Hot Rod Trash
    Member

    Why wasn't I following this build.....shame on my part....On it now!
     
  19. Nice work AJ......hopefully you'll get a day off for good behaviour....lol.... like this Sunday for the Toronto Swap meet......I'll be looking for ya. Once again, all that hard work is really paying off.......full steam ahead.
     
  20. I went the opposite route. I took a running, driving truck and blew it all apart... just to spend more time and money rebuilding it. But it'll be back, looking better than ever.

    And here I thought we were friends! :D

    Thanks bud. I'll be vending there tomorrow. Trying to get rid of the stuff that didn't sell at Ancaster. I need the money and need the space. Keep an eye out for Ricky, he'll be vending there as well.
     
  21. bonesy
    Joined: Aug 14, 2005
    Posts: 2,999

    bonesy
    Member

    That's really coming together - great look.
     
  22. Just a few updates. There hasn't been very much truck progress per se since my last update.
    I got caught up helping a buddy move one weekend in December, then a close friend's birthday the weekend after. And then it was Christmas, and I was away travelling for Christmas and the first part of January. Mix in all the snow and wild weather we've gotten, and; well, you get the drift.

    One of the pressing items was to get my new (to me) trailer up and running. The tongue and hitch needed to be replaced, and the wiring wasn't working. I shoulda gotten a better deal on it in hindsight.
    The tongue is removable, which is nice, so I had my old high school shop class weld me up a new tongue. Before Christmas, I drilled out new holes for the retainer pins to slot into.
    When I got home from travelling, I was greeted by this:

    [​IMG]
    And yes, that was after I'd spent almost an hour digging.

    After I got it dug out, I moved it around in front of the garage, put it up on jacks, ripped out the old wiring, and left it for the week.
    This past Saturday, I had a rare (for this winter) treat. It was sunny, and only -6 Celsius.

    [​IMG]

    I tested all of my wires and lights, froze my hands off working under the trailer getting everything rewired and buttoned up. Tested things out afterwards on my sisters Ford Escape. Turn signals? Check. Brakes? Check. Running lights? NOPE! Turns out, it was the vehicle harness not supplying running light power. Another issue for another day.
    Now the trailer is up and ready for a trip to the Candy Factory.


    On a hotrod specific note; Back in November, on the recommendation of Jeff Norwell and Neil Candy, I sent my radiator down to Jim McClelland at Ace Radiator in London. He's been doing it a long time and knew exactly what I wanted to do; which was keep the appearance of a stock 34 radiator, but adapt it for the Olds motor.
    I asked him to removed the top right inlet and braze on a larger one to match the outlet on the Olds. He blocked off the upper left and lower right outlets, but left them in place for a stock look. He also fixed some damage and gave it a fresh repaint.
    Jim is a great guy to deal with and his pricing is more than reasonable.

    [​IMG]
    (Excuse the crappy picture)


    Also, the other day I received a little somethin' somethin' in the mail. I'd asked Tony at Ross Racing to convert an oil by-pass adaptor to full flow oiling for the Rocket.

    Despite the super nice new ones he makes, I kept hounding him for a vintage one. He hooked me up with a NOS Fenton unit, and boy does it look sharp! Thanks again Tony!

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2014
  23. My lack of updates absolutely reflects a lack of progress. I really haven't touched the truck since November, save for getting some parts in January. Heart hasn't been in it.

    The frame is going back down to Neil's for some finishing touches, and the cab and bed are going down for some metalwork. I'm hoping that'll jump start me and get some of the fire back.

    The 34 has been sitting on the trailer since January, but this weekend, I had everything outside to do some spring cleaning and get the truck and trailer ready for the trip...

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2014
  24. Time to blow the dust off this thread and give it an update.
    It's been a hell of a busy summer for me, but the hotrod is down at the Candy factory and progress has been made.

    First up, if you recall from post 122, last fall I found a polished 3x2 Fenton intake. I was pretty ecstatic about it, as it rounded off the Fenton goodies for the motor... (intake, starter changeover, valve covers, oil bypass and fuel log).
    Well this summer, I happened to come across a second intake! The seller started off wanting the moon for it, but after some time and badgering, I finally got it for a reasonable price. I'll be running the unpolished intake, as I had planned to leave the intake and valve covers in their 'raw' form.

    [​IMG]

    Neil has a pretty good understanding of what I'm after. And since most of what needed to be done was rust repair, I just let him work away uninterrupted. The bed was a pain to rebuild. It had been bent and tweaked and dented numerous times over the years. The previous shortening also wasn't the best job, and there had been a lot of bondo used to hide the sins. It's all straight, and as true as possible now.
    The doors held up miraculously well. Normally, 32-34 doors are rare as hens teeth, and finding solid ones is even more difficult. Luckily, mine one needed a bit of work.
    As they were...

    [​IMG]

    Underway...

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    And good as new.

    [​IMG]

    You may recall that a 40 Ford dash was grafted into place. Once the F1 column was situated, there was about a 3/4" difference between where the column reveal was on the dash, and where the column actual was. That's been corrected, and an old Ford column drop was used to secure the column. Additionally, part of a 40 Ford pickup column was grafted in so that the bell would match the back of the 40 Ford steering wheel.

    [​IMG]

    On the cab itself, the chop desperately needed to be cleaned up. The drivers side cleaned up really well, but the passenger side needed a lot of work. The metal was so brittle and work hardened, that it was necessary to cut out a strip on the passenger side, and replace it with new metal. Untold hours later, the chop has been cleaned up nicely.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    The small area of rust on the cowl also received attention...

    [​IMG]

    And finally, the dent in visor on the passenger side was erased from this truck's past.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Oct 31, 2014
  25. ynottayblock
    Joined: Dec 23, 2005
    Posts: 1,954

    ynottayblock
    Member

    that was quick! Good to see the progress. Old truck boxes are the worst...I had picked one up years ago for my model A project, but once I stripped it...like yours, tons of fillers and a shit load of dents. I ended up selling that off, as it would have probably have been less work building one from scratch. Keep plugging along, it will be back together before you know it.
     
    Speedy Canuck likes this.
  26. By September, a trip over and see how things were progressing was necessary. Of course, having a chance to catch up with Neil, and picking up my broke ass trailer were also part of the plan.

    With the metal work done and the bed back together, it was really starting to look like a hotrod again. Seeing the truck really lit a fire under my ass to get going and get it done.

    Here is how she looked when I first walked into the shop.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

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    The Candy Man's been busting ass and doing a hell of a job on the truck. I'm really pleased with how it's coming together. But he needs his shop space, so work continues. Next up was headlights...
     
  27. I figured I'd better stop hanging out on the HAMB looking at everyone else's build, and get mine updated.

    You're absolutely right on the bed though. They got used as trucks, and most people weren't concerned about a few dents and dings. In hindsight, it might have been smarter to go with repro bed sides and start from scratch. Too late now though!
     
  28. Looking good, AJ, when are you coming to Texas to get started on mine? :)
     
  29. bigorangetruck
    Joined: Oct 23, 2012
    Posts: 55

    bigorangetruck
    Member
    from TX

    Wow really looks cool! Will follow, can't wait for a burnout Video!!
     

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