Thank you all. I'm hoping to get the truck off the table next week to see how it sits. Then we can make the final adjustments on the suspension and start tidying things up.
Damn! Those bedsides look great! The whole damn truck looks awesome. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Big day today. We finished up the stake pockets on the bed and got everything cleco'd together. Then it was time for the truck to come off the table. This is only temporary though as it will have to go back on the table once we work through the necessary changes to the suicide suspension and ride height. We had planned on 5" of ground clearance, but with the squish of the tires, it's more like 4". So the truck will need to come up at least an inch. We might even go a little more give that the springs will probably settle some. The grill is also sitting about 1/2" low in the pictures.
Boat winches, go-cart wheels and a little ingenuity. The two front wheels are set up to steer with a tierod and "t" handle. You have to be a little careful lowering things (there is no clicker) but other than that it works great.
I added the 1" of ground clearance to the chassis and the grill looked a little low so out came the roll of masking tape. After a few moves I think it looks just about right.
Sneak peak Friday. Krylon32 aka Cornhusker Rod and Custom sent me one of his chevy water pump conversion kits and a super nice timing cover. All I can say is wow. Thanks Gary you've outdone yourself.
I installed Gary's (Krylon32) kit on my mockup engine today. Everything slid together without a hitch. Should be plenty of room to fit a fan.
Beautiful work being able to run a modern efficient water pump on a flathead this is why the SEMA organization on the RPM legislature is so critical to this hobby as they ( the ignorant EPA & commie congress ) would outlaw or tax - fine this out of existence.
Thank you gentlemen. I can't take all the credit. There are a couple very talented craftsmen getting their hands dirty on this project.
Always fun to get home after a long day and find a nice surprise. Pat did a great job building a base for the magneto and setting it up for my truck.
I have been searching for an appropriate hood ornament for my truck for the last couple years. It's amazing when one starts a search like this, with no parameters, just how many possibilities there actually are. So, after exhausting all of the options in the automobile world (there's really no way I did that but it sounds good), I decided to expand my search to bronze sculpture. One night a few months ago I stumbled across an artist out of Texas by the name of Deran Wright. He has some amazing work and one particular piece caught my eye. I sent Deran an email and asked him if he would be willing to sell me one of his pieces. Turned out he was a fellow hot rodder and was more than willing to help me fit his piece to my truck. We played around with a few different ideas before settling on the final design and I think it looks awesome. Plus this is the year for the Cicada. And the Cicada represents a rebirth of sorts which is fitting for this truck. Here are a few pictures. The first is the original artwork I saw in the form of a walking stick topper. The second shot is one of the wax prototypes. And finally the finished product on the truck.
That ornament is really cool! @Deran Wright, you did a great job on that. @Ratspit, that is a kick ass idea you had!
"SICK"cada! It's just as you described. I know that Flathead will sound so much better than the obnoxious sound the Cicada makes!!! Keep up the Great Work!
Thanks for the chassis drawings...great detail. Was there any consideration to sweeping the rails in front of the firewall? Sent from my SM-G965F using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Deluxe 32, I didn't really look at the advantages of sweeping the front rails until I ran into a few challenges with the steering arms and the chassis was already done. Running tall tires up front and pulling the axle back under the spring would have required a lot of sweep to the front rails. I probably would have pinched the front rails more and hid the ends behind the grill shell. Building the truck with a suicide front end vs sweeping the rails and a stock axle location both have pros and cons.
Time for another update. The truck came off the table a while back and it turned out that there were a few small adjustments that needed to be made to the suspension points. Last week we pulled the body off and put the chassis back up on the table to make the changes. There were two issues with the front end. First was the shackle mount on the hairpins got beefed up. Our original designed just didn't look like it was going to handle the stresses. Second, we moved the shackle mounts higher on the hairpins to lift the frontend 1". The truck was low when it came off the table and there was a bit of spring interference with the tierod. With the suspension locked in we finished up the tig welding.
The Jalopy Journal
