Projects The Official "Chop Sewage" Build Thread Start to Finish?

Just found this build. Like the water based paint tech! Get cracking on the doors as you need them when you sit in it and make engine noises! Nothing stalls my project more then when I can't sit in it (even on a bucket) with my arm out of the window making engine noises...

 

Did you do the doors yet? If not, watch the episode of Monster Garage where they chop/section the chevy. The one with Winfield, Hines, etc. I did the doors on my truck like the did the car and it was EASY. Probably the easiest part of the whole section job.

Keep at it! One of these days I'll get back on my truck... one of these days...

 

I'm digging it man. I'd like to see orange in the engine compartment and leave the black on the outside for (alittle while and just for fun) fun.

 

Any more progress to report?

 

Cymro (and all others...)

Yes....a little, unfortunatly I've had an update on the hard drive for a few months that I havn't had a chance to post but it's pretty flippen small...and honestly I don't remember what it was....

As I type this I'm sitting in the hospital....again...for the third time in 5 months for my baby daughter...

Baby Emma was born 06-03-10 two and a half months early and spent 2 months in the NICU before being released. During the time she was in the NICU me and Momma thought it would be a good idea to go ahead with listing our old house for sale (which we were planning on doing...it was supposed to go on the market the day after she was born)...that was not the smartest thing to do but it ended up working out; here's why....(BTW I would never do that again as long as I live....all about timing)

The house was only on the market 14 days and sold...GREAT! now it was mad scramble to find a house that we could close on prior to Emma getting home from the hospital...we didnt actually succeed on that as we closed on both houses 5 days after Emma came home....so then we moved....

5 days after we moved Emma had some complications with a condition she contracted while in the NICU and went BACK in the hospital for 15 days and two surgerys...

After comming home I spent the next two months caring for her, wiring my new three car garage for 220V, and in general trying to find enough energy to unpack, arriange gobs of chit, hang pictures, organize and set up the garage the way I want it, hard wire gobs of light in said garage and in general all the stuff you gotta do when you move....oh yeah....and work...

As of Dec 2nd Emma went BACK in the hospital for a scheduled 3rd surgery to correct/repair the stuff they had to take apart on the second and hopefully return her to normal....this is the third day...

SO needless to say it's been a hell of a 6 month run and the truck has been biding it's time waiting till after the first of the year when I getta chance to fire the welder back up....

In short, it's all about priorities....I got everything but rims and tires and interior to finish the truck....money is not the issue rather time to do the job correct....as I said in the beginning of the build.....this time around, it don't get done unless it's done right...

Stay tuned....it aint sold....I'll see it through...just need a little more time.....

 

Want to wish you and your family the best. Thanks for the explanation. I was wondering what was up. I followed this thread with quite a bit of interest, as I think you have a keen sense of style and talent. Understandably you have been busy with your daughter. I will keep her in my prayers.

 

Brother, don't worry us HAMBERS will be here to hear what you got done to your truck once you get the family all back healthy and stuff.

Besides...it's more fun when ya got lil peeps to haul around and listen to them make the motor noises...they can get away with it better.

Take care of your family and everything else will work out...

 

Sorry to hear about the troubles, praying that all turns out well. God Bless.

 

A build is a big thing in your life but the health of your family is the biggest thing.
Good to have priorities straight.
Best wishes for baby Emma.

 

Good luck with your baby girl. Mine is due to be born any minute now. She is having contractions often. Makes me excited. ( my 4th kiddo ) I feel for you man. Hope it all turns out OK. Good luck.

 

Dude this thing kicks some ass. Nice workmanship, killer look to it.

 

Thanks for the well wishes....I love workin on that hunk of shit...but it's pretty far down on the priorities list right now...

Back for the night shift watchin baby girl get better...and fortunatly...she's getting better...no complications SO FAR...I hope and pray it stays that way...

This has been a rough year, filled with tons of good/blessings but been emotionally taxing and rough as all hell....shoot, they say there is 5 major stresses in life, birth of a child, death, selling/buying a house, divorce, and hospitalization ( and one more I don't remember)

We had three of the 5 in one hit...I'm ready for this year to be over and life to go back to the normal grind...I feel like I've been at a dead run for a long time...

That said...baby girl should be comming home inna few days if all goes well....once she finishes healing up and we regroup after the holidays it's on like donkey kong....I wanna strap me and my boy in this thing and hit the road.....

Again, thanks for the well wishes and don't write this build or me off just yet...she's in the garage, all mocked up waiting patiently...(I hadda put her back together to move her....she looks HOT!)

Choptvan....congrats on your 4th....I hope all goes well....

 

How's the kid and the truck Salty?

 

Kid is doing great....she's been home from the hospital a little over a month now...gaining weight and just got cleared to start eating solids...her guts seem to be working as they should and she is officially full of shit! (really good thing) she's a really happy baby and always has a smile on her face.

The truck....well now that's a different story, she's waiting patiently, the problem lies with mainly me....I'm exhausted all the time, after the last 7 months of rollercoaster ride I really dont feel like doing squat....now that we got the holidays outta the way I'm going to force my way back out to the garage (and the gym) and get some stuff done. I did move some stuff around out there and sat onna bucket getting the game plan down for the next step...

Next step, getting the front fenders (inner & outers) wrapped up, detailed, coated in primers and sound deadning shit and painted (just the insides). Right after that will be fine tuning all of the door gaps, filling the doors with guts.

At that point it will be all the heavy fab work getting the bed floor raised, the floor pockets fabbed, hart top tonnoe (sp) cover made and reverse the body line on the bed....THEN it's time to block sand....

Hell....tonight me and the wifie went on a date....first one in 7 months...it was nice.

Stay tuned I'm gonna force my way out in the garage next off cycle (5 days from now) The plan right now is to start easy to coax my way out there then work to the harder in depth stuff....

 

Great to hear your kid is doing better. Hope to see some progress reports soon, you've done great work so far! Very impressive.

 

Family 1st Salty, a few more of those dates might be just the thing to help you along with everything mate. Glad to hear things are going OK with your kid.

 

I'm glad to hear your daughter is doing well. I am really enjoying this build, too. Thanks for the update!

 

I just found this thread. First off, I am glad Emma is at home and steadily improving. I can only imagine what you went through with that.

I like what you are doing with your truck. It is looking GOOD!

 

Glad to hear your little girl is doing better! Now I want to see some pictures of that truck....

 

Glad to hear your little girl is doing well! I can't imagine how stressful that must have been. Whenever you get back to the truck, we'll be waiting!

 

Finally got some sort of an update,

First and foremost, Baby Emma in all her happy glory, she's doing wonderfully, eating and "functioning" well and getting big, Just a scosh under 18lbs. As a matter of fact just slept all night long for the first time two nights ago...


Next the house/garage I moved into, I finally got out into the garage yesterday after a 8 month hiatus....



It's an awesome garage, I wired in 220volt plugs on three different walls to give greater coverage on my welder and created a dedicated 220V circuit for the compressor. I like it alot...

Pretty much these pics show the truck in mock up/moving condition, I reassembled it to trailer it to the new town I moved too....It's going to semi stay that way for a bit.

As far as what I worked on? Well right before I moved I ran into a problem with the original door hinges....the pins were rusted into the hinge straps and there was no getting em' out (ruined two of em trying). The hinge pins had lost their pivot point as it were and sheared inside rotating on parts that wern't designed to have rotational force which wallered out the hinge points....SO after ruining two of em I ordered up new repop hinges...they are actually very correct HOWEVER due to the fact that I replaced the lower few inches of the truck cab and the fact that I sectioned the truck....as well as the fact that the doors are sixtyish years old and sprung beond belief I had to open up the hinge strap slots to get greater adjustment for the door...(don't forget that the truck was smacked in the front as well in a previous life). Moral of the story, aint nothing factory spec...

Thats what I did yesterday, I started small to get my motivation back up. I have no after pics however in the photos you can see the drivers door not sitting appropriatly in the opening. After adjusting the hinge straps I was able to close the door without much interferance with the cab....after a few minutes using the 2x4 adjustment method and springing the door back into better shape the door fits so much better...It still has a bit of tweeking and tuning in the drivers door and I'll have to go through on both sides and add and subtract steel to even up the gaps but overall you can finally see that the stinking pile of sewage will ultimatly work....IE the doors will fit without sounding sick when they shut.

That I like....In my mind there isn't anything worse than the sound of a mal-adjusted door that has interferance issues and the subsiquent screwy panel gaps that follow it...

So here's where the truck is right now....tomorrow is the passenger door, then it's time to rip the front clip back off, polish up the inner fenders and the wheelwells, coat everything with sound deadening material (inner wheelwell only to help prevent stars in the paint from the errant rock that is kicked up by the tire), shoot all the inner wheelwells with chassis black and dress and smooth the engine compartment side of the inner wheelwell in prep for final paint.

I also plan on finally hooking up my trans cooler and slapping some temporary wire in the engine, filling it with fluid and firing the rebuilt engine and trans up to see where I stand....I honestly can't wait to hear it....

Baby steps....Honestly I am forcing myself to go out there right now....I get sidetracked alot and I still lack in motivation due to mental fatigue...sounds pussyfied I know but it is what it is....I hoping by forcing myself out there and doing small stuff that isn't too terribly in depth I can regain my motivation.




Again thanks to all for the well wishes for Baby Emma, She sure is a great baby, always happy and a real joy to be around....plus, I may be biased....but she's friggen cute!

Oh and as a sidebar, don't judge me for the house, Honestly, we were able to cash in on the housing market slump, got out from under our old house (which subsiquently had a homicide right next door the week after we moved....the climate of the neighborhood is why we got outta dodge) We are literally paying just a tad more a month for twice the house....bought it for 50% of what it sold for 3 years ago.....I'd wouldnt be able to afford to live here if it wasn't for the crappy market....

And to answer the inevitable question....no the wife is not allowed to park in my garage; we've already established that.

All in all I'm a extremly fortunate daddy...here's hoping for a better 2011 eh?

Salty

 

So you decided to go with pedal power instead of a motor? ;-)

Good to see it all up together, and it sounds like things are going pretty well all in all.

 

Kinda....but not really....see the wifie won't let me sell the truck....even though I've threatened too about 3 times scince the baby's been born...SOOO bottom line Itsa mad dash to get this one done so I can buy a family car hot rod....(not buildin the next one....aint got the energy or the time right now....)

The truck isn't going anywhere....may as well see it through eh?

 

Just checking your thread. I am going to Daytona. I need some sun. It has been a long winter in CT.. Nice truck! I had a chopped 49 a while back. Glad everything worked out with Emma. God Bless.

 

The house and garage look good, you need to worry about your family's well being and safety first. An unfortunate fact of adult life as I've found

My wife is allowed to park in the garage after the first heavy frost (Nov) until the thaw...we haven't insulated yet so no panic, as I do zero work on the vehicles other than required maintenance and oil changes as required until it warms up, then it's EVERYONE OUT !

I hope it warms up soon, but I'd say any level of comfort would be only be sometime in April.

Enjoy the weather and do what you can until the drive comes back strong !

Good luck with the little girl, we're all pulling for you !
Enjoy the nights she sleeps all the way through, both of ours were 18 months easy without waking up.

Keep on truckin' !

 

Best wishes to you and your family in your new home, glad to hear of Emma's progress. All the best.

 

Outstanding build and I definately know how long it can take to build when you have a family. I have a 50 chevy truck that I just set over onto an s-10 frame and am getting it back together....took me 3 weeks to set it back to driving it.
Love the work and keep it up

Grommet

 

looks good, but didn't catch how much you chopped the roof??

 

Minor update....I've finally found time to pick up some tools and work on this thing....and Quite honestly I havn't felt like it....The last two days out of the last 6 that I've tinkered around with this thing I actually feel like I have the fire back....the other 4 I was forcing myself to mess with the thing to try and get the fire back....

Notta big update but one none the less....Got the front fenders and core support pulled back off and totally stripped the multiple coats of paint and junk off in side and out....whatta pain in the ass as the inner fenders have a variable smorgas board of nooks and crannies....

All in metal now, and putting the finishing touches on the inner fenders so they dont look like an afterthought....Welded a peice of cold rolled steel to the lip of the inner fender by the suspentions (where the inner fender had to be trimed for the suspention modification)

If you ask me I hit the desired result as it looks like it was rolled/stamped in there.

I gotta finish up the other inner fender then start laying my primers an sound deadener on the insides of the inner fenders so I can get it buttoned up.

Heres a few pics....New garage is finally trashed out.....dig it!

The pic on the top right is a before the bead was installed....(Just to illustrate the fact that it just dont look finished.)

 

that bead is a nice touch!!! glad to see you back at it.