Projects 31 Model A pickup (re) Build

About to wrap up work on the frame.

• stamped a little number in, since the notch for the steering box obliterated what was left of the original number
• still filling holes, but almost done.
• and making new holes..... drilled/tapped 11 holes in the 1/4" thick boxing plates for brake/fuel/wiring clamps. plus 8 pass through holes in the cross member. this was a couple of nights work.
• finished cleaning up the motor mounts and then redoing the welds.

 

Finally turned the corner, so to speak. Everything is progress, but now it will be constructive and not destructive.

• Got my oil filter worked, so no notching the frame, or spacer machining. Replaced the PH25 with whatever is for a 2002 Escalade: same threads, almost identical seal, has a drainback valve, but much smaller overall diameter.
• finished work on the frame and stripping. Pretty pleased with how the frame horns turned out after filling all the holes.
• primer on the rear spring leaves, frame (one side), and wishbones.

 

oh yeah. Spent the last 4 nights priming and painting. Wishbones, and rear spring also done. now, if only I had a some axles ready to put it on..............

 

Steering Column/wheel done. What I had was pretty ugly, and since i moved the steering box, it needed to be shortened anyways.

The column appeared to be F1, but I'm no expert. The wheel, odd as it is, I like it. Cleaned up well and it will stay (it tells a story, to me, and I like it in a weird way). I'm not sure about the shaft, but I think someone put steering wheel end on some 1" tubing (heavy wall, but not quite enough to comfortably turn down to 3/4" for the bearings and joint.

So:

• two 3/4" ID flanged bearings that fit perfectly inside the column. Added a little loctite for bearing/studs
• Cut down the column (of course I somehow cut too much off and had to
• Added a plumbing flange to the column tubing (TIG'd inside), which happened to slip over perfectly.
• shortened the shaft and made a new end for the steering box from 3/4" round stock. Only downside is that the shaft can be removed w/o removing 1 of the bearings.... no biggie.
• no provisions for a horn button and no center cover, so I drilled and tapped the end of shaft to accept a bolt, to which I affixed some chrome dome I found in my scrap bin.

 

Nice build...Thats gonna be a good looking truck!

 

my absolute favorite part of building a bike is final assembly when you get to handle all the clean shiny parts, focus on some detail stuff, and do it in your PJs and slippers while drinking a cup of coffee, etc................. no exception here, except that I still have dirty work to do on other parts at the same time, so it's not quite as therapeutic.

Here's a couple of before/during/after shots. As with the frame, some damage was already done, so I picked my battles based on safety and appearance.

• rear axle cleaned up, brackets, welded/rewelded so nothing will fall off, prime/paint. All the rear suspension stuff is now mounted in double shear.
• prime/paint on front axle, springs, and...
• starting assembly, although i had to step back and remove the brackets and a couple of leaves from the Posies spring (I had another thread asking about this).
• started running lines

 

Getting there. Still no word from the painter on my sheetmetal: shocking (read sarcasm). But I've still got quite a bit of work to do, so I'm not sweating it.

• Finished brake lines
• Engine got a rattle can rebuild, although I have a few things eng/trans related that I still have to tend to

Most of all, I got the garage cleaned up and reorganized for the next phase. Plus I picked up another panhead, so it wasn't an option. First time I got to see the roller outside in 2 years (ouch), but I'm trying to focus on how close I am and not how long it's been.

 

Time produces quality in most cases.

 

I needed a change of pace, and since the body is still at paint for a while anyways, I took a break to do another panhead build.

The last things I did were a spacer for the radiator (1" tubing and I welded the ends closed). And I shortened the trans dipstick tube so I could access from a trap door in the floor: way back when doing the firewall I did away with the draft tube and long dipstick tube b/c they were taking up valuable space behind the engine. It occurred to me later that I have zero idea what happens inside an automatic transmission and I hope that fluid doesn't rise/fall inside of the tube during operation: if so, I'm going to have a problem.

 

Awsome work is done. You can to take a long breathe after doing all this stuff (this is a direct translation of a german phrase, it means you can gratulate yourself). Sorry, but one thing, the steering wheel looks like you had an accident with your rod.

With your skills you have to build the next rod from scrap, you should be faster then redo things that another guy has build .

 

no need to apologize. I know some will give me flack for it, and I understand why. It's not something I would do myself. But it has that "where there's a will, there's a way" character of someone that didn't have alot of money or fancy tools, as a result, it's grown on me and I think it will actually work (aesthetically).

 

Subscribed! You went through so much shit with this truck! Holy cow... Great work though and that dash is awesome! I for one don't dig the blue haha any word on the painter yet? Looking forward to see this one finished up.


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I just hate ratrods but I love when those poor old cars get saved. NOW you are having a Hot Rod! Keep up the good work, you're almost there!

 

Keep plugging away, you'll get it. Good work so far.

 

two weeks ago he said they were doing the body work on the cab. Doors were done. I doubt he'd started the bed. He's only like 3 months behind schedule so far............... and more to come. but it's cool b/c I still have some stuff to do, and as I said, I took a little break to build a bike. Weather and flu season haven't helped either. I imagine that I'll be getting antsy soon, at which point I'll start them. I also don't want to rush them......

 

No update on paint (surprise, surprise)

I'm back at it though. Lots of tedious details that aren't alot of fun or rewarding, which is probably why I took a break in the first place.

• Previously, I drilled and tapped holes in the bed subframe, but the .120 wall thickness wasn't enough, so lots drilling and welding later, I welded in close to 20 little bungs.
• threw a coat of paint on a couple of parts.
• made a simple spacer for the rear leaf spring since I removed a couple of leaves.
• cut the front panels for inside the bed

 

Small updates:

• bracket and placement of the trans cooler. not ideal for air flow, but not terrible either.
• Bed support is done, save for paint.
  • had to add notch for fuel lines (oversight on my part when I welded in the bung).
  • decided to add a hitch, so craigslist donated a Reese class II (only thinking about a small single rail trailer to haul a motorcycle). That necessitated some additional support.
  • more holes, more threaded bungs, more floor supports, battery hold down tabs, some tubing for wiring...... And lastly a storage area for tools and a jack.
• Pitman arm: earlier I mentioned that it was cut but welds looked decent. Since I didn't do it, I decided to add 1/8" strap to 2 sides as insurance. One side done.
  • also took out a spline for the sector shaft so I could mount it in the correct orientation
• flipped the steering arm to get the draglink below it, which brought the steering geometry back to where i wanted it.
• welded some stainless bungs in the spreader bar to mount a license plate.

 

This is a GREAT thread !! Great save !! Hopefully you`ll get your cab from painter soon.

 

Finally bought the app (did i say im extremely frugal) and hemmed hawed oever the 199 cents for close to 2 years now. Its pretty slick.

Basically got my throttle valve stuff worked out after about 2 years od deliberation on the cleanest way to approach it and several trials and errors. Made all the parts basically and sacrificed an old motorcycle Throttle cable. Only issue is ill need a return spring to help pull the trans lever back. Hoping this means itll shift out of 2nd, and that i didn't Have a trans problem when i actually drove it years ago (thats depressing to say). Time will tell.







Painter says it should be in paint line next week. Ill beleive it when i see it.

Also finished pcv conversion.

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

Just picked up on your thread, great build, look forward to seeing more and I have been going back and forth about the APP too. I think when I start my truck I'll get it. Hope to see you driving around southern Maryland.

 

This is a great thread! I love it!

 

Painter says "next week" which if I shade to guess is 3 weeks with me riding him.

List is getting short but its daunting to think about all the stuff left once back from paint.

-bed subframe primed and painted, bolted down for good.
-decided to re-add a leaf to rear spring, which I procrastinated for obvious reasons. That also meant cutting the spacer I'd so carefully measured before.
-primed and painted gas tank, installed sending unit and fuel line fittings
-locked down my rear suspension once I got new grade 8 and stainless hardware.
-driveshaft painted, joints greased, now installed.
-rad+shell mounted and transmission lines run


Couple of issues cropped up that I'll have to address:
-trans cooler is in way of passages for wiring, so I'll have to rework that bracket.
-changed my plan for the radiator shroud so that will take some work and thought. **EDIT** see post 174
-top link on rear suspension is a little closer to the bed subframe than I'm comfortable with, so I'll need to work out something there. **EDIT** I ended up putting a S-bend in the top link to gain some clearance.
-i lost the damn bolt for the brake pedal on the speedway MC and I'll be damned if I can find something that fits. 1/2" too small, 9/16" too big. Their support says its 4.5" long 1/2" fine thread. But that isn't even close to the right length anyways. Hoping its metric?????? ***EDIT*** It turns out the bracket is not threaded; it's designed for 1/2" through bolt. I thought it was threaded b/c previously the original builder must have welded a nut inside the boxing plate, or simply tapped the hole. And when I relocated the MC, they no longer lined up. So, I turned down a 3/8" bung to press fit into the MC braket, which should be more than sufficient since all it's doing is keeping the pedal from sliding around.



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Chassis: nothing really worth picturing, but lots of little stuff: wiring, hoses, fluids.

Last minute I decided that despite cost and pain in the ass, I'd do the right thing and do an Emergency brake. I'll have to wait for the cab to do the handle, which I have a feeling will be a problem, but otherwise it's in. But here's a couple pics of cable routing. I went w/ the Lokar universal kit. Not cheap, but pretty clean design.

Sheetmetal: I stopped by the painters to give a gentle nudge. I'd forgotten how small that little cab was. It brought a smile to my face (it's been almost 7 months since I saw it). And I was surprised to see that it really is basically ready for paint. It's a an old chevy dealership that was in the city so it's a cool multi-story building with elevators and ramps. They do the body work on the second floor.

 

Still waiting for painter....

Running out of things to do until the body is back. Then I figure I'll have a month's worth of work until it's done, excluding any upholstery...

• new fluids all around
• 1/8" thick adhesive backed rubber strips on the frame between it and cab
• wiring to the back half of the truck
• found a night vintage headlight switch that I'm abnormally stoked about. I had some cheapo aftermarket and was actually stressing about it for no good reason. I wanted the dome and dimmer features of a real switch.
• radiator shroud finished. what a PIA that turned out to be. For a variety of reasons, I decided i wanted to be able to remove it w/o having to remove the Radiator/hoses/fluid....., which meant making it two pieces. I don't love the mounting, but for now that's how it's gonna be.
• cleaned up some cab wood and doused it w/ a coat of stain (old wood soaked it up like a sponge). the piece across the back of the cab needed a little repair too.
• cleaned out the carb since i simply parked it over 2 years ago. At the time I thought i'd change the grill and paint the engine that have it back on the road in 2-3 days. HA HA.
• checked front wheel bearings (hence my recent thread about endplay)
• unearthed a timing mark on the balancer, then went through timing and dizzy. I'm not 100% certain since I had all the plugs out, but I really feel like #4 and 6 were swapped.
• tool box in, and some little hold downs for jack, etc.
• redid the exhaust hangers: the old ones drove me crazy. I don't love the exhaust but no plans to change it at this time, and it doesn't look nearly as awkward once the cab and bed are on.
• etc.

 

Expecting paint to be done any day/week now.

Rolled the roller out of the garage to do some cleaning. everything looks so different in good natural light: I missed a couple of spots painting, ha.

 

OK, now painter is just being flaky, and basically dodging calls. And now he's cutting into my time. Since March, the line has basically been "in the next week". Well, we just passed 8 months since I dropped it off. About to make an unannounced visit and possibly pay for work done and take my parts if he can't get his shit together.

In the meantime, I tended to some small stuff:

• cleaned up the dash clock (only gauge I had left to do).
• unpacked my glass (and some other stuff that I ordered like 2 years ago). Think I bought it 2 years ago. Sure looks like a heavy chop: man I hope they didn't fuck up the measurements....

I posted earlier that I got some bitchin' cast aluminum valve covers from Squeak Bell (BAP). I've been hemorrhaging $ on this build, so I was planning on selling them and living w/ my stock valve covers. So I unboxed them to take some pics and ended up mocking them up. Well, damn you Squeak Bell! Now I can't imagine life w/o them and that edelbrock and alternator were suddenly intolerable,

So, that basically started a snow ball effect, and I decided that I've come this far and there's no point in cutting corners now, cost be damned (within reason). When I build a motorcycle, I'm not purist, but "traditional" is very important. so I guess I finally decided this truck was no different (there are limits however). So, in the last week:

• No offense to anyone but I started thinking that if the Speedway versions of the stromberg won't cut it, why would a new english one? So, from HAMB research, I contacted Strombergs97 for some rebuilt originals. He's been awesome and helped as I gave myself a crash course in vintage multi-carb setups. Long story short, I'm getting 2 original strombergs (at an awesome price).
• I bought this Offy 2x2 manifold.
• I purchased a PowerGen to replace the late model alternator. I hate faux parts, and this is no exception. But honestly I've been down the generator/mech. regulator road on my bikes, plus I"m not redoing the necessary wiring and mounts since the cab is set in stone. Compromise.......
• I have to redo all of the shit I did for the trans cable (on which I spent gobs of time), as well as the linkage to the pedal, and will still need to do a linkage, fuel block, air cleaners, and powergen mount. I'll update on that when it's done.

 

Nice engine trinkets!
Yup, go get the truck back from the painter

 

keep at it ...nice job on the re rebuild! that is going to be a sweet litle pickup !!!

 

Picked this up yesterday. Still waiting on the bed, dash and a couple of door parts. But I have lots of work to do anyways.

Wasn't intended to be a show car: I want to drive this thing. So, it's by not perfect by any means, but it's pretty nice, and at least as good as I was hoping for, so I'm stoked.

Couple of issues so far:

• first, I can't stop staring at it long enough to get any work done.
• second, it's nice enough that I'm bound to chip it, scratch and mess it up before it ever sees the road
• rear glass doesn't quite fit.
• somehow firewall is just hitting distributor cap. It was super close before, but I'm not sure what's different. Regardless I should be able to re-clock the dizzy to take care of the problem.

 

Little bit o' progress.

• doors pretty much assembled w/ glass, all new rubber, latches, etc. Shutting and latching very nicely. put some sound deadener on the insides.
• gas tank mounted to windshield filler w/ windlace. sound deadener on the underside.
• cleaned up most of the polishing compound.
• windshield glass set w/ tape: BUT then I found out it was a tad too tall.

Issues :

• dropped my front and rear glass at a local shop: hopefully get that fixed. I had another thread about that since I know dick about working with glass.
• front mounting holes are about 1/8" off now. Media blasting or the polishing or something must have relieved some tension in the firewall/cowl. I'm sure the loss of what little distributor clearance i had is the same.
• biggest issue (totally on me) is my headlight mounts. I mocked them up to make sure the headlights cleared everything but didn't try to aim them as it never occurred to me that they mounted on a forward facing angle. Lesson learned. I'm wedded to the headlights and last thing I want to do is cut the mounts, but that might be my only option. And bright ideas welcome. right now I'm thinking of how to shim the cup or something.