Projects Broke down and hired help to work on my Unibody

I had never clicked on this thread. Glad I did. It's not about getting it done fast. It's about having fun and creating two more new hotrodders. These guys are hooked! You are doing an awesome thing!

 

Awesome thread...your doing a great thing. I tell my wife all the time I want to make sure my kids learn all the basics of automative repair, safety, and tool use. She laughed when I told her I don't want them to be video game kids...she asked when they would have time to play video games since were always in the garage building something or at the kitchen table working leather? I told her that wanting them to be functional members of society is part of what drives me to keep them busy learning and working with their hands...it keeps my lazy but motivated! I'm in no way surprised they didnt know about tools...I work with 30+ year old men in a factory who dont know what the proper name for a ratchet is. Dont even get me started on car parts...and we make car parts!

Any way great looking truck and good on you! So have you asked their parents about buying the next project for them?

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Thanks guys! Dalton the older brother is still leaning to wanting a 4x4 (some of his buds have them) So getting him his own ride will be up to whatever his parents are willing to work out with him. I'm thinking he may change his tune as far as what he wants though once he gets to drive this truck lol.

As far as the next project I already have a 69 (with a 68 front clip) panel truck. Chassis is all built, all the paint and body work is done. I have all the parts to put her all together. So that's the next project they will be helping me on. It will be posted on the 67-72chevytrucks board. Kind of off topic for this place.

I also have a 41 Cadillac Sedanette project started ... some day?

Ill work on getting more pics posted of them working on the Unibody.

 

Great thread Uncle Mark, subscribed!

 

Great thread! Can't believe i missed it before!
So kewl you have your nephews involved, my kids spend so much time in my shop, and their friends too. Gotta keep the flame going eh! Weld done

-Shiny

 

man, i gotta clip my f100. looks so good down low. keep it up.

matt

 

Ok took time to dl a few more pics.

Wyatt installing the visors, this stuff is simple for you and me. All new for a 13 year old.



Picture of the side vent. It was all out in pieces. Cables everything were apart. I just gave it to Dalton and said put this in. He was stumped pretty quickly. I said hey isnt there one on the other side already installed? Look at that one and then do this one. Brake pedal assembly was in the way ... I made him figure out how to take it off so he could get the vent in lol ... mean uncle =)



This is the aftermarket blinker. I had them take it apart and paint the top half white. Too much chrome for my tastes. I also had Wyatt pop rivet the horn button to the top. He had never seen pop riveting done before. And he was barely strong enough to squeeze the handles. When it was all apart I had them move the blinker handle up and down ... See any problems in here? Um the wire is rubbing on that metal thingy? Yep ... Lets wrap that with a few layers of electrical tape to stop the wires from rubbing through.



I dont have good pictures of this since we were all doing it. Dalton removing the battery and cables. I dont care to have the battery down on the frame. We installed a nice new stock battery box from Dennis Carpenters. It was a little tricky since the firewall isnt stock anymore. I had them work through it with me ... How is this gonna fit now, the wheel well is kind of in the way? I talked them through how maybe if we cut here and here on the wheel well the tray will fit. But then I asked them if its going to be a clearance problem with the tire if we recess this little corner? Had em get out the tape measure and check it all out ... fits fine.



Ill post up a few more pics after I eat some chow.

 

Keep up the good work, my dad got me into this when i was a pup i had small hands and could get into places he couldn't (or so he said).
This will stick with them forever many years longer than getting a high score on some video game. You are a true hero Uncle Mark.

 

Finally taking off the old and putting on the new...the boys were really pumped. I dont think they realized how cool these wheels would look. Plus the truck sits even lower because the rollers were close to two inches taller (well, eyeballed they looked that close lol)





We had to use the old lugnuts because the wheel place gave us the wrong size. Got the new lugs and they put them on today.



Had to put it back on the rollers too, the darn thing is just too low to work on sitting all pretty =) Was kind of a bitch getting the jack back underneath. Another thing they learned today was what a torque wrench is. At first I dialed it in at 50 lbs and showed em how the dial worked. Then I had em torque a couple at 50 so they could see what happens when they hit the mark. Was kind of funny because they thought it would let loose or something when it hit. Here is Wyatt finish torquing the last wheel.

 

Ran the battery cables to the new box and battery



The original spot for the ignition switch was welded and smoothed over so we decided to use an existing hole. Dalton tried to use a hole saw ... jumped around too much. So then I asked him for some ideas on what to do, lol, no idea. So I said how bout we just drill a bunch of holes around the line you drew and punch it out? Worked for him. Then I had him use the dremmel to smooth it up some.



He didn't want to wear the safety goggles ... Those are for girls. I made him wear them and a shard hit him on the lens. Maybe he is a believer now =)



Here is Wyatt putting new knobs on the window cranks ... It was actually kind of a pain but he did a good job. They were just a couple of the cool things we ordered from Carpenters.



And lastly for now here they are figuring out how to work the Drill Doctor I just purchased. Dalton said he didnt need to read the directions ( a true guy thing lol) he forked up the first drill bit. We took a few minutes and watched the DVD. He tried it again and did a nice job. Posing with a goofy look.

 

looks like they are not afraid of getting their hands dirty ....

good progress ....

 

Right on! Truck is looking good, much better wheels. Kids are doing a great job! Show them how to sharpen a bit on a grinder, don't need no Dr. lol

 

LOL, Im afraid I would screw up the bits trying to use the grinder

 

Good looking uni.

Jake

 

Thanks! We aren't even close to the build level of yours, but we are having fun.

 

Great job, Cool truck and you are a Awesome Uncle to say the least. This will help your nephews with the knowledge to want more knowledge to do things themselves a lost art today. My Hat is off to you Sir. Keep the progress coming and you may have planted the seed for these young men to do their own car!! Rock On!!!!!!!

 

Had a couple of folks ask how its coming along. We havent been taking a ton of pics lately since the truck basically looks the same lol. I was having some troubles getting the new ignition switch wired up, but thanks to a bunch of HAMBrs help its all figured out.

I gave the boys a daunting project and Im going to try to let them do it entirely by themselves. They are totally rebuilding all the door seals, guides, wing widows and whiskers. Im giving them several threads to read and a parts blow up picture. There is also a write up on Carpenters web site.

Funny, when they first started working with me there was no way they could tackle this job. Now, I believe they can figure this out. I know a lot of us guys have done this before and you know what a bitch it can be. Might be having to wear a coat for awhile because of lack of side windows lol.

 

CG, yours is one of my favorite trucks.

 

Hey thanks, the boys will really appreciate that! As it turns out I thought we had the wiring all figured out for the ignition, but I purchased a different kit than the instructions I was using...Oops =)

They do have all the wiring ran, all clamped down and covered with that split wiring cover stuff. They got all the new window tracks, seals, rubbers installed. They only had a small hiccup doing it. Pretty proud of em because that isn't a fun job.

Dalton drilled a hole in the frame so we could pass a wiring bundle through it. He's done a couple other holes and I had him ream it out real well with a file so we could get the grommets set easily. I told him to use the file so the shards wouldn't get him. Well this time he drilled the hole and proceeded to brush off the shards with his finger and he cut him self. Hey what did I tell you? Not to do that ... Right, now go in the house and have Aunt Gail bandage that up for you and get back so we can finish this up. He gave me a sheepish grin and got it taken care of. Today he was crawling around under the truck and got dirt in his eyes ... What did I tell you? ... Always wear goggles working under the truck so I don't get crap in my eyes ... LOL yes!

Its a process but they have come a very long ways in a pretty short time. And they are already talking about going to Bonneville again =)

 

Maybe you and the boys will be going to the salt in the Unibody, what a time that would be for them

 

Really enjoyable read, reminds a bit of when I was 15 years old and got my first car, it needed a bunch of work done to it to get it safeted tested, my dad was the driving force behind all the safety stuff getting done, but my uncles 3 or 4 of them would show up regularly on Saturday mornings and offer their 2 cents worth of encouragement , I learned quite a bit from that first car. I think if your willing and eagar enough when your young you can learn plenty, and being cash poor makes you have to do it yourself and learn. You have to be happy to have planted the seed of repairing something with your 2 nephews , that will help them out in their futures , gold star for you on a job well done !

 

Learning by bloodletting always sticks more than plain learning.

 

I was talking to my wife this morning about all the positive comments on this thread, and how incredibly nice it is for me and the boys to read. I was telling her most of the people on the HAMB build their own cars, and there are a ton of people here that are able to build incredible cars from almost nothing. Old crumpled steel in to a better than new car. Bits and pieces gathered over the years into stunning works of car art.

So when you guys take the time to read and post nice comments on a thread that is back to the very basics of basics. A truck you would have had to the point we have it in just a few weekends, it really means a lot to us.

Yesterday when the boys and I were done working, my wife and I took the boys out to a local restaurant (less fancy than Denny's lol). We told them this was the company Christmas Party =). We bought a couple of cards for them earlier and I put a 50 dollar bill in each. When they opened them they were pretty pumped. I wrote a little note in each telling them thanks for all the help and how proud I was of them for working so hard and how much fun it is for me to see them learn all the new things.

Thanks again and I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!


(And Tman truer words were never spoken lol)

 

Sounds like they are working just like us older guys now (you know forget the safety tips your dad pounded in your head when you were young). Glad to here they are still at it.

 

CG,

This is really a fun thread to read. Thank you for sharing and thank you for taking time to be with and teach your nephews! Good on you.

Craig

 

very cool thread

 

Just read the thread Uncle Mark and I think it's awesome you took the time to ruin two perfectly good boys and bring them over to the "dark" side! My uncle was the one who really got me into the whole loud, nasty and evil hot rod thing because my dad was into his Peterbilts. Now that I'm older I took the time to ruin my dad and bring him over too! Keep up the good work and I'll be looking for you at Bonneville!

 

The boys asked why I wasn't taking as many pictures, I told them well you guys are doing stuff now that isn't large and obvious. We still like you taking pics ... Ok fine lol. I have some older pics and some new stuff to scale before I post. Ill make some time to add em.

Thanks again for all the nice comments! Im working on a Tshirt design for them, Ive contacted one of the HAMB artists and we are going to try to work something out when he is a little less swamped and I get the rest of the layout together. I think they will get a kick out of them. Probably make a couple extra for family members.

The business next to where I work makes flags. I was talking to the owner about the boys and that I wanted to make them a couple of Tshirts. I asked him how much to embroider the design on a couple of Dickie style work shirts ... 50 bucks to scale and set it for his machines, and whatever the cost is on the thread. I was floored, that is a pretty sweet deal. I may (this might be going overboard though lol) do that too. Too bad kids grow so darn quick. Probably wont have a chance to wear em out.

 

Good on your part for planting the "seed" in those boys. Nice to see that they are hanging in there and not scared to get their hands dirty.

 

Great build enjoyed seeing the youngsters taking to the project good to see that these days! with so much modern high tech crap out there most kids don't even have any desire to look at an old truck let alone jump in on the build of it. When they get out of high school send them my way for a year or so. I'll get them up to speed in sheetmetal fab and repair, prep & paint work on classics & special interest. Always looking for young talent to excel. Auto Kraft body & paint Inc.