Customs finishing off my 38 chevee project

longest day of the year has come and gone nothing done since jan.been watching the price of fuel go up and up it reached e2.20 a litre before dropping down a few cent ye will have to convert that to dollars per gallon for me..depressing stuff its for next to nothing in russia.trying to get motivated ,missing my truck and looking forward to a spin out couple of jobs to do remove and bench bleed the m/c.rework the brake pedal welding a tab to the pedal and removing the kugel universal bolt on mount,leaving more room under the pedal.have a plan in the head itll work.really need to fit wing mirrors.pulling out of my road uphill turning to the left leaves oncoming traffic in the blindspot at the corner of the cab.have a plan there too.offered up a set of clamp on mirrors to the door top.cant see anything out of them too small and too short the 38 cab tapers at the front so custom made mirrors that bolt to the doors that mate to 5"lens i purchased from jim carter trucks months ago.everything sprayed black or powder coated satin blak.best chris

 

the flue behind the stove looks crooked its an optical illusion.it slants back but goes straight up c.

 

You can make happen brother! Get that truck out on the road and send us some pictures. Nick

 

Holy crap, that’s about $9.00 USD. I thought our gas was outrageous, about $5.70 for non-ethanol a gallon. Oh well, less driving more time for work on the truck. Cheers

 

its mad leakie boyo

 

spent some time working on the brake pedal today and yesterday.cut a strip from a 3x2 x1/8 box to give me a 2x1 1/2 x 1/8 angle .drilled it to mount to the pedal and mount the lokar pedal 3/4" lower.the pedal falls to foot more comfortably from trottle to brake and visa versa.i didnt use the kugel pedal mount it didnt work out in my truck.now i have less bulk/more clearance under the pedal to floor.and a little more leverage to boot.the pedal was prone to twisting loose.now as well as the 1/2" mounting bolt ive added 3/ 5mm countersunk bolts so it cant twist loose now.ive taken some photos but wont upload for some reason.pedal pad is alloy/rubber the pedal is steel so bolting them together is the obvious solution.still some fine tuning left to do.need to go for some high tensile bolts and get a little machining to the underneath of the pedal pad.plus a little weld and some satin black paint to finish.back is broken in this one i hope,c.

 

and thats ethanol at 10% i think.the real good stuff my ass.

 

small progress today.purchased the bolts i needed to complete the pedal and some others for the mirror brackets.brake pedal is Lokar XBAG-6108: Oval Brake Pad XL Series - JEGS High Performance .5"X 2 1/2"X1"thick.there are 2 mounting options with the pedal.a centre mount bolt and an offset option.im using the offset option.i drilled through the pad and countersunk to use a m10 countersunk mounting bolt after popping up the rubber pads.brake pedal will have a threaded insert welded in place.plan when finished is to be able to fit everything easy from the top.m10 countersunk bolt holds the pedal in place and the 3 m5 countersunk bolts also mount it and stops it rotating or coming loose.a small amount of locktite 222 keeps everything tight .the rubber s pop back in place keeping all the bolts out of sight.its gonna work

 

yesterday started disconnecting the steering column.found one steering joint with some play in it .plan to replace it soon as i can.today started pulling the dash..with the oil pressure gauge and the temp gauges (mechanical0 i took my time with help this is an easy job but on my own it took a little longer.the dash sits over the cowl and bolts on with 4 bolts ,2 either side.i ended up using tie wraps to locate it and suspended it from the mirror with a little light rope to take the weight.eventually disconnected the wiring,suspended the gauges and removed the dash with some assistance when she returned from work.fitted the dash on a wooden stand i made to hold it and stop it from getting knocked about.
with the dash sitting in the bed its a lot easier to figure out what i need to do.first thing i did was find another mount for the brake pedal return spring its gonna work much better this time around.last time around the brake pedal didnt have a full travel because a mounting bolt was hitting a bump in the floor.think the revised pedal mount will solve this one.need to have a look into the m/c to see whats going on in there .have a rebuilt kit and another m/c to try out..if its not too hot tomorrow should get some more done.no pictures to show at the moment computer problem

 

with the column out i trial runned the column mounted tacho.fitted great.will fine tune location at the end.column could do with a touch up satin black.wiring the tacho is another little job to do.last time around i started her up with the oil line disconnected.what a mess.ive left a few reminders on masking tape so it wont happen again.good to be back at it.

 

weather was cooler again today.pulled the m/c to have a look inside.everything was fine found.the problem was with the servo it was sticking .greased the moving parts either end.it helped.the to do li st is getting longer .plan is to mount the m/c tomorrow (1") and see if i can add a diagonal brace to the firewall from small tube with the ends flattened drilled and welded to keep them light.plan to use the 7/8 m/c is shelved for the time being because the fittings are different and will need another line made up

 

tried out the 7/8 bore m/c the lines were the same after all.made a brace to the firewall.took 3 attempts to get it right and a lot of time .space is tight .theres a lot going on under the dash.ill bolt that up tomorrow and bleed the master /cylinder before attaching the lines.gotta wire up for the rev counter.getting brakes is the priority though .to do list is getting smaller

 

was aiming to mount the m/c and bleed it.last night i came in from the garage pissed off.the adjuster on the servo looks like it has been locktited at some stage.doesnt want to adjust the clearance should be 20" between piston and pushrod.also the studs on the booster to mount the m/c (m10)are not threaded to the end about 2mm on one side and a little less on the other.the m/c looks like it was designed for a smaller stud and drilled out from the supplier to suit.i had these cleaned up on a milling machine to give me a flat face to mount to.its not the first time i got poor quality parts from the US.either the sub standard parts are being shipped to europe or all the parts are shit which is it.ended up running a 10mm die back its good now m/c mounts flat to the booster now like it should.

didnt stay in the garage for too long today the knees are complaining from kneeling on the running boards even with proper kneeling pads.so to set the clearance i may have to add gaskets or shims to add clearance or grind/file the pushrod to reduce it fuck it anyway.replacement booster is $220 + shipping +taxes ill have to work with what i have.

 

"poor quality parts from the US"? Ain't nothing made in America anymore. It all comes from china.

 

im sure you are correct bud if it dont say where its made it must be made in china ,but that said its hard to judge the quality from here!

 

my issue is with the quality not so much where its made.the parts i purchased from the us from the same company id expect them to fit together without modification.(master cylinder and booster).
also the loctite could have been applied on this end ive had lotsa help on this end,but i know i didnt apply it.currently the booster is $220 from where i sourced it but ive seen a very similar unit for $60.if thats the same piece thats quite a mark up.

 

I agree, if they came from the same place they should fit together. But we all know “universal fit” is just code for “will need modifications to fit”. It’s hard to tell on those prices, sometimes your just paying extra for a name, sometimes the cheaper one is just junk. Who did you get them from? Did you contact them to see if they would rectify the issue? Cheers

 

leakie one of the issues i had was i ordered a lot of parts at the start. heres an example the steering rack it took me a few years to take the unfinished truck for its maiden voyage .there was a lot of unexpected play in the rack.i contacted the supplier who was evasive at best.i know there was a time lag but i told him of my build thread which was up to date. no good.some time later by chance i contacted another 38 chevy truck guy who told me he knew the guy personally and would contact him on my behalf.they aknowleged they had a faulty batch and i may have got one .in the end i agreed to pay the shipping if they supplied another rack.not ideal for me but cheaper than buying another and shipping it as well.luckily enough i could produce the reciept and the order number.never in their catalogue did it say id be getting a reconditioned rack.even though i wouldnt have minded too much if it was a good job.the time lag complicated everything.got the rack replaced after many years moaning.returning the rack to the us for inspection is not an option due to cost.its just cheaper to just replace it.

 

on the brake front when i had the truck moving i had brake issues.i contacted them and said the pedal was hitting the floor.they agreed the bore needed to be bigger and supplied another (after consulting with WILWOOD.) i payed shipping so ill not name them.

 

today took my verniers out and measured up the depth of the piston from the gasket surface and how proud the pushrod was from the surface .there was no clearance from my calculations but a .25 mm bind.i made a gasket from a kellogs cornflakes box(.75mm thick)that left me with .5mm clearance 20" which is whats recommended.measured up for the 1" bore m/c it looks like 1.75 mm clearance thats more play than needed .my calculations are based on 1mm = 40" with no gasket shim on the 1 inch bore m/c.ive reworked the pedal mount to give me more clearance between the pedal and the floor .we will see how it works out this time around and take it from there.was going to buy a bleed kit for the m/c but we made our own .it worked well last time around should do this time

 

some small progress to report got a special bolt turned down to hold the pedal and the bracket,plus had some m10 half locknuts turned plus some 1/2"unf half locknuts.thanks mick top job as usual

 

small progress.bolted up the 7/8 bore m/c with the brace for the first time .the 2/3 locknuts worked out well and found 2 thin stainless m10 flat washers.used them left about 1mm of thread sticking through the locknut.pulled out the m/c bleed kit.took a while but worked great,10 mins of pumping out tiny bubbles then nothing grand job.should connect the lines up tomorrow then the search for an assistant to bleed will begin

 

for the bench bleed kit i used 2 inverted flare banjo bolts had 2 spacers made up the same thickness as a banjo fitting.used a copper washer either side of the spacer to seal.drilled the head of the bolt and tapped for a bleed nipple. bent up a cap for m/c out of corn flake box and drilled two holes for the loop of hose.worked a treat no fluid spilt so far .i got a shallow tray at the euro shop.will make a stand to hold it up to the m/c to catch any spillage connecting up the lines again.

 

made a stand from a small piece of 1/2" plywood.with two timber legs screwed to it.at the firewall i made a 3x3 angle from a piece of 25mm x 2 steel.attached that to a bolt on the firewall.lined the plastic tray with tinfoil and lined it with tissue covered with a piece of cloth.plenty soakage there.taped the tray to the plywood.as it turned out i needed the tray when i disconnected the first loop of hose it syphoned by itself.took a second or two to realise what was happening .pulled the hose from the resevoir.tray caught it all. could have been a big mess .second hose i pulled up from the resevoir before i started.brake line reconnect was straight forward.now just need a pedal man to bleed the brakes.holiday weekend here so they could be thin on the ground.

 

its been very hot nothing done.except went looking in my stash for two rubber hood side corner protecters.found where i thought they were yippee.this was the second set i purchased.first set didnt fit very well and soon fell off.there is a nipple on these rubbers thats subbosed to locate into a hole in the hood.didnt work out so this time a cut off the nipple and superglued them in place.they feel secure so far.on the brakes front ive connected the bleed hose to a vacuum oil sucker.hoping this wil allow me to bleed the brakes by myself,time will tell.rained yesterday big change cooler.

 

.offered up the column mounted tacho.i like it gotta get it wired up before replacing the dash.you can also see the little stand i rigged up to hold the dish to catch any spilt brake fluid.able to post pictures again but its hard work .

in the background you can see the little table i made its still coming in handy for topping up the fluid etc

 

just went under the truck to get ready to take the rear wheels off.im pissed really pissed the pass trailing arm has hardly any paint on it that hasnt bubbled.fucking brake fluid everywhere.the guy that helped me bleed the brakes got fluid everywhere broke junctions and left the fluid run everywhere i gave him gloves and plenty cloths and a hose to bleed the brakes .everyday car mechanics just dont get it do they my recently painted trailing arms destroyed and thats a big old strip out to paint again.fuck it fuck it

 

well using the vacuum ive removed some air from the system.started out with no pedal now ive a spongy one.think it needs finishing with an assistant.spilt no fluid by the way.found a soft clear hose that fits over the nipples tight so ill run around the calipers again tomorrow and see if i can improve things.

 

No they don't. Like they say, "if you want it done right, do it yourself".

 

going back to the 1"bore m/c.cant get a pedal with the 7/8".lots of new parts in the system rear new discs resused the pads almost new with little /no wear rear rotors were 50 yrs old and worn to the min thickness .front new 11"rotors replacing 10" rotors .old rotors were 1" thick vented.new ones are 7/8 thick vented .new Hawk performance pads replacing worn older pads.