Well, with the sale of Billetproof, Courtland is urging me to get moving faster on this beast. He sees it as a goal to have it at least running that day because we got my car running the morning of BP2006. We shall see! We'll have pictures up soon but for now: Power steering and column has been added and fully attached. Body mounts are in. Fabbed up front, shackles in the rear, mounting uprights for the radiator support. Floor cleaned out and new floor pans to be ordered soon. Rear end set, to be welded in place this weekend. NV3500 trans located nearby and will be purchased as soon as the guy finds his shifter (I'm not paying $175 for a Hurst replacement when he has it in the shop 'somewhere') All this, and a return trip to the farm. Mother In Law is home, so it's out of her garage and back in our driveway until we can clean a spot up for it in our garage or barn! Too many projects and animals!!!
Doesn't LOOK like much progress but hey, the body is BOLTED to the frame in 10 places that it definitely wasn't in January. Got the running boards mocked up last night and will go for more on that this weekend. Going to MSU for a goat workshop on Saturday so it won't happen then!
Got the running board mounts started. Got to get a new band saw blade to cut the gussets but other than that, she's getting better. I have a radiator from Vance that I'm going to see if we can make work and we got a set of S10 V8 motor mounts from 51GMC that we're going to attempt. They are in it for now and we are prepping the motor for the dropping in the next 2 weeks. The guy with the trans still hasn't found the shifter so I may hunt for it with him tonight after work if I can get out of here!
Got the parts truck home this weekend with the 5 speed. Hope to thrash that thing and get it back out of here quickly. Running 4.3L and 5 speed. Got a flywheel and clutch for the 327 as well. Things have slowed down since Court broke his arm so the only way to Billetproof this year is on a trailer!
Dan I'm pleased and impressed to see how far the truck has come you should be proud of your son and yourself for having the Patience's to teach I'm always impressed by people the still believe in honesty and the value of a hand shake and try to pass it on through their kids keep up the great work and keep us posted
Thanks, Dale. He really liked meeting you and thought it was cool the way you worked the deal with him. We've still got the other front clip and it is sitting on the old green cab but your's was better, at least from the cowl and roof side of things. Cast came off on Tuesday so the motor WILL be in by Father's Day. We've got to get his parts truck out of here this weekend and then we can hit his truck hard again. He's got some weakness in the arm and sore elbow but it will pick up quickly. He isn't allowed to do any heavy lifting yet but he can at least get the bolts started!
Nah, she's still on blocks cuz I didn't get to Blktopbandit to get the gas tank. I got some mexican blankets, though, so she looks cozy sitting up there in the air! Next try is the Blissfield River Raisin Festival in July...
No updates in forever because it has been a hectic summer. Suffice to say work didn't stop but it did slow down a bit. Mother in Law is back in Florida so the truck is going back to her garage this weekend. We've got a mock up motor from a HAMBer and have started figuring out the position of the engine mounts. Looks like Clark's tech is the way to go by just sliding stuff back a bit. I hope to have pictures of it over the weekend. Got to go see enjenjo about a few things as well.
Back in the garage and back at it. I'm on vacation until the 2nd so we're hitting the truck this week a bit. We got the trans mocked up with the floor trimmed out of the 'mock up' cab today. Got started moving the motor mounts back. Need to 'modify' a 15 mm wrench to get to the hard spots. I slotted the frame on the passenger side like the driver's so it looks the same and I can get in and get to the mounting bolts. I can't believe they didn't make these damn things welded or captured. Hope to have the engine/trans in tomorrow. Need to make a new cross member/trans mount for this because it sits like hell right now with the one that was in it and with the NV3500 5 speed, it is coming out right at the frame joint where the boxing ends. Looks like the back edge of the motor will be 2" off the stock firewall. This gives enough clearance for the dizzy to turn quite a bit (HEI for now). The trans mount location is another 27 1/2 back so the shifter is about perfect as far as fore/aft but 1st and 2nd gears are going to be close to the steering wheel. That will change with a little heat. We are going to make our own shifter from an old 1 1/2 ton truck anyway to go onto it like Rick S did in his. Hope to have more pictures tomorrow. The weather was sunny and clear today without the Fing wind that has plagued us lately. Got into the upper 30s so it wasn't so bad without the heater on. Plan to haul the cherry picker and the 327 down to MILs tomorrow.
So, whats the plan.....basement of Autorama this year or BilletProof debut? In either event, I'm looking forward to seeing the boys soon and catching up. Thanks for the progress report. Keep'm coming.
It will be hard pressed to make Autorama Basement. Plus I've seen Roadstar's post about having more apps than last year already so I doubt we could even get in. I've got a ton of business travel going on next month so I'd be more relaxed going after BP08 and the Screamin Demon show in Toledo the following weekend in June. Crestline is still on the skates. Got to get this truck mobile first!
eh they'll all get done in due time, when you coming down to check out the merc'? oh and to grab your truck tires lol
I'll be there right after you remember to put them on a truck headed for Swanton!! Derr. Got the motor mount plan going and Court drew up about 5 designs for his trans brace. I might have to run up to work so I can get into the shop and make some plates faster than doing it here. I also want to chop the top so bad I can taste it.
I was thinking of you and the boys the other day. I hope you all had a great Christmas and they got anything and everything they ever wanted because they DESERVE it! Take your time on the truck and make it right. That's what I'm doing (well that and about five other projects....) I'm sure I will see you at the Autorama or even the Heritage Center tour (can't wait...)!
We are signing up for both. The Autorama is the week before Court's birthday so he's digging it. We WON'T be getting sick this year and only making it to set up. At least they got to meet a bunch of the So What guys the first night. As for Christmas, they got all they wanted and more. You don't know how hard it is to find 'Retired' Star Wars Lego's!! Everyone wants a fortune but Eli is now the proud owner and builder of the Millenium Falcon and Court has a new 40 year old Gibson B-15 to play. We're in discussion with Kustombuilder to pick up some rear fenders when he gets back from Toronto. If they let him back over the boarder. HAMB Chop '08...sounds interesting...very interesting. I've got 4 cabs and 8 doors here so there isn't a shortage of any of that. I was thinking of talking to one of the guys on here that chopped his '54 GMC because he's a glass guy (see thread 153042). We want to keep the 5 windows so we'll have to see what needs to be done on that front.
Made it up to Kustombuilders for fenders and patch panels. Nice deal. Hope to work a little tomorrow but it is supposed to be 9 degrees. I think I'm spending the summer insulating the barn. This is bull snot!
Warming up. In the 40s this weekend. Spend the day yesterday cutting firewood and doing the honey-do. Today the boy and I spent it in the garage (well we did take a break to watch his new Billetproof 2007 video he got for his birthday). Speaking of Billetproof, his grandpa got him his registration for the 2008 Michigan show and he's on cloud 9. We took the chain fall and I beam down to grandma's garage and pulled the truck up in the air so we could drill holes in the frame for the trans brace. Got that done, put the whole thing up on jack stands and finished the motor mounts. That was all after we man handled the mock up motor and trans out of the truck. Next weekend the goal is to put the real 327 together with the 5 speed and get it installed. That way we can get the driveshaft measured and cut. Should be fun. Hope to fire it up before Billetproof, even if it means a few days of vacation!
Thanks, Jeff. It was a hard sell to momma but we pulled it off. 1 day of farm duties if we can have 1 day of garage duty. Seems like a reasonable request...
AWESOME!!!!!! I didn't have a vehicle till I was sixteen, and then it was only a Dodge Shadow The truck looks great, are there any other parts Court's looking for? I can check out in the garage, I got a lot of spares. So when's the HAMB thrash????
cool cool dan!!! can't wait to go crusin' with court and see the smile on his face when it fires up!!!
Here's the scoop. He REALLY wants to be able to drive it at Billetproof. I'm down with that myself BUT we just bought a Texas cab from BlackMagicCustoms and it won't be here until May so I'm NOT thrashing for that. What I'd like to do is get his brakes in order and the drive train all up. Scott, you mentioned you might have an ignition type switch and your neighbor had that great little electrical box that you said is common to demo derby cars. THAT is what I want. Either one of those or a schematic so I can make one myself. We've got an HEI from Vance that will go in it so I think I won't need much for the wiring. We've got a full harness that we bought from Hard On Parts a year ago but again, we'll save that for the 'new' cab.
Grandma comes home around the 19th of April so that has got us hopping. Court has been busting it on the motor mounts and then he started to get sick. Saturday morning I got up early and went down to put the clutch on the engine. One thing led to another and I'd put the trans on the engine and got the whole thing swung into the truck. After lunch, Court and I went back down for another 4 hours and got it all tightened up, put the front end back on to get more measurements, and generally cleaned up the truck and the shop. We did manage to find the 1 x 2 that we'd cut for the running boards and we've got most of the mounting stuff for that ready to weld up so one or two evenings this week, we hope to get them mounted. We still need to get the drive shaft measured, cut, and installed. We're going to run up to Dundee Truck & Trim to see Howard about some alternator and P/S brackets. The feed sack in the front of the truck is from where we managed to turn the wheels and pump P/S fluid all over Grandma's garage. First spill since December...she always finds those stains!
The Jalopy Journal
