King Of Trucks Chapter Three...Serious Bidness...

And wrestling alligators. Don't forget the alligators.



Wait...what?

 

Last night, we bolted up the steering column and exhaust on the driver side to make sure there was plenty of clearance and there was. We put the front clip on along with the radiator. We ended up with 1 1/2" from the fan to the radiator, which is perfect enough.

I handed my radiator off to my buddy sinticket to take to his specialist. The bottom outlet needs to be moved from one side to the other. That should be back this weekend.

Also, a good news/bad news type deal for last night's shop night. Bad news first. The engine mounts Jeremy made for the mock up block didn't fit when he held them up to the pink engine. The ears were over an inch further apart on the pink engine. Why would my 365 be different than his 365? As it turns out, and after running the numbers on the block, my '58 365 is a '59-'62 390. Sucks, I know. I didn't want the extra hp. But there you go. The '58 Cadillac the pink engine came out of must have had a replacement engine some time in the past.

The good news is now we get to use the pink engine for the rest of the mockup. Wait, that's not good news. That sucks. Now I'm going to worry about the paint for the rest of the swap. Today, I'm going to pull the mock up engine and put the pink one in it's place. Tonight, Jeremy will make new engine mounts to fit the pink engine.

Hopefully, all will go well and the mounts will be done tonight and the pink engine can come back out. Then in the next few days, I'll have the front of the frame POR'ed along with filler/primer/paint on the firewall and inner fenders.

 

that's just weird...

 

trade ya my rebuilt 365 for your 390 if that helps

 

Terds 390 waitin to be chunked in the engine bay!


motor mount pads are in and waiting for paint.

 

Wooohoooo! You guys are rocking!

 

BooYah!!!!!

 

Nice!!!! This thing is gonna be tits!

 

Too late now. We built more engine mounts specific to the 390.

You don't have to tell me.

And rolling, I might add.

For sure. I'll see you're booyah and raise you a booyahkashah.

And ass. Thanks!

 

.....

 

iron lords... A bunch of sweethearts

 

Here's what happened in yesterday's episode.

Cougar Mike and I pulled the 365 mock up engine and began the application of filler on the firewall. I hate filler. Well, its not that I hate filler so much as I hate sanding it, lol.




Jeremy showed up later that afternoon and we got the pink engine in place to work off of that from now on. Its risky working off of the nice engine but we didn't want to chance anything else being different coming back to bite us in the ass after all is said and done.




Jeremy cut out steel plates to box the frame where the frame mounts would go on Wednesday. He made these frame mounts and got them tacked in once we knew the exact and final engine position. You can see from Jeremy's photos in a previous post these mounts all nailed in and complete. Also in this photo you can see the early Ford engine mounts (bolts and rubber bushings) we used. I got these from Carpenter's for $15 each.




And now, here he is. The man with all the plans. The man who likes candied yams. The man that's cooler than a fan. The man that can. The man wilder than Tarzan. Our very own JerBear James. Very dangerous and very cerebral. He is very dedicated to his craft (which is everything). And very dedicated to our club. He has taught me so much in these last three weeks. He's humble so he says 'I didn't do much, I just gave you the confidence to do it' but its been so much more than that. Frankly, without him, this would not have happened.

The thinker...


In the shot above, you can see the bridge mounts that go from the frame mounts to the engine. Very curvy and very sessy. After this shot was taken, we pulled the engine back out so I can paint the frame and firewall. He took the bridge mounts and will undoubtedly bring them back looking like works of art with holes and whatnot in them.

With everything in place in it's permanent position, we were able to pull meaurements for the driveshaft which will have to be shortened. I'm dropping that thing off later today. I'll go paint the rest of the frame later this evening. I'll be working on filler for the lower part of the firewall Saturday. If all goes well, it'll be painted before Monday.

There's still a ton to do. But the hard work is over. From now on its hot dogs and lollipops. Well, not really. But almost. I hope to try to get this thing fired up in a week or so. We'll see and time will tell...

 

Hahaha!! Jeremy said make a gay pose so I did my level best.

 

YES! so nice seeing that pink girl in there. wednesday was the first time I saw it in person and it was better than the pictures. I love the striping and the club logo, did you do that?

And I am glad the sweethearts thing is catching on

 

Thanks Kevin!! Pork Chop did the striping on the engine.

 

This truck is already awesome, it's going to be mind-blowing when it's all buttoned up!

That said, I think it has to be said- the Iron Lords are a strange group of people.

 

We are definitely an acquired taste
Some get us, some don't, but you wont find a better group of friends anywhere !

 

The drive shaft has been shortened along with having the Cadillac slip yoke added. Its 105* today. Too hot to do anything else for now...

 

Man who catch fly with chopstick accomplish anything.

 

Too hot for you, but I slaved away on your mounts.... Get em to the chroma!

 

Wow. Smooth-sexy shape. No holes! Cool.

 

Yea holes are for brian bass and race cars. They ruin the overall profile of parts with great shape to begin with. No need to over fabricate.

 

Heres the other side.

 

Damn Jeremy! Outstanding job.

 

Thanks dude!

 

Looks good terd. Me and my girls passed you on 52 after Heavy Rebel. Guess you were headed home. That truck looked pretty nice then, can't wait to see all you've done in person. That caddy is badass.

 

Well your taste in cars/trucks hits me just about right!

 

It's earned it - and it ain't even done yet!!!!

 

Thanks man! We put a lot of time and effort as a group into everything we build. Kevin is doing a kick ass job going above and beyond on this build. Everything you see is derived from his vision! and its turning out Pretty damn RAD!!!

 

Dude, those look AWESOME!!! You are magic!!!

Thanks! Come to one of our shop nights and you can sure see it in person!

Honestly, that's one of the things I'm most proud of about our club. Everybody's taste is well dialed.

Thanks!!! It'll be a little while before I'm done though. After the engine swap, I've got doors to fix up. Then a new bed. Then body work. Then shiny paint. With more chrome in between. It might be painted by next summer, lol.

Dude, you are going above and beyond! And thanks for helping me do a kick ass job! I'm so excited seeing my vision come to life.