Projects My roadster pickup project.

WHIPLASH...........How have you been ? Long time no chat. I have got to stop in there, it has been a long time and I miss friends like you who are still there. I will do that.

Frank, I think this one should ride pretty well, it is heavy enough with a long enough wheelbase, and I will find out if our little experiment on the rear suspension works as well as I think it should when I take that first ride. So far it pushes around the shop pretty well.

Larry, as much of a picture taker as I normally am, it is a wonder I wasn't taking pictures of us cleaning. Usually if I bolt one little part on I am snapping pictures for my updates.

This coming weekend I might have some pictures to post, I am off work Friday and Saturday so my plan is to get some things done........maybe my battery box.

Don

 

Nice truck!

 

Ya Don quit makin us hunt you down!!!

 

Thank you.

Yep, I have to admit I needed a break from it for a while, both physically and financially. It is nice to be working again and have a few extra bucks to now move on to the next step. Dan and I were talking about it at dinner tonight, this Friday we are both off and will probably work on building a battery box and getting the fuel pump and fuel filter fitted to the frame.

Wish we had done this stuff in the cool months of Winter !

Don

 

It's good to see you back at it, Don. You and your son do amazing work. Your builds rival a lot of shops that post here. Keep at it.

 

You had better get. Your skates on and get some progress done, I will be over to inspect it in early October mate

 

Thanks guys. Steve, you would NOT like it in the shop right now, it was 95 in there today and I remember how much you hated it that warm the last time you were here.

I finally have some updates to post........nothing worthy of Tech Week, but progress none the less. I needed to get my battery box built so today I started on that. The first thing I did was pickup a battery from Advance Auto so I would have the dimensions I would need to make the box. I decided to go with side terminals this time because I didn't want the top posts to be near my metal tonneau cover. I think it will make a safer, cleaner installation.



For the framework around the bottom I cut up some 1 1/4 x 1 1/4 angle iron . Dan welded it up for me and I got it ground smooth.








Then we added two more pieces of angle iron 5 1/2 inches long to act as the back brace that will weld to the frame, and to brace it we put two diagonal pieces of 1 inch strap down each side. It turned out pretty good and strong. I was going to drill some lightening holes in it to make it look better but then it dawned on me that it will never be seen as it will be under a tonneau that is screwed down........and it is a battery box, how much detail do I want in a battery box? We still need to add some hold downs to keep the battery in place, not sure exactly how I will do that yet, but it will be easy.





When I blow the car apart we will weld the box to the frame, plus weld on a few more small brackets and then I can start prepping the frame and running gear for paint or powder coating.

Like I said, nothing fancy, but at least one more task is out of the way.

Don

 

Don I remember trying to teach Dan how to tig weld with a river of sweat running into my eyes, I've never been in a workshop that was so humid even with the AC on

 

Beautiful build.

 

Haha, I remember how fast you fled the shop to get into the air conditioned office, Steve. Florida gets pretty brutal in the Summer.

Thanks, Tommay.

Don

 

Don,
Hows the project coming?
Love to see your work.
Any updates?

 

Thanks, but it has gotten shoved into a corner for a while now. I am knee deep in making one new OT daily driver for myself out of two cars, (one with a nice body/blown engine and one that is wrecked but with a good drivetrain) and that has been consuming my life for the past several months. I should be wrapped up on that in the next couple of months and be able to get back on the rpu.

Every time I see it in the corner I realize how close the rpu is to being done, I just have to get the time to work on it. Thanks for following up with me though.

Don

 

Had you purchased a Caddy for your daily driver Don ? Is the engine blown in it or did you have a traffic accident , hope not the later mate ?

 

No, I bought one with a good body, bad motor, then found a wrecked donor with 50,000 miles on it, so I am doing a swap. My current one is getting a little tired, so I need to replace it with a newer one and this was the best way to do it. Just need to get it done so I can get back to the fun stuff on my rpu.

Don

 

Howdy Don,

Good to see that your doing something ... even if it's not on the RPU. Hope all is well.

How's Dans stang rolling along?

Paul

 

Yes Don, I am led to believe there is a build thread somewhere with lotz of pictures of it somewhere on the interweb ? Can you discreetly post a link to it please, oh, I am whispering too so not to upset anybody here.

 

Hey Don! Good to see ya around. I had some how never saw your roadster pickup thread over the last year or so, so I took a bit of time to read through the whole thing and I like what I see! Can't wait to see you back on it soon.

 

Come on old timer, get on with it

 

Don-

Do you have a thread where the cab was built for this? I looked in a couple areas and I picked up a cowl, you and your son show a lot of good images of the builds and would like to see how you did the cab for reference.

Thanks.

 

Mike, sorry, haven't been ignoring you guys, I just haven't checked this thread for a while since I haven't been working on the car since last June. I will get some pictures of the way Dan did the body and post them here for you.

I also decided that it was time to get back on this build. I was going to paint the frame and suspension but by the time I drag out all the painting stuff and buy all the supplies, it was just better and easier to have the parts powder coated. So, about a month ago I took the frame and 19 pieces of the suspension to our local guy with instructions to do the frame in a 60% gloss black and all the suspension parts in an off white. He is a little slow but does great work.

Today I went to get the parts and we first looked at the suspension stuff. I was blown away, it is exactly the color I wanted and flawless. So happy with it all. Here are the parts in white:









Then we went over to look at the frame and it was also beautiful, except for one thing...........it was WHITE !!!! For a while I actually considered leaving it white because it looked very 1960's but I am going to do the body in satin black with black wheels and need the black frame to tie it together. He is going to recoat the frame and I should be able to pick it up tomorrow.

But I am thrilled with the way the parts are coming out. Now I can start assembling the chassis for the last time ( still have to have the rear end powder coated and a few misc pieces though). But this will kick me in the butt to keep going on the car.

What is really funny is that the powder coat guy knew I wanted the frame black and he even did the part that goes under the spring in that color.



Don

 

Don - The parts look kick-ass my friend. It's good to see you back on it. I think you're correct on the frame ... the white might have been a bit much.

Keep us posted.

Paul

 

Hi Paul. A few of those parts in there came from the ones I got from you way back when. Took me a little while, didn't it ?

Don

 

About time as well old fella the white bits look great Don, look forward to seeing more.

 

Good to see this thread become active again!

 

That's what they were for my friend ... reclaiming for another project.

 

Good to see you back on this Don. Parts look great it will be nice to see them against the black frame.

 

Welcome back Don. The parts look good too. How did the heart transplant go in the daily driver, hope that wasn't the reason for the delay ?

 

Thanks, guys. Whiplash, yep, my daily driver project took a LOT longer than I thought, but it is done so I can now concentrate on this thing.

The powder coater kept his word and my frame was redone in black and ready to pick up today. Dan and I went over and got it and it is every bit as good as I hoped for.



I couldn't resist starting to put the front end on it and Dan gave up a lot of the time he was going to spend on his Mustang project to help me with it. Every hole had to have the threads chased to get rid of the coating inside them and we had to dremel lots of parts to get other holes opened back up to their original size. But we got that done and I am pretty happy with the way it is coming out.

This next week I will have my brake drums turned, they are pretty good already but while they are off I might as well do them. Then I can do a brake job and get the front tires and wheels on, as well as the tie rod and SoCal stabilizer. After that I am going to start disassembling the rear end to take it in for powder coating , as well as all the rear suspension parts.

Can't wait to get it up on all four tires so I can move on to repainting the engine and transmission, then having a driveshaft built. Then on to my least favorite job, body work.

Don

Here are some pictures of the semi assembled front end:

 

Damn that looks good Don. JW

 

Looking good. Glad to see it back on the board.
Later,
Dick