Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Thanks guys. I'm glad you're following along on the slight detour on the '67. Hopefully we'll get back to the Twisted Little Sister fairly soon.


We boxed the original frame forward of the cut out section and welded the boxing plates to the new frame. We also had to reroute the exhaust. Here it's just tacked together. We should have the welding done soon before the weather gets too cool

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

I take it you won't be boxing both sides then?

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

No, the boxing only extends about 12" ahead and behind the section we cut out of the drivers side frame rail.


We finished most of the welding so we pushed the frame back inside out of the cold weather. Then we carefully lowered the cab and box down on the frame

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

That was some impressive frame fabrication!

Dale, is that a combination tonneau cover and tailgate? Very cool look.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

That last chassis photo really shows the extent to which you have to modify your life to get from A to Z with a modicum of coolness.

That's some serious editing of the original design just to fit it around you.

Amazed as always Dale.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Looks awesome

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Looking great Dale, she'll be done in no time

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Beautiful craftsmanship.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

That frame looks great, should be nice and strong for your lift.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Thanks Doug. Combining the cover and the tailgate gets the tailgate out of my way and it's different. :lol:

Thanks Rain. I find cutting stuff up and changing it to be the fun part of the build.

Thanks Pirate

Thanks Nik. Hopefully I'll get a test drive before the snow arrives.

Thanks DJ.

Thanks Lower. I think it will all work out.


Today we installed the rad saddle and both front fenders so we could check that we had solved our panel fitment issues. Good news, things are looking good.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

so is the cab modified too? or is that structure to lift your chair up?


** now I see why you are going with the extra long doors on the sub... I didn't really understand why at first.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Hi Jon The cab will be modified to fit the frame but I won't get to that until next spring.



We finally got the rest of the sheetmetal on the front of the 67 pickup. Mostly it fits ok but we have a large gap between the fender and the cowl. We decided to put the truck in the barn until spring. I also included a picture of the hand controls that I use. They are push forward for brake and pull back for gas.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

With the 67 truck put away we can get back to the Twisted Little Sister. So to start with we put the wheels back on and set it at ride height ( 4" ) just for fun.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Next we liked that so much we set it down where it will sit aired out ( 1" ). I wanted to keep it off the ground so it will always be drivable even without air. Also the Shockwaves have limited range so 3" from ride height to aired out is as much as we can get

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Dale, Merry EVERYTHING to you and your gang.

Good to see you back.

This build always makes me smile.

Looking forward to further progress.

I love the photo from 1/4 front showing the motor and stretchy front end.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Dale, this truck is going to be soooo cool when it's done and will definately be a unique ride. Great to see you back on it :thumbs:

Hope you and your family have a happy and prosperous 2017

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

X2!!!!!!

Cool hand control setup pic!! Are you or will you be able to sit in your chair as you drive or do you have to stow the chair and transfer to the trucks seat? Burb is looking great btw!

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Just awesome Dale... Happy new year too

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Amazing work - can't wait to see what's next. Really good to see you back at it!

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Glad to see you're back at it.
Way cool build

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Thanks Rain Happy New Year. The plan for the front is a bit undefined so far but I do like the big V12 sitting there.

Thanks Ian Happy New year. It's good to be back working on this.

Thanks Joe I drive from my wheelchair in all my trucks. It takes some modification to get my chair in but it's much easier getting around.

Thanks Pirate. Happy New Year.

Thanks Scott. What's next? Somedays even I don't know :lol:

Thanks Bomp I'm happy to be back and having some fun.


Just a day of welding and grinding on the tailgate. We still have a couple of days of welding to do on it. Tomorrow we'll probably work on the hood. I also included a couple of pictures of some Christmas presents my daughter got me. First is a patent drawing of a spark plug. Second are some cool Nascar race track patterns that she made for me.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Liked your daughter before......

Now I love her to bits.

What awesome, well thought through presents.

Funny how gold and jewels do nothing for me, but a well thought through gift just melts my heart.

Love the plug pic.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Sweet Dale Happy new year to you. Glad to see you back on the trucks they are looking great!! Did you make your hand control or is it something you legally had to buy?

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Thanks Rain. She is a sweet girl. I love her too.

Happy New Year Lower. I made the hand controls myself. Like most of the modifications I make I never bother to ask if its legal :lol:


We got some of the work done on the hood. We made a series of vertical cuts in the side then let the weight of the hood close them up and tacked them closed. We still have to reshape the bottom of each side as well as the front corners.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

I agree with you there!! There will always be someone who says "yup that's good" or "you can't do that". :)

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

After spending several days looking at and thinking about the hood modifications we decided we didn't like the direction it was heading. So we dug out another hood, a couple of fenders and a grille surround. We then mocked up the front end so we could evaluate some other options. The fenders and grille surround were moved forward 5 3/4 inches to center the wheels. I think we'll spend a few days looking at the front end while we continue welding on the rear gate

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

No doubt you guys will get it figured and fabricated. Enjoying the updates!

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Amazing how much thinking actually has to go into a build.

And as I have mentioned before on threads, the public has no idea about the days it takes to perfect just one line.

The last pic is starting to make me think "Hotwheels model"

That exaggerated stretch is working for me, along with all you have going on toward the rear.

Waiting in anticipation to see where this goes.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Cool!! What about extending the rear of the fender to make it work, leave the hood alone and build some kind of lip that goes from the top of the grill back to the hood? Just an idea.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]I agree on the "public eye" thing, the shows that are on do Not show the real deal on the episodes and the actual time lines.
It's false advertising!
The one show that stands out is "Counting Cars" A truck they built last season 52-53 A.D. 3100 series they claimed it was a few months and a issue of custom classic trucks came out that is was in,and it actually took 3 yrs!!
So why lie and make people think your a magic man when you are not. I know this will never change but come on!
Off my soap box now sorry guys!/FONT]

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Coming along nice!

How about sectioning the hood, adding the difference to extend and meet the grill support while doing the same with the rear portion of the front fenders. Just an idea.

Great work as always!

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Thanks A.D. i think we have a plan now.

Thanks Rain. While the public may never understand the work that was done, truck guys will and that's what matters.

Thanks Lower. We'll probably extend the rear of the fender but "leave the hood alone " you know we can't do that. :lol:

Thanks Reaper. I'll share your soap box and mention the large crews both seen an unseen that build a truck in 3 weeks.

Thanks AJC. We did consider stretching the hood but came up with a different idea.



I looked in my spare parts pile in the barn and found some GMC headlights. So we grabbed the masking tape and marked out some cut lines. After a few quick cuts we used some vice grips to clamp the lights in for a test. Then we bent a piece of sheet metal to extend the hood.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Dale, that looks great, love it already:thumbs:, I wish I had a barn like your's :lol:

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Ohhhhh yaaaaaa!!!!

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

I like! Getting a real strong C2 Corvette vibe from that.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Thanks Ian. A barn full of parts just means more projects to finish

Thanks Lower.

Thanks JJ. I really do like early 'vettes so maybe that helped with inspiration.


We continued cutting on the hood so now the center will be hood the sides will be welded to the fenders and the front will be part of the grille surround

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Looking good Dale, I like the corvette vibe. Now with the lights in the hood what are you going to do with the space where they were originally mounted? Some sort of custom grille?

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Great work as usual Dale . Nice to see the 67 looking like a truck again.
I like your hand control picture as I am always interested in seeing different types from different countries. As you know I fit them for a living .
Can't wait to see the sub build finished . amazing work

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Thanks Nik. We plan to make a completely new grille opening and put turn signals where the headlights used to be.

Thanks Martin. Any time you want to talk hand controls I'm interested. I use several different designs and have something unique planned for this truck


We decided we should stiffen the edges of the new panels so we used a hood brace and cut it in half . Then we clamped it to the top of the new fender and tacked it on

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

The front fenders we were using are really beat up so we decided to get some repo fenders that arrived this week. They look pretty good but the grille surround piece is installed wrong but that shouldn't be a problem. We also made a piece to reinforce the back edge of the new grille surround.