Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

got my jet kit in the mail. wanted to get them installed today but I had plans with the crew. will work on that tomorrow. going to a drive in car show sat. it will be the first show for the death rattle. I'm kind of giggling about it. the guy that told me about it is the vice president of the 1st gen mustang club here. his cars probably worth 50k. I'm going to drive in with no hood, no passenger fender, and dirt. lots of dirt. should be a good time. I will post up some pics.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Filled unused firewall holes, ground down the welds and primed.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

And holy crap there are a LOT of holes in these firewalls! I looked at mine 50ish) and there were so many, but they looked like stock stamped holes. I went and got some photos on line and looking at them found that there were only 4 wrong holes! And sure enough they looked drilled out, the rest are original. My theme is basically an original truck so I plan on leaving them.
I may change my mind, I am thinking of cleaning it up a bit but I really want it basically stock looking.

Brian

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

as per holley instructions I ran my vacuum gauge into the cab and got reading at constant throttle. did it several times and now have a baseline. they want me to increase the jet and repeat the vacuum test. if the vacuum raises I increase the jet again until the vacuum falls or stalls and then I drop back to the previous size or down 2 sizes. my carb is small and has even smaller than stock jets. so I'm going to jump several sizes to start. I enjoyed the test ride though. ran well.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

ROFLMAO yes, there are!!! I accidentally welded up 1 that I needed to open up to 9/16 for the vintage air, then I grabbed the Assembly Manual and looked at both the old 56 cab and the 55 GMC to figure out all of them! With the copper metal flake I'm painting it with, (the car behind the Harley) the holes in the firewall wouldn't look right!

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

VERY cool color!

Brian

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

put in 72 and went on a 25 to 30 mile test ride. the hg stayed where it was so I'm going to drop back to 71s but not tonight. it ran really well. I was cruising between 60 and 75mp on the highway without a hiccup. the surface streets were pleasant driving as well. I admit I was in a hurry to get to the highway but it drove just as well on the surface roads. I haven't done anything to the secondarys. I didn't even open it up to see what jets are back there. its best to adjust one thing at a time and them adjust the rear jets based on the correct size mains. I did find some trash in the metering block when I was changing jets. I'm not sure if I was surprised or not. I cant decide. I'm going to add a second finer filter. the new air cleaner is so tall that its vibrating the wing nut loose. I'm going to add a lock washer. so overall great day. trucks running which makes me happy. I will be driving into the route 66 car show tomorrow. good times.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Nothing like those first drives!

Brian

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

I got one of the upper inner pieces trimmed to fit. I have to tell you, this is tough, the fact that it's double panel changes everything. I can't weld this piece all together and then put it in that I can figure, it's going to have to be welded into place piece by piece. So I am thinking I am going to do a butt weld with backing and MIG the whole thing.

I will need to get the outside all in shape, prime the inside then weld all these parts together inside, it's a toughie.

The other photo is of a little nibbler that I forgot I had! It was right in my tool box with the other air tools, geez, I could have been using this on a number of steps.

Brian

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

went to the route 66 festival today. the caliber of cars were much higher than I thought. lots of cool rides of every style. funny how amongst all the finished high end cars there people still took pictures of the deathrattle. trucks running really well. I'm pleased. got a lot of "nice truck" comments and thumbs ups. today I'm going to do the rear jets and probably get the 10 micron filter installed.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

It's so funny how with some things the mark has been raised, and in other things like general street cleanliness or being polite is on a steady decline and is the norm.

With the quality, without a doubt! A top notch show car from 50 years ago wouldn't even get a participation award today. I am so impressed with the super high quality of so many cars at just normal old local park kinda shows. And what is really cool is often they are home builts! With access to what we do over the net most anyone can build some pretty damn cool stuff.

Brian

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

3rd time is the charm. I had this piece done before, until it got knocked off the paint stand. I stripped it to bare metal and started over. It was too cool when I painted it the 2nd time and the base coat lifted in a couple places. I repaired the spots and sprayed some more color on it. No runs, no lifting and it layed down smooth. Then I hit it with some matte clear. I know it's a small victory, but I'll take 'em where I can find 'em...

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

I live in Minnesota, with 5 or 6 months of Winter there is a lot of time to work on them. There is an amazing number of owner built cars that easily rival the no expense spared, open checkbook pro builds. The time, dedication and level of craftsmanship is impressive, even more so when you consider that many of the builders work non-automotive related jobs.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Exactly, I love meeting those guys and chatting with them about the car.

Brian

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

I got the front jets finalized per holley instructions. dropped them down to a 71. I pulled the rear float bowl for the first time to install the new jets per holley instructions. the guy I bought the carb from said it only had a couple of hours on it. he said he bough it to start and tune his racing motor in the garage. he had dropped the stock main jets down to 64s and the rears to 62s! I have been researching jetting for a couple of weeks to make sure I get it right and have never found an application where the rear jets should be smaller than the primary. I have the correct size jets in there now. I'm going to put a hundred miles on it as it is and then move on to the two other areas I believe I can improve my carb. 1) when my secondary's open- may not need this. 2) tweaking my timing curve- probably need this. trucks running/driving great.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Put the right front fender on filled the radiator with the proper mix of anti freeze ran the engine up to temp checked to see if the ornigal heater core had any leakes and if the water controol vlave worked properly.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Had family over today so nothing got done other than cleaning up the garage. But, my brother in law brought over the custom bed rail end plugs he made for me. Now polished and ready for installation.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

duplicate post

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Right on!

Brian:metal:

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Yep, it's all torch, I am digging this so much! I was a little leery about gas welding this roof. It has gone unwelded while I have done all this other patch panels and what not, leaving this for last. Between just wanting to get some gas welding time in to get up to speed and out and out fear of doing it. I don't do this stuff anymore, I am WAY out of tune. Plus the fact that the original cab I chopped in 1974 this roof weld was a DISASTER. :eek:

But I can't tell you how easy this was for me this time, OMG this was FUN!

Here is the first weld in the first photo.

The one thing I did was modify my welding helmet to go down a bit further on my face so I could see properly with my bifocals. WOW what difference that made! That and my daughter gave me a strap to hold my glasses on my head, those two things changed everything. The last photo is my dad's Deer Antlers with the striker and welding rod (.030 MIG wire) hanging on it. Plus I was standing on a step that my dad made too. :D

Brian

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Welded the whole seam on the roof, all the welding on the chop is complete, outside of the inner piece. But this stuff is all done, I can't believe how smooth it went. I planished each weld with the roof going back into shape. I will do a little more to get it even better but right now it is very nice ready for a thin coat of filler, done deal.

While the roof was cooling in between welds I cut one of the last rust spots out and made a little patch for the inner piece.

Brian:sumo:

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Forgot the deer antler photo. :mm:

Brian

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

I wanted to make sure my secondarys were opening so I did the paperclip test. I ended up taking a long (50 miles) drive. when I got back I noticed the paperclip hadn't moved indicating that my secondarys hadn't opened. that's not good. I did a little more reading and the limited information I found said for the paperclip test to work you basically have to drag race. I went to the "track" and did the test again. I haven't had the truck running well enough to really push the motor. I did a small powerbrake and took off. man that was fun. the paperclip test worked and my secondarys are opening. in the name of science I did the test again. I powerbraked a little harder and burned my tires got a little sideways and ran that thing! I did that 3 or 4 times. it was awesome.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

sounds like a good day to me!

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

I wish we had a "like" button. :D That sounds awesome Evilokc.

I am walking up BEAT after planishing all those welds yesterday. Holy crap, my arms aren't use to that kind of work. I have a pnumatic planishing hammer but I am not real comfortable with it on a panel like this, maybe I need to get so.


Brian

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Working on 1 piece glass install alla Black Diesel method, only hadwindow panel and regulator in and out maybe 147 times, left door fell right into place, right door just fought me all the way.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Welded up the hole left from removeing rear channel

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

it was awesome! I keep finding excuses to take a quick drive and once I'm in I cant stop driving. ive gotten several " just around the block huh" texts from my wife when ive been gone an hour. good stuff guys. I hope your all in this position soon.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

How in the hell are you going to see through those wood windows? :mm:

There is a reason why the switched to glass.

Brian

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Where is the latch going to go?

Brian

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Lol wood was cut and used so i didnt break the window already, have time for that during final assembly, latch will cover the channel that holds thewindow guide on the inside

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Removed the rear fuel tank and finished the rear wood.Going to relocate the tank back to the cab.Attachment 1788306
Selling the tank and a hitch if any interest?
Attachment 1788307

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

After and before

Attachment 1788310

Attachment 1788311

Attachment 1788312

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

drove my truck to the gym today. everything worked great. however when I came out of the gym the truck cranked but wouldn't fire. I had 30 seconds of pure panic and confusion before I realized I had flipped my kill switch when I went into the gym. so the truck still runs great AND my kill switch works!

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Today's work was mostly tying up loose ends. The pedal has had excessive travel since I swapped the master cylinder. This simple master cylinder depth gauge confirmed my suspicions, the booster push rod was not properly adjusted. after cleaning up the threads I added a couple drops of blue Loctite and set the pushrod length to allow .005" of clearance. The pedal feel is much improved.

Since I was already rolling around on the garage floor, I decided to finish the heat wrap on the H-pipe and replace all of the puny stainless zip ties with worm drive hose clamps.

I also mocked up the tail light and license plate light wiring, just in case I need to drill any new holes prior to paint. After sorting out a couple of minor electrical glitches, everything works as it should...

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Good stuff guys! I love that bed, I can't wait until I am doing that too!

I got the little patch panel welded in, both inner and outer. And yes I cleaned up the rust and primed it in there.

I got my other pneumatic planishing hammer out changed the framing and went to work. I am blown away, I am friggin blown away I want to dance I am so excited with out nice that weld came out. It's solid, it's nearly perfectly shaped, OMG I could fine tune this method and metal finish something like this without any bondo, this is blowing my mind!

This day started out really crappy, I got a phone call from my boss to tell me a co-worker had died. A 34 year old guy, one of the gentlest nicest guys ever died of a heart attack! He died on the day his dad died about 10 years ago. I just sat next to this guy in a meeting a few days ago laughing, he was such a cool guy who was going through crap with a divorce living with his mom now, commuting 75 miles and almost 2 hours each direction to work!

He was dealt the crappiest hand over and over, all because he was a super nice guy. I can't get him out of my mind, thought I would go out and work on the truck (he was building a vintage Harley chopper) and work for him on my project. I can't get him out of my mind, tomorrow at work it's going to SUCK!

Brian

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

The long weekend stalled a parts order I'm awaiting so I found some busywork to keep me occupied. Reinstalled the right rear barn door handle and lock, and started restoring the left side hardware too. The long actuating rods were severely bent but with some patience straightened adequately. Replaced a broken spring on one of the latches, too.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

Finally got around to working on a few things. Mocked up the steering column power steering box. Welded a new bottom on the battery tray and checked for fitment.
:metal:

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

I'm digging the Chevy badge on the tailgate.

Re: What did you do with your truck today, Part 3
 

My five minute a day plan WORKS! I literally was planning on five minutes tops, I was beat, just five minutes. Just planning on cutting the rust area out of the inner panel and leave it at that. Well, I got moving and just couldn't stop. Got the piece cut out, the piece I made last night welded in, sand blasted, primed, and the outer panel fabricated and ready to be welded in tomorrow. WHOOO HOOOO!

Brian