Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Hi Ian. Some nice work going on here. Interesting thread... everything from pinstripes to pandas. I especially like the pinstriping on the steering wheel. I look forward to seeing more.

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Thanks Don :metal:
Johnny, thank you for your kind words :thumbs:

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

A quick up-date, I managed to finish painting the control arms yesterday, as usual I coated up the edges first,

Attachment 1420530

Then hung them up so I could get right round them, they got 2 coats of an isocyanate based 2 pack each, it dries really hard and wears well. (plus it's very shiney :metal:)

Attachment 1420531

Yesterday was really sunny so once they'd dried a little, I hung them in my green house to "bake" (DIY paint oven), to be honest I've been so busy with other stuff this year this is probably the first time I've been in there.:lol:

Attachment 1420532

I'm really pleased with the way they turned out, next job will be to fit the ball joints and start rebuilding the suspension

Attachment 1420533
Attachment 1420534

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Well my eldest daughter has just bought her first house (it's a bit of a fixer -upper) so this weekend I have been DIY dad.

I still managed a bit of progress though. Saturday I assembled the upper control arms, very straight forward once I'd figured out the ball joint (thanks to chevy_mike).

Attachment 1422932
Attachment 1422934

The upper control arm shafts are the perfect shape to clamp in a vice while tightening the bushes. I used a 36mm socket on an 18" power bar and they went together very easily.

Attachment 1422935
Attachment 1422937
Attachment 1422938

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Sunday I did the lower control arms, these were a little more of a challenge. I have a ball joint press but it was designed for English cars and just isn't man enough when it comes to Chevy trucks :lol:.

So I improvised, with a piece of a 9" axle case, a 42mm socket and a 10" G clamp, this is what my dad would call a ship yard fix, but it worked a treat.

Attachment 1422939

The shafts and bushes were much the same as the uppers, once again clamped in the vice and tightened. This time a 42mm socket and 24" power bar

Attachment 1422940

I was especially chuffed because I got them all built up without damaging the paint :metal:

Attachment 1422942

All assembled ready to fit.........as soon as I can find the next couple of spare hours

Attachment 1422943

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Looking good Ian if you weren't so far away I would drop mine off because you have done such a good job . It's great that you are ahead of me in your build . That way I get the heads up on how to assemble everything before I do it on mine .

A wise man learns from his mistakes a wiser man learns from the mistakes made by others

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Now why did I not think of that first......?

But to agree there with Martin, your progress is awesome Ian, and things continue to look great on your build.

I am currently getting the itch to start back on my truck as some of the recent distractions are winding down.

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Martins thank you, love the quote, I'm sure to use that myself, sorry I can't help with the control arms but the pin striping will be fine :thumbs:

Rian, thank you for the kind words, I must admit seeing the progress of others on this site motivates me to keep going

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Today I had taken the morning off work for my sons "school sports day. This ended up being cancelled due to the cold wet weather. It looks like summer may be over........... this year it was on June the 26th, between mid day and 3 in the afternoon :haha:

However every cloud has a silver lining, MD blast cleaning had collected my hood on Saturday to blast and prime it for me. About 10:00 they rang to ask if they could drop it off,
Oh yeah :metal:

Attachment 1423450

It looks even better now it's been blasted and primed, with only a couple of tiny holes revealed by the blasting. To be honest they are so small I'm not sure what to do with them I'm so used to bigger rust repairs!

Attachment 1423443
Attachment 1423444

I also managed to get the control arms bolted up on both sides, so not a bad day after all.

Attachment 1423446
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Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Nothing to do with my build but very nice
Today was a funny day. I work in Newcastle city centre on the Quayside, home of the largest Court in the Area and surrounded by Law firms and the cafes, bars and resturants that seem to go with them. You will also see every model Jaguar, BMW, Audi and Mercedes you could ever wish to see.

Today the monotony was broken by a really cool Captian America bike, complete with reproduction Pan Head and matching helmet :c2:

Attachment 1423824

And an even cooler (68 I think) short box C10, certainly brightened up my day:metal:

Attachment 1423825

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Looks like a rear bumper on the front of that C10.

I've always preferred Dennis Hopper's "Billy bike" over Fonda's.

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

X2 on the "Billy Bike" :metal:

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

X3 For the Billy Bike :metal:

Although I've always been a bit of a "Fat Bloke" myself, below are some pictures of my last ride, mods included Cyclesmith fat bars, 5 gallon tanks and a custom candy and pearl paint job (including Betty Boop) by yours truly.

Attachment 1424332
Attachment 1424333
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Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

The plan for the front was a 4 - 4.5" static drop with a disc brake conversion thrown in for good measure. After "researching" many of the posts on this forum I eventually went for 2" drop spindles and 2" lower springs. Living in the UK I can't simply go to my local auto parts store and pick up a few parts if I need them, so for this reason I've always tended to buy kits and the most comprehensive ones I can find. This spindle kit came from Tom's Classics and includes McGaughy's 2" drop spindles and 12" drilled and slotted rotors.

Attachment 1424674

The Spring kit is from POL and includes 2" drop springs front 4" rear and comes with matching shocks and hardware. Both kits were sourced through Langy's Rod Shop here in the UK.

Attachment 1424675

The "spot the difference" picture

Attachment 1424681

The springs and spindles were assembled using the "red neck" spring compressor (a trolley jack) and were a perfect fit on the new ball joints.

Attachment 1424682
Attachment 1424696

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

The rotors include new bearings, seals, nuts etc, you literally only need your own grease.

Attachment 1424705

The callipers include flexi's, pads, banjo bolts, even the copper washers.

Attachment 1424706

They all went together really well, I was very pleased with both kits, neither are particulary expensive but both (IMHO) are both great value

Attachment 1424712
Attachment 1424713
Attachment 1424714

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Awesome work...:metal:

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Ian, you really are busy building a serious keeper here.

Looking great, thanks for the update.

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Looking good , glad it went together well ,it's defiantly worth buying a complete kit . Keep up the good work it won't be long and you'll be driving it again

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

That paint job looks great! Its too bad you have to run that huge yellow license plate. :dohh:

Coincidentally, I have the same Hooker exhaust on my Softail.

Your front suspension / brakes are looking good. The drop is same as what I did. The one thing I wish I would've done was change to the newer control arms with the rubber bushings. Smoother ride and no maintenance.

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Thanks Don :metal:

Yep don't think I'll be parting with this one anytime soon (but would love an early Blazer to park next to it) :thumbs:

Thanks Martin, although the "to do" list is still very long :waah:


Thanks Johnny, I reckon dragging that licence plate around costs about 5 mpg :lol: I agree the later arms would be a better deal, the problem we have in the UK is finding parts :waah:

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Truck time is really limited at the minute, however, today I made a little progress. The POL spring kit comes with shock absorbers, the kit even includes new upper mounts. They are designed to fit on the original mounts and are intended for use with lowered springs. Mine were on "back order" and arrived a little while after the rest of the kit (which may explain the following).

Attachment 1426983


First up the bottom bush and crush tube were approx 3/16" too wide for the lower control arm, not the end of the world, I trimmed both bush and tube to the correct width and fitted the shock and while I was at it fitted the new bump stops.

Attachment 1426984

Attachment 1426985

Looks great................:m6: but there is a problem. With the suspension at full droop (sitting on the upper bump stops) the distance between the lower bump stop and the cross member (maximum upward travel) is 4 3/8", not including any bump stop "crush".

Attachment 1426986

The available travel on the shock absorber is 4 1/8" so the suspension will bottom out on the shock absorber. :(

Attachment 1426987

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Fully extended the travel on the shock is approx 4 5/8" so at about +1/4" it's less travel than I would like but it will (hopefully) be OK.

Attachment 1426989

I will need to make a couple of upper mounts, Paul Y has a decent design on his build thread :metal: so more likely than not I'll "borrow" his design.

I also managed to finish the steering today, fitting the new tie rod ends and adjusters. I was worried I might not be able to tell the difference between the old parts and the new :lol:, but I managed in the end,

Attachment 1426990

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Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Aaaaaaaarrrrrrggghhh !!!

You guys are so bloody good !!

Just read through your thread again, mainly because as I said on the phone yesterday, I wanted to relocate my battery..... That was the main motivation for the call.

Now looking at your suspension and steering rebuild...... I realise there is sooo much more to do.

By the way, your progress and fit and finish as always, looks great.


One of the things about this forum, regardless of whose threads we look at....... It is full of Inspiration.
Thanks !!

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Yep I second that, always learning;)

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

X3!!! :metal::metal::metal:

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Rian is looking to mount his battery under the cab as I did (it cleans up the engine bay :thumbs:) and has asked for a little more detail on my re-location.

I started with a side terminal battery so that I could get the battery as close to the underside of the floor as possible. The battery is 750 CCA so even in England where it gets pretty cold, I reckon more than enough for a my small block and at 10" x 6 1/2 x 7" fairly compact so ideal for slinging under the floor.

Attachment 1431758

I made a cardboard battery, the same overall size as the one I was using, so that I could try various locations under the truck and decide where it would best fit (so much lighter than a real battery:lol:) eventually deciding upon the passenger side frame rail under the cab. One advantage of this location is that it is nearer to the starter motor than the original location so you can actually shorten the battery lead.

Attachment 1431762

The carrier is a simple construction of 1 1/4" angle bar and flat bar, both 0.16" thick (4 millimetres) mounted to the frame with 5/16" stainless bolts (grade 8). I used button heads so they don't interfere with the battery.

Attachment 1431759
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Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Thanks Ian
Martin and I are just at McD's for a coffee then getting that Mazda blower then back into Operation Stack from Ashford and to his place followed by mine to pull my motor and box.

This is such a cool mod you did.

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Under the cab there is a strengthening rib which if you are using the same location as me will be your limiting factor. It runs rearwards from the front cab mount then it "kicks up", at this point you have the maximum height from the ground and about 18" from the "kick up" to the rear cab mount so you could actually fit a very long battery is this space. In my case the lowest point on the carrier is approx 8 1/2" below the rib and just under 8" from the rear cab mount.

Attachment 1431763
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The battery hold down is a piece of 1" angle bar with neoprene strips on the underside so as not to damage the battery case.

Attachment 1431766


A couple of other points, if you were to remove the section of the rib immediately above the carrier (and re-brace with something smaller) you could gain another couple of inches and probably get the carrier level with the underside of the frame rail. Mine hangs below the frame about 1 1/2" which gives me plenty of clearance ( Ill be running a 4" and 5" static drop) This would be fairly easy if, like Martin, your cab is not mounted. Also, if you slotted the bolt holes in the carrier you could load the battery at a lower position, jack it right up under the floor and then tighten up the bolts in the higher position, as Rian was saying when we spoke you really only need to remove the battery to replace it.

Attachment 1431767

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Sweet Battery Box mod...:uhmk:

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Speaking to Ian recently, he mentioned that he liked my Pallet truck, and if Iever saw one for silly money, he would be interested.

Today before work I popped in and asked if there was possibly another for sale, or for the guys to look out for one for me.

Lucky Lucky.... One found and bought for £10.00

Next trick will be to get it from Kent, up to where Ian lives.

Now it's UP......

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psxelmzawd.jpg

Now it's parked.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psa0nvl83b.jpg

Really nice thing, includes a foot operated pressure release to drop it down.

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Well it was a lovely sunny day in Northern England today, I would love to tell you that I took the truck out for a drive................:lol:

Attachment 1432903

But that would not be true (and won't be for quite a while). What I did do today was recieve some very nice, great quality renders from Chad (Hellaflush3d), I am very pleased with them, they give a true sense of how things will look when finished, right down to changing the colour of the spokes on my wheels :metal:

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Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Good to chat today Ian.

Just got in myself.

Obviously looking forward to all of us meeting up on Sunday and exchanging bits.

As you said, these renderings are rather spectacular.

I suspect you will be building your truck just like that.

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

As you said on the phone the other day those renderings look awesome

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Amazingly, I have a 320 BMW sedan as work car, it cannot carry the pallet truck, yet, Nicola's Peugeot 107 was up to the task tonight.

Now safely down at the garage Ian.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psw07ezlpg.jpg

Funny how things go.

Yesterday there were 8 of these 2 ton pallet trucks delivered as scrap to the yard, some of them work, and some needing minimal attention, one was brand new....... I never get that.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...pshjavcy1t.jpg

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Thanks Rian, just got to get it a couple of hundred miles north now

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Well, another good weekend has come to an end.

Today it was up to this.........

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psoa0aqmoa.jpg

Nicola and I had planned this day for some time and were not disappointed.

Met up with a few friends, including Ian Brown, Del and son Sam from Romford, Adrian from Milton Keynes, all C10 guys.

I also met up with Andy from Norfolk to buy some Dinitrol cavity wax that was left over from his International truck build, another nice guy with a good wife.

I decided to actually enjoy the show a bit myself with Nicola today, so only took a few random photos of 60-66 Chevy/GMC's in C10 format.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psbnmlodbt.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...pskr9mkqsi.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps2hpo2jc3.jpg

Del and son Sam were over I his Stepsise that he is turning into a full Patina looker.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psfybbmog0.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps0fjm8sxo.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psuwacsdg0.jpg

Adrian's truck, he fitted new rubber and wheels yesterday, I really love this look.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...pswmmejqf7.jpg

Mick, who I did not meet's truck with lovely Extang tonneau cover.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psi0swbgll.jpg

I want one of these Tonneau covers for my truck as well.

Just need to figure out which model and size will fit it correctly.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psyonrdvxx.jpg

Beauty of the day. Pretty bloody good I say.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psxwblvaq4.jpg

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

The Supernats is a great day, it's one of the biggest gatherings of Rods, trucks, muscle cars and (a few) bikes in the UK. It's also a great chance to catch up with friends you only see face to face once or twice a year. It's a long day for me (about a 4 1/2 hour drive each way) but always worth it.

I met Rian and Martin (in person) for the first time yesterday, Rian is easy to spot (it's the "trade mark" sandals)

Attachment 1434409

Rian pretty much captured all of the 60 -66 trucks, this one was definitely my favourite, the patina was perfect and as a "6 lug" driver I loved the wheels too.

Attachment 1434410

The cleanest truck by far was this orange '69 it puts my engine bay to shame.

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Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

There are also a growing number of traders and builders in the UK, which is always good new, particularly when sourcing parts. This 59 Apache was for sale by Farm Fresh, I loved all of it, even down to the (faux) ostrich skin seat, but at £28,000 (a shade over $43,000) it was sadly way out of my budget.

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Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

As mentioned earlier in the thread, I needed to make a pair of brackets to mount the top of my shock absorbers to create enough travel at full bump.
A visit to the shed turned up some laser cut tabs that I've had for ages (they were about £1 each from eBay) and a piece of 5/16 flat bar. Why buy when you can make? :lol:

Attachment 1434502


I used a set screw and 3 nuts to set the distance between the tabs, this is a handy trick as it not only sets the distance, but also the alignment between the holes and keeps the tabs square and parallel.

Attachment 1434503

Next just a simple case of cutting the flat bar to length and drilling a couple of 3/8 holes in each piece which will be used to mount the finished brackets to the frame. I will weld the brackets to the frame once I'm happy with the suspension travel.

Attachment 1434504

The tab assembly was welded to the flat bar. I find leaving the bolt on place until the weld cools stops any movement or distortion.

Attachment 1434505

Remove the bolt and "presto" a pair of shock mounts, total cost about £6 :bann:

Attachment 1434506

I'll get them painted and fitted this weekend.

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Of course with all the horse trading going on, on Sunday, this was another perspective.

Ian and Martin.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...pswfbnjjtc.jpg