pdx-sanity66
 

Hi everyone. I've been a member here now for 1 year this month so I thought it was time for me to start a build thread. I've posted some pics on various threads and threw out a few comments and opinions but I want to get things more organized as to what I'm doing and where I'm going with my 66 long bed fleetside. I am going to give a little retrospective and bring things up to date as to what I've accomplished so far.
I got the truck about 12 years ago from the son of the original owner. He had died and the son didn't have a desire to keep the truck. I was leaving my girlfriends house (now my wife) one day and it was parked on the curb in front of a house just down the street with a for sale sign and a price of $675. I have always loved this body style truck and I couldn't resist. I paid the guys price and drove it to her house. The first pics here are the day I drove it there. It was a completely original, unmolested truck with a 135000 miles. Everything was intact on the truck including the owners manual in the glove box. No extra holes anywhere and very little rust except some in the normal places. The bed wood was totally rotted out, though, with a piece of plywood in it's place. the drivers side of the seat was shot, with a couple of springs broke and some padding stuffed in to make it usable. The rest of the seat was like new and the build sheet was still in place on the underside. Built in Fremont, Cal. and sold at a dealer here in Oregon.
I drove the truck a little for a few yrs but the clutch went south and I parked it. I didn't really have the time or a place to work on it at the time.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

When my wife and I got married, we bought another house, which had a nice double garage and the truck was taken out of the weather and moved into it's new home. I was still raising kids and had a lot of other stuff going on at the time so the truck sat this way until the summer of 2008 when I finally had the chance to get serious on the tear down and rebuild. My plan was always to do a full frame off once I got started. I was limited on space because I had to share my garage with other "stuff" so I decided to tear down the front end first, then turn the truck around in the garage and do the rear suspension, etc., then rearrange things and pull the cab. Then I could complete the frame. Once the frame was pretty much complete, I would then start on rust repair and body work.
I managed to get the front end torn down to bare frame and the frame rails painted. I used Eastwoods Rust Encapsulator with a top coat of their Extreme Chassis Black satin paint. All new ball joints and control arm bushings were installed.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Just as I was going strong, in November of '08 I was laid off from my job. I knew in order to be able to get another reasonable job in this lousy economy I was going to have to get in school and get a degree in something, so in January of 2009, at the young age of 56, I was enrolled in college. With all the homework and classes the truck had to pretty much go on hold again. I did have some money saved for truck stuff so I got the okay from the wife to go ahead and purchase a complete Grand Slam Kit from CPP which included 2 1/2" dropped spindles, front discs, 1" dropped springs, front and rear dropped shocks, and 5" dropped rear springs. But it was going to be very slow going on getting anything done for the next couple of years.
Finally in the spring of 2011 my class load was lessening as I was close to graduation so I was able to get started on the truck again. I started assembly of the front end parts. I hung the manual steering box back on but the plan was for power steering.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

During last summer I was finally done with school so I got quite a bit accomplished. I decided on a name for the truck and this build thread. Through all the stress of unemployment, going to school, and still having trouble getting employment after I finished school, the thing that kept me grounded and kept me going was my ability to go out to the garage and work on the truck and forget everything else for a while. I feel the truck kept me sane (well as sane as I can claim to be :bann:) so it is officially the Sanity66.
The next thing to do was get some wheels on Sanity and get her turned around in the garage to start on the rear end.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Bed and rear suspension removed. Cleaning things up.

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Rear clean up and painting continued. I also bought and installed new 5 lug chrome moly axles from Dutchman Axles and new seals and gaskets for the rear end.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

I relocated the rear shocks using an idea that member FrizzleFry came up with. I also fabbed up the rear fuel tank before painting the frame rails. I am using a 64-66 f#$d mustang tank. I relocated the rear crossmember and trimmed the top of the frame rails slightly for fit. Very little hang down with this set up. Completing the rear suspension build was a new adjustable track bar and new trailing arm bushings.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

At this point the front and rear ends are done except finishing up the brakes and installing the power steering gear. So I put the wheels back on and gave Sanity66 a breath of fresh air before the cab removal was started.
There's still some more catch up to do. To be continued.....

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Very nice looking truck, and what a good deal. It looks like a real nice solid truck. Your doing some nice work on it so far. Keep up the good work on it and keep the pics coming.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

PDX

It looks like your doing a great job. I like the name (Sanity 66) when I'm working on my 66 I'm in my own world.

Keep up the good work

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Thanks you guys, I have followed both of your builds and they have given me inspiration on mine. This is the first frame off build I've done and it can be a little overpowering at times so I get a lot of motivation watching your progress.

Continuing with my retrospective, my next step was to tear down the cab and get it off the frame. I built a cart of sorts to wheel the cab around in and got my son and a couple of his friends to help me lift the cab. I then started the cleanup of the remaining frame section, removed the trans crossmember, and ground the rivets off of the center crossmember but put a couple of bolts in it to hold it until I'm ready to either buy a new one or flip the old one. Could anyone tell me if there are any cons to just flipping the stock crossmember? I noticed that the astronaut was talking about this on his goldilocks build.
By now the weather was too cold to paint and still being unemployed I couldn't afford to buy anykind of heater so things slowed down quite a bit.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Looks good. What did you use to get rid of the rust and crude on the frame. Also what did you paint the frame with.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Here are the cab rust issues I'm dealing with. Not too much really. The doors are solid, the rear cab corners are good. The outer rockers are not even too bad but The floor need some attention and a little on the kick panels on both sides. The air vent cover on the passenger side was actually the worst rust on the cab but I was able to get a replacement from one of our members 63sbssbbw. The deal he gave me went far and above what I would have expected and epitomized the good will that I find on this site all the time. Thanks again 63sbssbbw.
My original plan was to send out may cab and have somebody do it for me but after checking costs, weighing my financial position at the time, and seeing to many of you jumping in and doing it yourself with great results, I decided to give it a go. My Christmas present was a new MIG135 from Eastwood and I have been practicing this winter. I'm about ready to give it a go on the actual body panels.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

I just used wire wheels, stripping pads, and a lot of elbow grease. I used Fast Etch solution on the bare metal after that and in a couple of small, hard to get at areas I coated with Rust Converter. Then it was 2 coats each of Eastwoods Rust Encapsulator and Extreme Chassis Black satin. It seems to be very durable.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

This pretty much brings me up to date on where I'm at on my build. The best news and the reason I thought I'd get a thread started is I finally got a job. Now I will have money again to put in to Sanity66 and get some much needed parts and supplies. I've got to get some patch panels; primer, paint, and some parts to finish the frame; and get busy. It will soon be warm enough up here to paint and that will help me get going again. The down side is also having a job will mean less time to commit. I'm not in a huge rush, though (too old for that), but will try to make progress and post pics as I do.
the last few pics are of my radiator support which was rotted on the bottom mount area like most are. I had had a hard time locating a good one on my unemployed budget and I've read the nightmare scenarios of the repops so I decided to practice my welding and see if I could repair it. Worst case is I would waste some time, gas, and wire and have to find another support anyway. I'm not done yet but here's the progress. I also picked up a power steering gear and pump so I'll be ordering an adapter plate from Captainfab very soon.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Looks great,glad to see you starting your build thread. And congrats on finishing school and getting back in the ranks of the employed!
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Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Congrats on the job and the truck is making solid progress (I wish mine was :lol: )

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

wow nice clean truck looks great!!

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Thanks guys! I just finished a 4 day, 12 hr. work week and now I have 4 days off. The weather is improving and I'm hoping to make some more progress.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

I haven't got a lot done the last few days. I'm still finishing up a remodel of one of our bathrooms, but I did manage to wheel the frame out of the garage and clean up some. I also worked on the radiator support and I cleaned up what was left to do on the frame rails. I'm still torn on whether to flip the center crossmember or order a new dropped one. I'm leaning toward the new one because I want the exhaust cutouts and I really don't have the means to cut ones out of the old crossmember and have them look decent.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

pdx, glad to see you getting some work done, and made a build thread! i had to paint my frame the same way in stages, i now all about being laid off! i was laid off for 15 mths., thats when i got a lot done on my truck as well, started working again and progress has slowed down!! anyways nice work and keep it up!

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Thanks Chad, the only bad thing is when you're laid off money is short but when you're working time is short. Oh well, just gotta do what you can.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

It is looking really good. Congrats on your new job and good luck on it working out well for you and your family. Great to see that you can do some more work to your truck.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Thanks, man. It's a slow process but satisfying to see progress as it moves along.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Thanks for starting the build thread. What a great looking original. It must have been fate that put it right in front of you like that. Nice to see so much progress in spite of everything that gets in the way. It’s good you had a plan. It’s easy to tear down too much all at once and then become completely overwhelmed when it sits in pieces for too long at a time.

A minor suggestion, you might want to check the positioning of your rear shocks. Unless they were designed to be installed this way, they may be upside down which will negate their effectiveness. In the old days before gas shocks, we used to “bleed” shocks before installing by turning them upside down and cycling the shock, then turning them over and doing it again several times until they became really stiff. In the upside down stroke the internal valves were designed to have almost no resistance at all. Although I suppose shock design could have changed since then.

Are you going to keep the original engine and transmission or make any modifications? And congratulations on the new job! Again thanks for sharing the pictures and the history of your truck. I’m sure there are more than a few of us that find working on these things therapeutic.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Thanks Mark. You know I didn't even think about that when installing the shocks. I am used to the ones that have the piston covered but after you mentioning it and thinking about it some more you might be right. I'll check it out.
I'm going to go with a fairly mild GM 350 crate engine and I'm still deciding on a trans. The trans is coming down to how much I have to spend when the time comes. I was determined at first to stay with a manual and getting 5 or 6 speed but lately I've been considering maybe going with a 700r4 auto. I've always went with the idea that a truck or hotrod needs to have a manual but I'm getting older and lazier and an automatic is starting to sound better.
Right now I have to concentrate on finishing up the painting on the frame so I can finish the brakes and run the brake lines, emergency brake cables, and the fuel lines. Then install my front sway bar and get an adapter from Captfab and install my power steering gear. In between all that I'll be starting some rust repair on the cab.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

I don't have too much progress to report. I abandoned my radiator support repair because I picked up a great rust free one from Perro13 here on the site.
I welded some patches on a couple of small areas of rust-through under my passenger side fresh air vent cover and prepped the area to weld in the rust free vent cover that I got. And I started cleaning and stripping the driver side floor area and rocker to find out what patch panels I'm going to need to pick up. The outer rocker appears to be in great shape. I can probably get away with just some minor patching on it and it will be good. I'm going to remove it, though, to check the inner rocker and the floor section that needs to be replaced. Very little rust through on the floor here but a lot of pitting. My main area of repair on the driver side is the seam area at the floor to firewall junction and a couple of areas above this seam, and a small area in the corner of the floor to kick panel area. I'll try to get some pictures posted up tomorrow.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

I removed the center crossmember today and cleaned up the last of the rust on the frame section that was under the crossmember. I gave the whole center section of frame rails a soak of fast etch, neutralized it, and then shot 2 coats of Eastwood's Rust Encaplulator. A couple of coats of Extreme Chassis Black Satin tomorrow and the frame painting is finally complete. I also ordered a new dropped center crossmember from CPP.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Nice progress. What a solid truck, keep up the great work.
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Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Looks great. Amazing how much work goes into rebuilding an old truck.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Stress of my Father-in-Law in major accident and death of mother-in-law and all the crap that goes with it just about took me over the edge. That's when the search for my lost 65 began. I knew I needed an outlet. So I sympathize with the name you've chosen. Many in these forums have stated their truck is therapy.

Thanks for giving us a peek into your personal life.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Thanks guys. I was real happy that the weather cooperated so I could get the last of the frame painted. It was keeping me from moving forward with my plans so now that it's done I can finish brake lines, crossmember, etc. My plan for the summer is to get the cab floor finished so I can coat the bottom of the cab and set it back on the frame. That will give me more room in the garage to start body work and fitting fenders and panels.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Since I was really little, until even real recent, the older fella three houses down from my grandparents had a gold truck just like yours.
Keep a good coat of wax on it, and put off painting as long as you can. That gold is so nostalgic.
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Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Wow,great work Brett
I think you and I are at about the same stage..
LOL and in about the same time frame.
Looking good,keep at 'er
Trent

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

The Brown truck came for a visit on Friday and delivered my new dropped center crossmember. I got it installed today.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

I cleaned up my 1 1/4" sway bar today and got a coat of primer on it. I also went to O'Reilly's and picked up the Moog sway bar bushings and new brackets. I had already picked up the frame brackets awhile back so as soon as I can get some paint on the bar I'll be installing it. I've got 3 12hr shifts of work ahead of me so it will probably get done on Saturday.
Next up will be getting brake shoes, drums, and hardware for the rear end, installing at least part of the emergency brake cables, and then plumbing the brake lines.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

nice work !

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Thanks Dino. I've got a lot of inspiration from the great trucks you've built and I'm looking forward to watching your newest one come together.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Great work!! I like where this one is going! That gold paint looks good too, you keeping it? Can't wait to see more!
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Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Thanks man. I am a big fan of your work and even though I'm not close to having the skills you do I try to make things the best I can and I'm having a great time doing it. I'm still not sure about the gold paint but I need to be making up my mind soon. I'll be to the stage in the build where I'll need to soon.
When I was about 14, my neighbor had a 63 Chev Impala in light blue with a white top that I fell in love with and I've alwayts wanted something in that color combo but never have, so my original plan has been to go with a light blue Hot Rod Flatz with white around the windows and the front and rear bumpers, and then the light blue on the roof. I was thinking of the earlier years silver for the interior with black seats, carpet, and accents, but the gold is starting to grow on me so I'm torn.