My Street Rod Project

[International Texan]

Hey all, I have read this forum for a long time and have finally got myself a project to build. I picked this 1960 up yesterday from an old farmer for $400. It has a straight 6, and a four speed on the floor. When I'm done with it, it'll have a 383 I'm building and a short step-side bed. I have a lot of work ahead of me to get this truck looking and driving the way I want it.

Picking it up:







Dragging it home:

[markeb01]

Welcome to the forum! I like your plan. Looking forward to the progress updates. Be sure to take a bunch of "before" pictures prior to taking anything off or beginning disassembly. It's alway a bummer lmonths or years later when all the work is completed, only to find there are no (or few) before pictures to show how much different it looks.

It sure is nice having big equipment around when moving dead vehicles!

[International Texan]

Yes it is! That truck was in the weeds and all the tires were flat. I'm still attempting to get it in the garage
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[McMurphy]

and !!

Have to echo what Markb said...
Lots and lots of before photos.

If you have never done this before, it is far far better to label things too much, than not enough in disassembley

These barn saves are the fun ones ......... I am in !!

[International Texan]

I've rebuilt several cars/trucks before, I grew up doing it with my dad. I have a "shop camera" just for my projects.
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[International Texan]

I got off work a little early today for the holiday weekend, so I decided that I would get my engine hoist from a friend and get the bed off the truck.



The plan this weekend is to get the frame chopped down to a SWB using a few threads I've found on the forum.

[International Texan]

After several searches between yesterday and this morning, I cannot find a LWB to SWB conversion thread that shows how to shorten a '60 frame with this X-member. All the threads I read either don't have it, or it's removed I guess.





I guess my question would have to be if anyone knows if I need to remove this X-member to shorten my bed, or if it just needs to be removed completely and the cross member portion where the trail arms connect reattached? There has to be a thread out there about how this can be done. Thanks guys.

[International Texan]

Anyone know of an article or thread to can reference?

[International Texan]

Measured 8" from the rear, and made the first cut!

[Jmorales3181]

Nice score on the truck! I like your bed lift... Yet another great way to use the cherry picker!
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[International Texan]

Yeah, gotta do what ya gotta do when no one's around to help out.

[International Texan]

Got some work done on the truck today. I started by getting the hood off, that thing is heavy to lift by yourself!





Got the fender extension and the wiper cowl off. I was surprised by how rust free it was.





Then I tore the broken windshield out, looking good for rust so far.

[International Texan]

Got a little done today. Had to air chisel the bolts off the front bumper because they were spinning when I put the impact on them. Then I got the driver's lower fender off.....fought me the whole way. Sorry no pics.

[International Texan]

More tear down tonight. Got the driver's door off, the seat out, the gas tank out, and the rear glass out.

As I'm sure you all can relate to, I'm seeing a recurring theme in this tear down....the more I remove from this thing, the more it fights me. I literally had to cut the seat out of it with my Sawzall. After I got it all out I started doing some rust assessment.



Anyone know if replacement patch panels are available for the door jamb and inside the cab?





Rockers and floor pans will need to be replaced.







Hack job on the transmission access panel.



Pulled the rear glass.



I'm eating this elephant one bite at a time.

[contagious102]

When can we go goose hunting,see the decoys in the back ground.!! Might be a two or three hour drive from Alabama.!!Lol. Truck looks pretty clean ,as far as rust.!!

[Jeff La]

Originally Posted by contagious102

When can we go goose hunting,see the decoys in the back ground.!! Might be a two or three hour drive from Alabama.!!Lol. Truck looks pretty clean ,as far as rust.!!

I wanna go, I wanna go, please

Your doing a great job, keep it up

[International Texan]

Thanks for the encouragement, I'm pretty motivated to get this thing torn down right now.

Yeah, those are some of my goose decoys. When October rolls around, they will be falling out of the sky.

Got some work done on the truck this evening. Core support and inner fenders out.





From what I read, these vent covers are somewhat sought after.







I didn't have the correct bit for these little guys to get the vent covers off, but it's nothing my left-handed drill bits couldn't take care of.



Got the steering wheel pulled out.



..and the heater box.

[McMurphy]

Those vent covers are indeed a find!
Remote controlled vents are sought after as well.

I modified my standard vents to remotes, and moved the cables to a central point in the cab.

I think you are going to have a great build here sir !!

Congrats and good luck

[International Texan]

Lol, it was your thread I was reading about those vent covers. I was very impressed with your ingenuity with your cable system.

Built a cab dolly a bit go when the kids were down for their nap. I might try to build that "cab adapter" for my engine hoist and get my cab off the frame tonight. Pics to come...
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[nigilroyboy95]

Do you have a step side bed for it?
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[da_bears_da1]

Subscribed. Lookin forward to watching this one. You seem to working fast.
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[International Texan]

Sup guys, I've been waiting for the brown truck to get here with my cab corners...they should be here mid-week. I cleaned as much out of the cab corners as I could, there was a lot of dirt and rust that came out. It looks like the cab mount perches will have to be replaced, they are pretty rusted out and two are pretty much broken. Will have pictures up soon during the cab corner install.

[Jeff La]

Man I'm waiting to see how it goes with the sand attachment for the pressure washer. I like the idea and will get one if it works out ok for you. Will follow along as you go, your doing great now.

[International Texan]

So, I was out in the garage and getting more dirt and rust out of the cab corners...

Drivers side...



And all the crap that came out of it...



Passengers side...



And all the crap that came out of it...



The Brown Truck dropped off this...



This weekend I should have the cab corners welded in. My main focus is chopping down the frame or cutting down the bed...I'm cool with either getting done. I've yet to find a "how to" to chopping down a frame with an X-member...guess I'll take a lot of pictures and document as much as I can for you guys.

[rmvlt1100]

There was a little bit of stuff in those corners. Keep us up to date with the frame project, looking forward to see how you do that. Hope those cab corners go good for you. I had to do a little cutting and adding some metal to get my one corner to fit. I will post a couple of pictures.





Keep up the good work.
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