The Brown Truck

[SFTorange]

Ok, things are getting closer by the day. My body guy's slowly starting to work on the rest of the sheet metal, and I've been tying up loose ends like crazy. I have it running alright and finished running my a/c lines. I ran most of the wires under the hood through some braided wire loom to clean things up. Since my budget is maxed out, I picked up a slightly used Interstate battery from the local distributor for $25 (they resell batteries that were incorrectly replaced under warranty).

I'm not sure what I think about the late model steering wheel, but for $0 it'll work for now. I also test fit the black carpet and it seems ok. It might be a bit narrower than I'd like, but I think it'll be ok. I've had it sitting on a shelf for the last decade, so I have no choice but to use it!

[AZ66GMC]

Wow! Awesome progress

I haven't been on lately, too busy and no time for relaxing.... Your truck is looking great!

I have the same radiator from eBay and just installed it last weekend. It didn't "drop in" as hoped, but fit after modifying the lower and upper mounts... Dropped my temp about 22 degrees compared to the stock 3 row I had. I think it's a good buy and works as advertised.

Keep the pics coming



Tony
Posted via Mobile Device

[198plus]

Looks great !!!!!!!!!!

[SFTorange]

Originally Posted by AZ66GMC

Wow! Awesome progress

I haven't been on lately, too busy and no time for relaxing.... Your truck is looking great!

I have the same radiator from eBay and just installed it last weekend. It didn't "drop in" as hoped, but fit after modifying the lower and upper mounts... Dropped my temp about 22 degrees compared to the stock 3 row I had. I think it's a good buy and works as advertised.

Keep the pics coming



Tony
Posted via Mobile Device

Originally Posted by 198plus

Looks great !!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Guys!

[SFTorange]

I've spent the last couple of nights at bodywork fantasy camp. I talked the guy who's painting my truck into letting me help out after work. I mainly stand around and watch him work because it is so interesting, but I did grind off some of the paint and some unexpected thick body filler patches. It feels good to be moving forward.



My dad took on the project of finishing the bed wood. It's nice to have some extra help. The first coat of Epifanes marine spar varnish went on the underside. It darkened up quite a bit, but looks great.

[SFTorange]

It seems like every day there is something different to chase down. I had to talk the sandblaster into taking in and touching up my bed today because of the number of places he missed the first time around. We got it taken down to him and finished up today.

The engine compartment is pretty much finished up now. I got my windshield washer and wipers plumbed up and working. The washer has never worked for me, so it should be nice to have done.

Since my a/c is a custom install, I've had to place 4 separate orders for small parts to get the system plumbed up and working. Today I got a new fitting to finish the install of the trinary safety switch. I'm now ready to charge the system. The a/c will be nice.

The area inside my grille is pretty busy with trans cooler lines and a/c stuff, but it's pretty well covered up by the grille.

[SFTorange]

I loaded up the truck and towed it up to the body shop yesterday. The Suburban did a valiant job, she complained a little, but made it just fine.


Some progress at the body shop. The '66 Suburban fuel filler door is in. It looks like it was there from the factory. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the progress keeps coming.

[SFTorange]

hood, fenders, bedsides, various small sheetmetal parts in primer...

[pope]

So is the suburban next?!

[SFTorange]

Originally Posted by pope

So is the suburban next?!

That's up to my Dad (and his pocketbook) to decide! I think he plans to keep it as a driver for now. We'll try to fix up some of the rusty sheet metal, but it runs and drives great as is. I think it will be better classified as a "budget build".

By the way, is that your truck I see along I-90 in Belgrade every time I drive through?

[pope]

LOL yeah thats my truck.

[RoyL]

Originally Posted by SFTorange

Finally getting around to posting my progress from the weekend. I kept picking away at the wiring, and got a bunch of small things done. I installed my inner fenders, modified the fan shroud, and got the engine compartment pretty much installed.

What fan shroud did you use?

[SFTorange]

Originally Posted by RoyL

What fan shroud did you use?

I used the original V8 fan shroud, but since I moved the engine forward it had to be trimmed pretty extensively to fit.

[Dinos63]

NICE BUILD !!NICE WORK

[SFTorange]

Originally Posted by Dinos63

NICE BUILD !!NICE WORK

Thanks Dino! It's a bit different direction than some of your builds, but up here in Montana, stock height is a necessity in some situations. Maybe someday, I'll have polar opposite builds and have a dropmember twin!

[panelrodder81]

Originally Posted by SFTorange

I used the original V8 fan shroud, but since I moved the engine forward it had to be trimmed pretty extensively to fit.

We had to do the same thing on my dad's 64 C20. He swapped the front suspension in from a 73 Chevy and the motor mounts pushed the engine forward two inches. Had to notch the stock shroud in a couple different places on top and almost all of the lower part for the power steering and the crank pulley.

Truck looks amazing. The quality of the build is fantastic.

-Panelrodder

[SFTorange]

Originally Posted by panelrodder81

We had to do the same thing on my dad's 64 C20. He swapped the front suspension in from a 73 Chevy and the motor mounts pushed the engine forward two inches. Had to notch the stock shroud in a couple different places on top and almost all of the lower part for the power steering and the crank pulley.

Truck looks amazing. The quality of the build is fantastic.

-Panelrodder

That's exactly what I had to do. The shroud ended up kind of flimsy, but I'm considering adding electric fans someday anyway. I have a wire stubbed in already, and a trinary switch for the a/c when I'm ready. I figure it'll clean up the engine compartment a bit more when I do.

Thanks for the compliments. I'm hoping for more progress in the next couple of days.

[SFTorange]

Well, no more progress this week, but I'm told that things will continue over the weekend. I've spent way too much time trying to get the fabric delivered for the seats (upholstery supplier was slow to ship, and messed up my order when they did). The bed wood is progressing slowly, but needs to dry 24 hours between coats.

The end is near, but it has never seemed so far away.... Time to sit back and try to enjoy the process.

[66-PMD-GMC]

Originally Posted by SFTorange

Well, no more progress this week, but I'm told that things will continue over the weekend. I've spent way too much time trying to get the fabric delivered for the seats (upholstery supplier was slow to ship, and messed up my order when they did). The bed wood is progressing slowly, but needs to dry 24 hours between coats.

The end is near, but it has never seemed so far away.... Time to sit back and try to enjoy the process.

I am curious, are you building this truck or having it built? Just curious.

[SFTorange]

I've built the truck myself. As I've said before, I'm having the body work done by someone locally, and my uncle is covering my seats for me. My dad is helping out by coating the bed wood. Everything else except building the engine and transmission was done by me. I've spent hundreds of hours in the shop so far, and more to come!

[66-PMD-GMC]

Originally Posted by SFTorange

I've built the truck myself. As I've said before, I'm having the body work done by someone locally, and my uncle is covering my seats for me. My dad is helping out by coating the bed wood. Everything else except building the engine and transmission was done by me. I've spent hundreds of hours in the shop so far, and more to come!

Yeah I was just curious because you said you were told progress would continue over the weekend.
Nice build.
I am doing a swb frame conversion at the moment but it is freaking hot out today. The sun is brutal.

[SFTorange]

I thought I'd say a few words about the American Autowire classic update harness I used. I was very impressed with the kit, customer service was very responsive, and although expensive the Delphi crimpers for the factory GM terminals did an awesome job.

Here's a pic of what was left when I finished. I have almost as much wire left over as I have in the truck! It was nice to have a lot of flexibility to run the wires where I wanted.

[SFTorange]

I've been assisting at the body shop this week, and things are moving forward.

My tailgate had some dents and pinhole rust spots, so we had a couple of patch panels bent up at the local sheet metal shop. It's going to turn out really well.



I made sure to put a bigger drain hole in my newly repaired fenders in order to keep the usual rust gremlins at bay.


We worked on some final sanding and masking in order to jamb out the fenders, hood prior to installation. He's going to paint the truck assembled in order to avoid inconsistency between colors on the different panels.

[66-PMD-GMC]

Originally Posted by SFTorange

I made sure to put a bigger drain hole in my newly repaired fenders in order to keep the usual rust gremlins at bay.
Attachment 778907

There is an inherent engineering defect in the 60-66 that lets the front tires spew rain, mud, slush etc. all over that area of the fender.
I think coating the entire inside of the wheel well with a rhino coat, sealing the crap out would help A LOT....
Looking at it assembled I am not sure the "drain hole" does anything at all. Anyone have ideas on that?

[SFTorange]

What happened to my fenders is that mud packed up the entire open cavity behind the support brace after it plugged the tiny drainage hole in the area. This then led to rust issues. I opened that hole up so that I can run water down from above to wash the area out on a regular basis. There is access from the top side of the fender where you can flush the support area out.