49' Patina bagged in PA

[Advanced Design]

Looks good! I like the black water pump.

[99 to Life]

7-21 Well, my dumb #$s drove two hours round trip to buy a shop press and some other things of course and yeah didn't take into account my control arms wouldnt fit under it. So long story short, I couldn't press out the bushings, so my buddy came and grabbed them, got all 4 out in an hour, what a great friend. He didn't even torch em out.

Got gas tank coated. Top will be coated silver, bottom will be herculiner.

Got first coat of chassis saver on bottom of cab, gonna seam seal it then coat with herculiner, prolly spray it on. Top half of firewall will be epoxy primed and painted.

Got rear end back under it. Bags keep leaking down, I suspect these crappy plastic lines with fittings, need to soap n' water them. I'm going to run copper hardline on final install.

Up on the list is full stainless exhaust, clutch, put engine in frame. Going to be hitting this cab pretty hard in august, get dash back in, steering, pedals, hook up brakes, driveshaft, inner fenders need repaired and prepped for paint, start wiring hopefully in October, get it running driving, then work on interior, bear claws and all the little odds and ends, full air system etc.

here is engine link again. took plugs out to check gap as I was in a hurry and couldn't find my gapper, well dumbo move. I got plugs for a 99' vortec, bad move. came .060 gapped, I bumped em down to .42 or so. Carb I have which I'll tear into later is a 1405, not 1406 like I though, so its a little different and is know to run richer. So I put carb spacer on and I'll fire it back up for some tuning next week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZkIBKCT-xg oh, ordered up a fuel pressure regulator and gauge, retarded for not having it on there in first place.

[oldman3]

Really taking shape...Jim

[99 to Life]

here the bushings outta the a-arms, should have the arms coated and all put back together this weekend. so the trick my friend used was drilling out the bushing with little drill holes, then he was able to punch the center pin out. Then he used a chop saw to cut the bushing retainers down. Then he took a punch and mushroomed the retainers and chiseled them out. Took him about an hour to do all 4.

I'v seen guys and I have tried the ol bolt through and washer technique which when you tighten the bolt, pulls the bushing through. well that wasn't working out. If I had oxygen in my tank I coulda torched them out, but go figure I didn't. So anyway, little quick tip if you guys plan on removing the rubber bushings, which I highly recommend doing. I got the poly ones with sleeves and bushing retainers from summit for like $50.

[99 to Life]

well, I take that back about the bushings from summit. matter of fact be cautious when ordering s10 bushings from them as you wouldn't know if they were for 2 or 4 wheel drive by the title alone. So lesson learned with that and is the second time I'v ordered something with an incorrect title. So guy at summit was cool and sent me out the 2x4 bushings, go figure they are 75$ a set as opposed to 50, but he gave me ten bucks off and free ship.

Got some more parts coated and top coated, hoping to get control arms on monday. Got some stainless exhaust in, going for a full stainless setup including headers, though the mufflers I'm leaning towards some thrush but it never seems clear on which ones are stainless with them.

Got brake booster in so I can work up the pedals once I wrap this cab up.

Speaking of cab, jeesh fabbed up this inner cab corner piece. worked on the outer a little bit, I'll get more pics monday.

[Advanced Design]

Looking good 99. Are you going under the floor with the booster?

[99 to Life]

thanks 48', no I'm doing firewall booser. I don't mind a small booster on the wall, plus so much easier to get to and one less thing to worry about riding so low.

[99 to Life]

7-28 monday, summer is flying by. Got my poly bushings in a-arms. just used a vise to press them in, helps to just press the sleeve in first, then you can put the bushing in by hand. Got ball joints in, used my press for those.

Got one side wheel on, running outta time and wanted to work on cab. Spending a little bit more time on this cab corner than I like, as opposed to buying them, but oh well. Still have some finessing to do on it. Dang original sheetmetal has lead on it, so I kept wondering why welding new metal to it was sucking, low and behold I was scraping the lead or all metal whatever it is off.

Ordered up some stainless headers, hoping I can get them to work so I don't have to use the s10 v8 headers and so I can run full stainless system. Just chipping away with little money I get to spend. Should be ordering up brake line, fuel line soon so I can get that ran before cab goes back on. I have prolly a few more days worth of cab metal work, then onto the Herculiner.

[oldman3]

99, wow that cab corner was nasty, but your getting it in shape...Jim

[99 to Life]

thanks, yeah whole back of this cab is bad, here is another shot of the corner. you can see the inner piece I made here too. Only thing good on this cab was rockers and a tiny bit of the floor. I'v got like 75hrs in this cab so far, not including the 60 in the mangled dash. I'll whip this into better shape next weekend.

[msaintg]

looking real good. makes me think i probably should have replaced my bushings as well. I replaced all of the tie rod ends and ball joints, but missed the bushings. Nice to know about the different bushing for 4x4. the 4x4 ball joints are bolt on instead of press on too.

mike

[99 to Life]

yeah on my 51' I didn't do the bushings, did every other replaceable part and replaced almost every nut and bolt. I have the upper bushings from this kit so I can use them on my daily s10 and or my 51'. I'll prolly bag my 51' at some point and or my long term goal is to put it back on its original frame and use the dime frame on another build, so I can use the upper bushings at some point. Good to know about the 4x4 ball joints.

[IWanna49]

Man that cab is a mess in places! We're gonna have to start calling you the Blacksmith with all the metal work you do! Great work, great patience. Really shows what is possible if you take the time.

Greg

[99 to Life]

haha, thanks 49' yah know, all this was done by hand, no Ewheel or shrinker. though I will be getting those and a bead roller, just slowly getting the right tools. there are so many great builds and builders that don't have the best tools. all was done by hand once, now its just easier with tools. I really like working with metal and would love to learn all I can about it. on my 52' I'm doing, I started on some body parts a year ago and I'v got some hours in for sure, learning hammer and dolly is fun. I really would like a tig if I'm gonna work with 18-20g sheetmetal, but hey lotta guys still use mig too. This cab was bad, couldn't see spending $80 alone just in cab corners. If I bought every patch I could have gotten a better cab, but chose not to because I want to bring them back to life but as economically as possible. Next build, for sure will have a better cab!!! I'll have easy 100 hours into this thing.

[Advanced Design]

99 you are determined!

Since you are interested in metalshaping you should consider going to the MetalMeet event in Oblong, IL this coming October.

[99 to Life]

AD, thanks, yeah I'd like to go to some classes just for the heck of it. Gene Winfield (hopefully you guys know him) does classes on chopping. He did one right in my home town and I missed it. I am not joking on how busy I am and say I rarely have a chance to go do that stuff. Hard with family, a business 100 miles from them and working on my projects, all while having no financial help. I'v been working hard at my new life goals for almost 5 years, its still a struggle but I'm making progress. I'd luv to get my hands on the right tools to better my skills and save time, its in the goal list. Thanks for the heads up on the class.

Its amazing what info is on the net, once you get the concept you pretty much can teach yourself a boatload just from doing it, already learned so many things on this build. I'v been skateboarding for almost 18 years (def don't skate like I used to now) and it's the same concept, once you learn the basics everything stems off of that.

[99 to Life]

8-1 august already. Worked on DS cab corner, little more finessing and skimmed on some duraglass. Started on the back bottom of cab. Pretty happy with the turnout on that piece. I added the tiny lip and bead on it all by hand.

started working on other cab corner, patched the inner and made a piece for the outter. Taking a little different approach on this one, making it in several pieces instead of trying for an all one piece. Ewheel might help, but I don't have one yet. I shoulda just bought cab corners. I have prolly 10 hours in all this back cab work so far.

[99 to Life]

more pics

[oldman3]

99, nice job on the repairs....Jim

[sqrlnts]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

99 you are determined!

No doubt! Great job 99, keep it up. I could bang around and make noise for 10 days and not have anything close to your patches. Bang on brother!!

[99 to Life]

thanks guys I appreciate it. doing what I can with what I got. There is a time and place for most things. I really like patch work actually, just time consuming. I'v got like 85 hours in cab so far, so I'm def gonna be well over the 100 mark with painting interior and firewall. thats not counting the 60 in dash either. next project I hope to have a better body so I can get it done faster.

side tracking........
My 52' I'm doing (few pics attached, thread coming soon) I'v got 25 hours just stripping, metal work and epoxying this one fender so far. No filler used, just duraglass on some welds. all hammer and dolly, and shrinking disc, no fancy tools to make any of this.

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

thanks guys I appreciate it. doing what I can with what I got. There is a time and place for most things. I really like patch work actually, just time consuming. I'v got like 85 hours in cab so far, so I'm def gonna be well over the 100 mark with painting interior and firewall. thats not counting the 60 in dash either. next project I hope to have a better body so I can get it done faster.

side tracking........
My 52' I'm doing (few pics attached, thread coming soon) I'v got 25 hours just stripping, metal work and epoxying this one fender so far. No filler used, just duraglass on some welds. all hammer and dolly, and shrinking disc, no fancy tools to make any of this.

Yeah that is nice work! Fancy tools ....smancy tools...skill and determination win every time. Looks good 99.

[99 to Life]

48' thanks, don't even get me started about will and determination!!! a tool, the right tool or better tools make that will and determination a tad bit more welcoming. heck it even takes will and determination just to get the tools. thats never ending struggle there too.

[oldman3]

99, fender looks super...Jim

[IWanna49]

99 if you had a bunch of tools you could do one of these in a couple of weeks! As others have mentioned it's really cool to see what can be done with your hands and simple tools. Grat work and can't wait to see the '52 thread.

Tell me again when you sleep???