1960 Chev build.....slow build.

[Dino Driver]

Fresh out of the Marines in 1989 I decided I wanted to build a truck. I learned how to drive in a relatives 1965 Chev P/U back in Nebraska when I was 14. We were miles from anywhere and had been driving for over 30 minutes. My cousin points a well worn white truck in the field and says drive it home and don't kill it cuz you probably won't get it started again, oh, and I hope you remeber how to get back beings that it was my first time in that place. That was a start of a love affair with 60's vintage trucks! When I bought this truck I thought it was the coolest thing around and now I look at the pics and wonder what was I thinking!

[CVA59]

It still is a cool truck. All these old trucks are cool to me no matter the condition. I guess they are like a fine wine, just get better with age.

[Captainfab]

Welcome to the forum

What are the plans for your truck?

[Dino Driver]

The first set of pics I put up are from 1989. He looks great after 2 days of scrub brush and elbow grease. A friend knew I was looking for a truck of this era and called me late one afternoon telling me he found one but we had to move quick. We got halfway out to the guys place when we saw them on the road, pulling it with a rope. Apparently the owner of the property told the guy to get rid of the truck that had been sitting under the cedar tree for 6 years. I ended up getting the truck for a $100 but I had to take over duties as the pilot. My neighbors were not happy with me, nor was my father, who told me I could not park it on the property. It took me a couple of weeks to sort out the electrical problems and with the help of a neighbor we drug the truck around the neighborhood while I dropped the clutch to get it started. It would not start by cranking the starter. It had a 235, 6 cylinder which didn't take long for me to find it was really tired. After doing some background checking I found that the second owner of the truck was a friend of mine from bowling. The guy I got the truck from never registered it and only bought it for the tires he never used and were by then, cracked out. So I am the third owner. In the glove box was every registration ever put on the truck, including the temp registration from when they drove it off the lot brand new!

[Dino Driver]

After some research I proceeded to get a mouse motor (283) as my first build. It came out ok but I knew this was not the last motor I was going to put into the truck. My first mistake was to ditch the 235 6 cylinder. I had all original parts and accessories as the pics above show, I even had the toilet paper oil filter and oil bath air filter.

[LeftCoast32]

Great Truck!! Semper Fi!!!

[structures]

Nice truck keep us up to date.

[Dino Driver]

After looking at my poor truck outside, covered with snow I decided to get back to working on it.

[Dino Driver]

After taking most everything apart I found my job was going to be more difficult than I expected. The rusty floors got more holy!

[Dino Driver]

I'm glad there are a lot of options for tins but some things weren't available when I started so I had at least one difficult panel to make from scratch, drivers side footwell panel.

[Dino Driver]

Getting some sheet metal progress.

[Dino Driver]

I found a guy who had the small hump peice for what I thought was cheap. Once I got the engine and tranny I wanted I wasn't sure the small hump was going to fit anymore. I am putting a 1964 frame under my 1960 cab and to see if the small hump will work I had to cut the front cab mounts off and weld them onto the '64 frame.

[Dino Driver]

Doing the layout turned out to be interesting. I took a bunch of measurements from the donor 60' frame before cutting the cab mounts off and I verified the my measurements with the factory assembly manual...they don't match. fortunately the measurements between the 2 frames do so I went with my notes.

[Straw Rube]

They do look like brothers!

[Dino Driver]

I spent a good portion of a day going through Modges build and looking at updates of Bomp's build. Modges talks about the death of a thread and he's right on the money. I have pushed my truck around the garage for better than 2 years, mainly because I have a new lady in my life. Fortunately she and her 17 yr old son are into trucks as well so that removes one bad thing from the Modge list. I have a bunch of work to redo since I was impatient and didn't do things correctly. The that gets me the most is the floorboard I did with the rocker panel out only to find I shrunk the floor by 1/4" and the new rocker won't fit on. In one of my sessions to teach the youngin about cars/trucks we got onto the subject of differentials and drive lines. The video was incredible but it didn't cover a couple of things. They say that if the output of the tranny and the input of the Diff are at different angles that portions of the driveline will travel faster than others. So my question is, if you have a slip joint on a 2 piece driveline does this problem go away? With the setup I have going I think a 1 piece driveline is out.

[Modges'66]

Talkin' bout me & Bomp behind our backs eh? LOL!
THANKS ALOT!
I think that what you are referring to in regards to the driveshaft angles is...Now let me see if I can explain this properly...If the tip angle from your transmission to the driveshaft is at 5 degrees downward, then your tip angle from the rear-end to the driveshaft must also be at 5 degrees but upward, otherwise it can create vibrations or premature wear on the u-joints.
The angles must match each other.
To be honest, I have no idea what the advantages are with a 2-piece driveshaft...Except more u-joints to replace. LOL!
I see no reason that you cannot use a 1-piece driveshaft!

[1963c-10]

Glad to see the build back under way!!

[Dino Driver]

The driveline issue came up because of this corny trainer video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4P75ZQvpws

Modges: Nice skills! Body work is my downfall....might have to destroy some panels before I figure it out.

Thanks for the support 1963c-10!

[pdxhall]

Hey fellow Portlander. When you said slow build you really meant it. It's good to see you back at it. Good luck.

[Dino Driver]

I was finally able to find a nice bed for my truck for a good price. Met LT1 Burb and he is a well skilled craftsman! Unfortunately he informed me that the low hump weld in panel will not work with the 4L80E tranny I have so I have to find another bolt in high hump panel since I got rid of the original one already.

[Dino Driver]

So, along with finding out that I got rid of a part I now need to replace I decided to start fixing floor/sill on drivers side....again. Not liking making mistakes. Also in need of information about steering columns. I would like to retail the stock column which needs to be rebuilt but also would like to convert from 3 speed to automatic. Anyone in the Portland Oregon area know of a qualified shop?

[Captainfab]

I seemed to have missed this before....what can you tell me about the engine mounts you are using? I recognize the frame brackets and the engine mount itself, but not the piece on the block.

[Dino Driver]

The engine mounts came as a kit from EC. They are work nicely but template would have been beneficial.

[Bomp]

Glad you are back at it. Like how you're willing to go back and re-fix things. Glad to know Im not the only one so picky.

[badherb]

Originally Posted by Dino Driver

The engine mounts came as a kit from EC. They are work nicely but template would have been beneficial.

a little more specific please. I have an LS and the mounts I used are a cobble of different items. those look very sharp! are the perches from a 70s chevy truck? Thanks keep up the good work!!!