58 TRUK intro

[AUSSIE54]

G'day Ogre,

I have just read your thread from finish to start (yes, a little backwards I know) and man, you certainly do some exceptionally impressive work!!! Love the addition of the boot, all of your fibreglassing is just pure art in itself, fantastic job on the seats and door trims and the color just suits your truk down to the ground! Also tell me, who wouldn't be jealous of your barn with it's own second floor half court!!! It in itself looks awesome. Well done. Looks like lots of hard work has gone on there as well.

Love this photo of your truck in the old hall? below. Is it a building that's being revamped? Hard to tell, but is it built mostly from red brick? Certainly has made a nice location for a shot of your truk. I'll be following the rest of your mods with great interest.

Regards,

Trently.

[QUOTE=_Ogre;5105647]as it is now.



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[_Ogre]

it's great that you like my truk build, trently.
no mad fabrication like what your doing to your crew cab.

glad you noticed the picture, it was taken in the michigan theater in detroit
lots of history found on the web by googling the michigan theater detroit

the theater stood on the site of the original shop of henry ford
basically in the early years of motown's demise they turned a wonderful architectural gem into a parking garage
by gutting the theater and installing 3 floors of parking in it
in the picture in your post you can see the arched ceiling of the lobby and
above to the right of my truk you can see the sloping stairs where the upper balcony was ripped out
the opening was an old fire escape about mid balcony

this is my truck near the old stage. you can see some of the old curtain still hanging



different picture of the old lobby ceiling and an original picture in it's glory days




if your a architectural nut like me, here's a couple of links to the theater
urbanghostsmedia.com
detroityes.com
also a

youtube video link

[AUSSIE54]

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G'day Ogre,

Thanks for putting up the extra photos of the theatre. It looked like it was once a fine old building. It's a shame that when there are slow periods that the get pulled down. We have lost a few old treasures here too.

I would not say that I am an architectural nut, but I do like most things old and buildings especially. The craftsmanship that was performed years ago is nothing short of amazing and certainly something that we'll not see again.

I'm currently on the tail end of a fairly extensive (six years worth) renovation to our home. Started out as a small fix her up a bit, but as some projects can, it blew out of proportion and before I knew it, I was making concrete tilt panels, re roofing and all kinds of things that I never thought I'd do. It's basically ended up being complete new front half to the house but with using as many recycled materials from the old structure that was there as I could. In the end, the tilt panels will be fully covered by the outer skin of red brick leaving a 2" cavity in between for thermal insulation. This is why at times progress on my crew cab is a bit slow. Hmmm… or is it the other way around.

Here's a few photos.








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[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by youngrodder

Thanks for the tip on Milford. Cool that it takes place on a Sunday. I hear ya about free shows....I like car shows as it provides a reason to get the truck out for a drive. I kinda follow your motive and go look around and leave.

Marc

You southern Michiganians, bakers in Milford starts may 6 and every Sunday all summer
I'll be there around 1pm, maybe youngrodder will be there too
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[BOHICA]

Your truck's not exactly my style, but you did a very good job. Well done, sir.

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

You southern Michiganians, bakers in Milford starts may 6 and every Sunday all summer
I'll be there around 1pm, maybe youngrodder will be there too
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Ogre-

I won't make the first one, because I have a show in Mendon that Sunday. I do plan on making the drive to Bakers though at some point...

Thanks for the reminder.

Marc

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by BOHICA

Your truck's not exactly my style, but you did a very good job. Well done, sir.

thanks bohica, i too can appreciate stock to custom and everything in between.
one thing i like about this forum, nobody cares what you do to your truck (unless your doing nothing )
i've not seen anyone trash another's truck because it didn't suit their taste (like i've seen on many other forums)

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by youngrodder

Ogre-

I won't make the first one, because I have a show in Mendon that Sunday. I do plan on making the drive to Bakers though at some point...

Thanks for the reminder.

Marc

do try to make it out sometime in may, i'd like to see your truck
the power tour starts june 4, i'm psyched for that one, a 2000 mile rolling car show

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

do try to make it out sometime in may, i'd like to see your truck
the power tour starts june 4, i'm psyched for that one, a 2000 mile rolling car show

Will do...Like wise about getting a chance to see your truck up close.

I have always wanted to take part in the power tour. That was a lot of the reason behind my drive train selection (LT1 + $L60E trans). Probably a year away but it is something that I excited to take part in.

Marc

[_Ogre]

Power tour is a blast. I chose my drive train for mileage, Ramjet, 700r4 and 3.27 rearend. I average 20.1 MPG
I did the power tour last year and registered for this year
you should come to Detroit or muskegon to check it out, muskegon is the first stop, we take over the whole town
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[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

Power tour is a blast. I chose my drive train for mileage, Ramjet, 700r4 and 3.27 rearend. I average 20.1 MPG
I did the power tour last year and registered for this year
you should come to Detroit or muskegon to check it out, muskegon is the first stop, we take over the whole town
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Might just have to do that. I need to look into the dates.

Marc

[yossarian19]

Ogre,
I like what you did with the Trex bed. I'd like to do the same in my truck, a '57 long bed with see-through bed wood. Do you think you could have done the project without as much routing / carving on the Trex? Or do you mind sharing some details of what / how you fit the material? I don't mind using a table saw but that is about the extent of my wood skills... wondering if I can get this done myself or if I need to buy a pre-cut bed kit.

[_Ogre]

yossarian, easy peasy
2 cuts on the table saw,
the notch is cut flat on the table saw
the main cut is against the fence

you'll need one extra board and bed strip
trex is only available in 5/4x 5.25, i used 9 boards and 8 strips
did not rip any boards used 9 boards, 5.25 wide plus a 1/4 bolt gap for a total width of 49.5''
i cut my strips to be recessed so as not to scratch the paint when sliding something in the bed
normal would be for the strips to stand up a little to act as a shovel guide and to protect the wood

i bought ss bolts in boxes of 100 at boltdepot.com/ for less than mild steel bolts cost from truck vendors
short bed needs 60+ bolts, long bed probably uses 80+

[yossarian19]

Thanks for the help Ogre. Lemme make sure I understand you correctly. In your first picture, the wider notch looks to have been cut by turning the board on its narrow side and setting the table saw's blade depth then letting the "eat" make space for the bed strip. The narrower / smaller notch is where you made space to protect the bed strip's paint. Correct? If I understand it correctly... I can def. pull this one off.
Thanks!

[_Ogre]

you are correct, follow this link to the mar-k site
using their dimensions the strips will be up a little from the bed wood
i dropped the strips down 1/16'' and that was enough, do a couple of trial cuts on scrap

the thing nice about using trex is that you don't need to worry about wood expansion and contraction
the trex does not absorb moisture or move. cut it to fit snug, don't leave room for movement.

[_Ogre]

lots of good bed info on the mar-k.com site
like the bed sides are the same from 54 thru 87 except for the fender bolt holes

also i didn't use bed angle strips, just 1.25x1.25x1/8 angle iron.
it was a cost effective method to re-new the bed angles.

for my mini-tubs: i cut the metal out of the bed side with a jigsaw
cut 3'' wide 10ga steel to fit the arc and just re-used the cutout from the bed side.
it makes the grooves in the bed side match the mini-tubs

[OrrieG]

Something I came across doing my bed research: If you are going to use the truck and wash the bed or get rain in it notch the taller groove perpendicular to the strips level with the deeper groove in 3-4 places. Any water that gets in the lower groove will have a way to get out instead of sitting in the groove.

[shadow1967]

_Ogre, I think I'm going to use treks too. So thank for the leg work. beautiful truk, But looks like a small toy maybe! Compared to surrounding.

[_Ogre]

Thanks shadow.
I usually don't post that picture because it makes my truck look like a toy...
Tell your dad I'm only rattling his cage
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[_Ogre]

OrrieG that is a groovy idea
the trex is water proof, but I wish I would ha ve used ss bed strips and painted them
I also hid the bed bolts by bolting the sills down and routing a recess for the head underneath the trex
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[_Ogre]

i was going thru some papers today and found my note as to how i cut the trex
hopefully you can read the dimensions, i did not follow the mar-k instructions.
i did not recess the bed strips much, but in 3 yrs they have not been scratched either
you can also see that i did not leave room for expansion or movement as the trex does neither
i left 1/4'' space in between each board for the trex

[Kim57]

Thanks for the dimensions Ogre. I've been thinking about the trex after seeing yours.
Kim

[1952ssr]

Ogre, how much of your steering column is inside the engine compartment from the firewall? I'd like to find a tilt one to replace my s10 one and hoping that the astro one is longer. Thanks

[_Ogre]

had to upload some pics (from 05)
here's a couple, haven't measured but you get the idea
i like it for the column key, shift, tilt, turn switch, plus i use the cruise

[_Ogre]

i'm getting ready for the HRPT (hot rod power tour) and put it on my neighbors hoist to check out all my fab work.

are motor mounts supposed to have nuts on the bolts?
neither bolt had come out, but no nut on one and finger tight on the other.
replaced with nylocks...

but the good thing is, no real problems.
inspected all my welds, all good after 10,000 miles.
leak on the power rack, minor, but need to keep an eye on it.
swapped the poly line to the oil gauge with a copper line, to close to the header for comfort.

hrpt here i come