Wade's 52 5 window

[cotsi95]

Finally got the truck moved to my house and in the garage. Now the build can finally begin! I power washed the engine bay to try and get some most of the 60 years worth of mud and grime off. Then pushed it into the garage and ripped out the wiring harness.



Then I sanded and prepped the firewall to get painted semi-gloss black.

Before:



After:



Then I moved into the interior ripping out the rest of the dash components. The truck was a haven for wasps when it was out in the pasture and I THOUGHT I had killed them all. But when I went to rip the dash pad out I grabbed in the wrong spot and got stung by one. There were 3 still alive hiding inside the dash pad. Now the truck is FINALLY wasp free...or so I hope.

Then I sanded, Primed and Painted the dash.







I also mocked up the dash pieces that I painted an age brass metallic. It should look pretty good when all of the pieces are in there.



Lastly i painted my shifter and installed the shift knob. I took a dummy grenade from my local military surplus store and epoxied the hole in the bottom shut and then drilled and tapped it. I also painted the top pieces the aged brass metallic.



Tomorrow I should have the old motor and trans out as well as the front frame rails ground down and painted.

[arturo7]

Costi, could I ask which primer you used on the dash? thnaks

[cotsi95]

I used an automotive grade primer from rustoleum.

[cotsi95]

I have gotten quite a bit done lately, but I haven't worked on it at all this week. On Sunday we ended up taking my grandmother to the hospital. She was diagnosed with stage 4 Signet Ring Cell Carcinoma. Sadly there is no treatment. She was my best friend growing up. She has always encouraged me when others have not. She has been nothing but supportive of my hobbies including the build of this truck. My new goal is to get this running on the road as quickly as possible so that she can have at least one ride with me.

I've gotten the front frame rails painted up and pretty much ready for the engine and trans. I also got the steering column put together and the crank in the engine. I should have the full engine and trans in the truck this weekend all hooked up. I'm hoping I can get it done in time it would mean a lot to me to have her with me on the first drive.

[Homebuilt Hotrods]

Looks like you have done some pretty nice things to your truck. I like the visor alot and the fact your keeping the inline six not many do including myself. Im very sorry to hear about your grandmother. Im sure some people on here will agree its hard to find a woman that supports hobbies such as this but when they do it sure makes it a lot more enjoyable. Not to get to personal on here but im a Flight Nurse on both rotor and fixed wing aircraft. I know from talking to my patients that if something like this means that much to you it probibly means a whole lot to your loved one as well. I look forward to seeing your progress in the next few weeks. Thanks for the kind words of encouragement on my thread as well.

[cotsi95]

Thanks for the kind words. I'm hopefully going to be placing an order with everything the truck needs to get it on the road, not completely done but at least able to drive, tomorrow.

[Homebuilt Hotrods]

Originally Posted by cotsi95

Thanks for the kind words. I'm hopefully going to be placing an order with everything the truck needs to get it on the road, not completely done but at least able to drive, tomorrow.

Awesome! Be sure to post photos of your first cruise!!!!!

[bk2life]

Really awesome build!

I think id remove the tree stump and have it put in the garage somewhere for late night stories. Be like "yep there's the leaf spring tattoo right there..."

Let grandma know there is a Soldier over in afghan thinkin about her..

[jrdecat]

This is great inspiration to get me working on my projects.

[NEWFISHER]

My thought are with your G'ma. If I was closer I would help get that truck on the road!

[cotsi95]

Been a busy past couple of days. For those interested in my grandma she has gotten a second opinion and they are treating the cancer with chemo. She's also feeling MUCH better and hopefully going to beat this. Thanks for your thoughts and kind words.

As for the truck I got the long block assembled and in the truck. I ran into a BIG issue when I went to put the cam in. The cam gear has NO timing mark on it. I looked over the gear 100 times and no mark to be seen. I looked at some pics online and took my best guess and the motor turns over fine with everything installed. But I will be pulling the cam out and putting a new gear on it to be on the safe side. Other then that the build went pretty good. I need to paint a few more things such as the lifter cover and the valve cover but its in the truck and looking pretty damn sweet if I do say so myself.











I also got my HEI distributor with a 60k coil. I'm not really feeling the red cap so I will be replacing it with a black one. My classic parts order should be in tomorrow so I should get some more updates up tomorrow night.

[Homebuilt Hotrods]

Nice work that engines looking mighty fine! Take pride in that not many people keep those anymore. Very cool.

[cotsi95]

Thanks I want to stay inline 6. It's pretty easy to swap a v8 and get a lot more power but I want to be different. Eventually I'd like to do a 292 swap with a decent sized (30-35r) turbo. My other car is a turbo awd car and its just too much fun.

[_Ogre]

motor looks good as does the frame all cleaned up.
what distributor did you use? junk yard pick or new?

[cotsi95]

It's an hei for a 250, 292. I had it machined down to work on the 235. It's a brand new unit.

[cotsi95]

I didn't get a whole lot done tonight. But I did get a pretty big order in so I should be set for this weekend. I mocked up the driver side inner fender and outer fender and put the headlight and trim ring in. I straightened and polished the stainless ring (What I do for a living) and then media blasted it to make it a stain finish.

[cotsi95]

I didn't really get much done on the truck lately. Unfortunately my grandma passed away last night. She will always be looking over me and I plan on doing a few special touches to the truck just for her.

[OrrieG]

Sorry for your loss. A couple of times when I was a kid my Grandmother had to rescue me when I was under a rig. She will be watching over you.

[cotsi95]

Thanks Orrie, it's beet an exhausting past two weeks. I'm finally getting back on the truck so they're should be some progress very soon.

[cotsi95]

Been a long time since I updated this but I got a lot done. I hope to have a detailed update along with some pics up tonight.

[Homebuilt Hotrods]

Originally Posted by cotsi95

Been a long time since I updated this but I got a lot done. I hope to have a detailed update along with some pics up tonight.

Cool im looking forward to it!

[cotsi95]

Been a while since I had the time to post an update. I've been super busy with work and dealing with this new little bugger. She's a Boxer, she's now 11 weeks old and is growing like a weed. Her name is Lucy.



Colorado has some pretty damn cold winters so I bought this new burner that isn't as powerful as my old one (150k btu's and this one is 40k) but I can let it run a lot longer without the fumes building up.



I've gotten a lot of parts in. Including A new cam, cam gear, lifters and push rods from Patrick's. I got a 264 cam grind which should make some good power with the dual Rochester's on the Fenton manifold. I got the old cam out and then new cam in and buttoned up the motor. I should have the motor and front end put together in a week or so and then its just a matter of interior, and fuel and brake lines. Here's how the motor sets right now. I still need to get a black distributor cap and some plug wires.








I also got in a cherry bomb glass pack and turn down to finish up my exhaust for now.

Last but certainly not least I got my new rims in. They're 15 x 6, Wheel Vintiques Series 12 Smoothies. I got them in primer and painted them gloss black. I also got a set of chrome baby moons to finish them off. They will have some 235/75/15 hankook all seasons mounted on them until I can get a set of Coker wide whites.







The last thing I've had time to do was to start prepping and painting the interior for paint. It's just getting painted semi-gloss black.



Im hoping to get a lot more work done on it this weekend and hope to have a good update at least once a week if not more.

[cotsi95]

Got a ton of work done lately. I got the flywheel, clutch and trans in tonight. As well as pulled the front axle to ship to Sid to drop it 4 inches and convert all of the steering to his modified steering setup.





I also did a pretty neat trick to turn all of my chrome into satin to match all of my stainless i'm doing.



Next up is to finish painting the interior and start putting that together and rebuilding all of the brakes and then assembling them and putting the axle back in when I get it back next week. Should be a pretty busy week but lots of progress!

[docrock]

Nice project. I didnt realize you could get an HEI distributor for these engines. I am considering installing the original engine in my 42. Keep up the good work

[cotsi95]

The HEI is a factory HEI for a 250/292 you can modify them to fit the 216/235, or there is a guy on ebay selling them ready to drop in. Just search 235 HEI.