Project SLAMBULANCE

[chaseman17]

A quick pre-Christmas eve update on the paint.

I am posting a few teaser photos. I could not be more pleased with the addition of the red paint! It looks fantastic & completely changed the personality of the truck.

The red color itself does not have a name. They matched a panel from a 1964 Mack firetruck & did a great job.

There are 3 new coats of white, 3 new coats of red & 3 new coats of clear. A few days to cure over the holiday and then it will get buffed out and all the trim reattached & I will have it home in a week.

As Hannibal Smith used to say... "I love it when a plan comes together."

Merry Christmas to all!

[Hart_Rod]

Copycat......

[chaseman17]

Hey - I like your style!

[Advanced Design]

Nice results looking really good!

[flashed]

WOW ,both of those are just plain cool ,almost twins and the red really makes it POP.

[LuckyScott]

Hart Rod.... Why are the rear taillights and backup lights different?

[Twin Turbo Skylark]

Looking amazing!

[Average Joe]

Originally Posted by flashed

WOW ,both of those are just plain cool ,almost twins and the red really makes it POP.

Yep!
Rob's 'Burb pegs the cool meter, but the Slambulance damn sure aint no slouch. Nice work!

[3drburb]

Nice Fast work.
Every time I see one on the TV show Emergency, I wonder what it look like slammed.

[chaseman17]

Hood and cowl are now red...booth filters are too! Getting close. Excited to pick it up on Friday.

[1970greenburb]

Hello Chaseman17 that's a cool burb and a great project. I am upholsterer by trade and looking at your seat the vinyl part looks in good shape, and that you could just redo the insert part of it. Try this company out of Oregon called SMS fabrics, they are kind of a pain to deal with but they might have that insert material. Then take it to your local upholstery shop and have them sew the material in. Hope this helps and if you don't do that and want to sale the old cover I be interested in it also the hub caps Good luck. Here is the info.

www.smsautofabrics.com
350 S Redwood St, Canby, OR 97013
Send directions to phone
(503) 263-3535
Closed now, opens at 8:30 AM
6 Yelp reviews
Directions
Website

[chaseman17]

Thanks for the upholstery advice, I found a local guy who is going to do the work and patch in material that will be close enough for my taste.

[chaseman17]

We picked it up from paint today and are already prepping for the stop, drop and roll portion of the build. Kinda hard pulling it out of the paint shop and throwing it on an open trailer in the snowy Michigan weather, but we gotta do what we gotta do! A few pics are attached... had to set a tire and wheel up to give a hint on how it's going to look. The air compressor and tank are going to go in the back where the spare tire would go. There is seating back there that will cover it all up. My son installed FatMat back there tonight to help deaden the sound.
Also blasted and painted the c-notch and air bag metal parts tonight too.
Let the fun begin!

[LockDoc]

-
If the roads were a sloppy/salty mess (which it looks like from the front of the trailer and fenders) be sure and pressure wash the whole underside of the truck from all directions. Otherwise you will have a rusty/crusty running gear in a month or two. My 4x4 rusted bad between the spring leaves, around the steering box, inside the frame, and everywhere else it could find a small amount of bare metal after towing it through that crap.... The frame was painted with chassis paint but it didn't make any difference.

LockDoc

[mongocanfly]

Lucky scott... it "appears" hartrod has pickup taillights grafted in on his burb

[chaseman17]

Made some progress wiring up the air ride and also mounting the controls. I am pleased with how it is going together thus far. It is my first time installing air ride, so I am taking my time.

Tonight I will start on the drop spindles.

[chaseman17]

More progress to report. The front bags, drop spindles, lines & disc brake conversion are all done. The pump and tank are also in and the rear of the ambulance once again looks all original, keeping the tank and pump hidden under the back bench.

I love the look of the wheels and the lowered stance up front & am excited to get to work on the rears!

[LockDoc]

-
Man I put a ton of that old Armstrong Linoleum in back in the '60's and '70's when I was a flooring installer...... Brings back memories.

LockDoc

[chaseman17]

Perfect! We call it "grandma's kitchen floor"!

[chaseman17]

Progress continues & we have now moved to the rear suspension. A few photos are attached.

An interesting note on one photo. The rear suspension work requires the removal of a bunch of factory installed rivets. Not too hard to do, but they take up some time. I came across a bump stop bracket on the drivers rear that they must have run out of rivets & just decided to weld it on one end. I have never seen that before!

The original seat material has been reworked by a local shop. I am happy with the results. I was not concerned about matching it back exact, but really wanted to keep the original scroll work & they were able to do that. The seat now has original material & material from a night club, a Chinese Buffet & even a little from an ostrich!

The shocks were all original. You have to love the name - Delco "Pleasurizer" HD! Kinda difficult to believe that they don't still use that name!

The rivets are now gone, the axles are out getting converted to 5 lug, the lowering blocks, shock mounts and pan hard bar mounts are all in.

Next is the C-notch.

Have a wonderful weekend!

[nastety92]

Truck looks great. That linoleum brings back memories from my childhood. My father has been in the flooring business for the last 30+ years and I can remember that in people houses, camps and ripping it up from places.

Can't wait to see this all done. Very unique being an ambulance and being lowered.

[chaseman17]

Well, the air ride is complete & I am very pleased with the look!

It was my first time C Notching a frame & I was nervous. I must say that Boris at Street Machinery was a tremendous help throughout the whole air ride installation. Whenever I had a question... good or (plenty of) bad ones, he was there with a quick answer. Just a text away to an incredible knowledge base. Thank you Boris!

A few photos are attached. The last two show the ride height and also the lowest setting.

Thanks all!

[BB72CHEVKT]

Very nice.

[nastety92]

Truck looks great, how is the ride?

Can you tell us more about the air ride components that you used for this build? I'd love to put some air bags on my Suburban but I assumed the cost would be more than I could afford for a while.

Thanks,
Nick

[Twin Turbo Skylark]

Super cool it turned out fantastic!