70 SWB 'Grandpas truck'

[Jonny Hotnuts]

My grandfather purchased this truck new in 70. He owned a dairy/sheep farm and needed this truck to feed the cows/sheep. He was a very 'salt of the earth' sort of guy and got the truck with as few options as it could of. This was not because he didnt have the money; he would of viewed 'options' as unneeded fluff. He would of likely not gotten a heater, windows, seat belts or paint if they offered these luxurious options as well.

My dad bought this truck in from gramps in 80(ish). Both my sister and I learned to drive in this truck. It had a 3 tree shifter replaced with a floor shifter and the engine was replaced with a reman at some point. I 'think' the truck has in excess of 300K miles.

I elected to start a build today (12/5), however have been tinkering with it for a few months. I was finally able to make enough room in the garage to fit it. This was more difficult than it should of been, I have a number of other stuff taking up room. There was no way I was going to start getting deep into this project with it getting cold/rainy every day.

-I know gramps would be rolling over in his grave if he knew I was going to add 'fluff' to his old farm truck but its days of hauling hay are over and I like some tasteful updates.





Look! Plenty of room! LOL
The 1938 has been in the family since 65 when my pops traded two St. Bernard pups for it (champion level dogs). Not pictured is a 66 Porsche 356 and a few motorcycles. Clearly I have too much S*^t....



Check out this SPID!



Grandpa put this on the day the brought it home.



Im not sure but I think this squirrel is feeling sick. I hope he feels better soon.



Genuine cat tracks!



Fun stuff in the glove box.


Planning on:

Disc brakes and 5 lugs.
Fix rust (its not perfect but not too bad).
Fill holes.
Fix steering slack (balls, ties and linkages)
Engine swap- something elegant and refined without being overstated. I was actually considering [dont kill me, I elected to do something else] but install the supercharged Toyota 3urfe 5.7 [4 valve, all aluminum, VVT]) almost visible in the first pic. Likely I will do a boring LS yawn motor even though I hate the whole push rod, 2 valve thing.
Auto trans.
Lower it as much as it can without needing the frame cut or affecting road manors.
Wheels.
A little sound proofing.
Replace door/window seals.
Considering shaving all emblems, side markers.
Fix all interior issues.





~JH

[stevenfromtexas]

Grandpa put a turbo on the ol' 250, SWEET!!

i'm with you brother about the hauling hay....

mine will never haul any, anymore!!

[uxdesigner]

Great truck, looking forward to seeing your plans come together. I love your wall of classic amps!

[Low Elco]

ha, just saw the amps! Looks like a nice start!

[RedRider]

Cool truck! What are your plans for it?

I've got Grandpa's truck myself and he too would be rolling in his gave over some of the upgrades I've made. I can hear him now, "Why the hell would anyone want to make a truck lower?!?" or "why you wasting your money on fancy wheels?!?"

[hewittca]

Cool truck to start with, and a bonus that it's been in the family since new. What's with the turbo?

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Originally Posted by hewittca

What's with the turbo?

I was considering turbocharging a 250 when some of my engine building friends said no to the idea. Considering their experience in the industry, it wasnt something I was going to argue with. Anyone that can build an engine to make a 1934 highboy roadster go over 300mph knows more than I do! LOL

~JH

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Tks for the comments all.



New rear view



Before...



After.....
THey make a tool for these and I dont have it. It was a pain but have a handle on how they are done now. I should of waited to swap these AFTER the paint job but I am not known to make good decisions.



Parts! Going to weld in some new rockers even though they are not too bad. Ive never welded before, how hard can it be anyway.



Removed the 80s-90s Pioneer CD player. I was hoping there was enough meat on the factory block off that I could weld in a patch but it was cut too close to the edge and into the rolled section. I may just fab a billet piece if I cant find a block off for cheap.


~JH

[clay68c10]

Nice project!

I always thought it would be neat to have a hinged radio delete plate. Then you can hide whatever head unit you have behind it. Could be a solution for you.

[lolife99]

Member hot trux has a hinged radio delete.
https://instagram.com/p/yAzjZuEg7m/

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Started doing some body work and ran into a can of worms. There was some very marginal body work done at some point; I dont even know when or why this happened.

It looks worse than it is, this is mostly just skim coats but covers a wide area.


-I am considering cutting a patch out of the back side of the bed to allow access for a dolly so I can tap these dents out and then weld the panel back in. I 'could' cut this section out of the fender (the face) repair the dents and weld that back in as well.

Anyone have any comments about what I am suggesting? There is no access for dollies/spoons without cutting an access panel and I dont have a stud gun.

~JH

~JH

[ryans69chevy]

I would tack weld on a few pieces of rod with washers or whatever you have laying around and use that to grip a slide hammer onto or any tool to try and pull the dents out. Seems that would be easier than doing any cutting or anything.

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Got the bondo off. I underestimated how much was really on there! I did a few small depth holes in the center of the bondo but it didnt tell the whole story.




The holes were from some very mediocre body work done before me....



The only friend that had a stud gun they would let be borrow lives in Australia and it was a 'come get it' deal. <although it would be a baller move to fly to Australia to borrow a stud gun! I tacked on pieces of tig rod with my mig. It looks rough but it worked great.



I used a piece of fiddleback maple (I build a guitar or two), a pair of vice grips and a healthy demolition bar. Dont laugh, it worked really well (surprisingly well).



Panel almost finished. I still need to do a fair amount of hammer/dolly work and fill all of those holes but its pretty close. I will shoot some rattle can paint on the area and use a body file to show the 'high-lows' next.

Doing this panel was an unexpected turn in this project but I am really glad I did it.

~JH

[Rod Run]

Is the 38 now yours?

That is a sweet truck and not to common. Did you know they only made them for 6 months, instead of an entire year?

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Originally Posted by Rod Run

Is the 38 now yours?

That is a sweet truck and not to common. Did you know they only made them for 6 months, instead of an entire year?

Yes the 38 is mine, yeah I knew they were rare from trying to get parts for it. I didnt know they only made that model for half a year. Any idea why the short production run?

My father traded 2 St Bernard pups for it in ~69 (well before my time!). These were champion level dogs so it was a pretty fair trade at the time.
For +20 years it had 3x 55 gallon drums in the bed and were used to haul garbage to the dump. We lived on a ranch in Lakeview Oregon and didnt have a garbage service, so when the barrels got full....it was time to make a dump run. Its mostly original (engine was swapped to a 235 before pops got it) and was half-assed painted in 84. Ive been slowly getting that old thing back in shape as well.
-Whats not pictured is a 61 Porsche 356. Ive got the 356 in storage but now that I have a garage big enough it will be coming home soon.

and....

One of the big reasons why I havent been rolling more on the 70 build is due to this crazy generator I got and have been spending a fair amount of time converting it from NG to LPG. Its powered with a turbocharged Ford 460 and produces +100KW....and I am going to use it for a home generator. We live in Corbett and get a power outage once a week during the winter. -YES, I know its overkill...but its overkill in the greatest way possible.

Its running now, so I will be able to spend more time doing the 70 (and other projects).



~JH

[flashed]

That is one massive generator .

[Katrina/10]

Both cool trucks. I hope you post some updates on the 38 when you get to it.