Project "April"

[SIXTY9]

You do excellent work, it looked good already but up took it up several levels. I do have a couple of questions if you don't mind. How did you finish the inside of the front and rear glass being that you didn't use a gasket? Also where did you get the grill insert and did you have to modify the hood latch? Thanks.

[The Ohioian]

As always Texas and trucks with the rest of us and broken necks

[Fw190d9]

SIXTY9, excellent questions. On the rear glass and window, I had the same thought? what happens to the inside? How's it gonna look? I called Fesler and the lady there while nice couldnt give me an answer. So I looked around on the net and saw some pics on how its done. Before the glass is installed, you need to build a "damn" so to speak from black foam tape. This damn gets applied to the glass just inside the pinch weld so that when you install the glass, the damn keeps the urethane from oozing into the cab. It leaves a nice black line all around the inside of the window/windshield right up against the pinchweld. The foam tape I used is 1/4' wide and about 3/8" tall. It is medium firmness, and kind of feels like a wetsuit neoprene. The grill insert came from LMC and It came with a hood latch modification that puts the handle down below the front bumper, to actuate it, you reach right behind where the front license plate should be and push up, releasing the hood latch.

E.

[Fw190d9]

And then these showed up!

[Fw190d9]

I looked long and hard for a decent wheel for this truck. Roadstershop gave me some backspacing measurements in the ballpark to fit this chassis but I wanted to measure once done to be sure. I worked with Dave at Schott Wheels to come up with what I thought would be the perfect touch to add to the truck. Dave will send you a form to fill out with all the relevant measurements to your actual truck and will use all that info to build your wheels. All that attention to detail really paid off as they were a perfect fit with no rubbing or fitment issues. They are called Fuel concave wheels. The A surface which is the hoop and spokes are polished and the B surface which is the background is ceramic coated bronze. lug nuts are hidden by the 3 bar knockoff. Its an actual knock off that unthreads and releases the lug nut cover which looks like part of the rim. Fronts are 20x10s with 5" b.s. and the rears are 20x11s with 6" b.s. Schott can make the wheels with back spacing in 1/4" increments too. A pleasure to deal with, they got me my wheels right on time even through all this covid crap.

[Fw190d9]

I also worked over the phone with the good folks at TMI to come up with a nice interior for this ride. My son originally had the buddy buckets so wanted to do something similar. The seats came out really nice and the center sections of the seats, matching dash, door panels etc all have the ochre houndstooth material. I ordered extra vynil in the same colors and re-covered the steering wheel and the original kick speaker mounts the kid and I made together when he was in high school. A big sub from JL and some 6x9s in back give the tunes.

[tucktuck]

How did you manage to keep him out of the shop when he came home from school?? Cant wait to see his reaction.

[SCOTI]

First off.... I remember this build (& your daughters) from a few years back so it's cool to see updates. Thank you for that follow-up. The truck was extremely nice & it was cool to see a young-gun work on the truck as well as @ a job to pay for the upgrades he wanted!

I have a 67/68 project that's been around for a LONG time. Back in the '90's I welded up the holes for my original style GM sport bumpers for the smooth look. For the next version of my truck, I was thinking of the bumpers being chrome vs. painted white/black/silver.

I know they've been making them as I've seen some mention of them but wanted to ask specifically where did you source the bumpers? How is the quality & fit? If they're nice, I'll likely go this direction vs. trying to find a plater to do my originals.

[Fw190d9]

Tuck, He came home from college a bunch of times and I was ready to cart the whole works into another building to hide it from him. He was never able to come to the shop, always had a friend to visit while home etc. Chasin girls was a big part of it im sure.

Scotti, I ordered the bumpers through Brother's I believe. They arent the best at delivery times , especially during Covid. Thankfully I ordered them way before I needed so they got here in time. The quality is quite good, no pits or scratches and bolted up nicely. They have slots welded to the rear that a hammerhead bolt goes into and bolts to the frame and bumper brackets.

E.

PS, Daughter's truck, "Estelle" is still doing good. Currently parked in my garage as her owner is teaching school in Hawaii for a couple of years.

[Fw190d9]

So one of the last adds was the trim. I went with original style to the truck but all new. Ordered the full package from LMC. quality was pretty good with the exception of one piece I had to send back. They sent me a new one and it was all good. Cheyenne emblems are original to the truck. They were buffed up and installed with emblem tape instead of screws.

E

[Fw190d9]

Door panels installed, interior tidied up and engine plumbing finished out it was time for some test driving.

E

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Fw190d9

Tuck, He came home from college a bunch of times and I was ready to cart the whole works into another building to hide it from him. He was never able to come to the shop, always had a friend to visit while home etc. Chasin girls was a big part of it im sure.

Scotti, I ordered the bumpers through Brother's I believe. They arent the best at delivery times , especially during Covid. Thankfully I ordered them way before I needed so they got here in time. The quality is quite good, no pits or scratches and bolted up nicely. They have slots welded to the rear that a hammerhead bolt goes into and bolts to the frame and bumper brackets.

E.

PS, Daughter's truck, "Estelle" is still doing good. Currently parked in my garage as her owner is teaching school in Hawaii for a couple of years.

Thanks for the quick reply & info.

[Fw190d9]

Tinted the windows, Put it on my tuner's chassis dyno and it pulled a respectable 495/490 to the wheels. Enjoyed some test driving and then did the small change to the grill I mentioned. I painted the aluminum bar section of the grill flat black to give a bit of contrast.

E.

[tucktuck]

Love the door panels and the grille looks much better after your mod.

[Low Elco]

WHooo, this is nice!

[88Stanger]

Beautiful!!!

[Chevys4life]

The attention to detail is very nice. That is one sweet truck you built for your son..

[youngrodder]

Looks great....when is the big reveal???

Well done sir

Marc

[Fw190d9]

Thanks Guys, The big reveal happened this past Thanksgiving. I snuck the truck to my parents farm where the reveal was to happen the week before Thanksgiving and hid it in the barn. I told my son that I had a present for my dad, his grandfather ,stashed in the barn and to walk him over to present it to him. This allowed me to get the whole family inside the barn with the truck for the surprise. He walked my dad over to the door thinking the surprise was for his grandfather and was shocked when the door went up revealing April and that the surprise was for him. Blew him away. First time Ive seen the kid show tears since he was little. It was awesome! I must admit I shed a few tears myself. He was thrilled to have his truck back and looking so new. Here are some pics of April out in the sunshine after the reveal.

E.

[Custom 68]

She sure is stunning. Nice job. Really like the flush mount front and rear windows. They fit the truck well. Thanks for taking us on this journey.
Dave

[MDPotter]

That is one sweet truck with a great story behind it. You did an outstanding job on the truck and with keeping it top secret for the reveal.

[youngrodder]

Great story and memory you created with the reveal.
Well done

Marc

[Dr Jekyll]

Wow. Mic drop

[Chevys4life]

That is one good looking rig you have there!!!

[May70]

Dang im up for adoption!!!!!!!