LockDoc's "Low Budget", "Low Maintenance" Project Thread

[LockDoc]

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Painted one side of the wheels yesterday. Also got the outside of the bed painted. I want to remove the old wood floor before I paint the inside. I left the fuel fill hole because I am going to re-use the auxiliary gas tank. I am also going to put the upper trim on the truck.

My new tires came yesterday. The wheels I am using have an oval valve stem hole and none of the local tire shops have that type of valve stem. (picture below) I found them on line so I will have to order them.

I had my exhaust scheduled to be installed tomorrow. I was close to the shop yesterday and decided to stop in and check on what it was going to cost me. I have had the exhaust installed on three different vehicles by this shop but it was before the big "C" and a new owner. The last one I had done was $350 or $400. When he got it figured up I about fell over.... $1042 total. I said "that ain't gonna work" "I guess I will have to do it myself". The owner is an old aquaintence of mine and he said "we aren't open on weekends so if you want to do it yourself you can do it here". I said I would accept his offer and hope to do it this weekend or next.

LockDoc

[LockDoc]

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Tires....

[clay68c10]

Originally Posted by LockDoc

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I had my exhaust scheduled to be installed tomorrow. I was close to the shop yesterday and decided to stop in and check on what it was going to cost me. I have had the exhaust installed on three different vehicles by this shop but it was before the big "C" and a new owner. The last one I had done was $350 or $400. When he got it figured up I about fell over.... $1042 total. I said "that ain't gonna work" "I guess I will have to do it myself". The owner is an old aquaintence of mine and he said "we aren't open on weekends so if you want to do it yourself you can do it here". I said I would accept his offer and hope to do it this weekend or next.

LockDoc

OUCH!! I'm hearing that exhaust work isn't cheap like it was. I may do my own also, but at home.

[kev2809]

ya its ridiculous for full piping now a days. i ordered a put together kit and welded it up myself. not perfect but who gives a **** lol. nobody crawls under my truck anyways, plus it sounds tough with the flow fx mufflers i put in

[LockDoc]

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Originally Posted by clay68c10

OUCH!! I'm hearing that exhaust work isn't cheap like it was. I may do my own also, but at home.

Yeah, I would do mine at home too if he hadn't offered up his shop. The tube bender will make it a lot easier.

Originally Posted by kev2809

ya its ridiculous for full piping now a days. i ordered a put together kit and welded it up myself. not perfect but who gives a **** lol. nobody crawls under my truck anyways, plus it sounds tough with the flow fx mufflers i put in

If a guy takes his time he can make it look decent. The shop owners shop rate isn't that out of line @ $86 per hour but the tubing and mufflers are up there. Plus any clamps, hangers, flanges, and other stuff add up fast....

We will see how it goes.

LockDoc

[LockDoc]

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I painted the other side of the wheels today. They came out pretty good.

I also started removing the old wood from the bed. I am just using the sawzall to cut the bolts off. With the pieces of wood missing I can get under the metal strips from up above and cut them off. That makes it wayyyy easier....

I am going to take the bed sills down to the sand blaster tomorrow and let him work his magic on them.

Gave the back of the cab a couple of coats of Satin Black paint today also.

Looks like my new valve stems should arrive tomorrow so maybe I can get my tires mounted. That would be nice.

LockDoc

[kev2809]

man its moving quick now, i know this might be a dumb question, are you dropping the rear end some to level it out?

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by kev2809

man its moving quick now, i know this might be a dumb question, are you dropping the rear end some to level it out?

First off I removed the coil shocks as seen in post #340 yesterday, and ordered a set of stock shocks for it. They raised the frame up quite a bit. I won't do anything else until I get the finished bed back on it and see where it sits. That should drop it quite a bit. It should sit the same as it did in post #48.....

I won't be able to get the exhaust done until next weekend now, so that is another week delay. A couple of things I have learned in my many years of car and truck building is expect delays and don't sweat the small stuff....

LockDoc
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[LockDoc]

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Well the valve stems did not make it today so we will see what tomorrow brings on that.

I finally had a chance to take the bed sills to the sandblaster this morning. I am going to have a couple of small rust spots to fix when I get them back but it shouldn't take long to do.

New shock absorbers arrived this morning so I went ahead and installed them.

I also painted the drivers side door and fender. The way these trucks are built lends itself well to be painted in sections instead of all at once. All I have left to paint is around the windshield and the hood. It was starting to get a little dark by the time I took the picture so the light wasn't too good.... .It is supposed to start raining early in the morning so I may have to find some inside work to do for a while tomorrow. I am hoping I can work on the inside of the bed and get it ready to paint in the next couple of days.

LockDoc

[68Gold/white]

Leon, Are you making your own wood floor???

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by 68Gold/white

Leon, Are you making your own wood floor???

I am on the fence about that right now. I have a new oak wood kit if I want to use it but I really hate to use it on a work truck. I'm thinking about having a friend of mine cut up some used power poles and make the bed wood from that. Here are a couple of pictures of when I used power pole wood in the bed of the '70 Longhorn 4x4 project. I really like it and it is cheap and durable. This one just has a few coats of Danish Oil Finish on it.....

LockDoc

[Chevys4life]

Originally Posted by LockDoc

I am on the fence about that right now. I have a new oak wood kit if I want to use it but I really hate to use it on a work truck. I'm thinking about having a friend of mine cut up some used power poles and make the bed wood from that. Here are a couple of pictures of when I used power pole wood in the bed of the '70 Longhorn 4x4 project. I really like it and it is cheap and durable. This one just has a few coats of Danish Oil Finish on it.....

LockDoc

Leon.....that wood you put in that longhorn looks really nice. That's all I need for my C20 bed.

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by Chevys4life

Leon.....that wood you put in that longhorn looks really nice. That's all I need for my C20 bed.

Thanks. It is a little soft but it worked easy and should last a long time....

LockDoc

[LockDoc]

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Well I got lucky yesterday. I was talking to the son of the guy that owns the local lumber yard . He asked me what I was up to and I told him I was installing new tires on my Dually rims by hand. He said that they now have a tire machine over at the lumber yard and that I was welcome to come over and use it if I wanted to. I told him it would be a big help if I could do that. I took my tires and rims over this morning and got them mounted in short order. What a relief!!! I thanked him profusley ... A couple of times...

Tires are all bolted on and ready to roll.

I will try to get the painting finished up on the front of the truck tomorrow and exhaust is on for 10am Saturday morning. (fingers crossed)

I edited post #373 and added a picture of the valve stem box for the part number.....

#1 Last of the tires mounted
#2 Wheels & Tires installed

[kev2809]

those look great. does he have a milling machine?

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by kev2809

those look great. does he have a milling machine?

No, all he has is one of those big horizontal band saws for cutting the board thickness. I finished them up with my thickness planer, table saw, and router table.....

LockDoc

[kev2809]

damn those look very nice. I'd roll with that, looks better than the kits and I'm sure they hold up better

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by kev2809

damn those look very nice. I'd roll with that, looks better than the kits and I'm sure they hold up better

Thanks, I will call him tonight and see how busy he is.

LockDoc

[LockDoc]

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The valve stems finally showed up this morning. A friend of mine has a tire machine so I called him to see if he could mount the tires on the Dually wheels. He said his machine wasnt big enough to do those, so I called around to a couple of other tire shops. They either wouldn't do them because I didn't buy the tires from them or it was going to be longer than I wanted to wait. What do you do in that case? Mount them yourself....

After installing the new valve stems in the wheels, I started on the first one. That first one was a bear because of the learning curve. Even though I came in the house and watched a few videos on YouTube it was still a little daunting. The second one was a lot easier because I didn't use any soap on it. That first one was so slippery you couldn't get the tire started on the rim. Two done and two to go. It started raining on me so I had to quit for the day. I will mount the other two in the morning. One of the problems is that I am a lightweight so I don't have enough lead in my arse to hold everything down. It kept wanting to move on me. One thing I'm not short on is determination... I will prevail!!!

EDIT: Added picture of the valve stem box for part number.

New valve stems.

Tire 1 and tire 2.

LockDoc

[junksaver]

I love your determination. That is no easy task mounting tires without a tire machine.

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by junksaver

I love your determination. That is no easy task mounting tires without a tire machine.

Thanks much!

LockDoc

[Ol Blue K20]

Mounting by hand is no fun. Keep at it!

[68Gold/white]

Leon, I don't see any balancing weights?

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by 68Gold/white

Leon, I don't see any balancing weights?

Somebody told me you don't need them unless the tires are out of balance.

Seriously though, I don't get too excited about that unless I can feel a problem while driving it, and I haven't been able to drive it far enough to tell..... I can get them balanced anytime.

LockDoc

[LockDoc]

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Well, I had the hood and windshield all taped off and ready to paint, went in the shop to get the spray gun and when I came back out it was sprinkling. The weather people on both stations I watch the weather on said no rain....

Everything got wet enough that I couldn't paint it. I told the wife that I was going to leave it all taped up until morning to see if things dried out. No such luck. It was really humid this morning and everything was covered with dew. About 10am it started sprinkling again. I just ripped all of the paper and tape off of it and said screw it.

On a good note The wife and I stopped to see some friends of ours and I was telling Doug that I was going to have the exhaust installed in the morning. He asked me if I had bought the mufflers for it yet. I said no, that I was going to decide what I wanted to use tomorrow. He said that he had a pair of FlowMaster mufflers in the back room of the shop and I could have them if I wanted them. His Grandson had sawed them off of his Camaro and was going to throw them away. Needless to say I jumped on it and hope they won't be too loud. They are kind of dirty looking but he said he thought they were stainless steel. I don't have a clue what series they are. 3" inlets and outlets.

I will post some pictures of the exhaust tomorrow.

LockDoc

Flowmaster pictures.