My version of the s10 swap

[LEEVON]

Looking good!!!

[BlueJeep]

Spent a bunch of time working on the oil cans I had in the back of the cab. After a bunch of learning, some stretching here and some shrinking there and the cab is now ready for the body shop. I couldn't reach my hand in far enough to do all the stretching I needed to do so I had to get creative.

Here's what I came up with. Worked very well and I needed to make some post dollies anyway so killed two birds....

[Rude Dude]

Great idea on the dolly tools! Love the spray on bed liner too.

[99 to Life]

very nice two birds with one stone

[ChuckDriver]

Love the Shed! And the bottom of the cab is perfect!

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by Rude Dude

Great idea on the dolly tools! Love the spray on bed liner too.

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

very nice two birds with one stone

Thanks guys! When I have time, I need to finish a stand I started making for tools like this. Something that I can move around and use for planishing and shaping. Don't know how many times I wished I'd had a stationary dolly so I could hold the panel with one hand and beat on it with the other. This was step 1 for that idea.

Originally Posted by ChuckDriver

Love the Shed! And the bottom of the cab is perfect!

Thanks! I already had neighbors come down and taken Christmas pictures beside it.

Next task for this week or next weekend will be to fix this door. It only needs the little flap that is folded over the inner door frame. The door itself has pits but proved to be solid after it was sandblasted, so those will just get filled. Should be a fairly easy task.

[BlueJeep]

Door is fixed.



Rolled the frame back in the garage. Time to finish up some things and get ready for the cab to go to the bodyshop.



Painted and installed new steering components, painted and installed the sway bar with new end links and bushings.



Bent up and installed the brake line for the rear brakes.



Welded in my O2 sensor fittings and painted the exhaust with VHT dull aluminum paint.


I also drilled out the original oil pressure sender to 1/8" NPT and am currently looking for an extension in as few of fittings as possible to make this work and clear the intake bolts.



Over the next couple days I'll get the exhaust installed for good and the cab on too!

[BlueJeep]

Oil pressure sending unit, check! Rear brake line, EVAP line, fuel lines, exhaust, check! Re-epoxied the floor and inside of the firewall and seam sealed the inside seams, check! Cab off to the body shop, check!

[99 to Life]

looking good. get as many checks off the list as you can, cause they are never ending it seems!

[BlueJeep]

Now with the truck out of the garage I can finish up some other things that I've started. Need to do some maintenance on some of my tools and finish a metal shaping stand that I started on.

Stand with sand bag attachment:


How I set up the wheels:


And post dolly attachment. Tomorrow after I pick up a new band saw blade I have some other attachments and do-dads I'll add to it to increase the utility of it. I'll mount the stretcher/strinker to it and the Beverly shear too, so I can just put whatever attachment I need at the time on it.

[Troy Sr]

Now that's a nice tool!!!

[T Hilde]

Originally Posted by Troy Sr

Now that's a nice tool!!!

Hmmmm? I think I know what you meant.

LOL, he does build nice equipment

[Uncle Jimi]

Your build looks killer! I'm wondering what you are using for seam sealer? Thanks!!

[99 to Life]

jimi, I used a couple different brands of seam sealer. You can find them on ebay. One was from TP tools, if you haven't heard of them, they have alot of great stuff. There is an epoxy based and just a cheaper rubber based. The epoxy base is really stiff when dry and is more money. Rubber based was ok, esp for the price.

Bluejeep, I might have to steal your awesome pedestal idea!

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by Troy Sr

Now that's a nice tool!!!

Thanks! I'm looking forward to using it to planish welds. I'm thinking it'll be much quicker than holding the dolly and hoping the panel didn't move.

Originally Posted by T Hilde

Hmmmm? I think I know what you meant.

LOL, he does build nice equipment

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Uncle Jimi

Your build looks killer! I'm wondering what you are using for seam sealer? Thanks!!

Couple years ago I started using Eastwood brush on seam sealer, it was OK. For the bottom and top of the floor I've been using Lord Fusor (stole that research from Frizzle Fry), and I'm very happy with it.

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

jimi, I used a couple different brands of seam sealer. You can find them on ebay. One was from TP tools, if you haven't heard of them, they have alot of great stuff. There is an epoxy based and just a cheaper rubber based. The epoxy base is really stiff when dry and is more money. Rubber based was ok, esp for the price.

Bluejeep, I might have to steal your awesome pedestal idea!

Steal away! I'm posting pics hoping it'll spark someone else to get a good idea of something I can steal back in the future!

It gets better, more attachments! A chunk of this should be handy:


And one of these should be useful:


Added some supports and some attachment holders, so it is self-contained:




If you couldn't tell, I'm just making tools out of heavy metal objects I've collected. The only "purchased" components here were the sand bag, wheels, and the Harbor Freight dollies, of which I welded a piece of 1" solid rod to to make post dollies. The rest was steel, most of which I had lying around.

[BlueJeep]

Next up on the "shop tools" list was some maintenance on the press. My poor press has been used heavily, and for the last [too ashamed to mention how many] years it's been bent. The 3/4" plate at the top was pretty stressed, so I picked up a 1" plate to replace it. This, combined with the 3/8" thick gusset I added to the top side should move the weak link to something else that will surprise me someday!

Before - note the areas without paint being where the metal has been stressed:


I should have put a straight edge against it, the picture doesn't make it look as bad.


And the repair, before gusseting or painting.


That should do the trick!

[BlueJeep]

Today I worked on the splash pan that goes on the bottom of the grille. I wanted to "de-hump" it where the hand crank would have gone through and also wanted to direct air up and into the radiator. Most of the hard fitment work is done now, just need to finish it up.

[99 to Life]

looks great

[BlueJeep]

I stopped by an upholstery shop earlier in the week to show him my seat and ask about prices, options, etc. He said no go on my existing seat. It had a soft spot in it that I always thought was strange on the top edge of the seat back. He said it was a mouse tunnel, and to find a new seat. He also advised me to not get one that had the fabric glued to the foam as the first one did too, and it would have better results. I stopped by the pick-and-pull today and for $35 got a different one, this one he gave the thumbs up on. He also said I should bring my wife back to pick out a color of vinyl as men often get these decisions wrong....

Here's the "new" seat in front of the "old" one. The tear is only in the cover that will be replaced anyway. Headrests will not be retained:


And the vinyl I picked out.....we'll see if it holds up to the wife test when I get a chance to stop back there with her.


I think it will look nice with the green:

[99 to Life]

looking good, those seats outta 88-98 style chevy

[oldman3]

Like the color of the material...Jim

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

looking good, those seats outta 88-98 style chevy

Yeah, like 88-94ish. Earlier ones had the fabric glued to the foam.

Originally Posted by oldman3

Like the color of the material...Jim

Thanks Jim!

[BlueJeep]

This weekend I started in on the rear fenders. Similar to what I had to fix on the front fenders. Surprisingly, the original fenders are 20 gauge.


Before:




During:








And after:




This week I hope to get some time in to start in on the other problem areas on this fender:

[oldman3]

Super nice job on the fender repair. Next part should be a piece of cake for you..Jim

[99 to Life]

looks great