Building and rebuilding my grandpa's 63

[burlapen]

Well my brother in law came over and we made some progress on Old Bessie today. I made the decision to go ahead and go shortbed. I know some love the longbed, but I believe the short is a better choice for what I am doing with this build. So, here it goes....

[burlapen]

I chose to cut at a 45* angle and use the ECE frame stiffeners. I cut each stiffener down by about 2" on the length. Big thanks to my brother Ant for dragging his welder over and burning his saturday working on my crusty old frame.

[kizer]

Looks like your left rear is a little low on air.

Man another long bed gone over to the dark side. Oh well in the end their will be only one. That's mine, yeah that's it.

I like your creative stacking for your parts. Kinda gave me an idea or two.

[burlapen]

Well, I made some more progress this weekend. I got the cab entirely stripped down. I also picked up some furniture dollys for $9 at Harbor Freight that work great for rolling the cab around. My favorite helper (my son) was out and did some pressure washing for me. I also removed the motor and trans off of the frame and dropped the front crossmember. Funny it doesnt seem like much on paper, but it took me the better part of a day and a half. Anyway, here are some picks. Oh yeah, I picked up a t5 at the junkyard on friday. It is out of a Camaro so i still need to find an S-10 tailhousing to swap.

[burlapen]

More

[burlapen]

I have been trying hard to work quickly. Grandpa is in San Francisco right now, he had to have yet another surgery and they still aren't sure if they got all of his cancer. He had some pretty violent psychological reactions to the medicines they were giving him but his head seems to be in the right place since they have cut the meds back. Please keep him in your prayers if you are so inclined. I know it seems kind of pointless in the big picture, but I really would like to get the old pickup back together to at least let him have one drive in it all fixed up..... like 1963 all over again. Thanks.

[Alan's Classic]

Nice work and progress and yes your Granddad will be in my prayers.

[burlapen]

Here is my latest update....I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed by how far apart the pickup is right now. The bed is currently sectioned and awaiting welding. It looks awful short after looking at the longbed so many years. Having the bed cut in pieces makes me a bit nervous because my welding skills are minimal and I have never attempted to weld something that thin together then hide it. I am also having a bit of trouble figuring out how I am going to ensure the whole thing is straight. The cuts went fairly straight but the gap I need to weld definitely needs to be touched up. The metal is touching in some spots with gaps in others. To change the pace a little I started sanding on the cab, I wire wheeled/stripped all of the channels for the weather stripping, the started sanding and realized maybe I should look into having the cab stripped professionally. I have a couple of calls in for quotes on soda blasting. I couldn't find anyone local that does chemical dipping. If the quotes are too high I may just get the Harbor Freight soda blaster and start hitting it although I think this would eat up just about as much time as stripping it by hand. Sorry for the rant, I may just need a good weekend with some buddies over to work to kick this project in the butt!!

Im having to try really hard to not put the pickup on hold to work on another project that is actually running for a bit.

[aerotruk63]

Looks like a fun family project.

[burlapen]

I'm very sad to say that my grandfather has lost his battle with cancer. He went to be with the Lord last week. Haven't had much time to work on his old pickup. I did get the bed shortening just about done, just some final cleanup welding left. Going through grandpas stuff, he had some awesome old pics of the pickup from the 60's 70's and 80's. He was a great man who always had a kind word and the patience of a saint. You will be missed grandpa.

Here is a pic circa 1966. Pretty sure thats my father petting the dog.

Hopefully I can get the pickup body out to the blaster soon and get this thing rolling again. Thanks to those of you who had been praying after my earlier post.

[gtbrain]

Sorry about the loss of your Grandpa. Something special about those old boys. I would give anything to have one more hour with my Grandpa telling me a story he had told me probably ten times before....

[irish1966]

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile that it happened" Dr. Seuss

Sorry to hear about your grandpa. Mine is fighting old age back in Ireland and I only wish I had something to work on and restore in his memory. I'd get a copy of that pic and put it in your Sun visor. Every day the sun shines in ur eyes you will drop that visor and he'll be there. Keep up the good work.

[burlapen]

Nothing happening on the pickup lately. Just wanted to let everyone know I'm still around. Work has been keeping me plenty busy lately but I intend to get back on it very soon. It's tough to get motivated when there is no money to spend on a project. Also it seems like I have to have a couple people over to help lift and move things around every time I want to work. Hope everyone else's projects are moving along. Going to move the frame back in the garage to get it painted hopefully in the next couple days. God Bless.

[burlapen]

Got a little work done over the last week. I've been wire wheeling on the frame prepping for paint. Also, I bought some chemical stripper at Lowes and got to work on the cab. I have about half of it to bare metal at this point. Kinda slower going than I thought. The process goes something like this : apply stripper, allow to work for 15-20 minutes, scrape with putty knife, then hit with wire wheel. Repeat process 2-3 times to remove all of the paint. I have some vacation time coming up in which I hope to get the frame painted and rolling again. If I get real ambitious I may get the cab body work done!!

Here are some pics of the stripper I used and the cab as it sits now.

[Bugeyev8]

Originally Posted by burlapen

Got a little work done over the last week. I've been wire wheeling on the frame prepping for paint. Also, I bought some chemical stripper at Lowes and got to work on the cab. I have about half of it to bare metal at this point. Kinda slower going than I thought. The process goes something like this : apply stripper, allow to work for 15-20 minutes, scrape with putty knife, then hit with wire wheel. Repeat process 2-3 times to remove all of the paint. I have some vacation time coming up in which I hope to get the frame painted and rolling again. If I get real ambitious I may get the cab body work done!!

Here are some pics of the stripper I used and the cab as it sits now.

I have used that stripper before and found that true Jasco is far better, when you use the stripper use some plastic wrap over it and it will keep the stripper wet and work longer, sorry to hear about your grandpa...cancer is not easyfor anyone, my mom was diagnosed last year, its been a hard year for everyone involved

[burlapen]

Thanks Bugeye. I'll give the jasco a try on the rest of the panels. Cant wait for the bodywork to be over and its has barely started!!

[burlapen]

Made some good progress lately. Spent what seemed like an eternity wire wheeling the frame. Then I sprayed it black in my garage.....WHAT A MESS!!!! Still working on finishing stripping the cab and getting it in primer. Im not so sure I want to do this in my garage anymore. I will have to construct a better booth instead of just hanging plastic. Anyway, here are the pics.

[burlapen]

Frame wire wheeled and pressure washed about 5 times.

[burlapen]

Here are the supplies I used. It is NAPA Prism paint. I got it from a buddy of mine. It shoots ok. Had to call NAPA to get the hardener mix ratio and after looking everywhere I found it right on the front of the can. DOH!

[burlapen]

My impromptu paint booth. Dollar store plastic, a box fan and the blower from the kid's bounce house made a nice ventilation system.

[burlapen]

Finally some paint on this crusty old thing!!! BTW I didn't realize until later my shirt is on inside out. I must be getting old.

[burlapen]

Time to clean up.....OVERSPRAY EVERYWHERE

[burlapen]

also managed to get the bushings pressed out of the LCA's. I sure love my big vice. It came attached to this $75 giant work bench I bought off of craigslist.

[glendale]

sorry to hear about your grandpa. truck is coming along nicely tho.

[burlapen]

So the frame is not perfect, but it is smooth and shiny. I didn't grind down the welds from where I shortened the framed. I want it to stay strong and I mostly wanted to get the frame painted just to have it nice and clean not so much for looks. Next step is to get the rolling chassis assembled, then back to painting the cab.