Markeb01 Build Thread

[markeb01]

Tonight I reversed the mounting of the video camera back to where I had it originally. The lower position blocked too much of the view and for no reason I can figure the camera tended to porpoise, making the resulting video rather nauseating. It’s back to this configuration again:



After that I spent about an hour trying to find the source of a rattle in the dash. It turned out to be the new Autometer fuel pressure gauge. The glass is totally loose between the bezel and the gauge housing, and vibrates loudly at just the right frequency. I’m going to try fixing it with the careful application of some white glue or clear epoxy between the bezel and lens. It’s no wonder America has such a poor reputation for producing quality products. I have to fix almost every new thing I buy.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by markeb01

Tonight I reversed the mounting of the video camera back to where I had it originally. The lower position blocked too much of the view and for no reason I can figure the camera tended to porpoise, making the resulting video rather nauseating. It’s back to this configuration again:



After that I spent about an hour trying to find the source of a rattle in the dash. It turned out to be the new Autometer fuel pressure gauge. The glass is totally loose between the bezel and the gauge housing, and vibrates loudly at just the right frequency. I’m going to try fixing it with the careful application of some white glue or clear epoxy between the bezel and lens. It’s no wonder America has such a poor reputation for producing quality products. I have to fix almost every new thing I buy.

This really is a sad state of affairs.

I get really angry when I have to spend time correcting stuff I buy, even if it is an item from Poundland (everything is pound, or multiples for a pound, like 3 Pepsi's for £1)

Basically bad workmanship and production equates to stealing, because you are offered an item that is fit for purpose, only to find it has to be modified, fixed or returned, at inconvenience and cost to you.

[markeb01]

Started and finished another tiny project today. I got tired of the stainless steel bolts attaching the rear splash pans to the rear bumper brackets:



They appear as quality stainless bolts steel and haven’t rusted, but draw the eye right to them and really seem out of place.

Although a very simple project, it took longer than expected because I don’t have the factory stamped bumper brackets. Mine are aftermarket brackets that had no provision for attaching the splash pans. Years ago I just cut up some steel angle, drilled a few holes, and bolted everything together:



The end result looked functional, but not very well thought out. I scrounged through the hardware drawer and came up with enough carriage bolts to do the job:



They were chucked in a drill and the heads ground smooth with a D/A sander:





The long ones were cut to length:



After a swipe with wax and grease remover they were sprayed with etch primer:



I sprayed outside during a rain/wind storm (out of the rain) and then cooked the bolts under heat lamps to set the paint. The final finish was two coats of Rustoleum Black Lacquer. I wanted to use something that would dry fast since the weather conditions were so lousy.



I bought it a while ago and had never tried it. It worked perfectly, dried quickly with no runs or dry spots, and appears to be the same color black as the powder coat on the pans.

The splash pan was stamped with elongated inner holes for adjustment, but none were squared up for carriage bolts. All four brackets were removed so the pan holes could be squared up. This allowed marking the brackets for matching modifications. By the time the brackets were done and refitted the bolts were dry and everything was reassembled.

Here’s the finished result. Now the splash pan bolts match the pair holding the license plate bracket to the bumper. As the bed cover shows the truck is really dirty and needs a bath:





Not much of a project but it gave me an excuse to spend the afternoon having fun and making a minor improvement.

[CRGRS 66]

Isn't it all about the little things, I look forward to the day when I have little things to putter with, nice work Mark.

[markeb01]

In the never ending quest to make minor improvements, the outside mirrors have been receiving a lot of attention recently. Since the mirrors came first, I don’t have any photos of how the truck might look with spotlights and no truck mirrors. So I played around and digitally removed the passenger side mirror:

Here it remains in place:



And here it’s been removed:



I like the looks of the truck so much better without the distraction of the truck mirror I decided they had to go. Twin 58 Impala door mirrors were ordered yesterday:



I think the slanted arms and bullet tips will tie in with the bed rails & mounts, and the mirror heads are very similar to shape of the spotlight shells. I figure they’ll look exceedingly cool, or shockingly stupid. Either way they’ll be uniquely different than regular truck, or ubiquitous peep mirrors.

So today I removed the passenger side mirror as it isn’t required for driving, and is the harder of the two to eliminate. Here’s the before shot:



And here’s a similar shot after the holes were filled using JB Weld and coins from the inside:



The access hole in the inner door panel is not very user friendly for a person on blood thinners, so I’m thankful I’ll never have to stick my arms in there again. With company arriving tomorrow it will probably be a few days before I block out the repair and reshoot the paint.

We’re supposed to have a bit warmer weather in a week or so. I’m looking forward to getting the new mirrors mounted, giving the truck a long needed bath, and searching for some new place to take photos.

[Bomp]

Dig those mirrors.
Posted via Mobile Device

[likaroc13]

lookin' good Mark...those Impala mirrors should look nice! on those mirrors you're removing, are they the same for a '66? if so, what plans do you have for them afterward?

[markeb01]

No plans, they're never going back on the truck. And yes 60-66 mirrors are all the same, but the mounting angle on the door changed in 64. On the 60-63 the bottom is parallel with the body line in the door. On the 64-66 the bottom of the mount is angled slightly uphill toward the front. Never have figured out why GM changed the positioning.

If you want them they're yours for the cost of shipping. I think a flat rate box is about 10 bucks. Just shoot me a PM with your address. If you want to see up close photos take a look at post 105 on page 5 of my build thread.

[Ta2Don]

Originally Posted by Bomp

Dig those mirrors.
Posted via Mobile Device

Ditto, another one of those small details that make your build fun to keep track of, Have a Great Spring!!!

[Grizz1963]

Couple of things.

Love the mirrors, they remind me of the ones that were on Nicola's Anglia 100E, much sexier, but similar.

http://retrorides.proboards.com/inde...y&thread=60718

And your truck is one of few Stepsides I would actually aspire to own, or copy. (You know I am fairly set on a Fleetside as that is what Nicola ordered, ohh and without a gun rack )

Your trucks constant evolution gives me many reasons to want my truck yesterday already.

Thanks for all the updates.

[markeb01]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Ditto, another one of those small details that make your build fun to keep track of, Have a Great Spring!!!

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Couple of things.

Love the mirrors, they remind me of the ones that were on Nicola's Anglia 100E, much sexier, but similar.

http://retrorides.proboards.com/inde...y&thread=60718

And your truck is one of few Stepsides I would actually aspire to own, or copy. (You know I am fairly set on a Fleetside as that is what Nicola ordered, ohh and without a gun rack )

Your trucks constant evolution gives me many reasons to want my truck yesterday already.

Thanks for all the updates.

Thanks for the comments guys, they are greatly appreciated.

Grizz, I really empathize with your wife’s pain over letting her car go, I would have had a hard time selling that myself. I just can’t imagine there are too many examples left of that specific model in anywhere near that condition. In early 1960’s California, there was a flood of those cute little “foreign” cars. The Beetle was everywhere, but there was also a huge variety of other little cars that I thought were somewhat attractive. These are a few I would have had a hard time letting go of, had I ever been lucky enough to acquire one:

Volvo 444/544:



Austin A40



Morris Minor:



Simca Aronde:



Hillman Minx:



And my dad bought a new Nash Metropolitan in 1958. It looked exactly like this one:



By 1961 he wore out the engine and swapped in an MGA engine/4 speed, with MGA bucket seats, traction masters, Sun Tach, and chrome window frames. It went well over 100 mph which was pretty scary on 13” cotton cord tires. It also broke axles almost every weekend, which was why it eventually went away.

So that’s the history of why I have a soft spot for so many of those little cute cars. They stand out in a crowd, draw attention everywhere they are seen, and fit into just about any parking spot or garage.


Meanwhile back to the truck progress - today I block sanded the JB Qwik on the passenger door and applied a skim coat of Rage filler. That was blocked out and is now waiting for a coat of 2K primer tomorrow.



The driver side mirror was pulled and the holes prepped for filler. The driver side was much easier because there is no distortion in the door skin needing attention. This is due to the reinforcement/thread plate underneath. I scraped all the paint off the top of the plate, which is below the level of the door skin. Hit it with a wire brush and cleaned out the threads with a tap. After that 5/16x18x ¼” set screws were installed with Krazy Glue.



Next the holes were filled with JB Kwik and worked until the material went off.



These holes will get roughed up and filled flush with Kwik before the Rage filler goes on. I’d like to have both sides done before mixing up the primer. Once everything is ready for paint I’ll have to decide whether to try spotting the areas with a spray can, or reshoot the whole section between the window and the body line with liquid paint and my SataJet. I may try the spray can first just to see if it can be done, so I’ll know whether it works or not for other potential nick and scratch repairs.

The mirrors are due to arrive on Saturday so I’d like to have all the paint work wrapped up by Friday.

More to follow.

[piratexpress1369a]

where will you be mounting the new mirrors

[Ta2Don]

Thanks for the set screw way of preparing the mirror holes, will be doing this myself very soon. Keep up the Great work!

[markeb01]

Originally Posted by piratexpress1369a

where will you be mounting the new mirrors

I was trying to do a cut and paste to play with the mounting location, but I haven’t been able to find a mirror photo that works. I think I’ll just have to figure it out on Saturday when they arrive.

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Thanks for the set screw way of preparing the mirror holes, will be doing this myself very soon. Keep up the Great work!

The set screws were sure easier than the coin method since the back side doesn’t need to be roughed up for adhesion. And the hex in the set screw allows the JB Weld to fill in to yet another surface, locking everything permanently in place.

The JB Kwik was finished off last night. Leveling with JB keeps the filler as thin as primer so there are never any cracking or separation issues. The next step is a bit of sanding, a skim coat of Rage filler followed by 2K primer and final paint for both doors:

[Ta2Don]

Very nice work Mark, I was stationed in the Azores back in the mid 80's and ended up owning a '54 Morris Minor, left hand drive, it was a ton of fun and my only regret is that I didn't have the foresight to bring it back to the states with me...

[likaroc13]

Originally Posted by markeb01

And my dad bought a new Nash Metropolitan in 1958. It looked exactly like this one:

By 1961 he wore out the engine and swapped in an MGA engine/4 speed, with MGA bucket seats, traction masters, Sun Tach, and chrome window frames. It went well over 100 mph which was pretty scary on 13” cotton cord tires. It also broke axles almost every weekend, which was why it eventually went away.

So that’s the history of why I have a soft spot for so many of those little cute cars. They stand out in a crowd, draw attention everywhere they are seen, and fit into just about any parking spot or garage.

Hey Mark, my grandfather did a frame-off on his Metropolitan. It's a neat little car. My wife spoke up, & it's supposedly already willed to her. Here's a link to some pics I took while visiting about 3 or so years ago:
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/lika...lassics?page=1

Just wanted to share.

[Grizz1963]

Mark, Don, these small cars are a ton of fun, very cheap and economical to run.

If we had space and use for all these toys, we would have kept Myrtle the Anglia, but at least knowing a 13 year old petrol head has it now, endure a neat future for it.

I love Nash Metroplitans.

[markeb01]

The Rage filler was applied and worked last night. After completion I realized there was one tiny sink mark I hadn’t spotted, so I mixed up a miniscule amount of 2K primer on a paper plate and filled in the spot with a model car paint brush. Block sanding with 400 grit dry this morning eliminated the last blemish.

Taking a break for lunch FedEx showed up with the mirrors. Positioning was a bit challenging. First the bottom of the mounting bracket is not flat, being designed to fit atop a crowned surface. This required a position a bit lower on the door than I had originally planned. During initial mock up I intended the mirror head to be viewed through the main door window, but given the shape of the bracket the mounting location ended up in the middle of the door half way between the handle and the spotlight. It looked positively stupid. I didn’t think to take a picture with the mirror taped in place:



The final location ended up in a more conventional location near the front, and the mirror is viewed through the vent window.



Adjustability allows essentially the same view previously provided by the truck mirrors. One difference however is the passenger mirror is not viewable from the driver’s seat. It is only purposeful for whoever is in the passenger seat, but that’s it.

I drilled the holes for mounting and pulled the mirrors back off for paint. I went ahead a shot the repaired areas with a spray can just to see how it would turn out. It didn’t turn out 100%, but it’s close enough to make me happy and saved hours of masking that would have been needed to shoot with liquid paint. From 5 feet away it’s hard to detect anything has been done. All that was left was reinstalling the mirrors and spotlights:





Another nice feature of this design is a beautiful prism shape to the top of the base that I had never seen in pictures:





Here's one shot I took earlier this evening:



Overall I’m very pleased with the upgrade. I’ll take some better outdoor photos sometime in the next few days.

[CRGRS 66]

I really like it, looks great mark!!

[piratexpress1369a]

look great ..to bad that you can not see from driver seat

[Ta2Don]

Awesome!!! Have a Blessed Easter!

[likaroc13]

Looks great all-around Mark! Definitely can't tell anything was done from the pics, & the mirrors are nice looking pieces as well. Nice work, as always.

[Rich 5150 69]

Looks great Mark, nice choice on the new mirrors...

[Grizz1963]

As always Mark, a well thought out and executed modification.

Went to Wheels Day here on Friday an took some photos......

Here is a link to the photo-dump.

http://retrorides.proboards.com/inde...&thread=147998


I trust there will be some Brit-metal to please you.

In other news, I have confirmed the sale of my van today, cheque will be in the post this week etc.....

Now I can start looking for a truck.

Here is a truck for you......

[1963c-10]

Mirrors look great on there Mark.