What did you do with your truck today, Part 3

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by Black_Sheep

I live in Minnesota, with 5 or 6 months of Winter there is a lot of time to work on them. There is an amazing number of owner built cars that easily rival the no expense spared, open checkbook pro builds. The time, dedication and level of craftsmanship is impressive, even more so when you consider that many of the builders work non-automotive related jobs.

Exactly, I love meeting those guys and chatting with them about the car.

Brian

[evilokc]

I got the front jets finalized per holley instructions. dropped them down to a 71. I pulled the rear float bowl for the first time to install the new jets per holley instructions. the guy I bought the carb from said it only had a couple of hours on it. he said he bough it to start and tune his racing motor in the garage. he had dropped the stock main jets down to 64s and the rears to 62s! I have been researching jetting for a couple of weeks to make sure I get it right and have never found an application where the rear jets should be smaller than the primary. I have the correct size jets in there now. I'm going to put a hundred miles on it as it is and then move on to the two other areas I believe I can improve my carb. 1) when my secondary's open- may not need this. 2) tweaking my timing curve- probably need this. trucks running/driving great.

[gbooth]

Put the right front fender on filled the radiator with the proper mix of anti freeze ran the engine up to temp checked to see if the ornigal heater core had any leakes and if the water controol vlave worked properly.

[Black_Sheep]

Had family over today so nothing got done other than cleaning up the garage. But, my brother in law brought over the custom bed rail end plugs he made for me. Now polished and ready for installation.

[Black_Sheep]

duplicate post

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by Black_Sheep

Had family over today so nothing got done other than cleaning up the garage. But, my brother in law brought over the custom bed rail end plugs he made for me. Now polished and ready for installation.

Right on!

Brian

[MARTINSR]

Yep, it's all torch, I am digging this so much! I was a little leery about gas welding this roof. It has gone unwelded while I have done all this other patch panels and what not, leaving this for last. Between just wanting to get some gas welding time in to get up to speed and out and out fear of doing it. I don't do this stuff anymore, I am WAY out of tune. Plus the fact that the original cab I chopped in 1974 this roof weld was a DISASTER.

But I can't tell you how easy this was for me this time, OMG this was FUN!

Here is the first weld in the first photo.

The one thing I did was modify my welding helmet to go down a bit further on my face so I could see properly with my bifocals. WOW what difference that made! That and my daughter gave me a strap to hold my glasses on my head, those two things changed everything. The last photo is my dad's Deer Antlers with the striker and welding rod (.030 MIG wire) hanging on it. Plus I was standing on a step that my dad made too.

Brian

[MARTINSR]

Welded the whole seam on the roof, all the welding on the chop is complete, outside of the inner piece. But this stuff is all done, I can't believe how smooth it went. I planished each weld with the roof going back into shape. I will do a little more to get it even better but right now it is very nice ready for a thin coat of filler, done deal.

While the roof was cooling in between welds I cut one of the last rust spots out and made a little patch for the inner piece.

Brian

[MARTINSR]

Forgot the deer antler photo.

Brian

[evilokc]

I wanted to make sure my secondarys were opening so I did the paperclip test. I ended up taking a long (50 miles) drive. when I got back I noticed the paperclip hadn't moved indicating that my secondarys hadn't opened. that's not good. I did a little more reading and the limited information I found said for the paperclip test to work you basically have to drag race. I went to the "track" and did the test again. I haven't had the truck running well enough to really push the motor. I did a small powerbrake and took off. man that was fun. the paperclip test worked and my secondarys are opening. in the name of science I did the test again. I powerbraked a little harder and burned my tires got a little sideways and ran that thing! I did that 3 or 4 times. it was awesome.

[lowdownstar]

sounds like a good day to me!

[MARTINSR]

I wish we had a "like" button. That sounds awesome Evilokc.

I am walking up BEAT after planishing all those welds yesterday. Holy crap, my arms aren't use to that kind of work. I have a pnumatic planishing hammer but I am not real comfortable with it on a panel like this, maybe I need to get so.


Brian

[svr]

Working on 1 piece glass install alla Black Diesel method, only hadwindow panel and regulator in and out maybe 147 times, left door fell right into place, right door just fought me all the way.

[svr]

Welded up the hole left from removeing rear channel

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by svr

Welded up the hole left from removeing rear channel

Where is the latch going to go?

Brian

[svr]

Lol wood was cut and used so i didnt break the window already, have time for that during final assembly, latch will cover the channel that holds thewindow guide on the inside

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by svr

Working on 1 piece glass install alla Black Diesel method, only hadwindow panel and regulator in and out maybe 147 times, left door fell right into place, right door just fought me all the way.

How in the hell are you going to see through those wood windows?

There is a reason why the switched to glass.

Brian

[evilokc]

it was awesome! I keep finding excuses to take a quick drive and once I'm in I cant stop driving. ive gotten several " just around the block huh" texts from my wife when ive been gone an hour. good stuff guys. I hope your all in this position soon.

[2001convertable]

Removed the rear fuel tank and finished the rear wood.Going to relocate the tank back to the cab.
Selling the tank and a hitch if any interest?

[2001convertable]

After and before

[evilokc]

drove my truck to the gym today. everything worked great. however when I came out of the gym the truck cranked but wouldn't fire. I had 30 seconds of pure panic and confusion before I realized I had flipped my kill switch when I went into the gym. so the truck still runs great AND my kill switch works!

[Black_Sheep]

Today's work was mostly tying up loose ends. The pedal has had excessive travel since I swapped the master cylinder. This simple master cylinder depth gauge confirmed my suspicions, the booster push rod was not properly adjusted. after cleaning up the threads I added a couple drops of blue Loctite and set the pushrod length to allow .005" of clearance. The pedal feel is much improved.

Since I was already rolling around on the garage floor, I decided to finish the heat wrap on the H-pipe and replace all of the puny stainless zip ties with worm drive hose clamps.

I also mocked up the tail light and license plate light wiring, just in case I need to drill any new holes prior to paint. After sorting out a couple of minor electrical glitches, everything works as it should...

[MiraclePieCo]

Originally Posted by Black_Sheep

Today's work was mostly tying up loose ends.
I also mocked up the tail light and license plate light wiring, just in case I need to drill any new holes prior to paint. After sorting out a couple of minor electrical glitches, everything works as it should...

I'm digging the Chevy badge on the tailgate.

[MARTINSR]

Good stuff guys! I love that bed, I can't wait until I am doing that too!

I got the little patch panel welded in, both inner and outer. And yes I cleaned up the rust and primed it in there.

I got my other pneumatic planishing hammer out changed the framing and went to work. I am blown away, I am friggin blown away I want to dance I am so excited with out nice that weld came out. It's solid, it's nearly perfectly shaped, OMG I could fine tune this method and metal finish something like this without any bondo, this is blowing my mind!

This day started out really crappy, I got a phone call from my boss to tell me a co-worker had died. A 34 year old guy, one of the gentlest nicest guys ever died of a heart attack! He died on the day his dad died about 10 years ago. I just sat next to this guy in a meeting a few days ago laughing, he was such a cool guy who was going through crap with a divorce living with his mom now, commuting 75 miles and almost 2 hours each direction to work!

He was dealt the crappiest hand over and over, all because he was a super nice guy. I can't get him out of my mind, thought I would go out and work on the truck (he was building a vintage Harley chopper) and work for him on my project. I can't get him out of my mind, tomorrow at work it's going to SUCK!

Brian

[MiraclePieCo]

The long weekend stalled a parts order I'm awaiting so I found some busywork to keep me occupied. Reinstalled the right rear barn door handle and lock, and started restoring the left side hardware too. The long actuating rods were severely bent but with some patience straightened adequately. Replaced a broken spring on one of the latches, too.