[B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]

[da_bears_da1]

Originally Posted by Indian113

Wow! I just read the whole thread, your truck is really looking good. I'm getting ready to start the same thing on my 64. I hope it turns out as good as your's is.

Thank you! While there are head scratching times, it's a great experience. I have learned so much over the past 9 months. This forum is a great group of people and a tremendous source of information. If you are getting going on your build you should create a project thread on this forum. You will get help and positive feedback.

As a side note, my son is going to Iowa so if you want, next time I am in Iowa City I can let you know. Would be happy to buy you a beer and talk trucks.
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[Indian113]

Sounds good to me!
I'm 90 miles east of Iowa City. Is your son gonna be a Doctor or a Dentist ?
Do you come to Iowa often?

[Jeff La]

Your doing a great job, glad to see it coming along

[Bomp]

Ahhhhhhh,
Got to sit down and catch back up, finally.

Thought there might be something funny in my beer with everyone leaning. Then realized.....its not me Congrats on the weddin'

And I must say....you look sweet in that dress.....lol just kidding.....Proud Dad

Then you got all the sheet metal fit on. whew. Lines fit up all nice like. That takes time and patience.
Got me all sorts of motivated.
Thanks for the major motivation. I needed it. Needed some bad.

[da_bears_da1]

Originally Posted by Indian113

Sounds good to me!
I'm 90 miles east of Iowa City. Is your son gonna be a Doctor or a Dentist ?
Do you come to Iowa often?

Don't get out there often, probably 3-4 times a year. My son is applying to Dental school but its hard to get in so we will see. Will let you know when I am headed out there next.

Originally Posted by Jeff La

Your doing a great job, glad to see it coming along

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Bomp

Ahhhhhhh,
Got to sit down and catch back up, finally.

Thought there might be something funny in my beer with everyone leaning. Then realized.....its not me Congrats on the weddin'

And I must say....you look sweet in that dress.....lol just kidding.....Proud Dad

Then you got all the sheet metal fit on. whew. Lines fit up all nice like. That takes time and patience.
Got me all sorts of motivated.
Thanks for the major motivation. I needed it. Needed some bad.

Know what you mean on the picture, the photographer was kind of nuts.

I was very relieved to get it to line up. There was a lot of pushing and convincing to get the bolts in the front of the fenders to the grill support. Decided to let it sit like that for a few days while I get started on the hood. Hopefully being bolted together will cause it to conform a little more.

Made me laugh on the motivation. Your build always motivates me so glad I could return the favor!

[Indian113]

Boy, I feel stupid I meant I was 90 miles west and Iowa City is East of me.
Good luck on the Dentist School, We'll keep in contact and try to get a chance for a beer!

[da_bears_da1]

So a fairly minor update with too many details, consider yourself warned. We modified the firewall today to take care of the clearance issue with the valve covers. I had considered moving the engine forward instead but realized this morning I would have to disassemble the front suspension to be able to move the lower engine perch bolts. More than I wanted.

Since Don has the same issue with his valve covers I decided to post more photos than normal.

At first we tried to just cut a "T" and bend back the firewall to create a pocket.



The "T" cut would not bend out easily so we made it an "I" cut


As you can see we were able to create enough clearance with the valve covers





One thing we learned after cutting both sides is we went to short on the vertical cut and had to cut again. Will be more welding when we pull the cab off and get to it but am just needed the extra space. We did round the outside of the cuts so that when we do weld it it will be more of a semi-circle.

[Ta2Don]

Thanks for the info on the breather and the Clearance Cuts...
Hope to finish the fender grinding soon, then get the puppy primed. Life keeps getting in the way...

[Bomp]

While your at the cutting stage....... is there enough room to allow for the engine (((vibration side to side))) when its running.

Past experience made me ask.

Making progress looking good

[da_bears_da1]

Originally Posted by Bomp

While your at the cutting stage....... is there enough room to allow for the engine (((vibration side to side))) when its running.

Past experience made me ask.

Making progress looking good

Actually I thought about your comment on spacing from my original post when I made my second cuts. I did not allow enough up and down rotation space on my shorter cuts which is why I ended up cutting both sides longer on the vertical axis. I had clearance to get the valve covers off on the first cut but was not comfortable that I had enough for engine rotation. I cut higher on the drivers side and lower on the passenger side to allow for vibration and rotation.

Thanks for the advice!

[da_bears_da1]

Life seems to keep intruding on time working on the truck. Once I took the front end apart I got my new inner fenders. My old ones just had too much cancer, thin metal and ripples in the metal. Got my new ones and while they are cancer free, they too had ripples in them. Guessing that stamping the metal in all the different directions that you have to for the inner fenders just puts some ripples in them. Being a bit anal, I decided I had to fix them so am in process of smoothing them out.



I also got my hood out and started to work on it as well. There was rust in the front lower portion of the hood so I had bought a repair panel from LMC. I started cutting the metal out to get to the spot welds for the front of the hood and found a lot more rust than I realized. There were 5-6 areas that I would have had to cut out the supports, replace the metal and then get to the patch panel. I also had some oil can affect going on with the hood plus cancer spots on both sides. So, got on line and found a place in Arizona with a replacement hood so I bought it. The new hood is much more sound than my old one but will need some work. Here is old hood first. (Due to the current picture limits, I will post the new hood in the next post).

[da_bears_da1]

Part II post

Here is the new to me hood:


One thing that did take time away from the truck last week was I had to move my son out of his college party house . I get to move him into his apartment in a couple of weeks.

The positive out of this was that I had given him my old home theater amp and speakers. He told me that nothing worked except for 2 speakers but I decided to bring home those speakers and the amp and subwoofer. After some tinkering around, I got it all to work. Well, since this was going to be something he was going to leave/pitch I told him it was mine now. So the great news is, the shop now has a great sound system. Of course the wife tells me its too loud, me - I am trying to figure out how to make it louder Amp, subwoffer and speakers are circled:



Now back out to filing and sanding.

[Ta2Don]

Nice!
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[Bomp]

Woo Hoo on the "new to me hood".
Bad news on the wifey though......... if its too loud, you're too oldjk

Rock on and keep buildin' that truck.

[da_bears_da1]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Nice!
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Thanks Don! Was good talking with you yesterday.

Originally Posted by Bomp

Woo Hoo on the "new to me hood".
Bad news on the wifey though......... if its too loud, you're too oldjk

Rock on and keep buildin' that truck.

Thanks Bomp! Guess the wifey is too old, glad I'm not.

[Ta2Don]

Thanks again for the Eastwood tip...
2 Qts of the Rust Encapsulator at $34.99 per Qt...
The Friends I've met out here make this site PRICELESS!!!

[WhippinSaw]

Nice addition to the man cave, gotta have good tunes. I used my old surround in my garage and it rocks. Now where to put a flat screen

[Jmorales3181]

Haha I have a surround sound and powered sun in my garage for jammin out. My friends get a kick out of it whenever they come by to hang out! Another reason I like having a detached garage. I've been trying to expain to my girlfriend why a detached garage is so important....anything truck related will be too loud to be attached to the house paint grinding welding smoke all that....loud music is a must too almost forgot that one
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[da_bears_da1]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Thanks again for the Eastwood tip...
2 Qts of the Rust Encapsulator at $34.99 per Qt...
The Friends I've met out here make this site PRICELESS!!!

I agree about this forum! Never expected to be making friends when I joined.

Originally Posted by WhippinSaw

Nice addition to the man cave, gotta have good tunes. I used my old surround in my garage and it rocks. Now where to put a flat screen

Amazing how tunes help the time go by when blocking and grinding.

Originally Posted by Jmorales3181

Haha I have a surround sound and powered sun in my garage for jammin out. My friends get a kick out of it whenever they come by to hang out! Another reason I like having a detached garage. I've been trying to expain to my girlfriend why a detached garage is so important....anything truck related will be too loud to be attached to the house paint grinding welding smoke all that....loud music is a must too almost forgot that one
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Detached is nice when the garage becomes the shop. I have had to towel the door into the house and have gotten the noisy complaint. I have managed to teach the family to use the front door instead of the garage door when its too noisy.

[Strodder]

I also have Bose surround sound speakers, and 2 big 3 way speakers run by a Yamaha Sound System in the shop. The wifey says the same thing, "Turn it down" I also have a TV in the shop, and want to hook the speakers up to it. My shop is my happy place.

[da_bears_da1]

Originally Posted by Strodder

I also have Bose surround sound speakers, and 2 big 3 way speakers run by a Yamaha Sound System in the shop. The wifey says the same thing, "Turn it down" I also have a TV in the shop, and want to hook the speakers up to it. My shop is my happy place.

I think if I put a TV in the shop my wife would just tell me to put a bed out there too.

Maybe worth a thread on the main forum to see what everyone has in their shops........

[Strodder]

Originally Posted by da_bears_da1

I think if I put a TV in the shop my wife would just tell me to put a bed out there too.

Maybe worth a thread on the main forum to see what everyone has in their shops........

Start it, and I'll post pictures. But let us know if you do. If you don't want to start a new thread I will. Let m know

[WhippinSaw]

[QUOTE=da_bears_da1;6201298]I think if I put a TV in the shop my wife would just tell me to put a bed out there too QUOTE]
I slept in the bed of my truck a couple times, guess that counts as a bed.

[Jmorales3181]

Hahaha yeah my shop is my happy place too! Not so happy place for my girlfriend
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[da_bears_da1]

Originally Posted by Jmorales3181

Hahaha yeah my shop is my happy place too! Not so happy place for my girlfriend
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Same here, my wife just walks by and shakes her head. She also seems to have an aversion to the brown truck showing up with big boxes.