Freddy's '52

[1952ssr]

Last night removed and redid my speaker box, nothing major just recessed the woofer in its cabinet, cut some acces holes for my amp wires to enter from the back and made it fit lower in my truck so maybe we can slide the seat back for more leg room.

But, while my truck at the upholstery shop I got my bike going that matches my wifes, now when we go to a show we can take them along with us. Here's a picture of our Otasco Villagers (era '70's), my wifes is almost mint but mine is more on the ratty side.

[watahyahknow]

used to have one of those when i was young in the netherlands , there where two sizes , nowadays you can buy them new as beachbikes but there quite a bit larger

[1952ssr]

The storage box I had in the bed was just a little small so I've been building a bigger one. Here's some shoots of it before I screw down the top pieces. All I have to do now is final things like hardware, gas struts and carpet on the inside.

[oldman3]

That should get a few people talking.....Jim

[RootBeer 6117]

Rat House? shade tree carpenter?

[watahyahknow]

think he used an old pallet for the wood on that one , maibe find an realy old/classic petlock for it too or two leather belts to hold the lid down
not sure wat to think of it , i wouldnt want any bend wood on it but then again im not the owner of the truck

seen a trick a while back on tv where the guy used some stuff and steelwool desolved in it to get wood that aged look think he used paintthinner or amonia for it and brushed it ontoo the bare wood
not sure anymore wat the liquid was

[1952ssr]

Talking, yes. At the show this past Saturday proved that.

I am a Joe of all trades. Part mechanic, carpenter, electrician, sign painter and body man....I'm sure I could go on.

My wood is 7 year old aged rough cut pine from our round pin when we had our horses. I glad I never painted it now. I did find some old copper cabinet handles and they were aged nicely, now looking for a latch.

[1952ssr]

For the most part everything has been good lately, got several show wins with one being the "most outstanding rat rod" .....that just sounds funny. I still haven't solved my fan issue....well I did and then I messed it up again and don't really know what I did the first time that fixed it. But with a few weeks before another show I decided to pull my TB off and clean it good, then that led to pulling the intake manifold and fixing the oil leak in the rear corner. While pulling it off found at least 6 bolts only finger tight, did some goggleing and found others with same issue. No wonder intake oil leaks are a "typical" LT1 problem. Looking forward the difference when it is put back together.

[oldman3]

Keep us posted...Jim

[1952ssr]

Well, got the intake put back on during a day off yesterday, will fire it up and drive it maybe Thursday or Friday. I also took time to make myself a sign for my box inside my bed. My original plan was to put on some sideboards with my signage on them, but my wife said no to sideboards. I have probably a half a dozen jobs lined up to do so now that I've got mine done I can start knocking them out. The pictures really don't do it justice they make it look too good, it actually looks even older in person.

[watahyahknow]

i wonder how hard it would be to make real emaille on metal signs , the original shopsigns from like bosch shell or valvoline bring a lot of money lately , selling emaille repro's for 1/3 of that cash might still make a healthy profit

[1952ssr]

Well, Fred got some presents this year a new Sanden 508 and a new set of headers. Got the passenger side header switched out last Saturday. Then worked on the drivers Monday, this one came out real good compared to the first one. Now to move my steering column over. Yesterday I worked on making mounts for the A/C compressor, you ever done a job and said to yourself....self your amazing. I did that yesterday as I finished the mounts, they turned out really good. All I have left is to mount the idler pully to it.

[youngrodder]

In reading your previous post about an oil leak with your intake, I suspect I have the same issue. I see needing to change my intake gasket in the near future. I will be curious to see if some of m intake bolts are loose as well. Nice work on the bracket...

Marc
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[watahyahknow]

might be the front or rear seal pushed out by overpressure in the engine , i read a few books about race enginebuilders and they didnt used those parts of the gaskets but put a big bead of a special kind of black siliconesealant in between the engine and intake , i cant remember exactly but i think they let it firm up a but before carefully seating the manifold on top , it sticks on both ends so it gives a stronger seal too , you still need breathers though or even those seals will break eventually

[1952ssr]

Yeah with the LT1's / 4's there is only the bead of silicone, so failure comes eventually. The good part is no distributor to pull out so if you didn't intend on a good cleaning like I did the job could be done in one day.

[56ClassicTruck]

Originally Posted by 1952ssr

Yeah with the LT1's / 4's there is only the bead of silicone, so failure comes eventually. The good part is no distributor to pull out so if you didn't intend on a good cleaning like I did the job could be done in one day.

Man your built has come along nicely.....
My built has been on hold for some time now but hoping to start back up on it soon.. thank for all the information on the LT1 things i will be doing to mine...
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[focusedontheprize]

Did you end up getting the AC unit from Southern Air yet like you mentioned before?

Truck looks great

[1952ssr]

Originally Posted by focusedontheprize

Did you end up getting the AC unit from Southern Air yet like you mentioned before?

Truck looks great

Thanks,
I did get it from Southern Rod's it's a maxi unit, I purchased the a/c compressor from KJM performance. Got everything buttoned up weekend before last. I'll probably start taking my steering column out tonight so I'll snap some shots of it finished.

[skymangs]

Lookin good, excellent job on the A/C bracket!

[1952ssr]

Thanks, here's a couple of finished pictures. I had to do a little plate removal and coil bracket reconstruction to make everything work but we got it.

[48 GMC BURB]

The plate for Freddy's LT 1 looks sweet !
I've been looking for something ... It's hard to
make New school look OLD SCHOOL !!

Do you have stock cam & injectors ?
I'm thing about the hot cam upgrade..or just a cam ?

Sweet truck

[1952ssr]

Originally Posted by 48 GMC BURB

The plate for Freddy's LT 1 looks sweet !
I've been looking for something ... It's hard to
make New school look OLD SCHOOL !!

Do you have stock cam & injectors ?
I'm thing about the hot cam upgrade..or just a cam ?

Sweet truck

Thanks, it's nice to have old weathered stuff laying around to create things from. Mines all stock, if I ever do any upgrades I would probably stick a LS style motor in. But I would have to change so many things that would be way down the road. I took one valve cover and was amazed to see not any slugg what so ever so I'll run it as long as she'll go. If I can ever get mine to stop running soooooo rich mine will be in good shape.

With the LT's you can get some really good extra power out of a new cam so that would be a good upgrade, only thing about going with larger injectors I think you would have to replace the stock fuel pump for a more high flow one also. But hey it's only money right....

[youngrodder]

Mine was running rich at first as well. In all of the reseach that I did it kept pointing to an air leak up stream of the O2 sensors (exhaust gasket leak or collector leak) or a faulty 02 sensor. That is what my problem was. Once I switched out the faulty O2 sensor mine was fine.

Marc

[1952ssr]

Originally Posted by youngrodder

Mine was running rich at first as well. In all of the reseach that I did it kept pointing to an air leak up stream of the O2 sensors (exhaust gasket leak or collector leak) or a faulty 02 sensor. That is what my problem was. Once I switched out the faulty O2 sensor mine was fine.

Marc

Thanks for the reply youngrodder. I bought the sensors new (but you never know with new parts now a days), and now I have actual gaskets on instead of the copper gasket making silicone since I got the new headers on. So I'll run it some and see if it gets better.

[1952ssr]

Not much happening around the shop worth mentioning for awhile. But, I did get the A/C charged and man is it great. Might have to do a exhaust manifold swap in the future, the headers are resinating seriously loud at low rpms and makes for hearing issues for my wife and mother-in-law. I'll probably swap them out with my '96 silverado's vortec so no extra money is spent (and I've been wanting to run duals on it anyway). Bought me a Zirgo temp switch and the fans come on at 180 degrees.

Put side boards on Saturday, those were also my late father-in-laws.

And I wanted to show you guys what I did to add a little protection to my patina. As they do in the commercials I did one side in the product and the other nothing.
The left has nothing and the right side has it applied. The stuff in by NuFinish called "CLING", no white residue (even on the rusted places), you spray it on, comes off real easy and it didn't effect the color.