'63 Long Fleet "Big Orange"

[rusty76]

When you use the oven cleaner do not use it on pavement or blacktop. Ask me how I know. Bad bad bad idea........But on the bright side I got to reseal my blacktop.....yay.

[botsdots]

Originally Posted by rusty76

When you use the oven cleaner do not use it on pavement or blacktop. Ask me how I know. Bad bad bad idea........But on the bright side I got to reseal my blacktop.....yay.

Thanks for the advice. I used it on concrete in my garage... then hosed it out to a drain right outside the garage door. Covered liberally with water, it wasn't that big a deal. They're also quoting asphalt replacement right now, so it would get replace soon anyways

[Mike Bradbury]

It's been a year.... lets see some progress pics. I know you got 'em.

[botsdots]

Very funny... I need to keep my phone with me in the garage.

I had everything powdercoated black and installed the PB front end. RCD in El Cajon, CA hooked me up with the shocks. For anyone in the San Diego area, RCD will coordinate the purchase of their products through a local dealer as RCD can only wholesale. Good price and the guy at RCD drove them down to the dealer on his lunch. Great folks over there.

Here's a shot of the completed left side suspension. I'm running the McGaughy's drop spindles and 6-lug disc kit on Porterbuilt arms.


I ran into some clearance issues that may or may not be a problem... I'm going to swap out my rubber motor mounts for polyurethane and hope there's no interference. Worst case, I replace the headers?

[1963c-10]

Looking great.

[uber cool]

looking good, like the tip on oven cleaner , might try that. I've got a LWB 63 fleetside too, but in UK imported it from Oregon in Sept 14.

[botsdots]

Originally Posted by uber cool

looking good, like the tip on oven cleaner , might try that. I've got a LWB 63 fleetside too, but in UK imported it from Oregon in Sept 14.

Thanks uber. The only thing you have to be careful of with the oven cleaner is anything organic you don't want cleaned. Asphalt/Blacktop can be compromised by it... just be careful.

On that note, I actually used lye (drain cleaner) at first. Took a giant metal drum, added lye, put a fire under it and put the parts in it. That stuff is very caustic, an extreme base, so you have to be extremely careful. It did a good job of cleaning, but I was concerned about getting a burn from it, so I neutralized it and moved on to oven cleaner.

[botsdots]

Got a package (or 4) from Summit today. ... Pop quiz: which one is not like the other one?

Not to mention, the price went down 10% overnight....

[botsdots]

I picked up the "poor man's serpentine kit" which uses two 6-rib belts instead of one, but is significantly cheaper (March Performance P/N# 22061)

So I started pressing the P/S pump pulley on while loosely mounted...


And realized there is no way I'm going to be able to get this bolt in with it on the truck


So off it comes and I need some shorter bolts... hold that until tomorrow I guess.

This may be overkill, but I'm doing hydroboost


And I picked up a PSC remote reservoir, pump housing and bracket (PSC P/N# SR2545-10K, SR146H-6-10, MR18K)


Going to be a tight fit


Stock photo of bracket which DOES NOT fit. I might go back and order one of these, which I didn't see before. Their site is really hard to navigate.


And lastly, my next proximity issue

[botsdots]

I can't find 3/16 line separators anywhere, so I 3D modeled this guy. It's not going to be cheap for them to be fabricated, but might be worth it if I can make the financials work to produce a bunch and try to recoup some costs.

Left hole is recessed for a Hex Cap Screw, Right hole is tapped 4-48.


3x .188" half-holes. Two pieces get screwed together to make the separator.


I'm slightly concerned about getting to the underside to tighten the "other" screw. I'm trying to keep the cost down by making a bunch of a single part that are interchangeable.

[botsdots]

In the picture of the wheels, you may have noticed that the center cap style is different. The "Summit" center cap is a nice, chromed plastic, dome (on the right). The "Vision" center cap is the boxy, "Vision Wheels"-stamped, version on the left.

Just got off the phone with the fine folks at Summit.

I made a deal with them that they couldn't refuse. If they credited me for the ~10% difference in wheel price from the day I bought them to the next day, I would buy the replacement center caps myself to make them all similar. So I have new center caps on the way (~$10/wheel) and a little extra credit from the leftover.

And for future searches, here's the skinny:
Summit and/or Vision Legend 6 Wheel center caps dome with no logo are Summit P/N# VSW-C141 and Vision P/N# C141 or C141-C-CAP (Seen both of those)

Old Summit Cap:


New Vision Cap:

[botsdots]

Back at it 5 years later (and a new house )

This whole adventure started when my wife made the suggestion that I extend my exhaust from behind the cab to behind the rear wheels. She stated that my (then unborn) son would only be able to ride in the truck if there was no exhaust or fuel smell in the cab.... here we are 8 years later (with an 8 year old son) who has never seen the truck run, much less ridden in it. I'm back at it again and will post changes I've done overall and summarize what I've done since the last post... (spoiler: not much)

From the day I removed the old exhaust in 2012 to today, here's a list of things:
Removed/cleaned/powdercoated front crossmember
Installed Porterbuilt tube suspension (is this even a thing anymore?)
Replaced drop springs with drop spindles and new springs
Installed front disc brakes with hydroboost
Installed front rib-belt pulley setup
Installed PS pump with housing for AN fittings
Uninstalled leakly PS pump and housing
Installed external PS reservoir
Found new pulley and bracket for type 2 fittings
Installed type 2 PS pump with AN fittings
Replaced front end electrical harnesses
Ran AN lines for all PS and PB lines to route through appropriate locations
Installed aluminum radiator and shroud with electric fan
Designed/fabricated a new radiator top retainer to bring it forward 1-2 inches because of fan interference
Ran all new AN lines for transmission cooler
Installed new ramshorn exhaust manifolds
Installed header extenders
Replaced motor mounts
Replaced transmission pan


I went to mount the wheels seen in my previous post and found that the ID of the wheel was smaller than the lip on the rear drum. Off to a machine shop to remedy that problem. Got tires mounted, threw them on the truck and away we went.

I decided the race headers just weren't going to work because of space constraints. Even with "accidental" clearancing with a hammer, I just couldn't get comfortable, so I decided to go with the rams horn manifolds. The "header extenders" aren't quite making me happy with where the exhaust is going.... I think at this point I'm just going to take it somewhere for exhaust

Fuel lines are the current mission... I'm adding a tank behind the rear end, but as usual, I'm blazing my own trail with a universal tank. I'll snap some photos and post them tonight.

[LostMy65]

Who is this?!!!!!
Nah, just kidding.
Life happens.

[88Stanger]

Welcome Back!!!

[botsdots]

And back we are. Moving from CA to TX, so brought the truck with me on the first trip. Fired up the old girl this week. Have a couple leaks in the fuel system and transmission cooler. Waiting for parts, but I should be on the road in a week!

[88Stanger]

Pray all safe travels for you and your family. Get settled in and start back up on that beautiful ride!!

[J Williams]

I might be a little biased of the year and color as well!! Love the truck man. Keep up the good work and I will definitely be following this build

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by botsdots

And back we are. Moving from CA to TX, so brought the truck with me on the first trip.

What part of Texas are you moving to ?

I live on a cul de sac with 5 houses on it. In the last year three of the houses have sold and all to California people moving in. Apparently there is a bit of an eastward migration trend happening.

[botsdots]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

What part of Texas are you moving to ?

I live on a cul de sac with 5 houses on it. In the last year three of the houses have sold and all to California people moving in. Apparently there is a bit of an eastward migration trend happening.

West of Houston. Wife grew up here, so back we are. I'm having to learn that people here are nice because they're nice, not because they're trying to stab you in the back.... it's sad, really.

My frame of mind and hobbies lend themselves more to this part of the country, so happy to be here.

The moving truck alone is $5k

[Low Elco]

I understand the big rental companies will literally pay you to take a truck back to CA. A guy here at work just did it. Wow. Good luck on the new start.

[The Rocknrod]

Nice to see progress in all stages.