Fashionable Fever! - 1969 Chevy C10 Build

[mr.mud1]

if you need to make sharper bends on your material,the shrinker/stretcher will do it.i've bent some metal on mine making pieces for my 39 Chrysler project,no problem.what i found helped was not putting the metal into the jaws very deep and it'll curl right around.

[ryans69chevy]

Originally Posted by OneOffStroker

Sorry it took me so long to respond. Been out of town.

I had some old 3" angle iron out back, so I cut it into a pretty simple little contraption that stands on the floor and has an arm that mounts into my bench vise. This was the best mix of portable/stowable as well as using the least amount of raw material to make. Foot pedal is pretty simple, and goes to a small bar with a little 'flag' mounted to it. pedal to arm is just a piece of 1/2" EMT conduit smashed on either end. Like I said, it's all made from whatever scrap worked out best. It takes about 1 minute to swap from shrinker to stretcher using the two bolts underneath and the allen screw that holds in the arm rod.

Appreciate the pictures on your setup. Gives me some ideas if I get tired of holding the piece with one hand and pumping with the other. Right now, I just bolted it to a plywood bench stand that I built when I hung my kitchen cabinets. Works nicely other than bending over to do the work.

[ryans69chevy]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Good to see you getting back to the ole dude again. Work is coming out very nice.

Thanks for the words. Spent yesterday evening grinding welds and removing paint. Also went on the hunt for some dixie cups to get the epoxy primer out of my qt can. Can't waste one drop of that expensive stuff. Turns out, those little dixie cups are hard to come by. Went to the local grocery - no dice, went to the local big box store - nothing. I think tonight I'm going to run to the liquor store.... I bet they would have them for making jello shots.

[ryans69chevy]

Originally Posted by mr.mud1

if you need to make sharper bends on your material,the shrinker/stretcher will do it.i've bent some metal on mine making pieces for my 39 Chrysler project,no problem.what i found helped was not putting the metal into the jaws very deep and it'll curl right around.

Yes! That's what I found out after my first piece turned into a trial run, I just messed around with it and found out some tricks with the tools. Still got to master exactly where the bend will happen once I put it in the tools. Ive just been cutting the piece longer than normal, making my bend and cutting it so the bend is where I need it, but if I have to do multiple bends in a run, it would be nice to know exactly where to start bending if that makes sense?

Any words of advice on that?

[ryans69chevy]

Finally tracked some of those dixie cups down at my local diner. First time mixing up epoxy. Mixed up less than an oz. and it was still way more than I needed. I put a lid on it and hoping to use it up tomorrow on some other areas.

As you can see I tried to save a buck and mixed the stuff up in a paper cup instead of using the bigger plastic paint cups I bought with the epoxy. The primer ate right through the paper - stupid mistake.

Hopefully now that I have (i think) everything I need to get this firewall seam done, it will go alot faster.

[ryans69chevy]

Forgot to take a couple pics of the face of the firewall. That metal is also being replaced at the same time and epoxy primer applied.

[ryans69chevy]

More welding, more grinding.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Looking good!

[ryans69chevy]

Holy smokes, I can't seem to catch a break. Was getting the last of the house interior projects wrapped up and then March of 2023, ended up having ice dams which caused leaks in the master bed and the living room. Had to redo parts of ceiling, walls, insulation, etc. Worst part of it all was having to rip apart and redo the work I just did a couple years prior. Things didn't get done as quick, plus after getting home from working construction all day, makes it hard to get ambitious. Have a few things left to get done, but the weather is nice, so I'd rather be outside.

Finally pulled the trigger on a rear disc brake kit from Baer. Put most of it together. Didn't install pads or loctite yet. Want to make sure the park brake cable and brake lines will work with the orientation of the caliper first.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Good to see you back at it. I was wondering what happened to you there. Sounds like you've been busy.

[clay68c10]

Life definitely gets in the way, particularly house projects. House before hot rod is how it has to be tho.
Nice progress. How’s the firewall and cowl rebuild going?

[ryans69chevy]

Originally Posted by Kronald_70GMC

Good to see you back at it. I was wondering what happened to you there. Sounds like you've been busy.

I've been lurking around the site here and there. I tried to stay away so I wouldn't get side tracked on my house stuff

[ryans69chevy]

Originally Posted by clay68c10

Life definitely gets in the way, particularly house projects. House before hot rod is how it has to be tho.
Nice progress. How’s the firewall and cowl rebuild going?

It's not lol. I gotta get back on the cab soon, but I've been putting off getting my frame to be a roller for so long, I finally just bit the bullet and ordered some brakes for the back. Once I get the brakes finished, I can throw my "cheap" wheels on it and get the frame off the jack stands.

I've been trying to come up with ideas on a homemade paint booth that I can just have set up in my garage for awhile. I think I have a plan figured out finally, now its just cleaning the corner of the garage and building it. I really need to get going on priming some of my parts that I have sitting around with no paint before they spot rust.

[ryans69chevy]

Made a little more progress on my brakes. I ended up ordering new hubs for the front to make it a 5x5 pattern. In doing so, I either had to order new rotor hats ($225 a piece) or drill the 5x5 pattern into my existing ones.

Ended up drilling my existing ones. I did 3 of the 5 holes myself on one of the rotor hats, but couldn't get the last 2 holes since they were half way into the existing holes. (I need a drill press). I called up my buddy who is a machinist, and he was happy to help. I brought over both rotor hats to his garage and watched him do it. Pretty amazing to watch him do the work on his mill. Both hats fit nicely, now its just getting the front brakes put back together.

[ryans69chevy]

Last month I cleaned a section of the garage out and built a paint booth. So I've been spraying epoxy on parts that I've had sandblasted.
Had some extra time yesterday and got a little more done on the cab.

[ryans69chevy]

Feels like I'm bouncing around with working on different parts of the pickup. I'd rather stay focused on one thing, but years ago I got carried away sanding parts down to clean metal and never did anything with them. Well now they are starting to spot rust so I've been trying to get them cleaned up again and send them through my paint booth. I'm hoping to get most of them through before it gets too cold this year.

I started with spraying alot of the parts that won't be seen to get used to using a gun. I used Nason Ful-Poxy since that's what I bought a couple years ago. The stuff laid down really nice. I'm just going to continue using this on unseen parts until the quart is gone.

I then decided to switch to PPG products. Wasn't getting very good customer service where they sell the Nason. Being that its my first time painting a vehicle, I have quite a few questions. When I've been in the place with Nason products, they didn't seem like they wanted to give me the time of day. Shopped around at a couple of other places and found one that has been more than happy to answer alot of newbie questions.

I chose the PPG Shopline JP375. Sprayed my tailgate first. Seems like this stuff is a little more finicky as far as gun setup. The two coats I put on, orange peeled. I should have tested it on a small part and let it dry fully before spraying this, but when I was dialing in the gun, I assumed it would dry smooth. Turns out after I sprayed both coats, my regulator was set too low. Dumb mistake. Sprayed one of my bed tubs this evening with higher psi and turned out better. Hardly any orange peel.

The picture with no epoxy looks like there is rust on the tailgate - its just the lighting. It was nice and clean before I sprayed it.