Johns 66

[roll_the_dice]

That's great Ruben is going to make the chrome right! Can't complain about that...well we could, but what's the point?

That is AWESOME you were able to witness to the children and women...Sounds like a great trip. Hopefully some of it stuck!

[The Rocknrod]

Man those chrome parts look great. The gold is the copper they plate it with before chrome, the chrome wont stick to aluminum so they copper plate it first. Just didn't leave it in long enough. Wow I'm going to have to do that to my hood lights for sure. Thanks for the info on El Paso plating.

[roll_the_dice]

I am envious of your steering wheel John! I haven't found a good one yet and I am not sure I am up to the task of restoring one.

[Johns 66]

Originally Posted by The Rocknrod

Man those chrome parts look great. The gold is the copper they plate it with before chrome, the chrome wont stick to aluminum so they copper plate it first. Just didn't leave it in long enough. Wow I'm going to have to do that to my hood lights for sure. Thanks for the info on El Paso plating.

Thanks......and I appreciate the information on the chroming process..Im such a newb on that. I sent the parts back yesterday and marked the places with blue tape so that they could see what I was talking about...hopefully it makes it easier to see what I was talking about......In all honesty I don't think it will be hard for them to notice. I have always wanted to have the park lamp bezels chromed and since it was a lot cheaper at Electroplating of El Paso I decided to try them out, Once the grille is finished I will be sending it to them as well.

Originally Posted by roll_the_dice

I am envious of your steering wheel John! I haven't found a good one yet and I am not sure I am up to the task of restoring one.

Andy are you talking about the steering wheel or the deluxe horn ring? My actual steering wheel has some cracks in it as well so I will be attempting to fix them...I was "Told" that you could use an epoxy resin type thing but have never tried that before.

Found out from the fabricator guy that the wont be able to take my truck till the end of January or first of Feb......Kind of a bummer but understand since he is getting his new shop arranged and set up.

Im hoping by summer that all the metal and body work are done on my truck...after that I can paint it at anytime......just want to get it running and drivable and back together so I can DRIVE IT!!!!!!


Also got my AAW Classic Update wiring Harness in.....That should be interesting when I start that..lol

[roll_the_dice]

I thought you bought a NOS SW...was it the horn ring? I am jealous of the SW regardless, mine is not original. I need to find one. I have also seen the epoxy kits to repair them. I do work with epoxy resin regularly, but a thin consistency...so maybe it won't be that hard to do....we will find out!

[Johns 66]

Originally Posted by roll_the_dice

I thought you bought a NOS SW...was it the horn ring? I am jealous of the SW regardless, mine is not original. I need to find one. I have also seen the epoxy kits to repair them. I do work with epoxy resin regularly, but a thin consistency...so maybe it won't be that hard to do....we will find out!

No...I bought a used steering deluxe wheel and an automatic steering column....I bought is just because it was there and are hard to find. I then sent the ring and horn button to Ruben to be chromed.

[Johns 66]

When I got home from my trip I had a nice surprise waiting on me from Yelmer.

On my original someone had cut off the spout that comes off the side and looked really funny....Mike had one and sent it to me....it had already been powder coated. Don't mind the pics from the kitchen counter...lol

Mike I really appreciate the kindness you showed me.....You are a great guy.

[cwcarpenter98]

Just spent my evening reading through your thread. Great job on all the stuff that you have done to it

[Johns 66]

Originally Posted by cwcarpenter98

Just spent my evening reading through your thread. Great job on all the stuff that you have done to it

Thanks so much CW......Its a slow process to say the least.

Right now I am in the waiting process to get the rust places repaired...New rockers, cab corners, a small spot on the door and a spot in the passenger floor board....So while I wait on the shop to get to me I am gathering up things I know I will need once that part is finished.

[Johns 66]

Well we have "Hopefully" narrowed down the issue of the truck not running right....fingers crossed. After talking with several ole redneck hot rodders the main theme we came up with is that the stall in the torque convertor was too small.

I ordered a 3200-3600 lockup torque convertor from Jegs and it should be here tomorrow...Wont take long to swap it out and see if that's the issue...If its not the issue then Im just gonna take the truck to the shop who built it and they can make it run right.

I also got in my crimpers for the AAW harness I bought...I bought them from Speedway Motors, for the set was 134.00 shipped to me...I guess that's not a bad price since everywhere else was 79.99 ea I know they are only good for certain things and once I am done with them I figure someone on here will probably need them at some point.

Sent my ole buddy roll the dice a lil present today...It should be there when he gets back from his vacation...if you haven't checked his build out you should...its pretty neat what he is doing with his truck.

Anyways here is a pic of the crimpers

[Johns 66]

Had glorious visions of doing doughnuts today...…...Got my new torque convertor from Jegs made by Boss Hogg convertors....nice pretty sunny day temps not too high and not too cold...….

My day ended on jack stands...….

Pulled ole girl into the garage, placed on jack stands and got the tranny out and installed the new convertor, re-installed the tranny, made sure it was filled with fluid...put it in reverse to back it out the garage with visions of tire roasting smoke......truck did not move one inch.....Hmmmmmm Checked the cooler lines to make sure the pump was pumping...no problem there......So then called the dreaded tech line from Jegs.

their suggestion or expert advice was that the convertor was not seated....remove and re-install...Ok Im pretty sure convertor is installed correctly.....ESPECIALLY since my brother in law Randy rebuild and installs transmissions for a living...but we Could have made a mistake...its possible.....So we pulled it out, made sure it was seated and re-installed just as the help line suggested.....Well SAME result....wheels would not turn even on the jack stands. We made sure the input shaft was a 30 spline shaft, that the convertor was a 30 spline convertor....So I called the ole tech line again at Jegs...told them what we did.....so it appears according to him that I MAY have got a bad convertor...MAY HAVE?????? For sure have since I drove it into the garage, installed the convertor and now the wheels wont move on inch. Randy called several of his transmission friends and they agreed ...convertor is bad.

So we pulled it out again...this time we pulled it all the way out of the truck....drained the fluid out of the tranny, drained the fluid out of the convertor and then inspected both the pump...which was good, and the convertor which was no Bueno....The input shaft has ridges that line up inside the convertor......So we put a new input shaft inside the convertor and it did not engage the splines...….best we can tell is that the female part inside the convertor was worn extremely low not allowing the sgaft to engage...this wheels wont move....Called jegs again and explained what we found out and they then tell me they do not have a replacement on the shelf, that it would have to ship from the manufacturer which by the way is closed for inventory for the next 2 weeks.....You have got to be kidding me...…
Not willing to wait another two weeks I asked if they had a different brand...wasn't too sold on this brand...kind of fool me once type thing.....So am having a Jegs brand (more money) sent on Monday...should be here Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest.

Jegs folks were really nice about it all, I know its not their fault...So besides wasting a whole day and a few quarts of fluid I didn't get a whole lot accomplished....No doughnuts today......

[roll_the_dice]

I haven't been on here since I've been back. Thanks again for the gift! John was kind enough to send me a steering wheel with horn ring and button.

Dude...that is one heck of a day! You got a lot done...just didn't get it fixed yet! I can't believe you got a bad converter...what's the odds? Jegs should eat the cost on the price difference or at least some of it.

[Johns 66]

Well got a few pictures today from Bryan about my grille. He got is stripped and fixed a couple of places plus got the center Chevrolet mounted. The mounting tabs has slots so I can adjust it up and down....Will get it picked up and sent to Ruben at El Paso Electroplating...

Im so glad that Maggie shared this mod on her truck...I absolutely Love it..which is why I did mine

Also will be able to take the rest of the truck to get the metal work completed...So excited!!!!

[cwcarpenter98]

That grille is cool! Definitely one of my favorites even though it technically isn't stock

[Johns 66]

Originally Posted by cwcarpenter98

That grille is cool! Definitely one of my favorites even though it technically isn't stock

Thanks CW...I might know where another one is exactly like this one

I still have my aluminum grille that will probably become wall art at some point . I can easily swap the grill out if I wanted to go back stock....but think this little mod will look pretty cool.

[Lokin4AReason]

nice build and keep those update(s) coming ....

but aw man, that is a sweet looking air cleaner ( been on the search in locating one for some time for mine )

[roll_the_dice]

Nice grille John...I always like unique and different pieces. Nice touch!

[Johns 66]

Originally Posted by Lokin4AReason

nice build and keep those update(s) coming ....

but aw man, that is a sweet looking air cleaner ( been on the search in locating one for some time for mine )

Thanks so much...Yelmer had this one and was so nice and sent it to me over the holidays...my original spout was cut for some reason but the previous owner.

Originally Posted by roll_the_dice

Nice grille John...I always like unique and different pieces. Nice touch!

Thanks Andy...Not original but cool in my book...I can always put the original back in if I like.

Also placed my last order today...hopefully from LMC.....got the new bedside coming, front panel and a couple of other things...actually more than a couple...I did get free shipping because I got so much....I figure might as well order enough to get free shipping instead of paying 400.00 to ship the bed side.

Also my new torque convertor came in and will be installing it Saturday....fingers crossed.


Got another picture from Bryan today...they are working on the bedside that was worth saving...They had it blasted and are doing the metal work on it...they are also gonna get a coat of good primer on it before I pick it up.....Itll be nice for it to not have a bunch of bondo in it. Cant wait till I take the rest over to him and get the rest of the rust gone and metal work done

[roll_the_dice]

That's awesome. I love update pictures like that. They are working fast! I unbolted my seat yesterday...going to pull it out and get the carpet out this weekend and see how much more metal work the floor pan needs than I already know about. Fingers crossed!

Good luck with the converter...3rd, 4th, or 5th times the charm?

[Johns 66]

I hope the next time is the charm...lol I checked this convertor already and it does have nice rigid teeth for the input shaft to mate up to.

Got one more picture from Bryan a little bit ago. Looking good

[cwcarpenter98]

Getting rid of the rust is exciting! If I didn't love my 63 grille so much, I would want one of those as well. I don't know how, but my grille is almost perfect. Not dented or twisted up bad at all.

I know you are getting the grille chromed, but I think that chroming the letters and then painting the part that's behind the letters will make the chrome letters pop. Hope that makes sense lol

[Johns 66]

Originally Posted by cwcarpenter98

Getting rid of the rust is exciting! If I didn't love my 63 grille so much, I would want one of those as well. I don't know how, but my grille is almost perfect. Not dented or twisted up bad at all.

I know you are getting the grille chromed, but I think that chroming the letters and then painting the part that's behind the letters will make the chrome letters pop. Hope that makes sense lol

CW.....I thought about that option the only issue I have with that is the Chevrolet part has a few flaws that while Im sure they could be worked out, the added expense of getting it supper straight, coupled with the cost of chroming the part plus the flexibility of the part has me thinking that it would not be a wise choice....So my plans are to paint the rear area flat black and then paint the letters white, like the body color.....Im hoping that looks good.

[cwcarpenter98]

I think that will look good. The black will help the letters pop, and I think it will be a nice touch to match the letters to the body. It's only paint, so if you don't like it you can always redo it

[kdad]

Looking great... Love that grille

[Johns 66]

Got a little package today from the ole UPS man...….I also got my NOS Chevy II clock and Im sure yall know where they are going......Now the awesome part is my buddy Andy is gonna put it together for me....Im in no rush cause it will be some weeks before I put it in but am excited to see it done. I will say it came well packaged and protected.

If you haven't checked out Andys build here is the link to his build....
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=737785