Project '64 Cheapskate

[chevyrestoguy]

Tommy-
You're a man after my own heart! I am also one of those guys who looks at the small details. I especially love the cars that don't appear to have much going on until you look at them closely. That's why I'm a huge fan of Troy Trepanier's work. Everything on the car has been touched, but it's done so tastefully and subtly that nothing jumps out at you. I am a stickler about wiring, tube routing, and fit/finish. Flashy paint, giant blowers, and excessive chrome doesn't get me excited, but build quality does.

I have been in the aircraft industry for 23 years as a prototype technician doing both structural and electrical work. This truck build has been fun for me, but sometimes I have to put the "it's got to be perfect" thing aside and just relax. Even as a kid, when I was building car models, I was really bad. I would be doing the final assembly work on a model, and if I got one glue fingerprint on the finished product, I would either throw the model away or just use it for parts.

[TommyDuncan]

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

Flashy paint, giant blowers, and excessive chrome doesn't get me excited, but build quality does.

I hear ya. I'm just building a driver but my buddy decided he wants power in his 66 Elky. So instead of a blower, turbos, giant wings etc it is stock black on black with a mild appearing big block(555 cubic inches, hopefully 750 horse when he's done, with a/c and a full manual 4L85).

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

I have been in the aircraft industry for 23 years...

I got my A and P's in 89 (actually just the P) but the industry here was so sucky I didn't even last 6 months.

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

Even as a kid, when I was building car models, I was really bad. I would be doing the final assembly work on a model, and if I got one glue fingerprint on the finished product, I would either throw the model away or just use it for parts.

Haha... me too! I bought that KISS van model as a kid. On the box it had this awesome explosion like flame paintjob. It kinda looked like the swirled color of some plastic products so that is what I was expecting. When I got it home I was about as pissed as a 9 year old could be when it was white. With help from my dad we tried everything we could think of to duplicate the paint job on the box. The closest we got to duplicating the "explosion" effect on the box was about a half dozen M-80s taped together with the fuse sticking out. We blew that sucker into tiny pieces, some of which landed in the neighbors yard.
I withdrew from the KISS army shortly after that also...


As a kid I would get shipped to my Grandparents place in Apple Valley for the summer. They lived in the desert near the Mitsubishi Cement plant that is on the way up to Big Bear. Talking about boredom...

My cousins lived in your area for a while also. They would be 44, 42, and 39 now...
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[jayoldschool]

I spent some extra time on this was the serpentine set-up

You changed to the later water pump, right?

[chevyrestoguy]

Originally Posted by jayoldschool

You changed to the later water pump, right?

Jay-
I got the water pump that's correct for the serpentine set-up. They spin backwards compared to the v-belt water pumps. The belt runs on the backside of the pulley on the serpentine set-up. A lot of guys found this out the hard way when their engines overheated and they kept changing thermostats and radiators and still couldn't figure out the problem.

[ChiefRocka]

NICE WORK !!!

LT1 water pump, right ??

[kustombrad]

This thing is gonna be soooooo cool!
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[chevyrestoguy]

Originally Posted by ChiefRocka

NICE WORK !!!

LT1 water pump, right ??

No, just a stock water pump for an '89 350 with a serpentine. My engine came out of a 1989 half-ton truck, so when I go to the parts store that's the reference I use. Bought it at NAPA with a lifetime warranty for $45.

[chevyrestoguy]

Not a whol lot of pictures to show, but for the past two days, I have been doing the lovely task of cleaning and scraping the bottom of the cab so it can be undercoated. I had been procrastinating this job for months, but because the engine is going in soon, it had to get done. What a nasty, messy job. I was fighting the high winds (35mph), so masking it all off seemed to take forever. Well, it's finally done. I never want to do that again......



Still going hot and heavy on the A/C box. I don't want to post anything until it's time to start putting it together for the last time. I'm also rebuilding the steering column, too. I'll post up pictures in a few days. Busy, busy!!

[SFTorange]

Looking great. I your engine is coming along nicely. I love having parts that are readily available locally, can't beat the SBC for that, regardless of the year. I'm looking forward to seeing how the a/c turns out. Thanks for the pics, I've always wondered how the factory a/c stuff works. I'm sure it will be great.

Still loving the inner fender work as well.

Keep it up, and thanks for the kind words about my truck a while back.

[Low Elco]

Motor looks great! So do the fenders. Feels like its coming together!
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[rusty76]

Awesome read dude. I just spent some time reading over the build so far and wow!

[chevyrestoguy]

I've been busy working on some of the smaller stuff that has to be done before the motor and trans can go in. The steering column is almost finished (pictures coming soon), the heater control is now restored, and I've been working out the small details on the A/C, namely the evaporator box. I'm a real stickler about weird stuff like wiring and hose routing, and the evaporator fittings protruding through the firewall was one of those cases. I didn't want a gaping hole with a small line running through it, so when I welded up the firewall, I did a test fit of the evaporator and adjusted the hole sizes to fit. Instead of a big hole with tar tape wrapped around the line, I wanted bulkhead grommets for a nice, clean look. After having the evaporator in and out dozens of times, I finalized the hole sizes, and then it was time to weld on the receptacles that are compatible with the Parker Beadlock A/C fittings.

This was a bit more tricky than I expected. I knew that I was going to have to cut up some new fittings or go to the wrecking yard and find something that would work. On my evaporator, the low pressure side was aluminum, and the high pressure side was steel. I had a fitting I could use for the aluminum, so I hit the "yard" and found a steel fitting from a '76 Chevy truck, so I cut it off the hose and it cost me a whopping $2. I had my buddy Mike Jones weld them up for me:

You can also see the new Throttle Suction valve in that picture. I wrapped the fins in cardboard because they are SUPER fragile and will bend with hardly any pressure. If someone wanted to do this mod for hardly any money, here's the info. For the larger line, use the fitting from a mid-90s Ford Explorer. It's on the accumulator, and you'll need a hacksaw to saw it off. For the smaller line, find a '73-'79 Chevy or GMC truck with A/C and get the fitting from the line that goes between the evaporator and the condenser. It's easy to spot. The line is more like a hard plastic than a flexible rubber. Use a razor blade and cut the hose and take the fitting. A word of caution: Make sure the A/C is discharged before you go cutting. Most all of the self-service yards mandate that all fluids and gasses be drained, but it's best to unscrew the service ports and use a small screwdriver and depress the valve core and see if it hisses.

While the A/C stuff was being sorted out, I decided to Peel and Seal the inside of the firewall where the evaporator box will reside. That stuff is cheap, easy to get (Lowes) and it works great.


I'll have a lot more pictures soon. The little stuff is starting to finally come home, and I'm getting the itch to drop in the engine and trans!!

[Low Elco]

Great to see it going forward. You aircraft guys, so precise. Gonna be pushin' at the Reunion?
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[chevyrestoguy]

QUOTE=Low Elco;6040216]Great to see it going forward. You aircraft guys, so precise. Gonna be pushin' at the Reunion?
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Yep, the plan is to be pushing a Fuel car at the Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield this October. I would like to be done long before then, though. I am really trying to get as much of the little stuff done as possible because I don't want to have to go back and finish it later on after the truck is running and driving. I don't like tearing 'em back apart if I don't have to!

By the way, I spent some time and checked out your Old Yeller thread. Man, what a job! It turned out really nice, especially considering what you started with. I also really like how you had 3 generations working on it. My Dad was into cars when he was younger, and we had some cool cars (all Chevys) up until the time the family started growing (6 kids). My Dad went to the Dark Side in the late '80s, and his most recent hot rod is a black 2004 Mercury Marauder that he keeps in pristine condition.

[Bigru]

I like your build, keep it up and give us some updates.

[chevyrestoguy]

Thanks, Bigru! LOTS of updates coming soon!

I've been working on a lot of the little stuff right now, and I'm getting pretty close to putting a bunch of stuff back together.

[Low Elco]

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

QUOTE=Low Elco;6040216]Great to see it going forward. You aircraft guys, so precise. Gonna be pushin' at the Reunion?
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Yep, the plan is to be pushing a Fuel car at the Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield this October. I would like to be done long before then, though. I am really trying to get as much of the little stuff done as possible because I don't want to have to go back and finish it later on after the truck is running and driving. I don't like tearing 'em back apart if I don't have to!

By the way, I spent some time and checked out your Old Yeller thread. Man, what a job! It turned out really nice, especially considering what you started with. I also really like how you had 3 generations working on it. My Dad was into cars when he was younger, and we had some cool cars (all Chevys) up until the time the family started growing (6 kids). My Dad went to the Dark Side in the late '80s, and his most recent hot rod is a black 2004 Mercury Marauder that he keeps in pristine condition.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for Checking it out! It means a lot, especially from you. I've always said I wanted it to come out nice enough that guys who know the difference thought it was nice. It's pretty much come out that way. It's easy to fool the public, guys who know what they're doing can smell BS a block away.

This and Brad's are gonna look killer going down the highway together. Did your baby finally go, buying you a little freedom? I saw Brad was pushing Tocco and Garten, is he doing it again and who are you pushing? (I love the Smirnoff and Fighting Irish cars myself.) How do you guys know all these fuel guys?

Glad to see you among the living, hoping to see updates soon! As we all know, I love this truck!

[chevyrestoguy]

double post, sorry

[chevyrestoguy]

The project at work is coming along, and this week, we actually did Taxi testing on Wednesday and Friday. It went really well, and those are the last things we need in order to get it to first flight. It took a ton of work to get it there, but we're seeing a lot of our long hours paying off.

Brad met Bobby Tocco through Steve Gibbs, who is one of the big guys in the NHRA, and organizes the Hot Rod Reunion. Bobby is a character. Super nice guy, with the energy of a 17yr old. The driver of the Tocco, Harper, and Garten car is Roger Garten. He's in his mid-70s, but he still wheels the Iron Horse Nostalgia Funny Car, and he's damn good at it.

I haven't scored a "push" yet, but I'm going to talk to Pete Eastwood and Steve Gibbs at the L.A. Roadster Show next month and I'll see if he has anybody pushing him. Pete and Steve are really heavy into the Cacklefest stuff, and they might have a buddy who needs a push.

One of Bobby Tocco's buddies just finished the restoration of his old Fuel Altered the "Groundshaker Jr". I'll get ahold of Bobby and ask him if they've got a push truck lined up. It was a very well-known car back in the day. Here's the car:

[Low Elco]

Hmmm......lemme see..... Yeah, you suck. Damn, that'd be fun. That Altered is super cool, but can you imagine pushing the Old Master? Too much!
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[chevyrestoguy]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Hmmm......lemme see..... Yeah, you suck. Damn, that'd be fun. That Altered is super cool, but can you imagine pushing the Old Master? Too much!
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....Believe me, I'm working that angle and I'm popping the question to Pete the next time I see him. The Old Master is one of my favorites. That car has an amazing race history and Ed Pink was the Man!

I was hoping Pete still had the Mondello and Matsubara Fiat Fuel Altered, but he and Karpo sold the car a while back. That would have been cool to push that car!! I love the Fiat Topolino-bodied Altereds.

[Low Elco]

Good Luck, hope Les vids Cacklefest like he did last year- awesome!
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[Low Elco]

Just in case Folks don't know what we're talkin' about-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=6H0lmvT8I_I

[chevyrestoguy]

In the evenings, I have been able to get some stuff done on the '64 while the wife is watching "her shows". I got the last few parts I was needing, and I finished restoring the evaporator box.

I got the duct manifold, coupling, and trap door blasted,painted, and installed.


I spent a lot of time cleaning and straightening the fins on the evaporator. I used a few bottles of mag wheel cleaner, but it cleaned up pretty good. I also installed a new throttle/suction valve. This was the final fit-check of the evaporator, so I did the final torque on all the lines and called it good.


I came to the conclusion that it was easier to bolt the evaporator to the lid and install it all as one unit. The lid was blasted and painted, and it got a new thermostat (Old Air), blower motor resistor (Old Air), and relay (Napa).


And here it is, all assembled and ready to install. I plan on finding a grommet for the thermostat thermocouple to seal off the top of the box. I couldn't find a compressor switch that exactly matched the one I had, so I did a continuity check and it was good, and I cleaned and painted my original one. I blasted the return spring and gave it a coat of dull aluminum spray.


Oh yeah, here's a "before" picture:


I also finished restoring the heater control, and I'll post pictures later. Right now, I'm working on all the harnesses. My original was in surprisingly good condition, but I have a couple of spare harnesses that I'm using for parts. So far, it's turning out nicely.

[Dinos63]

whoa!! nice work and cool deal on the racer