What did you do to your truck today part III

[pimpston65]

Originally Posted by Jimal

I shipped out Pimpston65's steering column and ordered a new front parking brake cable from Inline Tube. Not much else beyond that.

thks for the coulmn, you know inline tube is 20mins from me. i can walk in and waste all their i want at the counter!!! oh and free shipping, since im already there!!!

[Lugnutz65]

Originally Posted by pimpston65

i was thinking bout that tool, thks

Eastwood Company sell that tool. $35
Seems similar in mechanical function to a rivet tool. Grabs the pin and pulls. I'm sure it's the right tool for certain types of dents.
Nice idea.

[pimpston65]

Originally Posted by Lugnutz65

Eastwood Company sell that tool. $35
Seems similar in mechanical function to a rivet tool. Grabs the pin and pulls. I'm sure it's the right tool for certain types of dents.
Nice idea.

yeah its from small ones, cuz if alot of pins are welded first they will be in the way. it may be a pain to weld,pull repeat all day vs weld weld weld then pull pull pull...

[Grizz1963]

Been a bit chilly down at the garage lately, yesterday was -1'C when I left home at 09.00

Sorry about all the rubbish quality mobile phone pics, no idea why they are so bad.





Today being the first day of my holiday where I could actually do just what I wanted, I de-stickered the inside and also the rear window. Did not realize the BBW was so large.



Managed to relocate most of the stickers to the toolbox.



Once done with all the stickers etc, I decided to take the truck for its last run of 2014...... just a gentle run as the roads are cold, gritted and a bit slippery where we live.

Before leaving, I called Clem in Fayetteville, Arkansas and we chatted for over an hour about trucks and life in general.
Really looking forward to the trip to the USA in October.

I also ran into a friends dad who drives a 14 year old F150 and lives next to the HA retreat a couple of miles from where we live.
So after a nice chat, and some final photos of the truck on the road, I carried on down Ropers lane and back up around a roundabout.......

This is typically where things go wrong just when you do not need or want them to.

I passed some multi-wheeled truck, only to hear a very loud "WHACK!!"

SHEEETT!!!!! What broke?

Then looking ahead, I realized, the truck that passed had thrown a stone and hit the windscreen almost where my chin would be......BURGERR!!

That means that it will fail its next MOT next year as its cracked in the line of vision.

Also means I will now have to waste money on paying the excess and any top-up needed for a new windscreen.



Pics taken before the "WHACK"



Came home, after putting some fuel in the tank as it was very low (no idea why I felt the need to add 9 litres to a truck going off the road for a while)

Reversed the truck down to the garage, went up to put the other cars onto the drive that get moved when the truck comes out the garage..... found this on the drive.



Well, perfect timing again.....I have been planning to replace the exhaust system as part of this resto as well.



Then shortly after I got home, I got a text from Paul Y who I had given the trims from the truck to, and he offered to come help me build my own exhaust system for the truck, in exchange for buckets of tea and chocolate biscuits.

Have I mentioned Life is Good ??

After this I started the tear down. Sounds a lot more impressive than it is.

Nicola came home early from work, so I shut shop and came up to the house to spend time with her and to see out this year.




So, in closing out 2014....

Thank you each and every one for friendships, help and advice on here, and in our personal lives.

May 2015 bring us all what we need, and some of what we want.

This is how I left the garage tonight.




See you all in the new year.

Watch this space, and thanks for checking in.

[pimpston65]

bought more parts while in Time Square NYC waiting til midnight and no that's not wacky tabacy, I smoke cheap cigars!!!

[iceship]

Finally got my dual fan controler in today... Sometime this week I'll connect the over ride switch

[Grizz1963]

BONDO/BOG/FILLER/PLOD is the friend of every good body worker ehhh??

Took the door parts off today, including the door panels..... first surprise was not being able to unscrew one of the screws on the drivers side, followed by another 5 on the passenger side. Lubricated them, not progress, then went and had a coffee with Martin when he pitched, after which he tried various bodyshop techniques, followed by me and Mr Drill, so I have a repair job ahead before I can get the panels back on.

The lower door kick panels were covered with some thick gauge plastic, covering the 6x9 holes which I had planned on welding up, but then realized they have a swage/ridge which I am not sure I want to repair, unless I make up some panels and weld them in..... more welding.

Inside the door was surprise number one, indicating that a lot more pain awaits me......

Can you tell what it is yet?



Ohhh, and the red you see in the pic, is high density foam flooring, or a camping mat that some clever idiot glued a bunch of inside the doorskin as sound deadening.....

So then between Martin and I we continued to laugh, curse and be amazed at all the cockups as we unbolted bits, with bolts missing from the tailgate, some cross threaded bolts etc....

Rear lights out, tailgate gone and bumper removed.

I STILL WOULD LOVE TO FIND THE SAME BUMPER AGAIN.



Then more coffee and left over Christmas mince pies Nicola had put out for us before returning to start the front end.

This was the moment I have feared the last 18 months, but at least I was in control.

The biggest lump of Plod on my truck that I know of, clearly there will be more surprises forthcoming.

From the drivers fender.



After we had undone a zillion nuts and bolts Martin made me remove the first fender, just to torture me.



While I was at the second fender, Martin was grunting, groaning and sounding like a walrus mating on a rocky beach..... "Where's your bloody rattle gun?" he grunted from below my feet, under the fender.

The bottom fender bolt was not letting up, a bit like some of the others we had already encountered.

Fetched the rattle gun and got on with what I was doing, heard ZZZZZRRT..!! Had Martin's head pop up, kinda like a ground hog.... Burger me !!! This thing works well.

Note the offending items deterioration.



This point saw us get some sandwiches, tea and a catch up on various other tasks, like ordering bits off Ebay and Amazon.



Martin is upgrading the rear of his truck with park/indicator lights so made up a template using pencil, masking tape, which is then transferred to cardboard so he can mark out the rear of his truck before cutting the steel to fit the new lights.



SURPRISE !!!




As you know the truck is being fitted with a 67-72 rear bumper as I have not been able to find out where the bumper fitted originated from.

Any suggestions and help still appreciated if you know or recognize where it is from.

I would still fit one.

It was chromed all the way around.

At this point I will be throwing a 9" angle grinder at it, and removing the fitting brackets, to use to make fitting brackets for the new bumper.




Different angle.



We also removed the load body bolts, and I undid the fuel filler and overflow pipe Jubilee clips in preparation to remove the whole thing one my trolley comes back from under Martins engine and gearbox.

We called it a day quite early as we both had more stuff to do that had nothing to do with trucks.

End of a great day.

Now the work starts.



Thanks for checking in, as always, help and advice appreciated.

[Grizz1963]

Another one of those days where I was busy most of the day, but did very little.

Started off with collecting Hannah, Nicola's daughter, guess my step daughter at the station, then over to Maidstone to buy a 1997 Ford Fiesta 1250cc Zetec from friend Woodsie for her, at the price of a cheap bicycle, 42k miles and an elderly owner makes it a perfect cheap car to run for her job as radiographer with a lot of on call work.

Then home on my own, had a coffee, then down to the garage to play for a bit, and take a few pics.

Firstly, some weird but predictable rust on the inner wings.
Usually they rust through to the supporting plate below, taking that away as well, but mine are both great, with only the top metal rotten.

I need some advice on how others have approached this repair.

I have about one and a half inner wings, inherited from Martin as he got a good pair in Florida last year.
So I suspect I will need to cut some pieces out of the donors and make them fit (hopefully)
Is it going to be possible to harvest sections for the tips that narrow down, from hogher up the fenders?





These are my donor pieces from which I need to harvest replacement pieces for the rusty sections.




BACK TO OUR SCHEDULED TRANSMISSION.

There are three sets of these holes down the bed sides, I would assume they point toward some part of its history as a real working truck in California ( I so wish I could find out more about it early history) I wonder if there was a metal carrying rack, like a plumber could have used back in the day.

The repair technique leaves much to be desired, why stick some mesh over the holes and then fill from the outside ???

I will be grinding all this rubbish back and welding the holes up before resealing the inside in underseal and repainting the outside, as the underseal works well for a working truck.




The next small job was to use my almost new Rattle Gun to undo the second fender bolt that was completely rusted away and seized to the flat nut that ha kept it all together. This Impact wrench is a huge help and for the money, despite using it three times so far, and absolute must have for this sort of job.

The bolt was never going to release, so the torque tore it off after about three tries, using a huge spanner to hold the spinning rust lump.




My next little time waster was to remove the mounting plates from my dearly departed rear bumper.

Two angle grinders made it easy going.



Unfortunately, the 9" grinder just did not cut it, but I then attacked from the other side which meant cutting around the welds.



The plan is to use them and some more 1/4 inch angle iron or wide flat bar to make the mounting irons for the new bumper to fit to, and then to also create a new towbar mount with a removable tow ball.

A few minutes with a flap wheel and most of the chrome on it came back with years worth of crud flying off.



Right, time for dinner.

[forestb]

No that is not a sand trap on a golf corse that is bondo. I found about a 1/2 inch of bondo on the roof while stripping the paint out of the drip rails. I figured there would be some but not that much. Now I know why they sell ladder racks. It is not all bad news though. I only found surface rust in the drip rails and the roof does not appear to have any serious rust either. The red arrow is pointing to where the bondo starts to thin out.

[pimpston65]

Originally Posted by forestb

No that is not a sand trap on a golf corse that is bondo. I found about a 1/2 inch of bondo on the roof while stripping the paint out of the drip rails. I figured there would be some but not that much. Now I know why they sell ladder racks. It is not all bad news though. I only found surface rust in the drip rails and the roof does not appear to have any serious rust either. The red arrow is pointing to where the bondo starts to thin out.

im sure when u set out to get that junk out the gutter you didnt plan one this!!! oh well now you can start a build thread?

[Grizz1963]

Came home from work tonight and decided it was a good time to strip out some of the interior.

Interesting.



Some of the replacement panels Martin had sourced for me last year.

looking at the hole where the radio had been fitted, presumably chewed in by an angry badger.

I am still in two minds as to whether I should weld it up, and fit the modern radio out of sight, I had also thought of fitting an 8 Track player at one point.



Removed the speakers that were fitted behind my head in the cab sides.

Starting to understand why animals in the wild eat their young......



While I was at it I removed what has to be one of my favourite features on the truck, the roof lining.



Original roof, weird colour under the red ??



The plan is to paint the dash Satin Black, and also to repaint the interior of the cab, preparing some of it for the white roof I am going to do.

Tonight Mickey next door came around to drop off the SAS20 that I had ordered off Amazon at a lot cheaper than anywhere else if you buy volume.

I had bought a couple of cans for £1.00 each at a bootfair last year and it has proven to work really well on the nuts and bolts so far.

So now I am ready for the next bunch of challenges, though the drivers side mirror cannot be released, despite me trying to motivate it with some serious tools.



Tomorrow evening the speedo will be dismantled from behind, I ran out of "truck time" tonight at 7.30 which is the time I close shop, so that the truck does not become and issue to Nicola and I.

[schpeen]

Really love how the AC system came out. Really clean stealthy look with everything hidden away as much as possible. AC is ICE cold !!!

[schpeen]

here are a few more pics. Did the first oil change today with Royal purple full synthetic along with a quart of Slick50 and a K&N oil filter.

[Lugnutz65]

Originally Posted by schpeen

here are a few more pics. Did the first oil change today with Royal purple full synthetic along with a quart of Slick50 and a K&N oil filter.

Yes, very nice indeed. Congrats!

[LDO]

Originally Posted by schpeen

here are a few more pics. Did the first oil change today with Royal purple full synthetic along with a quart of Slick50 and a K&N oil filter.

Nice!

By the way, what radiator is that, how was the install and are you happy with the cooling?

thanks.

[Palf70Step]

Nice work guys. Oh, the surprises we find as we unbolt body parts!

My friend has a similar (but unchromed) bumper on the rear of his 70. He loves it and never wants to get rid of it. It was on the truck when he bought it back in the mid 70s and he is like you wondering where there might be another. I wouldn't mind one on my 64 either.

[65Gregg]

Started cleaning gasket surfaces for the new gaskets. Unfortunately I won't get to work any more until late next week because I'm babysitting my grandsons, but I'm not gonna complain.

[iceship]

Cleaning up the engine bay a bit,but still have a while to go.. Test fiting door panels

[Lugnutz65]

FINALLY! I bolted up my T5 transmission. It sure felt good to finally see it there after all these months of waiting.
Completely rebuilt 1984 V8 Camaro NWC T5 with the cable S10 tail housing.
First gear is 2.95 (same as the half ton 3 on the tree first gear)
OD is 0.73.

Adjusted the clutch linkage for proper release bearing travel and then checked to make sure the clutch disc actually releases. Also spun the shafts by hand while in gear (clutch released) to make sure the pilot tip was not binding in the new pilot bearing.

Everything checked out OK.

Wheels go on the ground this month fellas! WooHoo!

[Micmac]

Hey Rian,
I hate it when the dash is cut on our trucks to fit a radio. I understand it was done in the late 60's early 70's when they were not that old, still sux. Luckily mine isn't cut. I have to ask, is that "Special Air Service" lubricant? ;-)

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Micmac

Hey Rian,
I hate it when the dash is cut on our trucks to fit a radio. I understand it was done in the late 60's early 70's when they were not that old, still sux. Luckily mine isn't cut. I have to ask, is that "Special Air Service" lubricant? ;-)

Hallo mate. Not sure what it means but it sure works.

I would love to just have a quiet conversation with the sort of idiot that cuts up metal that badly.

Still, I hope to see it all right in time.

[Lugnutz65]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

I would love to just have a quiet conversation with the sort of idiot that cuts up metal that badly.
Still, I hope to see it all right in time.

You can make it right. You CAN do it!!!
They make patch panels for that area. I got a patch from a salvage yard truck and repaired mine in a few hours, and I'm a novice welder too. See photos.

[WhippinSaw]

hey Grizz1963, I have a panel that might work, 64-66 (cat food not included)

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Hallo mate. Not sure what it means but it sure works.

I would love to just have a quiet conversation with the sort of idiot that cuts up metal that badly.

Still, I hope to see it all right in time.

[LDO]

Lugnutz, you did a great job! That looks top-notch for sure. Mine is butchered up as well as is the rectangular panel to the right. I hate it and it stares me in the face all the time. I haven't found a panel in good shape to install and I haven't seen one of those replacement sections up close to see if the metal is similar or some foreign crap.

[earl84]

Originally Posted by WhippinSaw

hey Grizz1963, I have a panel that might work, 64-66 (cat food not included)

Man, Whippinsaw, if Grizz doesn't want it, I'll buy it from you!