1952 1 Ton Rebuild

[mechanixman]

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

Very cool, you're a star!

Originally Posted by Mater/10

Damn! That's some awesome work you've done there bud!

Thanks for the kind words guys, it means a lot.
...And now for something completely different!

So we have this really neat program in our school district called battlebots. Roughly based on the tv show on comedy central a little ways back, every year each school builds on average 5 robots and competes for a trophy and a years worth of bragging rights. Over my highschool career, I've most of the bots made from polycorbonate or aluminum. Which is fine and all, but none of the schools have the ability to weld aluminum, and polycorbonate sucks when you're trying to use it as an exoskeleton. So I decided to try and make my team's robot out of chrome moly! It's a 30" x 19" x 7" frame, with a steel front plate, and a polycorbonate top. I decided to name it Chuck Taylor, because the zip ties on the top reminded me of laces, and when I finish the rest of the shoddy paint job, it should vaguely resemble a converse all star. The reason my "weapon" is purple, is I had purple spray paint in the booth, and I wanted to paint something purple.

And onto the truck. I pulled out the axle today, that was a chore on it's own. I basically broke 4-3/8" ratchets in the process. (They were already on their last legs.) So when I went to sears to have them replaced, I got a 1/2 drive socket to finish the job. Soon I'll be designing the mount for my rack and pinion.

[mechanixman]

Got the title in the mail. A full year, month, and five full days after buying it, I officially own it!

[FarmerSid]

You must feel relieved.

[mechanixman]

Ohh man. You have no idea!
When I went to the dmv to have it registered, the lady behind the counter had never seen a title in a family trust before. Neither did her manager.... she said ehh we'll see what happens! And sent the info through. As we left, she mentioned it should come in 6 weeks or less. If it doesn't come in 6 weeks, we're in trouble. My dad transfered the title to his new suburban at the same time, and it came in about 2 weeks. My mom got it a week later but never told me about it. I was getting ready to call the dmv and see what was up when she mentioned she had it.

[mechanixman]

It's been an exciting couple of weeks.
Our vehicles kind of caught fire, the one on the left caught the other one on fire, which caught the tree and the front of the garage. Nothing was really damaged in the garage, just the building itself. The door, sheeting, sheathing, and about 5 trusses will need to be replaced due to the fire. The flooring in the attic above the garage will be replace due to all the water the firemen got up there.
Our robot got 2nd place right behind a team from Massachusetts. It's the farthest our school has ever made it. That and I got the best driver award. A little something to be proud of. Story of the helmet; we found it while working on it, every time I drove I wore it. Reason being, this is a robot going speeds upwards of 7 mph, without seat belts!! So I had to have some sort of protection.

And finally, we drove a a couple hours to Indiana to pick up the K member from a mustang. For $50 I got the K member, control arms, and rack and pinion. I think I'm going to tear apart the k member and use it at least as a template to mount the rack to the axle.

[Mater/10]

Im so sorry about your house and cars and congrats on 2nd and best driver bud! nice score on that k member!

[rusty76]

Just spent sometime reading through your build. Cool truck you have.

[mechanixman]

Thanks guys.
Now if only it was done.
ha ha
This steering problem is whipping my butt.

[mechanixman]

Wooh!
Finally got the steering bracket sorted out.
It just needs a little grinding to fit like it did. (before I welded in the braces)
Now just like the kit I found online, I'm going to bolt the mount to the axle, but my design, unlike the kits, if the bolts for some reason come undone, the mount is still clamped to the axle. Only thing i need to do now is trim the tie rods about 1.5 inches, and I'll most of my steering sorted.

[mechanixman]

Overpost

[mechanixman]

Well it's been a while, but as things wind down at school, and I can finally move this project in high gear.
Yesterday I took a nasty weiand intake and sandblasted it.
That and I engraved my name in the valve covers and polished them. When I get home I'll take a picture of it on the motor polished.
Reason for the offset in my name is I wanted to write "327" but these covers may not always be on this motor, so that left over space is to write the engine size. Maybe horsepower if I get it on the dyno.
Next step on these is to paint in between the fins.
And just a side note, finally got the front of the garage rebuilt, and the garage door should be going on this weekend.

[coralhead]

Nick, I am impressed what you are able to do at such a young age. You'll will be writing your own ticket someday. Keep it up.

[mechanixman]

Thanks Coralhead.
The only thing I wish; is I could have access to these tools and machines 24/7.
You really start to lose your ambition when you spend 5 min making the measurements, and having to wait 8-12 hours before you can spend the 20 min making the part.
I'm really excited for next year though for bigger and better things.
I found out Milwaukee School of Engineering has a foundry. I've been playing around with the idea of casting my own intake manifold. We'll see.

[mechanixman]

Alright.
I hate to say it, but when it comes to steering, it looks like I'm back at square one...
I don't believe I ever explained the whole plan, so here is some backround info.
I couldn't fit a steering box easily on the frame because I had mounted the motor so low. The original didn't fit, the next one I bought didn't fit, and I couldn't figure out where to mount any kind of cross steer box. So I decided to go with a rack and pinion. The idea of mounting the rack and pinion to the axle and having zero bump steer sounded pretty attractive to me. But to make that work, I would need to buy a steering shaft that could extend and retract to keep the steering column attached to the R&P anytime the suspension would move. The problem is: there is only one company that makes one length of this steering shaft. And the amount it could compress is 3".

I made a few rough sketches to kind of explain why I thought I could easily make the 3 inch telescoping shaft work.
In the fist image, any time it says "inches of travel" I'm talking strictly vertical travel. The axle is not significantly moving front to back when you go over a bump, so I'm not concerned with that.
What the first two pictures are saying are the we farther we tilt the column, the less it will compress for the same amount of compression in the suspension.

When I made the bracket, i figured I couldn't make it steep an angle from the vertical, otherwise I couldn't attach the steering column. I decided on 45° because if i accidentally welded the tabs on backwards, I'd still have the correct angle! With the calculations, I think I should have gotten 4.2" of travel in the suspension till the steering shaft bottomed out.
Using the pythagorean theorem (a²+b²=c²), I figured it would take more suspension travel to fully compress the shaft the full 3 inches. Especially when the other leg of the triangle stays constant.


But all of that math and figuring fell by the wayside when I bolted the axle back on and saw how the axle lined up with the steering column. In the second picture, you can see because this isn't a car, the steering column comes in at a rather steep angle. And if I hooked up that telescoping steering shaft, I'd only have that roughly 3 inch of travel again, and that's just unacceptable. So we've done a figure eight back to the beginning.

But on the bright side, I got new fenders!

[dmack91]

Have you look at the 79-84 Toyota PS box? I used one in my 1950 F1 and it works well. I made a bracket to fit inside the frame and it was fairly plug and play. The F1uses a drag link similar to yours, with the sector shaft going through the frame.

[mechanixman]

Thanks for the input Dmack,
I have looked into the yota box, but I have my motor sitting awfully low in the frame.
this is the best picture I have of the motor in relation to the top of the frame.
Sorry it's not the greatest.

As of now, I'm thinking I'm going to tear a page out of the CPP book, and do what they did except use the steering box in the picture below.
Basically I'll remove the front shock mount, and move it to the back just like the smaller picture, and then mount this box on the top of the frame and try to use a similar set up to the original.

Please tell me what you guys think. I want as much input before I pull the trigger on any plans I make. (again)

[mechanixman]

Yesterday I bought this. Someone had taken their '61, 9' bed, 3/4 ton truck, cut the frame in half, and made a trailer. I had those other AD bed sides, but they didn't have any brackets really left on them at all, and there was so much to replace, I didn't think it was worth the effort. (I need to get this running by college. Otherwise I don't what my dad will do with it.)
I may have overpaid a little bit at $500, but I couldn't find another set of 9ft bedsides, much less a complete bed. and I got a trailer frame with title for free!

I was really happy to see nothing was terribly rusted through, and planned on unbolting it and just dropping it on Hank's frame. It didn't quite work out as planned.... we brought it home, and I already had friends over to help me with the switch. I went inside to get a cooler full of ice water and tell them to start unbolting. I get back out and their sitting around it. I asked them why isn't anything being done. The PO decided to weld the bed to the frame.....delightful. Instead, we spent yesterday taking off the fenders.

So on to plan B! I wanted to cut out the diamond plate bed so I could grind down the welds standing up and not have to worry about getting covered by a shower of sparks. I spent this saturday afternoon cutting out a decent section of the bed when I found out the previous owner really wanted to make this a challenge... Crappy diamond plate, booger welded to crappy sheet metal, welded to bar stock, welded to more stock going the other direction, welded to the cross sills, and finally, booger welded to the frame.
And to make matters worse, they decided to arbitrarily welded the diamond plate to the plates beneath it. Which means I can't just cut here and there. I needed to cut here, there, across this, grind that, hit this, and grind some more before a piece finally come off.

Side note, I managed to straighten the crow's foot on that dewalt crowbar in the last picture trying to break away what was left of a couple welds...

Something tells me Hank isn't getting his bed for some time....
Until next time, Nanu Nanu

[mechanixman]

Well its' been an exciting weekend!
There is a swap meet in northern Illinois called the car bazaar, And I like to head out to it a couple times a summer. I realized I had a lot of crap to get rid of so I put the brakes on ripping apart the bed to use it as a trailer once more. I sold a few things, but the best part was something that I bought. For $100 I got a complete valve/seat grinding set. So the drill, half a grocery bag of stones and guides, the stone dresser, aaannddd a souix valve face grinding machine model 650! Everything is there and works, but I didn't like the way it looked so I ripped it apart the first chance I got. (Sorta regret not getting a picture first.) My work uses this paint called Polane, and it's made to resist chemicals. You can throw lacquer thinner on this and nothing will happen. So I want to try and get some for this machine. We'll see! In the picture, I removed the spindle assembly that holds the valve. I was trying to find a manual to see how it works and make sure I don't break anything, and I found a guy who still sells parts for these machines. He told me that there never was a real manual but that based on the model number, is definitely a machine made in the 30's. I was pretty stoked about that.

[mechanixman]

Well good news and more GREAT news!
I've made some significant progress on hank, much more than what I have done in a while.
It took me a week (albeit I was busy and rather sick) to get this stinking piece of the crossmember out of the way. You see, there are three bolts that hold the steering box to the frame and that piece of metal would be interfering with bolting the box up where I want it.

Sunday morning I started out with that plate I cut out a while back and 9 washers. In that 3rd picture I had already taken the plate off the other piece of steel (look at post #291), and ground and notched the washers for more contact when welding. Oh yeah! that 1/2" bolt in the picture was what I used to keep the washers pressed together and in place.

4th and 5th pictures show my finished product. I'm rather proud of it. I purposely built up the welds around the washers, because I wanted to grind it down into the bumps you see there. I also notched the bottom of the plate, because I wanted move the steering box forward a little bit more, but there was a rivet in the way, so that's what that is for. Sure it isn't perfect, but I stopped there because I knew that a steering box will be not a 1/4" above it, and no one but my family and friends (and you guys) will see it.

In the last picture I'm trying to show why I need to make these raised surfaces with the washers. I could go into long explanations, but basically, the steering box ain't flat!

[mechanixman]

I clamped it down and started the welding. Please forgive those booger welds, it was the first time I used my grandpa's old arc welder in about a year. Now I'm not done yet, I still need to weld either side, and I plan on making gussets for both the outside and inside of the frame.
While cleaning the frame for welding I figured cleaning a little more won't hurt, so i took some of the slag off the top of the steering box, cleaned up the frame and painted it all so it doesn't rust when I get ready to coat the whole frame properly.

So the pro's and con's of the box where it is now.
Con's:
-There isn't a kit available so I need a custom drag link and pitman arm
-Because the box isn't more inboard or outboard in comparison to the frame, I need to make the hole in the inner fender fit the whole steering box. I don't know if this will make a difference in structural rigidity or not, but I'll be sure to add some strength just in case.
Pro's
-I can fit a manual box next to a SBC in one of our trucks, regardless of how high or low it sits.
-Although it's hard to tell, the box is almost perfectly inline with the column, and it clears the manifold, which means I only need TWO U joints for the rest of my steering shaft.
-Did I mention it clears my exhaust?
-Even though it may seem like it's sticking pretty far out there, the steering arm connected to the knuckle bottoms out first with an inch or two to spare.
-because I'm using a similar steering set up as the original, I can use the same steering arms and tie rod (if I wanted to, which i don't)
-Now a collapsible shaft is just extra safety, not a necessity
-I'll finally be able to steer!!!

So the next big step is get a pitman arm and drag link made so I can finish up the steering. I never thought it would be so difficult to find a shop or a guy to make or even modify a pitman arm. It was one of those situations where the internet couldn't help you. But everything worked out today.
I had a friend call his friend who drag races his chevelle to find out if the drag racer knew anyone who could do it. The Drag racer couldn't but he pointed me in the directions of Heidts. Which I found out is just down the road from me a little ways! I couldn't believe it. So I gave them a ring, and they couldn't help me, but one of the employees worked with a lot of machine shops in the area and he might know a solution. I told him my predicament of needing a quality pitman arm, and he gave me the number of a guy named Frank. I gave Frank a call, and boy what a relief. He nonchalantly answered "yeah we can definitely figure something out" it was a nice change from all these flustered guys that just said no. So he's going to be helping figure out the new steering geometry.

So do you guys have any tips or tidbits of information about steering geometry that could help me out? Sid Drapal (Drop Axle Sid) told me that with the wheels straight, the center of the drag link needs to be level with the steering arm otherwise I get bumpsteer.
Please throw any questions comments, or more importantly concerns. I appreciate it when I get second guessed, it makes me think harder about my plan.
Thanks,
Nick

[mechanixman]

Since the last post, I've taken the cab off, removed the motor trans and driveshaft, and have been working on the frame since.
I added gussets to the trans crossmember because I was told that it could rock back and forth enough to break it off from the frame.

I designed that M/C mount so it would just bolt in where the original master cylinder mount would go, but that placed the new M/C right under the edge of the seat, so I wouldn't be able to make an access panel. (And because the M/C and brake pedal didn't line up, there was no good way to connect the two.)
So I took some of the leftover tubing I used to drop the trans crossmember (page 11, post 255) to make the new frame-side master cylinder mount. I cut out one side of the tubing giving me more edges to better weld it to the frame.

I got a bottom mount proportioning valve. an have been bending the lines in place. The point where the hard lines turn into flex lines is above the center line of the master cylinder, so just to be safe, I'm putting in residual pressure valves. I'd like to say I'm rather proud of how it's turning out, the master cylinder will easily clear the cab, the booster isn't rubbing against the frame, and in fact has plenty of clearance, and most of all, I really like the way the pressure valve fit into that little space under the pedal assembly. Nice and tucked out of the way.

.....Oh yeah, and I bought a miata.

Thanks,
Nick

[mechanixman]

So I was at napa a couple days back buying brake lines, and I start talking to one of the guys behind the counter, and he told me he had this tool I could borrow to make my brake line hold downs. It's called a strapmaster, and it's fairly popular among HVAC guys because they can make all the conduit and duct work support right there at the job site. It's pretty slick the second picture is everything it can do. Punch holes, twist 90°, bend up to 90°, and shearing the metal.
It's surprisingly hard to make these little clamps being that the tool is rather large, but I made a bunch of these with a slight bend in them and they seem like they'll work just fine. I'll post some more pictures when I have them more refined, and mounted to the frame.

-Nick

[Denee007]

Hi, I see you've been busy!!

I ran into a similar issue with accessibility to the MC from the cab. Plus I really didn't want a hole in the floorboard. I went with a remote reservoir from Scotts hotrods. IT's ok, but I would have preferred a transparent reservoir vs the billet aluminum. However, it works well and I don't have to crawl under the truck to check the brake fluid. I did a brake upgrade on my friends 81 Transam, and he bought me the front Wilwood calipers(not the expensive ones) which will fit my truck. I'll be curious to see how bleeding the brakes go with a remote fluid reservoir.

You may have mentioned it in your build, but what front brakes will you be using?

That is a cool tool! You're right, little metal parts are difficult to bend with a couple pair of pliers, or bending with a hammer and vise, or whatever other means! Looks like the tool is from the good ole days
dne'

[mechanixman]

Hi Denee!
I'm using brakes from a 2007 1 ton van, although any 2000-2014 1 ton chevy will work.
Here are some of the pictures I posted before, Posts 259-261
And I don't think I posted these on this thread. The Blue hub is Imdangerous' setup, the red hub is mine.

[Denee007]

That'll do it by golly! Lookin great!!!
dne'