What I can afford, when I can afford it... 70 Chevy LWB

[KSWes]

A little more done on the bed wood over the weekend not nearly as productive as I'd hoped. If I can stand the heat I'll hopefully get it done in the evenings this week.

[Low Elco]

Looks nice!

[mcbassin]

Wow! the wood looks great! Love it...

[KSWes]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Looks nice!

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Wow! the wood looks great! Love it...

Thanks! Inching along.

[Low Elco]

HEY! You still movin' out there? Your fans miss ya!

[Mr Chevorlet]

Looking purdy, very nice!

[mcbassin]

What's up Wes?

[KSWes]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

HEY! You still movin' out there? Your fans miss ya!

Still moving, just been trying to tie up all the loose ends, should be done with everything other than a wet sand and buff after this weekend. And should be a driver again. Massive picture upload coming on Sunday.

Originally Posted by Mr Chevorlet

Looking purdy, very nice!

Thanks Mr. Chevy! It's been one of the most rewarding projects I've ever done. The biggest reward will be, being able to use the truck again which is pretty exciting.

Originally Posted by mcbassin

What's up Wes?

Just been plugging along slowly and quietly. But been taking pictures along the way and just trying to get it all done before mother nature starts kicking my ass...

[KSWes]

So here is what I've been up to over the last month or so.

My brother getting the hood nice and flat again. Had a few more dents in it than I thought. Had some dings and a little oil canning but all is better now.

Truck was waiting for the rest of it's sheet metal.

Sheet metal prepped and ready for paint.

Getting parts bolted back on.

Yesterday got it aligned and took it over to Casey's to filler-up. First full tank of gas in two years.

Today was the first day back out on the road. Me, the wife and baby took off around 9 and we drove around most of the morning and ended up at my brothers house in Lawrence before heading home. No issues, drove good and straight all the systems were working well. Put about 120 miles on the truck.

About all that is left wet sand and buff and adding some mud flaps.



Today was a good day

[sduckworth13]

Awesome job and congratulations on getting your truck done. Paint looks perfect.

[KSWes]

Originally Posted by sduckworth13

Awesome job and congratulations on getting your truck done. Paint looks perfect.

Thanks! Perfect wasn't the goal and if you look up close you'll see some flaws but I'm thrilled with it. I was just hoping for a straightened out body without rust and a little shine, that would be a good driver, credit to my brother for getting the paint to lay down the same way in all three painting sessions. With the metallics in that paint I couldn't have done it without his help.

[mcbassin]

Awesome progress Wes. The truck looks great! So cool you are driving her now
Sometimes it's hard to believe they will ever be to that point, and then all of the sudden everything comes together.

[KSWes]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Awesome progress Wes. The truck looks great! So cool you are driving her now
Sometimes it's hard to believe they will ever be to that point, and then all of the sudden everything comes together.

I had to make a punch list and had to just start going down and knocking things out. It's about time now to get my garage straightened up for the winter months. Wife is going to need a place to park her wheels soon,



A couple tools to put away.

[Low Elco]

Awesome Possum! Looks fantastic! Of course, the lack of cute baby pics is a downer, but great job, stoked for you!

[KSWes]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Awesome Possum! Looks fantastic! Of course, the lack of cute baby pics is a downer, but great job, stoked for you!

Thanks Chip! and a sleeping baby on her first trip in the truck. She was out like a light after about 15 minutes.

[Low Elco]

It's the pipes, knocks 'em right out.

[KSWes]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

It's the pipes, knocks 'em right out.

Purring like a kitten...

[Low Elco]

Looks good !

[mcbassin]

Digging the look of the new carb. Hope it works out the way you want. Love the rallies and trim rings. More pictures.....

[KSWes]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Looks good !

Thanks Chip!

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Digging the look of the new carb. Hope it works out the way you want. Love the rallies and trim rings. More pictures.....

Thanks Mike! I'll get some more pics loaded up.

Getting the tuning very close to 100% dialed in. This carb is very crisp and responsive so far. Decided to switch the distributor vacuum advance to full manifold vacuum off the ported vacuum which seem to have really helped the idle and partial throttle. All the reading I was doing about the HEI distributor. I kept coming up with people saying that unless you're running EGR you want to do manifold vacuum not ported. Which makes sense I guess. New plugs, and wires tomorrow and an oil change, and I'll keep track of my mileage on this next tank and see where I end up with this new carb.

[KSWes]

Was out goofing around on my grandma's land this afternoon and decided to snap a quick pick. Turned out way better than I thought it would.

Also I've been reorganizing and cleaning the garage. Temps are going to be in the single digits tomorrow night and I want my wife to stay happy and not have to scrape her windows anymore so I got her side of the garage cleared enough to get her car parked. She seems to be pretty happy about that.

Drove the truck into work today and tried to keep my foot out of it as much as I could and on the way in it did really good, I can't actually see the gas gauge moving any more while driving. I decided to get an accurate read on the way home and filled up before getting on the highway and reset the trip. and filled up again as soon as I hit town. just under three gallons used 47 miles total miles driven so right at 15 mpg. with the new carb. It has 3.73 rear gears. All and all I'm thrilled with that kind of fuel economy. I think I need to add a couple more degrees of timing to help with a very slight hesitation off the line. I feel like I'm getting about as close to perfection with the tune as you can get with a carb. Very smooth on the highway almost forget the truck design is 46 years old this Demon carburetor lives up to the hype if you ask me. For something you're going to drive in traffic and need great idle and part throttle response that'll lay you back in the seat when you need to accelerate. You feel the secondaries open up it's a little scary but pretty awesome too.

Next is Dynamat inside bring the noise level down some so me and the misses can have a conversation without yelling going down the road and I'll bet she wants to take it out more often.

[SaltyC20]

Just read through your whole build thread, looks great.

I really liked your solution to the kick panel vents. I had been dreaming about doing the same with my truck. Having put a few miles on it, are there any downsides to cutting out the bottom of the cowl/ kick panel vent area?

[KSWes]

Originally Posted by SaltyC20

Just read through your whole build thread, looks great.

I really liked your solution to the kick panel vents. I had been dreaming about doing the same with my truck. Having put a few miles on it, are there any downsides to cutting out the bottom of the cowl/ kick panel vent area?

If you plan on using them for air vents then cutting out the bottoms wouldn't allow much air to get into the cab through the vents as you're eliminating a pretty big part of the duct work that delivers fresh air into the cab. there's that. But I have not had any regrets so far, and my wing windows provide plenty of breeze going down the road if I want some fresh air.

Before the restoration if I opened my kick panel vents I'd get a bunch of leaves and twigs swirling around in the cab, that and all the leaves and twigs that don't blow into the cab just sit there and rot and hold water and grow rust. There are too many places in these cabs that like to rust, and I'm hopeful I eliminated one of those places for good.

Thanks for checking out the build, I'm very happy to have it back on the road and have already put a couple thousand new miles on it. Mostly on trips to and from Home depot. I've had a couple guys ask me if I'm nervous to get it scratched up, and the good news for me I've already got a few scratches inside the bed so I don't have to be nervous about it anymore.

[hotroddin]

I just read through your whole build, great work! I'm sure I missed it but what is the green color that you painted your truck?

[mcbassin]

Your truck looks great Wes. How about some new pictures?.....