The Official John Lee Jr Thread

[jayoldschool]

Looks good. That stuff is thinner than the material I used.

[bj383ss]

Looks good Sharps. The composite is a great idea. But me being a woodworker I have to put in wood in mine to hold up my reputation!

I plan on using Pecan. It is one of the hardest woods I have ever cut. It dulls sawblades and router bits fairly quickly so I thought it would work well in a truck bed. Its only about $3 a bdft in my area so the whole bed will probably cost around $100 in the rough 4/4 size. It also is very dense and stains well.

Bret

[Sharps40]

I was concerned about rigidity but after adding braces and pulling the first two down tight, there ain't gonna be a problem. Its a bit heavier than pine but that's okay, should smooth out them stiff rear springs a touch.

[chevy_man5]

Looking great Sharps!!

[Sharps40]

Gotta take GoodWife out to dinner tonight so don't know if I'll get anymore installed this evening but I'm off w/o pay on Friday by Order of Dept of DingDongs, Washington DC so....betcha I get it all done then, and a haircut and even mow the lawn. Hells Bells, Dept of Ding Dongs shoulda furloughed us months ago, I wouldn't be so far behind on my domestic responsibilities!

[Sharps40]

Another fine evening making wood shavings...or recycled plastic squiggles, well, both actually. Got the center board on...11 1/8" wide by 77 1/8" long. Grooved the edges 1/4" wide by 1/8" deep for the outer edges of the associated skid strips and cut in two more similarly sized grooves on center for the central skid strip of the bed. Drilled the holes down the center and bolted it up into the bed.



This single wide board replaces the two narrow boards that were originally fitted in the bed. Again, one wide composite board and it'll be stiffer with less movement and warpage than the original set up. We'll end up with 5 boards in this bed instead of eight. And, in the process will have eliminated 3 joints and the four narrowest boards, the 3+ inchers along the bed wall and the 5+ inchers in the center section.



Lookin pretty good. My total run out over the length of the central board is 1/8" and its at the center. I suspect the three main cross ties for the center of the bed are actually skewed a bit. I'll fit the last two boards tomorrow and as necessary loosen up some bolts, slide some crossbucks left and right. But, I don't think the 1/8" of misalignment is going to be a problem.

[aggie91]

That looks pretty good in there. Hope to see the finished product via the interweb tonight!

[Sharps40]

Thanks. Got a heatshield installed over the muffler this morning. Enough room left to get to the bed bolts too. Had to notch my Ol John Lee heatshield to leave room for later replacement of the muffler hanger. But overall, a good fit and lots less heat on the bottom of the bed assembly. Off to get a haircut and then home to finish up the bed work today. If things go well and we don't have anymore 10, 12 and 16 year old emergencies (there's no juice from the 10 year old, why can't I go to my girlfriends house today its summer break? from the 12 year old and I don't wanna mow the lawn, from the 16 year old) I think pics of the finished bed will be up later this evening.

[1963c-10]

Hey rich, there is normally a thick rubber pad between the bed and the frame rails. 1/2" rubber, can be cut into 3x3" squares or purchased cheap enough. I noticed a lot less noise from the bed with the pads installed.

[Sharps40]

Darn. Too late. Got it cinched down. I didn't see any on there but it coulda fell out...same with Ol John Lee, no rubber. But its pretty quiet at least so far...it ain't moved in three days! HA! I gotta finish this bed today and swap in a 165 main jet on the secondary so I can send another fella the left over jets for his new Weber 32/36. Seems its up and running good and he's ready to start tweekin the ratios on each barrel.

[1963c-10]

Right on, bed is looking good. They can be installed from the underside also. Just have to unbolt the bed mounting bolts and slide them in. I need to make a trip up to you and get what ever parts that your holding...I think just rear fender rods. And look at removing those trees for you too.

[Sharps40]

Anytime partner. Holler about a week out as I am still in the middle of all the field exercises till mid August.

[Sharps40]

Finally done. Last board is always the hardest. And, who the hell invented the underbed tire carrier. That Sucks with a capital S U C K S. Take it off, put it on, drop it, put it on, drop it, put it on, drop it, strip the nut and drop it again, jack it up, drop it, jack again, drop it, jack and hold with leg, drop it, jack again after cussin for 5 minutes straight, jack not tall enough, get a second jack, drop it, jack it up again, find a nut that aint stripped an a washer to keep it from jumpin off and thru the big hole and cinch it down to 300 ft lbs of torque and I'm drivin on a flat tire to the tire shop for a new one cause I ain't NEVER pullin that tire outta there again. I need a winch tire carrier.

I think I'll wait till tomorrow morning to swap the larger 165 jet into the secondary and then go to the range and shoot my 4570 and my 7x57.

Beds in, last board is always the toughest, next to the darn spare tire. But ready for a light cleaning off of the footprints and then to get it dirty and scuffed up and bloody with deer guts.



It lays pretty good. A few kerfs cut a bit wide and the old strips are a bit wavy from age but I like it.



The beachhouse grey or barnwood grey looks great. Appears to be a nice clean old bed, as soon as I get somma the paint knocked off the skid strips from use....



Down under, way clean and all that shiny new hardware!





That's it. Shouldn't be much but drivin and washin and waxin till fall. Maybe a new glovebox and a sliding back window before then but, fall is the new front and rear suspension. I'm a few ubolts, bushings and inner tie rods short of a full kit of rebuild parts. Since the speed/performance is up, I think I'm gonna add a front swaybar at the overhaul. Just gotta pick one.

[Sharps40]

The composite boards are ChoiceDek Foundations 3/4x11 1/4x 8 BeachHouse Grey Composite Deck Trim Board. Advertised as 3/4 thick but its actually 5/8 thick. Sells here for $29.98 a board but I got 5 for about $18 each. Lowes part number is 371964.

[1963c-10]

bed came out great rich. ill check it out when we meet up again in a few weeks. have a wiper motor w/washer for you too.
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[Sharps40]

Cool. Two speed wipers would be a good deal, specially we start drivin this one cross country!

[Sharps40]

1963-C10. I have a steel bed for ya. Its blue. It was welded to the angle brackets but for your trailer, ya could bolt it to the cross bucks/clean up the edges. Or, bolt it to the crossbucks and new angle brackets will cover the lil bits on the edges where I ground off the welds. Either way a neat and sturdy bed for the trailer. If ya don't need it, I'll haul it to the recycler for 9 cents per pound and buy a coke with the proceeds!

[earl84]

That looks great! Like the idea of the composite and easy care.

[Sharps40]

Thanks. Just gotta figure out which spare tire hoist will bolt in and do that conversion.

[likaroc13]

bed looks great! I dig the color too; looks good with the blue.

[Sharps40]

Its just heavier enough than rotten wood to smooth out the ride a bit. That plus bolting down the bed and its not near so loud and rough goin over speed bumps. Drove it to the range and spent the morning banging away at steel with the 4570 and my Freischutz 7x57 mauser. Durn near deer season...but the 7mm and my 3006 are both on the money out to 300m so me and John Lee Jr are ready now to go to the low country for the opening of the season.

[1963c-10]

yeah, toss it to the side and ill pick it up when im up that way
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[Sharps40]

Done been tossed...next to a really darned ugly Chevy II my wife keeps nagging me to get rid of!

[Sharps40]

Okay, engine number wizards....

Checkin out John Lee Jr's engine numbers....a question or two comes up.

Engine casting number is 3921968 which comes on as Chevy/Olds 1964-1976, 230"/250"

I expected a date code ending in 5 for 1965 but I have D 14 0 which I translate as April 14 1970. Correct reading of the casting date code or not? (small side covers w/230/250 mounts/fuel pump location so I know its one of them two.)

Anyway to tell, w/o pullin the head if its a 230 or 250? Wonderin if there is a visible difference in piston tops I might be able to view from spark plug holes?

Thanks in advance.

[Sharps40]

Also, there are no markings on the distributer pad...at least none I can make out thru blue paint. I'll recheck.