47-55.1 Project "Bickle" 1948 1/2 ton 4.3 4l60e

[dsraven]

What are you doing at night then? seems like you have spare time after midnight.......lol
That's what buddies do, sacrifice to help when needed. Good on you man. Hope you're feeling better.

[joedoh]

haha thanks ds, I slack around quite a bit when I am not feeling well but the wheels are always turning.

here is larrys truck, i have the interface plate built, it will have 4 welded bolts facing the interior and 6 through bolts on the firewall to hold the hydroboost and the s10 brake pedal. column is 80% done too. gonna work nice, I think the shaft will snake right through the header





the new owner of the bob peters truck sent me a pic, he BLO'd it



I broke a belt on a LRE tire delivering it to KC, so I picked up some hummer 17s and put new LRE tires on gpas (my wifes dad) truck

[joedoh]

I am working on the 46 foldable mounts, I designed them in CAD



need a frame to mount them on so I shortened an ext cab S10 frame 8 inches (needed 115 wheelbase)





then cut em out of some 1/8 as a test part






and now I need to take apart the 46 that has been holding down the gravel outside the shop.




I should have the body done this weekend, maybe the steering and pedals too because of my recent successes with larrys, I know where everything mounts.

[Father&son56project]

Originally Posted by joedoh

I should have the body done this weekend, maybe the steering and pedals too because of my recent successes with larrys, I know where everything mounts.

That's more like it. For the rest of us, your weekend plan would be our winter plan!

[8man]

Thanks for posting Joe. Really nice work on the mounts.

[dsraven]

looks like it did its job, gravel-still there. haha.
nice work. gotta be nice to have cad, maybe a plasma cutter as well?

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by dsraven

looks like it did its job, gravel-still there. haha.
nice work. gotta be nice to have cad, maybe a plasma cutter as well?

I have a small cnc plasma table, I use it for prototyping and one off stuff like larrys plate.

[dsraven]

Nice, my cnc plasma is a angle grinder with zip disc and some felt tip lettering that denotes its status as cnc plasma. Haha

[oldman3]

Russ, nice job on larry's truck, pieces you are making look super...Jim

[joedoh]

thanks jim!

ds, the new inverter plasmas are pretty good, even the china ones. I have mine figured out now and its better after learning how not to burn through a set of consumables in 1000 inches of cut. they sell upgrades to them like hypertherm style torches, very affordable, you should check one out.

[dsraven]

Yeah. That an a nice tig, metal lathe, belt sander, disc sander, hoist, I could go on. Gotta have space though. I'm a city dweller. My garage is 26 x 30 but seems so crowded at times. I cant really store parts outside as the block watch already complains about my utility trailer.
Thanks for the info. Keep posting up progress pics, we all love it.

[joedoh]

thanks guys!

Originally Posted by dsraven

My garage is 26 x 30

jeesh, i still do everything in a 19x19, most work takes place outside because its hard to get to both sides. count your blessings!

[dsraven]

yeah, I know. blessed for sure plus the wife parks in HER garage out front. there is usually something in the other bay that needs work so I kinda get 1/2 the space.
keep up the great work, appreciate the pics

[twinshadows]

Hi Russ ........................


just 'cause I ain't posting up ; don't mean I'm 'not watching' . . . .

man , I sure like "Bob" - (th' blue truck) . . . . . very much .


Then , Happy Holidays too you & yours .


later , jim

[OutlawDrifter]

Kicking tail as usual Russ!

H2 wheels look good on pickups and Suburbans.

[joedoh]

thanks jim!

and just because i aint posting up dont mean i am no working!


to spare everyone the "crappy" details, the septic problems culminated in renting a 10klb excavator and calling in reinforcements. 4 sewer cleanouts added, one in the main feeder and one in each (100ft) lateral. while all the pipes were open i used my amazon sewer jetter kit and pulled THIRTY FEET of roots from the feeder and another 20-30 from each lateral. best $80 ever spent, there were two heads, one with a forward jet that worked great cleaning through blocks in the forward direction but the real star was the one with the bearing and 3 rear facing only jets, it sounded like a grinder and cut all the roots going forward and pulled them out going backward! I also bought a 50m endoscope, which confirmed the cleaning. we may not turn a profit on rent for 3 years but the laterals that were dry from the blockage now have water, and any time i need I can run the jetter through it again.



so that and christmas prep put me behind on the 46 but I did get the parts cut on the table and the cab mounted for mock up.



regular viewers will notice how abnormally clean my driveway is, normally in complete disarray and with extra snowdrifts of "I'll pick that up later" stuff. its because I got new lights in the shop, replacing those 4ft led with 8ft 12k lumen led, and exposing every previously dark nook and cranny to shame inducing brightness. so I spent a couple days cleaning.



funny story, the old lights were barely adequate, regardless i saw no reason to change them. but my neighbor mentioned offhand that i never seemed to shut them off. I said it was because hot and cold cycles on a circuit board were detrimental, and he should mind his own busin.. no I said if it bothers you I will turn them off. so the FIRST TIME I turned them off two didnt turn back on, deepening the darkness in the shop and making the new light purchase necessary. i have 6 hangy 4 ftrs for anyone local, well really 8 if you count the flickery ones.

and since I am bored I found a guy selling an abandoned project and it came with a full set of my mounts that I sold him before he abandoned it. so win win! all the missing parts are crammed inside or strapped on the rear frame rails. he has a 5.3 for sale too but I am not sure on it yet. I have a brand new 4l60e in the shop...




so thats it up till today, lots of parties today and tomorrow but I think I can get some stuff done still.

[8man]

Great, light in the shop, a clean driveway, flushing toilets, a cab on a frame AND a great project. Merry Christmas to you!

[dsraven]

that sounds like too much fun. wish I had a septic system-NOT. lol.
the 54 (i assume 54. no split in the window) looks to be in great shape body wise. the orange cab mounting system may need work though. haha
your shop looks nice and bright and clean now. I had to do lights in my shop this time last year. same reason. I went a bit overboard and got 9-4ft'ers. 2 on each side, 3 down the middle and 2 acroos the front over the work bench. I painted at the same time since it was a long time since paint and the walls wouldn't come clean anymore. that made a huge difference. you don't notice how dark it is until you paint and install bright lights. it makes your eyes better, lol.
hopefully you can get some free time to enjoy Christmas.
I notice you don 't have snow yet. you normally get snow there, right? it is minus 21 C here and lightly snowing. I love my backpack blower for the light powdery stuff.

Merry Christmas everybody

[OutlawDrifter]

I thought you moved for a second...didn't look right haha!

Merry Christmas to you and yours Russ!

[joedoh]

HAHA what truth!

merry christmas marc!

oh, and I forgot, we are under contract for a new place too. nothing on it yet, I will update when everything is signed and paid for.

missed your reply, merry christmas robert! for the record the toilets always flushed but it just pumped out the original cleanout into the yard. blech!

[oldman3]

Russ, nice update, Merry Christmas to you and the family...Jim

[joedoh]

thank you jim! same to you and yours!

ds these were 180 bucks on amazonian, so worth a shot and pleasantly surprised. from outside at night the garage has a whole "zuul refrigerator" vibe.

[joedoh]

soooooo. lots of stuff.

my friend larry, he helped deliver the blue truck to the buyer, really he was down for whatever whenever, i cant count how many places we have been together usually on a moments notice. a post or two back I started putting in his hydroboost and steering column. larry was supposed to come at least give moral support if not some company. I texted him throughout the day, he was busy setting up his christmas village so I didnt bug him a lot. but then I didnt hear from him for a few days.

his wife texted, he had a small stroke, and so the next couple days were hospital visits. part of the reason larry could just drop and go with me whenevr is because a few years ago he had thyroid cancer, and after chemo and taking out part of his tongue and all of his thyroid. he was scared to death that his cancer had come back.

in that time I got the bug going around and even though my case was mild, we stayed in touch via phone and text, I tried to keep his spirits up but I still wasnt allowed in the hospital without a negative test (which didnt happen till last sunday). his PET test was on fire, all through his chest, they put in a drain and sent him home. he lost strength, and died two weeks ago tuesday.

so here is my shout out to my homie larry, down for whatever, damn good friend. I miss him, but at least he is done fighting.

the aforementioned sickness has subsided, I had a relatively easy time of it, not perfect but it has kept me out of the loop a while.

We got the contract on the new place so I can talk about it a bit. its a lot over on the street we have our rentals and my storage. it was sealed auction and needed city approval. We bid up on it because the street/neighborhood is all septic, the whooole thing, except a small length of the connecting street. and this new place.


so instead of a 15k septic system, we will pay a $115 connection fee and some pipe. my wife thought I was nuts, until I showed her the sewer line. and there are other benefits too, the property is 1.5 acre but you can see there is an extra 0.2 acres designated for a past or future street. I cant build on it, and i have to mow it, but its still nice. on the other side of it is a nice duck pond with a photo bridge!

plan is a building with an interior living space so we can turn our current place into a rental, and an eventual house.

I have been catching up on work in the shop too. I cut a metric ton of parts for local shops and guys are getting the word out on my laser cut mounts so I have been shipping them all over. I designed some engine setback plates for the s10 chassis, its the most popular ask.



I got a call from wayne, wayne sold me about 7 trucks and I turned 5 into real running... not hot rods, more of resurrections, and he remembered. getting into his 90s now he decided to turn one of his last projects over to me, I drove down today to look at it.




so thats where I am. still sleeping in late most days, an after effect of he who we do not speak his name. every day is better. I miss my homie though.

[OutlawDrifter]

Condolences on the loss of your friend Russ, it's never easy.

Looks like you've been staying busy even with the chaos of life!

[8man]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend. Friends like that are hard to come by and tough to lose.

As for that "head cold" you had, glad it was a mild one and that you are about back to 100%.

Congratulations on the new home project. That might take a little time.

And that new truck looks to be in pretty good shape.