My version of the s10 swap

[ChuckDriver]

Love the Shed! And the bottom of the cab is perfect!

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by Rude Dude

Great idea on the dolly tools! Love the spray on bed liner too.

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

very nice two birds with one stone

Thanks guys! When I have time, I need to finish a stand I started making for tools like this. Something that I can move around and use for planishing and shaping. Don't know how many times I wished I'd had a stationary dolly so I could hold the panel with one hand and beat on it with the other. This was step 1 for that idea.

Originally Posted by ChuckDriver

Love the Shed! And the bottom of the cab is perfect!

Thanks! I already had neighbors come down and taken Christmas pictures beside it.

Next task for this week or next weekend will be to fix this door. It only needs the little flap that is folded over the inner door frame. The door itself has pits but proved to be solid after it was sandblasted, so those will just get filled. Should be a fairly easy task.

[BlueJeep]

Door is fixed.



Rolled the frame back in the garage. Time to finish up some things and get ready for the cab to go to the bodyshop.



Painted and installed new steering components, painted and installed the sway bar with new end links and bushings.



Bent up and installed the brake line for the rear brakes.



Welded in my O2 sensor fittings and painted the exhaust with VHT dull aluminum paint.


I also drilled out the original oil pressure sender to 1/8" NPT and am currently looking for an extension in as few of fittings as possible to make this work and clear the intake bolts.



Over the next couple days I'll get the exhaust installed for good and the cab on too!

[BlueJeep]

Oil pressure sending unit, check! Rear brake line, EVAP line, fuel lines, exhaust, check! Re-epoxied the floor and inside of the firewall and seam sealed the inside seams, check! Cab off to the body shop, check!

[99 to Life]

looking good. get as many checks off the list as you can, cause they are never ending it seems!

[99 to Life]

jimi, I used a couple different brands of seam sealer. You can find them on ebay. One was from TP tools, if you haven't heard of them, they have alot of great stuff. There is an epoxy based and just a cheaper rubber based. The epoxy base is really stiff when dry and is more money. Rubber based was ok, esp for the price.

Bluejeep, I might have to steal your awesome pedestal idea!

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by Troy Sr

Now that's a nice tool!!!

Thanks! I'm looking forward to using it to planish welds. I'm thinking it'll be much quicker than holding the dolly and hoping the panel didn't move.

Originally Posted by T Hilde

Hmmmm? I think I know what you meant.

LOL, he does build nice equipment

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Uncle Jimi

Your build looks killer! I'm wondering what you are using for seam sealer? Thanks!!

Couple years ago I started using Eastwood brush on seam sealer, it was OK. For the bottom and top of the floor I've been using Lord Fusor (stole that research from Frizzle Fry), and I'm very happy with it.

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

jimi, I used a couple different brands of seam sealer. You can find them on ebay. One was from TP tools, if you haven't heard of them, they have alot of great stuff. There is an epoxy based and just a cheaper rubber based. The epoxy base is really stiff when dry and is more money. Rubber based was ok, esp for the price.

Bluejeep, I might have to steal your awesome pedestal idea!

Steal away! I'm posting pics hoping it'll spark someone else to get a good idea of something I can steal back in the future!

It gets better, more attachments! A chunk of this should be handy:


And one of these should be useful:


Added some supports and some attachment holders, so it is self-contained:




If you couldn't tell, I'm just making tools out of heavy metal objects I've collected. The only "purchased" components here were the sand bag, wheels, and the Harbor Freight dollies, of which I welded a piece of 1" solid rod to to make post dollies. The rest was steel, most of which I had lying around.

[BlueJeep]

Next up on the "shop tools" list was some maintenance on the press. My poor press has been used heavily, and for the last [too ashamed to mention how many] years it's been bent. The 3/4" plate at the top was pretty stressed, so I picked up a 1" plate to replace it. This, combined with the 3/8" thick gusset I added to the top side should move the weak link to something else that will surprise me someday!

Before - note the areas without paint being where the metal has been stressed:


I should have put a straight edge against it, the picture doesn't make it look as bad.


And the repair, before gusseting or painting.


That should do the trick!

[BlueJeep]

Today I worked on the splash pan that goes on the bottom of the grille. I wanted to "de-hump" it where the hand crank would have gone through and also wanted to direct air up and into the radiator. Most of the hard fitment work is done now, just need to finish it up.

[99 to Life]

looks great

[BlueJeep]

I stopped by an upholstery shop earlier in the week to show him my seat and ask about prices, options, etc. He said no go on my existing seat. It had a soft spot in it that I always thought was strange on the top edge of the seat back. He said it was a mouse tunnel, and to find a new seat. He also advised me to not get one that had the fabric glued to the foam as the first one did too, and it would have better results. I stopped by the pick-and-pull today and for $35 got a different one, this one he gave the thumbs up on. He also said I should bring my wife back to pick out a color of vinyl as men often get these decisions wrong....

Here's the "new" seat in front of the "old" one. The tear is only in the cover that will be replaced anyway. Headrests will not be retained:


And the vinyl I picked out.....we'll see if it holds up to the wife test when I get a chance to stop back there with her.


I think it will look nice with the green:

[99 to Life]

looking good, those seats outta 88-98 style chevy

[oldman3]

Like the color of the material...Jim

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

looking good, those seats outta 88-98 style chevy

Yeah, like 88-94ish. Earlier ones had the fabric glued to the foam.

Originally Posted by oldman3

Like the color of the material...Jim

Thanks Jim!

[BlueJeep]

This weekend I started in on the rear fenders. Similar to what I had to fix on the front fenders. Surprisingly, the original fenders are 20 gauge.


Before:




During:








And after:




This week I hope to get some time in to start in on the other problem areas on this fender:

[oldman3]

Super nice job on the fender repair. Next part should be a piece of cake for you..Jim

[99 to Life]

looks great

[LEEVON]

BlueJeep, if you think of it next time you're in the shop could you please do me a huge favor? I have the "old" seat in my truck and it's pretty wide, the doors hit the bolsters when closed. Can you tell me if the "new" seat is any narrower and by approximately how much?

Your progress looks great!

[Drifters]

Wow! This is quite an undertaking? Nice job and your right to find old tin in Iowa isn't easy we're from Vinton originally!

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by oldman3

Super nice job on the fender repair. Next part should be a piece of cake for you..Jim

Let's hope so!

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

looks great

Thanks!

Originally Posted by LEEVON

BlueJeep, if you think of it next time you're in the shop could you please do me a huge favor? I have the "old" seat in my truck and it's pretty wide, the doors hit the bolsters when closed. Can you tell me if the "new" seat is any narrower and by approximately how much?

It does look like the new one is 1" narrower than the old. 58" vs. 59".

Your progress looks great!

Originally Posted by Drifters

Wow! This is quite an undertaking? Nice job and your right to find old tin in Iowa isn't easy we're from Vinton originally!

Thanks! I'm on the downhill slope now though. Too many things got in the way from finishing it in a timely fashion. Much better pickings in California huh?

[BlueJeep]

Another detour, but for a good cause. Had to take some time off and build some other cars. Did some improvisation and used metalworking tools to build cars out of wood, but it worked out OK.



These happy guys took home first and third place in their den! They're already talking about design changes for next years cars!

[BlueJeep]

So after the obligations were done, I got back to work. Figured it might be easier to work on these fenders if I made a jig to hold them. Looking around to see what I had to use, I decided to use my new stand I had just built. I think this will work out well, it's at a good height to be able to work on them.





Front of one side:


Other side is better:


This patch was needed to get rid of a bad spot that had been all cracked and deformed. It presented a little bit of a challenge being curved in two planes.



I started by rolling a piece to fit the contour:


Then I spent some time shrinking the end of it. Thus far it is only the rolling and the shrinking:

[BlueJeep]

So with a little hammer and dolly to finish things off, it fit very nicely!




Next up is the back corner of the wheel well. The picture makes it look better than it actually is.


Different approach for this one, as I didn't think I'd be able to control the shrink as well here, and it's got a U-shape to the lip instead of a rounded 90* angle:


Didn't want to do it, but I made a relief cut:


And worked it around:


I knew I'd get a high spot at the "point" of the relief cut, and I did. I still need to work that out, but that'll be another day. Finished off the weekend with a little patch where the rust had swelled between the 2 layers.

[99 to Life]

very cool, congrats. these trucks will be here when we are dead and gone, but those times with your kids and family are very special. its a tough balance sometimes.

[99 to Life]

love the patch work pics. Totally reminds me of a rear fender I have in epoxy. I got 25 hours into hammer and dolly, shrinking, and patches. All metal work no filler. It's alot of work but its fun. Only problem is..... I have so many more to do and no time, that project is getting back burner, burnered, burnt. Here is a pic of the back of the fender, they don't make any patches for this side. This one was a challenge and with no shrinker, I was forced to make relief cuts.