Barn raising

[11secC10]

Mike, thanks for your interest, advice and words of encouragement. I have had my truck for approximately 10 years. It was my daily driver for the first 5 and over the last 5 I have been restoring it with the help of a lot of people. I try to do as much as possible. Usually I get in the way of people who know what they are doing. The truck is fast but totally a street vehicle (Gear Vendors overdrive helps alot). Don’t mean to hijack your thread but attached are 2 pictures. Larry.

[Mike Bradbury]

Great looking truck Larry, I think you should start your own build thread on that one, it looks sharp and a lot of guys would be interested in the progression.

No worries on posting pics in my build I think it is cool that after lurking for 4 years you chose my build to introduce yourself. My truck is mostly in between phases now and it is nice to see new guys reading it.

What do you have in front of the gear vendors? I live in El Cajon about two miles from their shop. I contemplated putting one in but went with the O.D. tranny instead. In hind sight it might have been cheaper to rebuild the TH400 and put a gear vendors in and have a 6 speed.

[11secC10]

Hey Mike, again thanks for your interest in my truck. As far as starting a thread I might in the future if I make some drastic modifications. I have a TH400 connected to the gear vendors. Those trannies take a lot of abuse. With the gear vendors I have the best of both worlds. Connected to the TH400 I have a BB 454 that has been modified by Rollins Automotive (Gainesville, FL). They do great work. One last pic that shows the engine and why I am interested in your cool AC delete panel. The truck had AC but I took it out. I like to ride with the windows down - AC is overrated in Florida. Larry

[Mike Bradbury]

Looks good. Yeah a delete plate would work well in your truck. I am planning on the Vintage air system for my truck so I wanted something that I could remove and punch the correct holes and then reinstall.

I used to have a C20 work truck that had a 454 with 4:11 gears and it surprised more than a few mid-life crissis cases in their little sports cars sitting at the traffic lights

[Mike Bradbury]

Got some striping paint for the front grill, it is gloss black, I am a little worried that it will be too glossy, anyone ever painted the letters and trim on a grill? I believe the original was sort of semigloss or even matte black.

[hgs_notes]

I used semi gloss on mine when I painted the stripe around the grill and headlight area. I just used rattle can paint, but followed the body shops advice and taped the grill off and scuffed the areas I was painting, then used etching primer, then paint. So far so good. And I did this on a new chromed steel grill.



And its even the same color as yours for an even better comaprison. lol

[FrankieD]

Originally Posted by Mike Bradbury

That is good to know I have been a little concerned about the difference from what it used to be vs what it is now. Seems like a lot of guys are having the same readings on their stock gage.

Stock gage I believe is a 60 lb, my 70 is pegged at start up

[Mike Bradbury]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

I used semi gloss on mine when I painted the stripe around the grill and headlight area. I just used rattle can paint, but followed the body shops advice and taped the grill off and scuffed the areas I was painting, then used etching primer, then paint. So far so good. And I did this on a new chromed grill.

And its even the same color as yours for an even better comaprison. lol

Yeah I was wondering about the glossy part. I like the look of your finish.

Originally Posted by FrankieD

Stock gage I believe is a 60 lb, my 70 is pegged at start up

Yeah the more people I talk to the more I hear that I will be fine
Thanks for confirming
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[Tinkermc]

looks real nice

[Mike Bradbury]

I painted the grill today after three years of saying I was going to.

I did it by hand vs. masking and spraying it. I bought a pin striping brush and just went slow.

I think it came out real good, I was concerned about it being too glossy but there is such little surface area that you really do not notice.

[NewType72]

Looks super clean mike great job man
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[brn agn]

Nice work! It looks really good to me.

[Palf70Step]

Very Nice!!

[54Caddy]

Looks good, how well did the brush strokes flow out??

[Mike Bradbury]

They flowed pretty well but I had to go back and touch up some of the letters and they did not flow as well there but all in all it turned out good.

[54Caddy]

Good think i will pick some up this week and redo my hub caps.

[Mike Bradbury]

I used a lettering/striping paint, I did scuff the alluminum with a scotch brite pad before I painted it.

[Mike Bradbury]

Are you going to Brothers this year?

[54Caddy]

Trying to make my schedule work around it mike. Alot of side jobs keep coming my way and its not slowing down anytime soon it looks like. I hope i can still make it down there for the show and to visit my brother. We will see how it goes its a few weeks away.

[Mike Bradbury]

I hope it works out this year. I know the feeling when the jobs just keep rolling in. In this economy it is a good problem to have.

[54Caddy]

exactly not sure if i want to sacrafice a 3 to 4 day weekend with times like this.

[truckmanloco]

Good to see you this weekend Mike. Great job on the truck very well thought out and great craftsmanship.

[Mike Bradbury]

Thanks Travis, I will definitely be wanting a ride in that beast when you get it done!

[Mike Bradbury]

A while back I purchased some fabricated valve covers and I also picked up some rubber gaskets that were supposedly for the fabricated valve covers. I installed them when the engine was out so I know I lined them up exactly and they had not slipped around. Before I had even driven the truck out of the driveway when I had the tranny problem, we discovered that the valve covers were leaking on the bottom rear corner, just a small weep but annoying on a nice clean and detailed engine.

The covers were tightened to spec and still leaks. Finally removed the gaskets and put a finger smear of RTV on the top and bottom of the gasket. Next day the same oil drip was on the pan. I then removed the valve covers again and installed the FelPro rubber ones that were on the truck before the bent push rod. They are a much better design, I guess I was just going on the thought that since the new ones were designed for fabricated covers they should be better for my application.

So far I have driven the truck about 30 miles on the better gaskets and they are not leaking, but time will tell.

Pic #1 leaky on on the left and Felpro on the right. Pic #2 you can see from the crease that is on the gasket that the stock SBC heads do not fit correctly on these gaskets. They just do not have enough meat in the corners to prevent leaks. Pic #3 where as the Felpro design has little ridges that direct oil that gets between the cover and the head back into the engine before it leaks out.

[Mike Bradbury]

I still have a small oil leak in between the valve cover and head. It is a lot less with the Mr Gasket seals than it was before so I am not pulling my hair out but eventually I will have to do something about it.

I went to a local show and cruise last weekend and took my dad along with me. I usually tell people as a standard exit phrase; "watch the side pipe when you get out". Well I forgot this time and he really burned himself good on the back of his legs. I am now looking into some sort of shield that does not ruin the clean look of the pipes but also will protect any unsuspecting passengers. You really only burn yourself once, then you learn but I have had too many first time riders that have become victim on the pipes.
Ford has a cool electrically activated step for the 4x4 F350's the rolls out when you open the door. I might see if I can modify the step so it is more of a heat shield rather than a step.