Bringing the '65 back to life

[racecougar]

Thanks y'all.



Today was a day of details. Dad's been working on the door glass, frames, seals, etc. I mocked up the steering linkages. The door handles and latches are installed. Little by little...

[Ta2Don]

Progress...

[racecougar]

Dad has been fitting glass into frames/tracks.


The first coat of white for the stripes on the cab. Also took the steering linkages back off and prepped and painted them.

[racecougar]

Starting to look like a hot rod. Put the steering linkages back together today, too.

[racecougar]

Dad received a couple of his birthday presents a few days early this morning: a AC Delco power steering box, pitman arm, and a rag joint rebuild kit. We stuck the steering box on and did the final assembly of the steering gear, tore down an old rag joint and primed the pieces, and finished up the passenger side vent window reassembly today.

[Ta2Don]

Progress rocking' right along!!!

Looks great, digging' the white accent...

[racecougar]

While this might not be the most exciting photo in the thread thus far, that right there is the soon-to-be steering column tube for the '65. We spent the day disassembling, re-engineering, and cleaning up steering column parts before shooting them in primer. Rag joint pieces and driverside vent window parts are now in paint. We'll have fully functional steering before you know it!

[racecougar]

Look who's got a shiny new windshield.


Dad has one vent window finished, and the other isn't far behind. The cab will be all sealed up shortly.


Painted the steering column parts today, too.

[Ta2Don]

Closer and Closer...

[racecougar]

Spent a weekend bar hopping in Kansas City, and another at our annual car/bike cruise, but I was able to get back to the shop for a bit today. I started assembling the steering column until I realized I needed to paint a few more parts and order a turn signal switch. I did manage to rebuild the rag joint though.

[Ta2Don]

Nice job on the rag joint... Car Shows here the last two weekends and one this next Sat as well... then Clem's in Oct...

[racecougar]

Thanks! It'll be steerable in no time.

[Grizz1963]

Little by little.

Wish my progress was that fast.

[racecougar]

Thanks, Rian. I think we all wish we had a little more time to work on our trucks. I know I've been sidetracked a lot lately.

I was able to finish the steering column assembly today (I'll install the wiring cover on the underside of the column later). The plan was to leave the steering wheel in the original finish for sentimental purposes, but the color mismatch is just far too noticeable. Instead, we'll refinish another wheel in silver and just hang onto this one as a memento.

Other news: Dad's been working on the door glass installations. As soon as I receive a new boot for the intermediate shaft, I'll be able to complete the last piece of the steering puzzle.

[racecougar]

I didn't think to post up the photos from a couple side projects I finished up a few weeks ago.

First up, a decent update to the interior of the Coug. New Corbeau GTS II seats, reupholstered door panels with black microsuede inserts and black carpet, reupholstered rear speaker panels done in black microsuede, black carpeted rear package shelf, and milled/engraved chrome door sills.

It's finally looking the way I've wanted it to.




And for the family room, a new coffee table. It really ties the room together.

That's the spare engine block and heads for the Coug. It's a 32-valve aluminum Teksid 4.6L, which goes well with the 32V camshaft lamps on the end tables.

[racecougar]

Spent part of the day in the shop cleaning up a bunch of small parts for paint, some which are seen through the windshield hanging from bailing wire. Assembled and installed the rearview mirror as well, which required snipping and drilling a piece of 0.010" shim stock, as the new bracket was made just a hair too large for the old mirror. It seems every little piece requires some sort of modification or finesse as it goes back together, which sure eats up a lot of time.

[Ta2Don]

Awesome table project...

I can see clearly now!!!

[racecougar]

Thanks! I figured it would be a unique way to store the spare block and heads for the Coug.

Speaking of little details...


...and installed.


Left the shop early today to run a local cruise in the Coug with Dad and some friends.


Saw a few familiar sights:

[racecougar]

We've been busy cutting and splitting firewood lately, but I had some time with the truck today. I was able to reassemble and install the heater controls/cables, as well as the '71 C10 intermediate shaft. It's steerable again!




I think that one of the best tips I can give anyone who is taking on any kind of restoration is to take a LOT of photos as you go along. Lately, I've brought my laptop to the shop so that I can pull up disassembly photos to use as a reference during reassembly. This of course goes hand-in-hand with "bag and tag" all hardware.

[racecougar]

After a two hour wild goose chase for a 5.3L/4L60E combo (thanks to the less than ethical personnel at a certain salvage yard near Granite City), Dad brightened my morning with a surprise set of seats for the truck.

The passenger side seat was a breeze to locate and mount in the cab, however the driverside seat had me scratching my head for a bit. Using the same mounting location as the passenger side seat, the left shoulder of the seat was hard against the rear wall of the cab, while the right shoulder was at least 4" away. We took a bunch of measurements...the seat was located correctly. It wasn't until I pulled the seat back out and set it on the floor that we finally noticed the issue; the seat was tweaked. If I had to guess, these seats were pulled from a wrecked GMC Sierra.

So began the ordeal of removing the upholstery from the back of the seat, bolting the seat to a sheet of 1" plywood, placing the edge of the plywood up against the edge of the concrete shop floor, setting the weight of the Bobcat on top of said plywood to prevent it from moving around, building some bracing to tie the left shoulder of the seat to the Bobcat, and using a 8' long tube to persuade the upper seat frame back into the right plane. After an eyeball verification of proper orientation, it was back to the bench to reinstall the upholstery, then mount it in the cab. Even a simple seat install can find a way to take all day. Whew.

They do look great in there, though.

[racecougar]

Spent the day working on installing the vinyl floor, firewall insulation, door sills, etc. The vinyl is formed to fit the floor pan, but is left oversize, meaning it requires a lot of careful trimming to fit it to the truck. Still have a bit more to do to finish it up, but we'll need to make a hardware run first.

[racecougar]

Finished up the last few cuts on the floor today, tidied up a few items on the seats, then stuck them in place. Dad cleaned up the center console and whipped up backing plates which accurately fit over the ribs in the floor pan for the seat mounting.

[racecougar]

Finished up the installation of the firewall insulation today. Rather than use the junky factory plastic retainers, we went with SS hardware: 5/16" buttonheads, rubber-bonded washers on the firewall side, fenderwashers on the insulation side, and nylon-insert locknuts.



We also cut down the bed stand we had used for my 8' F150 bed to fit the 6' C10 bed, then carefully relocated the bed from the back room of the shop to the carport behind the C10.

[racecougar]

Fighting the rust monster today...removing the inner fenders.

[Ta2Don]

Great idea on the SS hardware... the plastic oe style clips are a bear to install...