Crusty Rusty Leaky Squeaky 67 Step

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Xeen

Nice progress, I know all that welding can be tedious but it looks like you knocked it out in a hurry.
In the picture of the back of the cab it looks like you have a good start on pulling all the dings, I remember there being alot of them, have you already fixed them all or are there still more to do?
Whats the plan while the firewall is out for blasting?

I pulled most of them with pins since the worst of the lot were behind a double wall. Where possible, I used the hammer and dolly. There's still a few spots that are out of whack, but I need to get the new floor in place before I can work them out.

When I took the accessory brackets in for nickel plating, the folks at Detray suggested it would last better with a layer of chrome on top. The finished appearance wasn't as "satin" as I had hoped, so I've been glass beading them to knock down the shine somewhat. I have two more to go, then I plan to reinstall the accessories on the engine. Between now and then, I also need to fire up the HVLP and squirt the rest of the pulleys with the Toxic Orange color. We may have one more day of good weather this week so maybe I can fit that task in.

Before I go to the blasters, I will also have to have the tires dismounted so I can strip the powder coating from the front of the wheels. After much thought, I've decided I won't be happy with the gray color next to the Toxic Orange. I bought a POR15 product called Glisten PC that is a non-porous, crystal clear coating for bare aluminum to replace the powder coating. So there's no shortage of things to do.

[Low Elco]

Fusor 122 is the hi-tech stuff- can be seen here-

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=575769&page=7

I got the Lord Stuff at Auto Color and Equipment, the paint store I use on 23rd between Noland and Lee's Summit rd on the North side.

Well, hell. I just figured out Lord makes Fusor. Gaah.

Anyway, the easy standard caulk gun stuff is Fusor 800 EZ, and it is. A little messy, wear gloves, mineral spirits on a finger slicks the whole channel right up nice. Get extra shoot tubes. It's what we used on Yeller. Uncle Matt got all zen and did it right over the first crap I put on while I was wigging out and handing him stuff like a squirrel on meth. Sometimes cooler heads must prevail!

Your work is looking great! Can't wait for the next installment!

Ps- don't forget to look down into the holes there on the top of the cowl and inspect the heck out of that seam-especially on the pass. side. Sneaky sneaky rust there, big leak later. Found it there big time but almost unnoticeable on Yeller. Keep it up!

[hgs_notes]

I'm late to the party but jumping on the band wagon now. I scrolled through most of the build this morning and you're doing some real nice work. Watching guys like you always makes me feel like a hack, but maybe over time some of the finer points to doing this work will sink in and I can at least aspire to greatness. And thanks to you I have a few more tools added to my watch list on ebay.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

I'm late to the party but jumping on the band wagon now. I scrolled through most of the build this morning and you're doing some real nice work. Watching guys like you always makes me feel like a hack, but maybe over time some of the finer points to doing this work will sink in and I can at least aspire to greatness. And thanks to you I have a few more tools added to my watch list on ebay.

Thanks, HG. I scrolled thru your build and you did a great job. I've always liked that shade of blue.

[Vic1947]

I've been puttering around with stuff that needs to be done, but doesn't have as much impact as big body panels. I decided to reinstall the accessories on the front of the engine and was in the process of giving the brackets a tune-up when I was hit by Moore's Law. If more is better, too much ought to be just right. While attempting to give the nickel plating a satin look, I spent too much time on the front of the AC bracket with the glass beads. Long story short, I ruined it and one other piece as well. Costly mistake, but I've decided to send them to Jonathon for powder coating and call it good.

The front of the fan pulley was bothering me, so I dug around in the scrap bin and found a piece of aluminum that I'd machined a long time ago as a steering wheel adapter for my 57 Ford. With a little work it became a cover for the front of the pulley which looks much better than four bolts and the pilot. Also finished welding out the patch in the dash where the stereo head will go.

Today was probably the last day the temperature will permit painting for a while. I needed to get the last of the pulleys painted and while I was at it, I went ahead and squirted the driveshaft and the shocks. I'll be glad I did it when the cold weather hits next week.

[mcbassin]

Very nice work on the firewall and roof. This cab will be as close to perfect as you can get when done. Keep the pictures coming.

[Xeen]

Everything looks great Vic.
I can't wait to see the rest of the cab work.

[Low Elco]

Lookin great Vic!

[jlsanborn]

Awesome idea on the pump pulley cover! Looks clean.

[Vic1947]

After the paint cured on the parts, I figured to quickly reinstall them and get back on the cab. Not to be. When I mounted up the first Monroe SensaTrac shock, the increased barrel diameter immediately interfered with the axle tube. It looked like if I moved the top of the shock back, it would correct the problem, but after several mods, I'd moved it back 1/2" and only had about .100" between the shock and the axle tube. So the only practical solution was to move the bottom shock mounts forward.

Once again the scrap bin came to the rescue as I was able to find two pieces of 1/2" x 1-1/2" x 3" material that miraculously had two 1/2" holes in just the right spots. The task became much easier at that point. I mocked up the pieces and marked the angle that I needed. I then calmped them on the mill and removed .240" of material to offset them flush with the existing mounting eye. Used the corner rounder to make them a bit prettier and then installed them. Pictures below are before paint and you can see they are supported on the front and the bottom of the existing mount areas. With a 1/2" bolt torqued to 95 ft/lbs, they aren't going anywhere. With the shocks in the front hole, I now have plenty of clearance between the shock barrel and the axle tube.

I also went down to the tire store this morning and had the tires dismounted. Headed to Eagle Stripping tomorrow to have the front of all four wheels blasted back down to bare aluminum. When I get them back, I'll use Glisten PC to coat them. It's crystal clear and will not cause the rims to turn grey like they did with the clear powder coating.

[69CST-V]

Great problem solving Vic. Getting closer.

[swamp rat]

Oh the things i could do with a mill! Cool mod!

[Pick]

Very nicely done! You amaze me with your elegantly simple but NICE solutions.

[Low Elco]

Lookin good- the extra vertical should make 'em work!

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Lookin good- the extra vertical should make 'em work!

Yep, I remember you suggesting that I relocate the bottom mounts, but I thought I could get by without it. Then the SensaTracs sent me off the cliff and I had no choice. But I'm much happier with the results now.

[jlsanborn]

Very nice work! Corner rounder??? Is that quarter round tooling for your mill? Anxious to see the clear coat on the wheels. My factory alloys on the Silverardo are looking shabby

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by jlsanborn

Very nice work! Corner rounder??? Is that quarter round tooling for your mill? Anxious to see the clear coat on the wheels. My factory alloys on the Silverardo are looking shabby

Thanks, and yes, the corner rounder goes in the mill. Typically if a part is in an out of the way spot and I need to round the corners, I use the disc/belt sander to approximate the radius I want. However, if I have more than one to do, sometimes it's easier (and more precise) to grab up a corner radius tool and let the mill do the heavy lifting.

The wheels are at Eagle Stripping as of this morning along with several other pieces. Hope to have them back by next week. Meanwhile, the weatherman says the temps are supposed to be in the low 70's on Sunday, so I may do a couple of test pieces with the Glisten PC to see how it works. Will post pics of the results.

[knomadd]

I wish I had a mill. You make some pretty cool parts when you need a solution to a problem. I'd love to be able to do that kind of stuff.

As always, NICE WORK!

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by knomadd

I wish I had a mill. You make some pretty cool parts when you need a solution to a problem. I'd love to be able to do that kind of stuff.

As always, NICE WORK!

Thanks, Duane. This is the third mill I've owned and it works pretty well for my stuff, which is mostly small. It's not very expensive, but the tooling always ends up being the budget buster.

While we're wishing for stuff, I'd love to have a GTO like yours. It's my favorite year and model. We had a couple of 69 Judges when we lived in Missouri City, TX back in the 70's. Picture below was taken up at the track in Porter, TX. We used the stock appearing one to tow the race car.

[knomadd]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

Thanks, Duane. This is the third mill I've owned and it works pretty well for my stuff, which is mostly small. It's not very expensive, but the tooling always ends up being the budget buster.

While we're wishing for stuff, I'd love to have a GTO like yours. It's my favorite year and model. We had a couple of 69 Judges when we lived in Missouri City, TX back in the 70's. Picture below was taken up at the track in Porter, TX. We used the stock appearing one to tow the race car.

Thanks for the info, I'll have to look into a mill. Not sure where I'd put it though. Those are a couple of nice looking Judges. I bet it was a lot of fun racing. I can picture one towing the other. That would have been a cool site to see.

[mcbassin]

That paint looks great!

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

That paint looks great!

Thanks, Mike. Me and painting go WAY back. Nowadays, though, I have to work myself into the mood to do it. Plus, my shop isn't really setup very well for paint work, so I mainly stick to small stuff or primer.

[Vic1947]

Finished welding out the patch for the speaker grille. Took a long time to stitch it together, but still had to use pins to pull out a few low places and the hammer and dolly in others. Makes me wonder how the long welds on the bed will go. No use fretting over it, will cross that bridge when I come to it. Used the Dremel tool to cut out an opening for the center A/C outlet. The plastic duct that fastens to the back of it is resting on the top of the stereo bracket. If the stereo opening was 1/8" higher, I'd be hosed. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

[69CST-V]

Looking good. Nice steady pace you got going. Won't be long if ya keep it up.

[Vic1947]

Today I cut the remainder of the old floor out. Used the plasma cutter to remove most of the rear floor brace and then cut the spotwelds from the inside. Doing it this way means I can use the spotwelder like the factory. Cleaned some of the grunge off the back of the cab sheetmetal and dragged the new floor over and set in place to see what I was faced with.