My suburban's Twisted Little Sister

[pimpston65]

Originally Posted by 65sub

When we cut out the firewall we found more rust that we had to remove. Then when we cut that out we found an apartment complex for rodents above the kick panel vents. And since we had lots of access we cut off the bottom of the kick panel. We finished today tacking in a patch panel on the front of the vent box.

well since you've removed every panel, im sure you'll have the cleanest burb on the planet!!!

[piratexpress1369a]

The kick panels did you make them or buy them new...if you bought them where did you get them

[Bomp]

Totally dig what you're doing with that firewall and toe board.

[Valarius_Starchaser]

I will continue to watch in awe of your abilities and work space

love the build keep it up

[65sub]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Like quite a few builds on here, you continue to be my touchstone of sanity.

I am on week two of a seven week classroom training course in haematological anti-coagulation and find myself looking in on threads with much envy.
I guess this will pass and I will be able to pay my mortgage and buy bits for my engine and do my truck further.

Thank you as always for posting up and sharing.

There..........

I feel better.

Hi Rian. I'm happy I can be part of your ongoing therapy.

Originally Posted by pimpston65

well since you've removed every panel, im sure you'll have the cleanest burb on the planet!!!

Hey Pimpston where have you been. Still working on your new house?

Originally Posted by piratexpress1369a

The kick panels did you make them or buy them new...if you bought them where did you get them

Hi Pirate. We made the panel. It just replaces the flat areas below and behind the vent.

Originally Posted by Bomp

Totally dig what you're doing with that firewall and toe board.

Thanks Greg. We're just having fun.

Originally Posted by Valarius_Starchaser

I will continue to watch in awe of your abilities and work space

love the build keep it up

Thanks Starchaser. You keep watching and we'll keep building.


We finished welding the firewall panel and then cut out the rust on the bottom of the vent box.

[pimpston65]

Yup, no truck work til the snow takes a hike. just remodel for now!!! wainscott, rough plumbing etc...

[Bomp]

lol, So Im checkin' in on one of my top 5 favorite builds outta 525 I follow.
As I read the progress of "We finished welding the firewall panel and then cut out the rust on the bottom of the vent box".
I look at the pics.
Welded it back together better than what you see in a magazine and chop the Heck outta the other side.
Skills. Real Man Skills. Love it!

[62stepside longbox]

Nice job Dale, the firewall is lookin really clean

[65sub]

Originally Posted by pimpston65

Yup, no truck work til the snow takes a hike. just remodel for now!!! wainscott, rough plumbing etc...

Spring should be here soon. I'm looking forward to watching your 'burb progress.

Originally Posted by Bomp

lol, So Im checkin' in on one of my top 5 favorite builds outta 525 I follow.
As I read the progress of "We finished welding the firewall panel and then cut out the rust on the bottom of the vent box".
I look at the pics.
Welded it back together better than what you see in a magazine and chop the Heck outta the other side.
Skills. Real Man Skills. Love it!

Thanks Greg. I don't think we're doing work of your quality but we sure are having a good time chopping stuff up. Building a left over parts truck is very liberating.

Originally Posted by 62stepside longbox

Nice job Dale, the firewall is lookin really clean

Thanks Nik. It's nice to get rid of all the holes.


No truck progress but my daughter just returned from a school trip to Cuba and brought some pictures of the old cars still in use.

The first two are taxis that she took to and from the airport
The third is a school bus they took to the beach
The last two are cars she saw on the street

[piratexpress1369a]

They are so cool

[CURSED GEARS]

I watched that series on the Discovery Channel a while back called Cuban Chrome. It was interesting to see what they have to go through to keep those vehicles running.

[62stepside longbox]

Originally Posted by CURSED GEARS

I watched that series on the Discovery Channel a while back called Cuban Chrome. It was interesting to see what they have to go through to keep those vehicles running.

Yes one of the characters even used a boat motor in his car. It look like it weighed a ton!

[Palf70Step]

Originally Posted by 62stepside longbox

Yes one of the characters even used a boat motor in his car. It look like it weighed a ton!

Enjoyed the series also. Looking forward to more updates on the twisted sister. Thanks for the Cuba shots.

[65sub]

Here's the progress from Friday and today. We cut out the drivers side firewall and the lower part of the kick panel. Then we patched the kick panel and tack in the new firewall. We'll try to get it welded tomorrow.

[65sub]

This morning we finished the welding on the drivers side firewall. Then after lunch we started on the center section. First we made a center piece with a curl on the top then we tacked on two curled sides. Then we added two curled triangle pieces to the corners

[62stepside longbox]

Very nice work Dale, are you going to run an under dash master cylinder setup or are you going to drill into that nice clean firewall?

[65sub]

Originally Posted by 62stepside longbox

Very nice work Dale, are you going to run an under dash master cylinder setup or are you going to drill into that nice clean firewall?

Thanks Nik. So far the plan is to mount the master cylinder on the firewall but sometimes plans change


Today we made a removable crossmember and frame brackets that will go under the transmission.

[lower50's]

When I was in Cuba a year ago we took a '54 ford car that was all Hyundai diesel under the body. Great place. Nice progress.

[65sub]

Originally Posted by lower50's

When I was in Cuba a year ago we took a '54 ford car that was all Hyundai diesel under the body. Great place. Nice progress.

Thanks Lower


We pulled the motor out so we could box the motor mount brackets. This is the passenger side.

[65sub]

We also tacked the center portion of the firewall in place

Shortly after lunch today a yellow courier truck arrived with a package from the United Kingdom. Ian sent these Jaguar XKE hood louvres to me for free. He stamped them on the original tooling and saved them all these years. It's kindness like this that makes this community great. Thanks Ian.

[Advanced Design]

Nice work Dale. Wow, that was very nice of Ian! Great people here.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Dale, nice work rebuilding firewall and kick panels. I wondered about the louvers when i saw the pic earlier in your build. It was good of Ian to send them to you. I'd love to know the story behind them. Ian made them?

[ibrown50]

I used to work for Rolls Royce. Back around the turn of the century Jaguar decided it would make one final batch of XKE hoods using the original tooling and sell them through their main dealer network (these things were going to be $8500 a pop). They commissioned our press shop to stamp the panels and I had to oversee the production.

The louvre tool was a really clever old thing, originally (I think) built by Abbey Panels in the West Midlands, it held the hood upside down and stamped both sides at once (on early XKE's the louvres were stamped separately and welded in) and would also stamp more or less louvres, depending upon how much "weight" or "set" you put on the press. Obviously you don't set up on $8.5K hoods so I cut some random pieces of steel to use for set-up. Once finished I was left with 4 pairs of perfectly good louvres which it just seemed a shame to throw out. I did ask my boss if I could keep them, he was an accountant (not a car guy) so seemed really bemused by the request but said OK.

The first set went in a gasser style Anglia, the second set in a Coombs style Jaguar Mk2 (with supercharged XJR motor), and now I can say the 3rd set will be in radical 66 Suburban.

[pimpston65]

its gonna be bout a 3rd jag already, so why not sheet metal. i got a few parts i can donate. ima need em back after you rework them thou!!!

[Grizz1963]

HOW INCREDIBLY COOL!!!

I have benefitted from Ian's generosity too.....


Well done mate.