49' Patina bagged in PA

[99 to Life]

thanks guys, AD yeah I have a print shop in pittsburgh we do shirts there. I do stickers as another side business and then also my coffee&customs stuff, I'm spread thin.

reaper, yeah I'v bought stuff from rocky hinge. I wasn't aware they had a locking bearclaw though. I'll have to check them out again. I been through tons of research on a locking usa made claw years ago when I wanted to put them in my 51'. Found a guy on another rod site that makes them, but not locking. I always wanted to use the door handles and with the turn down handles to work I would need a spring kit rock hinge sells. I ended up just making a custom dead bolt lock for my 51' using a remote key fob to activate it. on this truck I could settle with the extra costs.

49' not sure I could caress these headers, they are stainless for 1 and two I have to get all the joints on there and see what they are gonna do. Worse case I just route it to the side and have a heim jont come off my shock mount. then run 3 joints instead of 2. a little more money. either that or get different headers, which I been thinking about for the drivers side anyway. its just a bit long for my liking.

[99 to Life]

11-10 Today was surprisingly warm, so I decided to start stripping down the rest of my parts. didn't get very far today but I got one front fender stripped and started coating bf I ran out of chassis saver. This rubber that was all over this truck is a pain to get off and stinks. Maybe I'll try that stuff that melts rubberized coatings off next time. I welded up some patches on this fender as well. the hood and other 3 fenders all need some work.

Got my clutch bled as of now I can't tell if its good or not. have to start up the truck and get it in gear maybe next weekend when my driveshaft shows up. If anything I might have to adjust the pushrod a bit. My brake MC is mia and I contacted the seller today with no reply, so lets just say I'v had the worst month of ordering parts outta the almost 12 months I been working on it. Would really love to have brakes bled next weekend and a possible put it in gear and move it. but.... I need to work on my steering alot. I ordered up two ujoints today. Would be lucky if I can get them to work and not reroute the steering.

[Advanced Design]

The fender looks solid in this picture. Were you able to clear off the rubber coating? Better luck with parts ordering....closer and closer to driving!

[Billys68SS]

Man, that fender is in way better shape than the ones I'm working with. Looking good Henry! Waiting on parts sucks big time, especially when you don't know when or if you're even gonna get em! Hope it all comes together for you buddy.

[99 to Life]

yeah my front fenders weren't too rotted. I have more work to do on the other one that is for sure. My rear fenders need quite a bit of work. Yeah sux depending on parts. I still haven't heard back from the ebayer that sold me the MC, they took my money and I should have had it thursday but now its tuesday, so something is not right. I had another place have to resend me something cause it never showed up, then I had a place send me calipers that weren't what they said they were, then I ordered the wrong ujoint for my steering. So I have to send that back, and ordered different ones that are on their way.

Luckily I have stuff to do in the mean time, like finishing the bed and fenders thats more just busy work. But.... I would like to drive this thing outta the garage bf a blizzard comes.

[99 to Life]

11-15 got a few hours in today. Cold but clear out so I decided to start stripping my other front fender. The tear in the fender adds character but since its where the brace mounts to, I needed to fix it. I didn't have all my dollies with me so I'm waiting on the final shaping with the right dollie since it curves and also has a rolled edge to it, I don't wanna crease it cause that would suck.

So my shipping/buying qualms are still going. My brake MC should be here monday which is about two weeks late. So hopefully I can finish up the brakes.
Got driveshaft from southwest speed. I never dealt with them but they do answer the phone and have been around for quite some time. I got this DS and yoke with you joints for 209 shipped. but... the yoke isn't gonna fit for my trans and same with the ujoints. So I found conversion joints from moog which range from 16-23 a piece. The yoke fortunately I had. So i'll just sell this one off. Should hopefully wrap this up tomorrow.

Lastly I'm having super problems with my steering. I don't quite have the steering tube secured and tightened down to try and cycle it. A. I need a specific bearing to put in the bottom of the tube, B. I need a heim joint to keep the lower shaft in position. Even with everything in place I'm not sure if the geometry will work. So, plan b is to move the whole shaft over a few inches, but.... that means I'll be making more holes in my already finished firewall. So all my options include backtracking or spending more money, like for the camaro headers which are shorter, I may be able to sqeeze the shaft through them but I can't say for sure. I wanted to get camaro headers anyway because the driverside header I have now is rather long and makes my exhaust sit too low.

[99 to Life]

I could either move everything over a few inches which would entail making a plate to bolt to the outside of the firewall, I could then have my steering tube clamp on the outside instead of on the inside, so this way might work ok. the plate would cover the stock hole and give support for the new hole.

Or risk getting a new set of headers, which might not even work, the more I look at them. not so sure if they are even shorter anyway, I could always cut and shortern my headers I have now.(top pic, full size chevy, what I have) last two header pics are for camaro.

or I could try and route through my headers and use a long heim joint to support the long DD shaft, I don't have any heims so I can't play around with what will work. I might just move the steering tube completely over and be done with buying more stuff. The way the links are now, look a worse than they are cause they are just setting there with no support.

[99 to Life]

11-17 got conversion joints from moog, got driveshaft in. Reworked a few patches on front fender and the hood. Got the backsides of hood, grille and most of front fender done. Ran out of chassis saver.

[oldman3]

Nice progress...Jim

[99 to Life]

thanks jim, this last month has drug on. feels like I got nothing done. MC didn't show up today, mail in general didn't show up. Maybe cause the roads were so bad. So hopefully I can get brakes done next weekend. Start back on this steering issue. I ordered up a few things that I need for the steering. I'm ordering battery cables so I can put battery in cab and fire this thing back up soon, see if my clutch is in working order. Rebel sent out my wiring harness so I should have it this week. I still need to work on the airride plumbing. Then I have a whole ton of work to do on rear fenders. But I want to do the bed and rear fenders last.

[99 to Life]

11-21 Got my Rebel wire 21 circuit harness. I did a run of stickers for them and also some shirts for it. Spent some time on my steering. Ordered up a bearing online, had to weld a little bit to it to fatten it up so it fit snug in the steering column. Got a Heim joint too, so I tightened everything up and ran it through its cycle, seemed to work. So I gotta mount the Heim joint and finish up mounting the steering column.

Finally got my MC after a hickup that set me back almost 2weeks. So I got it painted and rigged up, ran some more lines up front and will button them up tomorrow. Bleed the MC and hopefully get some brakes going. had to make my own pedal to booster connector.

I got a ton of little things to do bf I get to wiring and air plumbing. Gotta hook up ebrake, reinforce the clutch pedal, put the dash supports in, make a seat mount, finish up the gas pedal. Should have battery cable, kill switch and terminals by monday. Gonna get battery rigged up in cab so I can fire the engine back up. Put it in gear and maybe do some burnouts in my garage since there is bunch of snow outside.

[99 to Life]

you can see the heim joint sitting on top of the shock tower. next time I'm just move the steering over a few inches. Just didn't want to cut up the firewall since its painted. Even though I spent alot more money on the headers and all this steering puzzle. I'm so glad I ditched the s10 headers.

[oldman3]

You've been a busy man, hope you snow wasn't as bad as NY...Jim

[99 to Life]

Jim, thanks, never enough hours in the day. Snow missed erie by a bit, I'm about 40 min south of Erie, we got snow but no 6-7ft like buffalo.

[99 to Life]

11-24 didn't get much time in today and or this weekend. I did manage to bleed brakes and started finalizing the steering. got the heim joint welded up and have a enough clearance on the header. I'm making a new mount for the column on the inside, I think its gonna come out better than my other mount because this way the tube won't get scratched up sliding it in and out of the column support.

Steering wheel on just for kicks, staring to look like a truck. making some moves on the vinyl interior. I want to try and fire up the truck next weekend but we'll see. Got some pedal reinformance I gotta make, and mount the seat.
Then order up some fatmat soon. Prolly get front clip on soon too.

[reaper71]

nice progress keep.at it...

[99 to Life]

thanks reaper, I tell ya what I thought I learned alot on my first truck. Well I'm learning much more on this one. Its a way better build and different but man its easy to overlook all the little things. This truck is on my mind everyday, spend countless hours online looking for parts. All the little things like pedals, steering brakes etc just get overlooked in builds. for me what killed my time was all the patches I made for cab, fenders, hood you name it, it got patches. All the stripping of rust and grime and undercoatings. Since last november I got 420 plus hours in. Wanted to be at 500. I think I'll miss that mark.
thats not including dash and engine and the time in painting rims.

But if I build almost the identical build next time I could cut hundreds of hours I know that. I got all my measurements and better plans for next time. But alot of the stuff I have in mind or lined up would be different builds as of now, so it would be right back to square one. Just need better bodies, and I just missed out on a cab locally that was just that, all new patches, 5 window split with doors and title and option for whole front clip for a steal, missed out on it. But whatever, I'm trying to just focus on this and worry about the next project when its time. I don't have a deadline anymore but I surely don't want to take much over a year to do a truck. If my gal didnt loose her job and I get an extra day or two a week to work on this, I'd be soooo far away from completion.

[reaper71]

I totally understand...I work 5 days a week on customer builds and mine gets left behind most of the time. There was a time when I didn't touch mine for a entire year! just keep plugging away and it will get done, just don't rush through it just to get it done! bad things can happen when you do..best of luck..


Mark...

[skymangs]

looking good 99, you expecting to get her done this winter???

[99 to Life]

thanks sarge, yeah I think I should have it done this winter. that would give me enough time and budget. Was hoping to complete by end of Jan, for the pittsburgh autorama. but I don't wanna stress getting it done and not only that, dealing with making the 100 mile trip in the dead of winter.

today I got my seat mounts done, got some sample vinyl in so I can start finalizing my interior colors. Worked on finalizing steering some more. Friggin broke the tap off in the bottom of my column, so I stopped and moved onto something else.

Realistically if I rig up my bat cables, I should be able to start it back up, and check my clutch and brakes. Just finished up my throttle today. I'm trading some print work for the accuair airvalve pod, so that will save me 400 plus bucks and also help me finalize the air system.

So I gotta put front clip back on, finish interior, wiring, some bed work and the air plumbing, also do all the glass and the bear claws. also making a custom consol that will be tucked up under dash, so with all the little details I'm doing its gonna be a bit to finalize, but....soon as we get a little warm front I'm gonna attempt to drive it outta the garage.

[J48chevy]

Nice job. Coming along very nice. Keep the updates coming as it is a lot of good information for me on my build too.

[99 to Life]

J48, will do man. I post every week. Only reason I post so many things whether it looks like alot or not, is for reference when I scroll back through all the pages. Helps me timeline wise and to learn from my times.

Here is the seat riser. just some 2x3 stock. Seat sits about 11.25" off floor. It has quite a bit of forward and back motion, so I'm pretty happy with this seat. Just need to paint the frame and get my seat cover done.

also the to do list (I know we always have things to add) I need to hook up my ebrake pedal and lines. and do all the power steering.

So just when I think I'm almost there, boom so much more time and money ahead of me. I'm also going to try and do my door panels and roof myself so that's gonna take me a bit I'm sure. also need fatmat and carpet. need to purchase mufflers and exhaust hangers too. I'm just gonna stop typing now.

[Advanced Design]

Great progress 99. Really appreciate the updates!

[Uncle Jimi]

Sweet build! Sorry if I missed it, what is your seat from?

[PurdueSD]

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

you can see the heim joint sitting on top of the shock tower. next time I'm just move the steering over a few inches. Just didn't want to cut up the firewall since its painted. Even though I spent alot more money on the headers and all this steering puzzle. I'm so glad I ditched the s10 headers.

That looks like way too much angle for those joints... 30 degrees is the max and most places I've ready to stay well under that. Just something you may want to consider...

Excessive angle will also produce a cam like effect on your steering. It will cause the rotation to speed up and slow down... Hard to explain...