Project '64 Cheapskate

[wutnxt]

Glad to hear your doing well.....sounds like it was a bad crash...It cracks me up when I read your posts about hide'n trucks and stashed parts...lol.....reminds me of the old days before i ex'd that issue..lol..Now I have to hide my friends projects at my house and park mine at their place so their wives don't know who has what.... you have some great projects and you can come to my shop and hit steel anytime. I wish i could do that kind of body work, it's on my list of things to learn after I get the second phase of my shop finished. Keep up the good work

[Kabwe]

Sorry to hear about your car accident I hope all is well. But I must tell you that you Sir will been known for now on among us 55-59 chevy truck guys as the Terrell Owens of classic trucks. Talented but not a team player.lol We have been waiting on you to finish your truck and you have abandoned us for this C20.lol

On a serious note, I hope things return to normal for you soon. Good luck buddy.

[chevyrestoguy]

Terrell Owens!! That's too funny. Do I whine and complain that much???

Seriously, I haven't done anything truck related since the accident. All of the paperwork and doctor and chiropractor appointments, along with my normal crazy work schedule, takes up almost all of my time lately. I leave the house at 3:30 am in the morning and finally get home at around 6:30 pm almost every night. It's wearing me down, big time. It's frustrating because I have so many things to do, but just don't have the time or energy. That should change soon, though.

I'm getting a lot of ribbing from my local buddies, too. They are asking the same questions. I can't wait to get back on the '55 again. In the meantime, I get on this site everyday and check on everybody else's projects. It keeps me motivated until the time when I can jump back on my own stuff. The weather is too nice to be inside!

Your 55-59 project is one of those things that keeps me motivated.

[yukon ratrod]

well glad to see your ok! Ive been in a few accidents caused by others and I can relate to the neck and back issues. well between work and family, Im a happy man, but need a new set of wheels on the road for summer. theres a lot of new cars in town. most guys here talk the talk then run down south and buy a finished car!!! then try and convince everyone that they built it. lol Its a small town and everyone knows everyone, so come on guys.lol got my 48 out two days ago and been driving it around, but im bored with it. installed new gauges on friday, but the lust is gone on this one. the sad part is I could get a good dollar for it, but this is the one my wife is in love with. I try to talk her into letting me bodywork and paint it, but the answers the same every time!! go play with something else and leave the rat rod alone. would like to finish the 72, but ive spend a lot and I mean a lot of money on it lately, and have all my parts now minus exterior trim, bumpers, interior seat foam and carpet,ect...... well my friend lets just keep on truckin!! cheers

[aspiringthomas]

How many gallons do the side tanks hold. I am look at my options to move the gas tank out of the cab.
Thanks Jeff.

[chevyrestoguy]

I've been pretty busy lately on work stuff and finally had some time to do a little work on the old beater. I went to Wal-Mart and bought a few gallons of Purple Power and fired up the pressure washer and went to work. The truck had dirt and grease caked so bad that it took multiple applications to get most of it off. I need to get a pressure washer with more psi, or get Brad's steam cleaner fixed. After cleaning it up, it was pretty obvious that this poor truck had been seriously abused by the previous owners. I'll treat it right.

Underneath the hood, it went from this:


To this:



You can see the hack job on the A/C holes in the firewall that the dealership did back in '64. I was told that the A/C in the '64 trucks were not installed on the assembly line, but at the dealerships. Disregard the block-off plates. I found those (in white even!) at a local wrecking yard and they are merely serving the purpose of sealing the firewall from dust and critters.

I'm going to keep plugging away and get more stuff done. Next step will be to install the new rear window glass and continue cleaning. The inside of that thing is NASTY.

[chevyrestoguy]

How many gallons do the side tanks hold. I am look at my options to move the gas tank out of the cab.
Thanks Jeff.

Jeff-
I'm really not sure how much they hold. Maybe someone else on the board might know? I'd say somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-20 gallons each?

[chevyrestoguy]

Got a lot done today. Cleaned all the junk out of the bed, took the seat and tank out to clean the cab floor, replaced the broken glove box door, and installed the new rear window glass.

I've done a few rear windows in some of my later trucks, but have never done a window with a lock strip. Man, what a pain. I was planning on trying to do the windshield myself, but after today, I'm calling somebody who does that stuff for a living.

Next on the list: Finish the cab floor, re-install the tank, CLR the inside of the cab, re-install the seat. Pull out the old 4-speed, cut the old exhaust out.

[chevyrestoguy]

Pictures:
Up on the patio and out of the dirt


New rear glass installed


Gutted all the nasty stuff out of the interior. It had sat without a rear window for probably 15 years and it had about 30lbs of dirt inside.


Driver's side floor. A few tiny pinholes, but mostly surface rust from water being trapped under the floor mat.


I was able to clean out the gas tank, so the next step is re-mount it and keep knocking stuff off the list. I am debating on whether to keep the saddle tanks or remove them. I don't plan on using them, and they are just extra weight.

[chevyrestoguy]

I worked on the 'ol '64 today with the intention of re-installing the tank. I went to Napa and bought a section of fuel hose for the filler neck only to find out the Chevy used a hose that is 2 different sizes on the ends. Oh well.....I didn't let that slow me down so I continued cleaning up the inside and decided to CLR the passenger side of the truck. I was amazed. See for yourself:

Before:


And After:




It looks like somebody shot him in the butt with some bird shot! Jealous husband perhaps?


I did a real quickie CLR job, and I plan on finishing the rest of the truck and then going back and working all of the little areas. One thing I couldn't help noticing was all the little dents I found when I was doing this. This poor truck was was used and abused. Now, I have to think of what shop logo I'm going to go with. I have a few in mind.

[nate95gsr]

Wow. Still not bad for $300 though? I can't wait to hear the shop names you come up with. Should be interesting.

Nate

[chevyrestoguy]

I actually got it for $200. AND it came with the factory underdash ash tray that can fetch over $200 on ebay. I couldn't pass on the truck.

Still undecided on whether to use a real race team logo or a made-up shop logo. Haven't decided yet. Whatever it is, I'm thinking about using red and black as the colors because the truck has a red outline border around the side trim that someone painted years ago. The paint is pretty faded, so I'm going to have to rub off almost all of the logo to make it look aged. I'm still up in the air about wheels and tires, but those alone will make a huge difference in the look of the truck. Gotta have a '60s vibe........

By the way, Happy Father's Day little brother!

[nate95gsr]

well for $200 is even better. one question, are you going to lower it or let it be?

also, happy belated fathers day to you to big brother.

[iehotrod]

Cant go wrong for $200.00

[chevyrestoguy]

Very true. The truck has the hard-to-find factory underdash ashtray, which the A/C trucks had, and I have seen them sell for well over $250 by themselves. Before I went to go look at the truck, the owner had said that it had all the A/C stuff in it, so I was skeptical. When I got there, I peeked into the window and saw the A/C ducts and the ashtray and immediately knew that I was not leaving until that truck was mine.

I always make the joke that I went to go buy an ashtray and the guy threw in the truck to sweeten the deal.....

[chevyrestoguy]

Originally Posted by nate95gsr

well for $200 is even better. one question, are you going to lower it or let it be?

Slight lowering, maybe 2/4 or 3/5. I still want to use the truck as a Home Depot hauler with the capability of pulling a trailer at times. I may set up an auxiliary air bag system in the rear that can be pumped up via a shrader valve whenever I hook up the trailer.

[LeftCoast32]

It sure is looking better with every picture you post. Keep up the great work!

[SulphuriousSam]

Man, I like what the CLR did for your truck! I hope there's enough paint left on mine to look that good as well. I've been contemplating the shop truck look for mine since it's just going to be a DD. Great looking find looks like your deal was about the same as mine ultra cheap with a great value to the right guy

[iehotrod]

I am a big fan of that finish.

[fryer1979]

Cool build so far man, I love that you called it "project '64 cheepskate", a man after my own heart... Keep it up, you'll get there.

[SFTorange]

I can't believe how much of a difference the CLR made! You have a nice looking truck, and the factory a/c is awesome! Good luck with your rebuild of the factory system.

[chevyrestoguy]

I had a little time to spare yesterday afternoon, so I did a few things to the '64. The bashed up grille always bothered me, and a I had a spare aluminum grille that I picked up for cheap because it was dented pretty badly. I worked out the majority of the dents (not as easy as it seems) and decided to bolt it up to see how it looked. I also bolted on my spare bumper, which is in better shape than the original. I even did a little CLR work behind the grille to get the surface rust off.
BEFORE:


AFTER:

In this picture, you can see just how mangled the grille surround is. The previous owner had a motorcycle rack or possibly a spare tire holder mounted up front. Over a long period of time, it started tearing the sheetmetal, including the core support. I have an extra grille support that's cherry, but I may be committed to fixing the original one because I'll never be able to match the patina. When I fix the passenger fender, I'll yank the grille surround at the same time and stitch it all back together.

[chevyrestoguy]

Also, I just scored a bunch of factory A/C parts on ebay yesterday. That stuff is so hard to find, and the seller had nearly everything I was missing, and the price was to low to pass on. When it's all said and done, all I will be lacking is the condenser, drier, compressor, and all the lines. I believe that I can piece that stuff together from parts I have laying around. I have a '79 Suburban that I'm going to strip for the suspension, and it's got all the a/c stuff I'm lacking.

I'm continuing to keep checking stuff off the list.............

If I have time today, I'm going to CLR the roof and the back of the cab, then start on getting the surface rust out of the interior.

[SulphuriousSam]

Still looks way better than it did! Impressive restoguy Keep it up cuz your making me want to do more to mine

[chevyrestoguy]

I finished doing the CLR scrub on the roof today, so the majority of the rust removal is complete on the exterior. I also got around to installing the Custom cab pillar trim:

Check out how many holes there are for all the mirrors the truck has had in it's lifetime. The dude obviously loved to drill holes!


I pulled the gauge cluster out to give it a good cleaning and inspection. I had a good laugh. The truck had been sitting so long in the blazing desert heat with the windows closed that some of the numbers actually fell off the bezel! The picture doesn't show it very well, but there are a pile of numbers on the bottom of the cluster. So, I definitely need to get a bezel for sure. I would love to add a tach, but we'll see how the money situation is. I've been staying on my budget so far, and I don't want to get off-track.


Next step: CLR the inside of the truck! That is going to suck..........