64 "Large Marge" LWB-SWB / Build thread.

[Ta2Don]

Late to the party...

I'm in and watching now...

Great progress and plans...

[4mulaSvaliant]

Thanks man! Hope to get the brakes bled this eve and maybe get the correct Tie Rod end ordered. Turns out I needed two "left" ones rather than a R and L. :/

[4mulaSvaliant]

So last night I came home from work and bled the brakes in the dark. Hahaha
I grabbed a new vacuum brake bleeder from Harbor Freight. It worked well. I have pedal now, and it seems to be pretty decent. I still pan to bleed them the good ol' fashioned way for peace of mind though.

So at this point All that is stopping me from driving it is the Tie rod end I ordered incorrectly (correct one is on the way), emergency brake cables (yes still) and the exhaust.

Needless to say I am getting stoked to drive this thing again!


In the meantime... I have picked up a few bits and pcs to get the details and finished look of the truck in order.

Scored some 61 Impala tail lights. My original intention was to put them on the rear fenders, but I am now up in the air of what I want to do with them.
Over all I got a hell of a deal. $15.00 for 4 housings and all 6 lenses.

[TJ's Chevy]

Diggin the lamps!

[4mulaSvaliant]

Thanks TJ.

Managed to get the exhaust back on it. Its nothing special, and isnt the final solution, but itll do until I gather all the parts for the final setup.

Turns out my brother in law is coming home on emergency leave for the potential passing of his mother unfortunately. Of course Ill have to get his car back to him while he is home for that. So now the push is on to have it road worthy by the end of the weekend.

All that is keeping me fron driving it now, is the tie rod end (its on its way currently) and the emergency brake cables. (Hoping to get them in this evening) Also hoping I ordered the correct cables and dont get it torn apart to find I need the other style of clip for the backing plates.

After that its all button up kinda stuff.

[Grizz1963]

Love the tail lights.

In South Africa the Valiant brand was what I grew up with.

My one uncle was an advocate in law and used to drive them rather than German luxury cars.

Will be watching your build.

[CRGRS 66]

I replied to your post over in my thread and asked what you were working on... didn't connect the dots, but I now realize that I am already creepin you here

[Ta2Don]

I'm frenchng some 65 Impala taillights into my stepper fender...

Diggin' those taillights… Nice Score!

[4mulaSvaliant]

Hahaha.... yeah I suppose I should put my build thread in the signiture... It may help a bit too.

Ta2Don.... I have yet to decide whether Ill be frenching them in, or even where they will go at this point. But it was the intention to install them on the fenders, and most likely french them. Those 65 lights should look pretty fitting frenched.

[4mulaSvaliant]

So I had a chance to come home early yesterday and work on the truck. The weather was good and a cold front moved in last night and has dropped the temps enough to not make it so fun to work out there so I was glad to have the chance.

I installed the Inline Tube Co. Emergency brake cables yesterday, and then realized that the only thing keeping me from driving it was the tie rod that should show up today.

So after a fair amount of "button up" I finished up just before dark...

I hadda drive it!!!! So I threw the old tie rod end back in and carefully ran around the block a few times. Everything worked great!

I changed so much with the drive train that I feared the chance of odd vibrations, clutch issues, or a possible noisy trans since I really didnt know much about the T5's history.

Anyhow, at 35mph all seems to be great. I hope to get the tie rod end tonight, install and get a rough alignment done in the drive way, then just spend the entire weekend cleaning up all the loose ends.

The scene from my garage as of late! Hahahah

[TJ's Chevy]

Driving is fun. Burnouts are funner.

[Ta2Don]

[4mulaSvaliant]

Well....replaced the Tie Rod end, aligned it, found bad grounds at both headlights, screwed the plates to the back end and drover her a$$ around some more last night.
Man what a great feeling. The 5 speed works great, the front end is tight (or as tight as you can expect really), and it rides...well.... like a truck.... but maybe a new 1964 truck! Hahahahah

So now I need to turn my efforts towards making it comfortable to drive, then cosmetics.

Just ordered the rubber filler tube for the gas tanks as it smells terribly of fuel in the cab. Also picked up all the window felts and door to cab seals as well.

So this weekend is probably going to be spent on the following:

1.Heater motor
2.Door latches (dont latch well...imagine that)
3.Sealing up any firewall leaks (engine smells)
4. Bleed the brakes
5. get the choke and high idle stuff sorted out.
6. maybe clean it up and throw a bit of paint on some areas in need.
7. bolt the steps and brackets on.

Here is her venture out to Walmart.

[4mulaSvaliant]

Well, I managed to get all of the above list completed and then some.
Did a lot of running around with it this weekend to make sure it was good to go for the commute on the interstate this morning and it was damned nice!
The RPMs could stand to be a bit lower still Id imagine (no tach yet). But she tracked straight down the road, no odd vibrations, no issues what so ever.

Managed a lot of looks as I easily kept up with traffic this morning. It isnt too common to see an old beast like this rolling in the morning rush hour traffic around here.

Snapped a few shots of where she stands as of now.




Dropped by Jokers (guy I bought it from) to show him the end product. Sittin' in a sea of Fords!
There are two 55' F series trucks, his 34' 5 window, and there is a 32 Tudor hiding in the garage. He has a handful of great rides. All of them he drives the hell out of!




Lastly I managed to get a bed floor in here even!!!!





So from here, I have a multitude of small stuff to do as always.... then on to making it decent looking. All the sheet metal work is cake, so I aint sweating that stuff. Ill be repairing the floors first and foremost to stop the potential water sources this winter...

So, there she be!!!!!!!

[Ta2Don]

The "old beast" is lookin' sweet!!!

[4mulaSvaliant]

Thanks Don! I am enjoying the hell out of it already!

[rusty76]

Truck is looking kool.

[4mulaSvaliant]

So on Sunday I buttoned up all the little details and was driving around making sure all was well for the daily commute this week. My friend and I heard something in the heater fan when I turned a corner and I immediately chalked it up to one of the balancing wieghts on the fan blades. I figured one had came off and it had settled to the bottom after being thrown out of the fan blades.

Fast forward to yesterday morning and 2/3 of the way through my commute: I turned a corner and heard the noise again but louder and more concerning this time.... Then, I hit a bump and WHAM! big clank and no heater! Yeah, it was the bracket that holds the heater core in place.

So at lunch time I went out and pulled the cover to find this of course! Fortunately it didnt damage the fan blades enough to cause any balance issues.

[TJ's Chevy]

Always something! lol! But this kinda made me chuckle. Least nothing broke...Even the heaters a rock solid.

[4mulaSvaliant]

Well, Its made it through the first week of daily commute with the only falter being the previously mentioned heater problem.

So now I have a list of minor things to do and just for the sake of keeping track of the build Ill list them out.

This weekend
-Choke (May need new one)
-Exhaust (finish pipe to under the steps)
-Gas tank filler hose (Just a replacement to reduce the smell with full tank)
-Hook up tach
-Door bumpers
-Gauges
-Battery tie down
-Mirrors
-Door pins
-Door seals
-window felts
-Fender alignment (hitting passenger fender when opening)
-Door alignment (top of drivers door needs to come inward to meet seal)

Less important stuff
-Paint inside cab
-White walls
-Radio
-Paint

*
-Tune up
-Trans tail shaft seal
-Crank case vent hose (direct it somewhere)

[Ta2Don]

Looks like a fun list… glad the blower fan held up to the sudden stop...

…and just a thought about the door checks… once you get the fender alignment sorted out, inspect your door checks and if they are in need of repair or replacing, the Jeep Cherokee door checks are a easy direct bolt-in… Grand Cherokee ones are different but the Cherokee ones work great, I picked up some from a nearby pick-n-pull for $5…

Enjoy your weekend!!!

[4mulaSvaliant]

Managed to knock a few things off the list!

Still to do
-Hook up tach
-Gauges
-Door pins
-Door seals

Less important stuff
-Paint inside cab
-White walls
-Radio
-Paint

*
-Tune up
-Trans tail shaft seal
-Crank case vent hose (direct it somewhere)

[4mulaSvaliant]

Been a bit since I have updated.

Basically I have been driving the wheels off this rig! Been driving it as my daily for a good little bit now, and haven't had any major issues at all!

Where it stands now, is what you see in the pics. I could not stand that yellow, green, black thing I had going on. With all of the sheet metal work still in store I didn't want to shoot it with any thing that cost me much.

So here she is all rattle canned up, in what will most likely be the final colors eventually.








On the way out for a few evening pics.



My ladies together!

[duallyjams]

Rattle can job looks good.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by duallyjams

Rattle can job looks good.

Agree

The pics of both cars together looks good, but this may be a favourite.