1969 Custom/10 clean up

[FrankieD]

Glad to see the booster bracket worked for you nice work

[Steve-W]

and a big thank you to you Frankie!

[Steve-W]

I didn't want to keep you from this update, although pictures will follow next week.

The eagle has landed! the cab is now sitting in a storage area in Roosendaal (the south of holland) ready to be picked up. I'll have to take a day off next week together with a mate to go collect it.
all and all, so with taxes, handling and admin cost it comes down to $600,-

we'll take it over to a garage we have to check it out and plan the next step; sanding or blasting..
seeing I don't care for cosmetics I say: blast it, then put some industrial grade epoxy primer on it and fling some paint at it. it's a truck, all I want is that it doesn't rust

but my mate said that if I blast it I will have to re-kit al the welds..but what is the kit for anyway? is it because everything is spot welded and you have to close off all the creases?

[FrankieD]

Not sure what he means by a kit either but I know if it is done to aggressively it can warp the metal. Do they do soda blasting over there ? Don't know much about it but I think it is easier on the metal.
i found this link hope it helps

http://www.sodablasting.gr/en/the-co.../item/3-gritco

[Steve-W]

Originally Posted by FrankieD

Not sure what he means by a kit

I mean something like this:
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And the stuff i think of blasting with is glasspearls

[Stevoo]

Hi Steve,
If you blast off the kit and not re-kit the welds water will crawl between the panels and they will rot.
Also if you use industrial grade grit to blast the cab chance is high you will blast a hole in the metal. That's it how agressive it is. Especially the roof is fragile for heavy sandblasting..
You can also use glasparels of pindadoppen, or call a firm like straalbedrijf Warmerdam in Hillegom to inform about the costs if they do it for you....

good luck, Steve

Sorry for the comments with some dutch words guys..

[FrankieD]

Originally Posted by Stevoo

Hi Steve,
Sorry for the comments with some dutch words guys..

I think it's kind of cool.

[Steve-W]

Originally Posted by FrankieD

I think it's kind of cool.

well, seeing we think american english is cool, the only response I can think of is: whatever floats your boat

but back on topic, the pick up of the cabin has been posponed by a week. we were going next wednesday, but I've got some seminars where I have to attend so we'll be going the wednesday after that, so the 14th.
(must be good seeing my house nr. is 14...)

[Steve-W]

Wednesday we rented a truck and set out to Marlog Carhandling in Roosendaal, in the south of Holland to pick up my cabine which had cleared customs and all the paperwork was done. when we finally arrived there (for us 2,5h drive is far far away) we saw some beauties being brought in from the motherland
a (for dutch standards) BIG Winnebego with some work


a truck loaded with toys, mostly Cali plates:


in the warehouse there was some more:


but this is what it's all about!!:

A bit dirty, but no rust!

I was a bit in a hurry, because we're in Poland now to celebrate xmas. so detailed pics will follow.

[FrankieD]

I have heard a lot of classics are going over seas. So much for Europeans liking small cars. My son is stationed in Aviano Italy they had his Harley Road King and Volvo 4x4 wagon sent over he said he would of been in trouble it they would if brought his Ford Excursion over there with the roads in some of the town being so narrow.

Glad you got your cab now you can get started on your build. What is the weather like out there?

[Steve-W]

Originally Posted by FrankieD

...with the roads in some of the town being so narrow

that is indeed a problem in most european cities, especially those who have a 800 year old centre..made for knights on horses and damsels in distress A Fiat 500/Mini Cooper is the best way to get around there (watch the classic Italian Job)

Originally Posted by FrankieD

...Glad you got your cab now you can get started on your build. What is the weather like out there?

whell we're on the same latitude as Newfoundland, but have a far softer (read: rain, always rain) climate. right now its running in the high 40's F and the expect it to reach 50 on newyears day...last year we had about 5" of snow throughout November, but haven't seen any yet this year.

so far the weather update from the Netherlands , here's some close up pics of the cab. it has some dents and bruses, but nothing major...atleast I'd like to think so.

[FrankieD]

I dosen't look like it will take more than a little massaging should take care of it

[Steve-W]

Sunday I decided to empty out the cab so when time permits I can get it glasspearl blasted. What I found was 1 american cedar pencil and a penny..but no rust!! well, there is 1 little spot, but I cant be worried about it to much.

little bit of surfice rust under the hinges


Can corners...hard (I thought this would be the most likely place to find rust)


the only spot of rust where you punch through the metal


nothing above the window (check earlier picks to see how my current cab looks..hahahaha


rocker panel 1 hard


rocker panel 2 hard too


the VIN is a bit unclear to me, I see it's a GMC, 2wd, V8, 3/4 ton, but then the number shows 41, which I cannot link to any model..was it a stock camper buildup?



further more I finally found the correct Allen bolts (we only sell metric sizes in this country) for my headers and orders new brake hozes. I'll pick those up and inmediatly take a couple of yards of brake lines.

all I can hope for now is that the coming weekend will bring nice enough weather to work outside.

[Steve-W]

So to get the truck to the place where we're going to do the cabine swap, it first needs to run..an have it's M.O.T. (I know they call it that in the UK, not sure if you have that in the states?) or safety inspection.

Sunday I wanted to get my headers back on, but somehow the new '73 front end is bigger, or just a little in a different spot because my headers wouldn't fit anymore! the collector is up againt the front-end and there is already a dent in them.


so to get them to fit, i would have to almost flatten the nr. 2 pipe..which is not an option. I'm now looking at 2 possibilities; either replace them with stock manifolds..which somehow are hard to come by second hand here in Netherlands..or reweld my headers. Coming saterday I'm taking the headers over to a mate who has a TIG welder and knowledge of welding stainless steel. keep your fingers crossed.

[FrankieD]

I put a 72 crossmember on my 70 and the new headers fit fine a little close in the right side but didn't hit anything According to Summit they should fit 67 to 74. These are the ones I bought ( http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SU...UP&prefilter=1 ).
If you can find another 73 measure from the motor mount to the back of the cross member but if your motor mounts bolted up some thing else might be wrong. Check the motor mounts make sure one didn't collapse or soft.

Here are some pix of mine.

[Steve-W]

Originally Posted by FrankieD

Check the motor mounts make sure one didn't collapse or soft.

Hmmm not a bad point, could you get a close up pic of your mount? I think mine are ok..but I've never thought about what could go wrong with them.

your headers do look different from mine the way the pipes collect..and boy am I jealous of the clearence you got..that must be close to two inches?

[FrankieD]

The donor truck came with full length headers that really hung low I sold them and bought the new ones. I’ll try to get some pictures I think I will be going by the 70 to put the new wheels and tires on it and work on my plow truck this weekend depending on the amount of snow we get tomorrow.

[FrankieD]

OOPs for about you & I broke my camera I will try to remember but I haven't been to my truck in quite a while. I see Europe is having a rough time with the weather how are you doing? My son said it is normal in Aviano but kinda bad in Southern Italy. Just read the base was closed on the 12th which will happen when your in the mountains. Any up dates?

[Steve-W]

Originally Posted by FrankieD

.......Any up dates?

Yep! here's update; so my current headers won't fit without rewelding them and although I have two friend who own TIG welders, they are reluctant to take it on..so I set out to find some normal exhaust manifolds, but seeing I have no Idea about what year the engine is from I just bought a pair. when trying to fit them to the drivers side, it wouldn't fit because of some high pressure oil line running down from the power steering pump.
So I also bought another pair of headers..exactly the same as I have now, but the pipes are just a bit thinner and also the mounting plate of the headers (hope you know what I mean) is slightly thinner, bringing the headers a bit more inwards...so they fit... but as you can see I only tested if they would fit..and than ran inside for some hot Coco....with rum!

[FrankieD]

Manthat sucks working in the snow. We have saftey checks but it is state by state.. Here is some pix I took today hope they show you what you need.

[Steve-W]

Wow 3 months have passed since my last update! well basically I haven't been doing much. whether has been dreadfull and somehow my weekends were always full..

but there is light at the end of the tunnel!! one of my pals told me that if I would help him out getting his garage in order, painting, putting up storage racks, help build the kitchen, he would let me park my truck there so I can really start working on it.

first the car transporter was supposed to arrive on wednesday evening. well he did make it to my house, but then his truck broke down as he was entering the parking!!

Take #2, the transport truck was back in working order, so this morning we got cracking.

before:


first get if out of the parking spot.


Like a glove...


please don't come rolling backwards as we pull up from the lights!


after: (to the right you can see the new cab)


tommorow I'm buying 4 wheel dollies so we can maneuver the car.

next update won't be long!

[FrankieD]

Looks like you will have plenty of room now and be out of weather soooo get it on.

[Steve-W]

So I just got back from the garage and made some progress in about 3 hours

Cowl panel fits well on the new cab


I started disasemble the front


it's hard to see on the picture, but the oilcooler is attached to the radiator using tie-rips...


front panel came off without a real hassle, only 2 bolts needed the "grinder approach"


comparing the cab corner of the old cab with the new one...



saterday I'm at it again, maybe I'll manage to get the old cab off.

[FrankieD]

Don't know if you have this stuff over there but it dissolves rust and doesn’t hurt the metal I left some bolts in it for 2 weeks and no damage. I used it for all the fender bolts and others that I was going to reuse. Here is a link

http://www.theruststore.com/Evapo-Ru...FbEBQAodjE1SWw

[Steve-W]

Originally Posted by FrankieD

Don't know if you have this stuff over there... http://www.theruststore.com/Evapo-Ru...FbEBQAodjE1SWw

ofcourse we have that because we also have rust in Europe...


Saterday evenening I had some hours to spend on the truck

Here my doors which barely had a bottom in them



eehhmmm


took off the inner fenders



and the doors