The Hangover Express

[hookedonchevys]

After I cut out the old frame inside the notch bolted some wheels on it,I geared up some fittings and tied the bags together so I could play with those nice new bags that I bolted on.I'll tell ya,I was like a kid in a candy store.Up,down,up,down.What if we put this much pressure in it,what about now.Whats the height gonna be,Ohh looks a little low for getting out my driveway.Ahh have to see.Or the other solution would be taller rims.......We'll see what happens.

[hookedonchevys]

What to do once the rear is pretty much done,well it was one of those early morning decisions after being in the garage till about 2:00am playing with rear.My buddy dropped over early in the morning with some starbucks and said,well I've got a couple hours,I'll give you a hand rippin the front end and engine out to put in the front.Well it would be a shame to have all those parts lying around not on something for another year.So once we got at it,it was pretty much ripped apart by lunch time.It went pretty easy except for getting the crossmember out.Luckily someone who obviously didnt like me had welded the crossmember to the frame in places where nothing easy would get at it.Turns out once I did get the crossmember out it was welded becasue there were some cracks in the frame.There was also a hideous piece of flatbar scabbed onto the top of the frame,someones attempt to "fix" it.So I spent some time fixing the issues and making it pretty again.Cant have all those nice looking porterbuilt parts bolted on next to scabby looking welded on flatbar now can you.

[hookedonchevys]

Next after I got the frame fixed up to what I figured was good enough for the girls I go with,I welded in and cut out the pieces in the frame for the rack and pinion steering.Its starting to look like something now.Time to bolt on some more nicely welded porterbuilt parts.

[hookedonchevys]

The front bolted together quite easily,some of the bolts are a little hard to get at but other than that it was very painless.Speaking of painless I also ordered a new wiring harness for the truck to get rid of that rats nest of wires that u can see wrapped up and thrown on the brake booster.

[ksshane]

Drool

Great work on that 4 link.

[hookedonchevys]

And now for the pictures I'm sure you all have been hanging on the edge of your seat to see.Well hold on cause here they are.A dropmembered front and rear 72 chevy.I think the poorly taken pictures speak for themselves.

[hookedonchevys]

So thats pretty much as far as the truck has got since last spring.Well maybe a couple more parts thrown at it,remember that height issue I was concerned about.Well it just so happened that slammed66 couldn't tuck his 22's on the rear of his stepper,so he had an extra set of 20's and 22's kicking around.Therefor shortly after I had an extra set of 18's kicking around because the hang over express got some new rubber to get it a little higher off the ground.Well thats what I'm telling myself anyway.That was last spring and it wasnt looking like I was gonna get all this work done in time to have something to cruise in this summer.Well what does any logical person do that has an extra set of rims and tires kicking around.They buy another vehicle to put them on of course!I went on a road trip with a friend of mine that wanted to buy an old ride and ended up coming back with another one of my own.I tell ya,I was some popular with the wife.So,the garage project kind of took a back burner all summer to the 1971 2wd suburban that I bought.I drove it around and worked on it in the driveway instead of working on my neglected truck in the garage.But that stuff happens sometimes.

[hookedonchevys]

I know this is the pickup section but I just cant help throwing in a couple pics of my slamburban,I bought it in Red deer Alberta from the owner of Scotts Super trucks.He had brought it up from Great Falls montana about 9 years ago and planned on making it a daily driver.But it didnt happen and the big ol beast just sat around his place with a not for sale sign in the window for many years.He finally decided that he wasnt going to get around to it and I just happened to walk in on the right day and well next thing we are getting it running and looking for some tires that will make the 600 km drive north.I immediately put drop spindles on it,bags in the rear and then went over all the lights and a few minor things to get it inspected.Then I got out the buffer and buffed for 2 days straight to make the original paint that has properly aged for 40 years gleam again.Well now that I have taken most of my time off this weekend to upload pictures and tell ya'll the story of how the hangover express is making out,I'm going to go put the slamburban away for the winter so I will quit driving it and get back to my project.

[hookedonchevys]

Dont worry there are no hard feelings between the project and the burb.They get along quite well.I also just picked up a daytona sensors wide band O2 sensor gauge for checking if I am running the right air fuel ratio in all my toys.Anyway I'm going to go out and move some stuff around to get ready for the next chapter in the story.I'm going to pull the cab off so I can set the engine and the 4L60e tranny that I acquired in the frame and run all new brake and fuel lines neat and tidy.And well of course redoe the exhaust that I just did last summer.one step forward two steps back,right?

[Slammed66]

Looking good buddy!!!!!!

When I read this whole thing , I'm stating to feel like a bad influence..... Hahaha


His next chapter will include the installation of a Boyd's welding fuel cell.

Which will be at my place tommarow !

[hookedonchevys]

Well perfect timing on the fuel tank!I cant possibly go backwards any more,so its pretty much only forward progress from here on out.Today was a good day,me and the neighbour got the cab off and unfortunately I put the burb away for the winter.But really thats a good thing so I can focus on the task at hand,building a sick truck!We kinda had a little redneck engineering in the removal of the cab but it all worked out in the end.It was a little sketchy at times though,I will admit.

[mcbassin]

You are blowing through this build fast! Slow down so we can keep up....
Love all the suspension mods and plans. Keep the pictures coming.
In for the long haul

[hookedonchevys]

Ahh dont worry the build will seem to slow down now,Im all up to date with my 3 years worth of pictures and story telling.It will be real time from here on out.

[Slammed66]

You heard the man, slow down!!!

[aclay17]

Man that truck is looking good! Subscribed.

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by hookedonchevys

Ahh dont worry the build will seem to slow down now,Im all up to date with my 3 years worth of pictures and story telling.It will be real time from here on out.

I see, only 3 years? Heck, I'm going into my fourth winter on mine. BTW, that is a clean looking burban you have there.

[hookedonchevys]

Well just when I thought I couldnt go backwards anymore,I pulled all the suspension off the frame so that I can go get it sandblasted.So hopefully after tomorrow I will have it back and all cleaned up ready to finally go forward.

[downbytheriver]

She's a beaut, I'm in for this one

[bbcmudtruck]

Great build! Looking forward to more progress pics.

[hookedonchevys]

Thanks guys!I just took the frame and got it sandblasted this morning.The guys were really quick and a really good price I thought.I was talking with the guy that did the blasting and he asked me if I had seen that orange suburban around town,lol.Yup Ive seen it,it's mine.So the plan is to get the frame off the flatdeck this afternoon and start doing some welding to a couple cracks that showed up since its all cleaned up.Another good reason to get something sand blasted.So off to the garage I go to make some smoke and noise!

[Hardesty454]

Looks killer! dont listen to them other guys... Full speed ahead!

[hookedonchevys]

I don't plan on listening on the slow down advice,gotta make hay when the sun is shining!If my day job is slow,progress is gotta be made,otherwise this might turn into a 10 year build like project tall grass......

[hookedonchevys]

Well I'm done working on the frame for the day.A guy can only take so much grinding and welding in one afternoon.I fixed up some cracks that had showed up once it was blasted.The drivers side of this truck must have been on a rhubarb run once or twice in its 40 years of existence.On the top and bottom corners of the frame there were alot of cracks.So i got out the ol grinder and die grinder,ground them out and then welded them up,went around to the other side,ground out any trace of a crack and welded that up.So hopefully I will have better luck then the last guy who tried to fix the cracks just by laying some weld over top of the cracks.I tried to keep the heat down so as not to pull the ol frame all over the place but I'll have to get some straight edges out and do some measuring and scheming to see if it is a piece of wet spaghetti or not.I also welded up the old shock mount holes since I will not be needeing them anymore and someone had scabbed on a washer on the drivers side that looked like it could have fallen off at any time.

[69sinker]

Awesome build! I'm surprised the frame was that bad, the body sheet metal looks great from the pics.

[hookedonchevys]

Thanks!I'd say something happened tp the truck on the drivers side because the rad support mount and front cab mount were broken bent and "fixed".And most of the cracks were on the drivers side also.Oh well just means I get to play with my new welder more.