Rustbuket 67 build "Georgia"

[67c10rustbuket]

Finally getting to burn some of this floor together. my flux core is kinda frustrating wish i had the millermatic from work in my garage right about now. I bought a true MIG conversion kit for my hobart handler but I havent had the spare funds ($300) to go buy a bottle full of argon/co2 yet so I will have to suffer the flux !!
The "hump" by the front seat mount proved to be a challenge, the pitch didnt match so i had to do a bunch of pie cutting and welding. I used a weld backer that I made out of an aluminum block and some scrap steel pieces to minimize blow through and absorb the heat with the old fluxer and i welded the whole floor edge top and bottom, yes i layed on my back (not directly under) and welded the floor from the bottom after i finished the top. then finished it by using a grinder and stepping down to an air angle die grinder (my best friend) works great in tight spaces and you can use different grit roloc discs so you dont grind through or put too much rash into your work.
I have invested a serious amount of beer in this floor.
my advise: dont try to do it in one day, take your time, I did probably 20 test fittings over a 2 week period before i burned it all together.

[67c10rustbuket]

Here I am attaching the "A" pillar. since i cut it up too high as i said previously I used a piece of scrap aluminum (.125) to back the welding surface retained by a sheetmetal screw in the lower hinge hole. Thinking i didnt want any porcupines (stray weld wire) hangin in the way of the hinge mount cage nut thingy. I welded across the front only where the hinge attaches so it would have just enough flex to cram the kick panel in behind it. then i welded the bottom of the cage nut thing to the "A" pillar.

[67c10rustbuket]

I need to take some more pics of the floor and progress but heres a few other pics, first is my 59 2 door brookwood chevy wag that a few have asked about. and the "plan B" i just found for a drivetrain donor. Its a 97 chevy tahoe vortec 5.7/4l60e the trans was built last year and the engine was rebuilt about 50k ago, bought it from a friends family member so if I need to I know who to squeeze (if theyre lying).. got the drivetrain pulled, the trans has obviously been pulled since the tranny mount is split in half, the trans x member was missing a bolt and the trans cooler lines were cut and reattached with rubber trans hose. Too dumb to remove the push to connect 4L60e cooler fittings i guess. Runs and drives like a dream way better than my DD 93TBI but the front susp was a little wabbly, frame was bent in a front end crash. I paid $600 for the tahoe, I was saving up for aluminum heads for "plan "A" but was thinking id be in it for atleast another $2000 before i could run it and i kinda want to be able to afford gas to drive it around. plan "A" was going to use an M20 muncie 4spd with a carbed 350 (4.06x3.48) 400 HP but the old 12 mpg was not looking too well so here goes the Vortec EFI/overdrive option and Im getting rid of my muncie M20 4 spd

[fakerwade]

Finally, I get my picture of your Brookwood. (thanks!)

[67c10rustbuket]

Originally Posted by fakerwade

Finally, I get my picture of your Brookwood. (thanks!)

Sorry, I couldnt remember who asked for that pic (a few have asked) I thought it was mcbassin but couldnt find his request in his 69 build thread. My dad says people ask to buy it all the time since it is currently at his house (damn HOA). It has a 5.7 TBI in the pic which i have since removed and a CPP disk brake kit and rolling on vette rally wheels. Im thinking some 3" white walls and air ride suspension. good cruising material. if you like the old 59 wagons check out "codywalls" on the HAMB he has an awesome 4 dr wag build in progress there

[67c10rustbuket]

We pulled the drivetrain out of the tahoe over at my buddy darrells house. He is my hero, twice my age just retired and he can work faster than me. He builds hotrods, paints cars and raises his grandkids. he's standing next to the tahoe. (im pic shy) did I mention he is my hero ?

also theres a pic of a 47 thriftmaster truck that darrell has for sale, supposedly sold pending payment, wish i had room I would have bought it !!

Darrell is one of those real friends who will help me and let me use his garage to yank an engine since my HOA frowns upon such behavior, dont worry I return the favor and pay him (or attempt to) for his assistance.

[67c10rustbuket]

here is the vortec 5.7/4L60E in my garage. I'm supposed to leave one side of the garage open for the wifes hondur accord during the winter... sorry pookie i'll move it soon !

and then here's the best thing I ever fabricated! I told her she could have it when she turns 16, well maybe after driving a hyundai for a few months

I told her she could have my DD93 also but idk if that will be around then I'm kinda getting sick of fixing her ,big blue that is 93 GMC xcab 5.7 Z71 4l60/700R4?

[67c10rustbuket]

Next I have to remove the manual trans xmember and im going to somewhat tear down the new "plan B" drivetrain as far as removing and cleaning the intake and EFI prob the trans also before I install it in the old "rustbuket" maybe remove the heads and oil pan to inspect the condition of the rotating assembly.

[VA72C10]

Very nice progress (now that I see it all ) And hopefully that'll be a great engine for you....Ideal having the complete truck to pull anything you need from it!

[67c10rustbuket]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

Very nice progress (now that I see it all ) And hopefully that'll be a great engine for you....Ideal having the complete truck to pull anything you need from it!

yeah hope it works out using the Vortec MPFI. definately nice to have the whole truck so you can keep and label all the wiring. man theres alot of wiring on the 96-98 Vortec. just noticed you have a build thread also. ill have to check it out, later.

[67c10rustbuket]

Heres my "A" pillar almost finished up, I had correct a couple of the angles on it with a press brake to make it fit. then plug weld,plug weld,plug weld. make sure the upper hinge hole is 7.5" center from the fender flange on the bottom front of the pillar. I still need to cut out the front of the floor where your feet go and weld in the new one, Im thinking ill cut it out where i marked the photo, but not crooked, square off the edge where it meets the firewall. and fab up a piece to repair the offset flange of the firewall.

[67c10rustbuket]

I was planning on using this 18 gallon fuel cell i got on CL for $75, never had gas in it. but im thinking one of those aluminum would better suit what i want and i could have it made to accept the tahoe fuel pump/sender float. or maybe just use one of those corvette style external pumps i see others using on their LS swaps, thinking those in tank pumps are a pain to replace having to remove the bed or drop the tank.. any thoughts ? keep the plastic or sell and get a fancy aluminum one, use the tahoe in tank pump or go external ?

Of course I plan on an under bed mount and eventually raise the bed floor a bit to cover it up and have ground clearance.

[67c10rustbuket]

A few parts from Brothers trucks.

There's some Western 2.5" drop spindles for 73+ W/1.25 rotor I got an awesome deal on from JOHN@BROTHERS, we did a little trading. Thanks again John !!

Then I had the wife buy me some 5" rear drop coils for my birthday, I got from the Brothers "end of summer sale" only $88 ! sweet

[67c10rustbuket]

So my next moves are
1- clean and put up all my tools from yanking the goodies from the tahoe
2- remove the bellhousing mount xmember
3- temporarily stab it into the truck so the wife can park in there for winter
4- label and remove the harness from the engine
5- find a trans xmember ( truck didnt come with one just the old iron bellhousing mount)

[68 c10 gold/ivory]

i like the wheels I wish i could find some for my truck
great build cant wait to see more

[67c10rustbuket]

Originally Posted by 68 c10 gold/ivory

i like the wheels I wish i could find some for my truck
great build cant wait to see more

Thank you, I like them very much, I knew when I bought the black 95 I wanted to keep those wheels for this project. and thanks for the compliment. I have read some of your builds but haven't finished yet, you have some sweet toys !

[67c10rustbuket]

Small update: tried to stab in the engine but the old manual bell housing xmember didn't agree with the 4L60E. probably could've forced it but I planned on removing it anyway. Just trying to get the other side of the garage clear for winter, not a permanent install.

removed the O2 sensors and exh manifolds before attempting to put it in, had to use a little PB Blaster, man that stuff can stink up a house!

[67c10rustbuket]

Sold the receiver hitch off of the organ donor Tahoe $60!, pulled a few more parts and more wiring from the Tahoe today. Some parts for the 67 and a few upgrades for my DD 93. Hopefully I will get the drivetrain temporarily installed in the 67 this weekend but im not looking forward to grinding rivets out of that bell housing xmember.

[67c10rustbuket]

Today I removed the manual trans Xmember. It wasn't as bad as I thought, I just slotted the heads of the rivets with a cut off wheel on my grinder where i could and with a dremel where it was too tight then hammered them off with an air chisel. It didn't want to slide out so I sliced it in half with a sawsall then removed it. I did the same for the old Z-bar bracket but it wont let go! I removed the rivet heads on top and bottom and it still wont let go, I guess i'll do some grinder surgery on that thing. also bought some new motor mounts and a trans mount from autozone, cost was $21.xx but i had a Autozone reward credit so I only paid $1.xx. saweet! Havent found an auto trans xmember yet but I have a few sources so I need to make a few calls tomorrow. No pics yet maybe tomorrow after I clean up the mess I made. Later

[mcbassin]

Hey,
I found your build. It looks good! nice job on the rust repair. I can relate to that myself.
Looking forward to progress. Keep an eye out for some of that thicker sheetmetal panel from me. Maybe we can do some horse trading. Subscribed

[67c10rustbuket]

Thanks Mike! I have made some more progress and will get some pics up this evening hopefully. I'll PM you about that sheet metal.
I need to get a blue name ,going to subscribe to support this great forum. This forum is way better than any other I've found and has by far the best information, builds, and people. Then we can trade and I have a few things to sell on here also.
I havent gotten as much as id like done due to the monkey flu that kicked my butt last week and school is back in so my truck time has reduced quite a bit.

[67c10rustbuket]

Originally Posted by MJs69CST

These are some great pics of your build! Keep up the good work!!

Hey thanks MJ ! I saw a 70? at the 7-11 last week with the same emblem as your avatar pic and tried to explain that camper special to my wife. first time I saw one in person.

[67c10rustbuket]

uhhh i mean custom camper emblems, those are super cool!

[67c10rustbuket]

OK so here's my progress pics, I was suffering some kind of wicked monkey flu that kicked my butt for a good part of last week but I did get some work done. here's a couple pics. Before and after, where I removed that dang bellhousing Xmember. I had to slot the heads of the rivets with a grinder where I could and use a dremel in the tight spots. It wasn't near as bad as I thought. The only problem I had was that stupid Z-bar bracket that is riveted to the driver side of the frame, Don't need it since I'm going with the 4L60E now. I slotted and knocked the rivet heads off on both sides with an air chisel and it just wont let go, maybe it is spot welded too I don't know. *

I got the bell housing mount X-Member rivets out but it didnt want to slide out easy so I sliced it in half with my sawsall.

[67c10rustbuket]

So, with the bell housing mount out of the way I stabbed the engine and trans in (yeah i'd rather have an LS but this was cheap and easy) here's a few shots of the engine and trans in the old 67. those old school motor mount stands were a pain! on my first attempt the starter was hitting the pass side mount stand and the oil filter was hitting the driver side mount stand. I removed the frame mount stands and put the engine and trans in place, then reinstalled the mount stands. Not much fun. I'm going to remove the oil cooler adapter and run it without for now although it is a good idea to have one on there.