C30 dually project goes patina

[Martino patina]

Work trucks back then took some abuse that's for sure, it's just a good thing the crossmember metal tore at the side instead bending the frame sides rails also. The repair looks fine adds to the patina.

[flatbed67]

Provided you have lots of time on your hands, fabricating an exhaust system is good fun. Also exciting, as one never knows how it will sound when it's done.

First, a pair of RedHots mufflers were slipped onto the old cut off pipes.



A bit of planning later, the pieces could be cut and welded.



This time the sound of the exhaust came out very nice. The pipes were made out of 2" tubing, the small diameter helping to achieve an old style sound.

[Orange67]

You are doing a great job on your truck, and giving me ideas for mine too! Keep it up.

[fishnixon]

Awesome build! Look forward to watching this one! Love the glass packs… Sisu!

[flatbed67]

Thank you Orange67, for the nice words. Good to hear that someone likes my way of tackling this project. It's also fun to see that someone is actually taking a look at this thread
Good to see that you know the Finnish sisu, fishnixon! I hope I have some of it in me.

Today I was going to get help to tackle the task of straightening the front bumper on the truck. I looked pretty hopeless. Some sturdy material it is made from too, and it looked beat up. It had taken a hit on the right hand side, and somenone had probably backed out of a tight place, almost leaving the drivers side end of the bumper behind at some point.



I took the bumper to Kim's body shop, he had promised to try and take a look at it, and man, did he persuade it into submission!
Using first a sledge hammer, then two smaller, but still big hammers to fine tune it, and a shrinker to help with getting it straightened out.
It got dark before I had a chance to take a pic of the truck with the bumper back on, but I'll post a pic as soon as I can.
Like a teaser, huh?

[flatbed67]

The sun got up, and I was able to take a pic of the front of the truck.
It looks much better now. Not perfect, but it fits the rough look nicely



This pic was shot today, the previous one when the truck arived, that's why the gray paint is still there.

[Martino patina]

I love the look of your truck comming along nicely, I'm doing a gmc 3500 patina truck. I personally think patina with a few very nice elements on the truck makes it more interesting to veiw and gets peoples attention at car shows. In my opinion your truck would look great with some nice new or very nice old lettering on the hood.

[flatbed67]

Due to problems with the automatic choke on the new carburetor, a decision was made to go on and rebuild the old one. It also has the advantage of being completely compatible with the original throttle linkage and choke wire.
The electrical system is all but ready to run too. The ignition lock has been changed to a new one, as there were no keys for the original lock. Also all wiring is done.
Youtube was a real good helper here, as a couple of things aren't easy to get done if you don't know how.

[Martino patina]

Sorry for the missunderstanding, I was referring to the Chevrolet lettering on the hood I always loved how the crome letters look across the hood it's the only thing I don't like about my truck that I can't put them on my hood

[flatbed67]

No need to apologize. You're right, and I really should try to get the letters for the hood, they'd really boost the look of the truck a notch.

I should get the head light bezels too, but I have bought three pairs off ebay, and they've all been wrong. In no small part caused by my own ignorance. First pair were for a GMC. I chose not to customize the front to use these. Second pair were for a 1967 Chevy car, ordered without thinking, and the third pair were for 1967-1972 trucks, and of course they happened to be for the 1969 on model... At least now I know what to look for.

Parts needed:
-CHEVROLET letters for truck hood.
-1967-1968 truck head light bezels.
-1967-1972 truck glove box hinge.

If someone wants to sell me these parts, please contact me eg via pm

The glove box door was missing on my truck, and I found a good one on ebay, not realizing that I shold have ordered the hinge on the same shipment.

[flatbed67]

I was shopping for some angle iron to make the basis of the bed from, when I happened to look into a scrap metal recycling container. There was some pretty heavy U-beam material in it, and the same evening I went there with my little trailer, and hauled home the two 3'x3'x3-1/2' frameworks I found earlier in the day.
Cut up, and welded into three 76" long beams, they looked like this:



I also found some suitable square tubing to build the uprights from, and cut them to lengt, making a foundation for the bed floor.



The planks that will be used for the bed are the old living room floor boards from our house that were thrown out during our big renovation in the early nineties. Our house is built in 1917, so the boards are over a hundred years old, and hopefully will look awesome on this truck.

[flatbed67]

Some testing, trial and error style, was done to determine the best looking height of the bed. It now sits a bit lower than first planned, and there is room for about 10 cm (4") of suspension travel at the rear wheels, which probably is the lowest I want go. Higher, and the side view will be bony and silly.




The plank in the pic is a bit over length, plans call for a bit shorter bed planks, they'll over hang the rear lamps a bit, some 8-12". Gotta make the truck fit in the garage.

Also in this pic you can see my trade mark check lists. I think they really help keep me focused, and they do show what's been done too. Without these lists, one tends to forget how much has been done, and the work might soon feel overwhelming.

[flatbed67]

There's been some time since my last update, but here comes.

After the overhaul, the old carb is back where it belongs. It felt nice to be able to mount the choke wire too, so now it works from the original knob on the dash.



I happened to find some materials in suitable sizes on a junk yard. Beams and uprights for the bed foundation were measured and cut to size, then cleaned up and welded. Then the new parts were sprayed with the same red primer as the frame and rear axle had been earlier.



The chassis was then painted gloss black. Flat or satin is often used on frames, but this 2 part gloss paint was dirt cheap, and will be semi flat and dirty soon enough.

[flatbed67]

The wife came with the idea to use the old floor boards from when we renovated our old farmhouse in the nineties for the bedfloor. The house was built in 1917, så the planks are over a hundred years old.



Young friend William here helping with the planks.


The planks were measured and cut off square at one end. Then they were pushed forward towards the cab against a board, and cut again at the rear. The Pythagorean theorem was useful in this job (3x4x5 makes a 90 degree angle triangle).
The boards were of slightly different thicknesses, so some had to be cut thinner at the cross beams, to make the bed floor flat.

[Getter-Done]

Looking Good.
I really like that old wood flat bed Idea.
What is your plans for Tie down points on that Nice looking wood bed?
Will you have side boards?

[flatbed67]

The floor boards were bolted to two by four cross beams, just aside the U-prifile cross beams. This way I saved myself the trouble of drilling almost fifty holes for the 5/16" bolts through the thick metal, and drilled them through the wooden cross beams instead.
Rear fenders were made from 500 millimeter wide (about 20 inches) cable shelving stock. I'd have liked round ones, but couldn't find any the weren't plastic,



Thank you Getter-Done, here's your answer:

Close to the edge of the bed, in each end of the U-profiles, holes were drilled, and upended bolts were cinched down with "Ring nuts", that double as tie down points.
No, plans do not call for any side boards at this point.
Rear fenders, or mudguards, if you will, ready here, painted rattle can flat black.



A friend came with the totally sick idea of mounting the licence plate light on a wooden wedge, and I wasn't hard to persuade.
It wouldn't ground right off the wood, so I had to wire in a ground lead too

[Getter-Done]

Cool ��

[cornerstone]

Lovin this cool build! How is the interior in your truck?

[Getter-Done]

I know you are Probably Planning on
an Awesome head-ache rack
For the front of the bed.
Those Steel mud -flaps you made are Over the Top.
The Light is cool also.

[flatbed67]

Thank you Getter-Done for the comment.
You too, cornerstone.

The interior of the truck is mostly left alone. The truck was bought off a local Craigs list-like site for cars only, truck sold in Texas, container transport included. When I got it home, I was surprised that the bench seat was in such good condition. Turns out it was reupholstered, as the fabrics are pure white seen from the back. Same luck as with the brakes. The bench is no beauty, but it looks like it belongs.
I don't have any better pics of the interior, but it still looks almost like in this pic, except that the rubber mat disintegrated when I took it out fot the welding work, so now it just has a couple small rubber mats. I have some dark gray carpet material, that I've planned to use.



Since this shot was snapped, I've put in a brand new gas pedal, as well as new pedal rubbers for the brake and clutch. Other than that it's just cleaned out with window cleaner and rags&towels. What's not as obvious would be new ignition lock, all new bulbs in the instrument cluster, work with locks and crank mechanisms etc.
As you see, the glove box door is missing. I bought one off ebay, but am still missing the hinge.

[flatbed67]

When I got the ignition lock changed, I suddenly was able to try the electric things. To my surprise the wipers worked, or rather, would have. The wiper arms were missing. Luckily they happened to fit the same as Caprice ones, so I bought a pair off an eighties Wagon.
They just needed to be shortened and angled to fit.



When welded, ground and touched up with a squirt of silver they look almost factory.



Surprisingly, the washers were more work intense.



The cowl cover had to be removed to be able to change the aged and very brittle rubber hoses. A lot of leaves and other debris was cleaned out, so it was a job that really needed to be done anyway.

[flatbed67]

Some time since my last post.
Today's theme is bumper bumping:
As the bumper has had its third degree contacts of sorts, it was removed. The truck looks a lot less dented with the bumper off.
The bumper itself is made from some pretty sturdy material, so it will need some persuation to get back into its original shape.



The truck was MOT tested looking like this, and was passed with flying colors.

As a young couple, me and my wife went to auctions a lot, and at that time we bought this "America trunk". It's been in storage since then (about 25 years), and finally came to use. Evidently it is over a hundred years old, as the label on it says Nikolaistad, which is our towns Russian name, and Finland got independent in 1917.
The trunk was seriously fastened to the bed with big wood screws, and is acting as... well, the trunk.



Then, the bumper. This is what it looked like. I think someone backed and turned, and the bumper snagged something sturdy.



I asked a friend for help, and took the bumper to his bodyshop. He did his magic on it starting with a big sledge hammer, and continuing with smaller hammers and a shrinker. The end result is pretty good looking. Not perfect, but the rough look goes nicely with the over all style of the truck.

[Getter-Done]

Awesome progress.
I love the Trunk idea / yes it is an American (Old School) thing.
That Bumper is /// The look I need .
I think I can dig one of those up?
Maybe?
Good Progress.

[flatbed67]

Thanks again, Getter-Done. I think the bumper is pretty much ok, postage for a good bumper would be pretty steep, I'm afraid. But head light bezels,and some letters for the missing Chevrolet script on the hood, perhaps? And the clove box door hinge.

I really am pleased with how the stance of the truck came out. I was afraid that the short bed would make it look off, but I think it's ok. To get the truck to fit my garage the shorter bed is a must.
The haybales are for sitting on, We usually carry a folding picknick table, it fits nicely in the trunk.



A pic from a cruising. The truck drives, runs and brakes nicely, it's only shorcomings being its awful 5,14 rear ratio and super stiff suspension. It's bouncy like an old farmtractor.



For some reason, not known to mankind, we have to receive modern licence plates when the car or truck is registered, Then you can order other kinds of plates, and pay for them, of course. Since my truck is 1972 oe older (plates havew been made white since 1973), I was allowed to have black plates. I like them, they do make the truck look right... Yes, it's an acquired taste



I recently mounted a pair of 1969-72 head light bezels (no pic of hat yet), They look better than no bezels, but I need to get the 1967-1968 style one's

[Orange67]

Flatbed, i really admire this truck. You are a very resourceful man. The wiper arm fix was cool. Also, stance of that ride is just right. I hesitate to replace the original coil sprins on my 67 C20 because I really like how it sits. Doing great, man. Keep it up!

Oh and the trunk?? Too freaking cool! I love it!