Educating a Ford guy...

[sizzle-fry]

Here are some photos of the hack trailer hitch and the repairs that need to be done because of the way it was welded to the frame. Also my rear pot assembly...

[sizzle-fry]

Here's the frame as it gets media blasted.

A couple things about blasting

1. note how much dust is generated. I was using aluminum oxide 50 grit, it makes some heavy dust when it pulverizes. Use a respirator - I'll post some images of the filters once the job is finished... lungs aren't made for breathing this stuff.

2. the stuff gets everywhere. if I had it to do again I'd wait until I built the partition wall so the blasting area was isolated from the rest of the shop. I needed to clean anyway but sheesh...

3. I'm very grateful for the 1/2" airline to the blaster. Anything less would be a PITA and take much longer. The photos posted today (incl next post) represent 4 hrs worth of work, mostly spent reclaiming media.

[sizzle-fry]

and a couple more blast photos

I am using the Afterblast product from Eastwood. Blast, spray the stuff on, wipe off any grime it floats off. It leaves things clean and also leaves a nice coating that prevents rust.

[mjensen]

That is looking great! I'll be interested in following your progress since it's a whole lot faster than mine

[sizzle-fry]

Regarding progress - man, you've already done some of the work I have lurking in the closet. That cab repair work you did looked like a gnarley project, it came out pretty good too. I have at least as much (corners, supports, rockers) plus a tad more with the window channels and such. I'd almost say you are farther along =) I'll be following your thread now too. I liked the cab dolly you made, mine is much closer to the floor (no box structure) and I think I'll rebuild it to make life easier later.

The frame work oughta move fast, its basically blast and paint at this point. Suspension assembly oughta move quick too - theres just lots of new parts and lots of cleanup of the old gear. I'm hoping to have the chassis ready by fall - time is ticking away though.

The slowest part for me is massing the dough for tools. I can see another 1500 or so in welding gear in my immediate future.

Thanks for the comment and another thread for me to watch.

[mjensen]

Well, it's taken me 4 years to get here and the passenger side is my "career" project

I like the dolly's hight for the rocker work, but I would definitely go shorter and a bit more narrow (it doesn't sit flat and it's bugging me )

[sizzle-fry]

Hello - no, thread isn't dead.

I took time out to build a wall in the garage and set up the resulting bay for media blasting and painting. The photos, still in the camera, will be posted soon. I've also managed to get a few chassis elements blasted and am only 8 hrs or so away from setting up for paint. Again, more photos soon.

[red69ss]

great looking project! I would love to have an area dedicated to blasting and painting, even though blasting is a pain in the rear.

[steppside69]

Just finished reading your thread so far Moving along fast, subscribed!

[sizzle-fry]

Here's a few of wall construction - you kind of get the idea here I think, block off one bay of a 3 car garage.

[sizzle-fry]

And here's a few photos of the finished room (inside walls only). Note that I draped heavy black plastic everywhere - I'm hoping this makes cleanup a bit easier when blasting is done. I also hung some light fixtures on the side walls - this helps quite a bit more than I thought it would. Finally, note the sealed-motor exhaust fan. The fan was advertised to pull 5000 CFM, and it really does (northern tool for about 250 bucks)... takes 4 hours to heat the shop with the pellet stove, takes 2 minutes to suck all the heat out.

[sizzle-fry]

The delay... it's winter and holidays are here. Also it is cold, 10 minutes of exhaust fan sucks all the heat out of the shop. I have managed some small things however. Springs and overload leafs have been blasted and acid etched, same with all the shockmounts and the front crossmember. Cannot paint or prime with no fan or when its 35 degrees. Acid etch and let it sit until I can get the parts coated.

My trailing arms are pretty well shot. I had to cut the u-bolts into pieces to get them out - due to rust and junk being packed in the u-bolt holes of the control arm and bolt degradation. I'll be replacing these the tube style arms but will be keeping the stock crossmember that they anchor to. I'll have photos of the trailing arm/u-bolt business up soon.

[zellway]

I don't know if you are still thinking of installing a stroker kit in the 327 I found a place that sells small or large journal kits. I pulled the 327 out of my 67 and used there kit. Check it out http://www.speedomotive.com/EMailpro...0&categoryid=7

[sizzle-fry]

Hello there -

Thanks for the link. I'm definitely replacing the 327 with a 383 setup. I am pretty sure I will just buy a finished balanced motor from Jeggs. Some might ask "Why?" I ask too, I love engine work... but... maybe this will be helpful for folks.

Jeggs 383 is about 4800 bucks delivered, ready to plumb, wire, and start. Comes with warranty, etc. Just install, follow startup procedure, and start the motor.

My Chev 327 would need teardown/boil/inspection/boring/honing/journalling/etc. That costs about 1500 bucks if I want to ensure same quality as the finished motor I'm going to buy. This is just to prep the block, and doesn't include heads/valves/springs/cams/block mating nor bearings/crank/pistons/rings/balance, etc. A guy could spend 3-4k on guts and still not do all he wanted - guaranteed to spend at least 2k+ for these things.

Runaround back n forth to machine shop, gaskets, guages, etc. to think about also.

This time I am pretty sure the best route for me would be to buy the finished motor - I'm pretty sure my block number doesnt match the truck anyhow. This is just more cost effective and simpler for me I think.

Totally different story if I had a numbers matching truck or a worthy block like a 427 SOHC from '63.

[Cue-Ball]

It's been just shy of a year since you updated your build thread. I thought I'd better poke my head in here and spur you on a bit. I was pretty sure you were gonna finish your truck before I finished my Camaro, but now I think I'm well ahead of you. :-)

[sizzle-fry]

Originally Posted by Cue-Ball

It's been just shy of a year since you updated your build thread.

Yeah.... I spose I oughta at least give some sort of status. Thread kind of got suspended in winter of 2010... why?

So, I have a nice huge shop and it's really nice in the late spring through early fall. It absolutely sucks in winter though, can't keep it heated when the exhaust fan is running. This ain't so bad, I can sandblast in the cold. I cannot lay down paint though. So I finished sandblasting (I have pics - will post once I recover the old garage PC)... for the most part, it got cold in winter of 2010, so I hung it up till spring. Spring came and the wife/property took my dough and time all the way until summer. Summer was packed with things happening in the family, plus maintenance of the yard, house, and gardens, Alaskan cruise, etc and I just didn't get to the stage where painting was possible.

To my great amazement however, I am finally ready to paint that damned chassis now. The cross members, chassis are all blasted and acid etched. The springs, overloads, mount hardware, panhard bar, shock hardware etc are blasted and painted. I have all new nuts and bolts for rear chassis re-assembly sitting here on the parts bench waiting. New trailing arms are pending order (prolly two weeks from now I place order for these) and new front end parts are being selected right now.

But I still can't put any paint on the damned chassis yet. I spoke to you (live) about having someone come pick the sucker up and powder coat it - this is becoming a more plausible option to me with each passing week. Life will get way easy once that chassis is assembled... got a couple hundred bucks worth of urethane/ceramic paint all ready to go though so I still hesitate.

In short, I'm blocked on painting chassis components due to weather.

Originally Posted by Cue-Ball

I was pretty sure you were gonna finish your truck before I finished my Camaro, but now I think I'm well ahead of you. :-)

Man, once this chassis is done you might just find yerself behind the gun again =) These trucks can go together way fast. You have all your tin-work done though, and I'm nowhere near that just yet. Realistically though, you'll prolly be on power tour this summer before I even touch my sheet metal.

I'll be better about this thread update business... and I'll have some additional photos up soon.