The Brown Truck

[oldblue1968chevy]

looking real good! Your doing it right!!

[SFTorange]

I realize that my previous engine picture was pretty bad, so here is a nice one of it cleaned up and looking nice.

[lownslw64]

your project looks good. i also por-15 everything. That stuff is worth the effort.

[SFTorange]

Originally Posted by lownslw64

your project looks good. i also por-15 everything. That stuff is worth the effort.

Originally Posted by oldblue1968chevy

looking real good! Your doing it right!!

Originally Posted by protrash64

Nice work STF....I also think your seats would look good with some type of vintage color match to the interior. Best of new and old.

Thanks everyone. The hard work is going to pay off in the end!

[SFTorange]

It was a big day today. The sandblasting/powdercoating company came by and picked up my cab, bed, and all sheet metal. We loaded it all onto a 35 foot gooseneck trailer and shipped it off. It should be delivered to the body guy by the end of the week all clean and ready to go. I'm also having them powdercoat the rest of the black parts that need to look nice.

I meant to get a picture, but forgot until he was driving away. I ran upstairs to get a shot out of the window, turned on the camera, and the memory card was full. I deleted a picture and was able to get a blurry shot. It was kind of sad to see it go, but mostly exciting.

[SFTorange]

The sandblaster finished up with the truck today, and we delivered it to the guy who is going to do the body and paint work. Everything turned out very nice, and I didn't find any rust that I wasn't expecting! I've seen some trucks turn into swiss cheese after blasting, but mine is almost completely solid except for rust in the front cab corners (and various dents and holes drilled through the years). I also had the hood hinges, license plate bracket, radiator support, inner fenders, bumper brackets, and emergency brake handle powdercoated semi-gloss black. I'll have pics tomorrow when I pick them up.





The other brown truck brought my sway bar mounting brackets and Totally Stainless bolt kit! I've got to get to work!

[SFTorange]

I picked up my assortment of parts at the powder coater today. They turned out BEAUTIFULLY! The only thing I would have done differently is to do a bit better job prepping everything before taking it in. I'm very impressed with the coating, and the sheen is far more even than I could get with the POR-15. Luckily I had all of the parts that can be readily seen coated with powder, and the parts that need to be durable were hit with POR.

[structures]

Nice build! From the pictures it looks like the rust was minimal.

[SFTorange]

Originally Posted by structures

Nice build! From the pictures it looks like the rust was minimal.

Yep, the rust was pretty much limited to the places where these trucks were practically engineered to rust. It's nice that my limited body work buget can go towards fun stuff like the bbw conversion instead of endless patch panels.

[SFTorange]

Here's my progress from today. It's starting to look like a truck again!

[Captainfab]

Lookin good

[SFTorange]

If you saw my last post, I'd finished up the front control arms, but hadn't gotten the springs in and spindles attached. I tried to use three different coil spring compressors, but none of them would compress the spring and give me the clearance I needed to get the spring in place. Since I had no weight on the frame, it was impossible to just put a floor jack under the control arm and compress the spring to put the spindle on. I thought a lot about how I might go about getting the spring compressed, and thought maybe if I put the motor in place it would give me enough weight to offset the spring. No luck. So I finally realized that if I put a heavy duty tie down under the jack and over the frame, I'd be able to keep the frame from lifting up. Just to be safe, I used two 1500 lb capacity ratcheting tie downs, and it worked like a charm.

Now my spindles are on and I'm ready for brakes, engine, and transmission this weekend. Luckily, I rebuilt my 3/4 ton control arms with new top and bottom cross shafts and ball joints this spring. Now THAT was a job!

Interesting fact. Has anyone else noticed that 1966 C-20's use the same design lower control arm cross shaft as the '60-62 pickups? They bolt directly to the crossmember instead of using u-bolts.
The accelerator pedal is the same way. It doesn't use studs and just bolts directly into the floor like the earlier years. Does anyone know why?

[SFTorange]

I got another shipment of parts yesterday. Lokar 16" shifter for the 700r4, heavy duty transmission cooler, flex-a-lite fan and clutch, spark plug wires, etc. It's amazing how fast the small things add up, and how easy it is to forget about them in your budget. Good thing labor in my shop is $0 per hour.

[SFTorange]

I got my 11 5/32" x 2 ¾" rear brakes installed today. Everything went smoothly except for Napa's Maxi-Pack brake hardware kit being incomplete. I tracked down the rest of the parts easily enough, though. The drum brake guide from the FAQ section is a lifesaver. If you haven't seen it, take a look here: http://www.pbase.com/nufsed/drumbrake

Here is the completed assembly.


Notice how much additional surface area comes with the big brakes. My backing plates came off of a late '70's K10. I did the upgrade for only $70 more than it would have cost me to redo my stock rear drums. Early Classic claims a 28% increase in braking power with the new drums.
[ATTACH][/ATTACH]

[structures]

Nice, so what was the cost? I bought the early classic kit and I paid a lot. Way too much.

[SFTorange]

Well, with some shopping around (picked up a set of Wagner Thermo Quiet brake shoes on Amazon for $12 (yes $12) and new Wagner Drums for $36 each, paid $70 for the backing plates, $25 for maxi-pack and new wheel cylinders at Napa, and $27 for new e-brake cables) the total came to $206. I think most people could get the backing plates cheaper too.

[protrash64]

Lookin' good SFT!! I just re-did my rear brakes and came out at roughly 150 getting my parts at Autozone. Re-used the adjusters and the emergency brake stuff.

Never tried to install coils without the whole truck on top!! Usually just jack up the a-arm and put on the nut!!

[SFTorange]

More progress today. Disc brakes and 1 1/4" front sway bar with polyurethane bushings.

[tommys66]

Im glad to see your building the truck that was passed down to you, you'll be proud when your finished. A frame off build takes alot of patience! Don't get discouraged if something doesn't go right. Keep at it

[RoyL]

Originally Posted by SFTorange

I've managed to squeeze in some time on the truck over the holidays. First, I met up with jonzcustomshop in Missoula and pulled a few new parts from his collection. I picked up a nice factory gauge cluster and oil pressure hard line, . . .
Attachment 674602

Anybody know what size tubing and fitting to use for oil pressure? My truck has the guage but no tubing from the engine.



Thx. Sorry to highjack this thread but it has a nice picture of the oil line[ in the quote attachment] !

Roy

[SFTorange]

I couldn't find the exact size, but most parts houses carry a kit to redo the hard line. You can probably get a kit at the auto parts store, but make sure to get a hard line, not a plastic one.

http://www.truckandcarshop.com/trucks60_72/t60_033.html

http://www.classicparts.com/1947-77-...ctinfo/24-781/

[RoyL]

Originally Posted by SFTorange

I couldn't find the exact size, but most parts houses carry a kit to redo the hard line. You can probably get a kit at the auto parts store, but make sure to get a hard line, not a plastic one.

http://www.truckandcarshop.com/trucks60_72/t60_033.html

http://www.classicparts.com/1947-77-...ctinfo/24-781/

OK, thanks. Will check the local parts stores. Agree, don't want a plastic line. Nice truck, btw!
Roy

[RoyL]

Originally Posted by RoyL

OK, thanks. Will check the local parts stores. Agree, don't want a plastic line. Nice truck, btw!
Roy

The local O'Reillys has the Autometer kit:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ATM-3224/

and Advanced Auto has pretty much the same kit but from SunPro:
http://www.sunpro.com/product_detail.php?pid=16359

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by SFTorange

.............. If you look closely, you can see the vent window rebuild FAQ thread by alansclassics up on my laptop. It was a huge help and easily guided me through the process. Thanks Alan!

Your welcome. Glad I could help. You are making some fantastic progress.

[protrash64]

Originally Posted by RoyL

Anybody know what size tubing and fitting to use for oil pressure? My truck has the guage but no tubing from the engine.



Thx. Sorry to highjack this thread but it has a nice picture of the oil line[ in the quote attachment] !

Roy

Originally Posted by SFTorange

I couldn't find the exact size, but most parts houses carry a kit to redo the hard line. You can probably get a kit at the auto parts store, but make sure to get a hard line, not a plastic one.

http://www.truckandcarshop.com/trucks60_72/t60_033.html

http://www.classicparts.com/1947-77-...ctinfo/24-781/

Hey guys, it's 1/8th inch line. You can go to the hardware store and get it in lengths and then pick up the compression fittings. You will need a compression to pipe thread fitting to install in the engine block.