New here and new to older trucks..

[Elchopperfreak]

My photobucket is still pms-ing so here's some more story.

The fenders are off, and again, surprise,surprise, Mr Bondo/Fiberglass attacked again, I laid all the fenders side to side to compare, check if I could do some surgery and make a frankenstein, but the big birds fenders arent that bad, most of the PO's favorite attatchment method was between fender and bed panel, so a few patches here and there, no big deal..

It's just a bit more time..
On the other hand, the cab is already worked and primered, donor truck has most of what I need to keep on working on big bird ( or should I say, ex-big bird). I really like donors light green, bit also thinking of a bit darker baby blue...

Gotta hustle on the patching to get those primered too.. My plan is to have the truck painted before the end of the week..
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[Elchopperfreak]

[Elchopperfreak]

[Elchopperfreak]

Right now Im waiting on shipping quotes for a set of lowering springs, 4" rear 2" front ( I really just need the rears since I can easily cut the fronts)
Need to pressure wash and paint the chassis, paint bumpers ( white?) Paint wheels ( black), pick new 225-75-16's either Hankook with the narrow white stripe or cokers with 3" white wall.
Getting the bench upholstered, Im leaning for black fabric, will be happy to get rid of that white with yellow spray paint combo...although I have a piece of the old green fabric from donor truck that might work in case I want to go green...

Will see...
Gotta work on the 62 Impala SS today...

[67cheby]

wow....LOOKING forward to progress pics !

[Elchopperfreak]

Know it not a truck, but this is what I worked on today
Owned this car for almost 20 years, perfect running condition all the time, until a couple years ago it had original paint but it was gone bad, so I decided to get it painted, a customer who use to own a body shop did the work as barter for his bike, bit took forever and in the process lost the 4 original wheels (???) left most of the trim off or clip less and returned it not running at all.

So after a couple more years parked in my garage I decided to work on it and get it back on the road..Which I've done in the past few Saturdays



1962 Impala SS

I changed the fuel pump, rewired the solenoid, cleaned the carb and voila the car is alive once more, although I have been troubleshooting the switch and solenoid, somehow the switch will not start the car, although last Saturday it did for a few hours and then decided not to again. Need to work on that, finish bleeding the brakes, change belts, get wheels and tires and hit the road once more.

Bought a new solenoid just in case, but seems that it might be something either from the switch, maybe the wires ( although they seem sturdy) I already went over some wires since the pos from the coil to solenoid was ripped off.
The car starts every time with the ol' screwdriver jump...
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[Elchopperfreak]

What a day!!!!

Hectic describes the whole thing in one word, we are wraping up the job so all the cars need to be tied up and completed..
Anyway..
Want to get the truck painted before we move on to the next gig..
Getting rid of rust, patching and getting the bed sheetmetal ready for prep.
Front section of the bed (whatever its called)


Ready to weld





More patches


Stacking metal to be prepped and primered tomorrow


While the guys painted a mini car I took the time to coat the chassis..



High hopes on spraying the roof tomorrow ( besides the rest of what to do list)
The roof goes white and the body color is the same as this truck PPG Light Blue 507-12846 1969 chevy commercial colors ( Please correct me if I am wrong in the color number)


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[Elchopperfreak]

Just got a text from a friend who saw this by his house..


For sure Im calling tomorrow and see whats up
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[Elchopperfreak]

Another day..
Yes we have a white roof!!!
Worked on the various sheetmetal parts, patching, finishing, etc..
First and foremost, this is the original patina of the parts truck ( donor door) if the truck in general was in better condition I would have swapped everything and keep it like this...



Here we go, paint..








Still got some welding to do on the donor door and fenders
Question, what can I use to fix a crack on the steering wheel??
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[67cheby]

Nice work , epoxy from Eastwood is what I used to fix mine
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[Elchopperfreak]

Thanks, will check on it..
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[Elchopperfreak]

Question about cross stills..
1) How do I know if the are for wood or metal ?.
2) the "ex big bird" did not have any, but the parts tuck did, theres three larger ones plus the one that is all the way to the back, but, theres a smaller one (in width, I would say) that I do not know where it goes..
Anyone has photos of the frame with cross stills without the floor??

Thanks in advance for the info
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[Elchopperfreak]

Not much in the pics department.

Found this on the donor door ( should have kept the one it had and just bondo it!!!)



Its already patched, corrected and ready to spray, if I find a bit of time Ill shoot it before mounting..

Moved into the fenders, its just a lot of cutting rusted out bolts and sorting parts
Anyone knows who sells patch panels for these??



Patched the front, but still trying to manage the hack job in the rear portion of the fender..

Does anyone knows or has a similar photo of the position of the "skinny" sill??
( third from cab towards back)



Meanwhile, we managed to go pick up some new tires for my friends 53 Plymouth Cambridge



Another question, are leaf spring frames and coil spring frame bumper mounts different??L
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[Elchopperfreak]

Another day, and tomorrow we shall paint..
I really like the way the parts truck looked, but I decided to paint since its easier to rent or sell..

Heres the door this morning


A bit later, sealed and primed


At the end of the day, white..

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[weever82]

Looks like its really coming along!
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[Elchopperfreak]

The fenders, which we thought were good turned to be another bondo/fiberglass fest, so I decided to go with the parts truck fenders which were no in good condition but better than the big bird ones


After comparing and tinkering with the metal I had available, just made the decision..


It was not good-good, but better to work with



Not bad for a couple hours, rushed.. But I need to figure out what to do with the marker light housings..they are toast..Any clues?


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[Elchopperfreak]

Weever.. Just hauling a$$ trying to get the paint done by tomorrow..

Got the door panels sprayed white.. (don't know if doing the arm rests white or black, since I think blue could be too much, same as the steering wheel)


And the front bed panel is ready to spray..



Got a bunch of things to figure out, but I can take time on the re-assembly, also bought today NuMetal epoxy putty to fix the cracks on the steering wheel, worked well.
The whole truck is taped and waiting for paint, all the fab I got left is the other fender, which was in worse condition that the one in the photos here.
Cramming a six month project in a week is for sure a pain..

Got to decide interior upholstery color, Im leaning towards black, but Im not sure.
Steering wheel and arm rests are undecided too, but I paint them tomorrow no matter what.
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[weever82]

Keep the armrests black and the steering wheel black. that way any radio, pedals, dash will be black and will make the white "pop" on the doors. just my .02 cents.

Weev-

[Elchopperfreak]

That what I was leaning to do..but did not know if it would look funky, being light (baby) blue, white and then black..
For sure I am not doing the bench in either white nor light blue, Charcoal is another option for the accent parts and wheel..
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[weever82]

My truck is "light blue" and i did the seat in houndstooth (however you spell it!). Has that black/white pattern and works well with the black dash/steering wheel/arm rests.

Weev-

[Elchopperfreak]

Good idea, did not think about it.. So you got a Ska truck bench!!!! Cool..

Maybe the side panels could be white and the rest in houndstooth..??!!
White steering wheel??!!
Those are small details that I will have time to sort..
Thanks for the help

[Elchopperfreak]

Update for today...
All was going pretty well, too well, although Im used to hard work and time constraints today it all came to a screeching halt, and one that really annoys the heck out of me.

The donor door would not fit, in my haste to get the truck painted today I ( my fault) did not measure the door before cutting the one that was there ( I should have repaired the one big bird had and be done with it) First the hinges would not align, the the door would rub all over the place, getting stuck , I tried loosening the hinges a bit ( from the cab) no dice, swapped hinges and it makes it even worse, I know its a pain to do those, and should not have listened to the guys that suggested changing doors ( my fault for listening and not going with gut instinct) I did not acomplish much and paint did not happen, of course Im annoyed and maybe venting a bit..

Any help on fitting the door?? I already destroyed the yellow one fixing this one, so I got to figure it out.

Heres some of what I encountered.
Door did not match hinges, and was leaning towards the back. Rubbed on the rocker area and on cab frame, aft. Seemed like the door needed to move forward a bit
The bottom hinge was kinda wobbly, changed hinges and played with adjustment, the door would stick to the fender, now its pretty close on the top hinge to the fender line and off at the bottom, still will not shut..
Tried working the hinge bolts ( at cab) to move it around, no avail ( i know that I might be doing something wrong)

Help!!!

Thanks
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[dan42]

Pictures? Help us to figure it out. We have a lot of body guys on the board.

[Elchopperfreak]

Will do, been reading thru posts on alignment..

Thanks

[Elchopperfreak]

Ok, so after reading many posts about door alignment.
Should remove the fender (which I have not done)
Install door on striker with hinge bolts to door pillar and let them loose ( those control height/up-down movement)
Place mixing sticks to leave desired gap
Hinge to door bolts adjust forward-aft movement (adjust) add shims if needed.

**i wanted to remove the fender but the bolts looked funky ( to be kind) looking like they will destroy upon removal and leaving us with extracting work..
The rockers are kinda funky too, the PO worked on them and in his infatuation with crappy work and bondo..

Will get to it Monday, today I got to deal with the Impala once more..
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