'52 Rot-box Turned Tire Roaster.

[Wybrow]

Well, the rails are fully welded and at least one is blended (Dave works nights, so he got that done Sunday, I guess).

I had a brainwave and decided against putting the clip on immediately, I've cut spring pockets for bags a couple times and it really sucks, so I'm going to do it while the frame clip is not attached so I can flip it upside down and do it. I stripped the clip down Sunday and will get it power washed tonight or tomorrow, I also borrowed some bags and cups from a friend to get the pockets cut until I get around to buying some.

So no real pictures of that stuff for a day or two, I think this is a better plan of attack anyways, so the few extra days will be definitely worth the wait.

A facebook group led me to a used York EDC for sale locally, picking it up tonight after work for a steal. I have all the engine bay room in the world with the SBC, so I might as well have all the creature comforts.

[Wybrow]

Got the spring pockets cut out tonight, I must say, having the front clip removed from the vehicle entirely and flipped upside down made this god-awful chore 11000% easier. I'll have to remember that the next time I put a set of front bags in an S10. Haha!

Scraped and wire-brushed so much undercoat and road dirt off of the front clip, aswell. What a terrible job. Anyways, enough whining. Got the front spring pockets trimmed for RE-7's. May need a slight bit more trimming once I get the arms assembled and everything all bolted, but the hard part is offically over.

Started here:



Slowly trimmed out to here:



Both sides look pretty even, happy with that.



I stumbled on this picture of a re-located shock tonight kinda by mistake, I'll likely do something similar, super clean and a little out of the ordinary, all while being super easy to make.



That's all for now, hopefully have the front clip on this weekend, depends if I can get my ass in gear to do the measuring.

[Wybrow]

Evening fellas, we've finally got the front clip tacked in place. I must say, getting it squared and levelled was probably the worst thing I've ever done. I was able to find numerous sources online for frame measuring, factory 52 frame and the G-body clip, aswell.

I've never done so much measuring in my life, at one point I was certain my brain was actually on fire.

It's all tacked up, multiple braces tacked in aswell. Throughout the week I'll work away at plating it and making it strong and pretty. Very relieved to have that nailed down finally. Sigh!

[Wybrow]

Started plating and blending in the front clip tonight. I pie-cut the bottom of the frame and bent it up, welded the seam up to flush it with the bottom of the G-body clip, and then I made a shear plate/box piece all at once.

Started from here:



Smoothed out a bunch of garbage splatter GM leaves on these G-body clips, pie-cut the frame and made a template for the shear-plate.



Plate is in, cut off the excess of the bottom of the factory rail, smoothed most of it, need to finish smoothing the lower weld and will also weld the upper seam once most of the other plates are in and I can flip the frame upside down.







Overall, super happy with how it's turning out, will hopefully have all the plates in and welded by the weekend, I'll get the suspension in and then we can start installing the new rear rails.

[oldman3]

Looks great, nice tie-in with the frame...Jim

[yawdie1]

This is a awesome build! The rear notch is great! Keep up the good work!
I would like the do my rear step notch just like your!

[Wybrow]

Originally Posted by oldman3

Looks great, nice tie-in with the frame...Jim

Thanks, Jim. Hopefully I can make the outside of the rail look as half decent.

Originally Posted by yawdie1

This is a awesome build! The rear notch is great! Keep up the good work!
I would like the do my rear step notch just like your!

Thanks a lot! I'm looking forward to putting together the sheet-metal 4-link crossmember aswell and getting the whole back-half on the truck.

[Wybrow]

Evening gents, got some more work done tonight.



Pie-cut and plated the inside of the left frame rail to match the right side:



I didn't spend near as much time cleaning up this side, my flap wheels are pretty well worn out so I'll need to get some replacements.

After that, I started planning out how I was to accomplish making the outside of the rails blend and look half-ass decent.

Here's what I'm starting with (keep in mind the upper edge of the inside frame rail will be trimmed once the frame is flipped and welded)



I made some lines in places:



And made a few more cutty-cuts



And then welded in a little plate thingy.



I started to make the template for the outside rail, I don't like it. So I'll have to think of another idea.



I think I'll wind up plating the frame and using a few shear gaskets, make it all flush and pretty.

You can see the general idea we're going for here, should be a nice clean transition from frame to frame once it is all welded up and cleaned. (Again, ignore that top edge of the frame rail, it will blend in, it really ruins my pictures for now.)



That's it for tonight. I really hope to get this all buttoned up for the weekend and get some front suspension tossed back in, the cab thrown on quick and toss this thing on the floor and take some pictures. Attainable goal, but I'll have to bust ass.

[oldman3]

I think what you have planned should work ok, and look good after plating....Jim

[Wybrow]

Good news, fellas. The clip is DONE. We're going to add a shear gusset across the outside frame rail on either side, waiting for that to come back from the laser. However, the hard **** is done and I am so thankful for that.

I'll let the pics do the talking.

I learned a valuable lesson tonight, twice. Don't try to flip a 3/4 tonne frame from the 50's over, twice, by yourself. ****ING HEAVY.













I am SO happy with how it turned out. I could definitely spend some time blending it in more, but to be honest, I don't give a ****, you'll never see it under the sheet-metal.

Like I said, shear gusset to come.

This week's plans:

-De-hump and plate lower arms for bags.
-Install engine/transmission and level, design and build trans x-member
-Finish blending sheet-metal rails

Next major step is to make this **** a short-box and 4-link it.

[ghettoluxury]

You did a good job at blending it together.

[selfbuiltrods]

Looks great! Keep up the good work!

[oldman3]

Looking great, very nice work...Jim

[Wybrow]

Thanks a lot, fellas.

[99 to Life]

looking good man. as for the s10 rear, I'd go with a 4x4 or blazer 4x4, blazer being the widest. 2x4's are def the most narrow, but can be used with spacers. Going to all depend on your wheel offset. I'm running 14" steel wheel s10 rims on my current project, with a blazer rear and I'll need .5-1" spacer to clear the bedsides and get a good wheel tuck in back. on my 51' I ran 4x4 rear, with older no backspaced rims and I ran 2" spacers per side.

[docrock]

I like how yours is coming out. Looks better then mine

[Wybrow]

Hi friends, took last night off, basically went straight to bed after work, was great. At it again tonight, got one arm plated, it took way longer than I feel it should, but I should be able to knock the other side out much quicker tomorrow night. Anyways, I want this thing to lay hard on any wheel I choose to put on it, so I went relatively big right away. The upper cup is only 2" tall, and I've got the arms plated about as low as they can be, so aside from putting a drop spindle in it, There is no way to make the front lower, without going nuts.

Bag bolted in, checked fit and gathered a plan:



Stock arm



The cut:



Plated:



Installed:





Overall, pretty happy with how this side turned out. I'll tackle the other side tomorrow and then mount the sway bar and drill holes to attach the end-links.

[99 to Life]

looking good, you can prolly got even more if that little tab on the frame was gone, last pic toward the left. However, I think its gonna lay low as it is. As of right now I didn't dehump mine, frame is about 4" off ground with no weight. I kinda like having that safety net incase something goes wrong. You can mount the body up or down to your liking. Took me way longer than I hoped to clearance bag and mount the cups. I'm running bag plates though and a 2600lb bag so it is huge. Looking nice and clean though. I'd think about putting some type of tubing under the arm for extra support, incase you haven't already.

[BP87GMC]

Cool build! What's up with the square body next to it?

[Wybrow]

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

looking good, you can prolly got even more if that little tab on the frame was gone, last pic toward the left. However, I think its gonna lay low as it is. As of right now I didn't dehump mine, frame is about 4" off ground with no weight. I kinda like having that safety net incase something goes wrong. You can mount the body up or down to your liking. Took me way longer than I hoped to clearance bag and mount the cups. I'm running bag plates though and a 2600lb bag so it is huge. Looking nice and clean though. I'd think about putting some type of tubing under the arm for extra support, incase you haven't already.

The body will mount as it would stock on this frame as the center section is still factory AD frame. This is also a 2600lb bag (RE7). They're quite large but it seems to fit well. Thanks. I do intend on going back and adding a little bracing under the plate before the truck gets final assembled, I likely won't need it as the plate is 3/16" and welded on both sides, but it never hurts to over-build something.

Originally Posted by BP87GMC

Cool build! What's up with the square body next to it?

Thanks! It's my buddy Dave's. He's been working on it for a few years. I'll snag some pictures tomorrow night and post them up, the rear frame work of that truck is incredible. Bagged and bodied, will lay on a 22" wheel no problem.


Evening fellas, got a whole lot accomplished this weekend. I'll be honest, it didn't feel like a lot throughout the weekend, but sitting here now, I realize we knocked out a bunch of stuff.

Friday night I installed the arms and drilled for the end links, also realized I've managed to lose my MOOG ball joint nuts (these are the arms that used to be on my S10, the ball joints are 2000KM new, so I decided to use these), and of course, they're different from ANY other available ball joint and you can't buy them separately from MOOG. This is currently an issue I have yet to solve. Small bump in the road, I hope.



Saturday, my buddy Curt and I headed down to Toronto to Altered Altitude Customs to pick up a bunch of stuff for both of our trucks.

I came home with four bags (Slam RE-7's) for the truck, my bushings for the 4-link and two adjustable bushing ends and threaded bungs (again, all the same junk I used in the S10). It's fairly cost effective and works damn well. We made a pit-stop on the way home and I picked up a, what appears to be, installed but never used AVS 7-port, 5 gallon slim tank and an old ugly ass switch box. The switch box will get torn apart and I will use 6 switches (4 corners and front/back) and make a panel that will be at the bottom of the bench seat.





Which brings us to tonight.

The back-half has started to come together! Dave and I devised a plan and started tacking and measuring away, and before long it actually looked like something. A couple hours later, we have a few stitch welds down on an extremely straight and square back-half. At this point, the only piece that is in for good is the rear piece of 2x4x3/16" square. Everything else is a temporary brace to hold this all square. I will be adding a couple more tomorrow night and then we will be ready to install the back half/make the truck a short-box next weekend.

The plan is to get the back-half tacked in place. Design and build a sheet-metal crossmember, get it built and fully welded, by that time we will be able to comfortably remove all the bracing except for across the notches and build the 4-link. Once the 4-link is built and the axle is centered we can build the bag bridge into the notches and the back-half will essentially be done. Hoping to have 4 wheels on the truck completely between Christmas and new-years.







Again, super happy with the outcome of this weekend. It's exciting being this close to having a somewhat complete frame.

[oldman3]

Looks great...Jim

[99 to Life]

coming together, looking good

[Wybrow]

Thank you guys, I'm pretty happy with the outcome so far.

[BP87GMC]

I like where this is going. The reason I asked about the square is I'm working on one, the reason I'm watching this build is I have a '51, 5- window in the yard waiting on me. I really like how yours is taking shape.

[Wybrow]

Originally Posted by BP87GMC

I like where this is going. The reason I asked about the square is I'm working on one, the reason I'm watching this build is I have a '51, 5- window in the yard waiting on me. I really like how yours is taking shape.

Yours look to be in great shape! I snapped some pictures of Dave's truck for you tonight aswell.

It is an '80 short-box.







Here's tonight:

The frame is nowhere near ready to be joined yet, but I went ahead and cut the stock frame and clamped down the new back-half tonight anyways, I got antsy, leave me alone. It is only eye-balled but I think I did okay. It looks half-decent. That and the truck is officially a short-box now! Woo.









You can see at the joint where the new back-half is a fair bit longer. That was not supposed to be like that, my buddy who lasered out the rails I guess forgot to account for the 3/16" flat stock on top and bottom of the rails. Thankfully, this is not an issue at all, we'll be able to blend it in and you won't even notice it with the 4-link x-member in place.

Not much of an update, but it gave me a pretty good idea how all is going to turn out, and I am completely thrilled with it.