My Unexpected '66 SWB-Fleet-Restomod Project!

[Low Elco]

Man, it all looks really fantastic. I'm stoked for ya!

[clemdaddy]

uh huh, very nice.

showing a good ride height even on the tire carts, minus 4 or 5 inches that they raise her up plus all the weight still to add and you're gonna be low low low.

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by Bomp

Dude, way to gooooooooooo!!

High Fivin' as you read this!!!

Bomp!...I'm High fivin' ya back right now!
I'm sooooo pumped, been waitin' for this for a while!

Originally Posted by coulter

man its starting to come together!!! looks great man

Thanks man!
my vision is starting to become a reality!

Originally Posted by faribran

Looks really good...so, what's next?

Thanks again, not sure where I am going next. I will figure it out soon though!

Originally Posted by chad64chevy

wow!! way to go, now that's how to spend a weekend! all the blood, sweet and tears will be worth it when its on the road! so what rims are you going with? I remember the sizes but not the kind!!

i'm going to save up for some billet smoothies! i'm thinking 20x8 up front and 20x12 in the back, but that will be like next yrs. x-mas present to myself,lol!! I was also thinking of having a fab. shop cut slots in the rims like truck rallys, just to be different

Thanks Chad! It's been a lot of work, and I am sure that you can relate!

Originally Posted by chad64chevy

just read where you post the kind of rim! Rushforth Rated-X wheels, something like this?? sorry about the small pic

Those are the exact wheels...Brushed center, polished lip...Awesome!

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Hard to add to the previous comments...
Lookin' SICK!!!

Wow, thanks again Don!

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Man, it all looks really fantastic. I'm stoked for ya!

Dude, I really appreciate the comment!

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

uh huh, very nice.

showing a good ride height even on the tire carts, minus 4 or 5 inches that they raise her up plus all the weight still to add and you're gonna be low low low.

Clem, the dollies are really only about 2.5 inches tall, and the bags are all aired-out, but the rockers are only 7 inches off the ground in that pic...I'm thinkin with a bit of air that I can still be at about the same height with a 28.5" tall tire...

[Gmforce]

supper awesome.....stoked for you...this one will turn all heads

[Jmorales3181]

Very nice progress man! Be proud!

[Strodder]

Lookin awesome. I love the color combo. Can't wait to see it done.

[youngrodder]

Modges-

Great project and progress. This coming from another Michigander also running an LT1 in an old truck.

Keep it up

Marc

[C@rnut001]

Your truck is looking amazing and your attention to detail is outstanding. Thanks for sharing your build with us. I am as excited as you to see it with the cab on the frame. Keep up the awesome work and keep the updates coming.

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by Gmforce

supper awesome.....stoked for you...this one will turn all heads

Thanks, my goal is to turn heads!

Originally Posted by Jmorales3181

Very nice progress man! Be proud!

Thanks a bunch Jmo!
Been workin' hard on things that aren't very visual lately!

Originally Posted by Strodder

Lookin awesome. I love the color combo. Can't wait to see it done.

Thanks a lot for commenting man!

Originally Posted by youngrodder

Modges-

Great project and progress. This coming from another Michigander also running an LT1 in an old truck.

Keep it up

Marc

Marc, where did you come from?
I never even get a chance to lurk on the forums for other years!
Look back to page 4, and check-out the pics of my dad's '48 pro-street!
Thanks for the comment!

[youngrodder]

Modges-

Ive been around. ha ha
Yes, I saw your dads 48 that was another reason for my post. Very nice truck. I try to run through all of the different years.

Marc

[Modges'66]

I have been working on a bunch of different things this week, with no single goal in mind.
I figured out a kinda cool way to route my front brake lines (at least I think so) that works great no-matter which height the bags are at, bent & flared some stainless brake lines for the rear, mounted the radiator support with radiator & fan, and hung the headers & ran spark-plug wires.
So many things to work on, and sooo very far from boring!
Check out the pics!

[clemdaddy]

looking very nice. still one of my favorite shades of blue...

[Ta2Don]

X2

[Gmforce]

Nice to see F.I. Love it....Diggin that water pump too ...Awesome stuff Bro keep pluggin away your getting close now..

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

looking very nice. still one of my favorite shades of blue...

Thanks a bunch Clem!
Picking the colors was a super-difficult task for me, as I didn't want a trendy color that would go out of style next week, and also needed to keep in mind that I couldn't paint it all at the same time but didn't want color-match variation problems (I originally wanted to paint it pearl white, or pearl orange, but my painter talked me off the ledge because of this) we thought that this blue was kinda stretching the limits of painting separate panels at different times. It seems really great so far, and I am more than satisfied at the moment, but I am not finished yet...

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

X2

Thanks yet again Don!!!

Originally Posted by Gmforce

Nice to see F.I. Love it....Diggin that water pump too ...Awesome stuff Bro keep pluggin away your getting close now..

Thanks for the comment.
I really want for this to be a purely fun driver with all of the modern day refinements, so fuel injection was a must... i.e. good gas milage, and performance. At the same time, I want for it to start at the touch of the key when parked for several months!!!
I think that the water-pump is really cool too, but not positive about reliability.
I want to figure out a way to cut-off fuel or spark in the event of overheating...Shouldn't be too hard. My father, who is wiring the truck is a retired electrical engineer.

[Modges'66]

I've been wondering if I have ADD lately...
Been working on a bunch of different things.
I kinda want to start this thing up before putting the front fenders on.
I really want to know that everything is cool with the motor before encapsulating everything!
Spent a bunch of time tracing out engine wiring, figuring out the radiator hoses, getting the correct...or at least a pitman arm that would work!!
I also made some cool plugs for the air tubes in the headers to eliminate the smog BS!
I also spent countless hours mocking-up the steering column shaft, & making sure that all of the electrical connectors on the column inside the cab would work, and not interfere with the brake pedal assembly...What a PITA!!!
Man, I feel like I have endless things to do!!!
My main goal this weekend was to bend & hook-up stainless fuel lines, but never even touched on it!!!
Here are some boring pics!!!





Air-tube plugs in the headers were made from modified cummins diesel oil-pan drain plugs!


I got the Pitman arm installed, and started to fab a steering shaft, but changed gears...More pics to come.

[Bomp]

Engine bay is coming together clean and mean.
Be nice to make sure everything is in order before tossing on the fenders.

I've never done an LS swap before but I do have an extremely newbie question.
Forgive me for the ignorance on this question but the plug wires going over the headers? Will they get too hot?

If I ever get to wrench on Daphne(the green '72) planning on dropping an LS in her.

Looking great

[Low Elco]

Looks Great! Keep it rollin'!

[flips72]

aint been on in awhile and boy have I missed out, absolutely beautiful. you are doing some awesome work my friend. it s not going to be long and we be voting on this one for truck of the month and it will defintley be deserving.

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by Bomp

Engine bay is coming together clean and mean.
Be nice to make sure everything is in order before tossing on the fenders.

I've never done an LS swap before but I do have an extremely newbie question.
Forgive me for the ignorance on this question but the plug wires going over the headers? Will they get too hot?

If I ever get to wrench on Daphne(the green '72) planning on dropping an LS in her.

Looking great

Bomp, thanks for the comments!
I am really getting pumped on startin this thing up!
Not really an LS swap (LT-1) but regardless, the pics look deceiving, as there is 3/4" to an 1" of clearance between the pipes and the plug wires...I think that all is good!...If I ran the plug-wires underneath I think that the same, or worse conditions would exist.

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Looks Great! Keep it rollin'!

Thanks dude, I am trying hard to get it rollin'!!! LOL!

Originally Posted by flips72

aint been on in awhile and boy have I missed out, absolutely beautiful. you are doing some awesome work my friend. it s not going to be long and we be voting on this one for truck of the month and it will defintley be deserving.

Hey, where ya been Flip?
For a long time I counted on your posts to keep me inspired!
Need some current pics from your side!
I am doing this build the only way that I know how...As correctly as I possibly can!
Thanks for the comment!

[Modges'66]

I have been studyin the wiring for my engine computer, and realized that if I disconnected the entire harness from the engine, and fed all of the individual plugs out from the cab, it would take a much smaller hole in the firewall to do so, as opposed to feeding the computer plugs in from the outside...
So I unplugged everything, and did just that.
I am going to mount the ECM near the steering column to help eliminate any interference with the A/C unit.
What a job!...Nothin is ever easy!!!
In addition, I have began to work on the wiring of everything else!....
I am overwhelmed!

I really hated to cut a hole in the firewall!!!


A view from inside.


The finished harness entrance into the cab.




And now I only have this to deal with!!
What great bit of luck!!!

[pdxhall]

The truck's coming along great! That wiring project gives me a headache just looking at it. Good luck.
By the way, I noticed that you filled in the firewall drip rail where it connects to the body. I didn't see in the thread where you went over this. What did you do, if you don't mind me asking.

[chad64chevy]

truck looks great, I really need to start my wiring harness too! keep it up, it wont be long and you'll be driving it and the headaches will be gone!!

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by pdxhall

The truck's coming along great! That wiring project gives me a headache just looking at it. Good luck.
By the way, I noticed that you filled in the firewall drip rail where it connects to the body. I didn't see in the thread where you went over this. What did you do, if you don't mind me asking.

Thanks for the comments dude!
As far as the drip-rail on the firewall goes, the PO started that upgrade & didn't finish it!...It is basically capped-off with with a piece of sheetmetal, metal-finished with a grinder, then I seam-sealed the imperfections to make it have a factory appearance. Sorry, I didn't document it.

Originally Posted by chad64chevy

truck looks great, I really need to start my wiring harness too! keep it up, it wont be long and you'll be driving it and the headaches will be gone!!

Thanks Chad!
The wiring & arrangements of it are kicking my a$$!
Hard to even take pics of the accomplishments!
At this point I just want to get it wired enough to start it up!
That will hopefully give me the motivation to finish the wiring up!

[chad64chevy]

Originally Posted by Modges'66

Thanks Chad!
The wiring & arrangements of it are kicking my a$$!
Hard to even take pics of the accomplishments!
At this point I just want to get it wired enough to start it up!
That will hopefully give me the motivation to finish the wiring up!

ya, I was thinking of that too! just wire up the dash and engine, just to heard it run!!