Bringing the '65 back to life

[racecougar]

Thanks guys! Spent about five hours today locating the cab and bed correctly on the frame. It was more time consuming than expected, but everything lines up now.

[racecougar]

Not a big fan of doing things twice, particularly when it involves gear lube. :/ Turns out that some of the diff cover bolt holes weren't drilled/tapped deep enough back in '65 to accommodate the bolts that came with the LPW cover, which caused a leak. Pulled the cover, cleaned everything, and reinstalled it today with shorter bolts, then spent the rest of the day working on other projects in the shop.

[racecougar]

Wired and installed the tail lights today.

[racecougar]

Spent the morning tying up a bunch of loose ends on the truck and organizing the shop a bit.

[racecougar]

It seems nothing on this truck was safe from the rust monster. Both lower corners of the core support were roached. Not anymore.

[racecougar]

On to the grill shell. There's a lot of work to do on this thing.

[racecougar]

Plugging away on the grill support today.

[racecougar]

Repaired a bunch of rust on the grill support today. Actually thought I was finished, then found a bit more which I'll save for another day.

One tip to anyone out there tackling a rust repair project like this: take the few extra minutes to properly fit your patch panels. The better the fit, the better the end result.

[CURSED GEARS]

Nice repair.

[racecougar]

Thanks. I never remember to take any step by step photos like that to show before/during/after.

Finished up the grill support this morning, then began fitting up the rear bumper. The brackets needed a little mill time to get everything to line up correctly. Once the filler panels and license plate bracket arrive, and everything gets painted, we'll be able to do the final install.

[racecougar]

Threw a coat of primer on the bumper brackets this morning, then turned my attention to building an instrument cluster. We've decided to ditch the factory cluster for more accurate instrumentation, and I'm not a fan of the typical gauge mounting plate that bolts to the bezel, as that points the gauges directly at the driver's chest. More to come on this instrument cluster design, provided it turns out.

[racecougar]

Continued working on the instrument cluster today. Whipped up a wood buck to shape the housing around, then cut a strip of sheetmetal out of an old bedside from my F150. After a little shaping, it fit the frame perfectly. The little tabs on the frame weld to the housing to lock it together while keeping the welds out of sight. Next, I'll need to cut the overlap out of the housing, weld the seam, weld the last few tabs, then bolt it into the truck to determine the angle for the back panel.

[racecougar]

The instrument cluster is far enough along that it's time to stick it in the dash and determine the angle for the back panel. The old lens is just a placekeeper; the final instrument cluster lens will be a clear pane.

We also installed the rear bumper today. It's a used chrome bumper that definitely needs a good cleaning, but it'll do for now. We can drop the coin on new chrome bumpers in the future.

[racecougar]

Dad had the core support and grill support glass beaded a couple of days ago. I forgot how much I love sanding filler. Wait, no, that's not the right word.

[aggie91]

Nice work!

[racecougar]

Thanks. Took last weekend off to celebrate our anniversary, but I took the next couple of weeks off work so that I can spend some time working in the shop. Today was the beginning of the front clip mock up.

[racecougar]

We made a little more progress this afternoon. Getting everything lined up takes a fair amount of time. Even the little filler panel around the column ate up 30-45 minutes to locate and fit properly. It's taking shape though.

[racecougar]

We did a little more work on fitting the front clip this morning, then I took the Suburban out to do some datalogging. Its days as a complete running/driving vehicle are numbered.

[racecougar]

Good news. There's a lot left on the table in the stock tune, even running plain old 87 octane.

[racecougar]

The saga of fitting repop parts continues.

Top left and right photos: Dad had the honors of climbing into the engine bay to drill the spot welds out of the driverside inner fender bracket. It was attached to the inner fender ~1" above the correct location (verified both by fitment and by comparing to the passenger side inner fender from the same source). It will get a little tweak before being properly located and welded in place.

Bottom left: Put it together, mark what doesn't fit correctly, take it apart, fix it, and try again. Time consuming work.

Bottom right: Without sectioning the fender or stretching the grill support, that's as good as it's going to get on this side. The fender is physically a "smidge" taller than the grill support.

[racecougar]

Day 299, just three days shy of four years: It's about time for a before/current shot. That's day #1, 12-26-12 on the left, and today, day #299, 12-23-16 on the right.

[racecougar]

Dad got a fuel system for Christmas yesterday: a 18 gallon, fully baffled cell with a sump for an in-tank pump, along with a 400-lph Walbro pump, sending unit, etc. After we finished a few small tasks on the front clip and tidied up the shop, we did a quick test-fit in the 60" chest-style toolbox that will soon reside in the bed. The box will hold the fuel tank, battery, a fire extinguisher, and function as a lockable trunk.

[racecougar]

I drove the Suburban over to the shop this morning for the last time. It was a melancholy feeling; as if I was putting my dog down, though on a MUCH reduced level. The '65 watched as we began the process of removing it's new organs from the donor. Macabre.

[racecougar]

Victory!

[Ta2Don]

Happy operating!!!