67 cheby's Dropmember build thread (CLOUD 9)

[LEEVON]

Rob, does that mean you're going to be an Arkie?

[67cheby]

Paint ? well have to see how much money is left after the body work !!! and thank you Hart Rod , i cant wait to see all of your projects !!

[67cheby]

i hope he comes this way !!

[babyblueoval]

Don't forget me for the cruise. Assuming, of course, I get started, and get finished enough that I can drive in it.

[67cheby]

assuming any of us get done !!! Maybe we could all just go to look at Colin Havens since his is done.... and he wont post any pics !! hint hint Colin

[watahyahknow]

yes the silver will look good , it might hide some of the forming in the bodywork (like the waist line crease and other angles ) a nice pinstripe would work there
darker high gloss colours are better at enhancing them but are worse at hiding flaws in the bodywork (like small dents or waving in the metal)

[67cheby]

well here is last nights progress, fitting the front sheet metal (looks like we will be adding a little bit to the front of the doors to close up the gaps a little) and still stripping, stripping, stripping........man it takes a long time to strip a truck !!!

[67cheby]

last couple, sorry about all of the dust particales in the air !!

[lowdownstar]

Looking great!!!! your on the down hill road to finishing that cool truck. I am happy for you. enjoy every minite of it.


Ray

[67cheby]

i am enjoying it , if my painter lets me come back to his shop after work tonight, i am going to flush mount my brake booster !! and finish stripping the outside of the hood

[es67chevy]

You must be a perfectionist! Those door gaps look fine to me. I'll just remember not to park next to you at any shows.

[watahyahknow]

i like the idea but i like to see if it will hold after some use , the shorter distance to the pedal lever might give the pin going intoo the booster a bit of up and down motion , im not sure if that will matter to the seal or not , if theres enough distance between booster and pedal you could make a valveguide like sleeve for the pin and some sort of cam/lifter type arangement on the pedal to prevent the pin from rocking

if you make the lift/ramp in the cam extreme at first and less so further up the travel you might be able to lessen the pedalswing and increase the feel of the braking

[Bowtie468]

Nice job on the booster. I've been eyeing mine and i think i need to do something with the stock mount. Trucks looking sweet !!

[67cheby]

Originally Posted by Bowtie468

Nice job on the booster. I've been eyeing mine and i think i need to do something with the stock mount. Trucks looking sweet !!

thanks bowtie468

[67cheby]

last nights progress , stripped the underneath of the hood..... what a PAIN IN THE BUTT

[es67chevy]

You do know about soda blasting don't ya?

[67cheby]

i do know about it...my labor is free and soda blasting is very expensive, the one i checked with was like 120 an hour , it took me 2 hours to do the underneath of the hood , they could prob soda it in an hour but thats 120 i saved, i have about 20 hours in stripping the whole cab and front clip and my only cost is the sanding discs and paper, i think the soda blasting of it all would have cost me $800 ???just a guess

[es67chevy]

Originally Posted by 67cheby

i do know about it...my labor is free and soda blasting is very expensive, the one i checked with was like 120 an hour , it took me 2 hours to do the underneath of the hood , they could prob soda it in an hour but thats 120 i saved, i have about 20 hours in stripping the whole cab and front clip and my only cost is the sanding discs and paper, i think the soda blasting of it all would have cost me $800 ???just a guess

Good point and good figuring. We paid $775. You should treat yourself to something nice for saving all that money....like paint.

[67cheby]

what all did you get soda blasted for $775 ?? the whole truck ?? my buddy had his frame the inside of his bed the underneath of his bed and cab and it was 1200, that was last year, and who did you use ??

[es67chevy]

Originally Posted by 67cheby

what all did you get soda blasted for $775 ?? the whole truck ?? my buddy had his frame the inside of his bed the underneath of his bed and cab and it was 1200, that was last year, and who did you use ??

I had the cab, doors, and bedsides blasted. No hood, front clip, etc. they said if they were doing it again, they would have stepped up to a more abrasive media. they used walnut shells for mine. there was so much bondo though, that's what added the extra time. I can't remember what their business was called but the number is 531-7355 if you are ever curious.

Since you have the time and the energy, sounds like you went the right way for sure. I just didn't have the patience or time myself.

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by es67chevy

Good point and good figuring. We paid $775. You should treat yourself to something nice for saving all that money....like paint.

The shops up here are a little less expensive but not much. I paid $600 to have a whole car soda blasted inside & out and underneath on a rotisserie. They had it done in a day.

I don't count my time as free labor. There are plenty of things I can do to make money with my time away from my job so I put a number of $20 / hour on my vehicle tinkering time. If I can get a job done by someone else for less than my labor rate doing the job myself would add up to I have someone else do it. This also includes having to buy a special tool to do a job. If it doesn't add up I do the job myself.

It would have taken me at least 40 hours to do that total body strip job mechanically and probably $50 in abrasives plus all the electricity to run my compressor non-stop for a week. I figure it saved me about $250 in time & materials plus I was able to spend that 40 hours on other tasks making more progress.

I nearly bought my own soda blasting setup instead to do the job myself. I may still do that as I have several projects that could use that right now.

[67cheby]

if i would have been able to get the whole thing done for $600.... i would have hopped on that also !! great deal, and yes that is a good point about what to figure your pay at

[superflysteiny]

That hood looks great. Keep up the great work you are doing good

[67cheby]

well i got to work on the truck a little last night , yesterday the body shop got my drivers door gaps to an ok gap for me "they could make them perfect i just dont have the money" they look good . Last night i started working on my (Arch Nememisis) my inner fenders , hopefully in the next week or so with the help of a real metal working guy we can get these finished up !!!

[tonypaul]

Your doing a great job on everything!!! I was wondering what are your plans for steering column and shifter? Just wanted to let you know about my experence- I was planning on mounting my brake booster like yours, right against the firewall. I have a aftermarket chrome steering column and column shifter. What happened on mine was right where the shifter rod hooks to the column- it would hit the bottom of the booster if tried to put it in park. The steering column has a adjustment that allows you to turn it down but then it mess's up the articulation (spelling?) so the trans wont shift down into low gear... If that makes any sense....

I had to end up using a shorter booster bracket of a Fiero to get it off the firewall just enough so the shifter would work. Just thought I would share you my experience incase you run into problems when ever you get to that point....

Keep up the great work!!!!