Dug's 1959 Fleetside

[dsraven]

your sheet metal pieces look great, factory look even.
as far as codes go, you will likely find that out once you start driving it. some things take driving and a certain number of ignition cycles for the computer to check that particular item. I was just planting a seed in case you have driveability issues later.
on the tubing issue, if you can find some plastic or fiberglass(?) tubing it would be better than metal because it draws less ambient heat. wondering, when all is said and done, if a 90 bend off the throttle body would allow for air filter/maf to be mounted on the pass inner fender with air pick up from behind grille or inside fender/wheel area (with appropriate splash shielding).

[dug224]

Originally Posted by dsraven

your sheet metal pieces look great, factory look even.
as far as codes go, you will likely find that out once you start driving it. some things take driving and a certain number of ignition cycles for the computer to check that particular item. I was just planting a seed in case you have driveability issues later.
on the tubing issue, if you can find some plastic or fiberglass(?) tubing it would be better than metal because it draws less ambient heat. wondering, when all is said and done, if a 90 bend off the throttle body would allow for air filter/maf to be mounted on the pass inner fender with air pick up from behind grille or inside fender/wheel area (with appropriate splash shielding).

A 90 will get it started. What I really need to do which is way down the TO DO list is move the radiator filler neck out of the way. I suspect a 90 with appropriate straight segments will get the air flow over the top of my fancy new sheet metal cap (and under the bottom of the hood) for good laminar flow. Stay tuned.

[dsraven]

that's what I was thinking too, on the list of stuff to tidy up after the truck is all back together. small potatoes right now. just thought I would mention it in case you started setting codes. some older gm's had stream straighteners in the inlet piping to establish laminar flow. they looked like honeycomb. maybe, worst case scenario, you could try one of those if you have issues.
great work you are doing, keep it up.

[dug224]

Time for cheap Christmas gift for grandson. Took a $39 batch of 50 Hot Wheels cars (Target On-line), suspension spring, brake rotor and a dead lamp from the attic and slapped them together for a Rat Rod Christmas gift. Free with the exception of the Hot Wheels. Took a few days to get started since I had to play with the cars before I permanent glued them to the lamp. Sandblasted, welded, re-rusted the parts with vinegar and a clear coated. Used a GE Silicon glue which appears to be pretty good. Blue tape turned out to be the best way to clamp them. Glue setup pretty quickly. Pried one of the trucks off of the rotor this morning to see how hard it would be for a 4 year old. Probably out of his strength range at this time unless he uses his flat bar.



Lamp looks pretty good without the cars. May make a batch for the back porch!

[Kim57]

That is very cool.
Looks good without the cars.
Kim

[ChuckDriver]

Awesome!

[Advanced Design]

Great idea for a lamp!

[RockinKees]

Cool gift!!!

[dug224]

Happened on to a 14 GA piece of sheet metal and commenced with fabrication of my cab corner seal plates. I utilized the templates I made a few months ago. I cut the plates using my cordless jig saw with metal cutting blade. I'm pretty surprised how much I have used this tool and even more surprised how long the metal cutting blades tend to last. My templates proved to be pretty accurate, however, I did end up having to make a second cut to trim the front edge of the plate so that it dropped below and became flush with the adjacent cab floor. Also drilled the holes for the seat belt brackets. I intend to utilize the seat belt bolt holes to anchor the plate in place while I fit the cab corners.

[ChuckDriver]

Nice!!!

[Kim57]

Looks good.
Kim

[dug224]

Decided to finish up the 1975 Honda TL250 Trials bike before starting back up on the '59. Reference my post #408. To recap, I installed a 2008 Honda CRF230L engine in place of the dead 250. Stuffed the battery, carburetor, engine control module, rectifier, wiring harness and air cleaner where the old air box used to be. All this hard work will be covered by a soon to be painted repopped side covers I got from the UK. All surfaces including the wheels got a fresh base coat/clear coat paint. Kept the orange portion of the tank original since it was nice enough to keep as is. Topped it off with a new set of tires.



Before I get restarted on the '59, I have some '59 truck to stuff to give away. I decided I will not be using the Fleetside Tubs, cab trim or the heater box. Tubs are not rusty but nicely dented. Cab trim is in decent shape. The piece that is 4 up from the bottom has a crease in it but may be "straightenable". The heater Model number is 356 and rubber ducts are shot. If anyone is interested in the heater, let me know and I will take some time to see if motor runs. Also available but not shown is the brake pedal assembly, bed front panel and the bed structural cross members that the wood mounts to. If anyone wants any of these items or knows someone who does, send me a PM. I can leisurely deliver between Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans or Mobile and Atlanta for free. You'll have to arrange for and pay for shipping if you want it anywhere else. I'll be glad to package them.

[Scottish58chev]

Just finished reading through the full thread. Nice build and nice work.

Calum

[dug224]

Originally Posted by Scottish58chev

Just finished reading through the full thread. Nice build and nice work.

Calum

Appreciate it. I've come a long way and have a long way to go!!

[mac57truck]

Nice build

[dsraven]

nice work on stuffing that bike engine in. looks factory. how does the gearing compare to the original trials engine, can you take it up a rock face?
seriously, looks great.
envoy is in the shop getting stripped 5 minutes at a time. looking at measurements to see if I can get the dash to fit into the old cab. doesn't look good. maybe get the heater to fit with the old dash, haven't got that far. shoulder tires out and gets sore before the rest does. agravating actually but working through it.
glad to hear you will have some time to spend on yours soon. how is the house coming?

[dug224]

Originally Posted by dsraven

nice work on stuffing that bike engine in. looks factory. how does the gearing compare to the original trials engine, can you take it up a rock face?
seriously, looks great.
envoy is in the shop getting stripped 5 minutes at a time. looking at measurements to see if I can get the dash to fit into the old cab. doesn't look good. maybe get the heater to fit with the old dash, haven't got that far. shoulder tires out and gets sore before the rest does. agravating actually but working through it.
glad to hear you will have some time to spend on yours soon. how is the house coming?

- Never rode it with the original 250 motor. I suspect it is similar. Had a little setback. The tank I finished still leaked!!! Had to buy another tank that looked like it was thrown off of a cliff.... but did not leak. Did the bodywork and got the tank and side covers painted and cleared (9 coats). Learned how to clear over decals. Since it is now a 230 rather than a 250, I had a TL230 decal made using the "Honda Font". Apparently, I was the only human left on earth that did not know you sprayed water on the adhesive so you can move the decal around. Squeegeed the water out, waited a few days and shot the clear.
- Great that you are making incremental progress. I just bought some Cleco's.....so, I look at this a progress on the truck.
- Still fixing and selling off rentals. No house under construction yet!!! Soon though.

[dug224]

Originally Posted by mac57truck

Nice build

Thanks! Can't wait to get back on it more aggressively.

[dug224]

So, finally made some progress. Decided to drain (18 gallons) and remove the plastic fuel tank so I could relax when welding.

Door was tight in all the wrong places so I re-positioned the door a couple of hundred times and used my flap disk to fine tune the door edges. Door fits better but will always be far from perfect.



Got the cab corner and step where I needed them.


Using the flanging tool/hole punch, flanged the cab and set the cab corner location.


Punched the holes for my new set of Cleco's. After using them for only a few hours, it's pretty evident this was a great purchase and huge time saver.

[dug224]

Could not get my jig saw in due to the bed mount bracket so I resorted to using my multi-tool with metal cutting blades to finish the cut. Blades don't last too long but when you need it, it works well.



Prepared the edges of the step for welding by removing all the paint. Decided to spot weld the vertical edges of the sides rather than the horizontal step (factory) to save on body work. You can see what I'm talking about when you find the lone cleco holding the step.


It took a bit of persuasion and metal work to get the cab corner lined up at the back edge (just to the right of the 4th cleco, next photo). As a result, once I got to the end on the backside of the cab, I came up short. I will have to add a filler panel where I missed on the length.


If the flanging tool made the flange about 1/64th inch deeper, it would be better. To solve the problem, I had to hammer & dolly the area between the first and second cleco's to make the edge more flush. I'll continue this for the entire length of the flanged joint to get the panel more in line with the cab. As a result of reshaping the cab corners, my inside filler panels no longer fit. Next job will be to rework them slightly before they get welded in.

[Kim57]

Repair is looking good.
Kim

[dsraven]

ahh, the cleco's. sorta like air conditioning. once you have it it's hard to not have it.
nice work. good to see you working on it again.

[dug224]

Thanks guys. Granddaughter Ana stopped by with her '32 and her dolls to help out.


Cab corner floor plate had to be lengthened about 0.25" after I got the cab corner set. As I mentioned, by the time I got the corner into place using the Cleco's, the space for the floor plate took on another shape.


Just tacked the floor plate in place. I'll fill the gaps with seam sealer. My first attempt at filling holes to create a simulated spot weld. Turned the welder up and still couldn't get it to keep from mounding a bit. By the time I finished, I was successful at creating a spot weld in about 20% of the holes. The rest will need to be touched a little with a grinder.


Stitched the corner into place allowing substantial cool time before I made another pass. Used a pretty hot setting on this as well and got good penetration and kept mounding to a minimum.


Pulled the Cleco's and turned the welder down and did a pass on the Cleco holes from the inside. Came back and finished welding from the outside.

[dug224]

Overall, the step turned out good. Had to drill a few holes here and there to pull the step tight with a screw.


The more I weld, the more I have an appreciation for those of you who do it well. The step is where I got to practice the spot welds the most. Like I said, I just wasn't skilled enough to let go of the trigger in time to not mound the weld. The top edge of the existing floor had holes that I drilled when removing the spot welds. They were large and required a lot of filler metal which turned out a bit messy. I'll grind these smooth and not attempt to make them look like spot welds.


Note the welding in the orange paint on back of the cab. The sheet metal had fatigued and broke at the cab mount brackets. Stitched on the outside and rewelded the body mount on the inside.


The door (and gap) stayed where it was supposed to. The bottom right corner of the door is still too far in but hope to get it pulled out with door adjustments.

[dsraven]

ha ha. thats cute. better get that girl some coveralls, gloves and safety glasses and put her to work if she is gonna hang around all the time. taking grampa's time. (like you would have it any other way).
lookin good. keep it up and you'll be done. I keep telling myself if I can just get a few things done everyday then it is forward progress. seems like just shop cleaning lately.
curious what your final number is for rocker panel height at the front ege, by the fender mount. I know you posted it in your build but I think that was before some other mods happened.