It’s Just A Pickup

[Bruce88]

Originally Posted by greystoke

Bruce...great job restoring your truck. Tons of great information within your build thread and I agree with the previous posts that this truck would be a favorite at any carshow. Thank you for letting us share in your build and I was wondering if you have any plans to build another vehicle?

Yes I have another vehicle build to do, or should I say get back to. It’s sitting in the other garage up against the wall but I don’t think that it would fit in this forum very well (smile). It’s a 1972 Volvo, P1800ES that I shoehorned a SB fuel injected 327 Chevy engine and 200R4 transmission into along with a narrowed posi Ford rear end on a 4 link suspension, plus disk brakes all around. Probably next year

[mcbassin]

Great job Bruce! The single most detailed and informative build I have seen so far. Thank you for all the great tips and pictures. Looking forward to your next project. Please post a link here

[81bowtie]

By far the most awesome build thread i have ever seen. The truck looks great! I wouldn't be able to sleep with a truck that nice in the garage.

[Seventy Two]

Hi Buce,
Your work and detailed descriptions stand tall. Very Tall!
Brad

[greystoke]

Originally Posted by Bruce88

Yes I have another vehicle build to do, or should I say get back to. It’s sitting in the other garage up against the wall but I don’t think that it would fit in this forum very well (smile). It’s a 1972 Volvo, P1800ES that I shoehorned a SB fuel injected 327 Chevy engine and 200R4 transmission into along with a narrowed posi Ford rear end on a 4 link suspension, plus disk brakes all around. Probably next year

Theres a section for you in this forum....I've been following fizzle fry's minx build. Awesome stuff.

[CG]

Beautiful truck. I bet you would have been done a lot sooner if you hadn't taken the time to do the incredible write up of the entire build as you went along. I applaud your efforts, and thank you for an awesome thread!

[RJGeister]

Bruce,
Beautiful truck. Thanks for the detailed write-ups. I have enjoyed both of them.

Rich Geister

[heeroyue2002]

Originally Posted by Bruce88

Yes I have another vehicle build to do, or should I say get back to. It’s sitting in the other garage up against the wall but I don’t think that it would fit in this forum very well (smile). It’s a 1972 Volvo, P1800ES that I shoehorned a SB fuel injected 327 Chevy engine and 200R4 transmission into along with a narrowed posi Ford rear end on a 4 link suspension, plus disk brakes all around. Probably next year

alternative tinkering area!

i just finished reading all of your tread and its pretty inspiring, i'll be using some during my build.

[haskell]

You certainly have some engine building skills. Attention to detail is great.

[Bruce88]

A change to the front end look
It just didn’t look right to me, looking for self satisfaction (smile)

The grille insert looked odd to me in how it was set in the outer grille, there was no way to adjust it to look right to me. Cut the tubes apart and welded them back together to align and be parallel with the outer grille.

The original chrome on the insert was not the best (it was from China) after welding it back together took it down to a chrome shop and found out that after stripping and re-chroming the cost was way too high. Decided to find out what powder coating was available to use instead at a more reasonable price. Maybe I just had to much chrome on the front of this truck for its stile (smile).

Found some silver/black mat vein powder coating to apply to the insert. Not that I have anything agents chrome but I think that the powder coated custom tube grill fits in good with this trucks personality, yes trucks have personalities (smile). Definitely an improvement over the misaligned chrome insert I started with.





I guess you could say there’s always room for improvement, but the bottom line is self satisfaction and I’ve met mine in this front end area (smile).

Enjoy your build

[Palf70Step]

Very nice results Bruce. It definitely fits the truck!

[VA72C10]

Looks much better. Honestly the grille bugged me before but all tube grills look like that so I didn't say anything Nice work!

[y5mgisi]

I have loved every single bit of this build. Very inspiring! Great work!

[heeroyue2002]

oh, i have one of those grills too. my 71 cst came with it.

[chevytruckluver]

I was also surprised when you reinstalled the tube grill, my 72 had one in it when I bought it and fit about like yours did, just not a quality look when everything else on your truck was to higher standard. My grill was tossed a long time ago, but you have made yours fit very nicely! Now the quality look is there in every part of your truck. Congrats Bruce
Posted via Mobile Device

[my4by2]

First off I'd like to commend you one the AMAZING work you put into this build thread!!! Not sure I have seen this much detail in any other one on here!

Secondly, your truck is amazing & the work you put into making it so was phenomenal!!! Love it that you built it to drive & actually use - and made it how you wanted it rather than how someone else might have!

The grille modification made a WORLD of difference BTW!!!

I'm in the same boat you were - could'a bought a new truck & saved a lot, but it just wouldn't be what I wanted it to be!!!

Thanks so much for sharing your time & your efforts with all of us!!!

[jesquared]

Bruce88, on your triplus doors, what size thread for the hinge did it come with? They are suppose to be 3/8 24.

[dean jendro]

Bruce,
I enjoyed your visit today. For all who have enjoyed this build believe me when I say this truck is every bit as impressive in person as in the pictures. The attention to detail is outstanding. I'm trying to finish a build on a 64 short stepper and many of the tecniques used on this truck transfer nicely to mine.
I read thru the whole build quickly but now I'm going to go back and read every detail and try to assimilate as much as I can.
Thanks again for taking the time to drive down to my house and talk about some of my truck build issues. Much appreciated!

[Bruce88]

Originally Posted by jesquared

Bruce88, on your triplus doors, what size thread for the hinge did it come with? They are suppose to be 3/8 24.

My Triplus doors came with 3/8 – 24 threads in the door. The stock bolt is a 3/8 – 24 X 1.25 long grade 5 bolt, I used a 3/8 – 24 X 1.50 long grade 5 bolts on the drivers side because of the shimming I used at the hinge.

Originally Posted by dean jendro

Bruce,
I enjoyed your visit today. For all who have enjoyed this build believe me when I say this truck is every bit as impressive in person as in the pictures. The attention to detail is outstanding. I'm trying to finish a build on a 64 short stepper and many of the tecniques used on this truck transfer nicely to mine.
I read thru the whole build quickly but now I'm going to go back and read every detail and try to assimilate as much as I can.
Thanks again for taking the time to drive down to my house and talk about some of my truck build issues. Much appreciated!

Dean you have a nice build going on with your 64 truck and you’re very close to painting. Good luck in finding a painter to do the work, painting a body off, striped down to bare metal is a little more involved than some would think. Painting then assembling then more painting then adding all the rest of the parts. The drive down wasn’t to bad with the light Washington sun (rain) (smile) plus my truck needs some driving time for me to do some more brake in and do some fine tuning evaluation on it, an enjoyable time, thanks for the invite.
Bruce

[RPBurris]

No work today...just read all 28 pages of this build...many great ideas and very detailed posts! Thanks so much for sharing!

[Jurassic-1]

Nice job so far. The lock up switch on the shifter looks like an old school 2 speed rear end switch. I put my lock up switch on the floor next to the steering column. I used a factory dimmer switch for my switch. I have a small red light on the left underside of the dash in the large hole above the e brake release. Keep up the progress.

[Bruce88]

Originally Posted by RPBurris

No work today...just read all 28 pages of this build...many great ideas and very detailed posts! Thanks so much for sharing!

Thanks for stopping by, all 28 pages in one day and it didn’t put you to sleep (smile). Glad you found it worth a read and you’re more than welcome, one of my goals was sharing and passing on information and experience to others, plus it was fun to do.

Originally Posted by Jurassic-1

Nice job so far. The lock up switch on the shifter looks like an old school 2 speed rear end switch. I put my lock up switch on the floor next to the steering column. I used a factory dimmer switch for my switch. I have a small red light on the left underside of the dash in the large hole above the e brake release. Keep up the progress.

Thank you
The few times that I’ve had the truck out since it was running a number of people wanted to know about the 2 speed rear end switch on the shifter (smile), thing aren’t always what they seem to be. I wanted it to look like one but to use it as a lockup switch for the 700R4 trans. Your floor switch with a light sounds like a nice touch and functional.

[77chris03]

god i love this truck.....im doing the same with the tail lights...hopefully.

[truck72454]

This is one outstanding truck, very detailed build post, just hopes mine will turn out half as good as this truck is

[yfs200p]

After 26 pages and 700 posts, it all goes back to the first words you read on this post; "It's Just a pickup." Some people would call us crazy for putting so much blood sweat and tears into just an old pickup truck. But once its done, its a damn nice pickup truck and its something that will make peoples heads turn when they see it. Youve done an amazing job since the word go, and you should be awfully proud of the way that thing came out. Even if its just a pickup....