What did you do to your truck today?

[TJ's Chevy]

Primed my stepside bed today. Need to get better primer. And am working on fixing a exhaust leak between the head and header. Puffing out air in the second flange from the rear. And working on saving for the rebuild! Can't wait to put the performance parts in. There gonna really wake up that ol chevy 6!

[donthekawguy]

Got my bed strips back from the powder coater then realized I got the wrong bolt kit. I got the carriage bolts and need the ones with grooves. I think the carriage bolts will work if I use an air ratchet. Now I just need the wood and have my friend cut it then I can finish it and put it all back together.

[Grizz1963]

Not much to report back other than the smiles per mile continue to add up to more than the smiles per cost per liter to run this beast.

Weather forecast is rubbish with intermittent rain and possibly storms, not that it should stop me really, there is always something that needs doing.

Have I mentioned that I really do like (that's better than love) my wife Nicola??

This week they started doing some remodeling at her work, clearing out a lot of old equipment and stuff that is no longer fit for purpose.

They had an 8 meter deep skip that was filled with chairs, furniture and much much more.

At some point she went outside and got a bollocking from the judges of the County Court who they share a car park with for firstly having a large skip on site and secondly....... the local jobless alcoholics had removed all the chairs from the skip and taken them down to the "beach" on the River Medway to have a party..... OOOOPPPss?

Well, in pursuit of the chairs some steel cabinets had been dragged out of the skip and set down next to it..... when the chairs were returned and the skip collected, the steel cabinets had not been returned to the skip.

Nicola saw them, and immediately took a couple of pics she texted to me with just one word : "WANT??" Of course I said yes as I still have some old wooden bedroom wardrobes in the garage to replace with steel cabinets. She then got some of the funeral directors and bearers to drag them back indoors for me to collect later.

Did I mention I liked my wife ??

Went to fetch them the next evening at about 7pm with Mickey riding shotgun to help me load them.....

Today I will unload them and empty one more wardrobe and replace it with a steel cabinet.

Garage is getting there.





Last night after work I popped over to my mate Martin who had bought a 1965 LWB Fleetside C10 truck about the same time as we got ours. He works in the "Disability motor vehicle conversion business" Interestingly, he and his wife have two Mazda MX5's as well, so we seem to have a fair amount in common. He had managed to get some brand new loose car mats for my truck and Nicola's MX5 from dealers who remove them prior to conversion to hand control etc. So I popped over to look at what his cars looked like etc.

While chatting about various things including the last weekend towing the Grizz-Pod with the truck I mentioned I was going to remove the small but ineffective round mirrors and replace them with the slightly larger (unattractive to me) rectangular ones. He offered to pick me up a pair of heads when he is in the USA later in the year (so I get to keep my stalks and mountings) as they are only $10.00 each. He also showed me the mirrors that had been on his truck when he got it, I suspect they are moderns, ugly but functional.
Later in our discussions it turned out that his glove box was missing its "liner" so I offered him some 1.2mm ally plate to make one, in the end he suggested that if I made him a new liner, he would trade me for the mirrors if I was interested...... Typically I agreed. He also offered to fit Rivnuts to my door once I have done the paint and repairs as part of the deal.





I will make a mounting plate for the large mirrors, which has a 4 hole mounting plate that will fit the standard 3 screw/nut fitting, and with the Rivnuts in place I will be able to remove the standard mirror when I want to to the Teardrop long distance. The Rivnuts will just mean that I can remove the mirrors without losing the thread in the door.

Martin had these mirrors on his truck when he bought them..... Soon to be mine.




This weekend I want to make two if these smoker cookers from old gas bottles.

My mate Woodsie works in demolition and a lot of the stuff they remove from sites have to go into skips and be "recycled" (read: exported to China and turned into cars)so when I showed him the pics I took at a car show a while ago, he was game for me making us each one as well. Fair trade.
He is off to fetch a new used motorbike for his wife this morning, but my drop in later to drop of the bottles he rescued.

This is what I will be aiming at.



This was just after the smoker/cooker was loaded.

[robber grin]

Welcome ratrod11!

Alan will you autograph my firewall? Very cool sir.

I spent a fair amount of time (3 days) trying to adapt the 70's van column to the 62 and finally got it done yesterday - shortened the D-shaft about 4" then spotted and drilled the new spacing and added 4 aluminum rivets as shear pins. Started the 66 front e-brake cable routing to the DS boxed frame.

Got the last two tires for the front ground, sanded, mounted and balanced, then on the 62.

Pig roast later today but I wouldn't mind some of grizz's bbq - loves me some yard-bird - looks good man!

Garage Tiki ~ very happy...
rg

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by markeb01

Congrats on the interview! Most of us will never share that experience. Very cool indeed!

Thank you Sir. I just wish I talked more.

Originally Posted by robber grin

Welcome ratrod11!

Alan will you autograph my firewall? Very cool sir.

rg

Haha ….... well if you really want me too. . Btw thank you.

Nice work on your truck!

I went to a show today and brought this home


Posted via Mobile Device

[ratrod11]

Very true!

[ACK]

Replaced wiper transmission, arms, and blades. Also working on replacing the weather seal around the door on the driver side now that the passenger side is done.

[Armando22]

I've been banned for Spam.

[mud.man.rj]

Spam...sounds bad..

[the_evil_monk]

Nothing too exciting...except picked up our personalized license plates. Okay...maybe a little exciting. I have never had personalized plates before!

[LVPhotos]

Cut pan-hard bar mount off. Swapped in new valve covers with hint of body color to come. Order next round of parts to be installed and posting up what has come off. Did the pipe notch the other day and swapped out the HEI for the MSD distributor and coil .

[ACK]

Got the heater riser unstuck and installed a heater riser spring, too. Got the spring from a local Jeep parts place for just a few bucks. It's pretty much identical to the Chevy spring, just removed a couple of inches and bent the end to catch the stop. Works like a champ.

[jayoldschool]

Got the side wood pieces installed, and most of the crossmembers hung. I have to mod one of the "wide hole" ones to make it a narrow (bought used ones). Progress! Pics tomorrow in better light.

[RANDY COX]

Tore the front end apart now I can start patching...

[joedoh]

didnt feel like taking out the bumper bolts there randy?

[ChevyJr]

Been avoiding body work for a while. Finishing up drivetrain work and front to back all parts a new. Frame still needs to be powder coated, but I'm just glad it running like I wanted. Pulled off the generic door panels and started air chiseling off the heat/sound covering and opened Pandora's box. Making a list of patch panels to order and the nightmare begins.

[RANDY COX]

Originally Posted by joedoh

didnt feel like taking out the bumper bolts there randy?

LOL,The truck is sitting on a 70 4x4 frame and had to cut the horns off to put the 64 horns to match bumper..

[gmcdeadhead]

started the front end conversion on my 66, it will get a new 1987 1-ton front end , power steering and hydro boost brakes. [IMG][/IMG]

[TJ's Chevy]

Originally Posted by gmcdeadhead

started the front end conversion on my 66, it will get a new 1987 1-ton front end , power steering and hydro boost brakes. [IMG][/IMG]

Love the straight 6! Looks like a stock 292???

[earl84]

gmcdeadhead, what components are you going to use for the front end conversion? New parts, or used, and if used, what is the donor vehicle? Are you replacing the entire front crossmember? Very interested in watching this, please post some pics along the way.

[Snailed]

I enabled the fuel cut on deceleration on my EFI setup. Now the injectors completely shut off when I'm coasting down which I do a lot of since it's a manual trans. I also got most of the cruising areas really leaned out. This 350 still runs fine at 15-16:1 air fuel ratio at very light cruising load. Now I really want to figure out how to hook up my stock speedo to the T5 so I can get an idea of my MPG.

[gmcdeadhead]

the donor truck was a 1987 r30 1-ton chevy. i already put the 14 bolt rear in a couple of months ago. the front end had all brand new parts already on it when i bought it. i switched out the whole cross member in about 4 hrs. old one out , new one in. i'll be doing the power steering conversion sometime today. i'll get some more pics up later.

[earl84]

4 hours, man that's fast!! Thanks.

[gmcdeadhead]

yep 4 hrs. my bolts and nuts were not that rusty , just road grime on them. they all came out pretty easy.

[Grizz1963]

Well, luck does favour the brave.... or am I missing something here?

Popped around to Mickey's this morning for a chat and he was cleaning up a huge pot and reviving the plant inside it, from a job he did yesterday.
His sons work rebuilding, decorating and gutting office space.
Yesterday they had to take down a load of offices, and one of the casualties ended up being a load of White Oak skirting boards.
They are 90mm wide and I am not sure how thick...... Hope you are getting my drift here.

Anyway, a load had been claimed by one of the guys on the job, buut there were still some in the back of his van he mentioned, if I was interested in them before he went to the skip.



So I cleared the lot out and brought them home in the hope I could salvage some bits for the garden furniture we have, that has seen a lot of seasons outside and are now starting to show their age.

I previously rebuilt a garden bench using offcuts of White Oak as well, which is still in use.



Once I had sorted the pile out, this is what I was left with.....

The pile to the right is all under 1.8 meters long, so only good for rebuilding the furniture.

The pile to the left though, has about 19 strips, and at 90mm wide, I need 18 strips to remake the floor of the truck which is currently plywood.





After sorting it out, stashed under the bike trailer for now.
The cleaning up of the wood to get all the glue etc off it will take some time.
Unfortunately the side I need to use is the side with the glue, the other side it grooved.





I am looking forward to the day I can fit the white oak to the bed.