1941 project fenix

[lower50's]

Score. I here you about the cold, sounds like everyone is sick. Mine hit me hard last Thursday, off work 2 days and didn't move all weekend. Feel better.

[Palf70Step]

Nice score.

Hope you get to feeling better soon.

[Chevy Apache]

Nice score and some mighty fine work,
Looking forward to this build thread.
Just starting my 46 truck not so easy in the uk harder to find parts lol.

[rusty76]

Nice score also. I've been sick for a week. First time I've been sick in a long time. Rest and drink lots of water.

[joedoh]

title came back to me friday, pretty fast! its nice doing all the work up front and then its very fast for the state. had the right VIN on it too, in fact monday I got a new reg slip with the right VIN on it so they must have noticed the error at the capitol. What a load off.

still feeling a little milquetoast saturday and most of today, but I did get out there for a couple hours. anyone remember that jack black movie where they invent the spray that just poofs dog poop? I wish someone had the technology to do that for the cab/bed combo mount on s10s because that bad boy is never any fun to take off and I always seem to have a hard time with it. but I got them off, mostly, well the part I needed off haha. I will take the rest off when I grind the frame and paint it.


at first glance it looks right to me


there she be, sitting all on her own mounts. mostly level too. its not perfect yet, I think one of the front mounts is slightly higher than the other. I will need to get it square on the frame again, bolt it temp and put on the front clip to see how my measurements work out. looks pretty good though, the floor is level with the frame, so far.


look at that perfect alignment, off the gas tank just barely, fits in nice


looking down though the bolt holes only a little fine tuning needed.


tomorrow I will get it square and tack the rears, then pull the cab off the frame for deep cleaning of both the cab and the frame. I am going to take the seats to the shop tomorrow and pick up a needle descaler from cardboard freight, the rear frame of this truck is pretty scaly. stay tuned!

[Chevy Apache]

Great work looking good think you might have done this before.

[joedoh]

my daughter is in california for work training and sent me this, I almost fainted



turns out she was tired of the endless advances by other men in her training session and at the hotel and out on the streets so she "married" herself. I figure its legal for someone to marry a potato these days so she should be endlessly happy with herself.


tacked the mounts on and rolled outside



used my cherry picker rig to pull the cab, broke the tacks on the rear passenger side mount but since I know the correct height and location of the hole should be an easy fix. I will clean up and box in the backs of the mounts, they look a little sketchy right now but hey, development is tough.


tried to get the seats out before the upholstery shop closed and failed miserably. They were installed with bolts through the floorboards and I only have access from one side, so makes it tough. but here they are as a "before". I may try and find maroon or black side pieces instead of painting them but if I dont I have used the SEM paint before with good results.


maybe I will get some frame welding done tonight too.

[Palf70Step]

Looking good.

Looks like you might be thawed out from the weekend, or did your area get missed by the ice?

[joedoh]

well the weather channel is naming storms and making up stories to get visits. I stayed up till about 2:30 the night of the "storm", the weather.com site was spewing doom and gloom for our zip code, it listed the temperature as 29 and falling rapidly, but the airport site had the temp at 33 and rising. everyone cancelled everything, and we went to breakfast on perfectly clear roads sunday morning. there was some small ice on some branches but it switched to rain later that day and was all gone by this morning.

[joedoh]

oh how I wish the number written on these seats would instead be perhaps an accurate accounting of the number of aboriginal men living in mud huts on some tiny island, but its not. its a price. they better look astounding. I picked all the upgrades.



I ordered matching carpet and some jute underlayment too. I went with the burgundy color I used on the 47 GMC wheels, I reeeeallly like that color.

washed the cab. its partly blue. who knew?


no more cow poop


then I started boxing the frame back in.





I sanded the frame a little too, I tried to pick up a needle descaler but they were on sale at cardboard frieght and sold out. I picked up a bunch of 40 grit flap discs instead, they are working well. maybe tomorrow I can get the motor loose and moved back.

[99 to Life]

cab looks solid. nice job on the frame. so 800 for both seats? I'm assuming buckets are just more money to do then a bench because its alot more time involved. either way the interior can grab just as much attention as the truck, its always worth the investment.

[joedoh]

yes, we talked, and to really make the seats nice I decided to spend up, reshaping the top, bulking up the bolsters, and making the pleats from separate pieces instead of stitched pleats. I think this interior will look astounding though, I will carpet the back wall and gloss paint the dash.

started finish welding the frame, I am being really timid on the drivers side, dont want to poke a wire through and hit a fuel line. I still have to trim the bottom edge on both sides..



you can see I took the passenger front mount loose from its tacks, it IS 1/4 low like I thought. I tried to use a spacer and it looked like **** so I scrapped it and started to cut a new one, but its the babys bedtime. I did get the rear mount repaired and reinstalled before quitting though.

[joedoh]

the circle guides work much better with the drag tip than the fine cut tip with a standoff. easier to make a real circle too.


redid the passenger front mount and wasnt happy with the look of the drivers mount (eagle eyed viewers of earlier pictures will notice I put the front piece in the rear and vice versa) so I took it apart and redid it as well.



just tacked on until I can set the front fenders and make sure the wheels are centered. I am deciding whether or not to rebuild the front suspension before mounting the clip, or after. I am thinking before, so moving the motor back is next and then rebuild the suspension and maybe this weekend drag the front clip to the garage for setup

[joedoh]

this %^&*# thing. every nut and bolt is fighting with every single thread to stay put. I have worn out two 6" grinding discs cutting heads off bolts. The fuel filter line is stuck, not sure what I will do about that yet.

I went to the interior shop to pick colors, I left a can of what I would be using on the dash (rustoleum burgundy) but they still didnt want to make a decision without my input. good thing. they picked the bottom color, I picked the top.


originally they had a streaky burgundy that looked like old furniture. I realigned them with the concept of my truck, I like the outside to look old but I like when things are modern, that means late model color and fabrics. I ordered a steering wheel this weekend, same thing, three spoke design with leather wrap. the top half looks like a repair but its actually made that way from the factory. my dad had one on his cavalier in the 80s, so when I saw it I had to have it


got the motor loose, not to soapbox on what a pain this thing is but the engine mounts were 5/8" on one side and 17mm on the other, nothing else fit. I chopped the trans mount lifted it with a couple jacks and moved it back



not quite enough. The power steering lines were my limiter so I gave them a little bend





thats better. I know I said 8.5 was my sweet spot but I am going closer to 10 because this trucks not the boss of me and I do what I want


I called the PO of the S10 and asked him if I owed any property tax on the amount of land he gave me with this truck


this may cause a problem, the motor mount needs to go right where this brake line is.


and found the coolant leak. when I picked it up it was empty on coolant and when I drove the truck home it lost what I put in. This I guess is common on the TBI, one more thing to do though. looking online the repair sounds fun.



more tomrorow! I have an idea for setting the motor mounts correctly and will try it.

[99 to Life]

I'v had many of days like yours. Just one of those ones that you hope forget about and make up for with a better day down the road.

[joedoh]

oh I am not discouraged, not in the least. the truck can fight all it wants, I will make it clean and pretty and new.

I decided to pull the motor to try my mount idea, my $50 picker pulled its 7th motor!


one of the mounts was wasted and you can see the pan was rubbing the crossmember, not that it would be a problem when I moved it back but interesting to see anyway


started pulling the suspension, more of the same haha. cut the shock, cut the sway bar end link, fight the balljoints that spin instead of loosen.


I didnt work a lot today, only a couple hours. my steelers lost but I still love that team and love that town.

[99 to Life]

I could barely watch that game. Frustrates me beyond belief, no team can muster up a plan to even compete with the patcheaots. You know they are throwing 90% of the time yet we still run a zone defense that he picks apart. anyway...... more important things in life like building trucks!

[Palf70Step]

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

I could barely watch that game. Frustrates me beyond belief, no team can muster up a plan to even compete with the patcheaots. You know they are throwing 90% of the time yet we still run a zone defense that he picks apart. anyway...... more important things in life like building trucks!

[joedoh]

yeah some time I will show you guys the tradition my family has of painting the cars with poster paint when the stillers are in the big show.

the best way to handle rusty fasteners is to just get rid of them ALL of them


sanded and painted and started reassembly with all new moog problem solver parts. my side room looks like a moog showroom but I love the quality. even though I wont benefit from it? huh I guess maybe I shoulda cheaped out. anyway:




oh what the hell you talked me into it



thats just the most recent one, I have done it every year since and including 1995

[Palf70Step]

[99 to Life]

nice frame and Im with you on the new moog parts. its the little things that go that extra mile, even though most guys could care less. nice fan work on the whip.

[Advanced Design]

Nice improvement on the frame. What paint did you use?

[joedoh]

just rustoleum satin rust converter. I wanted the converter because there were obviously areas I couldnt reach (or chose not to based on the time/benefit ratio)

picked up my motor mount stuff today. on the last one I carefully balaced the motor on the picker while holding it at what I thought was the right angle while trying to keep it square in the frame. it was a mf'r and took me almost 2 days. I wanted to try what I thought would be an easier way. and cheaper, because the universal weld in mounts were 60 bucks and shipping.

I drove all over looking for a piece of 1/2" ID 11 ga tube, but only found a new 20ft stick. seeing as I only needed about 5 inches, I passed on that. decided that black pipe would work, but it didnt come as 1/2" ID, more like 7/16" ID. I picked it up and kicked myself all the way home till I realized the through hole in the existing mounts was the same bolt size, 1/2" wouldnt have fit. score.


I got 7/16" all thread and nuts too.


now the existing mounts are at about a 4 degree down angle, so if I just moved the mounts straight back, they would be about 1/2" lower. so I cut the all thread and stacked it, giving me back that (almost) 1/2 inch.


I cut my black pipe, one with a tubing cutter, one with a zip disc. if you cant tell them apart, good, because using the tubing cutter required patience.


amount of move. I made sure to keep the pipes slightly over 16.5" apart (thats the distance for the mounts I am using, 67 chevelle 327 mounts)


overall shot of my jig in position


plasma some mounts. mirror image except the passenger side is 1/2 shorter (motor is offset 1/2" from factory)


bobs your uncle.


total time including shopping: 3.5 hours. you can see my hubris, I cant get the jig out in one piece

[Hewfil1]

Originally Posted by joedoh

they always start out low buck, and then they end up, well not high buck but mid buck for sure haha

the s10 donor has some okay appearing seats with terrible covers, and a headrest. I am going to go for a nice rich burgundy interior on this one so I drew up what I want the upholstery to look like. the pleats will be half rounds, really bumpily. I think it will look nice with the bolsters. I think he said they were 89 fwd lebaron seats.

89 LeBaron seats? I think my friend hasn't scrapped his LeBaron yet. Too bad you're in Kansas and you've already got seats.

[joedoh]

that what he said they were, I dont know myself. I used them because of two reasons

1. the mounts were all in the same plane, no weirdo out of level mounts. that will make mounting them easy.
2. I will never ever throw something useful away just to buy the exact same thing in a different color or style.

they should look better with new upholstery.