47-55.1 Project "Bickle" 1948 1/2 ton 4.3 4l60e

[twinshadows]

Very Good pictures . . . nice job . . . Thank you .

(I'm still alittle dizzy ; but, I'll keep looking until it sinks - in ).

Has been a little cool here in Chino Valley this week - - but, today was sunny & better . Keep going , looking good . . . . jim

[oldman3]

Russ nice job, and how it was done...Jim

[8man]

Thanks Russ! Now even I understand how to cut the frame down.

[joedoh]

thanks fellas, tempest asked me to make a how to

[olcarguy]

Thank you Russ showing us how...good job, and good tutorial....

[Tempest67]

Great Pics, and great directions.

Thank you very much, looks straight forward.......more or less.


I passed over a lot of ext cabs when looking for an S10 donor frame because I did not know that this could be done.

If there is another project in my future, this will be very good to know.


Thanks again for taking the time to take pics and share this information,

[OutlawDrifter]

Great write up Russ, I'm always on the lookout for "cheap" s10 rollers...I've got a Nash Metropolitan I'd love to put on one....hmmm.

[joedoh]

yeah I would like to do a 48 ford f1 on s10 this year, this will help a lot because they have a weird wheelbase, like 112".

Originally Posted by Tempest67

I passed over a lot of ext cabs when looking for an S10 donor frame because I did not know that this could be done.

bartman (on this forum) did a video on shortening a long time ago, but I still only looked for long beds. for all the work it takes (or doesnt take) I dont think I will ever exclusively look for a longbed ever again.

I still talk to bartman, he is reasonably local and we have hung out a couple times. I am trying to get him motivated on his truck again, he has a lot on his plate though, I get it.



motor mounts! I used my old cheater jig, with the all threads 16.25" apart. cut the threads off two pieces of 4" black pipe, and copied wedges 4 times. kept the 1/2" offset to the passenger side and this time only moved the mounts back 7.25". on the last truck I went almost 2" more, and played hell putting the distributor in. used a tape measure to make sure the front and rear of the mounts were at the same heights from the floor to keep the same installed angle of the motor.




the bolts are 100mm M12 metrics, slightly bigger than 7/16" and slightly smaller than 1/2", because 1/2 does not fit in the new mounts and 7/16 is just barely loose in the black pipe.

I usually cut down the original trans crossmember but wanted to try just building a new one from rectangle tube. worked well, only took about an hour.




sanded everything I wouldnt be able to reach with the motor back in and put down some matte black.



still snowy and wet outside.



more in next post

[joedoh]

the clamshell motor mounts dont work on the new frame mounts so I get generic V8 mounts from the local auto parts store. I tell them 1970 chevelle with a 305 V8, duralast 2142 is what comes up.

look jim, an unbroken clamshell mount (the other side was broken)




I always take the oil cooler off the motors. back when they were new, it might have been necessary but oil technology has improved so much and honestly these old lines are always a leaking mess. this truck with 115k was still pretty nice, and even though there was an oil leak at the cooler flange it turned out to be the oil filter was loose on the block . take off the filter and then use a 3/8 allen socket to take the spin on mount off.




then there are two T35 torx holding the cooler adapter to the block. take those out (be careful, they can strip the heads, then you have to drill them out) and disconnect the lines from the rad. you dont have to unscrew them, there are two clips (seen on the cart) that once you pull them the lines just pop out.




pull the o ring off the block and thread the spin on filter adapter back into the block, viola!

[oldman3]

Originally Posted by joedoh

.

look jim, an unbroken clamshell mount (the other side was broken)

!

And with only 115,000 miles...Jim

[28TudorAZ]

Looking great. Its been a while since I have been on here. Not surprised you finished Kechi. My new goal is to finish my truck before you finish this one. I have been putting a hour here and there.

[joedoh]

jim I dont like clamshell mounts, they seem like they are broken new or old. I bought a 72k chassis once, the clamshells were broken.

28tudor I am rooting for you, but I would really like this one rolling by the end of the month!

I plopped the motor back in, fits nice!



I started taking off the control arms and my friend travis called with another craiglist find, guy had a vague description but an interesting melange of parts, did I want to go halfsies? (well, halfsies AND drop everything to pick up ASAP?)



so I said yes, looked like some 54 parts in there and a gmc hood, which I knew he needed.

once more I underestimated how much stuff people have. it was THREE hoods, including a really nice 54, FIVE front fenders including the nice set of 54s, FIVE more doors (like I needed more doors) two sets of regular running boards and a set of super shorts, inner fenders, even a nice seat.




even this nice condition 39 international bed. which I had to leave to pick up another day, because of the sheer volume of other stuff.



there was more, bumpers and the 54 grille which sadly was missing the upper bar, and miscellaneous stuff. and when travis came over he picked up the gmc hood and some inners, a gmc core support and fender braces I had and called it square. so my storage got fuller.

so tomorrow maybe front end work.

[oldman3]

Russ, another nice haul...Jim

[Rusti]

Men a lot of parts.... for many many new projects.
By the way grate progress on the frame.
So long
Arnd

[joedoh]

thanks arnd! my last name starts with a D so I am also a "RussD"


jim its getting ridiculous, I have almost 5 complete trucks in the storage building (5 ADs, and a TF). yesterday I thought I would get work done and my neighbor called and said the weather was going to be ok and we could trench out the new driveway approaches to repair the culverts at the storage place, so thats what we did all day.

[oldman3]

Well, now you have good access to the parts...Jim

[Tinbasher]

Crazy deals you come across! really jealous... i think you have more parts than all of manitoba hahaha. Anyway, i Love your work and looking forward to this build!

[twinshadows]

Russ - - Parts - r - Parts , but you need to be able too get to them.
Nice job on that drive . . . . . . ( you're hired ).
jim

[joedoh]

sheesh, more parts have found their way to me. I am almost out of room. more on that in a few days.

I wanted the front suspension rebuilt next. I like to take the wheels off with the frame on jack stands. I put a jack under the lower arm just slightly pushing the arm up, not enough to lift the frame off the jack stand but enough that the arm moves up slightly. I take off the tie rod joint then take off the upper balljoint castle nut all the way, then thread it back on with only a 1/4 inch space between the spindle and castle nut. then I lower the jack so it is JUST BELOW the lower arm, about 1/4 inch, and take my BFH and tap straight on the spindle. do not hit the balljoint, dont hit the castle nut. hit the spindle right at the balljoint area. thusly (click to play)

IMG_6323 by Rooty Tooty, on Flickr

on the fifth whack you can see the spindle drop, the spring pressure has helped and the balljoint is loose. If I am replacing the lower balljoint or installing drop spindles, I repeat this with the lower balljoint, take off the castle nut all the way, then thread back on leaving space, lower the jack slightly, whack whack whack. you can replace a spindle without taking out the shock or spring or sway bar end link.

the uppers were wasted.







when I had checked the front end the tie rods seemed loose, so planned to replace them and had bought the parts. they wouldnt come loose from the center link, my bfh swing was limited by the sway bar, but I had a new center link too so I popped it off. immediately I realized what I thought was bad tie rods was a bad idler arm, which I DIDNT have. the tie rods were actually tight and good. but I had the new parts so I picked up a new idler and popped it all on.




now the garage was empty, more in the next post.

[joedoh]

getting the frame out of the garage meant it was time to screw with the plasma table. I have not received the battery for my laptop yet, so I rolled it close to the door where my workstation is. did all my checks and tests and ran my g code on a "dry run" without firing the torch, it all worked super great. I put some water in the water table and the torch fired. and fired. and didnt stop. it wasnt cutting through the material it was just on constantly.

I checked and checked and checked, restarted the CAM software a few times, checked the table stuff. I ruined a few half sheets trying different things, nothing seemed to work. Then i started thinking, this is the new torch model with the cnc port, and they supply the cable. the torch fired every time I plugged the port in. so I went looking and sure enough under the shrink wrap I found a short.



aha! after that it was milk and honey. click to play

IMG_6371 by Rooty Tooty, on Flickr

I had to slow the cut speed down a lot, the cut table said 65ipm but I found 48 gave no dross and a clean cut.



my first foldable mount (you can see the previous failed cut on the other side haha)



I cut it and folded it in the vise in about 45 seconds total.



my wife wants me to bronze it, I am not sentimental so I will cut a second tomorrow as well as the rears and core support mounts too. I would cut them now but everyone is asleep again after hearing me shout AHA and the compressor running again.

I also got a job for the table, that was really a secondary goal, got an order for 200 parts, simple cut and weld job out of some 14 ga. I might post pics of that too, but maybe not, just keep it truck stuff.

[mongocanfly]

Looks good Russ..that plasma table is nice...

[oldman3]

Russ, nice update on the front end stuff. Table looks great, and some super nice parts...Jim

[Tinbasher]

Nice plasma setup. What brand of front end parts do you use? I'm thinking about buying new control arms instead of replacing ball joints, bushings and painting etc. they are cheap from rock auto but not much for reviews...

[joedoh]

I like to use moog when I have to replace everything. sometimes though I use less expensive stuff, because moog stuff is almost $900 for a whole front end now. if I am replacing the lower arms I definitely go moog, but for uppers the dormans work well. On this truck I ordered a kit from TYM, which is dorman arms and unboxed masterpro tie rods. the idler is also masterpro from oreillys.

cut the rear mounts, everything looks great.




I dont want to gush but usually its about a 5 hour day to make mounts by hand cutting and then grinding and then welding. and its hard to get everything identical. these parts are identical like almost at a molecular level. I definitely need to get more steel, I have run through all my 11 gauge already.

I saved so much time I ran to pick up my latest finds, another guy who bought new parts for his truck. its a bed with fenders and no tailgate, and an entire front clip. most of it has been sandbalsted.

[8man]

Those CNC cut mounts are works of art. I see a secondary business in your future. Cut 'em out and let the buyer fold and weld to keep shipping costs down.