Gator Squared

[sumran]

Originally Posted by muddnutz

If I came home to all that my wife would be grilling me hard! Where did you get money for that!!! Lol I'd still be grinning though.
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I am a lucky man. Mine is encouraging my irresponsible behavior.

[Restrorob]

Ha ! Maybe she feels bad cruising around town in a Mercedes while your knock'n around in a Dooodge ?

[sumran]

Originally Posted by Restrorob

Ha ! Maybe she feels bad cruising around town in a Mercedes while your knock'n around in a Dooodge ?

I am usually on a BMW. The two wheeled variety.

[Restrorob]

OOOPS, Forgot about the crotch rocket..... See..... I'm blinded when I get to about squares !

[motornut]

nice grill ,i like that style

[sumran]

Thanks motornut.

The parts truck went to the scrap yard today. Recovered $332. I kept the windshield, which saved me $125. Between parts I have sold and those I will sell, I should recover another $150. That puts me ahead of what I paid for it by $50 or so.

I am in the process of pulling the engine and transmission. The remainder of the week, I'll be stripping the truck in preparation for the painter. I hope the painter is slow because I have lots to research and work to get done before it comes back.

I accidently bought some tires today. You see, the scrap yard is on the same property as the U-Pull-It place. Since I was there, I thought I would wander through and see if any new square bodies had come in. There weren't many (lots of Fords though) but one had a very nice set of mags with center caps. I didn't have any tools, but some other guys there were kind enough to loan me a tire iron. They wanted the tires that were on the wheels, but the 5 x 5's weren't going to work on his S-10. After we got them pulled, we went to a tire place to get the tires removed. He gave me a good price and quick turn around on a set of tires. The guys that helped me went home happy with their "new" used tires, I went home happy with new tires and a couple of items checked off my to-do list, and the tire guy made a little money.

Life is good.

[sumran]

The rest of the weekend was a battle. The engine and tranny are out of the truck. The transmission in my truck wasn't a TH350 either. It was a 700R4. Unfortunately, it fell off the jack as I was removing it. The corner of the case broke off but it was below the point of attachment to the block. It is the corner to which the lower bell housing cover attaches.

The engine came out without any real trouble.

I still need to swap my old engine and transmissions for a rebuilt 700R4. They may end up rebuilding mine.

Tomorrow it is time to clean the garage and regain sanity.

[sumran]

I going to the upholstry guy today. I am trying to sort through all the various shades of blue the are in my interior. Carpet, headliner, seats, console, seat belts, hard plastic trim; they all seem to be substantially different colors. This is compounded by the fact that the exterior will be blue and the painted part of the dash will be painted in the exterior color.

Would you just let all the various blues mingle and hope for the best?

[motornut]

lol lay them out in the sun,at least the darker ones,maybe it will even out lol

[muddnutz]

Mine is the same. Different shades of blue everywhere. Not too bad though, 90 bench seat matches belts trim is darker as is headliner. Nobody says anything unless I point it out so it will stay that way
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[sumran]

I think I added a few more colors of blue at the upholstry shop. I need to sell one of the excess cars this weekend to recover the money that has been flying out of my wallet for this project.

[sumran]

The beast is ready to go to the painter. It has been a very long weekend to get it ready. Some pictures to document the before.

[Restrorob]

Haha ! Looks like you left it sitting in the wrong part of town...

Just think....ALL that stuff has to be put back on, So get plenty rest while it's with the painter !

[sumran]

A few more oddball pictures. I now have a 250 six cylinder on one stand in the garage. It was going to be part of a trade for a rebuilt transmission, but I stopped feeling warm and fuzzy about the guy I was dealing with, so now I will be selling the motor to raise money for a rebuild kit. The other stand has the SBC that will be installed in my truck. The wheels are the set off parts truck that will be sold to offset costs.

I made a small cart to hold the tranny.

[sumran]

Originally Posted by Restrorob

Haha ! Looks like you left it sitting in the wrong part of town...

Just think....ALL that stuff has to be put back on, So get plenty rest while it's with the painter !

Good advice. However, I need to refresh the engine rebuild the tranny....

It will take me a week to get the garage in some sort of working condition again.

When it comes back I am going to adjust the work speed to slower and steady. Everything has to look good and be done carefully from now on. I also expect to enjoy the process more as it comes together in the finished form.

[sumran]

Got a pile of parts from Classic for the interior. They will have to sit and wait until the truck gets back. I ordered them now because some of the interior parts need to be painted.I am installing all of the plastic trim pieces on the pillars and over the windows. A couple of notes if you are doing the same: If you put in the trim pieces you use the headliner for a vehicle that came equipped with one. I almost ordered the wrong one. The customer service person saved me a mistake. It takes about 40 screws to mount all the stuff.

I went to the glass installer's place yesterday. He is currently installing a One Piece Products kit in another Square Body. It is the same kit I have on order. They are having a difficult time making it work right, but I spoke with Ben at One Piece and he assured me he will support the installer and help him get it just right.

A significant problem exists with the elephant ear mirrors and the one piece install. With the factory setup, there is a support arm that braces the sheet metal where the large mirrors attach. That arm has to be removed to install the one piece windows. The sheet metal is not strong enough to support the mirror when the arm is removed. The first person that leans on the mirror would distort the door skin. We will be fabricating a backing plate to stiffen the metal. In addition, we will be moving the mirrors forward, so that the attachment point is close to the edge of the door. The mirrors would have been mounted in the forward position without wing windows.. It should actually improve the look of the finished product.

The stiffening plate will have studs welded to it that will protrude to the outside, for mirror attachment. That will keep maximum clearance in the door for the glass. Clearance is needed with the big piece of curved glass moving through the door.

There will be pictures when we get that far.

[sumran]

The one piece window kit came in tonight. I'll be taking them to the glass installers Thursday or Friday. The body shop is going to pull the doors drop them off at the glass installers. They are going to install the kit, then remove the glass and trim, then take the doors back to the body shop. They didn't want to risk damaging the new paint during installation, which I appreciate.

Since they are repositioning the mirrors, it will require some body work anyway. The mirrors cannot go as far forward as we had hoped because of clearance issues on door opening. It will still be a big help to move them forward.

[1985ChevyK20]

Welcome, i am newish to i just figured out how use the fourm hope to see pics

[Pop's C-10]

I'm diggin tha tranny wagon...lol

Good idea on tha stiffening plate...

[durty harry]

Looks like a sweet project , now I know who has been taking all the good parts from U=Pull it

[Restrorob]

Originally Posted by durty harry

now I know who has been taking all the good parts from U=Pull it

Well dang..... Now I'm never gonna find parts for my 74 around here.

Welcome Aboard durty harry !

[sumran]

Originally Posted by durty harry

Looks like a sweet project , now I know who has been taking all the good parts from U=Pull it

I haven't been able to find much there. I did get some wheels. If you are needing those I have another set to sell (at cost if you call before midnight tonight). I had to go to the Ocala yards to get stuff.

Hope to meet you soon so we can compare notes. I'll send you a pm with my contact info.

[sumran]

Ordered the last batch of interior parts (I think). It is amazing how fast all those pieces can add up. None of the parts are all that expensive, but there are lots of them. I got the door panels, even though I don't need them yet, because I want to see all the shades of blue before I commit to a seat color and a dash cover. Stitch will be doing my dash cover. I showed a picture to the upholstry guy doing my seats. he looked at it for a few seconds and said. "I would get him to do it."

I decided to install the band-o-billet. Door panel inserts, dash insert and instrument bezel. I hope it will tie things together and provide the right amount of jewelry for the blue box I am creating. Stock steering column, gauges and controls. I thought about a gauge upgrade (some beauties on this forum) but I think the stock black gauges will be set off well by the billet overlay. There is also that budget thing.

[Restrorob]

Originally Posted by sumran

There is also that budget thing.

Huh ??? I didn't think you had one of those the way you've been go'n at it !!!

[sumran]

Originally Posted by Restrorob

Huh ??? I didn't think you had one of those the way you've been go'n at it !!!

Not so my friend. For every "toy" dollar that goes out one has to come in. Sell something if I want something. I did put a few transportation dollars in the project though. Those don't count