1970 C20 father/son frame off rebuild

[justKIDn]

Since my last update, I received our new saddle tanks I had made a local fab shop, I liked the idea of the saddle tanks but didn’t like them hanging down below the bedsides. The new ones or shorter and won’t be seen from the side of the truck. I mocked them up with a 2x4 frame to finish running all of the fuel lines. With all of the fuel lines run, the chassis is nearly complete. I still have to modify the original or make a new driveshaft, but I’m waiting to take the measurements after the cab and bed are back on the frame. I will also fit a new rear bumper and receiver hitch at that time.

[justKIDn]

We installed our radiator and fan setup from Engineered Cooling Products, I hope it cools as good as it looks.

[justKIDn]

KaCee and I spent a Saturday morning at a paint supply store and picked out the colors he wanted. I took a Camaro fender patch I had laying around and sprayed out a test panel, one side cleared and one side finished with a flat clear. We plan on using all four finishes throughout the truck.

[justKIDn]

Early in the summer, I enlisted an upholstery shop to fix up the interior. I’m nowhere near needing them, but I know sometimes his lead time is out there. I had acquired a bench seat out of a late 80s 1 ton service truck my work was scrapping, and bought new door panels, dash pad and a Highliner headliner. The shop recovered the seat, door panels, dash pad and the original sunvisors with vinyl in the colors and design picked out by KaCee. Needless to say, he was excited with the results when I surprised him after school the other day after picking up the interior parts.

[justKIDn]

Prior to getting the interior parts back, I went ahead and modified the seat base to fit the floorboard by removing about an inch of the forward section allowing it to sit flat and giving us one more inch of head room. As for the headliner, we’re going to paint it.

[justKIDn]

A couple more....

[justKIDn]

After dragging the bed into my shop for the third hurricane threat since the tear down, this time with Ida, I decided to build a dolly so if another one comes before we.re finished, I can just roll it in instead of fighting with engine lifts to move it around.

[justKIDn]

We then had some renderings done with Rendered Rides, so KaCee could show off what his idea is for the truck’s finished look.

[justKIDn]

I think that brings us up to speed on our progress, the next part of the plan is to start the engine and begin the rust repair on the cab.

[LT7A]

That's very cool: the truck, the father/son project, the family hobby of drag racing, all of it. Thanks for bringing us in, it's fun to see. The truck is coming together very nicely.

[Chevys4life]

Originally Posted by justKIDn

We then had some renderings done with Rendered Rides, so KaCee could show off what his idea is for the truck’s finished look.

That is going to look really nice!!! I love the rendering of the truck!!!!

[justKIDn]

Whew! Time flies when you’ve got stuff to do. Haven't updated this thread in quite a while and haven’t made much progress on the truck either. Most of our time has been around racing. This is his last year in the junior dragster, so we’ve been trying to make the best of it. He’s also the newest custodian of a “home built with old parts”, entry level “big car”, put together by an old local racer, to pass around to the young ones moving up the drag racing ranks. KaCee’s the third driver in it. He won his first race in it and was runner up in his second, so I think he’ll make the transition smoothly.

[justKIDn]

Part of his winnings was a free entry into one of the biggest footbrake races around here. We decided to pull out of storage, the project Camaro we had, for after his junior dragster career was over, and the truck was built. After a three-week thrash, and about 6 test passes, we had the car “ready for the track”. First pass out he blows the front tire at the finishline at 101mph. The first words out of his mouth when I got to him is “Dad, think we can find some tires tonight”? We did find some, loaned to us from another racer, and 8 more passes into the race we bowed out because we were filling the oil pan up with water. It was very disappointing, especially because he was winning rounds. That in itself exceeded our expectations, but engine failure was not even on my radar. As it turns out, our freshly rebuilt “with all the good stuff” engine, which I have the build sheet and invoice for, had a “repaired” cracked cylinder that “unrepaired” on us. The drivetrain is the only reason I bought the car, the rest of it was/is a mess. Bummer.

[justKIDn]

So that’s our racing update, now back to Ole Blu. In between all of the race stuff, we’ve done a little picking at things on the truck. Our new wheels came in From Wheel Vintiques. I had the tires mounted and KaCee threw them on the truck as soon as I got home with them, he just had to see them on the chassis.

[justKIDn]

We set the cab back on the chassis to mockup the new parts that came in. To ensure clearance of the Tremec TKX 5-speed transmission, I cut out the floor to add the high hump.

[justKIDn]

We’ve installed a new master cylinder from PICKMUP here on the board, a tilt steering column from IDIDIT and an AC system from Old Air Products. I’m happy to say, all three projects went perfectly. Oh, and with the new Tremec TKX transmission, a high hump isn't necessary. I'll be welding the original floor back in.

[justKIDn]

KaCee even took his girl out for a date on her high school graduation night. They didn’t go very far, but enjoyed some tunes in the shop.

[justKIDn]

KaCee, starting his senior year, participated in his high school’s tradition of the seniors personalizing their parking spots for the year.

That's all I've got for now, but we have a pile of parts to attack, just gotta find the time.

[May70]

Looking good