My Unexpected '66 SWB-Fleet-Restomod Project!

[Johns66]

Modge 66

Truck looks nice.

Where in Grand Rapids do you live, I grew up there.

[Gmforce]

I have been watching this from the get go and still love it... I dig the engine compartment as is ..However , Have you thought about color matching that corvette cover in blue and silver ? Might also look good.. Either way it'll be one of the bars we all would like to reach with our own builds... Keep up the awesome work and documentation brother..

[Strodder]

Lookin great

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by McMurphy

Man Modges !!
I have not bathed mine yet, but looking at yours is motivational !!

That bad boy is looking awesome !! Love the engine compartment, and that vette motor looks fantastic sitting there.
Congrats dude

Thanks Murph!
No need for the congrats, I am not finished yet!

Originally Posted by 1963c-10

Truck is looking great!!!!

Thanks a bunch!

Originally Posted by chad64chevy

so we get to see what the guy behind the madness look like, lol!! truck look absolutely beautiful sitting in the sun, so when do the rims come in? that thing is going to look killer complete, are the rims going to match the silver or chrome or ?? I forgot, lol!!

Thanks Chad!
The rims are kinda Top-Secret right now.
They should arrive from being built in the next few weeks hopefully, and I am dying to see them myself!

Originally Posted by Bomp

That truck is lookin Sweet! ! !

One thing I've got to admit. I have never been a fan of blue but this truck has changed my tune about blue. Diggin' it,,,,, Totally Diggin' IT!
Long story of way back when and a '69 Chevelle post back in high school that could only bring out total frustration. Wish I had that car now.

Oh
and nice to finally put a face with the incredible build.

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

times 2, and you're a lot younger looking guy than i thought you would be.
weird the impressions we get from the cyber world. huh.

Bomp & Clem,
Thanks as always for the comments!
On a side note I just gotta say, don't let the blonde hair fool ya!
Fifty is fifty, now matter how you stack it up!
Just thought that I'd post up a bad cell pic of me & my "Out of my league" girlfreind so that you would have a better idea of how I look.
(I probably look better here because she is in the pic.)

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Looking better all the time.! Love the color combo

Thanks for the comments!

Originally Posted by pdxhall

The truck's looking great! I love the blue.

Thanks for lookin in!

Originally Posted by Johns66

Modge 66

Truck looks nice.

Where in Grand Rapids do you live, I grew up there.

Thanks for the comment!
I grew up in Belmont, went to Rockford H.S.
I now live in Cascade, & work in Comstock Park.
And you?

Originally Posted by Gmforce

I have been watching this from the get go and still love it... I dig the engine compartment as is ..However , Have you thought about color matching that corvette cover in blue and silver ? Might also look good.. Either way it'll be one of the bars we all would like to reach with our own builds... Keep up the awesome work and documentation brother..

Thanks a lot!
I HAVE thought about painting them, but seem to stop dead in my tracks at the cost of replacing them if they don't turn out good.
You can't just get replacements at every scrap yard in town. These were brand-new GM pieces...

Originally Posted by Strodder

Lookin great

Thanks, and thanks for stopping by Strodder!

[Modges'66]

Well guy's, I hope that you all had a happy 4th of July!
I spent most of the weekend working on my exhaust system.
I am building it using all 2.5" stainless mandrel bends and tig-welding it together. To say it has been a real challenge to fabricate would be an understatement.
The headers that I am using are for a '96 Camaro with an LT1 which came with a Y-pipe to merge into the factory exhaust....Needless to say, I am not using any of that.
The passenger side header dumps nicely behind the starter, but the driver's side dumps ahead of the oil filter, making it a real challenge to retain access to the filter & maintain some sort of flow characteristics.
As you can see, I did the best that I could with what I had to work with.
Even though the cell phone pics do not show it well, the lowest point on the driver's side pipe is still higher than the front crossmember, and the Cross-pipe is higher than the trailing arm crossmember.
I ended up buying the Flowmaster 50 series mufflers in 409 stainless. I want it to sound good, but not be too loud...We will see how this works out!
I have all of the pieces cut & welded leading to the mufflers so far, but I am still waiting on some clamps & a flex-tube.
For now I will be exiting the exhaust out the sides just ahead of the rear wheels, but hopefully later down the road I will figure out a way to dump it out the rear...I just haven't found the ambition right now, and I have way to many other things that I need to get done if there is any chance of putting some miles on this thing yet this year.
Here are some cell pics for ya, as I forgot my camera battery on the charger at home!

First a pic from below showing the header dump situation.


A pic from the driver's side wheel opening.


A pic of the passenger side dump. (I wish the shots were clearer!)


A pic of the Cross-pipe.


A random pic of my limited weld capabilities...LOL!


A pic from the back showing not so good that the crossmember is lower than the cross-pipe...


That is all that I got for now fellas!!!

[Strodder]

Nice job

[matt_l]

Beautiful work on the exhaust!

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by Strodder

Nice job

Thanks again Strodder!!!

Originally Posted by matt_l

Beautiful work on the exhaust!

Thank you, it has turned out to be a lot more work than originally anticipated!

[Modges'66]

Hey guys!
Just a little update on this Saturday this morning.
I am not going to get a chance to work on the truck this weekend, but I did receive the flex-pipes that I will use Friday afternoon, so last night I mocked-up the exhaust one last time before welding them in.
Seems like I will probably get the welder all dialed-in at about the same time as I finish welding the stainless tubing! LOL!
Anyway, I thought that I would shoot some pics of the welds, as the cell pics that I posted earlier were not very clear.
I am very pleased with the results, and this is eye-candy to me.
You be the judge...

A shot of the driver's side flange.


A shot of the pass side flange.


A pic of the two front pipes together.


And a pic of the flex-pipe welds!


Have a great weekend guys, and thanks for looking-in!!!

[Bomp]

Thats some sweet exhaust work ya got goin' on.
Been wondering how Im going to do mine.
Thanks for the helpful pics.

[jlsanborn]

Well done!

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by Bomp

Thats some sweet exhaust work ya got goin' on.
Been wondering how Im going to do mine.
Thanks for the helpful pics.

Really Greg?
Are you F-ing kidding me?
I am sure that you know EXACTLY what you are going to do with your exhaust, but you are not spilling the beans yet!...This has turned out to be a much larger project than ever imagined, and I am still not done, I am gonna wait until my box is back from paint to finish the tailpipes!

Originally Posted by jlsanborn

Well done!

Thanks a bunch for lookin in on my build!
I try hard to keep my build to the standards of many others on this forum!...Hint, hint!

[Modges'66]

Hey Guy's!
Not really much to post lately. I have been working on a side job at the shop for a customer, and doing final prep work for paint on the box & tailgate.
But these bad-boys showed up this week & Travis from ProPerformance said that my wheels have shipped!!!!
(bad cell phone pic, I know)


As far as the side job goes, I am tig-welding some aluminum frames up, and getting my aluminum welding skills honed in a bit...More crappy pics!



Later Guys!

[Bomp]

Ahhhh, new tire smell.
Wish some of the laundry detergent manufactures would come up with the "new tire" smell for us guys instead of flowery girly underwear smell that all the women folk seem to like.

Congrats on the new skins.

Dig the tig welds too. Right on Brother!!!!

[Bigru]

Originally Posted by bomp

ahhhh, new tire smell.
Wish some of the laundry detergent manufactures would come up with the "new tire" smell for us guys instead of flowery girly underwear smell that all the women folk seem to like.

Congrats on the new skins.

Dig the tig welds too. Right on brother!!!!

lmao!!!:

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by Bomp

Ahhhh, new tire smell.
Wish some of the laundry detergent manufactures would come up with the "new tire" smell for us guys instead of flowery girly underwear smell that all the women folk seem to like.

Congrats on the new skins.

Dig the tig welds too. Right on Brother!!!!

Bomp!

you are soooo spot on!!!
Had those tires in my van for a day and thought....These smell AWESOME! Ha-Ha!
No real guy likes that flowery $hit!!!!
Yeah, I think that I am startin to get the Dynasty 350 dialed-in for aluminum!!!


Bigru,
Yeah, he is a funny guy!
But I am glad to see that you ventured to the dark-side....
The square bodies are cool, but never as cool as the '60-'66 body-style!!!
Nice purchase BTW!!!

Originally Posted by Bigru

lmao!!!:

[Modges'66]

Hey guys!!!
I think that I must be as close to having an out-of-body experience as you can get!!!!
At first I was thinking "Christmas in July"
But this is far better than that!!!
Some boxes showed up at the shop today, and until I opened one, I had no idea what "bling" actually was!!!
I was going to wait to post anything until they were actually on the truck, but I couldn't restrain myself!!!




















These things are polished like fine jewelery!!!






And even polished on the back-side!



Now I need to find a reputable source to mount them!!!...My goal for this week!
I am sooooo enjoying my choice of wheels...And if you don't like them, I don't care. LOL!!!

[Palf70Step]

Nice!

[clemdaddy]

wheels are beautiful... very very nice!

[Bomp]

Sweet lookin rims.
Quality through and through

[severedchris]

Just read all the way through this thread....sweet build dude!!!!!!

[chad64chevy]

WOW!!!! Rims look awesome, that will really go with the truck! I wondering do they make them in 6 lug also!!

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Nice!

Thanks for the comment Bill!!!

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

wheels are beautiful... very very nice!

Thanks Clem!
I can hardly believe the quality of these things!
They almost look fake somehow!

Originally Posted by Bomp

Sweet lookin rims.
Quality through and through

Thanks Greg!
I have been savin-up for a long time to get to this point!
I have measured, re-measured, and measured several more times to calculate the width & backspacing....I hope that they fit!!

Originally Posted by severedchris

Just read all the way through this thread....sweet build dude!!!!!!

Hey, thanks a lot Chris!
You've got a sweet build goin on too!!
I check in on it all of the time!

Originally Posted by chad64chevy

WOW!!!! Rims look awesome, that will really go with the truck! I wondering do they make them in 6 lug also!!

Thanks Chad!!!
I don't know if they make them in a 6-lug or not.
You can check on Travis' website at azproperformance.com
They have pricing for all of the sizes.

[Modges'66]

O.K. guys!!!
I got a little update!
We painted the box, tailgate, & frt bumper today!!!
I forgot my camera, so I took some more crappy cell phone pics.
Still eye-candy to me!!!
The paint was still wet when these were taken, and you can kinda see the haze in the air, I hope that it didn't all run on to the floor after we walked out the door...
My buddy Tom who painted it said we got lucky again, do you love me?
I said that there was too much prep-work & care taken for it to be luck, and he said "you're exactly right".
It looks way better than I expected, but I will get some real pics outside tomorrow (weather permitting) with a real camera.
That should pretty much conclude the paint-work on this thing!
Starting to come together nicely!!!!









The tailgate looks better than new with all of the seams sealed!!!!


Did you notice the bumper bolt holes???

[Bomp]

Man that is Slick