My Unexpected '66 SWB-Fleet-Restomod Project!

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by BWheels

Ouch! That sucks.

I know, it does really suck!
Here is a pic of what it WOULD have looked like if the previous owner knew WTF he was doing!
Throughout this build I have determined that the PO had some really great ideas, but no experience to carry them out properly....I keep getting burned on some of the items that I assume are all-good!



On a brighter note, my polished stainless bed strips & hardware has arrived, and today I purchased the wood from a local sawmill. I will be working-up the wood myself, as all of the boards will be different widths than stock because of my widened wheel tubs...
A good friend of my dad has a full-on wood shop where we will plane & router the cut-outs for the strips....I cannot wait!
I know that this will be a bigger project than it sounds, but in the end it should look killer!

[Palf70Step]

Sorry to hear about the mess up. Truck still makes me droll with or without the bolt heads showing!

[Bomp]

Glad to see your working on the bed floor now.

The "with bolts" vs "no bolts". Wow, what a difference.
Understandably on the frustration thing. Looks good either way but I have to agree that with OUT bolts does look WAAAAY better.

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Sorry to hear about the mess up. Truck still makes me droll with or without the bolt heads showing!

Thanks man!
It just really sucks when you are workin so hard to make it perfect, and it is F'ed-up by something that you weren't even responsible for doing!

Originally Posted by Bomp

Glad to see your working on the bed floor now.

The "with bolts" vs "no bolts". Wow, what a difference.
Understandably on the frustration thing. Looks good either way but I have to agree that with OUT bolts does look WAAAAY better.

Thanks Greg!
you wouldn't have believed how small the actual penetration of weld was!
I am surprised that it didn't fall off just sitting there!

[Modges'66]

Thanks a bunch for the encouragement Clem!
I originally wanted for my truck to be nicer than my dad's and all of his buddies, but now it is like, where do you draw the line?
I would have loved to have been at your get-together this year, and last, for that matter!!
I figure that there will be a few bugs to work out before I can make a trek like that!

[Modges'66]

Well, I haven't posted in a while, and just so that everyone doesn't think that I have been slacking, I thought that I would post a few pics of my recent progress.
I purchased some Red-Oak boards from a local sawmill and started working them up, and because my wheel-tubs have been widened, my board widths are different than stock in order to make all of it have a somewhat "Factory" looking appearance. We have plained the boards, and taken them to width, then cut the steps in them for the bed strips. during this entire process I was keeping close consideration on what part of the boards had the best appearance!
I am 99% sure that I will stain this wood black, to appear somewhat similar to the original boards... but a little distressed, then clear the crap out of them!
Here is some pics of where I am at so far...

First a pic with the wood somewhat positioned...Man, those tires are starting to look big!


Another view...

A shot of the wheel tub for reference...


Awe, what the heck, let's get the paper & tape off this thing for the full-effect!!!


And maybe a better view!


I would kind of like to get everyones input on the dark wood stain, so don't be afraid to voice your opinion!

[Bomp]

A dark wood stain would make your polished bed stripes POP!
I like!

[CRGRS 66]

I really like the distressed look idea too

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by Bomp

A dark wood stain would make your polished bed stripes POP!
I like!

I agree Greg!
This wood is soooo nice that it seems like a shame to stain it so dark, but I really think it will look super-different from what most people would do!

Originally Posted by CRGRS 66

I really like the distressed look idea too

Thanks, man!
Nice to see you stopping in on my build!

[Modges'66]

Hey guys!
I got a little schoolin' in the shop's little CNC mill this past week to cut the pockets for the eccentric bed mount washers! One of the guys at the shop set the mill up & showed me how to run a program to mill the pockets in my boards.
The cutter would plunge to a depth, ramp out to a roughing diameter, then ramp out to a finish diameter...All that I needed to do was pick-up the location, enter the coordinates, and hit the cycle-start button...All is good!
I know that in order to rotate the washer that I will need to open up the through hole, but all of my through holes should be perfect, so I don't see the need...Not yet anyways!





I also cut some pockets for the C-notch bolt heads, as they were interfering with the under-side of the bed wood.



The wood is really lookin sweet!
I have worked on finish-sanding the wood this week, and so far, have gotten all of the long boards finished for stain/clear.



Here is a sneak-peek of a test board that I have stained. Now mind you, I wiil be adding a boat-load of clear & and sanding & rubbing to perfection!

[66-PMD-GMC]

Ok... finally reached the current last page of your build...
COOL
I appreciate your attention to detail...
Build a tubbed, fat tire truck next...
Would love to see what you would do with one of those.

[jlsanborn]

Great work there! What have you decided to use for your finish?

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by 66-PMD-GMC

Ok... finally reached the current last page of your build...
COOL
I appreciate your attention to detail...
Build a tubbed, fat tire truck next...
Would love to see what you would do with one of those.

Thanks for the comments man!
I used to be totally into the pro-street thing & built the back-half for my dad's '48, but now I am into the pro-touring look. If you look back earlier on my thread you will see photos of his ride. Now I kinda want to go fast around corners too!!! LOL!
I am sure that once I get to driving this, I will start playing with the sway-bars & shocks.

Originally Posted by jlsanborn

Great work there! What have you decided to use for your finish?

For the finish on the wood, I was going to originally use a marine varnish...But it seems so old-school to me. the amount of build per coat & time to dry make it seem like it would take forever to get what I want. Besides that, this thing is NOT going to be subjected to any severe weather conditions!
I am doing some samples using automotive clear to see how it will work.

[Modges'66]

Okay guys,
During the past week I finish sanded all of the boards for the bed, and started the staining process.
Since I have no-idea what I am doing, I think that it is coming out better than expected!
On the exposed sides of the boards I used a D-A sander, & started finishing with #180 grit to knock off all of the high-spots, then final finished with #240 grit to take out any swirl-marks...It seems to look great.
I then spent the weekend staining the wood with black stain, which really looks cool in my opinion...Actually a lot better than the pics show.
the wood is really a lot darker than the photos show, with less contrast between the dark & light hues.
I basically painted the back side, and didn't wipe off the excess, then I added a second coat to the exposed side to get the darkness that I wanted, and because of the smoothness, it has a nice sheen to it...Makes me not sure if I want to make it really shiny or not. I may use a satin clear or flattening agent to get something different.
You be the judge..... And post your opinions!!!!

A pic of the backside!


And another!


A pic of the exposed side.


And finally a closer-up shot, but remember, no clear has been added so far...
Should look really hot with the polished stainless strips & hardware in between...At least I think so!

[clemdaddy]

gloss it up... it's tougher if gloss than satin and in a couple of years it will be satin anyway.

your truck in one word... gorgeous!

[CRGRS 66]

Two BIG thumbs up, Craigerrrr likes

[Bomp]

Yup, my vote is GLOSS that sucker!!!

[aggie91]

X3 for Gloss. I like the satin sheen it has now, but that might not look right with rest of the truck.

[jlsanborn]

Color looks great! With the polished metal I'd go gloss.

[Blue666(2)]

I know that even though I have NOT posted much lately, it is because I have been working on items that are not really visual....
I was working hard to figure out how to make my '66 wiper motor work with the intermittent wiper components on my '91 chevy steering column. After many hours of frustration, I came to the conclusion that if I added a diode into the harness, that I could emulate the signals that the '66 motor was needing when using the '91 switch!

Can you shed some light on where & what type of diode you used? I, and am guessing many others, would like to do this upgrade.

You are doing great work & your truck is destined to be a show winner even if quit right now. Thanks.

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

gloss it up... it's tougher if gloss than satin and in a couple of years it will be satin anyway.

your truck in one word... gorgeous!

Thanks a lot for the very kind words Clem, I really appreciate it!

Originally Posted by CRGRS 66

Two BIG thumbs up, Craigerrrr likes

Thanks a lot!

Originally Posted by Bomp

Yup, my vote is GLOSS that sucker!!!

Thanks again Greg!

Originally Posted by aggie91

X3 for Gloss. I like the satin sheen it has now, but that might not look right with rest of the truck.

I appreciate the comment!

Originally Posted by jlsanborn

Color looks great! With the polished metal I'd go gloss.

Thank you sir for the opinion!

Well, by popular opinion, it looks as though I will finish my wood with gloss clear!!!!
Thanks again guys for the comments!

Originally Posted by Blue666(2)

Can you shed some light on where & what type of diode you used? I, and am guessing many others, would like to do this upgrade.

You are doing great work & your truck is destined to be a show winner even if quit right now. Thanks.

Blue666(2),
Thank you for the much appreciated comment!!!

In regards to your question, the way that the '66 wiper switch operates is:
Since the motor always has power supplied to it, the switch grounds a single terminal on the motor for low speed, and then grounds a second terminal along with the first for high speed.
The '91 column however, grounds a single terminal for low speed (the same as the '66), and then grounds a separate terminal for high, and releases the ground for the 1st terminal.
If you don't already know this, a diode works like a check-valve, it only allows current to pass in a single direction.
That being said, by putting a diode in between the the low & high speed ground wires from the switch, you can provide the ground only to the first terminal as normal for low speed, and then when the switch on the column is advanced to the high speed position, you will then be supplying a ground to the second terminal and also to the first through the diode.
You can purchase the diodes at Radio Shack, just make sure that you pick one large enough to support the current rating of the motor.
I am sure that based on the fuse size rating for the wiper motor, that they can help you out with that!

As far as the intermittent wipe feature goes, my column ('91 Burb)
had the control unit mounted to it already, and I put the diode in the wires AFTER the control unit that lead to the wiper motor....All works perfectly!

[Blue666(2)]

Thanks for the instructions. I was @ Radio Shack today. I'll rig it up on the floor since the components are out. This now is much easier than I believed it to be.

[Modges'66]

Well,
I have done quite a lot of internet searching, but have finally figured out a solution for a fuel filler for my truck bed. I have found a multitude of filler-neck/cap combos that might work, but stumbled on to this one, and because of it's short length, seemed like a no-brainer, unless I wanted to drop my tank slightly...And because of the filler tube size on the tank neck, I was limited to what I could use/adapt. I wanted to use something more high-tech looking, but unless I made it myself, that was not happening...
This unit is really pretty slick!
When you push & rotate the center slightly, the top pops-up, allowing you to unscrew the cap. I kinda like it actually!



A pic with it popped-up.


A pic with it opened & apart to see the actual filler neck!


Then yesterday I was helping out one of our CNC programmer/operators at the shop to rebuild a snowmobile carb. He had no clue! While I was helping out, I mentioned that I wanted him to set me up with a program, so that I could run it, and he cut this for me after work last night!
I set it up, and he loaded the program & ran it in less than 2 minutes!
He smiled when it was done, and said "I will let you clean up the mess" then walked away!

[Modges'66]

I wasn't done posting, but the computer somehow decided that I was.
here are the rest of the pics that I was posting!





I mocked it all up and it looks like it will work, I also re-stained the pocket, now everything is ready to clear!!!

[duallyjams]

Great build thread with a lot of info / cool tricks.