What did you do with your truck today, Part 3

[Kevin Mac]

The frame is looking nice! What year clip is that?

[idbeast]

77 Nova, same as Camaro. However it is grafted in differently then most seem to do it!

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by Slowy-gonzalez

sad part is, I was done, the glass was already installed, there was a small piece about 1/2 inch of seal that wasn't just right and I put a screw driver between the glass and the seal to pry the seal out and the rest is history,,,,,,

You literally took my breath away with that description, holy crap! Yep, tempered glass will take a LOT of certain pressures, and then only a tiny bit of others, wow.

Brian

[MARTINSR]

Had only a little time last night, got the drivers door inner frame prepped and tacked in place, will finish that up today and post a photo. But I am getting out there every night!

I also worked a little showing my son how to gas weld, he had never done that.


Brian

[evilokc]

Originally Posted by idbeast

After welding up all the unneeded holes in the bottom of the frame, grinding flat and cleaning up all the welds, I got the rest of the frame painted!!!

man that looks good!

[bosco]

Fixed my hood oil canning issue. Thanks to the folks on this forum.

[MARTINSR]

Right on Bosco, looks good!

I feel so damn good today! I have been concerned with doing these mouldings good enough to be chromable. It has been so long since I did this with such delicate stuff and I had such fun doing it! I fought at first and then it got easier and easier and viola! I am sooooo blessed to have worked at the "Early Ford V8 shop" in 1979 under a master restoration man Nick Cassaro. He taught me how to metal finish stuff like this and it's just like going back in time doing it, using the torch I bought at the same time and using the skills Nick taught me, it's therapy for me. I have been able to tell him how thankful I am for those lessons, he is a good guy. I slipped the moulding into the box with the glass frame FINISHED and hope to fill that box with all the others soon.

Brian

[Black_Sheep]

Mocked up the box today, more pics in my build thread...

[MARTINSR]

Saaaweet, love the wheels.

Brian

[evilokc]

spent some time working on the vintage air installation. the directions they sent are great. if your starting from scratch this would be great. however I'm starting from NOT scratch and trying to get this kit to mate up with another companies stuff. spent a great deal of time removing the incorrectly installed brackets from the last unit. the brackets had been welded in badly instead of using bolts. the bad welds worked in my favor as they were easier to remove than correct welds would have been. once all that crap was out I started following the directions from vintage. right off the bat I found I was missing my compressor bracket which I thought I had. I was also missing the hard lines from the condenser. I decided that instead of letting that stop me I would work around that as best I could. I got the defrost vents in which was straight forward. next they have you prep the evaporator for installation. that includes hooking up the a/c hoses. well without the compressor I cant route the hoses so I skipped that. I mocked up the evaporator brackets which wasn't easy because I have a smoothed firewall and none of the land marks they tell you to use are there. I was able to get it figured out and drilled the 4 or 5 holes they required. next I need to hang the evaporator on the bracket and drill a couple of holes for the additional bracketry, and start setting up the vents and controls. I will be able to get every part on the interior set up and mounted. once I get the compressor mounted I will have to remove the evaporator and install the two hoses and bolt it back up. the old holes for the heater and a/c hoses are in a different location than the new ones. once this is in I will have to make a block off plate.

[MiraclePieCo]

'51 panel truck: installed the body bolts, then built a filler door in the bed floor to accommodate my newly-installed rear gas tank. Used a sealed cap, vented tank to wheelwell and sealed around the filler door to prevent fume intrusion into cab.

[evilokc]

Originally Posted by MiraclePieCo

'51 panel truck: installed the body bolts, then built a filler door in the bed floor to accommodate my newly-installed rear gas tank. Used a sealed cap, vented tank to wheelwell and sealed around the filler door to prevent fume intrusion into cab.

nice work. I have mine in the bed as well. I built a bracket on the tank to hold the vent tube

[idbeast]

Thanks Kevin Mac and evilokc

[MiraclePieCo]

Installed my MC/booster, pedal bracket and steering column today. They're all tied together in a triangle so needed to be assembled all at once. Also cut the double D steering shaft to final length. BTW, the places where you see blue tape are to remind me to tighten bolts!

[svr]

Drive line shortened and installed

[svr]

Brackets to hold hoses and lines

[svr]

Another

[MARTINSR]

I just about have this frame saved so I can cut it up LOL. DAAAAAAMN these super thin pieces are a MUTHA to work with, holy crap they are hard to work with. I hope it can be chromed without being folded in half.

It sure was nice walking into the garage with all the lights working, wow what a difference!

Brian

[MiraclePieCo]

Originally Posted by svr

Brackets to hold hoses and lines

Very nice. I've never seen anyone do it like that before.

Will the drive shaft clear the crossmember when the suspension compresses? I've seen people notch them for additional room.

[svr]

Originally Posted by MiraclePieCo

Very nice. I've never seen anyone do it like that before.

Will the drive shaft clear the crossmember when the suspension compresses? I've seen people notch them for additional room.

Should be just fine, C4 suspension and diff center never moves much if any.

[evilokc]

working on the a/c install. today sucked. you know what that's not correct. today REALLY sucked. I mentioned a day or so ago that my firewall didn't have any of the landmarks to locate the mounting bracket for the evaporator but I was able to find one. well I was wrong. I went to install the evaporator and it was hitting the wiper motor mount. it was probably 3 inches to high and 3 inches over towards the driver side. what to do? well I had to eyeball it. I measured the height of the evaporator and then removed the bracket from the evaporator. I moved the mounting hole 3 inches to the passenger side and down by 1.5 inches. simple enough BUT the hole I had cut in the fire wall for the hoses had to be moved several inches. I then re-drlled all of the holes for the firewall mounting bracket and made sure it bolted up correctly. I'm ready to re-install the evaporator and I'm confident it will fit now. however the giant, misshapen , disgusting, embarrassing, insert 5 more negative descriptives here hole that's left in my fire wall is killing me. the hole had to be cut over sized to allow me to adjust the evaporator while I was trying to locate its proper position. I knew I would have to make a patch for the old holes but this ones gonna be special. it looks like I'm going to have to move the alternator to the driver side and put the compressor on the passenger ide. the lower location of the evaporator bracket also interfered with the fuel pressure regulator and that will have to be moved down about 2 inches. the good news is that its located correctly and I should be able to move through the remaining steps at a good pace.

[MiraclePieCo]

Originally Posted by svr

Should be just fine, C4 suspension and diff center never moves much if any.

Oh, you have Corvette IRS - sorry, I couldn't see that in the pic.

[MiraclePieCo]

'51 panel truck. Bent some brake lines from MC to prop valve. The factory lines were a convoluted mess of spaghetti (see inset) so I reversed the prop valve and made some cleaner ones. Then I primed and sanded my dash - I guess I'd better decide on a color...

Anyone know if that pressure switch on the prop valve can be used as a brake light switch?

[evilokc]

today was a much better day. the evaporator sits in the right spot now. I was able to drill and mount the dash and cowl brackets that triangulate off of the main bracket. doin this made me install and remove the evaporator 4 times but that's just how this stuff goes. I went to install the control and vent bracket (all one piece) that is supposed to follow the line of the lower dash and it didn't fit right. this one was my fault. I had to install and remove it about 9 times. however with a couple of power tools a trip to the hardware store and about 2 hours it fits beautifully. better than they intended I bet. I had to remove it one more time to install the knobs and decals. that's where I'm at now. I'm hoping tomorrow to start the wiring. I knew this install would be non-standard since my truck is a Frankensteins monster of a truck but I momentarily forgot. I'm back on track and feeling good. I called vintage air and asked about a driver side compressor bracket and they do have one but its a real Hassel to install. you have to remove the alternator and water pump to install the bracket and then you can mount the compressor. I can extend the alternator wires as quickly as I can remove the whole front of the motor. so I'm going to just move the alternator. its really not that big of a deal I just hate undoing work that's been done and is working.

[oldman3]

Originally Posted by MiraclePieCo

Anyone know if that pressure switch on the prop valve can be used as a brake light switch?

Not 100% sure, but I think all it does is let you know something isn't right with the centering valve. It should be hooked to a warning light on dash, if used...Jim