48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

good pics, yeah def am getting radiator and headers for when I moch up engine. Ordering them soon.

Me too 99. I am about to the point where I need to be ordering some expensive parts to make sure they fit. I think the exhaust manifolds Sid bought is the way I am going.

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by ptc

What if you only went about half way up with the widening and fan it into the curve at the top? That could leave you enough room for both the VA and leave it looking oem.

Nice progress, I am at this point also and having everything you will be using in the final build sure helps alot!

Very good idea PTC. Thank you! I was looking at my cut outs today and not liking how they look so I may go that way. I was looking over the VA info and I need to ask them if the sure fit unit will cool this Burb. Or if it needs the larger unit...which may or may not fit.

They also have mock up units still and one of those would be handy.

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by SparkyRnD

been slowing going through the build thread per your PM, this is going to be one cool project!

Very cool Sparky! Welcome aboard and my apologies it is so long....more of a life journey and less of a "build."

I will likely order one of your radiators in a while to make sure everything fits.

If you have time, check out 99 to life's Geronimo build and Youngrodders family truckster build here in the 47 to 59 section. They are going with LS engines too.

Awesome day in the shop with Cindy helping a bit. Praise the Lord!

Removed door hinges and have you ever had one of the pins work out and up, preventing the hinge from coming out? What should have taken a few minutes took a lot longer. Able to work it around enough to get the pin with a sawzall.

Beats a good day at work all to heck.

[Advanced Design]

Next on the "to do" list was to install air tanks, control valve and battery box. To make that possible to do I lifted the body off the frame again.

And since I moved the engine and transmission back 1 1/2", I needed to re-drill the holes through the frame for the cross member mounting block.

I've been thinking that may not be as strong as I would like with the block simply sitting on the bottom frame lip. Will likely come up with a way to provide additional support to the frame side or top as well.

Relocating holes accurately is my nemesis, so I used a right angle drill and short drill bit to drill the new holes down through the existing holes in the block.

[Advanced Design]

Next up was installing the air tanks Lower 50's turned me on to. Before removing the body I made sure they cleared the floor and marked on the frame where they need to go.

A lot of time was spent making certain the mounting brackets were square to each other to provide proper tank support. The lower hole in the bracket was actually about half off the frame and I will admit staring at it for awhile before realizing I could drill a new hole. Had builders block for awhile.

And a through bolt attachment wouldn't work due to the transmission mounting block wanting to occupy the same space. So I used what I learned from Jim (Oldman3) and welded in flanged 1/4" nuts. I kept the threads protected with screwing in a bolt...and made sure to not weld the bolt and nut together.

My uni-bits were not where I keep them (spent 30 minutes looking), spent 30 minutes drilling one hole...and then drove to town to buy a uni-bit. They work great for this application.

Anyway, I was able to mount the tanks after flap disking the welds down.

[youngrodder]

Doug-

The mounting of the hydrogen bombs (I mean air tanks) looks good. I will have to remember this placement when I get to that point.

Nice progress. Yes those uni-bits do work nice.

Marc

[99 to Life]

nice work, OMG I can't tell you how annoying drilling holes are. Just did some today and yah just getting one all the way through took forever, then the unibits make quick work of it. I buy the hobo freight ones when they come on sale, I must say they work great esp for the price. I'v been meaning to buy a hammer drill but like most things I need I haven't gotten yet. I want to also try plasmaing a hole then drilling that out, gotta wait for new cups to come for my plasma, so haven't even tried that trick yet.

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by youngrodder

Doug-

The mounting of the hydrogen bombs (I mean air tanks) looks good. I will have to remember this placement when I get to that point.

Nice progress. Yes those uni-bits do work nice.

Marc

Marc,
They do look like bombs! Should paint them up to look WWII vintage, though no one will see them usually. The 5 gallon tank just wouldn't work here and hopefully these two will work fine. Have you figured out the gas tank yet?

The control valve block fits well here in the center of this crossmember and it has plenty of clearance under the floor. It mounts with #10 machine screws so I made this plate to mount the block to, then the plate mounts to the crossmember using the welded in 1/4" flanged nuts.

When I was making the little plate I cut it out with the whizzer wheel. One edge was a bit jagged and I thought of all the great builds I've been following on here....so through the positive influence I scribed a square line and sanded the edge to that line. No one would ever see that plate and I still had to do it right. Trying my best!

[Advanced Design]

I ordered a drop down battery box from Jegs at 9:30 PM earlier this week and the next day it shows up at 3:00 PM. Wow, guess I clicked on overnight delivery.

Since It showed I figured I better get it installed to justify the overnight delivery expense.

Before removing the body we figured the best place to hide it, under the floor, was right here in front of the right rear four link attachment.

The frame here has the outward protrusion shape for the parking brake cross shaft and the rivets preventing the battery box from installing flush to the frame.

So I cut the protrusion out of the frame.

[Advanced Design]

Then I made a pattern following the process Diceman showed in his build and video. If you haven't seen the build or the video, check it out for really great fabrication.

Using a piece of manila folder and my small ball peen hammer, I tapped the outline of the shape into the folder. This got the shape really close for trimming to the edge that you can see in the second picture.

Once the pattern fit the hole I transferred it to the metal and cut it out on the band saw.

[Advanced Design]

The cut out piece was close and I use a little belt sander to shape the final bits.

To save these old knees getting up and down any more than necessary, I brought the belt sander to where I was working.

I tend to mark the piece and place an adjoining mark on the frame to make sure I am checking fit the same way every time.

Once the fit is good, the piece was held in with magnets then I tacked it in four places to keep flush with the frame.

[Advanced Design]

I welded inch long beads skipping around. My welds were a bit too proud and I think the wire feed was a little high. I could see good burn in and I guess I was too lazy to get up and turn down the wire feed speed. Nope, I don't weld as well as many folks here and I do my best. Really need more practice.

The flap disk on the 4 1/2" grinder made short work of smoothing the welds. Really love that thing!

Then I positioned where the holes needed to be, welded in flanged nuts and mounted the box.

Since there is the possibility of having a dead battery with the air bags deflated, putting this truck on the ground like a slug, I am pretty sure I will wire in some remote terminals for jump starting.

It was a great day in the shop today. Grandsons spent the night last night and had a good time this morning with us. They pretty much wore us out.

Happy New Year guys!

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

nice work, OMG I can't tell you how annoying drilling holes are. Just did some today and yah just getting one all the way through took forever, then the unibits make quick work of it. I buy the hobo freight ones when they come on sale, I must say they work great esp for the price. I'v been meaning to buy a hammer drill but like most things I need I haven't gotten yet. I want to also try plasmaing a hole then drilling that out, gotta wait for new cups to come for my plasma, so haven't even tried that trick yet.

99, I sure missed my uni-bits and didn't mess around long before driving the 10 miles to town to get another one. Those holes for the transmission mount took like 2 hours to drill with a regular bit. It was awkward with the angle drill head just sneaking under the top frame flange.

I haven't tried the plasma to make a hole. Being accurate with it is a bit challenging for me just on a line. I saw where your cup and tip burned up or just fell apart. That is a bummer.

[youngrodder]

No I have not figured out the tank yet. sounds like you are waiting on me....JK
I have been trying to figure my brakes out. I think I have it covered. I will upgrade to 13" rotors. This will require ordering a new brake kit from Travis at Pro Performance. He is a vendor on this site and great to work with. My focus is to get it to a rolling chassis first, then I will figure out the drivetrain. By then you will have the gas tank figured out for us....Your welcome.

I was just looking at battery boxes the other day. Can you send me the prt number? Does it fit an optima sized battery.

The progress looks good. Today was spent watching bowl games. I plan to get in the garage tomorrow.

I'm very familiar with the frame indentations that you filled. I just filled the small rivets holes surrounding the indentation, and I was thinking of filling the indentation. I use tracing paper to trace an accurate outline which I transfer over to cardboard, then over to metal to cut the shape.

Marc

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by youngrodder

No I have not figured out the tank yet. sounds like you are waiting on me....JK
I have been trying to figure my brakes out. I think I have it covered. I will upgrade to 13" rotors. This will require ordering a new brake kit from Travis at Pro Performance. He is a vendor on this site and great to work with. My focus is to get it to a rolling chassis first, then I will figure out the drivetrain. By then you will have the gas tank figured out for us....Your welcome.

I was just looking at battery boxes the other day. Can you send me the prt number? Does it fit an optima sized battery.

The progress looks good. Today was spent watching bowl games. I plan to get in the garage tomorrow.

I'm very familiar with the frame indentations that you filled. I just filled the small rivets holes surrounding the indentation, and I was thinking of filling the indentation. I use tracing paper to trace an accurate outline which I transfer over to cardboard, then over to metal to cut the shape.

Marc

Hey Marc, that sounds like a good process for making a pattern.

I need to figure out brakes...among a bunch of things too...so will be interested in what you come up with. What spindles do you have?

I have some ideas for the tank and I know I want outside fill. The body will go back on the frame soon so I can kick that around and try some ideas.

Here is a link to the battery box I ordered. It looked the same on Jegs, Summit and Speedway. It feels a little flimsy though I guess it will work. Don't know about an optima battery fitting.

http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS-Performan...10225/10002/-1

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Here is a link to the battery box I ordered. It looked the same on Jegs, Summit and Speedway. It feels a little flimsy though I guess it will work. Don't know about an optima battery fitting.

http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS-Performan...10225/10002/-1

I have the stainless version of the same box, the literature claims it will accept an Optima Red top

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

I welded inch long beads skipping around. My welds were a bit too proud and I think the wire feed was a little high. I could see good burn in and I guess I was too lazy to get up and turn down the wire feed speed. Nope, I don't weld as well as many folks here and I do my best. Really need more practice.

The flap disk on the 4 1/2" grinder made short work of smoothing the welds. Really love that thing!

Then I positioned where the holes needed to be, welded in flanged nuts and mounted the box.

Since there is the possibility of having a dead battery with the air bags deflated, putting this truck on the ground like a slug, I am pretty sure I will wire in some remote terminals for jump starting.

It was a great day in the shop today. Grandsons spent the night last night and had a good time this morning with us. They pretty much wore us out.

Happy New Year guys!

I was actually thinking about this last week. Moving the battery out of the stock location and putting it in a drop down box. Also adding some remote terminals. Looks great........

[RockinKees]

Looks good Doug!!
You're going fast in this new year!
Keep it up

[diceman50]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Then I made a pattern following the process Diceman showed in his build and video. If you haven't seen the build or the video, check it out for really great fabrication.

Using a piece of manila folder and my small ball peen hammer, I tapped the outline of the shape into the folder. This got the shape really close for trimming to the edge that you can see in the second picture.

Once the pattern fit the hole I transferred it to the metal and cut it out on the band saw.

Thanks for the plug A/D.

[oldman3]

Hey Doug,

Nice update on work, looks good. Happy New Year to you and Ms. Cindy...Jim

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Hey Marc, that sounds like a good process for making a pattern.

I need to figure out brakes...among a bunch of things too...so will be interested in what you come up with. What spindles do you have?

I have some ideas for the tank and I know I want outside fill. The body will go back on the frame soon so I can kick that around and try some ideas.

Here is a link to the battery box I ordered. It looked the same on Jegs, Summit and Speedway. It feels a little flimsy though I guess it will work. Don't know about an optima battery fitting.

http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS-Performan...10225/10002/-1

Thanks Doug.

I will run 13" brakes front and rear. I have McGaughys dropped spindles. They sell the spindles with a 13" rotor as a kit (Prt 63155). The crazy thing is they only sell it as a kit. I had the spindles. I didn't get it as a kit because I was not thinking that far ahead when I decided on my spindles. The long story I alluded to was I'm sending my spindles back to Travis at Pro Performance and buying the kit. the kit gives you the option of 5 x 5 or 5 x 4.75 which is what I'm going with since it will match my rear end bot pattern.

I mounted the drop down battery tray on my 48 behind the front passenger side tire. It is a nice area void of anything and close to the starter. I had to trim the top of the battery box in order to tuck it up high enough. I'm thinking of placing the Burb battery in the same place. I will look into the box you bought. Thanks for the info. I like that it comes in black.

Marc

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by JJorgensen52

I have the stainless version of the same box, the literature claims it will accept an Optima Red top

Thanks JJ. Good to know.

Originally Posted by Coach529

I was actually thinking about this last week. Moving the battery out of the stock location and putting it in a drop down box. Also adding some remote terminals. Looks great........

Thanks Coach. I hope I don't regret this location. Remote terminals and likely an on / off switch are on the to do list for this one.

Originally Posted by RockinKees

Looks good Doug!!
You're going fast in this new year!
Keep it up

Appreciate that Kees! Actually this was the work I did all week. Wow how the time flew by!

Originally Posted by diceman50

Thanks for the plug A/D.

Well that supercharged 6 you are building is very cool. It is nice to see something different and it aligns with the theme of your truck. Plus great fab work you are doing.

Originally Posted by oldman3

Hey Doug,

Nice update on work, looks good. Happy New Year to you and Ms. Cindy...Jim

Hey Jim, Happy New Year to you guys too! Did you notice I am using your flanged nut idea? LOL!

Originally Posted by youngrodder

Thanks Doug.

I will run 13" brakes front and rear. I have McGaughys dropped spindles. They sell the spindles with a 13" rotor as a kit (Prt 63155). The crazy thing is they only sell it as a kit. I had the spindles. I didn't get it as a kit because I was not thinking that far ahead when I decided on my spindles. The long story I alluded to was I'm sending my spindles back to Travis at Pro Performance and buying the kit. the kit gives you the option of 5 x 5 or 5 x 4.75 which is what I'm going with since it will match my rear end bot pattern.

I mounted the drop down battery tray on my 48 behind the front passenger side tire. It is a nice area void of anything and close to the starter. I had to trim the top of the battery box in order to tuck it up high enough. I'm thinking of placing the Burb battery in the same place. I will look into the box you bought. Thanks for the info. I like that it comes in black.

Marc

Marc, I appreciate the info on the brakes and will check to see if they will work with what I have. Not sure as this came from Heidts and it has kinda smallish rotors. I kicked the battery location around and decided to go where I did. Earl on the Clarence J. Whiskey Bottle build did a really nice box and mounted the battery behind the right front tire.

[Advanced Design]

After kicking around various locations for the air pumps I decided to go here.

The pump rubber bushing mounting feet have an inner bushing that fit a #10 machine screw perfectly. Rather than do a through the frame bolt and nut set up I made use of these....ah, I forget what they are called and I have a bag of 100 of them. They are used for using a #10 machine screw to attach something to wood and I had them from my 35 Chevy.

Sanded the cleats off and they worked very well for welding to the frame just as I did for the tank mounting.

The pumps should be far enough away from the exhaust as they are near the top of the frame and the exhaust will include a cross over about right here moving it farther from the pumps....I hope!

[Advanced Design]

Oh yeah, my neighbor bead blasted and rebuilt the door hinges with new pins.

Here is the obligatory picture of them hanging from our high tech painting fixture.

The rear upper hinges were sticking and a disassembly, cleaning, some new washers and lube they now work reasonably well.

[blake's first]

Just a quick question On the AD trucks are the cabs the same on a pickup as a one tone truck