What did you do with your truck today, Part 3

[Black_Sheep]

Finally got around to dropping off my carpeting to have the edges bound. I know it’s not much but every step forward is progress...

[lowdownstar]

black sheep, nice build my friend the truck look killer....


Ray

[evilokc]

i decided the other day to make my own ac compressor bracket its going to take a little time to get the design done. i didn't want my truck to sit any longer. its been driving me crazy for a couple of weeks. starting the truck and letting it warm up in the garage only to turn it off without driving. today i cleaned out the cab, put the seat back in and took it out for a drive. it ran well. i put about 20 miles on it just tooling around. it was nice to be driving the ole death rattle again. I'm hoping to get it out more and more over the next couple of weeks.

[MARTINSR]

I worked out there literally all day from noonish until 10 oclock tonight getting the bottom of that window fixed up, OMG I haven't worked this much out there in a few years. This thing kicked my butt! Hope the next step is a little smoother.


Brian

[evilokc]

my day isn't over yet but I'm in for lunch so I decided to put this in. today I needed to run across town and thought it would be a great time for a highway test run. I took the truck out for a few miles yesterday and it ran good so I was excited. as I went down the expressway the truck ran nice in the stop and go traffic but as I approached the highway it seemed to be getting lean. I know the carb needs main jets but it shouldn't have been that lean on a surface road. got on the highway and it was pretty happy. running 70mph with a slight surge/sputter reminding me it needed jets. however the further I went the worse that got. it was weird. it never felt like it was going die to but the acceleration was falling off. got to my destination and when I went to leave it started fine and idled happy when I was driving the surface roads it was acting lean again. when I got on the highway it wasn't happy AT ALL. didn't want to accelerate. it sputtered its way up to 60mph but I couldn't get it over that and it wasn't happy there either. it kept getting worse tot he point I was pumping the throttle instead of holding it. I was getting a slight lean ping as I drove and then it happened. 20 miles into my drive home as the motor labored to go 60mph there was a pop. it was like a medium sized backfire and the truck lurched forward with full power. it went from a labored 60mph to a strong 80mph in seconds! the death rattle was back. the rest of the highway trip was great. it couldn't have been happier. the surface roads were the same story I had my full power back. my guess is that there was some trash in the jets that finally worked their way out. so I'm pretty happy right now. my damaged fender is completed as well. I'm headed to get it right after I eat. good times guys.

[Black_Sheep]

More priming and sanding, there's light at the end of the tunnel...

[OrrieG]

Mounted the front fenders, grill support and bumper valence. On to putting the doors together.

[evilokc]

I was able to get my fender today. its nicer after the repair than it was before. my truck ran well today. I was really winning. however some times the hot rod gods are fickle. my hood which was leaning against a wall fell over. its now damaged. the trim that holds the two pieces together has a dent and is allowing the two pieces to separate a little. I'm bummed guys.

[MARTINSR]

Just something that made me giggle when I noticed that my truck cab had a gun rack in it once upon a time when it was "just a truck." You can see the holes from the screws at the arrows I put on this piece that goes over the rear window on the inside.

Brian

[evilokc]

fender looks nice. i put about 10 miles on it running errands. i ordered a new taller air cleaner to let my motor breath. i had a 2.5inch round air cleaner with a solid lid and ordered a 5 inch tall with a filtered lid. they sent me a 6 inch. its enormous! i had to go get a longer piece of allthread to fit it. its SO tall. i hated in for 2 seconds and then fell in love with it. its ridiculous. it will fit under the hood when i put the hood back on. i need to trim the all thread tomorrow. its quite a sight running down the street. no hood, no passenger fender, giant air cleaner, loud rumbling exhaust. makes me smile.

[MARTINSR]

Can't wait to see my fenders looking like that again.

Brian

[MARTINSR]

Ok, I got out there and cut the upper inner piece in half to widen it to fit the center window. I cut the center out of the other one I had to fill the gap. So now I have to spend the night and tomorrow thinking the next step. Do I cut the filler piece that exact same as the hole and butt weld it in there, or do I leave it as it is and just MIG weld it in? Or do I make a straight cut instead of the one I did going around the dome light mount like I did? That is what I need to figure out for tomorrow night.

Brian

[evilokc]

got my jet kit in the mail. wanted to get them installed today but I had plans with the crew. will work on that tomorrow. going to a drive in car show sat. it will be the first show for the death rattle. I'm kind of giggling about it. the guy that told me about it is the vice president of the 1st gen mustang club here. his cars probably worth 50k. I'm going to drive in with no hood, no passenger fender, and dirt. lots of dirt. should be a good time. I will post up some pics.

[idbeast]

Filled unused firewall holes, ground down the welds and primed.

[MARTINSR]

And holy crap there are a LOT of holes in these firewalls! I looked at mine 50ish) and there were so many, but they looked like stock stamped holes. I went and got some photos on line and looking at them found that there were only 4 wrong holes! And sure enough they looked drilled out, the rest are original. My theme is basically an original truck so I plan on leaving them.
I may change my mind, I am thinking of cleaning it up a bit but I really want it basically stock looking.

Brian

[idbeast]

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

And holy crap there are a LOT of holes in these firewalls! I looked at mine 50ish) and there were so many, but they looked like stock stamped holes. I went and got some photos on line and looking at them found that there were only 4 wrong holes! And sure enough they looked drilled out, the rest are original. My theme is basically an original truck so I plan on leaving them.
I may change my mind, I am thinking of cleaning it up a bit but I really want it basically stock looking.

Brian

ROFLMAO yes, there are!!! I accidentally welded up 1 that I needed to open up to 9/16 for the vintage air, then I grabbed the Assembly Manual and looked at both the old 56 cab and the 55 GMC to figure out all of them! With the copper metal flake I'm painting it with, (the car behind the Harley) the holes in the firewall wouldn't look right!

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by idbeast

ROFLMAO yes, there are!!! I accidentally welded up 1 that I needed to open up to 9/16 for the vintage air, then I grabbed the Assembly Manual and looked at both the old 56 cab and the 55 GMC to figure out all of them! With the copper metal flake I'm painting it with, (the car behind the Harley) the holes in the firewall wouldn't look right!

VERY cool color!

Brian

[evilokc]

as per holley instructions I ran my vacuum gauge into the cab and got reading at constant throttle. did it several times and now have a baseline. they want me to increase the jet and repeat the vacuum test. if the vacuum raises I increase the jet again until the vacuum falls or stalls and then I drop back to the previous size or down 2 sizes. my carb is small and has even smaller than stock jets. so I'm going to jump several sizes to start. I enjoyed the test ride though. ran well.

[evilokc]

put in 72 and went on a 25 to 30 mile test ride. the hg stayed where it was so I'm going to drop back to 71s but not tonight. it ran really well. I was cruising between 60 and 75mp on the highway without a hiccup. the surface streets were pleasant driving as well. I admit I was in a hurry to get to the highway but it drove just as well on the surface roads. I haven't done anything to the secondarys. I didn't even open it up to see what jets are back there. its best to adjust one thing at a time and them adjust the rear jets based on the correct size mains. I did find some trash in the metering block when I was changing jets. I'm not sure if I was surprised or not. I cant decide. I'm going to add a second finer filter. the new air cleaner is so tall that its vibrating the wing nut loose. I'm going to add a lock washer. so overall great day. trucks running which makes me happy. I will be driving into the route 66 car show tomorrow. good times.

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by evilokc

put in 72 and went on a 25 to 30 mile test ride. the hg stayed where it was so I'm going to drop back to 71s but not tonight. it ran really well. I was cruising between 60 and 75mp on the highway without a hiccup. the surface streets were pleasant driving as well. I admit I was in a hurry to get to the highway but it drove just as well on the surface roads. I haven't done anything to the secondarys. I didn't even open it up to see what jets are back there. its best to adjust one thing at a time and them adjust the rear jets based on the correct size mains. I did find some trash in the metering block when I was changing jets. I'm not sure if I was surprised or not. I cant decide. I'm going to add a second finer filter. the new air cleaner is so tall that its vibrating the wing nut loose. I'm going to add a lock washer. so overall great day. trucks running which makes me happy. I will be driving into the route 66 car show tomorrow. good times.

Nothing like those first drives!

Brian

[MARTINSR]

I got one of the upper inner pieces trimmed to fit. I have to tell you, this is tough, the fact that it's double panel changes everything. I can't weld this piece all together and then put it in that I can figure, it's going to have to be welded into place piece by piece. So I am thinking I am going to do a butt weld with backing and MIG the whole thing.

I will need to get the outside all in shape, prime the inside then weld all these parts together inside, it's a toughie.

The other photo is of a little nibbler that I forgot I had! It was right in my tool box with the other air tools, geez, I could have been using this on a number of steps.

Brian

[evilokc]

went to the route 66 festival today. the caliber of cars were much higher than I thought. lots of cool rides of every style. funny how amongst all the finished high end cars there people still took pictures of the deathrattle. trucks running really well. I'm pleased. got a lot of "nice truck" comments and thumbs ups. today I'm going to do the rear jets and probably get the 10 micron filter installed.

[MARTINSR]

It's so funny how with some things the mark has been raised, and in other things like general street cleanliness or being polite is on a steady decline and is the norm.

With the quality, without a doubt! A top notch show car from 50 years ago wouldn't even get a participation award today. I am so impressed with the super high quality of so many cars at just normal old local park kinda shows. And what is really cool is often they are home builts! With access to what we do over the net most anyone can build some pretty damn cool stuff.

Brian

[Black_Sheep]

3rd time is the charm. I had this piece done before, until it got knocked off the paint stand. I stripped it to bare metal and started over. It was too cool when I painted it the 2nd time and the base coat lifted in a couple places. I repaired the spots and sprayed some more color on it. No runs, no lifting and it layed down smooth. Then I hit it with some matte clear. I know it's a small victory, but I'll take 'em where I can find 'em...

[Black_Sheep]

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

It's so funny how with some things the mark has been raised, and in other things like general street cleanliness or being polite is on a steady decline and is the norm.

With the quality, without a doubt! A top notch show car from 50 years ago wouldn't even get a participation award today. I am so impressed with the super high quality of so many cars at just normal old local park kinda shows. And what is really cool is often they are home builts! With access to what we do over the net most anyone can build some pretty damn cool stuff.

Brian

I live in Minnesota, with 5 or 6 months of Winter there is a lot of time to work on them. There is an amazing number of owner built cars that easily rival the no expense spared, open checkbook pro builds. The time, dedication and level of craftsmanship is impressive, even more so when you consider that many of the builders work non-automotive related jobs.