My Unexpected '66 SWB-Fleet-Restomod Project!

[Strodder]

Originally Posted by Modges'66

After a weekend of cruzin' it, on Sunday morning I took it back to my parent's house to put it away, and snapped a few pics before putting it in the barn.
...It started pouring out about 3 minutes after getting it inside!





I still need to sand & rub the front cowl extensions & hood, in order to have a finish like the rest of the truck, but it really looks good regardless.
I had a blast this past weekend...

Love it

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by NevEno

Truck turned out amazing!!

Thank you soooooo much!
I often find myself staring at it in awe. I cannot believe that it has reached this level...Seriously!

Originally Posted by jlsanborn

Wow!! It really does look sharp man. Well done!!

Thank you, It really has turned out exactly how I had envisioned it in my minds-eye!
Very difficult to explain, but I could see it developing.
I am not trying to seem arrogant about this....but I worked very hard to get it to this level....I couldn't be prouder as I drive it around!!!

Originally Posted by Strodder

Love it

Thank you so much! It looks so complete in those photos!...as you can probably tell, not much half-ass about this project. I couldn't be prouder right now. LOL!

[Bomp]

150 and ran smooth.
Great Truck, great build.

[dwcardfan]

Beautiful truck!!!

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

In a word.......

Magnificent

Thank you very much, Rian!

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

yeah buddy... driving her is the best part of the whole process.
what a beauty!

True that!!!!
Dude, I was traveling last weekend early a.m. to meet up with my dad & his buddies to go to a show, and got about 10 miles from the house and hit solid rain.....was soooo pissed!!! The truck will never be the same!
I guess that it is really broke-in now!!!
All-in-all, I have run about $100 worth of fuel thru this pig, without problems...
I still haven't calibrated my electronic speedo, so I don't know exactly how many miles that I have truly logged, but besides that, It seem to have the wrong fuel sender, so I may need to remove the box to fix that...

I have given both of my sons rides in it separately, and they both had the same comment afterwards..."Kinda scary fast, I wasn't expecting that" (Ha-Ha!)

Originally Posted by Bomp

150 and ran smooth.
Great Truck, great build.

Greg, from driving in stopped traffic to highway travel, this thing is bulletproof!..I can't believe how powerful & drivable it is at the same time!

Originally Posted by dwcardfan

Beautiful truck!!!

Thanks a bunch!
No longer perfect, but still real nice! (in my mind)
I am gonna end-up spending hours with it on the hoist, wiping down the bottom side in order to get it close to where it was...

[Modges'66]

Here are a few crappy pics from last weekends show.
I now have crappy eyesight, and the camera was set to manual focus...
My dad's '48 pro-street is parked on one side, and another buddy's Big-Block '64 SS Chevelle is parked on the other...

[NevEno]

Truck turned out amazing!!

[jlsanborn]

Wow!! It really does look sharp man. Well done!!

[Modges'66]

Well guys, even though it looks pretty finished, there were a handful of small issues with the truck that needed to be sorted out.
The electronic speedo needed to be calibrated, as it didn't register anywhere close to the true speed, and since I didn't have any of the paperwork from the gages, I was beginning to wonder if it was even wired correctly.
Upon a little research work, I got it all figured out & calibrated correctly on Saturday.
In addition, the fuel gage didn't work correctly either. As it turns-out the tank sending unit was 0-30 ohm, and I needed a 0-90 ohm sender.
Because of the older style tank & the fuel injected engine, I needed to fabricate a hybrid pump/sending unit that had the newer in-tank pump & sending unit with a 0-90 ohm range. I basically fabricated one from parts, but like an idiot, I neglected to take photos! This all works perfect now.
Also, my turn indicators would not cancel during a left-hand turn, which annoyed me.
I ripped the column apart to find that a return spring was missing.
My dad happened to have a few tilt-colums laying around which I stole a return spring from, which ended any turn-signal problems.
Everything on my truck now seems to work perfectly.

I took a cruise to the beach Saturday night, which logged about 120 miles round trip, without issues.
The factory GM cruise control worked really nice for this...
The truck seems to be really bullet-proof at this point...I am really excited about this!
I have logged well over 500 miles now, and I want to drive it everywhere!
Only, I don't want to clean it that often!

[matt_l]

Absolutely amazing, your craftsmanship is superb!

[clemdaddy]

very nice build all the way through Mike. congrats on undertaking a big project and seeing it finished.

maybe time for a big road trip soon, just to test her out ya know...

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by matt_l

Absolutely amazing, your craftsmanship is superb!

Thanks sooooo much!
All of the hard work is starting to pay-off!!!

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

very nice build all the way through Mike. congrats on undertaking a big project and seeing it finished.

maybe time for a big road trip soon, just to test her out ya know...

Thank you Clem!
I know that YOU know, that it is not always easy to stay committed to such a large project. It seems that too often people will lose interest before seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
It has been a long road, and I have enjoyed this project immensely, but I am glad that it is almost finished.

I am feeling a lot more confident with the dependability that the truck has shown so far, but I am not good with traveling long distances alone...Not positive yet, but I think that the final stages of this project may have killed my relationship with my girlfriend, but I am trying to work things out with that.
Not all that much fun, if you don't have someone close to share it with.

[Modges'66]

On a brighter side, I went to the last Cruise-in at a local Pizza restaurant this past Tuesday, and my buddy snapped a few pics of it.
There were about 300 cars there and a live band. What a great time!

[flips72]

Absolutely beautiful, very happy for you, nothing like getting to enjoy the fruits of your labor

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by flips72

Absolutely beautiful, very happy for you, nothing like getting to enjoy the fruits of your labor

Thank you Flip!
It has been great while it lasted!
I have had many good times in the truck during the past several weeks!

[Modges'66]

Well Guys!
I can tell you first hand, that there isn't a lot that can dampen your spirits more during a nice Friday cruise, on a warm autumn evening than this!!!

Friday evening while driving, I noticed the lifters suddenly starting to clatter about 1 mile from home, and by the time that I figured out what was going on, I was parked in my driveway with this staring me in the face!!!

I need to get the truck trailered up to the shop in the next few days, then see how extensive the damages are, in order to make a decision on what I am going to do.
I may just pull out the engine, then trailer the truck to where it will be stored for the winter...Not a great way to end the season.

[Bomp]

Oh Man that blows,,,, Hope its an easy fix.
You got it shut down in time before any major damage happened?!!???
Hoping for the best.

[jlsanborn]

That's a drag man but it may be a blessing in disguise too. Get that motor pulled and the truck put away, then start eyeballing your winter project! Is there anything in that department that you wish you had done differently anyways?

[Trsmotrhed]

That sucks. Keep us updated on what's going on.

[clemdaddy]

sorry man, but it may not be too bad. chevys are tough and lifter are easy to replace. i know you'll get it figured out, at least you got to cruise a bunch this season and like jlsanborn said, might be a good time to upgrade in the horsepower department.

[dwcardfan]

Sorry to hear. Like the guys said maybe it's not that bad.

[Palf70Step]

Sorry to hear the news. Hope it gets worked out soon.

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by Bomp

Oh Man that blows,,,, Hope its an easy fix.
You got it shut down in time before any major damage happened?!!???
Hoping for the best.

Thanks Greg.
I don't know if, or how much damage was done.
I did some research, and it seems that the LT1's had a problem with the Billet roller cams eating up the oil pump drive gears (distributor gear in a normal small block) if a melonized (heat-treated) gear was not used.
I didn't put the motor together, so I am guessing that the wrong type gear was used...
GM performance states in their description for this gear as "must be used with most late model crate engines or with billet roller cams, or serious damage will occur"...

Originally Posted by jlsanborn

That's a drag man but it may be a blessing in disguise too. Get that motor pulled and the truck put away, then start eyeballing your winter project! Is there anything in that department that you wish you had done differently anyways?

Maybe.....Nitrous?

Originally Posted by Trsmotrhed

That sucks. Keep us updated on what's going on.

I will definitely keep everyone posted on the outcome, thanks!

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

sorry man, but it may not be too bad. chevys are tough and lifter are easy to replace. i know you'll get it figured out, at least you got to cruise a bunch this season and like jlsanborn said, might be a good time to upgrade in the horsepower department.

Yeah Clem, got almost 1392 good miles out of her on a totally comfortable, and awesome looking seat, and every one except the last was a total blast!!!
Maybe nitrous?...Or did I say that already?

Originally Posted by dwcardfan

Sorry to hear. Like the guys said maybe it's not that bad.

Thanks, I hope that it isn't as bad as I expect, but we all know how that goes...

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Sorry to hear the news. Hope it gets worked out soon.

Not as sorry as me!
Loaded her on the trailer tonight for a trip to the shop in order to start disassembly....Gosh I hate that word!


Thanks guys, for all of the encouragement!
I really was kinda hoping that this winter would be good break from a great project. Not sure yet how I will address this bump in the road based on the complexity once that I get it apart.
Hoping for the best, but prepared for the worst!!!
I had to post a pic of my baby leaving on the trailer tonight....This wasn't exactly how I pictured seeing it go down the road for the first time....

[Modges'66]

Well guys, This week I dropped the oil pan to inspect what I suspected to be the problem, & also to inspect the rod & main bearings.
I had suspected that the oil pump drive gear (distributor gear on a normal small blocks) had been chewed-up by the billet steel roller cam, and it has....
The rod & main bearings do not look that bad, but they don't look great either.
But while I was rinsing out the oil pan in the parts-washer, I found a badly chewed 9/16" press-in freeze plug... Where do think that this may have come from?

I have now made the decision to pull the motor, in order to replace the Rod & Main Bearings, replace the distributor drive gear with the correct one for a billet cam, and replace the housing that retains it with a billet unit because the stock GM piece is plastic and becomes brittle. Oh, and also check-out the oil galley plugs for the camshaft, among other things...

Here is my current status:
I received the melonized pump drive gear (correct for a billet-steel roller cam).
I obtained a set of Clevite-77 Rod & Main Bearings.
I received the Billet LT1 stub-shaft housing for the oil pump drive.
I also have obtained the Intake, Timing chain, & Oil pan gaskets for my LT1.

So, here are a few pics of my accomplishments today, working all by myself.









I may be taking some time off from work this week in order to turn things around!
I would really like to to put this truck into storage in a somewhat completed state...

[lowlife4life]

I would be scared to even remove that motor for the chance of scratching that engine bay.