Project '64 Cheapskate

[wutnxt]

Hey great to see your making progress ......nice work

[juanz1947]

Cool build have not seen it till today the new grill look good

[nate95gsr]

Looking good Alex. Where are you finding the time to work on this thing? I know you work crazy hours at your job then school as well. I think you are the hardest working man I know! :-)

Nate

[chevyrestoguy]

^^^I hear ya. I try to take advantage of as much of my free time as I can. Unfortunately, the truck has absorbed my free time that was usually reserved for yard work, washing the cars, and right now, hanging Christmas lights. My current goal to get the '64 as a roller before Christmas, then concentrate on brake lines, fuel lines, and some under-hood detailing. The 350 is about to get torn down and inspected, but I don't want too many things going on at one time. That's how vital stuff gets forgotten and you don't figure it out until late in the build!

I was going to ask you if you were going to watch the UK/UNC game today, but that's a given. GO CATS!!!!!!

[chevyrestoguy]

I was able to get on the truck for a few hours yesterday. It was really cold and windy, so that kept me from getting a whole lot done. I was able to drive out the lower control arm bushings with the air chisel, and while the lower control arm cross shafts were out, I blasted them clean.



I am working on a mod to increase caster, so these cross shafts are going to a buddy's house so they can be machined. The intent is to move the lower control arm forward .75", thus tilting the spindle back, increasing caster. The machining will be very simple. Here's a quick drawing I did on Powerpoint to show you what I am going to do:


In order to do this mod, you have to remove the saddles that are riveted to the center crossmember. There are four of them, two on each side. These saddles are what keeps the lower control arm in position, and are held in place with u-bolts. They are kept from spinning by a stud that locates itself in the spot-faced holes in the lower control arm shaft. Here, you can see a picture of the front crossmember showing the two bolt holes for the u-bolts and the rivet head for the locating stud I mentioned earlier. The stud side is not visible in this picture.


In order to get the saddles removed, you have a few options. You can grind the heads off and drive out the rest of the rivet. Or, you can fire up the torch and melt the rivet heads off, then drive out the rest. I opted for the torch. I learned quickly that even with the head and tail of the rivet melted off, the rivet stems did not come out without a fight. I had to warm up the rivet stem with the torch and shoot them out with an air chisel. The rivets go through 4 layers of steel (doubler plate, saddle, and and 2 layers crossmember). Once you get them out, here's what the pieces look like after a few minutes in the blaster:


Here's what you'll see when the saddles, doubler, and rivets are removed. I decided that I was going to use a 7/16 X 1.25 socket head cap screw as the new locating pin, so the center hole in this picture needed to get opened up to a 7/16 to ensure that bolt would fit nice and tight. The light area in the front is the lip on the crossmember, which will be cut away. Sorry for the dark picture, my lighting was a little goofy yesterday.


Moving the control arm forward will cause the aft side of the control arm to get really close to the center crossmember, so I removed the lip and blended out the cut to eliminate any sharp edges that could cause a stress riser. You will only need to cut the lip back to where it meets the second metal layer.


That's all I got done yesterday. After the shafts get machined, I put them in place and show you the difference.

I promised earlier to show you a funny picture of the Border Collie, Tori. I was burning out the old control arm bushings and she was right in the smoke path, but she was so focused on wanting to play fetch she was oblivious to what was going on. She lives to play fetch. I'll be working underneath the truck and she'll constantly drop her stick or her ball right on your foot to get your attention. Goofball........


More to come!!!!

[McMurphy]

[QUOTE=chevyrestoguy;5047074] I'll be working underneath the truck and she'll constantly drop her stick or her ball right on your foot to get your attention. Goofball........

QUOTE]

Heheheh it is hard to say no to pets like that....
We had horses when I was growing up, and we had this one pinto mare that was like that. You could not be anywhere within her reach and she wasnt in your pocket or bucket of fencing nails, whatever.... to get your attention.

When we get out of the Army I have promised my wife we will get a dog (or two) My wife was a K9 drug dog handler Military Police for 13 years of her career. We both love dogs but Active Duty military life is too hard I think to be lugging a dog around. The Army wont ship them, so you have to pay for that, there are housing restrictions, and then quarentines to some places we have been as well...

Sorry to hijack your build, but I have to admit, what you are doing right now with your suspension is beyond my ability to even grasp!

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

Thanks, Allan! Yep, she's a Border Collie. Great dog, super smart. That dog LIVES to fetch. I would recommend that breed to anybody who wants a smart dog that's easy to train and is great with kids.

I have a picture of her that I took on Saturday when I was working on the front suspension that is hilarious. I'll wait and post that picture up with the rest of the front suspension build shots.

We have a one year old Border Collie. She is high strung.

[duallyjams]

Yea my wife and I only baby sat a border collie for 7 days woo we could not throw any thing enough or play tug of war oh nice cheap build too.

[VeronikA]

Nice project! And great C10 to start a nice build. Love your progress pics. And your collie Tori is a real cuttie-pie! love them dogs. Mine need an attention 24/7 too.

Keep your pics coming!!!

[chevyrestoguy]

I had a very productive last couple of days and got a lot done on the '64. I finished the caster mod I posted about earlier, so I'll continue where I left off:

In my earlier post, I showed the portion of the mod where the locating pins (the factory rivets) needed to be removed and replaced with 7/16-20 x 1.5" long socket head cap screws. For added insurance, I used Loctite and a stover nut. Here's a shot of the finished installation:


In this shot, you can see the head of the fastener, which will locate perfectly in the new spot face positions in the lower control arm cross bar.


In this picture, you can see the difference between a stock crossbar and a modified crossbar. The upper bar is stock, and the lower bar is the modified bar with the newly-located spot faces.


For an added bit of fluff, I primed and painted the front half of the chassis. I gave it a good shot with the steam cleaner and another last blast with the pressure washer, and then primed it. It's not a show vehicle, and the chassis isn't 1000% clean, but it'll suffice. It's a driver and it'll get abused.


While the control arms were out, they got blasted and painted. New Energy Suspension bushings were installed and all the balljoints were replaced with Moog parts. Then the moment of truth arrived, and it was time to install the control arms and see if the caster mod was a success. Everything fit perfect. The clearances were excellent, and the locating pins lined up exactly as planned. Here is a shot of the driver's side control arm. You can see just how much the control arm moved forward.


Here's a close-up shot of the back-side. If you recall, I had to clearance the crossmember. I now have plenty of room with the control arm at full up/down.


Here's a shot of the front side. You can really the .75" difference in position from stock.


Here's another trick I did to eliminate a huge shim stack in the upper control arm. On the half-tons, GM utilized spacers on the control arm bolts, along with the normal shims. Because I cut a coil from the stock spring, I knew that the alignment shop would have to add more shims to get the camber correct. So, I went to the wrecking yard and grabbed some other spacers(the fat ones) and added them to the mix. The original set-up was: 1 skinny spacer on the forward bolt, and one fat spacer on the rear bolt. The new set-up is: 1 fat spacer on the front, and 1 fat and 1 skinny spacer on the rear. Not much of a difference, but I don't like the look of a huge spacer stack on lowered vehicles.


I finally got to set the truck on it's wheels. The engine and trans are not installed, so it'll come down a bunch when they finally get installed. The wheels and tires are from the donor Suburban, and they are NOT going to be what I am going to run. I am going to have a big/little wheel and tire combo, and I'm still trying to decide what I'm going to go with. In this shot, you can also see the rear height after the spring changeout. It's finally getting there!

[Zane M]

Awesome!
thanks for sharing your build.

[wutnxt]

Got to love the feeling when you get wheels back on the ground....it's one more thing to check off the list....nice to see you back on it and making progress....

[McMurphy]

Your detailed explanation and pics are awesome, thanks!
Makes for a really good read and makes me think about stuff...

[nate95gsr]

Looking good Alex. Have you thought anymore about your 83?

Nate

[grayharville]

cool build! i love cheap builds, im doing a budget frame off on an 85 myself. right now i have less in it than what a full tank of gas costs!

[chevyrestoguy]

Originally Posted by nate95gsr

Looking good Alex. Have you thought anymore about your 83?

Nate

That's funny. Greg hit me up about it last week. So who wants it, you, Greg, or both of you? Do I smell a bidding war? Right now, you guys have dibs on it, and nobody else.

It's a great project truck with a lot of added stuff. The biggest plus is that it's a California desert vehicle with zero rust and a nearly perfect body. How would you transport it back to your place?

[65Pickup]

Incredible detail and instruction. Very cool engineering.

[VeronikA]

Wow awesome progress! Thanks for all the pics! Keep it up!!

[C@rnut001]

Now this is my type of build....I love your truck and what you are working to accomplish here....I had a friend who built a Firebird once by going into his favorite salvage yard and camping out one week and driving his results out the door when he was done....it had parts from many different GM vehicles in it, but he had a running and driving vehicle when he was done. (His buddies dad owned the place and told him that any car he could put together that week could be his for $500...) So, I love what you are doing here and I love your cheap theme. Keep up the great work and keep us informed of updates!

[chevyrestoguy]

Thanks, Owen!
I really love hitting the wrecking yards, because to me, it's a treasure hunt. I am always blown away at the stuff people send to the scrap yard. The great thing about GM is that they were very smart about making things interchangeable. You can find great parts and upgrade your vehicle at the same time for dirt cheap. Plus, it makes you use your brain, which is good. Anybody can open up a catalog and just order stuff, but there's a real thrill when you do your homework and research everything and it works perfect and you have almost zero money tied up in it. My '64 has been a blast to build, and I've got some cool stuff planned for it that you guys will definitely like! Cool, cheap, stuff.

[nate95gsr]

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

That's funny. Greg hit me up about it last week. So who wants it, you, Greg, or both of you? Do I smell a bidding war? Right now, you guys have dibs on it, and nobody else.

It's a great project truck with a lot of added stuff. The biggest plus is that it's a California desert vehicle with zero rust and a nearly perfect body. How would you transport it back to your place?

I would probably have it shipped out here same as Greg. Just let me know if you ever decide to sell it. I am in no rush to buy it as I know you are in no rush to sell it etiher. Just keep me in mind.
Also, your 64 is really starting to look awesome. Not bad for a $200 truck and some hard work in your free time and a good donor Burb.

Nate

[57truckguy]

Yes love your builds, I,ve had a couple of those $200 vehicles that lived in my pocket book for a while also lol.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Slammed66]

Hey bud, been kreepin on this build for a while , lovin it so far!!!

My vote for rolling stock, the halibrand knock offs on eBay.
They are cheap, and would set this thing off!!
Posted via Mobile Device

[chevyrestoguy]

Originally Posted by 57truckguy

Yes love your builds, I,ve had a couple of those $200 vehicles that lived in my pocket book for a while also lol.
Posted via Mobile Device

Thanks! I had always wanted to build a 60-66, but I always had too many irons in the fire. This one came along, and it was too cheap to pass up. Plus, it gave me a great excuse to use a lot of the spare parts that I had accumulated that were taking up space. And best of all, I resisted the common practice of ordering everything out of a catalog. This time, I put myself in "McGuyver Mode", and have tackled everything by using my thinking cap, using whatever I had available, and trying to think outside of the box and solve headaches with cheap solutions using common, easy to find parts. It has been one of the most fun projects I have ever done. If you want to see a really cool vehicle built with the same theory, but on a much wilder scale, check out Brad's '49 Chevy truck:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=320546
You would be blown away at how cheap he built it for. He's driving the wheels off of it and having a blast. That's the way it should be! Brad and I are constantly bouncing ideas off of each other, and we help each other out alot.

Originally Posted by Slammed66

Hey bud, been kreepin on this build for a while , lovin it so far!!!

My vote for rolling stock, the halibrand knock offs on eBay.
They are cheap, and would set this thing off!!
Posted via Mobile Device

I have definitely considered those wheels. I see them on ebay all the time (JD Wheels has them for the cheapest price). If my rear axle was narrow enough to tuck a 15x10, I would have already bought them because the 10" ones look awesome. My '79 Suburban rear axle limits my wheel width to 8" max. Right now, I'm going to run 15x6 and 15x8 steelies (painted white) with '66 Chevelle dog dish caps, until I can save up and buy a set of Torque Thrust TTOs or T-70s. The truck has got to have a '60s vibe with a modern stance.
How's the Tall Grass build coming? Love that truck! Makes me want to build a stepper.

[Fat Mike]

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

Here is the panel after I did a bunch of hammer and dolly work and slowly stitched the torn areas back together. I drilled about 15 .098 holes to stop-drill all of the cracks. The cracks had spread everywhere. Getting it all dollied and stitched back together helped get the outer shape back to where it needed to be. I'm still deciding on whether to make the patch panels the circular shape or just cut a large square panel that fixes them in one shot. The skin was also torn around the edge of the entire area where it meets the cowl, an area about 10" total. I still have to fill the 1/2" hole in the front corner, but that'll be a snap.

Question for you? In the picture above when you grinded the welded surface down why is there a black lowered edge around the weld zone? Can you prevent this? When I am welding sometimes I have these lowered darkened areas and would like to learn how to prevent it? I am asking you because you seem to have a craftsmanship way above and beyond.