64 C10 Stepside "Jaybird"

[siggyfreud]

Looks great. I remember that feeling of having the frame painted, and finally getting to work on a clean surface again, rather than something with 40 years of mud, oil, etc. Keep up the great work!

[bj383ss]

Originally Posted by T.J. MCCAULEY

The frame came out really nice! I like the old pictures to!!!

Thanks T.J. I have more I'm going to upload.

Originally Posted by WhippinSaw

Frame came out nice, good place for the first time spray gun.
By the time you start spraying blue you'll have it perfected

Lets hope that is how it goes. First shot of the black I knew something was wrong. The paint can said no reducing required. So I tried it. NOPE a bunch of orange peel. I stopped and put some reducer in it. I looked at the instructions online and it said to do 4:1:1. Not sure why the paint can said otherwise. Plus the kit came with the reducer. Anyways glad I figured that out. I have two guns. A regular siphon and then a HVLP. I used the siphon for the primer. I actually like it better. The black I used the HVLP which laid down smoother but it was hard to shoot the very bottom of the frame so at the end I had to switch to the siphon gun for the bottom of the rails as it worked much better.

Originally Posted by siggyfreud

Looks great. I remember that feeling of having the frame painted, and finally getting to work on a clean surface again, rather than something with 40 years of mud, oil, etc. Keep up the great work!

Thank you. Yes I do not know what I'm going to do when I don't have to spend 10 minutes of vacuuming after working on the truck for 5.

Yesterday and today I got about 5 hours of sandblasting in. I finished the crossmember and all 4 a-arms. I got them all primed. Plan to shoot them black tomorrow. And then the crossmember is going back in. If I can find some Grade 8 hardware for it. I went to 6 places and still don't have everything I need. I guess nobody uses Grade 8 anymore. Tractor Supply had a whole wall of it by the pound but nothing in 7/16" WTH. I got the nuts and washers at O'riellys. $22. Then I found 3 of the 1 1/2" bolts at ACE. Lowes carries the bolts also but they are out. I asked someone about it last week. He got his Iphone and it said they had 20 but no one could find. They said they would order more. Been a week I stopped by today they still don't have any. Oh well. I bought 3 1 1/4" see if they will work on the vertical holes.

Rant over here are some pic.


I made a quick rack to hang stuff from so I can do one spray.








I brought home all the steering components so I could mask them and get them primed. I used a trick I saw somewhere to use Vaseline to mask off paint. It worked pretty good. I like the anodized ends so I wanted to keep the detail instead of painting all of it.






Bret

[bj383ss]

Got a coat of primer and color on all the frontend parts minus spindles and springs. Haven't ordered those yet.

[TJ's Chevy]

Looking darn good! Making me excited to get my frame an suspension done.

[Bomp]

Got some time to do some surfing and came across your build.
You've got some great skills.
Im late but following along from here on out.

[bj383ss]

Originally Posted by T.J. MCCAULEY

Looking darn good! Making me excited to get my frame an suspension done.

Thank you T.J. Look forward to your suspension and frame.

Originally Posted by Bomp

Got some time to do some surfing and came across your build.
You've got some great skills.
Im late but following along from here on out.

Wow that means a lot coming from you. Thank you. You must be talking about my woodworking skills as my metal skills are still amateur.


I didn't get a lot done today got started a little later. Got out in the garage and realized I was out of juice. My 9 day marathon finally caught up with me. So I started the Cutlass and took if for a quick spin with the boys.





Bolted the crossmember in with the 6 bolts I have. Can't wait to get the other 8.





I already scratched it. Not sure how. I had it covered. Took the cover off and it was scratched. Oh well I can fix it. Its going to happen.




I rolled the engine outside and sprayed it down with Gunk engine degreaser. It did a little. Used the $3 oven cleaner Ive been using on the frame and it worked great! Gunk should be ashamed of themselves.


2 more days of vacation and then back to the grind. It supposed to rain tomorrow so probably work on the a-arms.

Bret

[Mikes66ChevyC10]

Love the Cutlass! I also have a 72!

[siggyfreud]

Looking great! Frame and suspension parts are coming out looking really good.

[bj383ss]

Originally Posted by Mikes66ChevyC10

Love the Cutlass! I also have a 72!

Would love to see a pic.

Originally Posted by siggyfreud

Looking great! Frame and suspension parts are coming out looking really good.

Thank you.

I haven't worked on the truck since Saturday but I did a small project here at home in the woodshop. I drilled the rivets on the back of the heater control panel to get the little lens out to see if I could save it. It was very cloudy and some kind of crust on it.





I washed it with soap and then buffed it with some 3M microfinish. It came pretty dam clear. Even the plastic they made back then was of high quality.

The rivets are studs that are molded to frame and there is enough meat left I am just going to JB weld it back together.







I was a little worried about this piece as I couldn't find any replacements in any of the catalogs. No need to now was able to save it.

Bret

[Jeff La]

Love the cutlass, olds were mostly all we ever had in our family. I had two cutlass' when we first got married.

[socaljess]

looking good keep up the good work

[bj383ss]

Originally Posted by socaljess

looking good keep up the good work

Thank You,

Been getting little things done here and there. I have soaked the headers in three different positions in my vat of rust eating vinegar. It is doing a great job. Only problem I am having is the flash rust immediately after I rinse them in water. I figured out if I air dry them completely with compressed air it helps tremendously. My plan is to lightly sand blast them and then get some paint on them.

First round of soaking. Forgot to take pics of them all finished. DOH



The driver header had some damage at one point and was repaired with some brazing. As long as it don't leak it will be fine.


I also soaked the front springs and engine pulleys. The springs came out with a black coating on them. Not sure what it is but it kept them from flash rusting.

I got these crazy formations from the springs





Today I tore down the rearend so I could start stripping it and get it ready for some black paint and put it back under the frame. It gave me hell from the start. The bolt that holds the pinion shaft twisted off. By shear luck I finally got it out. Then the springs from the drum brakes took a chunk out of one of my fingers and finally I bruised my palm taking off one of the backing plates. BUT I WON IN THE END!

Also I have been reading that the 64 rearends have a 17 spline but my axles were 30 so I guess it was switched out at one point.

Couple of pics of current garage status. I need to make a couple of parts orders before I can put the front suspension back together. Mainly bolts and all the bump stops. For now going to put the original drum brakes back on as Disc brakes is not in the budget right now.

Forgot to take a picture of the rearend all tor down.

[bj383ss]

Haven't updated in awhile. I have been busy though.

Rearend all done and buttoned up.









Rear suspension ready to go with new poly bushings.




I have almost gone through a whole gallon of paint on just the frame and suspension.

[aggie91]

Parts are looking good!

[TJ's Chevy]

Nice job bud! Bout time an update came! Now you know I'm only saying that cause I'm liking the build! LOL!

[Ta2Don]

Great Work & Progress!!!

[1963c-10]

Great progress.....glad to see the vinegar is doing the trick on the rust. I have used it many times very successfully. Nice job!!!

[bj383ss]

Originally Posted by aggie91

Parts are looking good!

Thank You

Originally Posted by T.J. MCCAULEY

Nice job bud! Bout time an update came! Now you know I'm only saying that cause I'm liking the build! LOL!

Thank you T.J. I have been lazy. To tell you the truth my web hosting site for my pictures has been giving me hell and not letting me batch upload so uploading one picture at a time is very consuming. Something is wrong with the JAVA installed on my computer and after a couple of hours messing with it I gave up.

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Great Work & Progress!!!

Thank Don

Originally Posted by 1963c-10

Great progress.....glad to see the vinegar is doing the trick on the rust. I have used it many times very successfully. Nice job!!!

I have to say I am amazed at how awesome Vinegar is. It saved me a bunch of work after I got a system down. Let everything soak for a couple of days. Rinse it off dry it with compressed air and then a quick blast to stop the flash rust. Everything comes out factory fresh.

I have a ton more pictures just didn't have time to upload them this morning.

I am replacing a lot of the bolts with Grade 8 but if they are specialized I am just blasting them or wire brushing them priming them, 2 coats of aluminum high heat engine paint followed by 3 coats of clear to help with the paint coming off the corners when they are tightened. So far it has worked well on the diff cover bolts and backing plates for the axle.


I painted all the brake parts with the Aluminum just to give a color break.



Also cutout all the rust on my inner fenders, welded in some patches and then some bondo over that to get them ready for some black. Still needs some more feathering.


















I painted the core support, battery tray, radiator covers got some more paint, and the cover that goes over the steering shaft and bolts to inner fender.










Also someone on a thread I made suggested this part if you have broken the crosspin bolt. Picked it up at my local O'riellys. ITs just a hair shorter but it worked perfect.



The motor mount perches all pretty and bolted in with new Grade 8 hardware.

[bj383ss]

Today was a very motivational day for me. There may be light at the end of the tunnel. I mocked up the rear suspension with the old springs just to see how all of it would look.

Pictures came out dark on the Nikon but my cell had better light but not as clear.












http://images108.fotki.com/v1629/photos/4/1710564/11093382/photo-vi.jpg[/img]





I also reshot the A-arms as they had some thin spots and the gear box so I can put the steering together.







I can't wait to get my lowering springs and the parts I need to finish the front suspension.

Bret
[img]

[TJ's Chevy]

Dude!!!! Yer making some killer awesome progress!!!!! Looking seriously awesome!

[DLW]

I agree, looks fantastic! Wish I had that much garage space.

[Ta2Don]

Man O Man O Man!!!

[Grizz1963]

The more I read your build, the more embarassed I get.

I can only dream of getting my truck looking that good.

[bj383ss]

Originally Posted by T.J. MCCAULEY

Dude!!!! Yer making some killer awesome progress!!!!! Looking seriously awesome!

Thank You T.J. I am very excited to put something back together instead of tearing down.

Originally Posted by DLW

I agree, looks fantastic! Wish I had that much garage space.

Thank you I really enjoy the big garage and I feel very fortunate to have it. I read a lot of guys on here building theres outside. I don't know how they do it.

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Man O Man O Man!!!

Thank you Don.

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

The more I read your build, the more embarassed I get.

I can only dream of getting my truck looking that good.

Rian no reason to get embarrassed. Your truck is still a driver and has a ton of patina and coolness factor. I had planned to just get mine running and driving reliable and safe, but the more I dug into the more things that were just too far gone.

I have a Cousin that restores Muscle cars in Fort Worth, TX. I have drove several of them and there is something amazing about driving an older vehicle that is all brand new with no rattles or squeaks. So I decided to do it even though the truck will be off the road for several years. It drives me crazy right now but in the end I will be grinning from ear to ear when I am driving it.

[pdxhall]

Great progress, man. The chassis looks great. It's a great feeling to be able to start bolting things together.