Not Another Rebuild Thread....

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by T.J. MCCAULEY

Good work!

Thanks TJ, obviously the days of hauling wood are behind my truck, unlike your worker! I appreciate your taking a look though

Originally Posted by duallyjams

What's the fun in just doing it once.

There is some hidden truth to that, I am usually much more satisfied with the 2nd or even 3rd attempts. This may yet turn into one of those times...

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Diggin' the Evel Knievel ramp...

I am still not 100% sold on it... though I think I am going to go ahead and to the middle section next.

Originally Posted by Low Elco

wonder if you can buy a standalone cowl hood scoop in metal for the sides, then graft your skin with the distinctive center peak to it?

I think I have seen what you are talking about done already, though I did not care for it myself; which would explain why I did not save any photos of it.
(I have a huge collection of stolen photos in a folder of stuff I liked on one level or another)

Originally Posted by Jeff La

Another great Murphing, subtle yet different, you really have to look for it. I like

I like how Bomp puts it, the type of mod that you really have to know what you are looking at to realize what was done to it....

Originally Posted by International Texan

Great work man. Always doing something just a little different, you have a great eye.

Thank you sir, that same thing has been said about my photography, and some of my art.

Originally Posted by chad64chevy

this is what I'm going to be doing this summer, I also got a new lmc book the other day and there a a section called share your truck journey, they have a website page to: it's called lmctrucklife.com, they guys truck says they used a center section from a 68 Camaro cowl hood, his hood and section from two other hoods! looks great, I just got to buy the cowl hood and get after it, lol!!

Cannot wait to see how you pull it off buddy!!
I bet you are going to rock it

Originally Posted by Modges'66

Murph!
You are truly a glutton for punishment!
To mess with the biggest panel on the truck is really aggressive.
I admire your determination, but dude, you're kinda insane!!!

Kinda... LoL
I have found that enough determination can get you through just about any situation.
Even if you dont come out of it smelling like a rose.

Originally Posted by flips72

where do you come up with all these ideas?, must be the pizza cant wait to see the hood, stay warm.

Hmmmmm pizza !!
I dunno where the ideas come from man, just the way my eye looks at stuff and the creative side of my brain that says, "Man, I could do something with that!"

Originally Posted by Bomp

All I can say is that this modification of yours has influenced me to go ahead with something that was tucked away in the back of my head.
Very Motivational.

Just do it better than I did bud.... lets see what you got up your sleeve !!

[ZouchaR]

Lookin good Murph!!!!! And remember, we ain't buildin Ridlers!!!! Do the best you can.

[jlsanborn]

I feel your pain. My bedsides are kicking my butt. I'm no doctor but I'm running out of patience. It's gonna look great on the truck Murph!

[Ta2Don]

Looking Good Murph...
And as Grizz said, I also dig the contrast of the underside and supports...

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Morning from Bimingham where it was just starting to snow lightly when I pulled up earlier.

I really like the underside and contrast of the Flat vs Satin or gloss paint finishes.
It always shows extra attention to detail.

The slots up front are coming together too.

I may give you a ring soon in my weird accent to chat a bit.

Any time I am awake is a fine time to call buddy !!
Would love to shoot the breeze with you agian, and answer any questions you may have.

Originally Posted by ZouchaR

Lookin good Murph!!!!! And remember, we ain't buildin Ridlers!!!! Do the best you can.

True... it may be a spell before this rig rolls across the Jackson-Barrett stage.

Originally Posted by jlsanborn

I feel your pain. My bedsides are kicking my butt. I'm no doctor but I'm running out of patience. It's gonna look great on the truck Murph!

I wish I was there to help you man !!
I forget, did you build that shop of yours, or was it there when you got the house?

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Looking Good Murph...
And as Grizz said, I also dig the contrast of the underside and supports...

Thanks Don, the photos make it look half presentable and hides much of the stuff I see that drives me batty !!



Today just sanded out the junk that got in my wet paint yesterday in the grey with some 400 and 1000 grit, then resprayed in the grey.
As soon as that was dry, (it was a light coat) I masked it off, and laid down the first pass of the black on the hood.

Saturday I will sand and respray the black as I did the grey today.
So no new photos until this weekend fellas, sorry !!

[McMurphy]

This is my turn signal assembly, I decided I needed new and uncracked lenses and since the gaskets were inexpensive, I got those too. These are fitted with 2057A bulbs (amber of course) in the turnsignal sockets from the 85 Sierra. I had to have these sockets in order for my side markers to work, evidently they act as a grounded relay for the turnsignal system and the side markers won't work without these.
So some adaptation was needed.
It only entailed using a small visegrip to bend one side of the socket hole out, and the other side in, to create a semblance of a spiral for the socket to twist up into. I added a rubber grommet to the socket to add some firmness to the seating, and the weather seal seems to seat perfectly well, so I am going to run with this set up:


Here is a view of the "cowl" mod I did, you can see it did not come out exactly level, but ..... I am going to force myself to live with it, or else I am going to have to buy a house here in Alaska and retire here to finish it, and that has a zero likelihood of being approved by the wife.... LoL
This opening is going to get a strip of mesh as well, to match the rest of the build.


A glam shot from the front:


And a couple more of the grey for you photo junkies out there:



Headed down now to get some more done on this, so more later I hope

[piratexpress1369a]

that is a hell of a job on the hood ..are you going to take a closer pic of the raised section ..from what i see it looks great ..how much height were you looking for on the cowl

[Ta2Don]

Easier to post this ? Versus digging through here.., yep I be a bit lazy at times... Where did you pick up the extra hood support?

Hood is Looking Great!

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Easier to post this ? Versus digging through here.., yep I be a bit lazy at times... Where did you pick up the extra hood support?

Hood is Looking Great!

Thanks Don, I pulled an extra support from the junk yard on one of my many foraging trips, then I picked up the GMC hood and it had 2 of them as well.
If you want one I can toss it in the mail for you .....

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Finished my paint on the hood today, mostly.
Just like the rest of the rig, the smoke grey is seperated from the flat black by a pinstripe of charcoal metallic fleck.
At the bottom of the air intake the pinstripe splits direction and follows along the body line around the sides of the hood.
There is also an "eyebrow" above the turn signals.
The intent is for these to be more noticible in the sunlight....




Here is how I did the cowl section...
Personally I like the hell out of it.


And again with the screen mesh in place.


And with the mesh in the turn signal wells...


I got started on wiring it up for the lights tonight but the dinner bell rang....
So hopefully the hood will get mounted tomorow, wont that be fun ??

LOL
thanks for looking guys !!!

[jlsanborn]

Nice work on the striping! The shop was here when we moved in but it was more of a "barn". Half the back wall was cut open and there were animal stalls inside. I've put quite a bit into it to get it where it is now.

[piratexpress1369a]

looks cool

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by jlsanborn

Nice work on the striping! The shop was here when we moved in but it was more of a "barn". Half the back wall was cut open and there were animal stalls inside. I've put quite a bit into it to get it where it is now.

Gotcha !! I am starting to shop around for a General Contractor to start with a modest 50x30 three stall shop with a 16x30 room in attic, then if all goes well and he is a straight up fellow, we will build our house thru him.

So if any of you Spokane area guys know a good GC please shoot me his contact, I would be eternally grateful !!!

Originally Posted by piratexpress1369a

looks cool

Thanks ; please see below !!

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Ok as some of you may remember, wayyyyyyyy back in October of 2011 I did up a little drawing of what I envisioned my truck to look like. It has been hanging in the garage ever since, but here it is again:


On Sunday I put the hood on, and started taking pics for you guys, so to compare please consider these offerings.
On the arrow head I decided to just do the metallic flake pinstripe, and not fill in the center of it, here is a bit of close up on how that turned out. I think I like it better than I would have the filled in look:


A turtles-eye view:


You can tell I still have some tweaking to do with the grill to get it to align with the head light doors, but it will get there.
Opps!! Tire needs some air ......


Starting to look like the drawing !!


Am off to the garage to dink around with it some more, going to air up that tire, start the old boy up and let the oil circulate some, and decide what to do next.... That rear sway bar is really bugging me now, so that may be the next job on the list.

Thanks for looking guys !!

[Ta2Don]

Looking more and more like your concept sketch!!!

[piratexpress1369a]

so cool ...stripe works ..i say

[Modges'66]

Murph!
That looks so cool!
The fit & finish adjustments should be no problems given your ambition & determination.
Now forge ahead....to the ahhhh, rear anti-sway bar?...just kiddin around!!!
I am pretty sure that you got it covered.
Dude, my interaction on that subject was truly an effort to try to help you.
I still feel guilty the I didn't PM you with my thoughts/opinions...
That thing looks great!

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Looking more and more like your concept sketch!!!

Yeah, nice to see the reality come off the paper. I hope you get with Jay soon, he is waiting on info from you! I saw what he has for you so far, what an awesome looking emblem, I really hope to see it come to life as well !!!!

Originally Posted by piratexpress1369a

so cool ...stripe works ..i say

Thanks Pirate !!

Originally Posted by Modges'66

Murph!
That looks so cool!
The fit & finish adjustments should be no problems given your ambition & determination.
Now forge ahead....to the ahhhh, rear anti-sway bar?...just kiddin around!!!
I am pretty sure that you got it covered.
Dude, my interaction on that subject was truly an effort to try to help you.
I still feel guilty the I didn't PM you with my thoughts/opinions...
That thing looks great!

All comments are helpful in one way or another my friend !! I just wish I could get more of them, as sometimes all it takes is one off hand remark to set my brain to dreaming up all kinds of new and intriguing ideas !!

More progress soon, I promise

[NEWFISHER]

Your frigid fingers have been busy!

[markeb01]

I don’t remember seeing the concept drawing before, but I really like the creativity. As Don mentioned reality is getting closer and closer!

[clemdaddy]

looking good murph. liking the grill and the hood paint. i don't think i saw the sketch before either but the truck looks spot-on to your concept.

[jlsanborn]

I had forgotten about that sketch you made and looking back you've stuck with the plan! Looks great Murph!

On your shop size...

Don't skimp on depth from the roll-ups. My space is 40' deep and with any kind of *hit laying around I can hardly get the Crummy in there. Leave enough room so that you always have space to easily roll something in, even when you weren't expecting to need to. I'd like 60' deep!

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by NEWFISHER

Your frigid fingers have been busy!

Thank you sir, the clock is ticking, and this build has already gone 17 months longer than initially expected.

Originally Posted by markeb01

I don’t remember seeing the concept drawing before, but I really like the creativity. As Don mentioned reality is getting closer and closer!

Yeah the concept drawing was posted way back on page 1... hard to expect anyone to remember back that far. Particularly because I was such a noob I was surprised anyone even paid any attention back then LoL !!
I remember when I sat down and read Alan's build, by the time I got done, I had to go back and find stuff I had read earlier.... and found stuff I had forgotten about.

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

looking good murph. liking the grill and the hood paint. i don't think i saw the sketch before either but the truck looks spot-on to your concept.

Thanks, so far so good... I had forgotten about the semi-gloss paint on the flat as well until I posted the drawing again. (The darker black pattern was supposed to be semi-gloss on the flat black)

Originally Posted by jlsanborn

I had forgotten about that sketch you made and looking back you've stuck with the plan! Looks great Murph!

On your shop size...

Don't skimp on depth from the roll-ups. My space is 40' deep and with any kind of *hit laying around I can hardly get the Crummy in there. Leave enough room so that you always have space to easily roll something in, even when you weren't expecting to need to. I'd like 60' deep!

Thanks for the input... for me, a couple of things come in to play when it comes to the shop.
Firstly I cannot help but consider it a luxury addition, as in I am building a shop instead of putting in a swimming pool. To me it is an equal context.
Second, I have spent a large percentage of my adult life working in Operating Rooms, so I am particularly used to my work space being small and efficient. I long to settle down so I can also get it organized (think Markb's garage and you will know what I am envisioning)
Third, I cannot break the bank with building the shop... I still have to build something to put the wife in, and she is four-square against a quaint cabin, or kennel.... but you didnt hear that last part from me....


***************************************************************************************

Even before I decided on the turn signal mod, I knew that these trucks suffered from lack of a turn signal that could be clearly seen from the side of the vehicle. I did not however want to go over the top on it, something subtle but effective was in order for me.
I always liked the 1969 GTO side markers (front and back) and got these last July just for this build:


I was not going to mess with the fenders until I was done with the bed, but I just could not help myself, so I pulled them off the wall today and pulled the trigger on getting them ready to mount on.
Here I have drilled the install holes for the GTO signals, man I love those slugger bits, they just make the most beautifullly round holes !!


A little bit of dremmel tool work and file action and the alignment/retainer tab holes are done !!


The initial install done!
The rest of the day today was spent on filling the seam on the front of the fenders, and cleaning up some of the old fender parts to go on the new ones.




Thanks for looking guys !!
I appreciate all the comments and encouragements, keeps me motivated to finish this bad boy

[piratexpress1369a]

very cool .where on the back fenders are you going to place the lights

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by piratexpress1369a

very cool .where on the back fenders are you going to place the lights

I am nowhere near doing the rear signals yet, but what I have in store for that is different from what I did in the front.
As yet, I have nothing definate on placement for them...

*************************************************************************************
I am currently pouring through catalogs looking for a couple things. If anyone has suggestions please add them!!

I am looking for replacement FRONT fender parts like the one shown, as well as the clips that hold them on. I have the fender to body seals, but the part they mount to is shot and pretty much unuseable. Here is a photo of both the metal panel (with the rear fender seal still on it) and the retainer clips (the wisdom tooth looking thing on the white card)



Here are the ones that are about 6" forward of the firewall... though rust rotted, they are still useable but I would like new ones if I could find them.
Lower one has the original seal still on it, the other I am ready to put new seal on the top one pictured:


This is as far as I am now with shaving the seam in my front fenders... still some sanding to do, but this is the progress at this point:


Thats it for now... if you know where I can get those inner fender parts please let me know, I will be your best friend for ever !!

[Modges'66]

Funny that you should ask Murph!
This is what I have been kinda stalled-out on at the moment.
You won't find the sheet metal NEW anywhere, but I did a search and found the parts at Aspenautoaz.com and just got them Friday.
They were really pretty nice!....after I sandblasted them!
I got the rubber & clips from Classic Parts.
I used Loctite weatherstrip adhesive & stainless safety wire to attach them thru the same holes where the original staples were.
Just put them on tonight!!
I'm gonna hi-jack your thread with some pics right now...BFF!!!!


This is how I received them.


And sandblasted!


A few pics of them painted, assembled & installed!


Have a great evening BFF! Ha-Ha-Ha!

[Low Elco]

I like the white and gold! Here's a great swaybar link-

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...507111&page=12