Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England

[clemdaddy]

nice work on the hood… you seem to be a man thats on a mission. keep after it, you'll be driving her soon.

looks good.

[ibrown50]

Originally Posted by mjh1965

It's starting to take shape at the front . Like you , everything I have had from POL has fitted nicely . It won't be long before you are driving it Ian

Thanks Martin, wonder who will be driving first

Originally Posted by DPowers

Love the color. Very nice work.

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

nice work on the hood… you seem to be a man thats on a mission. keep after it, you'll be driving her soon.

looks good.

Dwane, Clem thank you, your comments are much appreciated


Made a little more progress today, I've got the trailing arms welded up,





As planned I've welded about 1" in 6" top and bottom plus fully welded the ends. I'm amazed at how much stiffer they are and how much more solid they feel. I'm now debating whether to add the strengthening plates or not, I'll sleep on it and decide tomorrow.

I also removed the old bushes, the new poly bushes use the outer tube from the original bushes so I had to remove the old rubbers and inner sleeves without damaging them. To do this I ran a drill through the old rubber, it was so hard and perished it drilled great.



Then pulled out the centre tube with a pair of vice grips.



Once this was removed the remains of the old rubber pushed out easily leaving a nice clean tube for the new bushes.

[Grizz1963]

Looking good Ian.

A lot more finesse than me burning mine out.

[Palf70Step]

Nice work!

[ibrown50]

I've been speaking to Rian this afternoon, he has been busy making brake pipe flares and I have been busy drilling holes. Oh the joys of truck building

So by way of a quick up-date, I have made the first of the strengthening plates for the trailing arms, as mentioned above I wanted to avoid seam welding the sides and try to create a more factory spot weld / rivet look.

Even with simple jobs such as this the marking out is all important. The U-bolt holes are 7/8" giving me 1/8 clearance, the spring cup hole is 5/8" giving me about 1/16 clearance. The weld holes are just over 3/8" (actually 11mm) at 4" centres, the idea is to plug weld these in place giving a spot weld / rivet appearence (I'll let you know how that works out ).

Below is a picture of the first one, it needs a little more fettling and then it should be good to weld in place. The 2 lower ones will be longer, about 28", upper ones will be about 24"

[[JP]]

damn... that is looking good!!
looking forward to the photos of those welds

[ibrown50]

I spoke (text) Rian earlier and we agreed it was too cold and wet (and windy) to venture out into the garage. But patience is a virtue that I don't do well at (and most of the others come to think of it ) so I found myself in the garage welding.

My welder was playing up a bit, I had trouble getting a consistent wire feed, I'll try cleaning the liner but may need a new one. Consequently the welds are not quite as even as I would have liked, but the "riveted" effect is exactly what I wanted. I reckon by the time they are painted they'll look OK

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by ibrown50

I spoke (text) Rian earlier and we agreed it was too cold and wet (and windy) to venture out into the garage. But patience is a virtue that I don't do well at (and most of the others come to think of it ) so I found myself in the garage welding.

My welder was playing up a bit, I had trouble getting a consistent wire feed, I'll try cleaning the liner but may need a new one. Consequently the welds are not quite as even as I would have liked, but the "riveted" effect is exactly what I wanted. I reckon by the time they are painted they'll look OK

Attachment 1493030

Attachment 1493031

Well, to be honest, it often goes this way for me too.

I come indoors, get out of my garage clothes, then just as I am about to go shower, something springs to mind or a solution presents itself (it's happened while speaking to Nicola in the kitchen) and I go back and start again or finish a job.

I so wanted to finish the front line as well yesterday, but darkness is no friend as the trucks front end is under the open door.

Your progress is steady but very sure.

Not sure if I missed it, but why are you doing all this work? 710bhp ?

[clemdaddy]

good job Ian. like your persistence even in inclement weather, you get the job done. i always wondered why i was named after bad weather... thanks mom, dad...

[ibrown50]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Well, to be honest, it often goes this way for me too.

I come indoors, get out of my garage clothes, then just as I am about to go shower, something springs to mind or a solution presents itself (it's happened while speaking to Nicola in the kitchen) and I go back and start again or finish a job.

I so wanted to finish the front line as well yesterday, but darkness is no friend as the trucks front end is under the open door.

Your progress is steady but very sure.

Not sure if I missed it, but why are you doing all this work? 710bhp ?

Originally Posted by mjh1965

Looks good Ian . So with all this bracing when are the twin turbo's or big block going in

Thank you gentlemen. It's going to be a ZZ572



I reckon if I sell the truck I can just about afford one

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

good job Ian. like your persistence even in inclement weather, you get the job done. i always wondered why i was named after bad weather... thanks mom, dad...

Thanks Clem, as always your comments are appreciated

[ibrown50]

Between work, tiling my daughters bathroom and starting to move my parents (yes at 81 and 76 my mum and dad are moving house!) I've still managed to finish the upper strengthening plates for the trailing arms.
They are a little shorter so a little quicker to make,



I clamped and welded one hole at a time to ensure the tightest fit possible



All done and ready for paint which I'll hopefully get done this weekend

[mjh1965]

Looks good Ian . So with all this bracing when are the twin turbo's or big block going in

[Paul Y]

Ian,

Very timely as I am about to commence the same operation on my trailing arms.

Quick question, what gauge did you use for your strengthening plates, difficult to see from the pictures.

P.

[Palf70Step]

Richmond sometimes has some odd numbers, just a bit off. You calculated correctly. I would assume that is supposed to be a 3.42 (or close enuff) posi.

[Grizz1963]

Good looking compressor Ian.

Progress as you say, is progress..

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Ian, have a look here:

http://www.richmondgear.com/partsearch/search.php

It appears that you have a 4.10 ratio. Lucky you!

[65sub]

Nice job on the trailing arms Ian

[ibrown50]

Originally Posted by Paul Y

Ian,

Very timely as I am about to commence the same operation on my trailing arms.

Quick question, what gauge did you use for your strengthening plates, difficult to see from the pictures.

P.

I used 1/8" (but 3mm would be fine) it worked a treat for the plug welds, any thinner wouldn't have worked, any thicker and I'd still be drilling holes

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Richmond sometimes has some odd numbers, just a bit off. You calculated correctly. I would assume that is supposed to be a 3.42 (or close enuff) posi.

Thanks Bill thats what I thought too, however it appears you were right Richmond has some odd numbers

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Good looking compressor Ian.

Progress as you say, is progress..

It is indeed and you are making great progress at the minute

Originally Posted by Johnny_Lamebridge

Ian, have a look here:

http://www.richmondgear.com/partsearch/search.php

It appears that you have a 4.10 ratio. Lucky you!

Thanks Johnny 4:10's and a posi ..... drive it like you've stolen it

Originally Posted by 65sub

Nice job on the trailing arms Ian

Thanks Dale, really appreciated. But still very simple stuff compared to your build

[Paul Y]

Thanks Ian!

Looks like a steel run is in order.

P.

[ibrown50]

Not done an update for a while, so here we go. I've been working on the rear suspension, it's a 5" static drop using POL components.

The after all the strengthening the trailing arms have had they were finished off with new poly-bushes, so easy to fit a 9 year old can do it (and here is one demonstrating this )





Got the axle cleaned and painted, put fresh oil in and a new gasket, all good to go.

[ibrown50]

Springs are -4" with matching nitrogen shocks and new spring cups





Plus 1" lowering blocks and new U-bolts.



I also used the POL shock relocation kit which corrects the shock absorber angle on lowered trucks. The space between the upper brackets was less than the shocks, which although easy enough to tweak is not great given everything came from the same place.





That said this is the first problem I've had with anything from POL and I remain a big fan of POL if you are working on a budget.

[Grizz1963]

Even a 9 year old can do it.

Nice.

[ibrown50]

The axle in my truck is 4:10 posi unfortunately it is also from a 65 (panhard bracket on the diff), my truck is a 64 (panhard bracket on the axle), this means if I use a 64 panhard bar it is too long and if I use a 65 the chassis bracket in the wrong place





The PO had not let mere technicalities like this get in the way and had simply bent a 65 bar until it lined up. I am hoping to come up with better solution



I am toying with the idea of leaving the bar full length and fabricating a bracket to sit on the outside edge of the chassis rail, the plus is it will give me the longest bar possible, the minus is it will be difficult to make it look good. I am undecided, so, while I am mulling this over I thought I would turn my attention to a bit of stripping down ready for a couple of rust repairs I need to do.

First up I removed the passenger door upon removing the check strap and found this absolute masterpiece of engineering.

A check strap made from a 3/16" spanner and 3/8" hex wrench.





It made me smile, I will definately keep it........but not on the truck

[mjh1965]

it looks like some people think it's easier to fill a dent than knock it out . Yours must have gone to the same body shop as Paul y's . Glad you didn't find to much rust .

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Ian, re your Panhard Bar...

I had the same situation in my truck. Here's what I did, starting at post #87... http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=642296&page=4

I suppose bending the bar would work too.