"Geronimo" 54' 3100 LS built in PA

[99 to Life]

The one inner cowl I have from aftermarket doesn't even have holes in it. Which is somewhat understandable, but mine have the holes and so far I'v had luck. So well see how my set works on Geronimo. I'll def keep you posted on the pedal. My approach is get the booster where I like it on firewall and adjust pedal inside if need be.

[lower50's]

Sweetness.

[47 Fasttoys]

Should arrive at your place in the next couple of days.
Rob

[99 to Life]

thank you, i'll get you back.

[99 to Life]

2-8 didn't work much at all on Geronimo this weekend. Spent some fam time and worked on hardtimes a bit (dabbling with little things) I did find out why my compressor stopped working. I blew a fuse cause I had a ground come loose, so good new there.

So for Geronimo, I got a powdercoated booster, should look nice with a wildwood MC, I'll paint the firewall tan, so should look nice. Unfortunately and as I expected, the vette pedal doesn't line up with the booster. So i'll just make an adapter plate.

Started moching up steering. what you see here isn't quite accurate. I'v since moved the column at the firewall, down so the whole start of the linkage is lower. I took the engine mount off for moch up, I'll notch it a little and then put it back on. I also started making a steering column mount for the inside of cab. I hate trying to moch these up and the steering column is moving all over. So gotta get it stable.

[Advanced Design]

99, I was curious where you found the booster. I was looking for a black one this week end.

Glad the compressor on Hardtimes was an easy fix!

[99 to Life]

pirate bay on ebay. they say its powder coated but not sure if it really is. but I paid 75 for it.

[lower50's]

Good find on the compressor

[99 to Life]

Doug, sorry I think it was piratejacks on ebay.

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

Doug, sorry I think it was piratejacks on ebay.

Ok thanks 99. Good price.

[99 to Life]

2-12 Today would not let my nose or toes warm up. But I got a few hours in Wrapping up some patches. Pic really doesn't show much, but there was a lot more to the day. I cut out the stock tabs in the floor for the pedals and filled them, started final welding the column relocation. then for this floor patch, the part that the cab mounts goes through, I just welded two big washers on the back side to create the "factory" recess that is there and to give it strength.

I got some new gear in, which I'm always struggling to buy new tools or essentials. The Uvex mask is ok, little brittle but for now its clear so I can actually see. Funny thing is I noticed it has a mark on the inside "HONEYWELL" that factory is next town over from me, so be kinda cool if that is where the mask was made. I also live 30 minutes from the channel lock factory.

The safety glass by Hobart are awesome. I use these under my weld helmet and Uvex helmet. They are "fog" proof, which for the most part are, though it was so cold today I was getting some fog/condensation on everything. I highly recommend the glasses, super cheap. The shade 5 glasses def are not good for welding, I got them for the plasma so hopefully they work ok. The magnet, I didn't realize was a mini, I paid like 20 bucks for it, so not the best investment for a pauper like myself. But... atleast I have one more decent tool.

[Advanced Design]

Same face shield I bought and it does have a "brittle" feel like it can crack real easy. It sure is light and easy to see through, so I am using it all the time.

Nice work on the floor patch.

[Flysocal]

That's funny I have both Hobart glasses and the face shield. Piece of imbedded steel in my eye and $500 bill from the optometrist plus a pretty good scare since I need good eyes in my line of work. The dark hobarts are perfect for plasma cutting. They def do fog up though. Now I'm looking for a better welding helmet.

[99 to Life]

3-14 Sorry for the one month hiatus. Been busy with 49hardtimes and family. Trying to buy a house so that's daunting. 49' should be heading out in a few weeks so that should be a big stress relief. I have two houses I'll be working on this year, tons of yard work, remodeling, garage work etc. But I do plan to really atleast have Geronimo drivable this year. If all works out, I'll be tearing my 51' apart, bagging it, redoing interior and engine bay. Then onto another full build eventually.

So nice to get back at it. I got the steering finalized. Doesn't look like much but it sure does take a lot of time to get all the linkages just right. If you haven't noticed, I moved the original steering hole over as well. I had to notch my engine mount a bit. I only needed one heim joint (fyi, these things can be very expensive if you don't shop around, I find these 3/4" ones on ebay for nine bucks plus shipping).

I then got brake booster mounted, again doesn't seem like much. It sure is a lot measuring. I pretty much will always put these right where you see this one. However since my steering is moved it is rather close to my pedal. So I'll have to cut the pedal and space it over just a tad. I had to make an adapter plate for this vette pedal to mount to my booster. This plate is so thick, took me forever to drill all the holes. Still not done yet. I need to order up a gas pedal so pedals are all done.

next on list is some more sheetmetal work and rebuilding the engine. then I'll get some more funds and with that I'll be getting the transmission, all the brake stuff, exhaust, trans controller, possibly AC unit, random paint supplies etc. Should keep me busy through summer.

[steve aleve]

Looking great! A lot of good progress!!! I am about at the stage of working out my steering shaft(s) with borgeson and heim joints. Any pointers on what to make sure to do so that it all works? I am not familiar with doing this at all so I am not sure what I need to make sure of.

Thanks!!!

[lower50's]

Well life does get in the way sometimes. We all know how much time this stuff takes. Nice progress, good luck getting it drive-able sounds like you have a ton going on.

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by steve aleve

Looking great! A lot of good progress!!! I am about at the stage of working out my steering shaft(s) with borgeson and heim joints. Any pointers on what to make sure to do so that it all works? I am not familiar with doing this at all so I am not sure what I need to make sure of.

Thanks!!!

Steve, Borgenson has very thorough information here, especially page 26.

http://borgeson.com/Images/100th_Catalog.pdf

99, don't know if I mentioned, I love the way you keep hitting it and hitting it on your builds. Don't know when you sleep with all you have going on.

Good luck on getting a house! One of the better decisions we ever made was buying our first house.

[joedoh]

super great man!

[99 to Life]

thanks guys, oh man I'v gotten so many grey hairs in the past couple years and I'm almost 32 yrs old. I directly blame that all on stress! The list of things I stated where about half of what I really do and have goin on. The new house will be a nice starter home and I can squeeze my 51' into that garage so I can work on it in peace and dryness! SO that frees up a garage I'll prolly drag something in and store or tear down for a build. Once geronimo is done I'll have that garage. So I should have 3 small but workable garages. Non of which are organized so I'm really pulling for the 3rd to be super tighty. I'll also need more tools oh the problems we have today, not like I have to worry about food or water.

Steve aleve- when setting up the ujoints you have to make sure you have your steering column about where you want it, and it has to be in there tight. Then you most likely will need the heim joint(s) and your ujoints. The bottom ujoint is a splined joint, make sure you have right diameter and spline count. Then the rest of the joints will be 3/4 D shaft in my case. I got about 2ft of D shaft if I remember correctly, better more than less. You could use some dowel rod to moch all this up. Then just start trial and error on getting the best angles you can and clearing all the important things. Leave some room for engine torque etc. It takes quite a bit of time to moch it all up and then to drill out the D shaft for the set screws, I hate that part.

[joedoh]

here is to welding rusty metal and having blowouts every inch, I am feeling it this week man!

oh and I just found out there is a barkus in butler, how about picking up a couple dozen chocolate chip cookies for a ninja?

[99 to Life]

4-9 Joedoh what is barkus? I'm actually not in butler much at all. Maybe once every year or two.

So been busy with life. Should be closing on new house this coming friday, so still trying to spread my time throughout all these projects. Weather has turned for the worst around here lately, lot of rain and snow.

So turbo heater on and my full mechanic suit and I felt like it was mid December! I had to modify this vette brake pedal way more than I liked. I will most likely never use this again. What I didn't take into consideration is the amount I moved the steering column over, interfered with the pedal. So I added about and inch spacer to space the pedal away from the column. I also had to lengthen the pedal. Glad I had material and a plasma cutter. So pedal is pretty good now. I like the pedal to be about 7" from bottom of floor.

Then onto some more patch work. on DS the inner and outter cowl were ruff. rather than replace the whole inner and outter cowl I been piecing them together. For one, trying to save money and two want to preserve the patina (which isn't that much in this area). Often times it about evens out with making patches and the time vs. the cost of new panels. So far no regrets. Just been making most of everything.

[99 to Life]

I started tearing into pass side. You can see the inner cowl is hosed on the inner portion of it. So I plasma'd out the patch and grinded it smooth. I'll weld this in next week and continue patching this side.

Next up is gas pedal, hopefully trans tunnel (need to source trans) Then rebuild engine and also patch up the dash.

[joedoh]

yeah but you drive down "rout" 8 to pittsburgh, right? this is just about a mile off the highway!

barkus was a pittsburgh bakery in the 80s-00s (probably before that but thats when I knew it), had little satellite stores all over, including one in wexford. I was 7th of 8 kids, so there were TEN birthday parties a year with a barkus cake, the icing was unbelieveable, like a whipped buttercream with shortening instead of butter, it would actually set up in the fridge and you could eat it like white fudge. If I thought a cake would survive shipping I would beg you to get one and freeze it and box it.

but the chocolate chip cookies were some of the best I have ever had in my life too. My mom would send a care package every couple years with barkus cookies, but they slowly closed all the satellites and eventually even the main on downtown. now there is one in butler, makes me think of ladyfingers and birthday cakes and cookies. my brother lives by the crawford fairgrounds (that was his house that was struck by lightning a couple months ago!) so I thought of asking him to ship a cake haha.

I talked to him yesterday and he said you got 8"! sheesh!

and your rust problems are serious but you are making headway!

[99 to Life]

I still consider this a very solid truck, so that goes to show you my grading system on these and what I'm use to dealing with. I have 106 hrs to date on this so far. That's from tearing it down to where its at today. I think progress is good on hours and not soo bad on funds.

I take 79 to pitt, rarely ever have to go raaaaght 8 n'at. But I tell ya what, if I do I'll hunt that spot dahn and get you something. I spent quite a few years of my life living in butler county as a kid. Yes we got quite a few inches of snow again. Hope your brother's haaaause is ok.

[Advanced Design]

99, nice mod on the Corvette brake pedal. No doubt you will knock out the rust repair quickly and wow, you've done a lot for 106 hours.

Good luck with your house closing!