It’s Just A Pickup

[my67chevytruck]

great progress Bruce, very informational.

[Bruce88]

Yes hgs_notes I’ve be thinking about problems with reproduction panels and hope that I can overcome them. For example I’m replacing the rockers and they will not be installed until the doors are set for best fit and then the rockers will be fitted to get a good fit and fair. I’m going to give it a try wish me luck. Thanks for the thought and trying to prevent problems for me.

[hgs_notes]

My advice would be that you have the option to return and exchange a part, if the body lines just won't match up. Since you plan on buying local, you should be ok. I would have been able to return one of mine except I waited too long before I tried to fit it. My mistake.

[Bruce88]

Some times I can, Some times I can’t, I always like to try, But first I have to know
Looking for factory fit and fair dimensions, maybe you can help

I’m going to be replacing fenders, doors, rockers and cab corners with reproduction panels. Before I start putting this jigsaw puzzle of panels together I would like to know what the factory was trying to shot for as far as fit and fair.

I have found factory fit and fair for the fenders, hood, cowl and front edge of the door but unable to locate the dimensions around the rest of the door (posted below). Does any one have the dimensions for the rest of the door, if so please post them

Some of the areas may not have factory dimensions, it might be as long as it doesn’t ride on the frame and it seals the factory just lived with what they had. The window frame might fall into this category, I don’t know.

Any help in gathering this information would be appreciate









It’s always nice to know even if I can’t bring it into factory specifications

[Bruce88]

Looked high and low for the information with no joy in finding it

The last few days I’ve been looking thru the books that I have and making a few phone calls to make sure I didn’t overlook anything in finding the missing factory fit and fair requirements listed in my last post.

At the time that the trucks where assembled at the factory fit and fair requirements where probably low on the priority list in making a truck. The dimensions probably exist in some GM archives, in boxes of paper drawings prior to computer stored information and is of very little access to the average individual like you and me.

Not to be denied a goal to try to achieve on my build I generated my own fit and fair requirements for the areas not found. I also enjoy doing photo manipulation and continually learning how to use PhotoShop I generated a fit and fair requirements on to one page bringing all the information together. Maybe you might fined it of benefit to you so I’ve posted it below.



In looking for the information I’ve run across a lot of good advice on this forum on how to achieve good fit and fair of my panels and would like to thank all that have posted them. This might come in handy to achieving my goal and work thru any problems.

My doors and panels are in and will be heading down to pick them up on Saturday, wish me luck on assembling this puzzle, of course you will see how it progress as it goes along on this build thread.

May all the information you need for your build be at your finger tips and easily obtained.

[VA72C10]

That is AWESOME information. This Thread will have to be a FAQ post when you are completed with the project.

[FLDBRED]

Bruce,
I don't know what you do for a living,but what ever it is you must be very successfull.Flat out AWESOME post!

[traedog]

Extreme talent + classic truck = amazing thread to keep track of.

This is an amazing build. Thank you for posting your progress in such detail. Two thumbs WAY up!

[STOCKISH]

Very informative. I like this build alot. nice work.

[Bruce88]

Like to take this time to thank all for the positive and encouraging comments it’s really appreciated and spurs me on to continue, thanks again.

I posted a correction to post #120 my mistake the dimension for locating the hole in one of the hinge sides was wrong. New picture (hinge 3a) inserted in #120 post, sorry about that.

Just keeping track of what is going into this rebuild

Being a little lazy not wanting to type in all the part numbers of the new parts. Just took some pictures of the tags and parts for the left hand side only (note the same parts will be installed on the right hand side – no part numbers or pictures posted for right hand side)

I looked at all the panels when I picked them up for damage but this just gave me a second chance to inspect them closer for damage and condition. There was a small dime size dent in the right hand fender. With all the shipping and handling of large panel parts this sometimes can be expected no need for me to reject/return it, minor repair will be required.

In all respect the TRIPLUS parts look to be of good quality with a good coat of paint inside and out. But of course the final test is when their installed and how they fit.







The next few days of work will be spent checking fit dimensions to make sure the parts will fit right and not cause any problems. With this many new parts going together if anyone of them is out it could cause problems for the others and the end results might not be as good as possible.

In Washington State we have a few weeks a year that the temperature gets into the high 80s and 90s. So here I sit in my shorts with a fan trying to keep cool, not a pretty sight but you do what you need to do. It was just a few months ago I was complaining about staying warm (LOL). The rebuild might slow some do to the weather but it will not be stopped.

[Palf70Step]

Originally Posted by Bruce88

In Washington State we have a few weeks a year that the temperature gets into the high 80s and 90s. So here I sit in my shorts with a fan trying to keep cool, not a pretty sight but you do what you need to do. It was just a few months ago I was complaining about staying warm (LOL). The rebuild might slow some do to the weather but it will not be stopped.

What no PICTURES!!

Try down here. I sure would like to see just high 80s.

Good luck on the parts fitting. I'll be curious to see how the doors work out.

[Bruce88]

It sits in the shop taking up space and not used for months on end.
For a home shop it’s a luxury but definitely comes in handy for cleaning all those small parts

For over twenty years I’ve had a small bench top sandblaster in my shop and from the first day wished I had a larger more professional one, well today I do. I think it was the largest box I’ve ever seen the UPS driver deliver and some assembly was required, anything larger and it definitely would have been a freight item.

I now have a 780-TL Skat Blast abrasive blast cabinet and a VAC-35 Skat Blast vacuum system. The small shop vac under the cabinet I used as a media recovery container with another shop vacuum and it worked fairly well with the bench top cabinet so I thought I would try it with this one (note the blades and motor are removed from it so it’s a free flow thru it)



No work accomplished on the truck this week. The temperature in Washington State has just been to hot for me, after two hours of putting the sandblasting cabinet together in the shade I was soaking wet with sweat and wore out. Sorry Palf70Step no pictures of a wore out soaking wet me (LOL). Next week is suppose to be a little cooler and might be able to get some work done.

It’s always nice to have good shop equipment for your hobby even if it’s a little extravagant and a luxury

[my67chevytruck]

sweet setup may have to look into one....

[Palf70Step]

Between heat and rain I didn't get any work done on the truck either, but I did clean out the shop some.

Nice blast cabinet. I am really thinking about one for my place also. Just got to rub some pennies together for a while first though.

[Bruce88]

Some times you have to take a side step in order to accomplish your goals
Upgrading/improving your shop falls into this category

For the last 20 + years I’ve been using a Sears Craftsman Permanently Lubricated Air Compressor 120 volt, 15 amps, 5 HP, 25 gal tank with 7.1 SCFM @ 90 psi (I don’t think Sears even makes this model any more). It’s never given me any problems over the years even thou I’ve over tasked its capabilities continually. Over the years where I’ve added more pneumatic tools to my shop it’s continually running and cant keep up with the demands that I place upon it and letting it cool down is defiantly slowing down the build.

So I’m going to take the plunge and upgrade to a Ingersoll Rand Single-stage Air Compressor Model SS5L5, 230 volt single phase, 30 amp, 5 HP, 60 gal tank with 18.1 SCFM at 90 psi (Compressor is on order and should be here in 5 to 10 days)

I’m not an electrician or a plumber but have been doing some study and finding information to do the wiring and plumbing my self.

I know this is kind of off the topic for a build thread but thought there might be some that are interested in seeing a 230 volt single phase compressor installation with wiring, plumbing, and pictures. If there are a few that are interested in seeing this installation with my personal thoughts, please post a response and I will post the installation hear.

Upgrading/improving your shop can take away time from your build but hopefully makes builds more enjoyable.

[Palf70Step]

I didn't plumb my shop as I didn't feel it was really large enough to warrant it (24x30). Here is how my setup is. I run the hose to my little wood stand with either to the oiler unit if I am running tools or to the pressure adjuster/dryer catch. I even have my hose color coordinated, black, tank to stand, orange for the air tools, blue for painting.

I just had to replace my compressor and motor on mine, so I know what you feel like loosing the compressor. Since I had a good 60 gallon tank already, replacing the motor and compressor made monitary sense. I am still just a single stage, but it works for my needs. I have a 220 outlet on the wall next to it where I can plug and unplug it easily.

[JFP Motorsports Div]

Amazing build so far Bruce! Attention to detail is flawless with the engine build.... looks great!!

Keep the updates coming!

[gcburdic]

Bruce....

Although there is very little response to your question about detailing the installation of the new compressor, I believe I'll speak for most and say.....PLEASE post your heart away with it....knowing how detailed you are, it could inspire us to upgrade our shops.....OH yeah....more power tools baby!!!haha

[Bruce88]

A warm day, a cold beer, and watching paint dry
Time to take time and smell the roses, or is that paint and the feeling of the accomplishment even if it’s only a small step.

I dabbled in painting a whole car at home and prefer not to do that now, but that still leaves me with all the small parts that need painting. I’ve seen some outstanding paint jobs done in one car garages and even outside and then seen some paint jobs done in paint shops that are not even worth the cost of the material. Some would blame the paint or how it was applied, as far as I’m concerned the majority of many of the problems are in the prep before the painting. The best paint can not overcome a poor prep.

Some of the most caw man problems with rattle can painting I’ve seen are, after the parts are clean, handling the parts and getting body oil on them, not mixing the paint enough, and cramping of fingers and hand when spraying. The first two are easy to handle always wear latex gloves during cleaning and handling before painting and when you think that you’ve shaken the can long enough shake it some more (you can’t over mix it).

The finger and hand cramps have been hard to overcome in the past (something you just had to live with) until now. I’ve tried other spray can handles in the past and found that they didn’t hold the can good and was awkward to hold and use. The Comfort Grip by Rust-Oleum is a definite improvement and actually works pretty good. Of course there is always room for improvement like I would like to see a professional spray can handle made out of metal but that probably expecting to much, until that day this handle will do.

I always like to gather enough small parts together to use one or two complete cans of spray paint. Just a pet peeve not wanting any leftover small quantities of paint in the can.



Two empty spray cans, two empty beers, and another small step forward in the build. It’s always nice to not rush things like paint and enjoy the breaks.

[VA72C10]

Once again, thanks for the detailed writeup. I have learned from this post and I'm sure many others have and will. I would also be interested in the compressor writeup to be a guide when I go about installing a setup in my garage to (hopefully depending on budget) include piping in vacuum lines and air lines.

[Bruce88]

Well the work on the truck has stopped until I install my new air compressor

So where is this post going, it’s not to recommend one air compressor over another. As far as I’m concerned you can get a good or bad (lemmon) air compressor from any manufacturer. The only thing I would say is get the largest one you can to meet your requirements plus additional expansion, within your budget.

After searching the web and talking to a few to solve some problems that I’ve had with my old compressor installation the next three posts will deal with Home/small shop setup. Divided into piping, electrical, and installation of the compressor to prevent old problems and possible new ones as well as giving the compressor the best chance to have a long life.

The first post of three air compressor piping

One problem I had with my old compressor installation is when I used a lot of air during a day the air hose would start spitting water out of it. I had a water separator placed close to the compressor outlet but it didn’t work good because when the air got hot enough to keep the water as a vapor it would pass right through the separator (not a good or desired thing for the tools, sandblasting or painting).

The one advantage of putting piping in a small shop even if you don’t need it to distribute the air around the shop is to give the air a chance to cool to separate the water out of it. The general agreement is that a minimum 25 feet or more of ½ to ¾ inch black steel pipe is enough to cool the air before getting to the water separator in most environments (may not work as good in high temp with high humidity areas).

You could run the pipe along the wall and back agene sloping the pipe away from the compressor. Or you could run the pipe back and forth a few times as I am when dealing with a small area. Put a drain pipe and valve at the end of the run to collect the majority of the water and be able to drain it, then on to your water separator to remove any that’s left. No one recommends plastic pipe its dangers to use and will not dissipate the heat and an air hose will not dissipate the heat either.

This setup should collect the majority of the water in the air before it reaches the tools and adding a drop or two of oil in your tools once a day before using them will make your tools last a long time. If you’re planning on painting with the air you might want to use an additional filter in the line to remove any oil or water that might be left.

I went a little overboard on the size of pipe I’m using 1 inch to give max pipe area for cooling, you can see what I will be installing in the picture below.

Another area water likes to collect is in the bottom of the air compressor tank and reaching under it to open the petcock drain is a pain. Probably one of the reasons it isn’t drained as often as it should be. I’m installing a 90 degree fitting and some pipe with a ball valve to make it easer for me. Maybe it will drained more often now.



For those that might want to install some black steel pipe in there shop I generated a little how to put NPT pipe and fittings together with the novice in mind (I’m a novice at this task myself) to minimize if not eliminate leaking. I think we all want leak proof pipes and fallowing the steps should help in achieving that goal.



The new compressor has been delivered and is sitting in the garage on a pallet. Now I just need to find three or four strong friends to come over and help me move this top heavy 300 pound item to the back of the house and down some stares. I think this is going to take more than a six pack of beer more like a half a case and a piazza to gather the help (HA HA)

[PanelDeland]

Rep points to ya Bruce.You have detailed some great things for the members here.I don't look thru this thread as often as I should but really like the way you have documented your build.

[Bruce88]

The second post of three, air compressor electrical

Upgrading/adding electrical in a garage is just a requirement to turn it into a shop for working on your project. Most garages when the houses were built had minimal electrical, one or two outlets and a light or two all on one 15 AMP circuit breaker. Yes there might be a washer/dryer, freezer, or house furnace in there and they would have their own electrical circuits. So adding a air compressor to your shop will need additional wiring for a dedicated circuit, even if your putting a 110 VAC air compressor in the shop I would recommend adding a dedicated circuit for this compressor also, because all compressors draw a lot of power and could easily ask more from a outlet than you might find in your garage.

If you’re planning to wire the garage yourself be safe, never work on house electrical with power on the circuit or the electrical panel. Safety when working around house electrical can take pages of information, more than what is enclosed hear. Find out all the safety procedures/steps and don’t take any short cuts your safety and the house safety could be at risk. You could run all the wires, outlets, and switches and leave the final connection to a certified electrician that could also look over your installation and make sure it is a safe installation.

Onto what I’m doing to wire my 5 HP, 230 VAC, 30 AMP Air Compressor in my shop.

(1) Went out to the electrical panel to see that I had room to add a dual circuit breaker to the panel and what type circuit breakers the panel is using. The circuit breaker my panel uses is a Square D (There are many different electrical panels out there and they all take their own style of circuit breaker, it should be listed on the panel as to what type) (If there was no room to add the circuit breakers I would be calling a electrician to add a power distribution panel/box, definitely above my installation comfort level).

(2) Took my tape measure to figure out how much wire is going to be required to go between the panel and compressor and added a few extra feet to the total just to make sure I had enough (Don’t want to have any unwanted splices). A simple hand drawing of the wire run can help in figuring out how much wire will be required and also how much conduit will be required if your using conduit (I have finished walls and will be using conduit instead of trying to fish the wire thru the walls) My complete wire and conduit run will be 46 feet.

(3) Sat down and figured out what optional things I wanted in the circuit, like a switch in the garage to turn the compressor off when not in use (because the compressor will be under the house and using a circuit breaker as a switch is not recommended, circuit breakers are not generally made to be used as a switch). And a outlet & plug to make wiring the air compressor pressure switch easer.

(4) I have all the information now to figure what size wire and circuit breaker will be required. If I just use the basic information the wire size would be 10 gauge and the circuit breaker 30 AMP. But there are other factors that need to be input, after reading the owner’s manual and finding information on the web the 5 HP motor can exceed 30 AMP draw on startup and it’s recommended to use a 30 AMP time-delay circuit breaker as a minimum. Also single phase motors do not like low voltage and can wear out faster when subjected to it. Not being one to just build to the minimum requirements I upgraded the wire to 8 gauge and the circuit breaker to a 40 AMP. This should salve all the additional factors and give the motor a chance to live a long life.

(5) In some states the electrical code requires you to run 4 wires between the electrical panel and the pressure switch, the 4th wire would be white and called a Neutral/Common wire and is not shown in the picture below. This requirement would also require a 4 prong Outlet & Plug but at the compressor pressure switch the white wire would be capped and stowed there’s no place to hook it up. Since I’m using conduit I will be using individual strand wires not romex type, if your running it thru the wall you would be using romex type wire.

Wiring a 240 VAC single phase circuit is fairly simple it’s kind of like wiring two 120 VAC circuits to a single item like the compressor. You probably already have some 240 VAC circuits in your house like a dryer, stove, or air-conditioning, there easy to identify at the electrical panel there the circuit breakers that have a bar tying two CB’s switches together.



Even if you’re having an electrician install your compressor wiring at least you will know what’s involved in doing it.

Had two friends over this weekend to help move the compressor under the house. I think I pulled some mussels doing it will need some extra days for recovery. Be careful moving one these awkward heavy item especially down stairs if you have to.

[rob32472]

Looks like you have a good handle on this and have done your homework. There are a couple things you need to consider when doing your install. I am a master electrician so I am not just giving advice for the sake of it. When installing your breaker in the panel be sure not to put it on the same bar as another twopole breaker so that the bus will remain as cool as possible. When installing conduit be sure on the motor end that the connection is flexible ( install last few feet in flex conduit). Check with the manufacture recomendations on the breaker 40amp may be too big, in any case bigger wire is better and depening on the full load amps of the compressor( you must be at least 125% larger than the fla of the compressor) Be sure to buy the right color for your wire (red , blk, green, and white if needed) all of these will make sure you are in the NEC and provide long life. If you have any other questions PM me and I will help you any way I can.

[Bruce88]

The third post of three, air compressor installation

I installed a new pressure regulator and water separator at the end of all the piping. On my previous installation there was 10 feet of pipe I installed in the wall up to the hose reel. The yellow hose coming down from the water separator is a automatic drain option, whenever you use a air tool this will causes a small pressure drop across the inlet and outlet and will actuate a valve inside the separator causing a short shot of air to empty any water in the separator down to the catch container. This should keep the water drained from the separator.



Installed a flexible hose between the compressor and the piping to isolate any compressor vibration from the piping. Also added a ball valve to be able to empty air pressure from the tank or piping line if needed down at the compressor.

I live in an area that can have earthquakes, even if this was not the case I would still anchor the compressor to the floor. The compressor is extremely top heavy and could be tipped over by accident very easily and with the vibration that is common with compressors it could move around on the floor. I did add some rubber mounting blocks to dampen/reduce the vibration.



I’m lucky when coming up with a place to install a large air compressor with out taking up my small shop space. The area under my house I primarily use for storage, very rarely if ever drops below freezing and is the coolest place on the hottest days, always dry and away from all the dirt/mess generated in the shop. The biggest problem was getting it thru the 3 foot wide x 4 foot high door down some stairs into this area, but I think it will be worth it.



Larger compressors are becoming more common place in small shops and I can say that I’ve joined that club now. All I really want is to be able to plug in my air tools and have enough air to run them without a delay and a long lasting system with minimized maintenance or problems. This is just my attempt at reaching that goal.

Most of the piping and electrical came from a local hardware store but some of the specialty items I obtained thru TP Tools & Equipment. They have a lot of good information on their web site on setting up an air compressor.

Now back to working on the truck. The best shop in the world is worth nothing if no work is done in it. So I will be out there to extract every penny’s worth invested in it.