Not Another Rebuild Thread....

[NEWFISHER]

Thank you for celebrating your daughters memories with us. Mr. Daniels won't miss you next year either. Although a speed bump in the pain threshold area, your visit outside your bubble for the two of you sounds like it did what it was supposed to do. You enjoyed life, chalked up another "hadn't done that before" and helped a couple people hit the slopes that day too. What wife wouldn't want to be surrounded by men, outdoors and on a beautifull snowy mountain for Valentines? Setting the bar high for all of us next year!

All kidding aside, its not as glorious as it may seem. My best friend collided with my wife a few years back and they packed her onto the sled, assured her it was going to be okay, then covered her face with the sled bag and took off. Not knowing she was closterphobic until her screams ripped through the liner and they stopped.

Speaking of setting the bar high, fender seals look great. With the rainey cruddy stuff we have been driving through for 3 months, I need to check mine and now I have a rebuild reference. Thank you.

[likaroc13]

Dig your new shifter knob. We're definitely in good company on this board. Mark was very generous to me as well, & I made sure to note it in my thread as well. I've tried to do the same with anybody else that contributed in any way. No better forum than this one right here fellas!

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by markeb01

That knob looks very cool on the classic C handle bench seat stick. Glad you enjoyed the goodies. Those are a direct benefit of me fixing my wife's stove which has been offline longer than I can remember. She's been creating like mad, both to check the accuracy of the stove, and because now she can!

Oh and now you're one step closer to passing the NSRA 23 point safety check. Somewhere in the vehicle there has to be an accurate representation of the shift pattern!

Thanks again Mark, though I am pretty sure NSRA safety checks never crossed my mind till now ...... LoL

Originally Posted by chad64chevy

your welcome for the door checks, and thank you! I appreciate the compliment, I have yet to install my set! the fender mod that you have done is something I will have to do to mine as well! but before I can do anything to my truck I will have to get it up there first, the wife wanted new stuff for the new house and my truck is safe where its at, and will be up here after I start my new job!

I try to pass it foreward too Chad, and if you ever need anything I have you know I will send it off to ya !!
Ok, within reason, and I am not currently using it that is.....

Originally Posted by NEWFISHER

Thank you for celebrating your daughters memories with us. Mr. Daniels won't miss you next year either. Although a speed bump in the pain threshold area, your visit outside your bubble for the two of you sounds like it did what it was supposed to do. You enjoyed life, chalked up another "hadn't done that before" and helped a couple people hit the slopes that day too. What wife wouldn't want to be surrounded by men, outdoors and on a beautifull snowy mountain for Valentines? Setting the bar high for all of us next year!

All kidding aside, its not as glorious as it may seem. My best friend collided with my wife a few years back and they packed her onto the sled, assured her it was going to be okay, then covered her face with the sled bag and took off. Not knowing she was closterphobic until her screams ripped through the liner and they stopped.

Speaking of setting the bar high, fender seals look great. With the rainey cruddy stuff we have been driving through for 3 months, I need to check mine and now I have a rebuild reference. Thank you.

Thanks for the vote of support, life throws us some curves, and sometimes they are sharp but if we prevail, we are strengthened by them.
Let me know if you need any info on those fender seal panels I will help you out if possible.

Originally Posted by likaroc13

Dig your new shifter knob. We're definitely in good company on this board. Mark was very generous to me as well, & I made sure to note it in my thread as well. I've tried to do the same with anybody else that contributed in any way. No better forum than this one right here fellas!

You said it well there my friend !!

I love this place !!

I got home from work today to find a package in from England, nothing for the build, but thoughtful and appreciated none the less !!
Thanks Rian !!


I love the shirt and the beanie, my wife camped on the shopping bag and the ear buds !!
Thank you sir !

[Ta2Don]

Grizz sure knows how to make one's day!!!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Grizz sure knows how to make one's day!!!

LOL. It feels good from this side too Don.

Not sure we ever saw your Stoggy rest at work yet.

You said it well there my friend !!

I love this place !!

I got home from work today to find a package in from England, nothing for the build, but thoughtful and appreciated none the less !!

Thanks Rian !!

It's an absolute pleasure guys.

What goes around ultimately comes around. That's life.

Glad you and Mrs M. Liked the bits.
Just a pity postage forces me to kind of hold back, otherwise parcels would be 4x as big.

[markeb01]

I just discovered your video from last year's Goodguys Spokane event. Very Cool!! Love the Peter Gunn music and the editing. Frozen Garage Productions! Makes sense to me!

For those that haven't seen it:

2013 Spokane GoodGuys - YouTube

[McMurphy]

If any of you have tried to contact Jay via his website, please do so again.
He just told me this past weekend that there was a glitch on it where it was not saving any messages that were left, though he was getting notifications of them.

He apologizes for any misperceptions that may have occured, and would love to talk about your emblem or machining needs !!

[McMurphy]

Hey all....
been a while since I showed any progress on this bad boy. There has been a lot going on with getting ready for retirement from the Army, Medical stuff (as you guys on FB know I just had surgery on Friday) and tinkering around with a mod I started long time back.
So enough with the excuses !!

Here are those front fender rear splash panels finished, the insides of the fenders herculinered, and pretty much all ready to mount up:


Then it was on to the hood release.
My original mod to the stock hood release assembly looked extremely promising, however I could not get enough leverage for the release to work smoothly and reliably.
So....
Instead of just installing a stock hood catch, and release (because I still want to grill in that opening in the hood) I used the release set up off the 1985 Sierra donor truck.
This is going to take a couple of posts to get it all down, so bear with me please.
Here are all the parts needed for this mod. The only caveat is that the piece in the dead center with the 4 bolts ended up with much more mods done to it, as I will show later; and the receiver plate on the far lower left was modified to take the secondary hood release hook.


Here is that collection semi assembled so you can see what is going on here.
I used the threaded location where the "christmas tree" for the hood catch system would normally go to mount my pressure spring to pop the hood.
On the bottom left of this photo is the hood release assembly married to the adapter bracket I made. This adapter bracket mounts under the receiver plate. The side shown here faces the radiator, and should be identified as the back side of this assembly.


This photo just shows the release mechanism flipped over to observe the other side, which in literal mounting sense is the front.


In my typical test as I go, and modify as needed standard of working in areas I know NOTHING about, you can see how this receiver plate has been cut to accept the latch bar on the left, which goes down to the release mechanism, and on the right hand side how it has been cut to receive the secondary release hook/latch. The adapter plate I made which is mounted under the receiver plate, and the grill shroud have been notched to also receive the secondary hood hook/latch.

[Modges'66]

Very slick work Murph!
I am totally impressed with this!
This is going directly into my "stolen ideas" folder to implement at a later date!
Thanks buddy!

[markeb01]

Me too. Can't wait to see how this all turns out so I can swipe it as well.

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by Modges'66

Very slick work Murph!
I am totally impressed with this!
This is going directly into my "stolen ideas" folder to implement at a later date!
Thanks buddy!

But WAIT.... THERE's MORE !!

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


This is the plate I made with the latch bar. I wanted to make this so that the latch bar would be adjustable up and down for depth and be able to customize how my hood would rest when fully closed. (that is why the bar is threaded) but there wasn't any room above the adapter plate to house the adjustment nuts, so it got welded in at a set length. The rolled rod that I used was once upon a time my radiator X support rods.




As it turned out, the L shape that I had to weld in not only gave me the abbutment for the pressure spring to pop the hood open (because the hood release mechanism is a two stage release and has to have constant pressure in oder to operate) but it also gave me a place to mount a secondary hook/latch. This is also reused from the Sierra, all I did here was flatten out the L bracket the latch is mounted to, and bolted it to my adaptation.


Here is just a shot from what it looks like when you open the hood and look up.....ewwww, some paint ran. Whoopsie !!


I particularly wanted to get this mod posted up for Markb, as he is about to mod his hood, I was thinking this sort of set up would highly benefit him too !!

[McMurphy]

Sooooooo with the latch rod at a set depth, this nerfed my stock hood bumpers which mount to the front corners of the hood, as they no longer rested on the grill shroud like they were supposed to. I over came this inability to make adjustments to my hood attitude by reusing the stock ones off the Sierra again.
Here is my hood ready to receive these height adjustable bumpers:


Here is the mounting plate for those bumpers I made by cutting them out of the Sierra radiator support:


Here they are with the bumpers installed:


The new ride height:


I would have liked them to sit lower, and not have this gap, but at the end of the day, I dont think it looks too bad. The final assessment will be when I get the front fenders fully mounted of course!

[McMurphy]

Well just one more photo to wrap this all up for you guys:


So far I really like this mod.
It latches very solidly and you have to actually really push the hood down to get it to latch, and there is no mistaking when it is NOT latched either.
The handle pull is very smooth and light enough that a 5 year old could pop the hood.

I have the added security of knowing my hood cannot be opened from the outside of the truck now.

I am still however contemplating some sort of safety cable as a third back up, since I am painfully aware that I am a rank amature at all this stuff, and it isnt that I dont feel I do good work, but I would rather not have my hood pop open on me while jamming down the highway at 60mph !!

Well that is whats what from the Frozen Garage this week.
Hope you all had a great weekend and you all got some stuff done on your builds too

Thanks for looking !!

[TJ's Chevy]

Very nice work McMurphy! Just gave me some ideas! If I may use your idea. Looking good! Keep it up!

[Ta2Don]

Filed in my "Stolen Ideas" folder…

Great work, as usual, from the Frozen Garage...

How close is the retirement date?

[piratexpress1369a]

looks cool ..stay on top of it spring is here and the temp will be going up

[1963c-10]

great work on the mods...coming along nicely

[markeb01]

Thanks for posting up the details. When/if I move forward on my custom fiberglass hood I'll be looking seriously at what you've done here. The way I'm designing the hood with the drop in the center, I'll no longer be able to have a manual release opening in the front. Unfortunately the new hood project is on hold for now, since the porthole project set me back more $ than I budgeted.

I'm also debating where I'd get the biggest bang for the buck in the months ahead - would it be the new hood, or perhaps chroming the grille, etc, or maybe upgrading to chrome vent windows and chroming the side glass frames. Man this hobby can be expensive!

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by T.J. MCCAULEY

Very nice work McMurphy! Just gave me some ideas! If I may use your idea. Looking good! Keep it up!

Sir, I am all about idea sharing and improving!!
If there is anything in my build that inspires another person to do ANYTHING, then all this documentation ends up being well worth it
FYI on a personal note, I socked away photos of your step mounted tool box for future consideration too, so dont think you are not adding to the flow of ideas around here !!

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Filed in my "Stolen Ideas" folder…

Great work, as usual, from the Frozen Garage...

How close is the retirement date?

My sad, last day in the Army will be 31 August 2014, at the stroke of midnight on that day, as the calendar flips to September it will end an era that has lasted the majority of my life.
It is going to be a meloncholy day for me, but I am going to try and not be too maudlin about it.....especially around here with you guys !!

Originally Posted by piratexpress1369a

looks cool ..stay on top of it spring is here and the temp will be going up

Thanks for keeping up with me Pirate!! Yeah I think Spring has finally sprung here, it has been in the low 40s all week so far and the snow/ice are melting like mad !!
For us up here it is seriously shorts and t-shirt weather

Originally Posted by 1963c-10

great work on the mods...coming along nicely

Thank you for looking !!

Originally Posted by markeb01

Thanks for posting up the details. When/if I move forward on my custom fiberglass hood I'll be looking seriously at what you've done here. The way I'm designing the hood with the drop in the center, I'll no longer be able to have a manual release opening in the front. Unfortunately the new hood project is on hold for now, since the porthole project set me back more $ than I budgeted.

I'm also debating where I'd get the biggest bang for the buck in the months ahead - would it be the new hood, or perhaps chroming the grille, etc, or maybe upgrading to chrome vent windows and chroming the side glass frames. Man this hobby can be expensive!

Mark if you want detailed photos and dimensions, let me know. This entire assembly is easy to take apart and put back up again. One point of merit with this particular release mechanism, is that I stuck a lenght of coat hanger on the release arm, and it has functioned as a "on the spot" activator for the mechanism. So I dont HAVE to go pull the cable if I dont want to. In fact this has worked so smoothly that I am seriously thinking about making it a permanent part of the set up. Nice thing is that it is tucked up in there and unless you know it is there, it is almost impossible to see even if you are looking for such a thing.

Thanks for all the comments guys.... I was over at Jays yesterday and we are cooking up a new mod that we are excited to share with you all in the weeks to come !!
I think today I am feeling well enough to get out there and putz around with this thing, so if you will excuse me.....

[Ta2Don]

When I retired in 95 I was super excited, but at the same time bummed after so many years being in the zone!!! Looking forward to what the Frozen Garage has in store for us when you have more time to spend there...

[Modges'66]

Hey Murph!
Just an observation as an armchair quarterback, but shown back in post #1537 couldn't you mount the hood bumper plates from the sierra on the inside surface of the hood (flipped over), and cut a clearance hole in the hood for the bumper itself, allowing you to shut the hood even further?...Thus eliminating most of the gap?...Or maybe grind the face of the bumper to allow the hood to close even more?
great ideas, but maybe a few adjustments could make it perfected!
...I don't know, as I am not near my truck to look at it, and get a true picture in my head.

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

When I retired in 95 I was super excited, but at the same time bummed after so many years being in the zone!!! Looking forward to what the Frozen Garage has in store for us when you have more time to spend there...

I am approaching it with mixed emotions as you may guess. As I get closer I try to warm up to the idea that I will have the time and freedom to explore all the dreams I had when I was a younger man.
Sadly I am now saddled with the intolerance of an old man, and can see clearly the gripes of the elderly when I was young in their dissatisfaction with the next generation....

Thanks for the vote of future prizes to be had, I hope to not disappoint in the years to come !!

Originally Posted by Modges'66

Hey Murph!
Just an observation as an armchair quarterback, but shown back in post #1537 couldn't you mount the hood bumper plates from the sierra on the inside surface of the hood (flipped over), and cut a clearance hole in the hood for the bumper itself, allowing you to shut the hood even further?...Thus eliminating most of the gap?...Or maybe grind the face of the bumper to allow the hood to close even more?
great ideas, but maybe a few adjustments could make it perfected!
...I don't know, as I am not near my truck to look at it, and get a true picture in my head.

Well buddy.... there was a clearance issue with doing that, the way the inner hood cowl support runs along the front of the hood. I could have counter sunk them into the grill shroud too, but ...... and it is a big but this time..... I hung my p-side fender today, and realize that due to body line issues I now have a laundry list of things to un-do and re-do.

That 1/2" gap that runs along the bottom of the hood will not do, no sir, not at all !!
That means I have to start with pulling the nice padded Sierra hood gasket, and installing the stock 1966 replacement I got. (that gasket alone was lifting the back of the hood up half an inch) I have to pull out those adjustable hood bumpers and re-install the stock ones (of which I mistakenly ordered twice so have two sets of....) and I have to re-engineer my upper hood release assembly so that the plunger rod IS adjustable because that is what is holding me up high in the front of the hood.

I had my suspicisions that this was going to be an issue all along, but was willing to hold off until I knew for certain, and that meant waiting until the fenders we hung and stuff.....

Thanks Modges, I was wondering if someone was going to spot the iceberg before I rammed into it.....

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


On a positive note, I got the mesh screen done for the hood intake.
I still have to find a way of retaining it in there but for now it is made, and installed. What I want is to find some sort of clam-shell clips that will snap on there, but we are having difficulty finding the paper clip types that I have in mind up here in Fairbanks....




I also started on my inner fender headlight splash panels. Got the p-side done today just need to finish the fab work and install the d-side.

While I was in there, I saw that I had installed my upper ball joints with the bolts down. I read some advice on another thread in the past couple days saying the bolts should be installed up, with the nuts on top, otherwise the added lenght underneath will wear on the ball joint seal. So I flipped those today too, and just hope I remember to do the same on the d-side in the next couple days as I bring that side up to par....

[chad64chevy]

I think I might have seen the same thread or something, cause when I did my frontend, I swear I seen something about the bolt should be facing up on here somewhere too! an that's what I did, made sense after thinking about it for a lil bit!

[McMurphy]

Ok so while the hood is still on the page for discussion, let me start there.

I removed the updated hood gasket from the firewall, and installed the stock one, this did indeed allow the trailing end of the hood to settle lower. Then it was also back to the stock bumpers up front (I now have holes to fill in the lip of the hood, but that is a project for another day).
Once both of those were done, the hood latch plunger/bar was too long.
Since I never was happy that it was not adjustable, I bit the bullet and dove on into making one that was.

Here is my story.....

I took a piece of pizza box, and started making measurements on it:


Then I taped it to a piece of sheet metal and started cutting and drilling:


Then I grabbed a 12" section of that old radiator X rod, and threaded both ends ( later cut this down to 10" ) :


A little bit of bending, dremmel and file work, and this was what I ended up with:


So now, in comparison, the new one is adjustable forward and backward, side to side, and the length/depth of the plunger-rod:


I am more satisfied with this assembly than I was with the first, though there are a couple things I would like to do differently still. Such is Neccessity being the Mother of Invention because in the end she is still a ....... never mind, there are kids here.....

More tomorrow, unless the world ends tonight of course

[Modges'66]

Very Nice Murph!!!