My version of the s10 swap

[sevt_chevelle]

You are doing some real nice work there. Here is a great youtube video from metal master Lazze on tuning up a Lancaster.

Lazze Metal Shaping: Shrinker and Stretcher...

If I finally get relocated back home to Iowa I sure would like to see your truck...Eric

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by sevt_chevelle

You are doing some real nice work there. Here is a great youtube video from metal master Lazze on tuning up a Lancaster.
Lazze Metal Shaping: Shrinker and Stretcher Tune-Up - YouTube

If I finally get relocated back home to Iowa I sure would like to see your truck...Eric

Thanks for the comments and for the video, I'm headed out to the garage in a few minutes to take apart my jaws and see what I can do to improve them!!

PM me for my contact info and you're welcome to stop by and see it anytime you're through this way. I'd really like for you to come see it, that way I could pick your brain for additional shrinking disc and slap hammer tips! I just got a book on Friday that you recommended in one of your threads, "Automobile Sheet Metal Repair" by Robert Sargent. Only part way through chapter 1 and I'm feeling smarter....

[FRENCHBLUE72]

I dont visit this part of the board very often but wanted to chim in and say a great job you have done thus far..

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by FRENCHBLUE72

I dont visit this part of the board very often but wanted to chim in and say a great job you have done thus far..

Thanks! I haven't been making progress with the truck recently, but I have been doing other projects that are contributing to it either directly or indirectly.

Motor-vation:



Going to be cool:



And I'm adding some Ford parts to it to appease a buddy who's a Ford guy, but don't have any pictures of that right now.

[68 Four on the Floor]

Good to see an Iowa truck getting built. Keep at it!

[dieseldr4]

great read BlueJeep!

[BlueJeep]

I don't have any additional progress on the truck to report, but I have been trying to "skill up" for some additional work on the truck in the not-too-distant future.

I attended Ron Covell's Extreme Metalshaping workshop this weekend, and came away with the desire to buy some more tools! Ron does host a wonderful workshop and I did learn a lot, and he was very willing and able to answer all of my questions. I even showed him pictures of my 5 window conversion and talked about some of the decisions I made while performing the swap.



Ron and I:






I did sit in the front row, took a lot of notes, snapped 52 pictures and videos with my phone, and asked a lot of questions. I also wasn't able to leave without buying 6 of his videos (they were on sale for workshop participants...and I couldn't pass up a deal!!). Now I need to fight my kids for the DVD player so we can watch hours and hours of metalshaping instead of Puss-in-Boots. It was a good weekend!

[53GMC]

That's awesome! Glad to hear all is going well with your project!

[BlueJeep]

OK, after far too long I have some progress. I'll show progress this weekend, then won't make any more for several weeks to a month.

First up, I had to clear some space in my dad's garage. What better way to do this than to take dad's 70 Chevelle out for a drive (Chevelle was posted in earlier pics in this thread). Now that the car was out it was time to make a mess. After a good afternoon of disassembly, the frame is ready to sandblast tomorrow:





And my mess:


And bye-bye to the little 4.3, it ran so well for 220k miles. The 4L60E, not so much.


Tomorrow should be lots of fun!

[_Ogre]

just read thru your build thread, nice work.
5 window conversion was well done

[BlueJeep]

Thanks for being interested in it!

Well today was a good day, but a long day and a lot of work! Spent much of the morning with the frame suspended vertical from the backhoe as I tapped on it with a 2 lb hammer and screwdrivers trying to get the dirt out of the frame. I knew there was dirt in the frame, I didn't know how much was in there. Seems as if when this frame was under the s10 it must have spent 200k of it's 220k miles on gravel roads. What makes it more difficult, is that there are two braces inside each framerail which keep the dirt from easily moving out of the frame. The driver's side I ended up cutting an access hole so I could accelerate the process, I'll have to fix that later.

Shortly before noon I was to the point of being ready to sandblast. Next time I think I'll hire it done.





After my helpers got the frame flipped over, they went to lunch and I continued to blast.

[BlueJeep]

Next up was to cover up that fresh bare metal. **Today was the first time I've sprayed non-buzz bomb finish on a vehicle.** This past December I bought a DeVilbiss Startingline 2 spray gun kit and pulled it out of the box today. As someone who'd never used a spray gun before, I can say that it worked pretty well for me. I had some friends come over and set me up by showing me how to adjust the fan and the amount of fluid that was coming out of the gun. I then proceeded to spray on a good coat of SPI epoxy primer. Started out with lots of runs, then kinda figured it out and got better from there.

Here's my Quality Control guy looking for spots that I missed:





We then followed that up with a couple coats of Eastwood Chassis Black. Semi-gloss black paint is a little hard to put over semi-gloss black epoxy primer, but I'm confident I got most of it covered.





And there we have it, a freshened-up frame for my truck. I was a little nervous about painting for the first time, but with guidance from some veterans it wasn't too bad at all. Definitely something I'll be able to repeat at home. 90% of the spraying on the frame was done by me. I was also unsure about the side-draft spray booth you see in the pictures, but my dad did not want the black overspray mixing with the black diesel smoke on the walls and ceiling of his shop... and I don't think I ended up with too much dirt in the paint. Not that it matters too much, as this truck is destined to be a driver. I dropped one of the upper control arms on the ground while the primer was fresh and dad asked if I wanted some thinner to wipe it off and start over. My reply was nope, just a rag to wipe off the dirt and spray a little more epoxy over it. No need to get too carried away!

Now the truck will rest while I get another project finished up and out of my garage, then it will be moved home and start the re-assembly process. Next up on the list are installing the 5.3 and narrowing a 9" for the rear. Should be fun!

[oldman3]

Frame looks real good....Jim

[72-c20]

I like the barrel support!

[xpickup]

BlueJeep, frame looks great. It is great when you can get it blasted instead of all that wire wheeling. Paint looks great.


Shannon

[bjcaldwe]

Nice update.

[candyx]

Originally Posted by BlueJeep

I don't have any additional progress on the truck to report, but I have been trying to "skill up" for some additional work on the truck in the not-too-distant future.

I attended Ron Covell's Extreme Metalshaping workshop this weekend, and came away with the desire to buy some more tools! Ron does host a wonderful workshop and I did learn a lot, and he was very willing and able to answer all of my questions. I even showed him pictures of my 5 window conversion and talked about some of the decisions I made while performing the swap.



Ron and I:






I did sit in the front row, took a lot of notes, snapped 52 pictures and videos with my phone, and asked a lot of questions. I also wasn't able to leave without buying 6 of his videos (they were on sale for workshop participants...and I couldn't pass up a deal!!). Now I need to fight my kids for the DVD player so we can watch hours and hours of metalshaping instead of Puss-in-Boots. It was a good weekend!

Nice fender,whats he charge to do a whole truck like that.Looks like you can clear coat his metal work!!!!

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by oldman3

Frame looks real good....Jim

Thanks!

Originally Posted by 72-c20

I like the barrel support!

You've got to use what you've got! Dad also didn't want overspray on the tractors, so he wouldn't let me hang the frame from the loaders.

Originally Posted by xpickup

BlueJeep, frame looks great. It is great when you can get it blasted instead of all that wire wheeling. Paint looks great.


Shannon

Thanks! It's good to have something finished and ready to start re-assembly.

Originally Posted by bjcaldwe

Nice update.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by candyx

Nice fender,whats he charge to do a whole truck like that.Looks like you can clear coat his metal work!!!!

Ron doesn't do customer work anymore. He only does videos and workshops now. He does advise that when he's done it'll only need a coat of high build primer and then paint. Definitely a good teacher, and very patient with his students no matter how dumb the questions are...

[candyx]

Asking questions is the smart way to learn,hopefully Ron can past his talent and skills to those who he is teaching.Its a loss art except for the few who chose to learn it,you can pick it up a little working in a body shop but the bulk of the work is just bolting on new panels.You actually have to be lucky to find a job at a hot rod shop that actually builds cars and trucks.

[BlueJeep]

Back at it once again! I finished up my other commitments, so I'm now able to start picking away at the "to-do's" left on the truck. Good thing I have a long list to keep me from getting bored.

I've got the bed in my garage now, the plan is to get it roughed in to the point where all it'll need is some filler and primer, and then bring the truck back home and start putting it together. Today, both before and after taking the kids to the pool I was able to get some garage time in. It was a much appreciated father's day present from my wife. So I turned on some Cross Canadian Ragweed...loud...and got to work.

First up was welding up some cracks that had been earned over 60ish years of using the bed. I drilled the ends of the cracks, vee'd them out and welded them up with the TIG. Next up was fixing the stake pockets. Yeah I could have saved like 5+ hours of work and just ordered new ones from Mar-K, but I'm still learning this stuff. I figured it would also provide me some good practice with the TIG, which until now I haven't forced myself to use enough to get good with it.



The original design of how the rear cross sill allows anything that goes down the stake pocket hole to collect on top of it, and to rust out the pocket. My re-design of this, while it's still not finalized, will not have this problem.





I plan to beat on the bedsides a while longer, and then break out my shrinking disc and see what I can do towards getting them straighter. I really don't care how straight the bedsides end up being because of my intended use of the truck. But, since I have a new shrinking disc and no experience using it...this is how I'll learn.

[BlueJeep]

It's just because I'm still a TIG newbie, but I'm amazed at how little weld bead I have to grind down. Taking some advice from a metal master, I've stopped using 1/16" filler and I'm now spooling out .035" MIG wire to use as filler. This is really fun!

Before grinding anything:




I'm also very happy with my new (to me) Beverly shear. I can hold a scribed line very close and it has dramatically cut down my sanding-to-fit time with roloc discs.

[eventytoo]

Smaller mig wire is the only way to go then it comes to the thin stuff when using the tig. Nice miller syncrowave 250. Wanna trade for a 200?

[STOCKISH]

Amazing metal work. Keep at it.

[72-c20]

how's the AC handling the weather?

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by 72-c20

how's the AC handling the weather?

It is probably undersized for the garage, but it does take the edge off in there and makes it comfortable enough to work in, even when it's 100+ outside. It never gets cold, but that's OK.

I've been sidetracked...again...a couple of times. My dad had his Chevelle down here for Goodguys around the 4th, and I decided to help him out and had him leave it so I could finish up the Vintage A/C install. I finished it and it's heading back to his garage for some other little tweaks. I also put new gauges and a new gauge panel, and used a Classic Enterprises SkyDrive GPS speedo sending unit. Pretty cool product.

Now I'm back working on another side project, but hope to have that done and gone in a couple weeks so I can finally get back to the truck. Should be cooler though when I do get back at it....

Collecting more parts and tools though. Now I have some shiny new Martin hammers and dollies!