Not Another Rebuild Thread....

[McMurphy]

Just wrapped up 4 days of working in my garage.
On Saturday I built a welding cart out of an old shop/wet vac chassis. It works a ton better than what I did to my rolling tool box, and even has a cradle for the air tank behind it, so it is a lot more mobile than it was.

Sunday I tinkered with my guage cluster bezel. With that I am omiting all the knobs and starter and cigarette lighter; those will be relocated to other places on the dash.

When I finished that I started in on my in cab hood release.
I looked in the mods and FAQs but did not see a walk thru for any ideas for this so I sorta just winged it.

Then Monday and today I worked on my hood, seperating the lower front hood panel where the turn signal bezels mount from the rest of the hood. I did this for a couple reasons. I had a pretty gnarly dent in my hood that the dent puller was not getting to good enough to suit me, and I wanted to make a mod to the fresh air intakes/hood release holes. I plan to screen that in and make it functional for a future mod/idea.

#1 is my original guages (silver) and a spare from the boneyard (black)
#2 is cutting out the old controls holes
#3 is the patches donated from the original guage cluster bezel
#4 is after some ZipStrip and brass wire wheeling on the bench grinder. It is now ready for some filler, contour detailing and then paint.

[McMurphy]

Picture #1 is my hood release assembly.
#2 is the removal of the original hood release latch. Its rivet pin and the top plate are the piece at the top of the picture.
#3 the entire assembly disassembled.... LOL that just sounds funny to me sorry.

#4 is a 3/8 - 16 x 1/2" cap bolt that I took a 3/32 drill bit to and drilled a hole the length of the center (not so perfectly with a hand drill you guys with a drill press probably have better results) of the bolt. This will act as an adjuster for the hood release cable for when it starts to stretch, just like on a bicycle.

#5 is the backing plate that will weld onto the back side of the hood latch assembly. I drilled and tapped a 21/64" hole into it for the adjustment bolt to screw into, the 3/8 -16 nut will act as a lock for the bolt, along with a lockwasher.
This photo also shows the maximum travel distance required to release the hood, approximately 1/4" of travel.

[McMurphy]

#1 is the mock up of the assembly with the release cable.

#2 I drilled a 3/32" hole in the top arm of the hood catch/release pendulum for the cable to attach to, and release the hood. Hopefully my 8th grade physics schooling is still working for me and there will be enough leverage here to allow this to function.

#3 is the HELP! cable I used Part#55195 that is 12 feet long, if that turns out to be too long, I will cut to lenght and hopefully remember to come back here and edit this post with a more useful measurement. I also have the cable stops Part#03338 but have not decided how to use these just yet. More to follow on this.

#4 is my adjustment bolt and backing plate. I cut 2 grooves in the plate to assist in mounting it, and hopefully disallow any torqueing of the assembly.

#5 is a spring tension adjustment I am toying with, in this picture I used a bit of coat hanger, but in reality I would probably use a large cotter pin. It seems the tension on the hood latch spring is stronger than it needs to be. Just easing the tension the amount shown in the pic made the tension on the latch pendulum lesser enough for me to actuate it with my thumbs, and not have to use a lever (screw driver ....)
Since I am not sure just how much of this tension is required to keep the hood secured this is not a set part of this modification.

I urge anyone doing this mod to proceed with caution and do not omit the secondary safety hood catch.
I had a truck hood come up at me at 55mph one day.
It is definately one of lifes bigger scrotum checks !!

[truckzilla]

Originally Posted by McMurphy

Just wrapped up 4 days of working in my garage.
On Saturday I built a welding cart out of an old shop/wet vac chassis. It works a ton better than what I did to my rolling tool box, and even has a cradle for the air tank behind it, so it is a lot more mobile than it was.

Sunday I tinkered with my guage cluster bezel. With that I am omiting all the knobs and starter and cigarette lighter; those will be relocated to other places on the dash.

When I finished that I started in on my in cab hood release.
I looked in the mods and FAQs but did not see a walk thru for any ideas for this so I sorta just winged it.

Then Monday and today I worked on my hood, seperating the lower front hood panel where the turn signal bezels mount from the rest of the hood. I did this for a couple reasons. I had a pretty gnarly dent in my hood that the dent puller was not getting to good enough to suit me, and I wanted to make a mod to the fresh air intakes/hood release holes. I plan to screen that in and make it functional for a future mod/idea.

#1 is my original guages (silver) and a spare from the boneyard (black)
#2 is cutting out the old controls holes
#3 is the patches donated from the original guage cluster bezel
#4 is after some ZipStrip and brass wire wheeling on the bench grinder. It is now ready for some filler, contour detailing and then paint.

Thanks! I must have missed that! I guess I'm going to have to try that as well. All I can do is royally screw up both bezels.

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by truckzilla

Thanks! I must have missed that! I guess I'm going to have to try that as well. All I can do is royally screw up both bezels.

My rule of thumb on all this has seriously become "Cut Big, Trim to Fit....no matter how long it takes"

So far, so good.
Well ...... except for that one patch panel I royally messed up.

[Alan's Classic]

Nice work on the gauge bezel and I never would have thought of the hood release. How much pull does it take to pull the latch? I was thinking a solenoid might work depending on the pull rating.

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by Alan's Classic

Nice work on the gauge bezel and I never would have thought of the hood release. How much pull does it take to pull the latch? I was thinking a solenoid might work depending on the pull rating.

My hood is currently in pieces, I ran out of steam posting pics last night Alan sorry. As for the pull pressure needed to pop the hood I cannot say yet at this time. Without the tension pressure of being latched against the male post, and of course the bends in the cable from the hood latch assembly to where it will be mounted in the cab will all factor in (if those 8th grade science classes are keeping me in line... LOL). Thanks for looking at the guage bezel too. I plan on filling the edges with bondo, skimming the top, then when it is fully dried, using my Dremmel to reshape the channels. Kind of tedious detail work, but what the hey, keeps me from playing in traffic !!

You know they make a solenoid called a trunk release solenoid that is really strong. I use them on the orginal set up to open the orginal latches on my 57's doors before changing over to the bear claw latches.. Only has about 3/8 of an inch of pull though if I remember right, been about 10 years since I made the change.

No sir, I did not know that.
Like I said, I looked for a mod thread for this and not finding one decided to wing it in a traditional Irish fashion !! Besides that, a solinoid would need wiring and I am going to have my hands full with doing my hideaway headlights as it is. I am no Jeeenuss after all !!

Nice work!!
I was in Fairbanks last week, I wish I would have looked you up.
Oh well, there's always next time

Keep up the good work!

I'm waiting for spring, we have gotten 6 plus feet of snow and I don't have any shelter to "do work" lol
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I would have liked that too! Shoot me a PM next time you are a day or two out, and I will toss you my phone number so we can make that happen! Thanks for taking a look at my build.... it is a ton of fun.

I will post more pics of what my hood is starting to look like, and my delivery from the UPS gal last night!! Glad I have a 4 day weekend next....gots lots to do !

[57truckguy]

You know they make a solenoid called a trunk release solenoid that is really strong. I use them on the orginal set up to open the orginal latches on my 57's doors before changing over to the bear claw latches.. Only has about 3/8 of an inch of pull though if I remember right, been about 10 years since I made the change. LOL

[joe231]

Nice work!!
I was in Fairbanks last week, I wish I would have looked you up.
Oh well, there's always next time

Keep up the good work!

I'm waiting for spring, we have gotten 6 plus feet of snow and I don't have any shelter to "do work" lol
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[chad64chevy]

truck parts are looking good, keep the pictures coming! i like the hood mod. your doing, i've thought about that awhile ago but i couldn't figure out how i would make it work without breaking something! how are you planning on doing the headlights?

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by chad64chevy

truck parts are looking good, keep the pictures coming! i like the hood mod. your doing, i've thought about that awhile ago but i couldn't figure out how i would make it work without breaking something! how are you planning on doing the headlights?

I was looking at the '69 Ralley Camaro electric actuator motors and relay for the head lights.
I also looked up the premier metal fabricating business here in Fairbanks to make the front grill for me today. I will be going by there sometime in the next few weeks with some drawn out plans and ideas and see what they can do for me.

As for the hood release, I also want to mock up a back up for the hood release cable. One that I can get to in the case that the cable breaks on me!

Thanks for looking Chad!

[McMurphy]

Ok.... about the hood....
What I thought was going to be a cool little project, turned into a real task.
Simple plan, seperate the turn signal panel from the rest of the hood; modify that panel and gain access to the front p-side corner of the hood to fix a mean dent.
Well getting that darned panel off was a heck of a job.
I have detailed photos if anyone is thinking of attempting this that show all the upper and lower spot welds you will have to contend with, and will gladly share in how I did it.

After that though it was smooth sailing and I am very happy with what turned out.

#1 is the area of the hood under consideration, specifically.

#2 ok the seam sealer was cool, putty blade was helpful in getting that out, but spot welds in there? How did that happen?

#3 much patience, and not too much damage or anger control later and they are finally apart! Yay team !!

#4 the cut center, and a test fabrication in the turn signal well for what I have in mind. Someone on this board in their sig has a quote about making a part knowing that if you goof it up, the next attempt will be better.... well this first attempt will lead to an improved actualization of what I have in mind. I plan on covering the turn signals and "grill"-ing in that center. More on that later as I either find more of the square grill-mesh-screen I already used, or I find something I like better.
I am hoping to find something I like better... this first one looks too swamprat/mudder motif for me. I am looking for more of a sports car air intake sort of look.

#5 Yay... Miss UPS driver found my house finally with the patch parts! No shortage of stuff to do this weekend after all !!

[protrash64]

How many blades did you break on the spotweld cutter? I liked the hood latch idea, too. I was thinking at 12' you could probably open the hood from the tailgate area or thereabouts.

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by protrash64

How many blades did you break on the spotweld cutter? I liked the hood latch idea, too. I was thinking at 12' you could probably open the hood from the tailgate area or thereabouts.

I didnt break any, but the first side is getting dull though.
We have a contract at work for sharpening and repairing surgical instruments, I will talk to the guy and see if he can resharpen it for me. Yeah 12' seems excessive, but I was at the parts store, saw it, and grabbed it knowing that too much is an easier fix than not enough....

In case Veronika pops back over here is an artistic rendition of the company logo I had while I was out of the Army in the mid '90s. The company was Photography, Art, and Graphic Design, and the name and logo was "Black Griffon Graphics ~----~ Create Your Own Reality"

[C@rnut001]

You drew that version...correct? It is really cool. Thanks for sharing about your hood...sounds like it was a ton of work, but you will get it like you want it in the end. Keep up the great job and thanks for posting and sharing pics/stories of your progress.

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by C@rnut001

You drew that version...correct? It is really cool. Thanks for sharing about your hood...sounds like it was a ton of work, but you will get it like you want it in the end. Keep up the great job and thanks for posting and sharing pics/stories of your progress.

Oh yes, that is 100% my artwork.
The hood just turned out to be more that I expected is all, and more difficult due to my approach to it. I wish I was more like Coulter and had a computer in my garage so I could pull up these threads and look at other peoples projects as I am working on mine. I think that constant reference would be hugely helpful.

Looks like someone is going to have fun with patch panels.

Yes sir, I have been studying other folks works on these the past couple days. Today is going to be a run into town to look for things to help with the project and get more supplies. I think I am going to get another '66 hood as a donor for that front signal panel and going to flip it upside down and it will be the fill panel between my two fenders up under my headlight mounting panel. I did a test fit with my donor and it looked way cooler than what I originally had in mind, plus gives me a logical mounting place for my fog lights.
If I think of it later I will mock it up again and take a pic to show you what I am babbling about.

looking good, really like the hood latch deal, thats sweet. cant wait to see the patch panels installed, your making great progress.

Thank you Flips!
I am sorry for your loss. I hope that life brings you many joys to help ease the pain you and your family are no doubt feeling. Wife and I have gone thru some tough ones, not the least of which is we are both orphans now...
May the Lord smile and cast his grace upon you and yours in this time.

So you can get back to work showing me how I should be doing my truck....
Sorry just kidding, but I couldnt help it.... I am a bad bad man....

As ever, thanks for looking guys. Hope to see something on your builds this weekend !!!

[Alan's Classic]

Looks like someone is going to have fun with patch panels.
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[flips72]

looking good, really like the hood latch deal, thats sweet. cant wait to see the patch panels installed, your making great progress.

[chad64chevy]

about the grille mesh, have you looked on ebay! i seen some that i'm going to put in the cowl piece where the windshield wipers are! just to keep leaves and stuff out of there! i've also thought of cutting it out and filling it in for a smooth look!!

[chad64chevy]

i would like to see the mock up

[McMurphy]

Well alrighty then ....
Nice long weekend ensued.
I have come to realize that I like making stuff, modifying stuff, and hammer and dolly work is awesome!
And no I am not kidding.

First off the weekend kicked off with a dip to -40*
Photo included in case you wanted to see what that looks like on the thermometer outside your kitchen window.....

Spent all day Friday in town shopping, and taking the wife out to lunch. Then Saturday was all up in it.

Pic #2 I cut 1" strips of 18ga from the cab corner I cut out and replaced, folded them over to make the mesh insert frames for my turn signal wells. I was about to go to the local metal fab place here in Fairbanks, when at Lowes I spotted this roll of quick mesh in the heating ducts section. (you can just see it in the top left corner).

Pic #3 is the assembled deal.

Pic #4&5 is a mounting mock up in the hood face.

[McMurphy]

Then yesterday and today was spent modifying the hood latch panel inside the hood, and making the insert for the center air intake well I made in my hood face.

Pic #1 is the painted signal well mesh in the fresh primered hood face.

Pic #2 is the unpainted air intake mesh

Pic #3&4 is the whole shebang as it now.

Pic #5 is an idea I have for using a donor hood face to fill the space between my fender tips below my grill support. The plan is to cut and fab this donor (that I still have to get mind you) piece and mount fog lamps into the turn signal wells which I will patch fill to make the orafice smaller and to fit the fog lamps I have in mind (the same ones on my Tempest actually). I will also make mesh inserts for the two openings in the donor hood.
After that I will mod my bumper to go below all this mess and hopefully add to a clean look to the front of the truck.

I sometimes wonder if all this just seems a tad crazy to you guys....

Anyways .... short work week ahead of me before I can get back at it. I plan to finish up this hood work and then toss it into the parts tent before I start on another area of the truck, which will probably be the patch pans I got in.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look... updating this thread is almost as much fun as making progress on the truck ..... almost.

[C@rnut001]

Looking good...keep at it. I like your ideas for your hood. Good luck on getting on it again this week/weekend.

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by C@rnut001

Looking good...keep at it. I like your ideas for your hood. Good luck on getting on it again this week/weekend.

Thanks, but really the only options are work on truck, play World of Warcraft, go skiing if it is above -20*, or vegitate on the couch with the wife and the cat..... And that pretty much sums up life in central Alaska for me.

Originally Posted by 57truckguy

Hey Sarge.. I see your at it again... Does It ever get warm there...LOL

No.
Just less cold.

Originally Posted by chevy_man5

I was trying to figure out what in the world you were doing, but now I get it! Looks pretty cool, way to go! Keep up the good work!

Thanks! I know I come up with some pretty nutty ideas sometimes. I think I am venting all those ideas on this truck because once I decided I would not modify my Tempest, I had to keep all this creativity (silliness) bottled up.

Originally Posted by Chad215

cool, I really like those mesh inserts. I'd be curious about the longevity of that material, especially in your enviroment.

This is going to be a fair weather driver only.
I am not even going to bother installing a winterization kit on it. The worst this truck will see in its life with me will be rainy days and dirt roads.

thanks for taking a look guys!!

[joe231]

Originally Posted by McMurphy

No.
Just less cold.

Lol
I don't like summer in Fairbanks.
90's is too hot! Lol
It has been over 100 there in the past.
It was -40 there today, eh?
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