The Vandal. 1957 "Big glass" 3100 restomod.

[youngrodder]

Crazy camber on the rear there...Ha ha that is not something to see you too often on a classic truck.

Cool pic.

Marc

[57FleetsideC4]

Looking really good. Doing all the fun stuff now. Steve

[MD2020]

Nice build

[BIGglaSS]

Crazy camber on the rear there...Ha ha that is not something to see you too often on a classic truck.
Cool pic.
Marc

Wifey says NO to air ride...
But it'll look so sick!

[BIGglaSS]

Wiring done

There is very little room to cram modern amenities behind the dash of these trucks. I call this bracket the sooper dookie. It is the basis of stuffing 10lbs of caca into a 1 lb satchel. It mounts to the bottom lip of the dash, and the wiper motor bracket. It holds the radio, a/c ecu, alarm module, and a home made ground block. And the a/c duct hoses hang from it. The alarm is used for the power locks.


The restomod air VapirII ready to be stuffed up behind the dash.

Finished. The left kick panel is home for the OBDII port. I ran the heater hoses and heater control valve through the right kick panel.


The stereo amp will be under the seat, controlled by a bluetooth DSP (digital signal processor).

[Rickysnickers]

Wow, it looks great!!!

[youngrodder]

Looking good. Wiring always seems to take much longer than you think it should.

Looking forward to seeing this one on the rd.

Marc

[Kevin_C]

Its really coming together. is that the heater hoses running behind the passenger side close out panel? I've got my evaporator mounted but that's as far as I got so far. keep up the good work

[BIGglaSS]

Thanks, y'all. Hoping to let the smoke out of the tires by April 1.

I had no where to mount the heater valve, so I decided to put it in the kick panel. There are bulkhead fittings to run out under the floor to the frame rail. I'll get pics of the other side later.

[BBPanel]

My Restomod - I was going to use the side cowl area to run all of the hoses then under the fender but decided to use the bulkhead to do all four just below the unit on the firewall. I tucked my heater control valve inline above the unit.

[youngrodder]

Looks good. I did something similar with the heater control on my Vintage Air set up. Looks much cleaner this way.

Marc

[BIGglaSS]

BBPanel, That's a tight squeeze to run the hoses that way. I have the unit that has defrost ducts out the back. So, it would not have worked for me.

[BBPanel]

Yeah, I went with the Vapir 3 - all ducts go out the top or forward. Then I mounted unit as close to firewall as possible and still get 4 hoses down the back side. The clearances are tight enough I used a spacer on the bulkhead on the front of firewall just to get another 3/8" inside for the fittings. There isn't much room in these trucks regardless of which units are used.

[joedoh]

beauty man!

I was here when you started and I cant believe how great this is coming out

[BIGglaSS]

Thanks.

Today, it looked like I built a bird house.


Nope... It's a baby boomer. 8" Image Dynamics sub, 5x7's and tweets. Zapco 5ch amp. I'm quite pleased with how it sounds!

[daveshilling]

Originally Posted by BIGglaSS

Nope... It's a baby boomer. 8" Image Dynamics sub, 5x7's and tweets. Zapco 5ch amp. I'm quite pleased with how it sounds!

Sweet! In that small cab that little guy will do a great job of balancing out the sound. I waffle between OG overhead speaker and custom system... on one hand, playing a baseball game through one tinny speaker on am radio sounds amazing... on the other hand, music.

[6DoF]

how was the restomod parts/kit? that's what i've been looking to use

[youngrodder]

Looks great. Ya gotta have tunes...
I like the carpet you chose. It has a nice color/pattern.

Marc

[OKGMC4]

I sure love this truck. Everything is so shiny, makes me feel like I'm assembling garbage in my garage. lol

[daveshilling]

Originally Posted by OKGMC4

I sure love this truck. Everything is so shiny, makes me feel like I'm assembling garbage in my garage. lol

I know exactly what you mean!!

[BIGglaSS]

Sweet! In that small cab that little guy will do a great job of balancing out the sound.

Yep. I believe in a properly tuned system. Size doesn't matter.

how was the restomod parts/kit? that's what i've been looking to use

I pieced it together over several years. I did not buy their kit. The only thing from Restomod is the Vapir2 unit and the stealth controls. Since I bought parts a few years apart, there were missing wiring harnesses. They were great and worked with me to get the right harnesses. I did not buy dash vents yet, the hoses are just hanging under the dash. A/C pump is a Sanden from Holley. Hoses/fittings are aeroquip ez-clip. Highly recommend!

Looks great. Ya gotta have tunes...
I like the carpet you chose. It has a nice color/pattern.

Thank you. I gotta 'fess up on the carpet... I really, really wanted german square weave, honey brown:
https://relicate.com/collections/ger...et-honey-brown
But, I wasn't ready to spend $140/yard. I found this at Lowe's 6'x'12' for $18! I don't know how I'm going to finish the edges. This was more or less a cheap shot to temporarily throw something on the floor.

I sure love this truck. Everything is so shiny, makes me feel like I'm assembling garbage in my garage. lol

I know exactly what you mean!!

Let's just call this a "shiny" 10 - footer.

Thanks for all the comments. It is encouraging to keep going and get'er done. After 8 years, I've had enough. I just want to get this thing mostly done. (It will never be finished)

I promised wifey that this would be the year we will take it out for dinner on her Birthday. That's less than 2 months away!

[OKGMC4]

Don’t know if you have access to a sewing machine, but this shows how carpet edge binding is normally done.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vbPLrzq9NMM

One thing I do that they didn’t show is after the first stitching on top is done, I flip it over and use a little 3M super 90 to hold the vinyl / leather to the back of the carpet so it’s not shifting around and good and tight when the second row of stitching goes in. I’ve also considered welding up angle iron to fit the top of the step that will hold the carpet in place. Could be powder coated or vinyl wrapped.

[BIGglaSS]

Thanks for the tip. That looks easier than another method I watched. I have thought about using the glue-on instabind. However, there is only one shade of gray, and I don't think it will match.

One problem I found with industrial carpet is that the backing sheds a very sandy grit of material. I would be concerned if that sand finds its way into the sewing machine and damages it.

I have thought about sewing my own seat cover. At this point, I don't need to learn another hobby, and I don't want it to look like an amateur made it.

For now, I have no idea what I'm going to do for a seat cover.

[Vomit]

Excellent work. Im jealous of your sheet metal skills.

[youngrodder]

I know that you mean about the cost of German square weave. I had to purchase 5 yrds of it for my suburban. I didn't finished my edges either. It is not supper noticeable because they terminate under the door sill trim on the sides. I did have my upholstery guy (the one that did my seats) make me some custom floor mats so it doesn't look too bad.

Marc