Markeb01 Build Thread

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by markeb01

Being too cold to work outside or in the garage for the last few days, seemed like the perfect time to revisit the bumper bullets?! So I dragged them in the house to my work station to see if I could sort out if they could be saved.





Now I only have hours of finishing work ahead doing some JB Weld filling, followed by Rage body filler, and sanding all the new nicks and dings added since they were removed and banged around the garage before new paint.

I’m thankful I didn’t toss them out at the max frustration level!

Glad you got it sorted out Mark.

I look at all the "damage" you have to repair now, but it makes me smile, as sometimes the stuff I turn on the lathe goes into the firewood pile, and Nicola asks me why.... And it is only me that can see why it is wrong, and possibly not salvageable.

I am often envious of the guys in the USA for the amount of resource you have access to, but must say, right now it is raining on the glass skylight in my office, and it sounds good, but at least we are still in the positive Celcius scale, probably around 4'C outside.
So at least I can layer up at night and go to the garage.

[Ta2Don]

Sure glad you were able to remedy the issue with the Dagmars…
In my opinion your truck looks great with them and with the grille bar they need to be there...

Last week saw our lowest temp at 7F and the high that day was 25F… Not a fan of the cold these days...

[markeb01]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Glad you got it sorted out Mark.

I look at all the "damage" you have to repair now, but it makes me smile, as sometimes the stuff I turn on the lathe goes into the firewood pile, and Nicola asks me why.... And it is only me that can see why it is wrong, and possibly not salvageable.

I am often envious of the guys in the USA for the amount of resource you have access to, but must say, right now it is raining on the glass skylight in my office, and it sounds good, but at least we are still in the positive Celcius scale, probably around 4'C outside.
So at least I can layer up at night and go to the garage.

I’m the same way on failed projects. If they aren’t going to be completed to my satisfaction I’ll just toss them out. No point in putting additional labor into something that isn’t going to please me when finished.

First thing this morning I fired up the propane heater in the garage, and it’s already heated up from 40 to 56 F. So I’ll be out there getting some work in on the bullets later. When we lived in Idaho, our home was a log cabin with a tin roof. I must admit I loved the sound of rain on the metal roof. Downstairs was well insulated and nice and quiet due to the thickness of the log walls, but sleeping upstairs was like being outside in the rain from a noise standpoint. And I loved it!

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Sure glad you were able to remedy the issue with the Dagmars…
In my opinion your truck looks great with them and with the grille bar they need to be there...

Last week saw our lowest temp at 7F and the high that day was 25F… Not a fan of the cold these days...

Thanks for the encouragement Don. I agree, the front end looks disappointing without the bullets now that I’ve seen how good it can look. With the floating bar and the bullets lowered it has somewhat of an Oldsmobile look to it from my viewpoint. I’m not much for cold weather either, makes me lazy. I tend to sit at the computer rather than get up and accomplish something when it’s near freezing or below.

[markeb01]

An hour or so with a variety of sanders and hand finishing, the JB Weld work was finished off. After a good cleaning I created a fillet out of Evercoat Rage, blending the bullet and guard into one piece:





This is why I use so much JB Weld, as it makes the joint permanent and the filler is cosmetic only. I’ll get this sanded in another hour or so, and then give both guards a generous coating of UPol 2K primer. Once that is all blocked out, they’ll be ready for the finish coat of white paint.

These could be back on the truck by tomorrow if my ambition holds out.

[Ta2Don]

Very Nice!!!

[piratexpress1369a]

i was hoping you would put them back on

[likaroc13]

Nice job Mark. Glad to see you tackling this again as well. I think they'll compliment your truck nicely once again, but even a little better this time around. Looking forward to seeing the finished product installed.

[markeb01]

Finally got everything blocked out and ready for paint, which was applied tonight. A bit too cold and had a couple of specks spit from the spray can, but overall they look great. They actually look like one piece forgings now, like stock bullet/guards.

They’ll stay under the heat lamps tonight and get reinstalled tomorrow:

[uber cool]

just read through from the start,excellent work. I like how you're stayed with the same truck and evolved over the years

[markeb01]

Thanks uber cool! There is something to be said for keeping the same ride for a long time. It gives you a chance to detail all the little items that rarely get high enough on the priority list to receive attention.

Here’s the end result of the bumper guard project:





I took more photos but not many came out very well, trying to show off bullet alignment against snow in the background!

They are dead level, the tips are both 19 ¼” from the ground, they both point directly forward (about 5-7 degrees inward) and are the same distance from the grille bar on the backside. Other than I will inevitably be smashing my knees on them, I’m thrilled they came out so nice. I considered bigger bullets like from a 55-59 GMC, 55 Buick, or various Packard’s, but they’re too big to blend well with the smaller 4 headlight system.

I think I'm ready to move on to something else again.

[Ta2Don]

Good to see the Dagmars up front...

[markeb01]

Thanks Don, I’m glad they’re back in place. It’s a funny illusion, from a distance they look rather small and thin. From up close it becomes more obvious how shapely they are and how far they protrude in front of the bumper! Cosmetically I think they really add a sense of style, although clobbering knees with them isn’t so much fun!

[Mjminino]

Hell yeah man! Good job and they look awesome! You should feel very proud of yourself

[Mjminino]

I also took your advice and started a build thread if you're interested. Link is in my signature.

[uber cool]

I'm liking the grill and bumper in white. Also think I prefer the quad headlights, might do that on my as it has no face at the mo

[markeb01]

I always preferred the GMC grille in these trucks years before I owned one. I just liked the sculptured look compared to the Chevy stampings. I'm also a fan of the white front end. I happen to like the way it looks, and I can't afford to chrome everything!

[duallyjams]

That's the ticket right there those dagmars are sexy.

[clemdaddy]

nice Mark... i like how you can see something on your truck thats not exactly as you would wish and then you figure how to make it better. that's some very fine tuning man, perfectly blended, vision and execution.

[212004830]

I have been enjoying your build thread and wonder if I can pick your brain on that accelerator pedal installation?
I dont have the 71-72 flavor but a very similiar '79 C10 setup I am looking to install in my '65 GMC. I am struggling with placement and concern the pedal wont give my Q-jet full WOT movement. All my engine compartment hardware is from the same '79 so no worries there. it is inside the cab where I am concerned. Does your pedal at rest basically hang without touching the floor? and then as you depress the pedal it will eventually bottom out on the angled floorplan/ firewall at approximately the same time as WOT?
thanks!

[markeb01]

Thanks for the comments James and Clem!

Yes my gas pedal hangs free above the floor, and touches the floor at WOT. It’s reasonably easy to adjust the travel. If the carb won’t reach wide open throttle, add a spacer under the pivot mount of the gas pedal and this will increase the travel at the pedal. If you have tons of padding on the floor under the gas pedal pivot and the carb reaches WOT before the pedal hits the floor, cut away some of the padding under the pivot and this will reduce the travel at the pedal. Just keep making small adjustments until you’re happy with the travel on both sides of the firewall.

[Mjminino]

Hey mark I sent you a pm

[likaroc13]

The freshly renovated bumper bullets look great Mark!

[markeb01]

Originally Posted by Mjminino

Hey mark I sent you a pm

Got it and responded. Sorry I can’t help out on this particular issue.

Originally Posted by likaroc13

The freshly renovated bumper bullets look great Mark!

Thanks Phillip. Glad to hear the outlook has improved with your Dad. I do check in on your thread routinely even if I don’t always comment. We’re still keeping your family in our thoughts.

[likaroc13]

Originally Posted by markeb01

Thanks Phillip. Glad to hear the outlook has improved with your Dad. I do check in on your thread routinely even if I don’t always comment. We’re still keeping your family in our thoughts.

Thank you sir. Hopefully I'll be able to post some classic truck progress of my own in the near future. Been tinkering with my Tahoe lately. Gonna try to get my grille project wrapped up soon. I'll be sure to let you know, so you can check out the mid-50s GMC emblem installed.

[markeb01]

Sounds great Phillip!

I find myself once again winding down on truck projects. I’m still thinking about how to fabricate a lightweight headliner, either diamond tufted or diamond stitched but haven’t settled on an attachment method yet. My younger son has volunteered to make diamond stitched sun visors, but if I go with a diamond headliner I’ll probably leave the visors plain.

Historically when I’m done with real hot rod projects, I switch to model cars as my primary hobby. I was lamenting to my wife I currently have no inspiration to jump back into modeling, so she suggested why don’t I start repainting the kitchen. Rather than being bummed out, I thought it was a pretty good idea. I always prefer working on “real” things before modeling, unless I just don’t have any real stuff to do. And the kitchen repaint is going to take weeks (at least) to accomplish.

When we moved in over 10 years ago, all the kitchen cabinets, drawers, and doors were dark brown with yellow countertops. It was pure 1970’s and looked small and dingy. Although not our first choice, we thought the yellow countertops might be salvaged if we changed all the brown to white. Everything was scrubbed down with TSP and brush painted with white latex interior paint. This turned out to be a big mistake as the finish paint was incompatible over the stain and never fully dried, like model car tires painted with white enamel. So to correct the problem “everything” has to be stripped of the latex paint and primed with something like KILZ primer.

Unfortunately, between the drawers and door faces there are 49 face panels needing to be stripped and repainted, in addition to the cabinet framing. It’s taken several days to determine the best processes to strip the first 6 drawer fronts:



A combination of a heat gun/putty knife on the fronts, and soft stripper disc in the drill on the edges seems to produce the best and fastest results. The next step is to apply primer, sand it down, and spray the new white finish coat. Wanting to perform these steps in the garage to minimize the stink in the house, identified the next stumbling block – it’s too cold to paint in the garage for several months and the heat lamps over the clean bench won’t accommodate something the size of a drawer.

So I looked around the garage with an eye for a larger heating/drying area for paint work. I settled on the inboard ends of the garage door tracks, which are nearly in the center of the garage floor. I looked through my junk stuff and came up with a pair of swinging arms from an old yard tent and some vintage seat belt brackets that easily formed retractable arms for an extra pair of heat lamps.

Here’s a close up look at the connection to the garage door track:



The circled area on the right in this photo is the joint shown in the above photo:



From a distance, this is what the new heating station looks like in the up or “parked” position (about 4-5” above my head at the lowest point):



And here they are in the down/turned on position. A nice benefit of the cheap Walmart lamp housings being they each have an on/off switch, so I don’t have to climb a ladder to turn them on/off. I just plugged a power strip into the garage door outlet in the ceiling:



I can easily adjust the height by positioning the material correctly under the lamps. In addition to providing flexibility for painting kitchen cabinets, this will also make it possible to paint things like my mint condition bare metal grille hanging in the basement. I’ll just extend a bar across the two down tubes, and hang two more lamps to cover the additional length of the grille.