Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window

[Dan in Pasadena]

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Just an update to my "Log" - After three consecutive false starts it APPEARS my chassis will be flat bedded to the paint shop Saturday morning. But I won't be surprised if he calls last minute (like last Saturday) to delay again. I went to his shop today and he "confirmed" he has made space.

We reviewed the bolt kits I've taken and I need 30 polished stainless button head bolts to replace the factory black flange bolts. These are for the inner-outer fender connection & latch panel. But I counted only 22 when I looked at the other '55-'56 in Mike's shop. 6 each side, 8 on the latch panel and 2 to mount the latch itself. No idea what the other 8 are for?

My Boyd's Smoothies arrived from Northern Cal today. Whoever had them screwed them up just enough to ruin their resale value - and he didn't know the value of what he had anyway - but they'll repair and polish up perfect. Al Reed Polishing in Placentia, CA did my old 911 Fuchs wheels which were much worse and he made them look brand new. These should be easier.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Saturday, May 6, 2017
Heavy drizzle @ home, steady rain at the other end but my chassis was flat bedded to the paint shop this morning. I followed and wiped the entire chassis dry/clean.

Cab won't be mounted til probably Friday. He was final polishing an older 500SL metallic teal beauty to be delivered this week.

Found half the 5/16x18 Coarse buttonhead bolts I need for assembly in the engine compartment at my local OSH. They had chrome ones - which look fantastic - but man oh man they're pricey. $42 for them and that's only half what I need. -Dan

[dug224]

You are going for perfection...you gotta have the nice bolts. Me... I working out of my free metric bolts I got buckets of from the salvage yard.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by dug224

You are going for perfection...you gotta have the nice bolts. Me... I working out of my free metric bolts I got buckets of from the salvage yard.

Metric bolts? There's nothing on these trucks that are metric.

Yeah, I suppose I want my truck "perfect" - to me - it won't be perfect for anyone else's vision of these trucks. If you want to spend as little as possible, I get that. My budget made me do that my entire life. Now, I'm about to retire and this is my gift to me for working since I was 16, going to college, grad school while working full time, raising two kids, putting them through college, etc. When it's done and I look at it, I want to be very pleased with what I see - whether it pleases anyone else or not.

[oldman3]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Metric bolts? There's nothing on these trucks that are metric.

Yeah, I suppose I want my truck "perfect" - to me - it won't be perfect for anyone else's vision of these trucks. If you want to spend as little as possible, I get that. My budget made me do that my entire life. Now, I'm about to retire and this is my gift to me for working since I was 16, going to college, grad school while working full time, raising two kids, putting them through college, etc. When it's done and I look at it, I want to be very pleased with what I see - whether it pleases anyone else or not.

Well said Dan, I've always built my rides to suit me, may not be everyones cup of tea, but if I'm happy with my rides, that's all that counts...Jim

[dug224]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Metric bolts? There's nothing on these trucks that are metric.

Yeah, I suppose I want my truck "perfect" - to me - it won't be perfect for anyone else's vision of these trucks. If you want to spend as little as possible, I get that. My budget made me do that my entire life. Now, I'm about to retire and this is my gift to me for working since I was 16, going to college, grad school while working full time, raising two kids, putting them through college, etc. When it's done and I look at it, I want to be very pleased with what I see - whether it pleases anyone else or not.

I get it and admire your work. I am and was in the same boat. On my truck, everything below the skin is metric so I keep adding more metric connectors here and there to maximize the confusion. Keep up the good work.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Thanks Jim,

I'm sure I'll get, "...it' too low, why'd you do that? You ruined it!"
"...why doesn't it lay frame, it's too high!"
Billet rims? LS engine? "It's not traditional!"
"Resale red? I'd have NEVER painted it that color"

If I'm nice that day I'll say, "It's what I like"
If I'm not feeling diplomatic that day I'll stick out my hand and say, "When you write the checks you get to decide what it looks like!"

[Dan in Pasadena]

Sunday, April 6, 2017
Ok, so a small update. Picked up my bench set frames after sandblast/gloss black powder coat. Mine had no broken springs only one dent (which I didn't notice til too late).


I had to have the seat back pivot nuts replaced. One was gone and some odd ball bolt & nut had been used in their place. That caused the sheet metal hole to get big and worn out of round - looked like hell. The metal was repaired and new nuts welded in. I just ordered thread chasers from Amazon so I can clean the threads.


It's kinda bothering me to think of removing all the springs but that's what I have to do to get the contoured seat upholstery shown in Pic #1 in post 1937 above. Like I said, there's not a single broken spring! But if it can be done without them coming out, I'll do that. I like sitting high anyway. But if I can remove them without breaking them. I'll list them for sale so someone else can use them.

[Kim57]

Looks real nice.
Kim

[ChuckDriver]

Seat frame looks great!

Hope your upholstery guy is quicker than mine!

[Red Foreman]

Originally Posted by ChuckDriver

Seat frame looks great!

Hope your upholstery guy is quicker than mine!

"All good things take time" Btw ChuckDriver your seat came up so nice it ended up as my screen saver!

Keep up the good work Dan!!

[ChuckDriver]

Originally Posted by Red Foreman

"All good things take time" Btw ChuckDriver your seat came up so nice it ended up as my screen saver!

Keep up the good work Dan!!

Thanks Red!!

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by ChuckDriver

Seat frame looks great!

Hope your upholstery guy is quicker than mine!

Hi JJ,
I've never used this guy before but Mike speaks highly of him. I've seen some of his work and was impressed. For now the seat frames will hang in my garage rafters. I don't dare take the seat before the whole truck is available or I might not get all materials from the same bolt - can't have that!

Thanks Red, How're things down under? What's new with your truck?

[Red Foreman]

Where doing fine down here in Melbourne thanks for asking Dan.
As for the Gmc still get driven weekly and doesn't let me down however reading your thread makes me want to redo the bench seat properly this time instead of just a re-trim.

Here's a current pic of it in my shed, cheers George.

[Russell Ashley]

Originally Posted by Red Foreman

Where doing fine down here in Melbourne thanks for asking Dan.
As for the Gmc still get driven weekly and doesn't let me down however reading your thread makes me want to redo the bench seat properly this time instead of just a re-trim.

Here's a current pic of it in my shed, cheers George.

That's a nice truck, one of my favorites. For most of us a shed is an 8X10 place to park your lawn mower, LOL. I wish I had a "shed" like yours to park my truck in.

[Dan in Pasadena]

The GMC's are such great icons of the 50's. Many years ago I bought a '57 Chevy truck at the Pomona Swap meet (big here. Bigger back then!) that turned out to be pretty rusty. The next meet was 6 weeks later and I had to pass on one the same color as yours that was an absolute peach. It killed me I'd spent my money on such a poor one and couldn't buy the Jimmy. Hope you enjoy the heck out of yours. I still wish I had one.

[Red Foreman]

Thanks Dan and yes all us Aussies know about Pomona, for us its the mecca of swap meets!

[Dan in Pasadena]

More chrome button head bolts today delivered to body shop. Man, those things are spendy! Saw Marcos had painted a bunch of misc. small parts: Door hinges, ashtray/heater control delete plate, hinge access panel covers.

The other night I picked up a set of Lang thread chasers from Amazon. No idea if they're a decent quality set but kinda doubt it; they were fairly cheap. Never owned thread chasers before but don't want to round-off the Allen head opening in these pricey bolts. Some of the holes were powder coated over so hopefuly this helps.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Thursday, May 18th, 2017

"I've got good news and I've got bad news".

First the good: The cab is back on the chassis. YAHOOOOO!!! That only took a month longer than promised.


The bad news?

Even though the engine was installed with the cab on the frame, it is now super close to the passenger side valve cover. So close Marcos had a microfiber towel between the valve cover and the firewall when I saw it. It wasn't pinched so tight I couldn't pull the towel out so there is SOME room. But it's genuinely tight. He also had to slightly bend the trans filler tube. Not enough to kink it but just enough so it wouldn't rub the firewall.

I've asked Mike to meet with Marcos and decide what; if anything, needs to be done? When I stopped by the shop one of his guys said, "...just beat in the the firewall a little". Uh... OH HELL NO! I didn't come this far to hack it now. There'll be no beating of my newly perfect firewall. So we'll see just how much an issue this is. The engine will move slightly with torque left/right but should never move forward/back and the head doesnt get hot enough to bubble paint but I still don't like the idea of there being 3/8" to 1/2" clearance vs. almost none on the other side.



Last: The cab mounting bolt kit I bought from The Car & Truck Shop doesn't SEEM to have the right parts. I confess i don't remember exactly where all the rubber, washers and short reinforcement tube-thingies were. Does anyone have clear photos of how it's supposed to look from the interior and from below? I DID buy a Factory Assembly Manual and gave it to Marcos. He's studying it but the pictures aren't all that clear. All help appreciated - Dan

[Henry50]

Obviously something moved. I'd loosen the cab mounts try scooting the cab back a little.
What do the engine mounts look like?

[oldman3]

Originally Posted by Henry50

Obviously something moved. I'd loosen the cab mounts try scooting the cab back a little.
What do the engine mounts look like?

Dan I agree with Henry50. Move the cab back, if NO ONE is sure on the placement of rubbers they could be wrong. Sorry no experience with the TF...Jim

[MBrown]

I know its not exactly the same but my LS fits about the same on my '59 GMC, luckily mine's not beautiful new paint. Don't know what happened there.

Mark

[ChuckDriver]

Wow Dan that is tight!

I don't think you can move the cab back very much, if any, as the rear mounts are a tight fit.

As far as how they are installed, the front only uses the c shaped shim and rubber isolator, with the bolt going in from the top. On the rear the square rubber goes on top of the frame and the round one is under the cab mount, the steel tube runs up through the round rubber into the square on. The rear bolt usually comes up from the bottom into the captured nut on the cab floor, but I have seen them install from the top down, if the captured nut has been removed.

Hope this helps!!

[bosco]

First off... beautiful paint and firewall. But, wow that is close. If left this close can the valve cover be removed? If it can you should be okay, just close.

[bobinbc]

Dan were those covers on the engine when it was fitted up? Maybe they are causing the problem? Agree with what was already said, should be able to fudge the cab back 3/8-1/2 inch with no trouble. It just needs a little breathing room

IIRC when I did the body mounts on my 57 there was a few shims and a very thin rubber in the front and a much thicker rubber for the rear, like 5\8 or so. HTH