[B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]

[Ta2Don]

Thread Hijack...

Hey Jeff....Thanks for the tip on the Eastwood Rust Encapsulator!




DA BEARS!!!

[da_bears_da1]

Don, you can hijack my thread anytime. Hoping the Rust Encapsulator works as well for you as it did me.

Da Bears!!!!

[da_bears_da1]

As you can tell, I have not had much time to work on the truck. The summer has been busy but its now back to the truck.

I had to order new inner fenders, mine were in bad shape and had been cut off by the steering column. Got them in, had to fix some waves and bad welds (seems a common theme on repop parts). Got it all primed and was able to get it back together. It did take a lot of sweat, some blood and a fair amount of swearing but the repop parts went together. Almost all of the front end is repop including radiator and grill supports, front lower fenders and inner fenders. Only the upper fenders are original. As you can see below it turned out pretty good.





I did have a heck of a time getting the grill support to line up with the front fenders on the very top point. As you all know, getting those bolts to line up and then tightening down while keeping them in place can be tough.



Last but not least, I did go ahead and buy a sandblasting cabinet. I know a number of members made their own but HF had a sale on theirs and with the 20% off coupon it took it down to $170. Spent a fun day putting it together. Directions from Asia are always fun...............



The hood is off to the sandblaster so hopefully it does not take the 2 weeks they said it might.

[Lugnutz65]

Originally Posted by da_bears_da1

Last but not least, I did go ahead and buy a sandblasting cabinet. I know a number of members made their own but HF had a sale on theirs and with the 20% off coupon it took it down to $170. Spent a fun day putting it together. Directions from Asia are always fun...............

I find my small SB cabinet to be very useful. I added a light so I could see what I was doing. One tip I learned that was terrific - put on a pair of nitrile or other thin surgical rubber gloves before you stick your hands inside the cabinet gloves. It will prevent the sweat from your hands from creating a swamp inside the gloves. Then the gloves stay dry and won't stink.

Did you see my homemade redneck jumbo backyard blast cabinet? LOL!!!

[Bomp]

Your attention to detail is spot on.
Copied one of your pics, pasted it on Bompenstein for motivation.
Momentarily fixin on Blondies car to get her back on the road.

Your truck is lookin Saweeeet

[da_bears_da1]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

That motor looks sweet nestled in there!!!

Rock on Brother!

Thanks Don! Hopefully I will get to hear the motor run sometime in the next year.

Originally Posted by Lugnutz65

I find my small SB cabinet to be very useful. I added a light so I could see what I was doing. One tip I learned that was terrific - put on a pair of nitrile or other thin surgical rubber gloves before you stick your hands inside the cabinet gloves. It will prevent the sweat from your hands from creating a swamp inside the gloves. Then the gloves stay dry and won't stink.

Did you see my homemade redneck jumbo backyard blast cabinet? LOL!!!

Thanks for the tip. Sound like a good idea. Gonna have to go look at your backyard blast cabinet.

Originally Posted by Bomp

Your attention to detail is spot on.
Copied one of your pics, pasted it on Bompenstein for motivation.
Momentarily fixin on Blondies car to get her back on the road.

Your truck is lookin Saweeeet

Thanks Bomp. It's funny how when you go to put things together you start obsessing with panel lines. I spent over 2 hours playing around with the driver's side lower and upper fenders. I keep reminding myself of the factory tolerances but seem to still fret over how the lines look.

Now I have to go look at your thread!

[Ta2Don]

That motor looks sweet nestled in there!!!

Rock on Brother!

[da_bears_da1]

Ever since I assembled my front end I have been concerned with how the inner fender matches up with the fender on the driver's side. When I first tried to assemble them I had a problem getting those two to line up. The fender did not line up with the inner fender at all to start with. I could only get one bolt in.

So I drilled new holes in the inner fender to make them more towards the outer edge. I then assembled and got them together. The fender does line up with the door and radiator support and grill support but what bothered me was the gap between the vertical inner edge on the fender and the inner fender. Pictures probably tell the story

Here is the passenger's side which turned out well.



Here is the driver's side which did not look good.



I hate throwing away a new part I just bought but every time I looked at the truck I would frown seeing how the driver's side looked. Thanks to Don, I realized that Top Banana sells the inner fenders and given their good reputation on this forum I decided to order a new inner fender from them. The ones I bought were from Classic Industries and this was the first "bad" part I got from them. Keeping my fingers crossed and hope the Top Banana part is better.

Now I get to take the front end apart, again (thanks Forrest Gump), and try to get it to look better with the new part.

[Ta2Don]

From blocking to "Let's rip it back apart and get some quality metal."
Wow, Lovin' your dedication Brother!

Diggin', the Forrest Gump reference too...

[Ta2Don]

Quick Thread HiJack...



Sorry Bro, couldn't resist...

[da_bears_da1]

Very cool!

[da_bears_da1]

First, the story behind not posting any updates for almost two months. It probably will not be a short story so feel free to skip to the next paragaraph. My wife took my nephew to the airport in mid-August and as she was driving she saw a place called Mathnasium. Being the math lover she is a couple of days later she googled Mathnasium and found out its a franchise business that focuses on helping kids with math. Well, this struck a cord with her since she had tutored our kids and their friends in math and they all made it into the advanced math curriculum in jr. high and high school. She then started checking and there are no franchises close and with her retiring in December you can only guess where this goes. Of course it was then my job to check out the opportunities, deal with the Mathnasium folks, look for territories, etc. So this does not become a book, I will cut to the chase. We bought two territories from Mathnasium about 3 weeks ago. I have been searching for suitable locations, looking at a lot of sites and have found what we want in both territories. I am not down to the paperwork and dealing with lawyers but should be close to getting through that phase. As we have gone through this process, I have assured her that I am not quitting on the truck and will get at least two days a week of truck time once we get our spots nailed down. In the past six weeks I have gotten one day to work on the truck besides today. Believe me, I am NOT going to stop until the truck is shiny and loud!

I did get the Top Banana inner fender and finally got it smoothed out and primed. Hoping to reassemble, again, the front end tomorrow but it may end up being next week. Here is my feeble update picture:



One other thing that did happen during my distracted period was I did get to visit my parents in Arkansas. They live 30 minutes from Ta2Don so I was able to sneak away and visit with Don. Gotta say he is one of the nicest guys I have met. I even got a couple of very nice cigars from him. Here is Don in front of his shop:


While I was in Arkansas I did get to take pictures of my next two projects once the truck is done. The next project will be working on my Dad's 1928 Chevy National AB series. Dad bought this in 1969 for $400 and the guy threw in a great Boxer puppy. Dad has had this in storage since then and always planned on working on it but.... Dad is now 81 years young so when he heard about what I am doing with the truck he asked if I would redo his 28. How can you pass that up! I can already see him driving around in it while Mom complains . The car is very solid, no rust I can find anywhere. Of course the wood in the floorboard and firewall will need to be replaced and the interior has hosted a bunch of mice over the years.



Finally, here is my 3rd project. Gotta tell the story behind this since Don told me he hated me when I told him the story. When I was 15 I went down the street to a guy who had an old Toyota Mark II sitting in his driveway. It had been there for over 5 years. I asked if he wanted to sell it (wanted a car for when I was 16). He said no. Dad told me to go to the bank and take out what money I had and go back to him with cash and ask again. So I rode my bike to the bank, took out $130 and rode to the guys house. Knocked on the door and he came out and asked what I wanted this time. I showed him a one hundred dollar bill along with a $20 and $10 and asked again if he wanted to sell. He said he would be right back with the title. So we towed it home, aired up the tires, put in a new battery and cleaned the carb and gas tank and she fired right up. Drove it for 6 months and then got rear ended and the car was totaled. The insurance company offered me $200 for the car and we said no. We had looked and other Toyota Mark IIs in the area were going for $800. I also missed three weeks of work with whip lash (guy rear ended me doing 40 mph and there were no head rests). So I ended up getting $800 for the car and $700 for missing work. We then head to Arkansas for a family visit and to look for me a car. We found a 1957 Chevy post less Bel Aire with a factory continental kit installed. Bought if for $500 and paid my uncle $300 for a early 60s Vette 327 with 325 hp. Drove the car home and used the rest of my money to get it painted. Drove my 57 for one year in high school and put it away. It has been stored since 1976. I am the third owner and it was an Arkansas car so there is no rust anywhere. Guess you can tell I am kind of proud of this one. Here she is:



Sorry for being so long winded! Guess I need to post more often.

[aggie91]

Those look to be two great cars. The 57 looks like it could be a great driver just as it is!

[Ta2Don]

Welcome Back Brother!!!
Thoroughly enjoyed the visit, next time we will have more time...

As for the 57, yes I still hate you...
New inner fender looks sweet... Anxiously awaiting updates...

Bear Down BEARS!!!

[da_bears_da1]

Originally Posted by aggie91

Those look to be two great cars. The 57 looks like it could be a great driver just as it is!

Thanks! It was a great daily driver when we put it away. Dad takes it out every couple of months just to keep her going. It still is a nice daily driver but I just gotta restore it. The 57 was originally pearl white and being a dumb a@@ junior in high school I had to paint it black and put slots on it. Of course I put air shocks on the back to jack it up; they still hold air today.

My plan is to go back original on the color and replace the fabric on the interior. There were only 200 post less 4 doors with the continental kit so I have to go frame up on this. It even has the factory installed Kleenex holder. Here is a picture of the interior:

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Welcome Back Brother!!!
Thoroughly enjoyed the visit, next time we will have more time...

As for the 57, yes I still hate you...
New inner fender looks sweet... Anxiously awaiting updates...

Bear Down BEARS!!!

Thanks Don! It sure is nice to get some truck time in. Glad to see your updates as well.

[Jmorales3181]

These are some cool updates

[Ta2Don]

Just to clarify...
Yes, Jeff deserves hatred or envy or a myriad of other emotions due to the fact he has a SWEET '57 for $130...

I actually love the story behind the '57...
I have a similar story, I ended up getting a '71 Super Beetle that I had to get a carb off fleaBay for $50 to get it running... traded that for my '90 Silverado DD which in the end cost me $50...

[da_bears_da1]

Originally Posted by Jmorales3181

These are some cool updates

Thanks man!

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Just to clarify...
Yes, Jeff deserves hatred or envy or a myriad of other emotions due to the fact he has a SWEET '57 for $130...

I actually love the story behind the '57...
I have a similar story, I ended up getting a '71 Super Beetle that I had to get a carb off fleaBay for $50 to get it running... traded that for my '90 Silverado DD which in the end cost me $50...

Don's story is great! Got to hear it when we got together last month. It is always fun to hear when it actually works for someone. Doesn't seem to happen too often but sure is good when it does.

Bottom line, I spent $130 for 57 and boy did I get lucky!

[Ta2Don]

Here's a local Post-less 4dr 57 I caught driving in at a recent car-show I checked out before work one Saturday...
Uploaded with ImageShack.com

[da_bears_da1]

Good looking car! Thanks Don!

[da_bears_da1]

Finally found a day to work on the truck. Life has gotten way too busy and there just is not any truck time.

We were able to get the front end reassembled again. This time I used the new inner fender from Top Banana and it worked out. There were still the stamping lines and ripples that had to be fixed on the inner fender but it fit so I'm a happy guy!

We set the hood on just to see how it looks. The hood will need a lot of straightening and filling but at least it is solid. Ignore the dark spots on the front fender. I had to play with the new powder I bought to use as a guide coat.







All of the lines seem to work out pretty well. Will have to do some filling on the driver's side grill support to get a good line with the fender but outside of that, it's good.

[Lugnutz65]

Originally Posted by da_bears_da1

The hood will need a lot of straightening and filling but at least it is solid.

If you have a solid hood, that will really save a lot of time. I sold my original 65 hood today, but only because I found another hood that's even better - a GMC hood! Hooray! I'm glad the Top Banana parts worked out for you.

[Ta2Don]

Update...

Looking good Brother… Got a bit o truck therapy in today…

Thanks again for the parts and pieces, you are da man!!!

[Bomp]

Well after checking and checking AND checking to see if you had any updates on the truck I finally have to ask, "You okay???, Things still good?".

Hope you had a great Christmas and Happy New Year.

Now that thats all over with,, did you get any goodies for the truck?

[da_bears_da1]

Bomp - Thanks for checking in. Life took a left turn last fall but in a good way. Long story somewhat short, my wife retired this past December and decided last summer we were too young to be retired (not my thought at all). She saw a business that teaches math to kids and got interested in it. We ended up buying two franchises for this business called Mathnasium. They way the have developed a system for teaching kids math that is pretty cool.

So, in October I still had some time to work on the truck but that changed around mid November. I have been getting leases in place, getting both sites built out, doing permits, going to training, etc. Looks like I will be busy into the summer.

There is a good side for the truck on all of this. Even though I am having to basically take 9 months off from the truck, I have gotten my wife to agree to a larger budget for finishing the truck. She also had been saying I would have to sell the truck to fund the next project which I have also successfully negotiated her off that point. Bottom line is I won't be rolling down the road this summer but will be next summer with more goodies on the truck.

Believe me, I can't wait to get back to the wrenches!