My 55 Chevy 4X4

[marc55]

I finished the tank yesterday and located the hole for the filler neck in the bed. The tank tucked up nicely but is going to be hard to connect the filler hose. I will cut the hole for the filler after paint when the bed goes on for the last time. I also picked up my paint for the firewall and inner fenders. Hopefully I will have some color on this thing in the next 3 weeks. I also might be painting this thing myself. For fun I got a quote from a higher end shop for paint. I asked for not show quality but just a clean paint job light body work and high build primer and the bid came back at 26K. That gave me a mini stroke. So now I am going to do the body work and probably the primer and block. Still shopping around but that number needs to get cut in half at the minimum.

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by marc55

I finished the tank yesterday and located the hole for the filler neck in the bed. The tank tucked up nicely but is going to be hard to connect the filler hose. I will cut the hole for the filler after paint when the bed goes on for the last time. I also picked up my paint for the firewall and inner fenders. Hopefully I will have some color on this thing in the next 3 weeks. I also might be painting this thing myself. For fun I got a quote from a higher end shop for paint. I asked for not show quality but just a clean paint job light body work and high build primer and the bid came back at 26K. That gave me a mini stroke. So now I am going to do the body work and probably the primer and block. Still shopping around but that number needs to get cut in half at the minimum.
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That goes a long way toward explaining why "patina" is all the rage.

Looks good so far!

-Joe

[rgunlock]

Should have asked on my last post, but what size wheels and tires are those?

[marc55]

20x9 wheel with -20MM offset. On 35x12.5R20. I was going to go with 18s but I liked the rim as a 20 better. I don't think the 20s are too "modern" for the truck everything looks proportional to me.

[OrrieG]

Good progress, focus on the getting married thing for a while! Happy wife= happy life... 44 years married experience speaking.

[marc55]

That's right. I am luck to have so much in common with her but maybe too much. She is all ready looking for a project car for herself. One plus is that I rather pick out shift knobs vs earrings for anniversary gifts.

[marc55]

When I looked and my friends blazer frame he had a brace up front that my frame was missing. I don't know if the older truck frames had then or not but I decided to add a brace I know the frame can crack by the steering box when you have bigger tires. It also made a good place to mount a external transmission cooler.

I also had a painter come out and give a bid on the truck. He's a good guy that was excited about the project and the price was right. He also might have a line on an engine for me as well. My goal is to have it in the paint shop by the first of the year. Now I have to beat feet on getting the doors working and the firewall painted. I also need to figure out my dash. I do not know what to put where the radio goes. I was thinking AC vents. Some of the AC kits put the vents below the dash but that would mess with my drop console and that is where I want the radio. I could go with a hidden stereo and ditch the drop console but if the vents go low I still have a big blank spot in the dash. Any ideas or suggestions on what other people did would be great.

[marc55]

I got some color on the truck yesterday. Metallic dark grey a little better than a flat black. The metallic is nice and will go with any color I pick. Did all the firewall and inner fenders. Put the paint in the cab for practice. Carpet and speaker box will cover everything in the cab.

[RockTonka]

The dark grey looks good! What color are you thinking of for the rest of the truck?

[marc55]

I want to do a metallic silver. Originally I wanted to add a green pearl in the clear coat but decided it would not look right. Now I want to do a subtle 2 tone silver and silver and paint the dash a emerald metallic green.

[Purcell69]

Looks good Marc. For years I was going to go with a darker metallic gray on my build, but lately I've been feeling like going back to the original turquoise and white. I definitely want to see how yours turns out.

-Joe

[marc55]

Man this is a good feeling having something done.


Power windows also showed up. The best part is they just bolt in.


The latch kit is nice the doors close very good but not exactly a bolt in.


Had a couple problems. The interior door handle was catching and not fully allowing the latch to close all the way so a little pressure on the door and it would pop out to the second latch catch. Had to cut more out of the door for clearance. Second the latch kit will not let you lock the door from the inside. The detent action for the door lock handle could make it confusing to use the door if you did not know. You could not just pull the handle to open the door you then had to push the handle back so it would latch properly. 3rd I wanted power door locks but the only way the lock works is the key prevents the button from going in so powered locks would not work because the button being unlocked would always allow the door to open. So I decided to make it like a reverse shaved handle kit. I bypassed the interior door handle and am using a electric button to open the door from the inside. I wanted door handles on the outside but basically they are shaved because the solenoid is what will open the door. I will actually just use the key lock as my emergency bypass if I have a dead battery. As long as I don't get a dead battery when I am in the truck I will be ok.

[made2drag]

Awesome!!

[marc55]

Well I am all married up. It was safe to say it was not a traditional wedding. Everything went good and it was a blast.


Anyway, I was able to get some work don this week on the truck. Had to fiddle with the door latch on the new door for a couple hours to get it ti fit right.


This is the door release button. I also had some clearance issues with the solenoid linkage binding up. Finally the keep it simple stupid approach worked best. Simple rod bent around the latch hole. I think I might need door poppers for the door to work. I could used some suggestions on where to mount them. I wanted to put them above the bottom hinge but I think the door has to close straight on the plunger. So the bottom left is where I think they need to go.

[ptc]

Awesome wedding pics! - Assume it was on "All Hallows Eve"?

Truck is looking gooooood too!

[marc55]

Yep Halloween wedding. It was full costume for everyone. The bridal party was steampunk/day of the dead. Beatle juice is our good friend and he performed the ceremony and he nailed it just like in the movie.

Made good progress this week. New tailgate did the latch/hinge modification. The new fender fits pretty good specially the hood gap where I had issues on the old fender. I also added a bed liner to the bed and cab. Kind of a waste to go over my paint job but I wanted the insulation. I will probably still add sound mat on top of that.

[marc55]

So I made up my mind about the dash. I am going to use my drop console and put a single din dvd player in it. I can have navigation and back up camera and the screen will fold into the unit when I want. The cab is so small I will just use 2 corner vents for the AC. I also added 2 more button holes where the stock stereo goes and filled the ash tray. I will use them for hazards, fog, dome, interior, rear flood, and cruse control. I have a couple odds and ends but I think I am ready for paint.

[rgunlock]

Cool wedding, and congrats! Your bride was lovely/scary/beautiful - hard to say Truck's looking good. Ready for paint is a big step.

[marc55]

Thanks. The worst part is I was set on silver with green dash for the last 2 years and now I am thinking about metallic green with silver dash. Big decision. Now that I have a wife I guess I can just let her pick. Happy wife happy life

[rgunlock]

Hopefully your wife will be more helpful in that regard than mine. Mine insisted it was my truck so I pick the color, but I knew if I picked the wrong one I'd never hear the end of it

[marc55]

Doing some finish work on my console. Truck should go to the painter next week.

[marc55]

Between the holidays and some delays with the painter the truck is finally to paint. Now I just have to deal with paint jail. This if my first project I am having someone else paint. Hopefully have some pics in a week or so. In the mean time just doing odds and ends. Working on cleaning the glass.

[marc55]

Went to check on the truck at the paint shop. They Have most of the front end sheet metal hung and the doors dialed in. Also found my steering wheel.

[marc55]

The truck is making progress almost ready for primer.



Not much to do the last couple months. I have wanted an english wheel for the last ten years so I finally went out and bought one. I know it's a HF but you know it works just fine for me. Looking forward to learning a new skill. The Portland swap meet is today. My goal is to not buy anything we will see how that goes.

[marc55]

Well this is what happens when I have idle hands. 38 ford. I want to push my fabrication skills. I am seeing 5 inch chop, scratch built frame, c4 front and rear, 350 hp 383. It is all solid except the cowl and it does not look like a patch panel is available.