New project! The "Red Herring"

[Chevy-49]

Originally Posted by JJorgensen52

Richard, your post disappeared??

Yes seems missing, small V8 emblem on the rear of the cabine is a winner.
I also red the build 49 ls1 posted by skymangs, love the bigger V8 emblem on the hood. (Hope he does not mind)

[Chevy-49]

Nice gauges, The indicators are deadfronted? What does it means....

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Big progress! Going to be an interesting chassis.

Yes!! I'm stoked. It's definitely going to be interesting, although it looks like having this longbed is going to work out better for me than I had hoped. More to come soon.

Originally Posted by Chevy-49

Yes seems missing, small V8 emblem on the rear of the cabine is a winner.
I also red the build 49 ls1 posted by skymangs, love the bigger V8 emblem on the hood. (Hope he does not mind)

Ah, gotcha. Yeah I'm really liking that one! I hadn't read through the build, but I just took a look, and that does look good.

Originally Posted by Chevy-49

Nice gauges, The indicators are deadfronted? What does it means....

It means they'll not be visible when not lit - so at first glance, the gauge face will just be black.

[Advanced Design]

Big progress! Going to be an interesting chassis.

[JJorgensen52]

I forgot in the last post! Approved the final proof artwork for the gauges yesterday

[Advanced Design]

They do start to take up a lot of space. Pretty creative on the axle tube diameter. Neat idea!

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by lower50's

Great Job on the truck so far. Gauges look very cool. I know what you mean about shop getting small when the truck gets together. I had to move my work bench.

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

They do start to take up a lot of space. Pretty creative on the axle tube diameter. Neat idea!

Thanks folks!

So Murphy came by to chat today. I set out to get the axle mocked into place, center the bed using the front mounts and then drill the holes for the rest of the cross sills in the frame.


This shows the S10 axle, complete with my sleeve tubing, riding in a conversion pad. This is not the correct U-bolt, I haven't got them in yet, these are Explorer 8.8 bolts that happen to have the same inside span.

Unfortunately, despite being a 2.75" diameter axle housing, the axle tube is actually 2.625" ... so I've got about a 1/16" of slop inside my sleeve as it sits. That's not a problem, I'll fine tune the shape to make them fit, but had I double checked that in advance I would have ordered 2.625" ID tubing, not 2.748" ... ah well. Live and learn!

This go the wheel nicely center into the fender opening:


Keep in mind, these are the Oldsmobile wheels, so I'm going to be about 2" larger in diameter and a little wider on my actual tires, to fill in the wells a little better.

Then I went ahead and bolted the cross sills down:


I got the front sill centered and tight, then set the rear most sill (and measured about 12 times) and drilled... and somehow, I'm off about 3/16" at the rear????

Anyways, it'll work. I'm going to oversize the holes (as factory) anyway, to allow for some adjustment, so this will all come out in the wash. Tomorrow, hopefully, I can start making more serious progress on cab location and mounting. Need to get some shims for the stands first, turns out my garage floor isn't quite flat ...

[JJorgensen52]

Spent a few hours getting the bed straightened out and centered tonight, then I did a lot of measuring and fiddling with the cab and I *think* I've sauced it. Although based on my cab - bed filler panel, I may need to shift it forward about 1/2" or so.

The glamour!

The rear is still partly on jackstands, so I expect to loose at least an inch of height at the rear when I fully unload the stands.

This gap looks about like I remember it being before I took it apart. Perhaps 3/4" to 7/8".


Has anybody used repop bed fillers lately? They don't fit very well...


I also did some more measuring on the frame stub, and it looks like it's going to land right in the straight section of the frame, which is perfect.

[JJorgensen52]

I'm back

Last few weeks have been super busy between work and travel but I'm back on the project again.

Tonight, I got the front of the truck frame trimmed down (cut right where it starts to turn inward)


Trimmed the stub down to 34" width



And with a little finagling with a pry bar, wa-la


You can see here three things:

1. The front stub is tilted down a LOT - the G-body frame dropped into the perimeter section here, I need to trim about 1.5" off the bottom to get it to tilt into the truck frame squarely.
2. The G-body cross section is about an inch shorter than the truck here - I'm debating if I'm just going to fish the gap, or if I'm going to pie cut the truck frame back 6-8" and taper it up.
3. There's a diagonal reinforcement inside the G-body frame, which I'm not sure what I'm going to do with yet, as I had to cut a good chunk of it away to make the section fit as I wanted it to.

I've got the wheel centered:



It's going to move up about 2" into the well as near as I can figure, when I square the stub up to the truck.

Right now, the cab is sitting about 11/16" back from factory - makes the gap between the cab and bed a little tighter and I like the way it looks. I may have to trim the splash aprons. Right now, rough measure puts me at about a 116" wheelbase.

Metal should be here tomorrow for cab mounts, and I'll get the cab mounted and set in place, then I'll square the stub up and tack it in place so I can start taking cross measurements to make sure that it's all square. Then I can test fit the motor!

[JJorgensen52]

Oh yeah! Almost forgot. Got an update from New Vintage today, my gauges are on the bench getting assembled this week. Here's a sneak peak:

[Advanced Design]

Real good progress. Love the gauges! That is a red herring on the gauge correct?

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by lower50's

I love the gauge. The truck is coming along very nice. The frame splice looks lines up perfect.

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Real good progress. Love the gauges! That is a red herring on the gauge correct?

Thanks guys! And you betcha it's a red herring I was very happy with the artwork, but they've managed to make them look even better than I had hoped.

[ChuckDriver]

Yea, that forward tilt is excessive! Make sure to get the A-arms tilted to the rear to the factory spec's.

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by ChuckDriver

Yea, that forward tilt is excessive! Make sure to get the A-arms tilted to the rear to the factory spec's.

Oh gosh, yes! I was just making sure everything was trimmed narrow enough to fit.

I'm taking a break to eat. Spent multiple hours trying to get the cab square, then finally gave up doing comparative measurements left to right and just used a plumb bob:

I should have done this ages ago. SO much faster

Exploded the truck again (200" wheelbase anybody )


And started making my new cab mounts


At the front, my mount point is 6-1/4" outboard of the frame rail, and at the rear (using the inner hole of the original shackle mount) I'm 6-3/4" outboard. The material being used is 3"x5" box tubing, 3/16" wall. Should be heavy enough!

I'm going to perimeter weld the mounts on the outside and probably a few 1" beads inside, but I suspect I will put a pair of 3/8" bolts through the mount and the top flange of the frame rail, just as a safety.

I'm using 67-72 2wd cab mounts, which are 1-1/8" tall. In the front, that gets me exactly where I want to be just with the usual washers and such. In the back, I need a 2" thick spacer to meet the floor (the rear mount sits 3/4" higher to start with, and then it's an additional 1-1/4" up to the floor pan inside the channel of the mount). So I'm going to cut a piece of 2"x4" box tubing and box the ends to make the spacer. That way all four of my frame mounts are identical to make, easier for me.

[Advanced Design]

The plumbbob was a good idea. Mounts are looking good too.

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

The plumbbob was a good idea. Mounts are looking good too.

I just wish it hadn't taken me half the day to think of it!

Got the rest of the mounts made, fitted everything to the frame, beveled all the edges for welding, and then weld-thru primed it all. Whatever coating GM used on these frames is a huge pain to get off!


Also had to make a run to the store for hardware, 5/8" bolts to mount the cab and 3/8" for my "safety" on the mounts. I'm going to get high strength flange headed hardware for all this stuff in the end, but this will work for now.

Also, gauges are done! I should have them by end of the week





Only problem is, now I want to drive the darn thing! More to come tomorrow.

[oldman3]

Everything looks great...Jim

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by oldman3

Everything looks great...Jim

Thanks for the kind words, Jim!

Didn't get quite as far as I wanted to, but I made good progress.

All four mounts welded, drilled with mounts and "safety" bolts


This shows the passenger's rear mount. That's a piece of 2"x4"x0.188" box tubing, I tapered it and closed the ends with 1/8" plate - it's 2-1/2" wide at the top, where it contacts the cab, and 3" wide where it sits on the mount.


Bolted down, showing the bed-cab spacing, which is around 5/8" closer than stock.


Front and rear mounts shot from underneath (both passenger's side) - please pay no mind to the ugly vertical welds, I haven't run vertical on a stick machine in a LONG time ... they're strong though



The front mount bolts come right up in the little dimple in the floor where they always did. The rears come up here (the small flange head holds the spacer block tight against the floor, I will probably add some anti-squeak in there on final assembly)


I'm going to use that rear bolt as the tie in point for my seat mount / seatbelt, so it'll be well hidden when all is said and done.

[JJorgensen52]

Not a whole lot of visual progress tonight. I spent a lot of time cleaning frames around my splice, trying every which way to get the GM wax off, and trying to get things square. Also drilled out the snapped bolt in the hood (since it was off) and chased all those threads. Now if only I had remembered to buy new bolts...

Turns out I'm about 1-1/2" too long right now, and slightly out from straight. I have a plan to fix it, but meantime it's looking more frame-ish:


I'm trying to get the frame sections parallel, right now I'm using a standard bubble level which gets me in the ballpark at least - I'm going to pick up a proper angle finder this weekend when I get a chance to Sears.

The steering shaft is going to line up nicely, though I'm definitely going to need a universal joint at the top due to the angles.

Started refitting metal tonight to get an idea where I am in terms of where the wheels need to sit (aforementioned 1-1/2" out) - Right now, I'm looking at an estimated 7.5" under the boards at the front fender and about 10" at the rear... I think that's a little too much rake, but I'm going to get it together and let it settle before I decide if I need blocks or springs.



Looking more like a truck and that's exciting!

Also figured out what I'm going to do for a rear bed cross member at the rear sill (2"x4" box tubing laid flat across the lower flange of the frame is at precisely the right height). Then I'll bolt the gas tank straps to that and make custom bumper brackets to tie into it as well.

On the subject of beds ... anybody who's used repro rear fenders recently, any issues with fitment? I just noticed that I can't get all of the holes to line up at one time. It's 5/7 at best. ????

[lower50's]

Nice job with the mounts!! Nice lighting on the gauges.

[Advanced Design]

It is always nice when they start looking like a truck again...even just for a little bit. Good work on the mounts JJ.

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by lower50's

Nice job with the mounts!! Nice lighting on the gauges.

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

It is always nice when they start looking like a truck again...even just for a little bit. Good work on the mounts JJ.

Thanks fellas!

I'm committed now ... or maybe I need to be committed??




When I did my initial mock-up, I forgot to account for how much the G-body stub has to canted up to keep the caster correct. So I trimmed the ends to drop it in the truck frame (I was originally planning to make it flush at the top of the frame) to compensate.

Both sides are welded on the inside, anyway



I still have a lot of work to do tweaking, fishing and boxing, but this is a HUGE step forward.

Who can guess what my next issue is going to be from this photo?

[Advanced Design]

Good progress JJ. Next issue, radiator support placement. Ride height, verifying wheels are centered, trimming inner fenders to clear....that is a shot gun guess..lol.

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Good progress JJ. Next issue, radiator support placement. Ride height, verifying wheels are centered, trimming inner fenders to clear....that is a shot gun guess..lol.

No kidding! Wheels are centered, I've had the fenders on and off a bunch of times. It's the radiator that's going to kill me. The frame is a bit higher than I had hoped ... looks like I may have to either shift the radiator forward in the core support, or kick the bottom out, on account of the steering box.

[JJorgensen52]

Time for my awesomely ... tiny... project update

Seriously though. I had to do a hub replacement on my daily ... what with the road salt from its first four years in New England, that turned out to be a 10 hour project ... and then the brake caliper seized up. Not my day!

So I worked on the truck today, getting the frame cleaned up a bit, planning out my rear cross member at the back of the bed, did a little welding and a lot of cutting and grinding.

The outside of the rails is going to be almost straight. You won't notice it at all once it's painted:



And I pulled the end of the truck frame up tight to the bottom of the stub and welded that up tonight. Practicing my overhead welding technique!


I am thinking, for the final welds when I fish this, I may take the cab off again so I can roll the frame outside and stand it on its side for better access.