Project '64 Cheapskate

[Low Elco]

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

QUOTE=Low Elco;6040216]Great to see it going forward. You aircraft guys, so precise. Gonna be pushin' at the Reunion?
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Yep, the plan is to be pushing a Fuel car at the Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield this October. I would like to be done long before then, though. I am really trying to get as much of the little stuff done as possible because I don't want to have to go back and finish it later on after the truck is running and driving. I don't like tearing 'em back apart if I don't have to!

By the way, I spent some time and checked out your Old Yeller thread. Man, what a job! It turned out really nice, especially considering what you started with. I also really like how you had 3 generations working on it. My Dad was into cars when he was younger, and we had some cool cars (all Chevys) up until the time the family started growing (6 kids). My Dad went to the Dark Side in the late '80s, and his most recent hot rod is a black 2004 Mercury Marauder that he keeps in pristine condition.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for Checking it out! It means a lot, especially from you. I've always said I wanted it to come out nice enough that guys who know the difference thought it was nice. It's pretty much come out that way. It's easy to fool the public, guys who know what they're doing can smell BS a block away.

This and Brad's are gonna look killer going down the highway together. Did your baby finally go, buying you a little freedom? I saw Brad was pushing Tocco and Garten, is he doing it again and who are you pushing? (I love the Smirnoff and Fighting Irish cars myself.) How do you guys know all these fuel guys?

Glad to see you among the living, hoping to see updates soon! As we all know, I love this truck!

[chevyrestoguy]

double post, sorry

[chevyrestoguy]

The project at work is coming along, and this week, we actually did Taxi testing on Wednesday and Friday. It went really well, and those are the last things we need in order to get it to first flight. It took a ton of work to get it there, but we're seeing a lot of our long hours paying off.

Brad met Bobby Tocco through Steve Gibbs, who is one of the big guys in the NHRA, and organizes the Hot Rod Reunion. Bobby is a character. Super nice guy, with the energy of a 17yr old. The driver of the Tocco, Harper, and Garten car is Roger Garten. He's in his mid-70s, but he still wheels the Iron Horse Nostalgia Funny Car, and he's damn good at it.

I haven't scored a "push" yet, but I'm going to talk to Pete Eastwood and Steve Gibbs at the L.A. Roadster Show next month and I'll see if he has anybody pushing him. Pete and Steve are really heavy into the Cacklefest stuff, and they might have a buddy who needs a push.

One of Bobby Tocco's buddies just finished the restoration of his old Fuel Altered the "Groundshaker Jr". I'll get ahold of Bobby and ask him if they've got a push truck lined up. It was a very well-known car back in the day. Here's the car:

[Bigru]

I like your build, keep it up and give us some updates.

[chevyrestoguy]

Thanks, Bigru! LOTS of updates coming soon!

I've been working on a lot of the little stuff right now, and I'm getting pretty close to putting a bunch of stuff back together.

[Low Elco]

Hmmm......lemme see..... Yeah, you suck. Damn, that'd be fun. That Altered is super cool, but can you imagine pushing the Old Master? Too much!
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[chevyrestoguy]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Hmmm......lemme see..... Yeah, you suck. Damn, that'd be fun. That Altered is super cool, but can you imagine pushing the Old Master? Too much!
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....Believe me, I'm working that angle and I'm popping the question to Pete the next time I see him. The Old Master is one of my favorites. That car has an amazing race history and Ed Pink was the Man!

I was hoping Pete still had the Mondello and Matsubara Fiat Fuel Altered, but he and Karpo sold the car a while back. That would have been cool to push that car!! I love the Fiat Topolino-bodied Altereds.

[Low Elco]

Good Luck, hope Les vids Cacklefest like he did last year- awesome!
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[Low Elco]

Just in case Folks don't know what we're talkin' about-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=6H0lmvT8I_I

[chevyrestoguy]

In the evenings, I have been able to get some stuff done on the '64 while the wife is watching "her shows". I got the last few parts I was needing, and I finished restoring the evaporator box.

I got the duct manifold, coupling, and trap door blasted,painted, and installed.


I spent a lot of time cleaning and straightening the fins on the evaporator. I used a few bottles of mag wheel cleaner, but it cleaned up pretty good. I also installed a new throttle/suction valve. This was the final fit-check of the evaporator, so I did the final torque on all the lines and called it good.


I came to the conclusion that it was easier to bolt the evaporator to the lid and install it all as one unit. The lid was blasted and painted, and it got a new thermostat (Old Air), blower motor resistor (Old Air), and relay (Napa).


And here it is, all assembled and ready to install. I plan on finding a grommet for the thermostat thermocouple to seal off the top of the box. I couldn't find a compressor switch that exactly matched the one I had, so I did a continuity check and it was good, and I cleaned and painted my original one. I blasted the return spring and gave it a coat of dull aluminum spray.


Oh yeah, here's a "before" picture:


I also finished restoring the heater control, and I'll post pictures later. Right now, I'm working on all the harnesses. My original was in surprisingly good condition, but I have a couple of spare harnesses that I'm using for parts. So far, it's turning out nicely.

[Dinos63]

whoa!! nice work and cool deal on the racer

[Bomp]

That turned out way nice Man

[Low Elco]

You're a better man than me. AC stuff makes my eyes glaze over. Looks great!
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[Jmorales3181]

Very clean work! I may have missed the process but saw you mention clr multiple times....it looks like it works awesome. Does it stop rust from continuing?thanks in advance!

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[chevyrestoguy]

Originally Posted by Dinos63

whoa!! nice work and cool deal on the racer

Thanks, Brother! You do know you're the guy who finally made me get off my butt and get a 60-66, don't ya? The 60-66s were always my favorite, but I was so wrapped up in the other year Chevy trucks that I never owned one. I saw one of your old build threads, and I was on a mission to get one for myself. I'm totally bummed that I won't be able to make it to the One and Done. I have a sneakin' suspicion that there will be other events like that in the future......

Originally Posted by Low Elco

You're a better man than me. AC stuff makes my eyes glaze over. Looks great!
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Thanks, Chip! I'm happy with the way it turned out. Plus, it gave me something to do at night after work. With my work schedule, once I sit down after dinner in front of the TV, I'm blowing bubbles in about 15 minutes. I'm on a serious time crunch to make Bakersfield in October, so I have to take advantage of every possible free moment to work on the '64.

Originally Posted by Bomp

That turned out way nice Man

Thanks, Bomp! I love your attitude and your work quality, and I take your compliment with high regards. I got a lot of pictures to post of some other stuff I did in the last few weeks, so stand by for more propaganda!

Originally Posted by Jmorales3181

Very clean work! I may have missed the process but saw you mention clr multiple times....it looks like it works awesome. Does it stop rust from continuing?thanks in advance!

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CLR does a good job of knocking back existing surface rust, but it doesn't stop it from returning. To make it stop continuing, you might want to try a rust converter. Rust converter turns rust black, and I don't want that on the outside of the truck staining the old white lacquer. One of the mistakes I made was that I CLR'd the truck a little too early in the build. Some surface rust has returned, and each time you remove it, you run the risk of removing more exterior paint in the process. I want to keep as much of the original paint as I can, so I'm holding off on doing any more CLR until I'm ready to shoot clear on the entire outside of the truck to seal it off.

[rusty76]

Really cool build. Decided to take some time to read through this and man I've got to say I really dig your build. Everything just seems to make sense. Nice and clean.

[likaroc13]

Great job on the A/C parts!

[chevyrestoguy]

I finished restoring the heater control tonight. I wound up swapping in a new fan switch because the original one was really stiff and felt like it was going to break. I spend a lot of time getting the levers nice and free, and they work and feel great. I did not want to respray the face because I want to leave the interior sheet metal in it's slightly-pantina'd condition.



I am working on a slight twist to the normal operation of the heater control. The issue I have always had with the design of the A/C system on these trucks is the fact that the heater core is always at the coolant temperature (180 degrees+) and the outside fresh air supply has to go past the heater to get inside the inside air box. I want to use the second post on the "Temp" lever to actuate a cable to shut off the water supply to the heater. So when the lever is at the coldest setting, the cable will shut the water valve on the heater hose in the engine compartment, and coolant is no longer flowing to the heater core. I have a feeling that it might make a difference when the A/C is running. We'll see......

[eldogg]

A shut off valve will make a ton of difference. Great idea by the way. I installed a ball valve on my crew cab square and the difference was amazing.

[Low Elco]

Looks great! I wonder if you could adapt an electric heater control valve out of something? Seems like a ball valve'd have a pretty long throw, but I dunno, just spitballing. I'm also wondering how much residual heat you'd have from being connected to the system on the backside. Backflow, as it were. Not trying to be a jerk, I like the idea, just hmmmmm, thinking. Keep it up!

[chevyrestoguy]

Because I've been working on the interior stuff lately, I have really been thinking about what steering wheel I want to use. I've got a couple of Deluxe wheels, but I'm not crazy about the huge diameter and the thin rim, especially with the power steering I'm using. I don't like over-assisted steering with big steering wheels, so I went through my stash of old wheels to see if there was something that would work. I was originally going to use a mid-60s Vette 3-spoke wheel because I love the way they look, but they are the same diameter as the stock truck wheel. So, I looked a little deeper in the stash and found an old grungy wood-rimmed wheel that I bought at the Hot Rod Reunion swap meet a few years ago. It was nasty, and it looked like the guy who owned it worked as a mechanic because the wood was black (seriously). I paid $15 for it, and the seller looked at me like I was crazy for wanting it. I think it's either a Superior or a Grant, and probably late '60s vintage. Wood wheels in excellent shape go for a pretty good amount of money on ebay, so for $15, I couldn't go wrong.

After a few hours of scrubbing it with a red scotchbrite and acetone, the wood finally cleaned up. I didn't try to fill the gouges or other blemishes because I wasn't going for perfection. The chrome is in really bad shape, with a lot of thin spots and pits. Once I got the wood where I wanted it, I shot it with a satin polyurethane clear. It got a total of 6 coats, and after every 2 coats (fully dried), I worked it over with 0000 steel wool. Well, the old nasty wheel turned out pretty good:



The horn button is an old one that Brad had in his stash. I have a new one, but the chrome is too nice compared to the chrome on the steering wheel. The jury is still out on this wheel, but it does what I'm looking for: a smaller diameter, it's almost completely flat for extra room inside the cab, and the rim is a nice and thick. I won't know until I get it bolted up in the truck.

[Low Elco]

Cleaned up good! I like that it perfectly matches the era of the build and the patina of the truck. Needs a Keep On Truckin' sticker on the horn button!
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[Bomp]

Nice work on the wood.
Makes me wonder if that "Flitz" cleaner stuff would clean up the spokes.
I used it on the dash stuff and was amazed with the results.

Again nice work on the wheel.

[chevyrestoguy]

I used every metal polish and cleaner I had, and it was beyond saving. It really pitted and the chrome has turned brown. I have to figure that it was a pretty crappy chrome job when it was new. I have thought about sanding the chrome off completely and then working it with 150 grit to give it a brushed finish and then shooting it in a matte clear. I'm still not 100% sold on this wheel yet.

Here is "Option 2" of the Steering Wheel Experiment. I really, really like the look of the old Corvette teak wood wheels from the mid-60s, but those things are spendy. Chevy did make a bunch of non-wood variants of that wheel, and one day during a "recon" trip to the local Pic-A-Part, I found a completely destroyed 3-spoke wheel in a gutted Corvair Monza. My buddies thought I was nuts When I showed it to them because it was junk. I bought the steering wheel epoxy repair kit and went to town. Man, does that job suck!! I ground out all of the cracks, added the epoxy, and started sanding. After two rounds of Rage Extreme, and many more hours of sanding, I had to walk away. I was totally burned out. Those guys who do steering wheel restoration must have unbelievable patience. My ultimate plan is to paint the rim the same fawn color as the interior. Never seen that done, not sure how it'll look. Here it is, waiting for a coat of primer so I can see just how much more work I have to do on it. I'm afraid to find out.....



Everywhere you see white is where the cracks were in the wheel. It was totalled.

My only issue with this wheel is the size and the deep dish. When you use the hub adapter, it comes way away from the dash, right in your lap.

[65Gregg]

I'm anxious to see the results of your A/C restoration. I want to hear how well it cools.