slow ride (redux)

[joedoh]

I had a project thread but I turned it off last year when I took the truck to the scrap metal yard. I had been working on it pretty consistently since 2008, I got hooked up with a builder who quoted a price then did some cruddy work and when you complained he said "well what do you expect for being so cheap?". He had a lot of talent but was choosy about when he used it.

Next I had a friend work on it to get it salable, needed shock mounts and rear bag mounts reset. he instead blew the whole truck apart and redid a lot of the first guys work. when I got excited about it he got an out of state job offer and the whole truck showed back up at my house in a gazillion pieces last christmas. He is a good friend and tried to do me a solid, but is a better starter than finisher.


I was tired of messing with it, the cosmos was clearly telling me where I could shove my project, so I sold a bunch of the parts including the front clip and most of the air ride. I gathered up as much sheetmetal as I could and towed it and the frame/cab to the scrap metal recycler. the tow cost 57 dollars and I got $134, I took my wheels off and left. problem solved. Happy wife.

That should be the end. But it wasnt. The metal recycler started calling for the title, even though I was clear when I dropped it off that it was not included and he made it clear it was not needed. Turns out he wanted to sell it on as a project, what I did NOT want to happen and why I made certain the title was not needed. He called the cops, I called the cops, I went down there to sort it out. another $57 plus the $134 return and it was towed home. My wife was chagrined that I could still find a way to lose money on the truck.

And thats how it sat. In July the guy who bought the front clip called and needed some money, did I want the clip back? I wheeled and dealed some more bags on craigslist. My friend came over and asked why it was still all blown apart when I clearly had everything it needed. Good question.



so here is the truck right now.



long story short, starting from the beginning in the middle, it is a combination of a few trucks.

a 1998 s10 2.2 5 spd gave its drivetrain, frame, suspension


a 1965 long bed gave the cab


a 1966 long bed gave the front clip and doors and trim


and the bed was part of the first incarnation as a 1962, that could not be titled as a 62 because the s10 had a title and the 62 had a bill of sale.



I will update more progress, thanks to kyle and my wife for getting this truck going again.

[Palf70Step]

Glad to hear you are back at ity again. Heck, if I had know you were working on it this weekend I could have split away from the family while I was in Wichita. Maybe next year.


Again good to see you going at it on the truck again. Hopefully things will work out this go round.

[joedoh]

thanks! he has been doing a nice job. some of the things done are new front and rear shocks, I found a guy selling some jeep rubicon take offs from a 2014, they have 8 and 8.5" travel front and rear respectively.

I also bought a new hurst short shifter with a 13" stick.


and the bed tilts so you can change wheels, I dont know how other guys with bagged and laid out trucks address that problem but this was our approach.





put on the new stainless mirrors I got from the 63 project I bought for the grille and pile of LMC parts


wheels are B.A.D. 22", 8.5 front and 10" rear, I think they fit the truck perfectly



almost done under the hood

[chevycowboy1985]

I love this build keep up the work

[duallyjams]

Now that's a story, truck looks good.

[Bigd426]

Hows the four banger in that?

[joedoh]

there are a lot of people who think a 4 cylinder would be underpowered and tantamount to blasphemy. they talk about how heavy the 60-66 is and that it would never be able to keep up with traffic. those people are just wrong. it wont win any stoplight races, but it drives like a normal truck and will out accelerate a stock 60-66 6cyl 3spd. It has a lot of pep, and the stock hp/tq numbers are very close to this engine, with better gearing, no granny gear 1st and more gears in the middle. If I ever want a v8 it will almost drop in but I really dont see it happening, I'll leave the V8s to the guys who want them and the associated costs.

I had videos of the truck in traffic in the old thread, I will try and find them.

[lowlife4life]

Just give everyone a wave and a honk when your driving by them!! At the gas station. I looked for your thread for so long glad it's back wanna keep track of this one. Keep up the great work

[joedoh]

thanks man, the best thing about this truck is that it starts right up, in any weather, after sitting outside, and is ready to move after only a couple minutes warming up in extreme cold.

I was working on the wiring earlier, its nice splicing a modern harness.

[MOTOIMPAIRED]

That's a pretty cool story.. Looks cool so far, I wouldn't even paint it

[joedoh]

no plans for paint, I am going to CLR the bed so it matches and put the custom side trim on it. I'll do a wood bed floor too, I have a stainless strip kit from LMC, it will lay right on top of the 2x2 frame.

really I just want to drive it again.

[joedoh]

porterbuilt hood hinges.




widened the tubs. the original guy widened them once and they hit the tires. only needed an extra 1/4" but kyle went ahead and set me up to run 31x15.50x15 dirt trackers


a shot of the perfect camber. the fenders have been trimmed slightly since this picture for the tubs that allow some modicum of turning

[joedoh]

I gotta say, its nice to take parts out of the garage you have been saving for years.

the exhaust is back on and done. its a smithy glass pack, has an upstream resonator and I added a header, mostly because it was cheaper than the factory manifold downpipe (with blown flex pipe) that had all the flow potential of a bendy straw. kyle painted everything nice and glossy, and put the gas tank and driveshaft back in, and started plumbing the air tank.


almost done under the hood too, extended the blinkers to mount in the factory hood lights, hooked up the EDC, mounted the HID ballasts, hooked up the high beams.


63 aluminum grille I have had for about 7 years now.

[lowlife4life]

What are you using for fittings for edc? For mine I took the bulky factory ac fittings off and tapped the inside of the hole. Pretty sure it was 1/2npt I used just a cheaper alternative to having custom lines made up. Never had a problem with it. If ya don't wanna pull the head off I just did it with compressor on and it blew all shaving right out

[joedoh]

it was an airlift EDC kit for the 2.2 s10 so it came with all the fittings installed, but thats good advice, those ac fittings are hard to find connectors for.

[lowlife4life]

I'm way to cheap for the kit. Lol. It was a pita to make brackets for where I wanted so maybe next time. Is Kyle the guy that did the suspension work and the box? Your lucky to have a guy like that available. It's looking great

[joedoh]

yep, the truck was under most of the remodel stuff in my garage because I couldnt even throw it away. kyle has done everything except some stuff only I had intrinsic knowledge of. it was mostly his idea, he kept asking about it until I finally agreed.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

joedoh, you dare to be different. Cool build! I'm interested to see how the four banger works out.

[joedoh]

thanks, I've driven it in various stages and it runs like a normal truck, gets mid 20s mpg.


here is an older vid of the truck driving

and another (lets see who is the savvy truck spotter on this forum)


(what you were supposed to spot in the second vid was the 60-63 dash)
it spent time as a 1962 for a year or two, before I found the big window 65 cab.

[joedoh]

fuel lines hooked up, bed on for the last time, wiring 99%, just need a brake switch and 3 quarts of syncromesh and should be on the road again!

[joedoh]

its alive... ITS ALIVE!!!

kyle swapped out benches, its a lot better than the old bench that looked like a casting couch.




drives like a dream, amazing what the right parts will do.


it now has hydroboost, 4 corner long travel shocks, quick ratio steering box, custom long control arms, edc, manual valves, header with 370z center resonator and smithys glass pack, and HID 7" lights

[duallyjams]

That's a good looking truck.

[Palf70Step]

Glad to see you have it road worthy again. She looks good!

[joedoh]

thanks guys

[Chapstr's65]

That's one heck of a parts list! ��