Project "Mater" build thread

[Blue'72]

I've gotta tell ya, I'm so nervous posting this. This is my official build thread on my project affectionately named by my wife, "Mater". I know it's not an original name, but it reminded her of Tow Mater and she wants me to paint it orange. I'm nervous because I'm getting a build thread started and after this it's no turning back! I mean, I'm going to be under a lot of pressure to keep on keeping on and post updates as I go along. Bare with me.. It took me some time just getting the garage somewhat organized so I could even find my new project! I've upgraded my man cave tunes yesterday and found my work bench today.

First off I upgraded the tunage


Then I realized I had procrastinated long enough. It was now time to find my garage..


You know, I have been looking for this darn thing!


Slowly making progress


And, after a few to several beers later..

[Blue'72]

This was when it arrived home



And here we go!



I'm planning on taking Mater and combining it with my other truck


To make it look like my 68 when I got it back in 95.



And here's a crummy picture of that one.

[franky69c10]

looks good

[Blue'72]

Originally Posted by franky69c10

looks good

Thanks! I need to keep being told that...

I've got a couple different idea's before I get started. I'm going to need some input from y'all!

I'm thinking about trying my hand at shortening the frame on old Blue first. If that works out good, I'd like to try shortening the bed. If that works, I'd like to put the SNB together and build it for my wife to drive and then my daughter when she turns 16 in 4 years. If nothing else, I can take the cab and front end and suspension and brakes and motor and tranny out of the blue truck and transfer over to the other one.. Whew, I'm tired just thinking about that!

[72BLUZ]

be calm and use caution. it will be great when finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[72BlckButy]

Looks great so far.... keep up the good work!

[Palf70Step]

Good start!

[Blue'72]

Because Shelby's excited to drive this in 4 years, she got right in there and went to work.







We had a lot of fun doing the easy stuff!



The first order of business was to make the suicide door modification... Well, that was just a byproduct of cutting the door jam pillar trying to get the door off as the latch was stuck and wouldn't open. "Yes Shelby, I did make sure it was unlocked..."

[Blue'72]

Next after converting to suicide doors, I went ahead and made it into a convertable roadster!



Then with some fat trimmed, I could remove the cab and get it out of the way.



UH OH!!! Good thing I got everything moved out of the way and swept up.. The wife's home! I knew she wasn't going to make it to the store with the snow coming down like it has been...





Everything tucked away for now and time to contemplate my next step..

[Blue'72]

Well this is a good sign!!!

[Boog]

man with sawzall, rusty truck. here's to new beginings.
It's ok everybody, he's just cutting up.

[Blue'72]

Enough sluffin'! Back to work now. After getting the pile-o-parts out of the way, I rolled the frame out and pressure washed it.

After pulling the front cross member with suspension and e-brake cables, I began cleaning the frame. You can't beat the old wire wheel on the 4 1/2" grinder, but I experimented with other idea's as well. This was my prototype, but the much more engineered idea I finally came up with didn't work as well as I had hoped.

Next, I began to cut the frame for the Z notch!

Kidding about the cutting of the frame.. Maybe another truck... This being a low LOW budget project, I'm keeping the mods to a minimum. I'd like to however play with some body mods, but you'll have to wait for those.

[cardude66]

Man that would look cool as a roadster.

[MrBeast]

Looks like your off to a good start, keep us posted.

[Brad]

Holy Cow Travis! I hadn't seen this thread before now and didn't realize you were going to cut up the cab on that one!!! Wow! Well I had better get back up there soon and help you with 'Mater'. Looks like you're in deep now and it'll be a really fun project and since there won't be a whole lot more to do with my new truck, I'll need to find another 'fix' sooner or later!

[Blue'72]

More progress if anybody's interested.

Poor Peanut's wondering if she's going for a ride anytime soon..





I thought the throwout bearing was making noise. It looked fine, but the dust cover has been rubbing for sure.

[72cheyennesuper20]

Travis, Keep up the good work.

[Blue'72]

Originally Posted by 72cheyennesuper20

Travis, Keep up the good work.

Whoa Steve! Who's 56 in your new avatar??! I hadn't seen that yet. BTW, thanks for your support!

This is becoming a "better" restoration than I originally planned. I'm gunna see about having this moved into the project section where I should have put it originally.

The pics are going to be out of order a little bit, cause I've already cleaned and painted the motor. Just didn't get any pics yet I noticed..

Here's the cab off the frame. I promise this'll get more exciting! I've got some rust repair to do next.

[72cheyennesuper20]

Travis, Thats my 56 I have had it a couple of years. My son likes it best because it has a airplane on the hood. Are you still going to make 2 trucks one SWB and one SNB? I really like the pics. of your old SNB, What a pretty truck.

[Blue'72]

Oh man Steve, that 56 was gorgeous!! My neighbor has a 56 2 door post and my daughter absolutely loves it. For now I'm just making a SNB truck out of these two. When it's "done", I might shorten the long frame and maybe, shorten the bed as well. If I'm successful with that, I'd like to piece it back together. Maybe find a cheap running truck to use as a donor.. ??? I can't foresee that happening anytime soon though.

[Yukon Jack]

This is going to be a fun project to follow for sure! Keep at it!

[Palf70Step]

Originally Posted by Blue'72

................ I'm gunna see about having this moved into the project section where I should have put it originally.

Ask and ye shall receive!!

Your doing a good job, and moving alot quicker than mine is.

[Blue'72]

Thanks Bill!!

I was talking to my wife this morning on the phone, and she told me I've got a real obstacle course going in the garage. Her and Shelby were having fun trying to make it out to the car I guess.. I says, "Why don't you just go out the front door?". "Oh", she says, "I'm so used to going out to the car in the garage.. I guess I could use the front door." Then I apologized that her car has to sit outside and essplain that I would rather my Ranger be in the garage cause you know, in case anything falls down from a shelf or something. Not as much room where I park it.. She told me not to worry about it and to take my time and do this right! OOOOOOKKAAYYYY.

We'll see how much I can get done before I'm out of money. I plan on starting on rust repair tonight. I also need to get pics of the motor so far. I spent Saturday cleaning it up including a new intake.

[84 400]

great start!!!

[EC7Five]

Originally Posted by Blue'72

After pulling the front cross member with suspension and e-brake cables, I began cleaning the frame. You can't beat the old wire wheel on the 4 1/2" grinder, but I experimented with other idea's as well. This was my prototype, but the much more engineered idea I finally came up with didn't work as well as I had hoped.
Attachment 335861

That's awesome! I might have to make myself one of these if you don't mind me stealing the idea.