My High School Ride 66 LWB Air 327 Phased Approach

[Acksman]

I am going to repost what my story from another thread first. Then show how far I have got in the last month. Been taking pictures as I can along the way. Here is the long term plan.

-Phase 1 Get her up and running and safe. Drive her for a while

-Phase 2 Upgrades that do not require frame off

-Phase 3 Frame off convert to short bed

This was my very first car/truck that was given to me by my Dad. It was my grandfathers. I fixed it up the best I could in high school working at a body shop and engine repair shop learning the tricks of the trade. I had a wreck my senior year which bent the frame and left front fender was totaled. Over the next year, I found a replacement frame and my body shop boss repainted it for me. I had started working on the interior and pulled all the wiring etc out. Then I got married...

Since then it has set most of the years in a garage. I had a few bad years where I had to keep it outside which kills me now that happened.

Now its time for me to either fix her up or find a good home for her. Its amazing how much resources are out there now compared to 20 years ago. I have been able to locate online just about everything I need except for some of the factory AC dash parts. I have not bought anything yet, just trying to get a gut check on how much all of this is going to cost me. I'm willing to put in 10k no problem. I will have to start thinking hard above that.

The engine is a 327 with 202 Fuelie heads. I bought the heads off a guy that needed the cash for $100 back in the 80's. The engine and heads were totally rebuilt and have less than 100 miles on them, no telling if it still runs though. I put a Turbo 350 transmission in it as well.

My challenges, I have no tools at all. I do have a 3 car garage where I can allocate 2 bays for the rebuild. I would like to do a off frame restoration. Some of the things scare me like wiring harness and all the factory AC stuff.

The truck has some sentimental attachment of course. One of the reasons I have kept it all these years. It looks like I have come to the right place for knowledge and hopefully some guidance if I am over my head on this or not. Looking forward to getting to know everyone if I decide to move forward and the journey it will bring.

[hopped up]

Nice truck! I say get it running and enjoy it before tearing it down
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[Acksman]

I will have quite a few posts updates to catch myself up and keep track of what I have done somewhere.

The first order of business was to see if my engine was still good after sitting for 20 years. I followed this guide here http://www.kaiserbill.com/Web-PDF/Start-Up.pdf

I went out bought wires, plugs, mallory unilite rotor, cap and ignition module. Next was a new Holley 600CFM electric choke carb. Success she started and no knocking so far, but have some white smoke coming out. I shut it down put in new oil and filter and tried again. Fuel pump decides to die as well as the alternator. I get it started again and let it run for for a bit and the white smoke goes away! We are running good now, new fuel pump and alternator.

That was my first two weekends and I am feeling better about investing some money back into the truck.

After those new parts are in

[Acksman]

After I had the engine running well I started concentrating on the cab. I needed to clean it up some and get a Steering column put in. I did splurge and decided to go with a Flaming River Tilt. It looked easy to put in and had all the parts. So far so good. Also ordered a AAW harness 500560 and waiting on that to arrive in the next week or so.



Now I hardly have any tools and no where to store anything new. It was my birthday on the 30th so my wife and I took a trip to Harbor Freight where they had this beauty on sale for $385. I grabbed a few tools $200 as well and a parts washer for $95.

[Acksman]

I took the past few days off and was needing a few pictures of a completed steering column along with a couple of brackets since mine was totally missing. I found a nice salvage yard with a lot of old sheet metal and hit the jackpot.

I find a truck with a full AC system in it. I really only need the vents and a few other items, but bought the entire system in cab and under hood.

I get the new column parts cleaned and painted and got my steering column placed today. Also got some Fatmat laid down into the cab this past week.

[Jmorales3181]

Hello and welcome to the site! Nice looking truck you have there! Glad you held on to it over the Years. The fact you have a sentimental connection and the fact that the truck stayed in your family makes it even better. Good luck and we will be watching
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[McMurphy]

and to the site !!

I envy you the task you are starting...as I am entering the home stretch of mod and reassemble body parts now.

If you are prepared to drop 10k on this old boy, which after all of its history with your family and you I certainly would !! Then I would say set about 4k of that aside for tools.
It is almost too bad you got the solvent bin, a large air compressor (30gal or more, I highly suggest more) and a sand blast cabinet I think is much more versatile.
With the air compressor comes a family of air tools that will make your life much much easier. And on that note, I recommend a good near by pawn shop for getting tools in bulk and cheap.
The local Pawn I go to here, once they found out I was coming to them almost exclusively for tools to do a Resto-Mod, they started tossing me HUGE deals on tools.
I have literally walked out of there with hundreds of dollars worth of tools and laid fewer than 3 twenties on the counter for them....

I personally stick to Craftsman just because Sears is everywhere (though there is now a good argument for Kobalt/Lowes which are fine as well) and they dont care how or where you got the tool when it needs replaced.

A $385 tool box is nice, but a sheet of plywood and some large nails and you could have hung your tools up (not to suggest anything low brow for you as you obviously live in a nice neighborhood but still that would have been $350 towards an air compressor)

It is Ok to be intimadated by certain parts of the build.... but I can attest that if you ask, and someone sees it who knows, they will answer you in some of the best ways possible here !
I also attend the "5 minute YouTube University" on how to do things.
So much so, that when I finally get to build a shop, it will have a computer in it (right now the garage I am in is impossible to keep clean so I dare not put a computer down there).

If you are going "Back to Factory" (Dino, Astronaught) or "A little left of center" (Alans Classic, Baggedbigblock, Coulter, Kroautomotive, Jmorales) or going full out "Monster Mod" (Bomp, 1Bad62pro/street .....for example) you will more likely gravitate towards those builders that are in the same vein.
I would like to suggest reading as many threads as you can.
Inspiration is a fickle companion and I am certain many others will express their confirmation of finding ideas across many build styles here.

So to speak, a lot of your heavy lifting is already done, (engine and tranny) so you are already ahead of the game there.

I never would have thought I would do as much as I have, or done as good a job with it as I have (which is far far from great mind you LOL) when I started this.
It is a common undercurrent here "I was only going to....." ....put in an engine and transmission and rattle can the outside of mine. 1 year, and 9 months later I am into a full on customization that when realized will be suited perfectly to me, and my personality.

I wish the same for you !!

Good luck, and I hope I did not over step here !!
You have actually inspired me to try looking for the truck and a couple of station wagons we had when I was a kid. I think I know where they may be...

[Jmorales3181]

Well said McMurphy
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[Ta2Don]

Well put Murph!!!
and... aboard... Don't be afraid to ask questions... the only Dumb question is the one you don't ask! Awesome truck by the way, keep rockin'

[Low Elco]

Well put Murph. Watch out when these 60-66 cats get their claws into you. Oughta be classified as an infectious disease!

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Well put Murph. Watch out when these 60-66 cats get their claws into you. Oughta be classified as an infectious disease!

Now THAT was well stated !!
There should be a dash placard that lights up when you put the key into the ignition of one of these that instead of saying "Oil" or "Check Engine" should say " WELCOME TO THE ADDICTION " At least give us some sort of warning !!




Good luck on your build though sir, these are so much fun.... almost too much fun...

[greg65]

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[Acksman]

Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement.

Get to fly home today where I my wife told me my AAW wiring package has arrived so I will get to start that this weekend. I will try and take a bunch of pictures as I have not found anyone who has done that yet in detail when installing.
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[Acksman]

So I am doing some planning and wondering if I should go to 5 lug disc brakes or stick with the 6 lug configuration with disc or better drum brakes. The only reason it seems people go to a 5 lug is more wheel choices. Is there any other reason? I probably should pose this question on the main board but still wanted to do a bit more research.
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[gimmy 64]

that is the only reason unless you change to a later 5 lug rear end and want to match the two

[Acksman]

Past couple of weekends I have just had a few hours on Saturdays to work and the heat in Texas is making me only have a few hours each day before I am worn out.

I have been able to pull the heater core and the rest of the AC parts from inside the cab to prepare my total rewire. Once I got everything out I started pulling out the old firewall insulation and found it was wet

I was afraid what would find behind it so I start pulling it out.

Evaporator and AC ducts removed.



Old firewall insulation that was wet



Some of the damage surface rust, not to bad.



Anyone know how to get this tar off? Wow its tenacious.




And I thought I had pictures of the big rust hole but I was so mad I forgot to take them. Where my antenna used to be I forgot to cover the hole and it had been sitting out in the elements for a few years. Right in the corner of the cab there was a nice rust hole. I went to harbor freight and got me a small soda blaster and went to work. Everything cleaned up very quickly and now I have to figure out how to patch that hole. I am reading up how to fix a rust hole since its been so long. Plus I do not own a welder to tack any new metal in there. I really hate half assing things.

I will get some pics up of the after, in the meantime. I will put these up of me pulling the AC unit out. Maybe it will help someone else with the wiring etc. Took a ton of pics to document. Although right now I am leaning toward a Vintage Sure Fit to replace the stock right now and use the original vents.

[Acksman]

Its been a while since I have posted. Between work and this Texas heat its been just early Saturday mornings here and there.

I am currently in the middle of a AAW rewire and have the fusebox and the dash wiring in. During this I decided it was the right time to rebuild my cluster after I saw a how to in the FAQ.

Here is what it looked like originally. The chrome backing is the original behind the black paint. I really liked that look, but it will be impractical with sunlight and good vision. So back to somewhat original we go.

Before



Disassembly and soda blasting results. I could not get all the rust out with some sanding on the back. If you have a sandblaster its the better way to go.

The needles are in need of some new paint and the gauges are yellowing and need some TLC.



No Tach yet, the cardboard pieces and plastic sheets are still in good shape. I also added silver tape inside the cardboard to add better brightness from the bulb.



The back before tear down



All out - It is getting reshot with the Krylon Jade Green Satin



Close up of gauges



Almost done with the soda blasting, working like a charm. Even able to use it on the delicate aluminum facing over the front.



Close up of the soda blasting. Took about 10min to completely strip this.



And the final product.

Added: Tach, new facing stickers (tried the white ones and they were very poor quality in the print with jagged edges and not all the original print. Repainted the needles with Fluorescent Red from Hobby Lobby as used in the FAQ paint. New numbers facing.



Also got me a fun new ride. Might be sacrilege but I just love the Roush Mustangs. Picked it up from the dealer last week. Time to do some tuning on it as well.

[Ta2Don]

Gauge Cluster turned out Sweet!
As for the F%&D, Roush is the way to go!

[Acksman]

Well this is going to be a necro bump for sure. Hundreds of hours later and had to finally enlist some help(Pay). I am getting near the home stretch.

I have hundreds of pictures, but it has been such a busy year I have not had to to post.

Here are a couple, probably another month to get the small things out of the way.