I got a Champion radiator (aluminum) for my son-in-law's 69 Chevelle. Fit well, was reasonable and made in the US. I met them at a show last year...very nice folks. Check them out before you commit to China. Looking good! It's amazing how many bolts are holding those front ends together....and yet only a few actually hold the whole thing to the car/truck.
Great to see some progress. Looks like you have more patience than I with all those bolts. Many of mine met with Mr grinder or had heads snapped off. Keep up the great work
Oh, many of them went to bolt heaven, I promise. I've had a distinct lack of time lately. Dr. Dave was amazing and delivered his gift of a valve cover on his way through to Dewey, which inspired me a bit. Heckuva guy, gives desirable parts and even delivers when you don't have time to run by to get it. I'm not so sure his spirit of procrastination didn't hitch a ride with it to move in with me.. It now sits next to the dual pot intake that will find its way under Sam's hood. I finally got a millisecond of time today to work on the old guy a bit more. Got sticker shock when I went to buy primer and solvent, only to find what had costed me sub $100 last spring hit me for over $170 today. I'm not political, at least not here, but thanks to all the idiots of both parties in the government. Make food go up, I can raise my own and work around that, but now ya messing with my cars. Any how- I got a coat of primer on the old guy. Highlighted alot more work, but it's a step forward anyhow.
I'll remember that. LOL. And "week"? If only. I suspect that it will be multiples of that time frame....
Looks good to see it in one colour! What did you do to treat the surface rust before priming it? Do you sand all the panels down to bare metal? Sand blast? Or chemical treatment? I’m in the process of working on a 48 and curious? Thanks.
I've been sanding it down to bare metal, wipe it down and seal/prime it. It's a long painstaking process, and I usually look like a brown version of a smurf from all the rust. I quickly learned to wear a respirator while sanding/stripping it. I would have loved to have a blast or chemical treatment, but since it's not a frame off, and I don't know of any facilities like that near me, it's me, hand tools, and time. I did discover for the heavy rust removal like what was on the passenger door, these are great: https://www.walmart.com/ip/10-pack-...-Rust-Remover-Stripper/591122415?from=/search I don't keep it in one place too long so it doesn't heat up and warp the metal- I don't know if that's possible, but I didn't want to take the chance. This weekend I plan to sand this coat down again with sandpaper, fill some obvious spots with body filler, re sand, and possibly another primer coat. Then it is off to work on the front fenders and grill....
Well..it's Petit Jean Swap meet time. And while i had zero intent to buy anything for Sam, well, things happen. I NEEDED to have my butt at home sanding and priming him again. It'd have saved me money. But, you may remember a posting last year or year before, where an Edmunds dual carb intake followed us home. I'd drooled over its stablemate a McGurk 3x1 with carbs and linkage, ready to go, but the price was way more than I could do. I rounded the corner today, first day of the swap meet, hoping to snag an early deal om anything Six- related. There was the beautiful and tempting McGurk. A conversation led to bad decisions. Bad decisions led to a trip off the mountain for more money at an ATM, and, well, something followed me home. I blame DrDave. See, the McGurk has fins. Thus, it is his fault that I was forced to offer this sacrifice to the hotrod gods , due to his generosity in giving us the finned valve cover. Now. I may very well have to sell the Edmunds, or save it for another Chevy Six build. Meanwhile- so thankful for a motorhome. 'Cause when Mama sees the little teeny hole in the bank account......I'll need it.
Sacrifices must be made. Cool is cool after all and it can’t be ignored. Proud for ya (but I do feel at least a tiny bit bad about encouraging bad decisions…lol).
Well, I initially thought to paint the fenders off the truck, and the body, then mount them. Realized pretty quick during test fitting that if I did this, being as how I'm a one man show, I'd wind up with scratched up fenders or worse. So I mounted the front fenders and adjusted them out the best I could. The fenderwells and mounting surfaces were taped and sprayed with rubberized undercoating so no metal to metal contact. I'd planned to prime the other day, and realized it was too hot when the primer was drying before it hit the metal. Then, Saturday, it had cooled off (relatively, it was 80 instead of 100.) I picked up the turbine paint gun to reassemble for spraying- and dropped it, breaking it. Only one in the state was 2 hours away, so off I went. This morning I took a few minutes and sprayed it. It highlighted a couple more areas, especially the driver's front fender, that'll I need to work on some. Still hoping for a late August paint spray and reassemble...
Looking good Bob! I thought I was the only one who would sabotage myself at the last minute by doing something like dropping the gun. Glad you found another one right off!
Looks great! There is just something about the primer stage that I always like. Maybe it is just that the end is near or something, but it always seems to be the motivation I need to continue on.
If anyone tells you I can paint or even know a paint gun....slap them for they are surely a liar. Time has not been my friend as of late and after returning from Gatlinburg last night to celebrate the wife putting up with my crap for 20 years, I had time to work a bit on Sam. I'd put it off all I could. It was time to spray paint. An hour and a half later, he's all in one color. The lighting isn't the best, the paint's not splotchy. But the drivers front fender and door has more sags than a 90 year old stripper. So I'll get to wet sand them out. The acrylic urethane I'm using is pretty forgving so I think next week when I buy more paint for the new tailgate, I should be able to slide a coat over it again with the sags sanded out..Hopefully Then it's time for bedliner in the bed, reassembling the grille, and bedliner or touch up on the running boards. And re installing the headlights and tail lights. I've learned a ton of. things on this thing and the next one, if I ever do another, won't have some of the boneheaded mistakes. But for better or worse, I did it and I'm gonna enjoy driving the wheels off it when it's back together
Congrats Bob!!! So happy for you that you are on the downhill slide to being on the road! As of late, The Big Man has been impressing on me that perfection the the enemy of progress…and in my case, enjoyment of being on the road. Seeking improvement and striving toward perfection is different from being paralyzed by it. Nice job!!!
I know it's been months since I posted- and to be truthful, I haven't worked alot on Sam. Got kinda annoyed at the old boy and went off to sulk. The paint job has fought me tooth and nail and I'm not pleased with it, but I'm at the point I'm going to wrap it up, polish it up the best I can, and drive him. Maybe in a couple, three years, I'll try another go at it, but right now I need him on the road. Rusty the '46 still needs some work, and the A ...well, she's a story in and of herself, the cantankerous old biddy. I finally quit sulking, and installed Sam's new door handles I'd hoarded back. I hadn't planned on replacing the originals, but the pitted pot metal looked tacky against the shiny paint. That was enough of a chore to irritate me, and it took me two weeks to find time to work on the rest. Finally, with help of a drill, different pry tools, and assorted jacking devices, I managed to get the grill mounted and the fenders bolted securely, and installed the front bumper. I was annoyed even more to discover I managed to chip the already less than pristine grill badly, specifically on the passenger side, but again- project annoyance has crept in. And, who knows- I may just get me one of those cool license plate mounts, install it about there, and hide the chip with a license plate with his name on it. At any rate, Sam looks somewhat better than he did when I started, DEFINITLY is more structurally sound, and looks decent in pictures. And from the driver's seat, I won't see the chips. As soon as Winter quits storming in and yelling "Oh, and another thing!" and lets my warm weather come home, I'll get the headlight buckets and bezels mounted, headlights wired up, taillights installed, and do the running boards and bed interior with the bedliner I have stashed back. Then I'll wash and polish it up, and head for Mr Sam's farm for a few pics.... Still trying to decide about door art. I'm bad tempted to have something drawn up to pay homage to the old truck's life as a delivery truck, and honor Mr Sam's memory at the same time.
Looking good Bob!! As far as the chip, I’d just dab some paint over it a few times and when you buff it, give it a little sand and buff the area and I bet no one will ever notice. Turns out I’m a way better buffer than I am a painter. Lol
Great to see the project moving again. Thanks for letting us know the frustrations along with the success! Makes me feel a little better about my krusty project. Looking forward to pictures from the farm.
About the paint - people ask me all the time what color I'm going to paint mine. But I'm not sure if I'll ever paint it for a couple of reasons. One, it's going to take a heck of a lot more body work to get it to a paintable state, and two, I can't afford to pay someone else to paint it. My paint job definitely won't be show worthy so.... Maybe those are just excuses, I dunno.... But I think yours looks just fine, and after all, it's just an old truck - drive it and have fun! You've done great work on Sam, and you deserve to enjoy him.
Well, progress the last two weeks has been in increments. But after ordering new headlights, and new Chinese-ium headlight trim rings, then realizing that of course since I chose to NOT be smart three years ago when I begin trying to improve Sam and buy a wiring harness (too expensive-ha!) I had more work to do. I had previously rewired everything under the dash, plus the alternator/ignition/starter wires- one wire at a time. It would have been so much easier and cheaper if I'd bought the harness. The wiring was toast. Amazon loves me, and soon, several different colored spools of appropriately sized wire was on the way. I also bought a new relay kit with new plugs for the headlights. Today, with a bit of Sam time, I got the buckets and bezels mounted, and went to work with a soldering iron and heat shrink. Been a few days since I soldered anything, but I was able to get respectable results. The new headlight bezels though- well, they definitely are NOT stock quality. When I have time, I may work on cleaning and polishing the stock bezels up. But at least Sam is looking a bit more like himself. I'll be glad to get a bit further along and get the dust washed off of him...
What a great story, love these old trucks. I can't believe I haven't seen this thread before. Is it still a column shift with a torque tube rear?
No sir, sometime 40 years ago, it was converted to an SM420 granny four speed in the floor. When I began refreshening it, I took the liberty of swapping a 3.08 geared open drive rear in it so I could run a bit better with traffic, since I DO drive the old guy alot when he is together.
Today WAS a good day! Thanks to this thread. I went back and read this from #1. What a touching story, where you managed to put us and our emotions right there with you and Mr. Sam. What a great writing style! Went to Petit Jean every year for the many years I lived in Memphis. Always good! And yes, I’ve been to Toadsuck! I used to make a trip once a month to Conway from Memphis, to the school bus plant there. Anyway, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the thread and your sense of humor. Hope to see the finale to all of your hard work!
I appreciate the compliment. I've always loved to write and when the subject is something that I love like this old truck, it's a pleasure. In other news, I was a tad concerned about the wiring job since it was my first time to try that and the old wires were too badly damaged to even use as a guide. And Sam's 5 year old battery was dead. So dead it wouldn't throw a spark if you grounded the posts together, so I couldn't check myself. Today I replaced the battery and with some concern, hit the light switch. I was pleased. They are much brighter than the pic here shows... This weekend's goals- taillights mounted and wired, wheels repainted and the fake porta walls cut off and hopefully bedliner put on the running boards and inside the bed. Closer and closer to roadworthy, even though he will need some stuff like windshield wipers...new glass in one window and the cracked windshield, and weather stripping.... But I'll be able to drive the old guy again. I've bought a new pair of overalls for the occasion.
Drawing to a close on this thread....I'll probably post some pictures of the truck at the farm and with the farmer's family when I get a chance to get some. But today, Sam the '52 came out for the first time in three years. I'll be honest I am not a fan of the paint and body man I used. He sucked, but will likely be used again because he was free. ("he" is me). But the truck does look better than it did, and is definitely more solid. I realized I made a mistake on the gas cap- I painted it, which handily sealed up the vents. I discovered this at 55mph halfway to town when the tank "popped" and Sam quit. I figured it out and got Sam to the gas station as he ran completely out of gas. I have a local sign shop working on a logo for the doors.. Without further ado, outside for the first time in months : Sam at the store he worked for for years... Country roads, take me home! (Actually in a pothole. LOL)
Nice job Bob! You should be proud, Sam looks fantastic and I know he is happy being back out on the road. Good feeling to work hard and finish a project. I'm tickled as can be for you!!
The Jalopy Journal
