yeah I got bored while painting the frame, and did it to cover up the terrible paint job I did on the steering arm.
Last night I bought a steel bung to weld into the rear end shock mount. I got the drivers side done, I'll work on the passenger side tonight. Then its time to finish and paint the trunk.
Well for the update for today, first I must tell about yesterday. It was a beautiful day, so I took advantage, driving around a bit, before finally sitting down and finishing the wiring for my headlights. of course I had help... then I set forth my plan to "finish" the turtledeck. I hammered, welded, beat, ground, hammered, and beat it into submission. It looks ok-ish. as they say, "C's get degrees" . . . or something like that, I went to tech school. And a sneak peak of todays update. . .
Today started with a goodbye. don't worry, I'm not selling the roadster. Back last fall a friend I hadn't seen in awhile asked if I wanted to sell my 67 C10, and even though I really didn't want to at the time, I knew it had to be when he told me it was his first car that he drove in high school. so we settled on a payment plan that worked for both of us, and I started getting a little present every month. And that, my friends, is what has been paying for most of the parts for the T. But Friday I got the last payment, and that meant it was time to deliver the truck. And while I was out I picked up another old friend. It has been tucked away at mikes house in a storage container. it fired right off after sitting for 3 months, and while it was a little rough idling at first, by the time I made it the 15 or so miles home it was running pretty good. So when I got home, after I had some mexican food with Mike, I started throwing parts at the T. I painted another coat of purple on the turtledeck before I left the shop this morning, and had painted the shocks and the shock mounts flat black last night. I think it looks pretty sharp, so I took a bunch of pictures... I really love this shot. Then I went and visited my buddy at the parts store, and left some new stripes on the way out. And a photo a long time coming. the gang is back together again. (I need to clean the Tamale wagon up, she's dusty!) Tomorrow I may go out for a little longer drive. Today was too much fun.
Thanks guys! its been a lot of work but I'm finally getting to have some fun. Speaking of fun, or more correctly Fun-Killers I got stopped for the first time yesterday. surprisingly he didn't say anything about the pipes, just the fact that I was over the speed limit, and that I should reel that back in. No Ticket, No Jail. Success! and he liked the car. Earlier yesterday I drove the T to church, it fit right in being an Easter color. the float also stuck on the drive over, and flooded the engine. but no worries, a couple lively taps on the bowl and it went back to its home. I spent most of the day doing some more of the things I haven't done while I built the car, including adding some cabinets into my wife's sewing area. but I left the door open so I could enjoy the view. Later, after things had calmed down and the baby went to to sleep, I switched to upholstery. My wife did the black leather-ish seat cover on the back peices, and I used the cover from the seat I stole the bottom foam from for the bottoms. I added a little more foam in places, and still have to figure out how to cover the tunnel with something soft. A heel rest and a couple little checks and I'll be ready to roll. T-minus ONE WEEK till I leave for TEXAS! I'll see YOU at LSRU!
You could pop rivet some Snaps onto to the floor/ tunnel and snap on some indoor/ outdoor carpet. I’ve got a $10 rug of it from Walmart that’s lasted about 10 years at this point pretty well. could also Velcro it but I bet if you used snaps the carpet would eventually hold shape to what you wrapped it around easier
good idea on the buttons, that's what I'm leaning towards, but I gotta have some sort of foam piece in there, cause my hip bone sits against the tunnel.
I wonder if you could find a large diameter pool noodle and split it, use it to pad each side? I think I’m the end a seen little pad attached to the carpet would be the best move but you’ve got a week so maybe roll a towel up and shove it between you and the tunnel?
The trip to the Roundup is no doubt going to be good for some stories: "Forrest Gump drives stripped down T a zillion miles....that's all I have to say about tha'at."
Once I got home from work yesterday, I went for a short cruise through town and then started work again on the interior. I forgot to mention that I had installed some Killmat that my dad had left over from his truck project, and as useless as sound deadener in an open car seems, it actually did take a noticeable amount of rattle and tinny sound out of the body. I'll wait till some more body work is done before I do the rest of the body. Todays deal was getting the seat cover done on the passenger side. After I got that done, I drove around some more, and went to fill the tank up so I can drive it to work this week. Once I got back home, I decided I needed to get moving on the trunk floor. I bent up some simple pieces for the sides, and bolted them to the frame rails. then I dug out an old center trans hump from a c10 truck (big hump for the huge truck 4 speed) and once I was done cutting and beating on it, it started to look like something. It should clear the pumpkin nicely. And a little branding...
Looking good, the peel and seal/ kill Matt/ dynamat took a MASSIVE amount of road heat out of my 46. Coming back from Salina one summer I crossed over to the toll way which was fresh black top and it was immediately much much hotter. The 3 layers of insulation on the floor and firewall has made the car considerably cooler in the summer. we talked about a few size bolster/tunnel pad ideas but what about one of those knee pads they sell for crouching down next to the car? but you could find a black “leather ish” one cheap and bend it over the tunnel and have a padded him and arm rest real quick! trans dif tunnel is a clever grab. I thought it was a scoop shovel at first lol Either way I dig it. -couldn’t resist the pun
What happened to roll pan bottom of turtle deck? ( bottom turtle deck ). I liked it looked great. On my way to England did I miss a posting about the bottom s3ction?
@AmishMike its not going on til there is a floor other wise it’s going to scoop air and get ripped off. Probably get put on after the bazillion hour drive to Texas and back
hey man, its still gonna get put on, (I agree it looks great on there) but I decided it wasnt crucial for the Texas trip, so I'll work on it when I get back.
not much to report, drove around last night and then tacked together the trunk floor, this is probably as far as it will get, Ill throw a piece of plywood in so I can put stuff in for my trip, but the floor is separate so once I'm back I can pull it out and finish weld it up. A couple more bits to do today and hopefully get this thing tuned up.
It looks like the bottom of the floor sits under the bolt tabs on the frame rails but the trans/ diff hump sits on top of the tube cross brace? are you just planning on cutting the tacks to get it out? edit. Looks like the tube is welded to the floor panel as a stiffener and doesn’t go over the rails so it should all drop down and out?
man once again you confused me, and I did it. the floor is welded to the crossbrace, cause i cut the brace loose from the body. so the floor is sandwiched between the turtledeck and the frame.
I was miss reading the tabs that mount the turtle deck to the frame as tabs only mounting the floor. I see it now. The sandwich part alluded me
I snuck outta work at lunch on Wednesday, and went over to @Austin kays house, about 70 miles away. Once I got there we checked the fluids and I took him for a ride into town, about 8 miles away. We visited Austin's grandma (shes got a 54 ford) and she thought it was neat. she lives next to this cool old shop building, so we had to take a picture or two. then we drove a few blocks to the old town square and took a couple more photos. and I really dig this picture Austin got of me. it really shows how small the car truly is. after some fun sliding the car around in the yard, austin did a couple doughnuts without the fans on and overheated it. nothing major, just enough to boil for a minute, popping the radiator cap up. once we washed the crappy water/antifreeze off the engine and let it sit for a minute, we fired it up to let the water circulate with the fans on. but as soon as it fired up I heard it. my heart went to the sole of my shoe. A clanking sound. instantly I think of all the worst case scenarios, and how I wont get to go to Texas, and how am I gonna get home..... then Austin walked to the driver side and put his shoe against the header. the clanking stopped. THE HEADER WAS FALLING OFF! I've never been so relived by a few loose header bolts in my life. So after we fixed that, let it cool off a bit more, loaded up my cooler, and topped the rad off with some cold water, I took off for home. I got within like 15 miles of town, and it surged like it was out of gas. "typical" I thought. (I'm well known for running out of gas) I look under the rear at the fuel filter, and as I had suspected, it was empty. so I made the call to my dad, so he could bring me gas. The whole time, I'm thinking , "I must have gotten terrible mileage" So when dad gets there I think to clean out my fuel filter. while the tank is "empty" turns out it wasn't. So the filter had caught some bigger chunks of mystery dirt-stuff in the inlet, and clogged it up. once I removed the filter it started flowing, and after dumping some gas on the road, and also cleaning the filter out, I had it back together, put a couple gallons in for good measure, and made the trip home with no problem. overall a good near 150 mile day, and I'm a little more confident in the little rod. 4 days till I leave for Texas. And I still don't know what kinda mileage I'm getting.
Just remember, plastic gas cans are cheaper at gas stations than at farm supply stores. Just ask him how he knows.
Fuck yeah If you had an inch to spare I’d say throw a extra gallon jug of gas in for the trip but I bet once you get into a rythm of stopping for gas every X miles you’ll figure out what it’s getting quick excited for the road trip coverage go get one of those trophies!
The Jalopy Journal
