And so it begins! Today we put the horsepower before the cart. We drove 6 hours round trip to pick up our motor and tranny. We'll be driving much farther next weekend to get the truck which is sitting out near Chicago a 20 hour drive each way. Here in Maine they say "you can't get there from here". Well you can, it just takes a lot longer. The engine is a 283 which in its latest life powered a 57 Chevy coupe. It was reported to be from 65 but I'm going to run the numbers and see what I can find out. The trans is a bit of a mystery. Other than being a 4 speed I don't know much about it. Again the numbers will tell the story. Once we have the frame and body and all the pieces and parts back here from Chicago I'll post some pictures. We'll take some time cataloging what we have and what we think we need. That's where all my new best friends here on the HAMB come into play. We'll need you all to tell us what we really need over what we thought we needed. Thanks in advance.
Check out the ad group here-it's the largest social group on the HAMB and there is a lot of knowledge and great people willing to give you any help the can, as well as their opinions. Subscribed Jim
Thanks jetnet I joined the ad group and have been reading up on things there. I have come to the realization that this build is going to be much different than what we did with our car projects all those years ago. These are different animals. Not only is much of the technology and mechanics different but this time we don, t have a driver as a base. We really wanted to make this our own so we are doing it piecemeal. This is going to be a long term project for us. While we'd love to do it quickly our budget will be thin and we dont have a true garage/workshop. We will have to aquire new skills like welding. I should have learned way back when but didn't. I had training as a machinist and can whip out a part on a lathe or mill but unless it screws together I'm at a loss. We're near the edge of the world up here. To get to any of the decent swap meets its a 3 hour drive at minimum but we'll do what we can. We are getting things ready for our trip to pick up the truck and for its arrival. We found a used instant garage and have the frame for that assembled. I have some work to do on the canvas before that goes on. So heres where we stand at the moment. We got a "garage" to finish building. We have a motor and trans to give the once over to. And we have a trip to prepare for. We'll post more updates as we slowly progress. Sent from my GT-P5113 using H.A.M.B. mobile app
The time to go and get the truck is getting closer. We leave early Saturday. Its 1197 miles to where the truck is. 20 hours each way. While we're not looking forward to being cooped up we are excited about the trip and the truck. We'll be stopping in NJ on the way back. Janelle (my wife) found a guy who has a pile of parts he has accumulated and he doesn't want big dollars. Some of it I may not need but some I will. So I guess I'll be starting my own little parts shop. Knowing what you don't know is important. After reading the build threads of a couple of HAMBers I realized that I was sorely lacking in a needed skill for doing builds, welding. I was also sorely lacking in the friends who know how to weld and have welding equipment dept. I found a tech school that offered a class. It was pricey and not really close to home. I dug a little more and found an adult ed auto body course here in town for 70$. It's 1 night a week for 12 weeks and covers not only body work but welding basics. It was such a deal that we're both going to take it. I'm hopeful that the class may help us avoid a few pitfalls that we would otherwise have had to overcome by trial and error. Getting antsy to get going.
Holy shit dude that is a serious commitment. 2400 miles!! I assume you tried to find one locally? Anyway, did I hear you say the wife is taking the class too? My wife has helped me a ton but I dont think she would take a class with me, ha! Anyway, good luck and let me know if you have any questions...
Yeah we tried to find stuff local but the northeast seems to have been picked clean for the moment. The truck is sitting behind me on the carrier as were taking a break in PA. We're supposed to be meeting a guy who has a few parts he's looking to sell about a half hour from here. He didn't return our calls yesterday so that's all up in the air. Yup, she's into it. She did a resto on a Chevelle years ago. Nothing like this though. We're looking forward to the class. If the truck was a driver is be able to bring it in to work on. I guess I could bring pieces in. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Where is the class? I am in Albany/Saratoga area? I would love to take the class! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Ok, read back.... Enjoy the class & wish i could find the same! Enjoy the build! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I found the class through the city adult ed office. I bet they have something near you. Pics will be up soon. Still on the road home. Three more hours. We scored some parts in NJ. 2 grills. A bunch of interior parts i'll have spare stuff Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
A few more. It started raining buckets so we pulled off for a bit. Red primer looks brown when its wet. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I still haven't done anything on the truck. While we were on the road there was a few big storms here at home. We spent yesterday cleaning out very wet horse stalls and resting a bit from the trip. All total it was 62 hours from departure to return. Almost all of it was in the truck. Here are more pics of it finally settled on the s[pot it will be for a while. I've got some repairs to do on the canvas of the shelter. Weather permitting I'll get some interior shots and post them tomorrow.
We havent done any real nuts and bolts work on the truck but I have gone through all of the pieces and parts we have. Now I know what we have and what we need. Sad to say the need list is long. We picked up a rear end this weekend. It was from an S10 4×4 so it is the perfect width. It was siting for a while and the disc brakes need a little TLC but I didn't think we could go wrong for $80. I spent some time getting it cleaned up next I have to strip off the brake components. Went to our first auto body class last night. We talked a lot about safety. It should be a great help to us. Neither of us had done any body work before abd with all of the new products and techniques we thought it best to learn the right way instead of as we go. We can bring in our own project which is cool. Ours will have to go in pieces. I know there is a fender that has a whole in it. The hood will go as well. Unfortunately the cap is a bit big but you never know. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
The rear end may ot have been such a bargain after all. It seems that one of the axle shafts is bent. I couldn't tell untill I got it up on jack stands and got the old and very flet tires off of it. Ill pull it out and see whats up with it. A new replacement is $170. Twice what I paid for the whole thing. So now the question is do I eat the $80 as a loss and look for another whole rear end or pony up the bucks for a new shaft? This one seemed perfect. Its the exact width we need, has disc brakes and the gearing we wanted. It does need a bdrake rebuild but I think anything I get from a bone yard would need that too. I guess I'll call around and see whats what. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I think so. I'll know for sure on Monday. I need to pull the old one and bring it in to match it up. Its listed at $75. Much better than a new one. Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using H.A.M.B. mobile app
Last night was the second of our auto body classes. We got to learn about and practice with body fillers. What we lack in skill we certainly made up for with enthusiasm. While it doesn't seem overly difficult it will take a little time to become proficient. (Notice that I didn't say master) Next week we plan on taking in a couple of parts from the truck to work on. Most likely the hood which has a few dents in it and one of the rear fenders. The fender needs a patch but is in otherwise great shape.
Started to tear it down a bit this weekend so we could take a few things into the shop at school. It's amazing how easily this came apart. As you can see I did have some help. We also found some rusted areas on the cab couldn't see before. It's a good thing we had already decided to (someday)get a complete floor pan.
That's what I discovered - once you start tearing them down you uncover more rust. Sounds like you got things covered, though. I'm following along.
The "complete" floor pan is a complete pain in the ass to put in. If I were to do it all over again I would probably do it but I would be a lot more careful and measure measure measure, measure again and take a bunch of before pics, and brace it down at the bottom of the pillars better. Just thinking about it makes me wanna puke.... Whatever you decide, I have been there done that so if you need any help let me know. And of course there are a ton of other people here that I got help from, you know you are in the right place.
Thanks for the advice about extra bracing shadams. I read your thread and you came through your floor pan experience in great shape. How long did it take you to do the floor? As you can see in the pictures I posted we're doing this under canvas. I've got a plan in the early stages to farm this particular part of the build out. The instructor at our body shop class has taken a little extra interest in our project vs the guys there who want to learn how to fix the bubbling paint on their family mini-van. I may try and get him to take our cab in and let his daytime kids do the work on the floor. There are many pluses to having them do it. They have equipment that I don't have here yet and they are supervised by a guy who has 30 years in the trade. And the big thing is they wont charge me full shop rate! I know that I could do the work in the proper setting my backyard under canvas in the winter isn't it.
Took me a couple of weekends to physically get it out and back in, but to this day I am still dealing with the sideeffects of poor planning. Almost done though. Anyway, sounds like a plan, just make sure they have to doors too, that is critical when doing the floor.. Sorry to photo bomb your thread, since you have seen it already I took the pics out...ha! PS: So cool having the wife getting down and dirty with you. I dont know how I would have done half the stuff without my wifes' help, either physically or just providing encouragement when I was whining....
Thanks again! I was thinking that I'd take the doors off sooner rather than later. Now I think they'll stay where they are at. Having the semi-pros do it is sounding better all the time. No worries on the pics. I spent a lot of time looking them over and hoping that I could replicate what you did. Yup, It's great that my wife takes such an interest. I know that I wont be able to get this done without her. She's never been one to shy away from getting dirty. Once she had to pull the starter from her old Chevelle. She got it done in heels and a skirt.
We did a lot of dent repair and paint removal on the hood and fender we brought into the class. Something I missed was all of the accumulated road gunk and tar in the fender. It was so thick that hammer blows were absorbed and it made knocking dents very difficult. I'm going to have to heat it with a torch to soften it hen scrap it out as best I can. I'm going to tackle that when I have some time this weekend. You know, after I'm done roofing the horse stalls.
my fenders had sooo much road tar junk inside them too. top of the head light buckets were the worst. soo bad that i chipped it all off to find out the bucket was rusted through
The Jalopy Journal
