COE 1941 Ford COE build

Hey Skier , think about laying the pipe in the groves and put a small plate on back side of pipes and weld togeather . Good place to clamp and easier to handle. go a little at a time all the way across and reapeat and it should help with stretching and pulling . Great idea . Blue

 

2 pipes welded together just like you said, Blue! thanks! Stopped by a local "auto body" shop to ask if they'd put my sleeper in black primer. The kid at the front desk says "I'll check with the owner and have him call you in about an hour". Yeah, not so much so I rattle canned it last night. I stopped by the next day to chat, I tell him that I'll eventually need color. (I don't have the freedoms to really paint at home that others enjoy (read: ***hole neighbor). The guy starts going on about working on projects like mine and says "yeah, I have a GTO out there now that I am going to call the guy and have him come get it". Sounds to me like he doesn't know how to estimate a job and is dumping it back on the owner. He goes on to say "I can paint a lot of truck bodies in the time I've put in that GTO". I guess we're done here..

....and when my wife heard my dilemma, she starts looking up portable spray booths on the web. What a woman!

 

Looks real good and I'm glad the welded pipes worked out for you .
Getting a painter to work out here is the same . That is why I put the 20 foot job on mine . Blue

 

Sleeper is black now and actually bolted down! Still a bunch to do, but I think it's looking much better than portapotty blue. Still need to get the nose pointed down a bit. Should be able to fix that with widened fenders and torsion bar adjustments, but it's gonna be a while before that happens.

My wife said it reminds her of the "eat me" Lincoln in Animal House... She didn't mean that, Buford...

 

You've come a long way Buford...

 

Was sitting lower in the front then . LOL
You have come a long way and it looks great . Blue

 

Might just be the photos but both the original photo and the latest one look like the belt line and cab lead back compared to the line of the ch***is?

 

Hmmm... I never noticed that on the original, "tree" picture....

 

First trophy!!!! Small fund raiser car show at a local Technical High school with about 120 cars. My nephew goes there for HVAC but they also have auto body and mechanical programs. The students pick most of the winners and gave Buford 2nd place engine and drivetrain. It ain't the Concourse D'Elegance but might as well have been judging by the smile on my face. To see high schoolers interested in the hobby and understand what it took to install the LS1 was impressive! They are the future of our hobby.

 

Tilted at the show My "trophy" winner....

 

About to start framing the floor for the sleeper... My first thought was to frame it in alum stock of some sort since the sleeper is all alum, but I don't have the ability to weld alum myself and I question the strength of alum compared to similar size steel. The cab floor framing is 1" square steel tube and small channel stock.

Any reason I can't frame the sleeper the same as the cab floor as long as I insulate the alum sleeper from the steel framing to avoid the dissimilar metals issue?

 

That is what I did Skier. I used antiseise (sp) on all the fasteners with model a frame cloth insulater . Coming along real good . Blue

 

Isolate between the two as you say and you will be fine.

 

Not much to report this week either... Realized I need to be able to put the floor framing into the sleeper after the thing is together for the final time. That means it will need to be two pieces to fit thru the doors.

A minor tweak to the backup light switch so it works in actual Chevy reverse instead of what it thinks is Dodge reverse. (don't ask).

Added a neutral safety switch using the existing clutch down circuit.

 

In my quest to have ALL US manufacturers represented, this will end up as Buford's horn ****on!

 

Steadybucker, Steadybreaker, Stupidbreaker. The license plate on mine read STOOOD

 

Missed lots of your progress, (no HAMB update) but its looking good!I like the tilt cab and sleeper.

 

Very cool man. The first of many. I have had the same cab tilt issue and have struggled with it because as I make even small adjustments to the tilt, the front wheel location shifts slightly with regards to the fender center-line, requiring a slight shift in the body mounts. Also, small shifts on the tilt make for big changes 9' back at the end of the bed. Maybe I'm being neurotic. A problem I've been accused of often enough...

 

A buddy made this fantastic plate for me with the background colors in his future paint scheme!

 

Cruise night tonite. The awards are fresh baked pies... That's right boys.... PIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Turns out the pies were the raffle prizes for anyone entering a car in the show.. Our number didn't get picked. But we could not resist so we purchased a delicious blueberry pie. Good selection of cars.. a BAD*** Willys coupe, a survivor 1970 Mercury Montery? convertible, 1962 409 Impala, some sort of trike with way too much red-white-and-blue and neon lights (I thought I was gonna convulse!) , a cool rat rod with a pickup bed that had early 70's Caddy tail light units.. A very nice pair of 1940 Ford sedans. A 55 Chevy g***er. A perfect Ford Retractable. An orange Nomad that was to die for.... A blue Superbird.

Buford got his fair share of attention.. One young man about 11 years old was particularly interested. He asked about the lift mechanism and if he could get in the driver's seat... I had to decline the seat request cuz he was tilted at the time. In retrospect, I should have lowered the truck and let the kid climb in...

 

Granite State Antique Truck Meet 2017. Huge show!

 

Were you being naughty, that you had to go stand on the other side of the road?

 

Typically a good guess, but no, the entire 3,260 Feet of runway on the right side was full, they had me turn around and start filling on the left side. We got there late as I had technical difficulties in the AM. The wife's electric seat mechanism had no power and could not be moved from the silly position I put it in to work on something else.

 

Looks like fun !

 

Finally used the louver punch I bought along with my brake on something "real". I louvered the portion of the sleeper that is the rear facing engine compartment to let some heat out (and look cool tilted). I had to move the bed back 3/4" to accommodate this. 4 new holes in the supporting bed channels, a lap full of shavings and done.

 

PICTURES!

 

Alright, I kinda F'd up a little last night.. I removed the sleeper and did all the little t******* on the sleeper floor pans that I needed to do. I louvered the rear panel. The sleeper is still in 2 pieces for now. Here's where I screwed up.. First I put the two halves back on the truck *WITHOUT* the floor framing. That's an opps even though I made the framing to come apart and installable with the sleeper in place, it's just easier to shove the entire, ***embled thing in before putting the second half of the sleeper on the truck. I pulled the short half, put the framing in then reinstalled the sleeper half.. Then I realized I hadn't installed the new heat shield.. ****...

I think I need to do a list... I'm sort of mixing things up in my little brain... so here goes..

1) Remove short sleeper half (again)
2) Remove floor framing
3) Install floor
4) Install Heat Shield
5) Install Floor framing with floor panels and heat shield
6) Re-install short sleeper half (again)
6.5) Check total amount of sleeper gasket needed and order it.
6.7) Get huck bolts and huck gun.
6.9) Get sealant for huck bolts. silkaflex?
7) Check huck bolt size (1/4"??) and use same size nuts/bolts to temporarily bolt sleeper halves together
8) Install 2 small alum sheet pieces that run from rear framing to sleeper skin.
9) Install new center sleeper framing piece. (rivet to one side only for now)
10) Build and install gl***, engine compartment side panels (need piano hinges and some type of latch)
11) Mark COE cab for cutout
12) Remove sleeper floor, side gl***, both sleeper halves.
13) Brace COE cab back wall.
14) Cut the cab.
15) Frame opening with 1" angle stock and 3/4" flat stock drilled to match current cab/coe bolt holes. Bolt into existing framing on cab and sleeper?
16) Install floor framing, floor panels, heat shield into sleeper with it OFF the truck.
17) Huck and seal both sleeper halves together.
18) Fibergl*** roof of sleeper.
19) Sand and prime as needed.
20) Lift entire sleeper and set onto tilt frame. Maybe tilt cab for easier access.
21) Bolt sleeper to cab
22) Goop engine compartment seams.

gee, I see why I'm getting confused..

 

Getting out of sequence is really easy to do, ask how me know I! It gets easier after redoing the project 3 or 4 times.