Projects 28 RPU "problem child" build thread "first try at a hotrod"

Spring turned out pretty good. Was able to get rid of the spacer I had and it has a little softer ride now..


Started to get the wood finished up

Went with golden pecan stain


Put a few coats of satin urethane on them




And the bed strips and bolts showed up so drilled the rest of the holes and installed the wood





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Good work. Looking beautiful back there.
Can't really tell from the picture, is the back setting very slightly lower than the front? Thx for the update.

 

I live in a hill so it gives the illusion of that haha. Kinda hard to tell It's actually 1/2" higher then it was with the old spring. But I figure it will probably settle some and could always space it back up.

When I have the spokes in the back tires are 1.5-2" taller..

Probably stain and seal the floor boards to kill time to January to take it to an indoor show in Cincinnati.



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Looks great Jarod!

 

Nice truck. I like the restraint you demonstrate in your choices. Just enough detail to create a quality fix or mod without excess.

 

Thanks!! I'm glad to finally be rid of the plywood

Thanks! I would like to maybe try to do some fancier stuff on the next build.. But then again it doesn't make them drive any different haha.

Im really surprised on how this truck drives down the road.. For not having a track or away bars and just measuring with a tape for the toe in on the front it drives just as good as my superduty.. Be it the ride is not as smooth haha

Thanks again!



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Any updates on this awesome pickup?

 

Haven't really done a whole lot with it except drive it around.. need to take it apart and paint it sometime but stupidity stuck me and I bought some other old fords..







And most have my time has been consumed by trying to get my diesel conversion daily driver 73 ford together..





So I need to start a build thread for the coe sometime when I get some time.. have the cab off and a chassis for it.. bought a motor and trans off a buddy for it also just have to go pick them up.


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Love the COE.

 

Thanks me to! I always wanted an earlier one 38-47 but this one popped up and has a rebuilt 8ba for a decent price and I couldn't hold back any longer lol


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Been driving the truck for a good while now and I think it's time for it to come back apart and paint it..


First want to get a few issues fixed and tested.. always had a good bit of vibration/clutch chatter.. jacked it up and pulled the trans and pan..


And this is the reason it needs to come apart.. it's becoming a mess underneath from apparently not getting it clean enough from bonneville..








I have a two piece pan for it that I finally located the back part of awhile back so it had some less then great repairs on it..





Cut off whatever the port was toward the front of the pan and closed it back off..




Ground out and rewelded around the starter plate




Took the flywheel down to a buddies truck repair garage and had it resurfaced... had a few hot/hard spot in it... came back and tossed the original pan back on while I wait for gaskets and new front shocks to come in the mail...


Good news is it is like a whole new truck now.. clutch is smooth with 0 chatter..

Front friction shocks should be here Saturday/Monday so get them on and working.... and make/buy some new bushings for the rear spring..

After few test miles I'll start to strip it down to clean it all up and paint it..


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What's up Jared?!

 

Hey man! What's up down your way??

Just parts chasing and working few more little bugs out.. switched to friction shocks up front... they seem to work a lot better then the old A shocks that are worn out..

Upped the air pressure to 25psi and it seems to have taken some of the shaking out of the tires..

Like to find a set of radials for the steel wheels I have.




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Little more progress on fixing little issues that I have noticed overtime..

First was the doors banging around since I didn't have the dove tails on the quarter or the rubber bumper on the door.

The drivers door was torn up im guessing by how far off the body used to be and how flimsy everything ways.


Had a heck of time getting the rubbers and the clip in the door.. was trying to put them in from the side.. figured out a little Gibbs on the rubber pieces and pushed the clips straight in not from the side..


Next thing was the hokey throttle return spring I tossed on. Just had it wrapped around an intake bolt.


Bought a throttle cable bracket from stromberg and cut part of it off..


Much better


Next was the hood.. the bottoms stuck out not really sure why. From what I remember the hood shelves didn't fit real well.. so made these little pieces to attach inside the hood to hold it in again the inside of the hood shelf.




Before


After


Messed with the jetting since it seemed like it just kinda lost acceleration just above 60.. which was fine since I always had a shame about that speed..

Ended up going back to what the standard jets listed on strombergs site.. 45 mains and 65 power valve. Going to try a 64 power valve to try and pickup the top end a little..

had the tires balanced and upped the pressure to 32 and the shaking seems to be gone... ordered a steering damper to try and smooth it up some since people say they work.. and figure for $20 why not give it a try can't hurt...











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Nice little fixes like that make a car so much more enjoyable. Looks great, too!

 

I finally finished the whole thread! Really enjoyed the details you shared, made for a fun read, and makes me want to get out and work on mine more.
Seems like you never must sleep. Thanks and enjoy, it’s very cool.

 

Well I finally have some of the other things I have been working on done enough to move out.. think it's time to start back on the Rpu..

Going to start by fitting the better rear fenders I have for it and fixing some small things along the way and get some paint on this thing finally..

Been to sidetracked lately for some reason so hopefully get back up to speed working on this thing.. hopefully painting this thing during the winter won't cause to many issues..




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Always small stuff Jared.
Great to see your progress again.
I am changing over to larger gears this winter and recovering the front seat to a black and white tuck.
What colors you painting it?
I like that one two tone. Rick.

 

Basically along these lines.. maroon with black fenders.. between a 79 ford maroon and a gm maroon.





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nice

 

Very cool build. Lots of clever simple solutions

 

Loosen the latch screws, and slide the hood shelf 1/4" closer to the cowl and the hood will lay where it's supposed to.

 

I need to work on them some more..

I do remember struggling to get them to fit passenger side fits up against the cowl and the hood still stuck out..

I was at Snyders antique auto yesterday and knew I would forget something and sure enough I forgot to get they have little rubber pieces that attach to the hood the let the latch push the hood in..

From what I remember if I moved the drivers side hood shelf over in the rear then the front was way off..

That's probably the next thing to tackle after I get the rear fenders to fit better


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I do believe I finally have the rear fenders where they need to be after some heating, bending, cutting, and welding..

This is where they sat when first bolted to the bed..



Ended up taking the board that's under the front of the bed that came with it out.. it measured 2"x3.5" put a new piece of 2x4(1.5"x3.5") also cut off about 1/2" of the bottom of the bracket where the front bolt goes down through so it didn't hit the frame..



Next was the rear fender brace.. with the fenders bolted on the brace would set on top of the wire edge at the inside lip.. so much so the brace wouldn't sit flat against the bed.. so out comes the bandsaw again.



Just took a little reshaping of the angle





After that then the end of the bracket didn't have the right curve to it.. easier fix for that.. just a few slices and the shrinking heat of the weld.







Next little thing was filling the holes where the side curtains would attach..





Passenger side went really well but the drivers side the front shrank a little bit when I welded it.. so buddy told me about using a washer a long time ago and it worked way better then the stud gun.. had to whip up a hook attachment for a slide hammer I made a long time ago..





Was in probably 1/8"... with pulling and hammering the door edge should just need a slim coat..



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Been chipping away at it slowly..

























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Little more progress...

Thought I had cleaned most all the salt off it.. still finding it as I take it apart







Since paying the blaster by the hour I'm trying to save a little time by making a cover for the 9"... plus figure it won't hurt to have a cover laying around anyway.








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Wanted to round the edges of the pedals so they didn't look like a cut out piece of plate steel..




Loaded up and dropped off to the blaster yesterday morning..


Going to try my hand at doing some electro plating for some of the smaller parts.. see how that goes..




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Yeah that salt gets everywhere everywhere. Looking forward to seeing it painted.

I really dig the idea of rounding the edges on the pedals, that’s a clever move I don’t think I’ve seen before

 

Finally getting some color on things..

Miss communication with the blaster and he painted the frame and parts gloss instead of satin..


Painting the motor and few other parts satin black..

















Hope to get few other things painted so I can get the chassis back rolling again


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Well making some progress on the truck..





Had a guy in Columbus polish the intake and heads.. try to make things a little bit classy





Wasn't happy with how the front axle looked since there was so much pitting on it.. the gloss black made it look 10 times worse so I blasted it and painted it myself..




Much better



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