Projects New Shop Truck

What a fun build... fun for you and fun for us to see!

Sam

 

I really like the direction that you've taken with this truck. Nice, clean work too.

 

Pretty good night last night... I managed to get the kick panels painted black along with the steering column. I also ****oned up the firewall pad after they overnighted the proper clips to me. "thanks Grumpy's for that!!" And then mounted the fuse panel for good. Here's a few pics of the Electrics in place:




The main wire groups are almost where they need to be and I'll start terminating things tonight. I'll bang out the dash first in an effort to really finish up the inside of the truck. Then do the extremities.

I also wrapped up the Clutch and Bell housing. I decided to go drink a smok'n bottle of Pinot with my wife so I stopped short of installing the trans last night. **** after all it was 9:30 at this point.

A few pics:




Oh and the nifty little shift knob showed up yesterday.... So sweet I just had to have it. I will paint the helmet red to match the truck and then letter it appropriately.



Big weekend up ahead.... I'm for sure making it a 4 day or 5 day for me and will hopefully get over the hump on this thing.

~Robert M.

 

thanks for the fuse panel mounting pics. everythings looking great. Im subscribed and will be following along..

 

One thing I had to do was untangle the wiring from Rebel Wire, it wasn't sorted/bundled the greatest and I am **** when it comes to wiring so I wanted it to look decent. I used black zip ties as well, the white ones stand out too much. I would run the front if I were you first... just letting you know what I learned from my mistakes with this wiring harness over this past month on my 59 truck. Also for wiring in the dash panel lights make sure you split the wiring up because you now have 3 different terminals to plug that into, might as well use them. I am reusing the choke hole for my hi-beam indicator light, just a thought. Also the IGN switch from Grumpy's... don't use IGN 2 at all... it only lights up when you are using the spring start ****on. So I am not sure where to go with the accessory wire (big brown). I can't really use the accessories since I have electric choke, electric fan, and lock up wires having to go on IGN 1 or Accessory.

Edit: I just hooked up my meter again and I show no difference between the 2nd terminal on IGN 1 and the T/S when the key is in the ON position or RUN position. So hopefully you arent running anything other than accessories to your IGN switch.

Also, I didnt need to put the fuse block on little blocks, the wiring was fine laying down without grounding out on the firewall OR rubbing up against anything. I might have missed the memo on that one. I didnt see any issues though.

 

Wow, this keeps getting better and better. The guages looks amazing and so does the motor. Love them white exhaust manifolds as well. What a clean build.

 

I read this post and then went out to think about the original bundling from Rebel. Yeah it could use a nip and tuck here and there so I started cutting tie wraps myself. I'm mainly doing it to loose wires that are not going to be needed for mine. I will put a call into them this AM to ask about a few more but I've just about got all the big chunks routed at this point. I have a good friend arriving tomorrow which will really help me out with some of the major items. I'm off work today and Monday so here we go!!!!

Cheers,

Robert M.

 

Cool, post some pics when you are done. I didnt remove my lines because I might upgrade here and there in the future. Are you going to keep this permanently stock or upgrade it eventually?

 

Yeah I'm not really planning to change this much at all once its running. So I'm just yanking things like the 3rd brake light light wire and the oil sending wire etc....

I've got the wires routed to the back and will start tying them off here shortly. I also have the fuel filter / lines going in and the bumpers are getting some treatment at the same time.... Running like mad. I've got help on the way either tonight or Sunday depending on weather.

Pictures later on as well as more updates.

~Robert M.

 

Damn Robert. You get done more work in one evening than I can do in an entire month. Don't you ever sleep?

The truck looks great by the way!

 

Nice to take a day off! Wow! Got rained on 3 freak'n time today however..... It is May right?

So we got the ****** up and onto the engine for good. That unit is just about ready to go in. I noticed something tonight with the starter/exhaust relationship that worries me but I will figure it out in the AM. Here's a little shot from above:



I was able to really slice and dice my way thru the harness and get things really going where I wanted during the morning hours. Here's a shot of the main groups going their separate ways. I know that a few wires are slightly non-straight and twist here and there but I had to call it and move on. You'll never see this **** and it's gonna work fine. I have done the ultra crazy stuff in the past and have a deep appreciation for those who do it all the time but this is it for this RIG. The harness is basically ready to terminate at all major locations now in the cab. All switches and gauges can be clipped striped crimped and plugged in. This is on the docket for the AM.



Its too dark to take shots now but I do have the the entire rear section in and tied off all the way to the back. The wires are ready to terminate at the stop switch and high beam and the rest of the rear is all loomed and fastened to the frame. I did manage to make the first connection tonight by hitting the fuel sending unit!!!!

Which leads me to the next thing. FUEL LINES.

I ran the entire line from the back of the cab thru the new spin on filter and then up to the front of the engine in 3/8" hard line. Pretty simple run but put a few twists and turns into it on it's way up to the front. New rubber line goes from the tank down to the hard line as well as the up front area where it ties into the pump. Kinda dark but here's a shot...



In between things I cleaned and prepped the front and rear bumpers. These will get chromed at some point but not now.... Out of Money for this little project and need to get it road worthy. So I stuck with the Cast Iron theme and painted them up. They look OK and will do for now. The grill will get this same treatment as well as the headlight doors/bezels.



The evening was time for removing the seat and cleaning the back of the cab area. Dirty dirty and you would expect....



Then comes the DynaMat!!! Sweet stuff and I can't believe how fast it changes the tone on the metal.



Last the heat barrier goes in and gets the seems all taped up nice. This was a kit from Brothers Truck Parts that was on sale for only $150 this past month. I figured it was worth a chance.... I think it will make a big diff. The front section will go in and get covered by my new floor mat but not until I'm done climbing around inside.



Final little goodie of the night. My SWEET caps arrived today! I'm digging these a bunch!




So there was my Friday..... Tomorrow will be a good one as well and then Sunday is the one I'm looking forward to. My buddies are coming up to help with the final big push before my last week of work on this thing. That will be a huge help because up until now it's just me, the wife, and my little Dude.....



They are great help as well but I need a touch more for Sunday.

Good Night All.... More news soon,

Robert M.

 

This might be a dumb question by whats with the tiny pieces of DynaMat?

 

Oh, and were did you get those caps? Those are NICE!

 

Well I thought the same thing... But I don't think you need to cover the entire surface to get the "effect". Each raised panel area is like a little drum head. So one piece of Dyna in the middle kinda kills the drum head and quiets the truck down. I know that I rapped the floor up front where the dyna in not in yet vs. the rear section and it's a huge difference.

Wheel Vintiques. They were Back Ordered for a week due to a wait at the platers. These are super nice but I'm slightly concerned with how they hold into the wheels. I might make a really small notch on the retainer bumps so that the cap will register in these when I bang it into the wheel. I feel like these want to pop out without too much interaction right now.

 

Yikes... OK, so Saturday was solid and I managed to wire pretty much the entire inside of the truck. There are a few lights still to hook up for the heater control and the IGN switch but I'll catch that this week.

Had to split to a wedding last night so that was out...

Today was *****IN.... My good buddy Dave showed up and we rocked it pretty good.

1. Motor is in and lots of little things are ****oned up on that.

2. Drive shaft is in.

3. Bed is back on and bolted down.

4. Tail Lights are wired up.

5. Fuel Lines are all hooked up.

6. Cab has been unbolted and re-bolted with new rubber pads. We also aligned the cab square to the frame.

7. Brakes are 100% and ready for the road.

Yeah I'm still not there but it's looking a bunch closer after tonight.

I'm too tired to write more but here's the pics of a few things.





More news in the AM....

Robert M.

 

Kick ***!!!!

 

Amazing build Robert.


Go Man Go!!

- Joe

 

Just a thought Robert... how much PSI will that motor be running as far as oil pressure goes? I know my gauge set only goes up to 60 lbs and I know that my 350 runs normally between 60-80 or higher if something is wrong. Are you going to try and hook that up to the stock guage set?

 

Wow, looking good now!

 

JOE!!!!!

What a *****in painting! That will serve as my final drive for this week!

I'm trying to figure out how to get a AAA towing guy to come by and get this thing tomorrow to haul it down to SR and get my exhaust installed. I have today off work as well so I should be able to kill that last big chunks getting down to hopefully a relatively short punch list after that.

We will see....

Again, That's a awesome Painting!

Thanks Again for everyones good words!

Robert M.

 

Yeah I think I ordered a high volume pump but not high pressure. I can't quite remember? Hopefully it doesn't kill the gauge. But yes all the gauges are stock in the dash. I just love that stock panel!

More news soon.

Robert M.

 

You are doing a fine job on your Truck ! The key to getting projects done is not waiting to get parts. I hate that. So when you start collecting, making parts or ordering parts for the AA/FD, have the pile ready. Don't even start unless you have them. Once you start, you have to keep the ball rolling. I can't wait to see it happen.

 

I'm glad you dig the drawing!

I can't believe I missed your build thread this long... I'll have to spend some time tonight reading it in detail.

I can't wait to see the pix of the stance with the bed on!

- Joe

 

What size and brand tires are you running? I'm thinking of ditching my skinny white walls for the look you got going. nice...

 

Sweet! Yeah I wanted to do a build thread for the truck as I really enjoy showing the work to other fella's and picking up little notes and tips from others along the way. I did the same thing when I built my last locomotive and it was really fun. It took a bit longer than this project but I still tried to do***ent it as much as possible.

Today is Day #55 since I turned the first wrench.... I haven't enjoyed a auto project as much as this one in a long time! The sun is out and I'm ready to get at!

~Robert M.

 

The Fronts are:
15x6" Wheel Vintiques "Smoothies"
w/ Firestone 6.70-15's

The Rears are:
15x7" Wheel Vintiques "Smoothies"
w/ Firestone 8.90-15's

It's basically the same tire combo as the *****in truck known as FRANKE here on the HAMB. FRANKE had this same diameter tires but on 16" rims. I wanted 15's so I just backed my way thru the numbers and ordered them up.

Cheers,

Robert M.

 

I took a few pics of the truck using the real camera... Here's a look of the overall thing right now. I will prep and probably install the front clip today and I'm now booked for the muffler shop on Wednesday AM. Should be able to light it off Thursday night and or Friday.

Take a look:




Back to work!

 

45 days..............yeah, you can do it.

 

Wow! I wish I had your skills. Great job!

 

Man this truck is comming out really *****en, nice choice on the engine and ****** combo.