'62 Unibody Still Plugging Along

[LM14]

It's official, I've started. Going to try to document this one like I did my '57 build. The parts deliveries have been coming daily. So far I have the front wheels and rear tires (they lost the front tires someplace between Ohio and Iowa and the rear wheels went on 2+ month backorder so they were ordered another place), should have the rear wheels and "replacement" front tires yet this week, got the Ididit tilt/shift column today. Got the triangulated 4 bar kit, steering wheel mount and steering wheel adapter Friday. Last Wednesday I picked up the steering wheel, aluminum radiator and new bucket seats. Got my Ranger package seat mounts from Bill a couple months back. The 430/auto are sitting there ready to put on the engine stand for a quick freshen. Been pulling side trim off the truck, stripping the interior, and cleaning it out. Got to get the Industrial Chassis kit ordered so I can get the new wheels and tires on! Here's a couple teaser pics. I'll post more soon.








At the same time, I'm building a 1970 Maverick "Pro Stock". 351 Cleveland, Weiand tunnel ram, wide ratio Top Loader, narrow the 9" and mini tubbed it, Fenton wheels, etc. Trying to follow the 1970 Pro Stock rules on this one. A couple quick pics of it. Got the stock taillight panel put in Saturday, no more Cougar lights.




Busy, fun times ahead!
SPark

[deflaytedwayz]

Sweet! 11yrs ago we had my Uni and brother's Maverick in front of the house. Fun little car.

[LM14]

Got a few more parts and pieces delivered/opened.

Tires are BFG Radial T/A, 255/70R15 and 215/70R15 on jegs/Summit wheels. 8" rear, 7" front.




Really nervous about the steering column until it arrived. First "high dollar" car part I've bought off of Amazon.com. It is an Ididit, American made, 33" long, tilt, shifter, turn signals and 4 ways, paintable column (it will be green) and it was $200-250 cheaper than some "normal" places I priced. The CON2R brand steering wheel is the colors for the interior. White seats and door inserts. White and green dash. Green everywhere else with black carpet (unless you know somebody that makes dark green carpet for a unibody?). A real departure for me to go green on anything. Has a nice "cotton candy, 50-early 60s" vibe about it (I hope!). The column and wheel are resting on the seats. Really don't want to unbox the seats until I'm ready to fit them, white may have been my first mistake. Fairly nervous about that, too.



The triangulated 4 bar system is a poly bushed Speedway part designed for a 33-34 Ford. The lower frame mounts won't work "as is" but will lend themselves nicely to modification to fit the uni frame. Think the rest will work well for the truck, guess we'll all find out together!



Got the trim all off, ready to pull the little 6 cyl/3 speed.

Later!
SPark

[randyr]

Green everywhere else with black carpet (unless you know somebody that makes dark green carpet for a unibody?).


Later!
SPark

http://www.stockinteriors.com/ These guys have several shades of green carpet that should fit your truck and they send free samples.

[LM14]

Took most of the day, but finally separated the engine and tranny. Got the engine on the stand and started taking it apart. 1070# of fun!

SPark

[LM14]

430 is stripped down. Only broke 1 stud and 1 bolt on the exhaust manifolds. It still had all the original lock clips on the bolts. Doesn't appear that it has ever been apart.

Got the original seat out (anyone want it?) and floor mat. Pretty much what we expected for rust spots. A couple little areas, nothing major.

Got the new seats figured out. Used Bill's "Ranger" mounts. He had graciously talked to Speedway about these seats fitting his mounts before I bought mine. It would have worked great......but the guy at Speedway gave Bill the dimensions for the seat frame, NOT the sliders where they were to mount to the floor, or the Ranger brackets in this case. I could slot Bill's mounts like he suggested when I was buying my brackets, and it would bolt together easy but that eliminated the slider. That left me with no adjustment and the seats were a couple inches low. Not Bill's fault in any way, Speedway just didn't understand what he was bolting the seat to or forgot there should be a slider between the seat and floor mount. I ended up modifying the sliders on the Scat/Speedway seats. Cut a couple pieces off, drilled 2 holes and everything worked great. Took the better part of a day to get the passenger side sitting right, will only take a couple hours to do the driver's side.




Will take pics of the Scat/Speedway mounts as I adapt them to Bill's brackets for the driver's side. Seats feel good and feel like they are located right.

Keep you posted!
SPark

[eaglefan]

Look's like you are off to a great start! Where did you find a Uni in that good shape? I like your choice of colors, it ought to have a very nostalgic feel and look. I'm from Sioux City where are you located? Keep up the good work I'll keep reading about your build. Later

[LM14]

Did a little road trip and ended up in Whitewright Texas last fall. Got it down there. 1800+ miles of looking at unibodies that were supposed to be "rust free". This was closest to fitting that bill.

I'm about as far from Sioux City as you can get and still be in Iowa. I'm in Bloomfield, 10 miles north of Missouri line, 70 miles west of Mississippi river. Grew up in Atlantic, College in Council Bluffs and still have family in the Denison area. Wife has some family in your area still.

Later,
SPark

[LM14]

No pics to post but I made a couple big steps today.

#1 - Got the Industrial Chassis Dakota cross member kit ordered! Trying to keep the guys in brown delivery trucks busy.

#2 - Local salvage yard will have me a 70,000 mile front frame stub from a '96 Dakota in a couple days. Rear-ended truck with nice front clip.

#3 - Local NAPA store will get me my front springs that Steve at IC recommended to support the 1070# of 430/Auto Lincoln that is going in this truck.

#4 - The rearend comes out for a quick trip to Quick Performance in Ames, IA for a pattern change from 5.5" to 4.5" to match the Dakota (I know, a '96 Dakota has 6 bolt wheels but the new '88 rotors have the 5 on 4.5" pattern).

Later,
SPark

[jamesdfo]

Spark: It's been awhile since I downloaded and read the IC Dakota crossmember installation writeup, but I seem to recall mention of using D100 rotors to get the big boltpattern, thus making changing of boltpattern on rear axle unecessary??

I will have to go look now, to verify or refute:)

Industrial Chassis Dakota Crossmember Installation
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1td7 ... edit?pli=1

EDIT: Yup, here is the text, copied off the installation writeup:

"Big brakes and stock Ford 5 on 5 ½ Bolt circle is as easy as getting the rotors, calipers and bracket from 1986 Dodge Ram 1500. This is a direct bolt on. Otherwise the stock Dakota rotors are 11 3/8” in diameter and have a 5 on 4 ½ ” bolt circle. The later 91-96 Dakotas use an unusual 6 on 4 ½” bolt circle that is only common with the Dodge Viper."

James

No pics to post but I made a couple big steps today.

#4 - The rearend comes out for a quick trip to Quick Performance in Ames, IA for a pattern change from 5.5" to 4.5" to match the Dakota (I know, a '96 Dakota has 6 bolt wheels but the new '88 rotors have the 5 on 4.5" pattern).

Later,
SPark

[LM14]

My wheels don't come in 5.5, only 4.5 or 4.75 so it's a bolt pattern change for me.

I thought about the big pattern but didn't find any wheel that did what I wanted in that pattern for this particular build.

SPark

[jamesdfo]

Spark: I figured there must be a reason:):)

James

My wheels don't come in 5.5, only 4.5 or 4.75 so it's a bolt pattern change for me.

I thought about the big pattern but didn't find any wheel that did what I wanted in that pattern for this particular build.

SPark

[LM14]

The big brown truck dropped off the new Industrial Chassis cross member kit yesterday. Finally got to unpack it today (what the shippers hadn't already ripped open for me). Looks nice, I'll take a lot of pictures or the process.

Also made a quick trip to Ames today (to Quick Performance) to drop off the back axles and a new set of brake drums to be re-drilled to 5 on 4.5 bolt pattern. Should be done yet this week but probably won't be back up to pick them up until Wednesday (time this right and I can pick up a night of watching races on the way home )

Hopefully by this time next week, I'll have the Dakota stub and be able to make it a roller again.

SPark

[LM14]

Finally got a bit done today. Got the front clip off and the old 6 cyl/3 speed out of there.





Anyone that wants or needs anything off this engine/tranny can have it. I don't want to get into shipping things but it's up for grabs. FREE! The previous owner thought the block was cracked so keep that in mind.

Also, I have no need for the front suspension/steering (getting the Industrial Chassis Dakota kit in front with a tilt/shift Ididit column going back in place of the original stuff) so yell if you want something there, too. It's going for free if anybody needs any of this to keep their ride going, it's yours. The drag link is bent, other than that things look good.

Also got the front diagonal braces removed (see the first pic above to see the hacked pieces some rocket scientist had cut in half to make way for the engine at some point in it's life) and got my replacement pieces welded in.



Anyone that hasn't seen the Industrial Chassis kit it is well made. Looks like it will go together very nice compared to some Mustang II kits I have used in the past.



You can also see the diagonal braces I put in, they are not part of the IC kit, they are repair work and came off a donor truck.

One neat thing on it, I was surprised to see it stamped "IC, Mfd for Steve Park, #10".





Will photograph the entire install of the IC kit. Once that is in, I will be putting a triangulated 4 bar in the rear.
SPark

[LM14]

Since my thumb isn't up to banging and prying yet. I've shifted gears and started a couple of the body mods. I was talking to the guys in chat last night about building a custom fuel tank that takes up the front 9" of the bed. Since it will be under a cover, nobody will ever see it. I also want it to look fairly stock from the outside so I decided to move the stock fuel filler neck back several inches to fill the new tank. Figured the best way was to cut the hole out and move it back. Basically moved it from the front to the rear of the stake pocket.











Hopefully get a few of the smaller things taken care of while the thumb catches up to my needs. Tomorrow it's mock up the steering column and mounts. Got the front end mostly stripped. All that's left is the steering box and tranny cross member and they leave tomorrow! Then it's time to remove all the front suspension mounts riveted to the frame.



SPark

[rickairmedic]

Spark I like the fuel filler move it will take most that dont know what you did a while to figure it out and you get the tank out of the cab .


Rick

[LM14]

Fuel filler move is done for now. Will do the fine work when the body work is done.





Got the steering column mocked up. Made a new floor plate in one piece instead of two. Had to remove a notch from the upper saddle of the stock column drop to clear the location the wiring leaves the column. Also had to remove the little nub on the bottom saddle so it wouldn't hit the column. The Ididit column is the same diameter as the stock Ford is so all the mounts can be used. I am using a misalignment mount on the bottom. It bolts to the floor as you can see and has a compression clamp inside it to grasp the column. You can have several degrees of misalignment and still bolt to the floor. I used a 33" column because I wanted the shift linkage to be down by the frame rail. If you were using a floor shifter, you could probably use a 31 or 32" column just fine. I actually moved the steering wheel 1/2" closer to the dash than stock. Doesn't sound like much but it feels totally different with the move and smaller wheel. Lots more room for gut growth! It felt better in my hands. Tried the stock location, further away and several in between. This was the 6th location I had it. Very comfortable. Been sitting in it most of the afternoon making vroom, vroom sounds. I think this is the final spot.









Got everything stripped off the front and all the old mounts and rivets out. Now to start the Industrial Chassis kit install. Mocked up the right boxing plate to see how much work this is going to be. Took about 5 minutes to get it to fit like this.





Tomorrow it's a road trip to Ames, IA to pick up the re-drilled rear axles and brake drums for the unibody. Also picking up a complete new custom width housing, axles, retainers, bearings, etc for the Maverick.

SPark

[MadMaxetc]

Looks great man. The ICI kit is very nice. I have the old style, but I love how easy it was to install.

[LM14]

Got the front crossmember from the IC Dakota kit put in yesterday. Here's the update.

Everything was re-leveled after clean-up was finished. I actually use the 4' carpenter's level to make a nice place to put my shorter digital level. Everything here was within 0.1 degree of level from front to back and side to side. I chose to first clamp everything in place then tack weld it all at once. My concern was if I tacked the boxing plates in and had trouble getting the crossmember in, this would be an easier way of doing things. This is not how the instructions say to do it, just my way of doing things. Plan on using a lot of clamps. Little tacks to hold things, measure, read and make corrections if needed.




Once everything was in place, I tacked, checked my levels again then welded the majority of the welds for the boxing plates and portions of the crossmember to stabilize everything. A lot of jumping around to spread the heat and a couple breaks to let things cool. At this point you should be putting the lower a-frame rear mounts in place but I'm still waiting on the a-frames so I jumped ahead.



Once everything was solidly welded and wouldn't be moving on me, I placed a jack under the front crossmember and put a very slight amount of pressure on the frame. Again, not something in the instructions but it gave me piece of mind when I wacked the frame rail out. Didn't lift the front of the truck any, just basically took the slack out of the jack to keep anything from drooping when the cuts were made. I then marked out the cuts for the spring pockets on each side and cut one out. It gets a little scary when you cut the frame rail completely out. The spring pocket/upper a-frame mount went in place fairly easily and I tacked it in place.






Once everything checked out, I welded it about 75% complete and moved to the other side. Same process was followed. Everything went together nicely. You may notice the pics show the left side done and the right side cut out while my dialogue is just the opposite. I forgot to take any pics as I cut the left side. I was excited and concentrating so it slipped my mind until the left side was competed. That's why the pics show the left side done and the right side cut out in the background. I did the left, completed it then did the right. DO NOT cut both sides of the frame out at once. Just didn't want anyone to think that is what I did because the pics may be a little confusing




When it was all in place, I lowered my jack in front and everything was still within 0.1 degree of level every direction so I'm pretty happy with that way of doing things.





I have a small area on the lower frame rail that needs a little heat to close the gap between the frame rail and boxing plate. Once that is done, I'll finish weld everything. Ran out of gas for the Mig and oxygen for the torch so things came to a screeching hault yesterday before everything was finished.

I am also waiting on my Dakota parts so I haven't put the rear lower a-frame mounts in, they are just hanging in place in some of the pictures.

Will keep you updated as parts show up!
SPark

[randyr]

Looks awesome, Spark!!!! I've never driven one with the Dakota suspension but it's just a great looking setup. Looking forward to more progress.

Thanks.