Steve's 64 Short-bed Project

[SteveCanup]

Seats bolted in....took allllll day to get them worked out. Started the center arm rest and ran out of daylight and time. Will finish and post pics....stay tuned for more.
Steve-

[SteveCanup]

Who knew that it would take most of the day to finish bolting seats in and building a console. I just need to realize that this stuff takes longer than I anticipate....or maybe I work too slow. Anyway, I finished the first version of the arm rest and just need to get it upholstered. I think it is a little to tall (high), so I might take it back out and shorten it. My 3 point seat belts should be in today or tomorrow. So much to do....so little time....
Stay tuned...I'll snap a pic of my progress today and post....

[SteveCanup]

Post deleted because it was no longer relevant....

[SteveCanup]

Stepping out of the box....I came across a pair of black leather (ladies size 20) pants at the local second hand store today. Best $15 I have ever spent. If they had been a smaller size I would not have had enough material. I cut the back pocket area out and sewed that in as storage in the front of the arm-rest. I also had a 12 volt receptacle/charger that I installed behind the cup holders.

I will install today...also my 3-point seat belts came in...
Steve-

[SteveCanup]

Finishing 'house stuff' today...then went out and played. Seats and armrest installed, but I still need to get the seatbelts finished. I removed the drivers side cab to frame bolts and replaced them with new grade 8's. I added 1/4 inch of washers to level the cab.

[viper driver]

I like the two tone shift knob. The idea to replicate it on the wheel sounds great.

[SteveCanup]

Thanks, my camera doesn't do it justice (somewhat blurry)...Still planning to paint the steering wheel, I just have to get the time. I got the idea from the www.con2r.com site. They offer really nice 2 tone steering wheels...only $354.....

[SteveCanup]

Another milestone....seatbelts are installed and they work flawlessly. I had to redo the cab washers, and I might have to pony up and just buy the proper cab mount bushings. I'm hoping to fix the problem with adding washers on top of the original bushings. I also picked up a four pack of very large rubber washers from the hardware store to put between the top washer the bottom of the cab to eliminate any squeaking. Stay tuned....
Steve-

[SteveCanup]

Steering wheel is "next" on the list. I want to pull it off of the column and repair and repaint it...and the column too. I am seriously thinking of two-toning it red and white. I've been reading articles on steering wheel repair. I'm wanting to add some extra sound proofing to the cab as well and also thinking about getting some wide white wall tires. Stay tuned for updates and pics....

[SteveCanup]

The right front wheel began to leak air between the center and the hoop. I had to remove the tire and clean and weld the wheel again. It was a good time to repaint the wheel and I wanted to touch up the white paint on the center caps. Turned out great. Now to get the other three wheels and center caps repainted...

[SteveCanup]

I want to make my own wooden covered steering wheel. Honest Charley's garage did this to a '54 Buick steering wheel and it is awesome...hopefully the 'link' will work...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoFo36k9Z4M

[SteveCanup]

So I bought the truck a year and a half ago and the previous owner had installed a Hurst floor shifter. I found the original column shift linkages in some of my 'stuff' along with some brand new bushings and decided to reinstall the column shifter. Since I have repaired the cab mounts, which usually cause shifter binding, I thought it would be cool to go back to the column shift. Needless to say it was a wasted 1/2 day. I installed everything and the shifter parts inside of the column are "worn slap out" (as my brother says). Immediately the column shifter went into a bind and would not shift....anyway, back to the floor shifter. My only complaint about the floor shifter is the loooong throw between 1st and 2nd gear. I'm looking at the linkages to see if I can shorten the throw. Still planning to do something with my steering wheel...haven't decided whether to repair it (again)....or to build a wooden cover for it.
Stay tuned...

[therealjoeshmoe]

that wheel they built is freaking awesome!!!

[SteveCanup]

Yeah....I have a GMC steering wheel from a '65 truck that is the same size as the one in my '64 (17 inch.) I have stripped the bakelite off of the outer ring, removed the center from the hoop and cut the hoop down to 15 inches and re-welded the center into the hoop. I have some glued up oak that I might use. All I need right now is the 3/4 inch roundover bit. I will post pics as I go along.

[SteveCanup]

Polar Vortex is here! Man, it is cold outside....and snowing. Hard to motivate to do anything with an old truck when it is like this....

[SteveCanup]

I had some spare time this afternoon and thought I would work on my wooden steering wheel project for my truck. My father-in-law has a woodworking shop behind our house and we fired up the wood stove and tinkered for a little bit. I couldn't decide whether to use 3/4 inch stock or 1/2 inch stock for my steering wheel blanks. If I used 3/4 inch stock the wheel would be 1 1/2 inch thick verses 1/2 inch stock which would give me a 1 inch wheel. My father-in-law (Bob) had some 1/2 inch Baltic birch plywood scraps that I thought would look great. So here's some pics of the 'trial' or 'practice' run. We didn't have a 1/2 inch round off bit for the router, we only had a 1/4 inch bit which didn't get the wooden blank fully rounded. I'm pleased with how it turned out and will look. Now to go get some quality birch plywood and a 1/2 inch round off bit...

Will post pics as we progress with this project.

[SteveCanup]

I have the wood and the bits....just have to get a block of time at the same time as Bob....anxious to get this started....
Stay tuned....

[SteveCanup]

Tinkered with the practice piece and the round-over bit....came out pretty good. Hopefully we can get in the shop tomorrow and cut out a wooden steering wheel...

Will take pics of the process....

[SteveCanup]

Spent the morning in the shop cutting a practice blank out of 3/4 inch birch plywood. It turned out pretty good...especially after making a few mistakes and trying to figure measurements. Stopped for lunch...and to post this....will cut the final pieces this afternoon. I will take and post pics of the outcome. I will have to remove and cut up my stock steering wheel, but it is cracked anyway. Stay tuned...

[SteveCanup]

Pics of steering wheel progress...
What we started with


Outer ring cut and ready...


Fitting the steering wheel ring into the wood...

Bob's shop...a little crowded...

Routing the outer ring


Outer ring finished

A little touch-up on the scroll saw


Ran out of time....will finish and post pics...still have quite a bit to do yet....