Slick 60's

well, i broke down and bought me a 2 ton cherry picker. so i got my cab pulled off finally. I have one word (RUST) i put some pics in my build album...

Rare 80 degree dry day in Pittsburgh on Sunday, garage was nice and toasty, so I sprayed the underside of the bed and the cowl behind the front wheels and where the fenders cover the cab with Raptor bed liner. Three bottles covered it nicely, two would have been enough. Man I love the finish the spray lays down. No lumps, nice and even. I had a black base down first. Looks like plastic coating when cured. Did underside and inside of new cab floors last fall. Bed goes back on this Saturday, raining of course.

Did a little maintenance on the ol' tow truck, including a Pertronix installation. Re-spooled the cables after lifting the ramp bed crew cab off the trailer. Aired up tires and fired up the Uni. Didn't want Spot to feel left out, so heading back to drive it a bit.
Then of course it's back to laying out air ride components and doing some car trailer maintenance pre-Pate!
Nice, progressive day, wish the wind would die down somewhat!
Paul

Got all the porting clean-up, bowl blending, cutting for oversized valves and port matching done on the '61 heads for the 410 I'm building for my '62 uni. Also finished all the mock-up of the throttle linkage, fuel lines and progressive carb linkage for the '63 8V intake with a pair of 600 Holleys on it. Dropped the heads back off this afternoon at the machine shop for a new set of stainless valves (upping the exhaust valves to early 427 diameter) and new valve springs along with a complete rebuild.

Dropped the 428 crank (that I got from good member Aarons428) at a different shop to get ground and polished.

Also got all the broken bolts out of the firewall so I can bolt my hood hinges back on to adjust things before blowing it all apart and getting serious.

Picked up a C6 for a core to build since mine has a cracked bell in 2 places. Got that last Tuesday.

Tomorrow I start ripping the starter out of the '66 to get the Bendix repaired. It doesn't want to kick in all the time. Wouldn't be bad except I will probably have to remove the header to get it off!

SPark

I discovered this stellar wheel bearing and completed my first wheel bearing swap today. On to checking the other 3 tomorrow!

ThinLizzy13 wrote:I discovered this stellar wheel bearing and completed my first wheel bearing swap today. On to checking the other 3 tomorrow!

dang, you could have got at least 5,000 more miles outta THAT!! LOL

Cut some nails off and stick them in there to replace the lost bearings It'll be FINE !

foodstick wrote:Cut some nails off and stick them in there to replace the lost bearings It'll be FINE !

Uh...... I was in a pinch one time....
Helping a friend replacing a u-joint
In a COLD dirt floor barn
Dropped it and lost a bunch of needle bearings
The old ones were trash
Dug around and found all but two.......
Finally took a finish nail and trimmed it to length
He ran it several years

Spent the better part of a day removing and replacing the starter last week. Had to split the exhaust and take the header off the right side and raise the engine a couple inches. Then after plenty of cussing, pushing and twisting, got it all back together. Starts great now. Have now replaced the switch, solenoid and starter. Should be good for a while. Also changed out the heater on/off valve under the hood since it leaked like a sieve. Had a slow drip from the radiator drain petcock so removed and replaced it to dry everything up again. Success all around!

Got the new "blue dot" taillights on my '66. Got new lenses from LMC and Blue Dots from Speedway. Drilled the lenses yesterday and sealed everything back up with silicone. Also added new lens gaskets.



While I was at it, I also changed the front turn signal lenses and gaskets.
The original lenses looked like if you bumped them they would crumble. When you ran a chamois across them, they actually crackled.




Need to buff the surrounding trim next. Wanted to get it driving so I could enjoy it again.

I also decided to fix a couple pieces of side trim. Had a couple broken clips. Replaced clips on the cowl piece on the passenger side, what a pain. Who thought up the nut location for these? Also had a broken stud on the very rear clamp and another on the hood side, got them all replaced, too.





Spent some time with soap and water, cleaned all the winter dirt and dust off of it and took it for a little 25 mile cruise. Ready for summer! It's all good.

SPark

That looks nice Steve! I love the look and the wheels! Is that stock suspension and ride height?

Thanks for the comment, Simon.

Front springs have been cut and rears have been de-arched. Not sure how much, it was done before I traded the '57 for it. The front will occasionally hit the bump stops (shorty poly versions) but not very often. Has to be a pretty good bump. Never hear the rear hit. Drives really nice this way. It sits a couple inches higher than my uni bit I don't think you could get a twin I beam truck much lower without serious work or different/fabbed beams.

SPark

great looking truck

Steve it looks better than I remember !

And Pat, I was just making a crazy joke, and here you guys in Kansas are MAKING THE MAGIC HAPPEN !

Left the Wallymart of swap meets with several truck and trailer loads of goodies bound for Houston members!
Nothing stirs the creative juices like newly obtained parts!
Thanks again to Chris and family, and all the members who stopped by.
Paul

Played around yet AGAIN on the brake rod length, finally got it working perfect. So I decided to ordered a new non-power master cylinder from Advanced Auto since everyting else in the system is new. I'll install the new MC and transfer rod length to the new one. New one has rod apart from the master, so easier to hold in the vise. Tried to order the 68 Mustang or the 67 F100 master so I would not have to cut the rod, but all they could get that wasn't made in China was one for a 78 f150. After all, if I wanted something from China I would have ordered from DC.....

Uncovered the truck due to really nice weather! Saw it as a photo opportunity!

Can you tell what's been done? No it's not photoshoped.

Before:


After:

moved the center bars and added to the top of grill ....... centered the cross bars in the middle of grille

looks good

Danny

Hunter's 64 wrote:moved the center bars and added to the top of grill ....... centered the cross bars in the middle of grille

looks good

Danny

Thank you for the kind words. It was a lot of work.
At a recent car show no one noticed, then a purist walked by and had to do a double take.
He stared at it for a moment then started pointing his finger at my grille.
I was laughing pretty hard by then.
With a grin he said "That's beautiful, that's how they should have been made."
So thank you for your compliment.

Found a drip on my drivers side front wheel on the inside, ordered new seals [25077 NAPA ] fit like a glove [ original leather ones R340-232-8 could not cross ], got to lube up my front hubs, not that I'll ever use 4X4 , but they now work great, oil filter and lube, removed front bumper mounted spare tire for a different look this season, Samantha and I went for a short 5 mile shakedown, no issues, wash and wax tomorrow, then ready for some summer driving! And when I first got her, it had wide tires 10 or 12 x 16.5 so I added a front steering damper worrying about the 'death wobble' 7.50 X 16 have been on for a bit but steers hard, disconnected shock, could not move it, removed it all together, 2 finger steering now