Slick 60's

(NOTE: This entire build thread is being edited as I have the time. I had detailed pictures of all aspects of the build...until photobucket. I am reloading pics...)

Hi all, just joined the site a few weeks ago. I purchased a '64 short-bed back in May of this year. It has the original 292, 3 speed which has been moved from the column to the floor. It was in fair condition with the usual rust here and there. I have cleaned it up with oven cleaner, a pressure washer and lots of elbow grease. Recovered the seat with a black vinyl upholstery kit from LMC, repainted the interior (red and white), except for the dash and installed carpet. I made my own head-liner from 1/8 inch mar-lite board from Lowes Hardware and covered it with black foam headliner material from Joanne's fabric. I also purchased a yard of their "high end" heavy black vinyl to make door panels. I have a set of mono-springs arriving tomorrow from POL to lower the front 4 1/2 inches. Maybe a Sid's axle later on. I've installed 15 X 8 wheels on the rear with 255/70/15's and I "reversed" the front wheels (15 x 6) by knocking the centers out and re-welding them in with about 2 1/2 inch back space. I did not like the way the front wheels appeared to be too far back in the wheel-wells. I will post pics as I figure out how to and share my progress as I attempt to bring this old truck back to life.
Steve-
Here's a 'photoshopped' pic someone did for me on the HAMB...
http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/s60 ... 6890683886

When I first brought it home. Nasty, dirty and neglected...but it ran. I drove it the 50 miles from the sellers home to mine.

Nice truck. Just a word about the floor shifter. Anytime I see a floor shifter in one of these trucks , I suspect cab mount problems. When the cab mounts start sagging, it put strain on the steering column and wears shifter parts and in the case of a 64 and earlier makes the truck harder to drive, as it puts a bind on the steering column.

Rich

Thanks Rich. Yep the driver's side floor was rusted out around the front cab mount when I bought the truck. It was one of the first repairs that I did. Also did the passengers side. My son and I "wallowed and squirmed" (and he even said we "pinched and clinched" a few times) and installed the new front mono-springs. It was a pain...probably because we did it in the wrong order or something. We removed the old springs and installed the new springs... and then lowered the truck down onto the axle. The hard part was getting the "locator bolt" in the spring to match the hole in the axle. Was a royal pain. We even had to drop the headers off of the engine to get the rear eye bolts out. Glad it is done...dropped it 4 1/2 inches and it looks better...more aggressive....cooler....etc.
Steve-

Still trying to figure out how to post pics here....

Very nice, I like the photoshopped colour scheme.

You're halfway there in terms of posting photos. On Photobucket, to the right of the image where it says "Share Links" all you need to do is click in the bottom box that says "IMG". The box will turn yellow and say "Copied". Then all you need to do is paste the link in your message. Like so:

Thanks Big M. I managed to get the pic to post somewhere else here. Still learning.

Let's see if this works...here's a pic of what I brought home...

very nice

Mike

With the mono-springs and sway bar installed on the front. Next I will drop the rear 4 inches. After that...

Some pics (if anyone is interested) of the original 15 x 6 steel wheels reversed.



Pic of 'before' and 'after' for comparison...


Finished and painted wheel...

Very nice looking truck!

Frigid outside...so, I worked on my headlight bezel this afternoon. Removed the anodyzed coating with easy-off oven cleaner, sanded with 120, 220, 400, green scrub pad, polish #1, polish #2, and Mothers Mag wheel polish. Turned out pretty good. Now to get the other one polished. Here's pics of before and after...

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I like the front wheels. Did you notice any increase in steering effort after reversing them?

Big M, it steers the same. All this did was move the wheels 2 inches out in the wheel wells. The handing and ride are the same.

I had no idea you could do that with the easy off over cleaner. now I know what I'm doing this winter!

390fastback...it took 2 applications to get the anodized coating off. You also have to sand the trim piece starting with 120- to 150 grit going down to at least 600 (or finer). Then polish with various rubbing and polishing compounds to get the shine up. It is still a messy, time consuming process and take patience to get good results. Just make sure that the product that you use, whether Easy off or drain cleaner, has lye or Sodium Hydroxide in it...or is the main ingredient. The idea is to remove the anodized coating. I'm working on all of my dull trim and piece or two at a time. here's a link from the HAMB (I guess that I can share that here on this site) that is a great tutorial for polishing aluminum trim.
Steve-

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/thre ... im.154089/

Man...if it would just warm up...even just a little bit. I want to pull the bed off and install lowering shackles on the rear. I am going to reverse the front rear spring hangers as well to get the 4" of lowering. While the bed is off I want to clean and paint the frame and repair the right rear cab corner. The drivers side of the bed needs some bodywork and I can do that better with the bed removed. I will post some pics when I do get to work on it....because we all love pics.

I'm not sure what the temperature is where you are, but I don't see any snow, so get out there and get something done. It was 12 degrees here in western NY today, which is ten degrees warmer than yesterday, once it gets to 35-40 it'll feel like summer.
I would like to see a pic of the front springs, I also have a 64

I think I said it backwards....I am going to grind the rivets off of the front Rear spring hangers (that can sound confusing) and reverse them to bring the front of the rear spring up several inches on the frame. Doing this in conjunction with longer shackles at the rear of the spring will result in lowering the rear of my truck about 4 inches. I have installed reverse-eye mono leaf springs on the front which lowered it 4 1/2 in the front. The back is too high now and it has too much rake.
Steve-