Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

Grrrrrrrr...!!!

Managed to delete my whole entry as I was about to post it.

Received my 210 cm ski bag in the post today. Perfect for transporting my side trims home after our trip to the USA in October.

Funny how such a simple tool, costing £20.00 plus the extra baggage item at £60.00 can put the finishing touch to a project. People forget that it is a lot more than just the purchase price of the item to consider.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psfjsg4n4c.jpg

After work I sneaked down to the garage for 4 hrs to take on the drivers side cleaning up, scraping 50 years worth of sand, grease and who knows what else off the suspension etc.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...pszdn3dox3.jpg

Really hard to believe I spent 4 hrs there, but as Ta2Don said, the evidence is on the floor.

Next up I will lift the front end high enough to get in underneath and clean up,the underside, then petrol and a brush to remove more oil, grease, followed by GUNK degreaser and a brush n bucket, finally followed by the pressure cleaner and grease gun to refill all the zillions of grease points before paint.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...pszb1ug7fb.jpg

While I was under and about the engine, I noticed it needs new engine mount rubbers as these are shot.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psijnciszj.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psa3oxet6p.jpg

As are the rubber bump stops, which I will source from LMC or others.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psphppafvm.jpg

As I go along I find more and more evidence that this truck really is 50 years old.

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

Having done the same I can fully believe you spent 4 hours doing that. I think I took around a 100 lbs of crap off mine. Well come on I didnt weigh it, it was just a WAG but it sure seemed like a 100 lbs. LOL.

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

just picked up some more NOS parts today...

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

Finally got around to working on front upper shock bracket relocation. Cut factory welded on brackets and moved them up 2.25 inches in hopes of getting more travel out of my shocks. My current ride height had the fronts just about bottomed out. After some research, I found that "lowered" shocks were damn near the same specs as factory ride height so I don't think they would've addressed the problem. It wasn't a horrible ride but I knew it should've been better. The results were great. Rides MUCH better. Will upgrade to better quality shock soon too.

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

i guess DANA didnt care who they made parts for!!! found these NOS selectors

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

Nothing.....
Was wanting to have her back on the road this spring of this year.....
Now I need to get her back on the road before winter...
Yep...... Um hmmmm..

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

Bed is off the stands and now on the truck (for good) & Rear Bumper is finally on as well.

Driver's side floor work next... then vent box, front fender, touch up the DS cowl panel, a partial DS door bottom and some corner work...

Meanwhile in an undisclosed secret underground lair the 61 hood I got off Grumpy is being transformed into a wonder to behold.

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

Got engine bay painted !

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

Does dreaming about his weekend when I can actually work on the truck count as something? Lol

Work and kids plus not being in my garage is killer lol. :(

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

Amen brother!

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

got some free Oak score!

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

Finally got the ball joints removed. If I never see another rivet again it will be too soon.

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

.
your preaching to the choir Brotha
Life just keeps getting in the way.......

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

Created a bracket out of aluminum angle stock for my new radiator overflow tank and installed it last weekend but I an not sure if I like it so far up. I am thinking of lowering it.

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

I wish I could find a radiator cap that would match.

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

Now that the truck is getting the attention it demands, I am trying to do a bit every night after work.

The new job keeps me a bit busier than the old job, which is great and keeps my head and heart in a good place.

Tonight it was the exhaust system that I got off with the help of some tools and a lot of penetrating oil.

I noticed it has an asymmetric make up.

Hopefully they will. E better when I build the new system.

Incidentally, I bought a pair of Flowmaster 40's today, £131.00 delivered. If you look around a bit you will find they are not going to be much cheaper anywhere else. Thanks to WASP Performance of Wisbech in Cambridgeshire.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psa0hxhd2p.jpg

After the pipes came off, I drained the transmission oil as well, engine old will be done Saturday afternoon after wet testing the compression.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psbvbj8dze.jpg


Note the missing flywheel cover....... It may be somewhere alongside the motorway, no idea if it was ever in place when I bought the truck, but I think it will need replacing too.

Little by Little this onion is getting peeled.

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

I will be doing this same thing hopefully in a couple weeks on the 62. Looks like a good job for the grinder.lol. Been to hot here to even think about working after work.

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

Decided to take the day off and work on the truck some. Beat the heat a little and got on it early. Finished blasting the rear half of the frame and trailing arms, two coats of primer and two coats of black. Hopefully get the rear end back in this week so I can move it and get the cab off. Been an extremely hot summer so far. Sure hope it cool soon although it is just august.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z...psasclgbq6.jpghttp://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z...pszhgduz3t.jpghttp://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z...psr50nvhvv.jpg

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

Today was a loooong day, planned that way so that mate Martin and I could get a lot of the bigger jobs that need a spare pair of hands all done and out the way.

Total,mileage for the day was 150 miles or 240km.

Woken at 05.00 by Harley the garage cat, squeaking to get out, and also for her breakfast, I then came back to bed, dozed till 05.45, surfed the web till 06.15, then got going. Out the house before 07.00 and met Martin at his local service station to fill our motorbikes.
With this whole bloody "refugee" thing at Calais, and the Euro-Tunnel, and Operation Stack, closing the M20 Coast bound, which was most of our route, we were reroute do on secondary roads, which turned out to be a much nicer road than racing down the motorway. We even stopped for a McD's Coffee on the way.
Got to Brenzett to the Mazda MX5 breakers where we had been offered a fan and blower unit for sensible money....... If we removed it ourselves. Martin and I have previously used him before and his stock and prices are always good.

So I was the tool boy, and Martin the brains and brawn today.

Spending about 30 minutes, mostly upside down.....

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...pspnyoqw3x.jpg

RESULT !!!


http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psjhthfya5.jpg


So the result of part one of our trip was this lot, next to the original Chevy blower unit. Smaller, but comes with a four speed blower, and also the controls which will be modified to suit my needs and taste. Again, "mates rates" meant all this for £10.00

With a bit of Dremmel action on the original metal case, and letting in the thermal switch unit, it should be better than new soon.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psds5qmb4f.jpg

So from the Mazda breakers we shot a few miles down the road for Martin to investigate a sandblasting company.
In the same yard we also met up with and chatted to the owner of this beauty...... 98cubic inches of Triumph.
Note the Poppy on the side cover, this guy has his head screwed on right.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psf2ntukls.jpg

Once done there it was the trip back to Martin's place to move some stuff about, get his engine onto his engine stand, then get the engine hoist into the car and shoot over to my place for part three.

Of course, as is often the case, Martin got distracted, and we ended up sorting his bed sides out, as he had to choose the best set to work with, and also cut a section off one for Paul Y to fit to Woody, his truck.
As fate would have it, Martin's one dog possibly knocked the precariously placed motor off the trolley it was perched on, and it made a soft landing on the two original bed sides......... Martin almost burst into tears, seeing his bed sides destroyed.
So out came the air saw, and cutter discs........ Reducing even more of his original truck to scrap.

After this, we managed to mount his motor onto the engine stand, dismantle and carry the hoist through his house into the car and came over to my place, where Nicola had cooked us a MASSIVE PIZZA for lunch....... Hero girl.

After this we assembled the engine hoist, proceeded to remove all final bits keeping the engine attached to the frame, body etc.......

Some wires duly photographed, no idea why as its getting a completely new harness.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psrpjgauoc.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psrg0vdrds.jpg

What is this part up against the bulkhead for?

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psyasanbty.jpg

Here is a shocker....... Grizz in Safety boots.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...pspyfixr37.jpg

How long have we been waiting for this?

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psttyl2nxd.jpg

Leaving a gaping hole with engine perches back in place.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psthdvvbia.jpg

Engine mounts will be getting replaced, I suspect with high end poly items, rather than the standard rubber mounts.
All bump stops are getting replaced too.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psrljbejmy.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps9ty472gn.jpg

Next was placing the engine and gearbox safely onto the pallet and pallet truck........all good with blocks of support.

]http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...pspid2ffcj.jpg

I also agreed to buy his FelPro gaskets off Martin for £25.00 as my engine is a bit leaky.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psdj3arxmu.jpg

Pushed the truck (well, what's left of it) out of the garage to push the engine and box into the rear of the garage........ Martin was driving, with me navigating. A disconnect resulted in the pallet truck stopping and the motor continuing its trip.
So we had to remove the already packed away engine crane from the Mondeo, reassemble it, lift the motor and get it all back together. Funny how you get better every time you repeat stiff.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psugklfjkq.jpg


So the next job will be to dismantle and clean up the front of the chassis, lift the cab to replace the cab mount rubbers, and paint the chassis.


A long day, but this was a great result, again I have to thank Martin for his help (yes, we both help each other, but I am happy to do public thanks) and also Nicola for sorting out our lunch, and letting me get on with the build, tomorrow is Bootfair, then home, shower etc and off to IKEA which is all she asked for in return.


http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...pse3k17msb.jpg

Thanks for looking in and all your comments and support so far.

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

The mule and I did about a 300 mile round trip for breakfast today. :rolleyes: Drove over to Baton Rouge to meet up with bunch of folks for breakfast and look/talk trucks. Left at 5 AM back home at 12:30. NO AC, I had inteneded to do work this afternoon when I got back, but when I got home and in the AC, that is all she wrote for me. :lol:

Here is a couple shots of the trucks that were there.

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

Went to bed at midnight, woke at 04.30 when my body said it was sore and wanted pills........

Original plan was for IKEA but after we came home plans changed so it was off toshops, followed by a Subway sandwich meal with cookies, and then a McFlurry.

Home by 3pm at which time Nicola cut me free.

So I went to the garage, cleared all fittings, wires from the bulkhead, and closed every hole with ductape. Then pushed the truck out, got the pressure cleaner etc ready and then spent a few hours scraping and applying about 4 litres of GUNK cleaner everywhere.

Harley was a PITA again today, wanting to help all the time.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psppmk2ep5.jpg

Used the jack to lift it up higher to get maximum access.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...psbfa4ules.jpg

I tend to forget I do not fit in little spaces so easily anymore.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...pscpmjnhmb.jpg

All done, back in the garage. This job has taken up so much time, but needed doing.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps48g0xfkt.jpg

Engine and box next to get cleaned.

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

Finally it is Sunday. I got to go to partially tear apart the 454 bbc :bann:

Glad it's clean and smooth. Good honest person from Craigslist :metal:

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

Finally got my high hump welded in.

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III
 

Very cool. Looks like you guys had a pretty good turn out! Can hardly wait to get to the Gulf Coast in October.

Re: What did you do to your truck today part III