Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Thanks Martin, I had "Live and Dangerous" on cassette tape in my first car, played until it snapped!


Thanks Rian and thanks for posting the links, excellent choices three of my favourites

Bucket list indeed, if I live until I'm 100 it's a day I won't forget. The two surviving members from the "Whiskey in the jar" video played together on stage on Monday, they've both got a lot less hair but for two guys well into their 60's they can still rock :metal:

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

I finally got a top coat on my hood this weekend. As I have limited space, painting anything in my garage is a challenge, painting something the size of a 64 C10 hood more so. I have two problems, first is space, I need to be able to get around it to paint it and second I need to keep the paint clean. Getting the hood as near vertical as possible was the best solution.

To achieve this I "knocked up" a frame (don't laugh) :haha:,

Attachment 1486789

Not my finest carpentry but it certainly did the job

Attachment 1486799

Before and after

Attachment 1486793

Attachment 1486794
Next job to get it fitted

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

damn, that looks awesome!!!!

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Looking good Ian . I know what it's like to have no room . I think we are all heading for the same finish line . Who is going to get there first, I wouldn't like to bet on it . I think you may be ahead of me and Rian . So I better get my finger out .

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

A quick update, I managed to get the hood fitted this weekend, so my truck doesn't look like Mater anymore, it needs a tweak to get the gaps and fit a little better but the colour match is very good.

Attachment 1488934

Attachment 1488935

I'm now going to get cracking on the rear suspension, I'm fitting 4" lowered springs and 1" lowering blocks with matching shocks, I've also got poly bushes, an adjustable panhard bar and a shock mount relocation kit, all from POL. if it fits as good as the other stuff I've had from them it should be fine.
However before I fit these new components I want to strengthen the trailing arms. So I've been doing a bit of "research" on this forum

Welding the trailing arms up seems a popular solution, the amount of weld seems to be proportionate to the horsepower of the truck. This was posted by Fldawg, I know many of you looking at this picture will have the same reaction I had ( no not the trailing arms they're great)...............what's Rian doing in Florida!! :haha:

Attachment 1488936

Also fitting strengthening plates as the factory did (I think these are C20?) seems to be a good option too.

Attachment 1488937

So my intention (unless anyone tells me different) is to weld the 2 halves of the trailing arm together with (approximately) a 1" weld every 6" plus fully weld the ends and then fit strengthening plates top and bottom as per GM. I am going to drill and plug weld the plates, rather than fillet weld the edges to get a spot weld /rivet effect, I'm hoping it will look more "factory". Here's my starting point, I'll post updates as I go.

Attachment 1488938

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

It's starting to take shape at the front . Like you , everything I have had from POL has fitted nicely . It won't be long before you are driving it Ian

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Love the color. Very nice work.

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

nice work on the hood… you seem to be a man thats on a mission. keep after it, you'll be driving her soon.

looks good.

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Thanks Martin, wonder who will be driving first


Dwane, Clem thank you, your comments are much appreciated


Made a little more progress today, I've got the trailing arms welded up,

Attachment 1490922

Attachment 1490923

As planned I've welded about 1" in 6" top and bottom plus fully welded the ends. I'm amazed at how much stiffer they are and how much more solid they feel. I'm now debating whether to add the strengthening plates or not, I'll sleep on it and decide tomorrow.

I also removed the old bushes, the new poly bushes use the outer tube from the original bushes so I had to remove the old rubbers and inner sleeves without damaging them. To do this I ran a drill through the old rubber, it was so hard and perished it drilled great.

Attachment 1490924

Then pulled out the centre tube with a pair of vice grips.

Attachment 1490927

Once this was removed the remains of the old rubber pushed out easily leaving a nice clean tube for the new bushes.

Attachment 1490928

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Looking good Ian.

A lot more finesse than me burning mine out.

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Nice work!

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

I've been speaking to Rian this afternoon, he has been busy making brake pipe flares and I have been busy drilling holes. Oh the joys of truck building :hh:

So by way of a quick up-date, I have made the first of the strengthening plates for the trailing arms, as mentioned above I wanted to avoid seam welding the sides and try to create a more factory spot weld / rivet look.

Even with simple jobs such as this the marking out is all important. The U-bolt holes are 7/8" giving me 1/8 clearance, the spring cup hole is 5/8" giving me about 1/16 clearance. The weld holes are just over 3/8" (actually 11mm) at 4" centres, the idea is to plug weld these in place giving a spot weld / rivet appearence (I'll let you know how that works out ).

Below is a picture of the first one, it needs a little more fettling and then it should be good to weld in place. The 2 lower ones will be longer, about 28", upper ones will be about 24"

Attachment 1492698

Attachment 1492699

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

damn... that is looking good!!
looking forward to the photos of those welds

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

I spoke (text) Rian earlier and we agreed it was too cold and wet (and windy) to venture out into the garage. But patience is a virtue that I don't do well at (and most of the others come to think of it :lol:) so I found myself in the garage welding.

My welder was playing up a bit, I had trouble getting a consistent wire feed, I'll try cleaning the liner but may need a new one. Consequently the welds are not quite as even as I would have liked, but the "riveted" effect is exactly what I wanted. I reckon by the time they are painted they'll look OK

Attachment 1493030

Attachment 1493031

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Looks good Ian . So with all this bracing when are the twin turbo's or big block going in

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Well, to be honest, it often goes this way for me too.

I come indoors, get out of my garage clothes, then just as I am about to go shower, something springs to mind or a solution presents itself (it's happened while speaking to Nicola in the kitchen) and I go back and start again or finish a job.

I so wanted to finish the front line as well yesterday, but darkness is no friend as the trucks front end is under the open door.

Your progress is steady but very sure.

Not sure if I missed it, but why are you doing all this work? 710bhp ?

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

good job Ian. like your persistence even in inclement weather, you get the job done. i always wondered why i was named after bad weather...:lol: thanks mom, dad...

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Thank you gentlemen. It's going to be a ZZ572

Attachment 1493664

I reckon if I sell the truck I can just about afford one :lol:


Thanks Clem, as always your comments are appreciated

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Between work, tiling my daughters bathroom and starting to move my parents (yes at 81 and 76 my mum and dad are moving house!) I've still managed to finish the upper strengthening plates for the trailing arms.
They are a little shorter so a little quicker to make,

Attachment 1496139

I clamped and welded one hole at a time to ensure the tightest fit possible

Attachment 1496140

All done and ready for paint which I'll hopefully get done this weekend

Attachment 1496141

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Any progress is progress I suppose, so after getting my new compressor wired up I finished up the trailing arms and got them painted.

Attachment 1503628

Attachment 1503629


I then set about the "fun" task of cleaning the axle,

Attachment 1503630


The numbers on the axle are

Attachment 1503631

If anyone can point me a site to help me de-code this I would be grateful, I found one site but according to that the axle is from a 1965 C15.:confused:

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

On a positive note the axle is a posi (although it doesn't look like a 64 GM unit) and the ring gear and pinion are more recent Richmond items.

Attachment 1503633

If I understand things correctly, (divide the big number by the little number 274 / 82) it's a 3.34:1.???

Attachment 1503634

Axle is painted now, I'll get the pan fitted and some fresh oil in once it dries and then it'll be time to put the rear suspension back together

Attachment 1503637

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Ian,

Very timely as I am about to commence the same operation on my trailing arms.

Quick question, what gauge did you use for your strengthening plates, difficult to see from the pictures.

P. :D

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Richmond sometimes has some odd numbers, just a bit off. You calculated correctly. I would assume that is supposed to be a 3.42 (or close enuff) posi.

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Good looking compressor Ian.

Progress as you say, is progress..

Re: Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England
 

Ian, have a look here:

http://www.richmondgear.com/partsearch/search.php

It appears that you have a 4.10 ratio. Lucky you! :metal: