I eventually got the heater hooked up to the propane tank and got it fired up. I ordered a little fan that fits the back of the heater but it really doesn't do much. I would have been money ahead just setting a small box fan on top of the heater. But it does work. The garage isn't insulated and the main door was crap but it still managed to warm it up with outside temps around zero.
To improve things the boy and I stapled a layer of plastic to the bottom of the rafters. It keeps the heat down lower. Cheap and effective.
I also found a great deal on a really nice insulated garage door on craigslist. We painted it to match the garage and I got it installed a couple weeks ago.
And I did put a box fan on top of the freezer in there to circulate the air. Makes a big difference. So now we can work in relative comfort. My son pulled the passenger side doors off last week. Yesterday I pulled out the seats and seatbelts on that side and lifted the carpet out of the way. The rear door opening looks alright. Just needs the outer rocker, unless we find something after we cut that out. The front replacement rocker I picked up will work good to patch the rear door rocker so that eases my concern for that.
The front rocker and floor were a bit worse. Looks like I'll have to do the inner and outer rocker and a little bit of floor under the seat by the door.
I started working on the engine mounts but called it a day before I really completed anything with those.
The other night I met up with another board member I've become good friends with. We have been batting around the idea of a road trip for a while now. The subject came up again. We want to go out west with a classic truck. He's got a 68 stepper and a late 80's suburban. I've got my 71 which will have a new engine in the spring, but this is the one I'd like to take. We don't really care if it's finished completely as long as it's running dependably. So I want to keep working on it and get it going by spring. If we can get the rust on the cab done there isn't much other rust to fix. The replacement doors might need a little work. I have good fenders and a hood for it. So maybe just get it in primer and go. It's still a ton of work though, so we could end up taking our pickups. No sweat.
So mentioned going to Bonneville for speedweek and I'd love to, but it's in August and it's usually pretty busy around here then. So he mentioned a microbrew tour. My son just turned 21 also. I found a name for the farm truck when he brought this up.
Meet the Brewcab.
