Project: Over My Head

[DransportGarage]

Originally Posted by mrvette

Just leave it off the stove,......

You're no fun at all, MrVette!

[mrvette]

Originally Posted by DransportGarage

You're no fun at all, MrVette!

Seen toooooo much around here in this burb.....one total loss, land cleared, slab removed.....over a decade ago a kitchen fire....rebuilt, but housing seemed stable at the time.....after that the house went vacant for some 8 years.....not so long ago fixed/sold and occupied.....then a house my wife/sister interested....burnt out MURDER/Suicide house just for giggles been vacant for almost a decade now.....I been in home remodeling since '85 every time I think I seen it ALL, there is always ONE MORE......

Didn't want to hijack Tom's thread....sorry, back to Trucks and fun......

[yossarian19]

Well, we're set to enter escrow tomorrow morning. Our banker has about an hour to either lock in Friday's interest rates or jump to Monday's if they are heading down but either way, contract is getting signed.

As you'd expect, a great many things are being put on hold until end of July when we are (if all goes well) moved in to the new house (garage)

New garage has a 30x30 roof hung over top a single car garage, so plenty of sheltered space but not yet a ton of concrete to work on. That's OK, though, it's got a dedicated 100 amp service + a 60 amp sub-box from the house. It'll suffice for now and give me some pre-permitted room to grow.

I'd talk about the house but who cares? It's just a house.

Truck runs like stink and makes me smile.

[iowaboynca]

maybe i'm in the minority but i'm curious about the house...but then again this ain't the DIY network! Konga Ratz (from mr48chevy) nice job on the house!

[mrvette]

OH, either side of the garage has NO concrete on it?? just the enclosed section....Well, that can be poured without much effort, like here just pumped in from the street.....this project for the decks was only 6 yards, yours sounds like closer to 18 yards....but you can figger that easy....

[Kim57]

Good luck on the move.
Kim

[yossarian19]

Since some interest was expressed,
Here is the real estate listing to the house.

Truck is now pretty stable at 60-65, picks up a bit of a shimmy in the front end here and there but not constantly. It goes the ~3 miles to the Saturday AM car meet just fine and the slow road to the dump is no problem.

I'm putting any further projects off till after the move & after the DD gets tires + front brakes.
Needless to say, I've got high hopes for putting together & organizing the new work space.

[iowaboynca]

Very nice! Grass Valley is a pretty town. Just high enough to get some snow but not to high where it becomes a pain

[Advanced Design]

Nice place, good luck with the purchase and move! When my buddies move, we only talk about the garage.

[Nut Case]

Just a note on the amount of concrete that you might need. Figure the square footage of the area that you want to cover, Divide the square footage by 81 and you will have the amount of yards of concrete 4" thick. Most concrete suppliers will not charge for delivery if your order is over 5 yds. That should give you some budget numbers to work with. FYI I was an active Commercial General contractor in another life. Some things you just don't forget. NC

[yossarian19]

Truck is more fun all the time. Has been a big help during the move. I'm pretty well strapped on time, energy & money for the truck and don't have a work space set up yet. On that front, I started another thread where I'm chronicling the garage in the new house.

[yossarian19]

Used my spiffy new-to-me 1952 Delta drill press to modify the mounts for the steering shock. It now sits pretty well level, which gives me some more ground clearance and seems to improve it's performance.
The brackets were 1/4" steel and I could drill a 3/8" hole through both pieces, no pilot hole, just as easy as pie. If you work with steel and don't have a "serious" drill press, I can only say that I wish I'd upgraded sooner. 1 1/2 HP will make short, painless work of things that I used to dread messing with.
As an aside, Clay is almost a year old now and the house is getting livable. I think, though, that I'll need to put pedal extensions in the truck...

[Kim57]

Great pic.
Kim

[yossarian19]

After what felt like a lot of junkyard hunting, I found a place up on the San Juan Ridge that had three 55-59 trucks and one of them with an aftermarket rear bumper. Probably an old Pacific Gas & Electric truck, the man says.
Two cresecent wrenches, some mild profanity and a lot of sweat later I'd removed the thing and carried it over. $30 now, $10 next time I'm there, $15 in new bolts. Had to rig up the chain hoist to lift it into position and get bolts in there - bumper is that heavy.
Second picture is installed. I think when I get around to wiring in a switch on the trans I'll use the recessed lights for reverse; the extra turn signal lights will be removed and the four-pin trailer socket will get upgraded to a seven pin unit. Towing isn't a priority just now but I do want to haul a few yards of dirt / gravel around eventually.

[Advanced Design]

Looks like you had some good help with the heavy bumper! Good find for the price.

[Kim57]

Looks good.
Kim

[yossarian19]

Wellll, I should take some pictures for a proper update but:
* I moved the master cylinder / booster onto the firewall. Still have to bleed air out and modify the high pressure lines for the booster but it's all plumbed.
* I found the drums full of gear oil. Seals are integrated in the bearings, $60 a side + shipping.

So, swap 12 bolt? Swap in a Dana 44? Or suck it up & put new bearings in, knowing that it's an O-L-D diff and there's no telling when the center section will let go?

[SKFengineer]

I just took the time to read your whole build thread and all I can say is thank you for taking the time to share with us. It's been a bit of a ride and it's crazy to think of the way your life has changed. (for the good)

I have a couple of questions, we still have the stock 1956 front suspension on our truck and it's road manners aren't that bad... It's not my corvette but hey it's an old truck and if I can cruise at 60 mph I'm cool with that. The last owner installed a steering stabilizer like you did but he did it to combat a wandering problem that we corrected by tightening the three steering box bolts that had worked loose. We were considering the idea of removing the stabilizer but it seems like it made a big difference for you. You said in a later post after installing it that you modified it's attachment to have it sit more flush with the suspension. Do you have any pictures?

Second did you ever add the sway bar you were considering? I'm also curious about an IFS but I've heard there is a bunch of trouble when figuring the clutch linkage and we love having the 4-sp behind the V-8.

Also just a side note on post #138 or so when you showed the garage at the rental house.... Did I see a Surly bike in your pile there, I've been riding a Surly Pacer for years now and it's the best bike I've ever owned.

Again amazing thread and thanks for sharing.

- George

[yossarian19]

Glad you enjoyed it. It's been a heck of a ride over the last couple years, I'm really loving it (mostly) and when I'm not, I'm trying to catch my breath.
The truck has been parked for a while because it's got 800 lbs of sheet rock in the back from a garage remodel that I haven't finished. Clay's play set took me a loooong time of "just a few minutes before dinner" and "They are in the bath, maybe I can sneak away..." sessions, starting right in the middle of the garage project. Anyway, back to the truck:
Here's a couple shots of the attachment of the steering shock. You can see on one pic where I raised the stud's attachment hole and both shots show where I could (someday will) trim some excess bracket off of it.


I never did put a sway bar in the truck. It rolls like an absolute pig loaded or empty (worse when empty) but the real "gotcha" is the shimmy it picks up seemingly at random. I think having the alignment done & adding caster wedges would help it.
I'm loathe to put any more money into this front end, though: add up the power steering, the bushings, the steering shock, the brakes, the bearings, the kingpins... I just can't recommend it. I've got, give or take, $750 - $1,000 into a front end that shakes like a bastard at 60-70 mph and I've got horsepower I can't safely use.
So, I think I might be calling it "done" with the truck until I have a bit more money, time & space. It's going to get a Crown Victoria front end and a posi rear no doubt about it.

Oh, and yes: that's another project that's been waiting it's turn a long, long time. Surly Pacer built with the usable remnants of a Fuso that I wrecked, it's 90s Dura Ace & about 85% done. I just don't get out and ride much any more so it's a zero mile frame set, just waiting on frame shifters + cables run & headset height to be set up. Kind of depressing, really, but when every half an hour worth of break is a "negotiation" with the wife... well, maybe later.

[SKFengineer]

Yoss,

Thanks again your pictures totally answered my question. The angle of the stabilizer has always bugged me so I'm going to take a look at ours the next time I'm under the truck. Right now we are making our own stainless steel exhaust with mandrel bends and new MagnaFlow mufflers. The investment in parts was a little more than I wanted but in the end it will be something I built myself and it should last for years.

Regarding the Surly Pacer, got mine in 2010 and I have about 18,000 miles on my bike. I'm bigger than the typical cyclist and the CroMoly frame is great. Before the Surly I put 50,000 - 60,000 miles on Aluminum frames and they are nice but over a long ride (more than 35-45 miles ) the Aluminum frame starts to feel "choppy" and over the same distance the Surly is just super comfortable. When your "to-do" list drops to less than 100 items and you get it together you'll love it. Maybe it's something you can do with your son when he learns to ride a bike.

[yossarian19]

Minor update:
Life continues to be busy. The play set and the garage are put together, though, as well as some construction in the carport to free up some space and make it all more usable.
The booster / MC got moved to the firewall, as I mentioned. I actually like this setup much better. I used the CPP (blech!) pedal kit which I can't say impressed me but it does work, though I had to shorten the booster rod as much as I feasibly could to get the pedal at a comfortable height.

I started adding some sound deadening to the truck. Long term I want to fabricate a rear panel that I can build some speakers into, though that really isn't as high a priority as some other things. In the mean time, I think adding tar cuts down on the tin-can feeling of the cab. Need to add some more to the doors & firewall but getting the back of the cab & some of the floor really helps.
Not sure if I'd posted a "done" picture with the rear bumper, but here it is with the tail / brake lamps frenched in. I used 4" exhaust pipe cut-offs from the local, you guessed it, exhaust shop and welded them in. Grind, weld, grind weld, done.


aaaand time to put the baby down for a nap. More later.

[yossarian19]

Annoying. Trying a new photo service (photobucket takes forever to load) and links didn't work. Let me try again...

[yossarian19]

https://goo.gl/photos/puA8czNbWxiSJsLS6

Ok... how about this?

[yossarian19]

MOD: Can we delete the last few posts? This isn't working...

[yossarian19]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TYE...ew?usp=sharing