my 50 build... why not?

[nebdrummer]

Thanks mknittle.

Little more progress.



all of the wiring.




Inside is gutted, cleaned out. I have to get the undercoating off before I lay down the dynomat. Im pulling the motor and trans tonight or tomorrow,.. Sorry Ebke, no dragweek for me.

[nebdrummer]

A few more parts taken off.



its naked!



I've decided im going to put in a whole new firewall instead of patching holes. It will be easier and cleaner.

[nebdrummer]

center ordered!

[nebdrummer]

The 3rd member showed up last Wednesday and it's everything the guy said it was!
Brought it to my rear end guy and he checked it out and said i got a smokin deal.

9+case, 1 season on 3.50 gears, brand new spool, new bearings, new pinion support, new 1350 yoke shipped to my door for 500 bucks.







1st fail of the weekend, I had everything lined up to be able to get the rear end welded solid to the frame this weekend, then i could have started cutting for my C-notch. BUT, i forgot to order my lug nuts. I should have them in hand for next weekend.





2nd fail, something isn't right at all with my brake kit. Its from speedway motors. I have used this exact kit before and had no issues, so I don't know what the issue is. I'm meeting with a guy on Monday to see what we can figure out. First issue, This bolt hole next to where the brake line goes into the caliper doesn't allow for a nut to go on, beings its too close .





second issue, IF, its even an issue. The caliper doesn't sit flush with the mounting bracket. the whole thing mounts tight against less than 1/16th of an inch.









Got the majority of the undercoating out of the cab. That stuff is not fun to get out at all. We ended up using thinner and rags.







3rd and final fail of the weekend, I thought I picked up all of the thinner soaked rags before I started welding, but I missed 2. They made their way wedged between the battery box and the running board mount. I started welding on the passenger side and noticed my arm was getting warm. I looked up and the flames were already up to the dash! I blew on them to get the flames lower, and flicked them on to the ground with my hand and the flames were STILL up to the dash. Nothing was damaged, I finally found some floor dry and put it out. Man that was an eye opener...







I kinda made up my mind on what im going to do for the firewall. 1st on the list is to fix the old mans rig job. When the truck was being built the first time (when i was 15ish), he put in new front floor boards and toe boards, but was lacking a welder. So.... he riveted them in. :doh: The other thing he riveted in was a piece of 14 ga. steel just to make the floor level for the seat brackets. That's staying out and saving me 50 lbs.

[nebdrummer]

I went and talked to the speedway guys. Does those pictures seem weird with the brakes to you? Beings that there is 1000+PSI of brake pressure going through a disk setup, would it bother you that the only sturdy mounting point is that less than 1/16th of an inch? If it were to grab one way or another and jump off of one of those tiny ledges, then your caliper is sitting crooked. I think that it would be very possible beings that the caliper is held in with those two bolts surrounded by a rubber o ring. I would say there is plenty enough give in the rubber rings to slip off the ledge. It just doesnt seem safe to me. When the time comes, doing 100+ mph, braking, then have it slip off only to lock up the brakes something horrible. Then, well you can imagine the rest.

I brought it in and showed one of the tech guys, he looked at me like I was a retard and a young joe blow just wanting to throw **** together. He told me to grind the tab off of the caliper to fit the nut on, and then he said the two tiny mounting spots "should be fine". I don't want a should be fine, I want a, yes its designed that way. I also dont want to have to grind on new parts to make another companies **** fit right.

What would you do?

[FFredo]

Looks like they got a burnout. Hey thats what they wanted why did they all go out side after? HA!

[nebdrummer]

the rear end is back under and welded in place.



Made a temporary c-notch so I can cut my frame out where the chassis 4 link bracket will be. I'm going to cut all the stock braces and riveted structures out and start making my cross members and boxing the rails. Once that is done, then I will start making my permanent C notch.



My mother just had to be in a picture.

[itstheshu]

Looks good.

I wish I had a shop like that.

[nebdrummer]

Thanks! and I wish I had a shop like this too. hahaha. It's an ex employer in my hometown. This side of the shop that you see has only been used to store a camper that they havent used for 10 years, a shag truck that also never gets used, and a wrecker way on the far end. The side to the drivers side of my pickup is the actual shop, about 5 times as wide. Semi repair shop. We worked out a rent deal for some work. SCORE!

[BlueJeep]

Did you get your calipers figured out?

Those are floating calipers, and if I understand your question right they're not supposed to mount flat up against that bracket, they'll actually push away from it when the pedal is applied because it's pulling the opposite pad up against the rotor on the opposite side, at the same time as the piston is pushing on the near side. When I set them up with new pads I generally try to get the caliper about 1/2 way down the floating surface on the mounting pins.

[nebdrummer]

haha yeah, I did, I was just frustrated that day with nothing going right. A young kid just on a learning curve.

I posted this on a different forum and they mentioned floating calipers and i just about slapped myself. Hahaha something I definitely should have known.

[nebdrummer]

lots and lots of measuring later. It still doesnt look like anything is done.

all the brackets/rear crossmembers/rivets are all cut out and gone.

Having little issues with things lining up like they should, but I should have it figured out.

Kinda scary!




I modified that original cad drawing to better fit mine. Here is some measurements that I am currently following.





In the directions, It says set all 4 of the bars to 21" center to center. I did that and they are all perfectly the same length. My rear end is welded in centered, squared, and the housing/axle brackets are set at 0* per instructions.

I put on the front chassis brackets with the bars already on the axle brackets. Then, I found the 9 1/8" drop from the axle centerline to the center of the bottom hole on the chassis bracket. If the chassis brackets are supposed to be perfectly vertical at this step, I'm doing something wrong. They are at 4*, top forward.

any suggestions?





Now the other situation I ran into. From the front of the chassis bracket to the front of the axle housing is supposed to be 22 1/16". I cut an extra 3/16" off because I will be putting a 16" piece of 3/16" angle iron to mount the chassis brackets to. So along with the chassis brackets not being level while bolted up, They sit about that 3/16th" forward.




What do you guys suggest I do? Questions?

[nebdrummer]

Didnt get a whole lot accomplished this weekend. Got a buddies motor put together and running this weekend, so that was exciting.

but heres where its at now.

dressing some welds.



the bottom support I will be putting on and boxing along with the frame. I capped the ends of the frame with 1/4" and welded it solid, then welded my chassis brackets to them. That little triangle of original frame between the chassis brackets will be boxed in as well as whats going toward the cab.



Coilover mounts welded.



unsure about panhard bar location. Don't know what I'm going to do here yet.

[Wheelie]

It looks really good! I am curious why you put the front brackets lower than axle centerline? Are your four link brackets level at ride height?? Where does that put your point of center?

[nebdrummer]

Thanks wheelie.

The brackets are actually higher than the "instructions" reccomend. Being that this is giong to be a 99% street driven truck, I put the bottom bars level to the ground. IC is unknown as of yet, I'm sure there will be plenty of suspension tuning ahead.

[nebdrummer]

frame flipped, welding grinding done.









Welded some pipe for my box bolts.





Worlds coolest trailer.












Next on the list.




After firewall gets done, brake system is getting installed, lines getting run, engine/trans back in, driveshaft measuring, driveshaft loop install, start on wiring, start on little wheel tubs, buy bed wood bracing to raise the floor, then start on the body work. Sand, prime, sand, prime, wetsand, paint, clear, wetsand, clear, wetsand buff, and put together. Jeeebus.

[50seven]

Those rear tires look awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!

I like what you are doing with your truck.

I had a 51 back in High School. Sold it to go to college

Yours is only about 1000 times nicer

[nebdrummer]

Thanks 50seven!

Anti Roll Bar ordered, front and rear bed cross members ordered, box full of more brake line/wiring parts ordered!

I mapped out my new wiring harness this last weekend. Got it slimmed down to the necessities. Mounted up the under-dash booster setup. FRIGGIN SWEET!

[nebdrummer]

ARB is in and welded. Looks pretty sweet to say the least.

Firewall is getting cut up to the max now. I'm going a little different route of how I'm centering the inset. Pictures will be up later.

[ChuckDriver]

Nice work! While you're at it why not clean up/weld up the all of the factory welds on the subframe.

[Wybrow]

Man this thing is sweet! I'm 23 and just picked up a '52 3/4 ton GMC.

Huge motivation here!

[liberg]

love the keen ken holding the rear end. nice build mate but isnt purple a bit girly?

[nebdrummer]

Thanks guys,

ChuckDriver, I probably will end up cleaning up the sub frame, I was just sick and tired of welding and grinding every time I touched the pickup. Its all gotta come apart again anyways.

Wybrow, Thats pretty badass! Start up a work log, grab a grinder and get to work! Ill be 25 this march. What are your plans with yours?

Liberg, pink.. is girly. I originally wanted a real dark purple, and at the age of 15 when picking out the color on paint swatches that are not even an square'd inch, It definetally wasnt what I imagined. Paint went on, and at that point, its too late. It will be MUCH darker this go around.

[xpickup]

nebdrummer, Great build. Is your color bright sapphire blue. I had a Mustang that color. Outside in the daytime it looked blue and at dark under lights it looked purple. Love the rear suspension and the rear tires. Keep up the good work.

Shannon

[nebdrummer]

Thanks. The color is called Indigo blue. Its a 97 Hyundai color. Kinda funny because the 2 new colors I picked out for this are also hyundai colors. The one is a super dark purple with an instant black flop. So it should only be visibly purple on the light reflected curves. The other is a super dark red, the exact same way with the flop. Pretty neat stuff.

Those are from the entire PPG OEM chip selection. I'm also going to look into their Vibrance selection, and HOK selection and see what they have to offer.