1958 Chevy 60 Viking

[Steve-W]

Originally Posted by RockinKees

I’m curious how you gonna do the airride on this thing

Well..that's where your creativity comes in
but not for a while, we first got to get her on the road and have the new wheelbase documented.

you're more than welcome to come by and have a live look!
We always have a cold beer standing by.

[watahyahknow]

just found the project , im from haarlem btw , i might be interested in the 6 inline after you done the engine swap
i got a c10 they converted to a v8 problem is they never changed it on the registration and they changed the cab without transferring the vin (over here chassisnumber is vin but they do check if they match ) so i be 2/3ths changed (over here they alow only the chassis or the drivetrain or the body to be changed / replaced by other same model stuff and the truck still seen as original)
so i would be illegal in therms of being an oldtimer truck and have to pay roadtax again )
so rather than going through the rdw (dmv) **** i rather change the engine before getting the truck recertified within the 1/3th change alowed rule
the reason they made this rule :
over here in the yeah olden days cars and trucks older than 25 years where considered oldtimers and where exempt from roadtax
smart people figured out that if the replaced oldtimer landrover bodies and drivetrains with the newer 4 door landrover bodies and drivetrains that fitted straight on a oltimer chassis they had basicly new cars but didnt had to pay roadtaxes for and started converting them on a pretty large scale , so the rdw gotten wize and changed the rules

[Steve-W]

Originally Posted by watahyahknow

just found the project , im from haarlem btw , i might be interested in the 6 inline after you done the engine swap

That's possible, but you'll have to wait a while. I'll send you a PM.

[Steve-W]

So we got the F250 finished, it's been to the Dutch DMV and passed the scrutineering. Which means we're back at the Viking again

Disassemble time! Doors, Fenders, front clip etc. also took out the steering column, because we were unable to turn the wheels and it turned out the steering gear box was all locked up because somehow the grease got replaced by water, which in turn did wonders for the bearings...
Now we'll have to find a way to rebuild the steering box.






anyway, everything came off quite easy and we only found some rust at the front cab mount (read: holes) but nothing we can't fix.




Something stood out for me and that's the alternator, it's 12V. was that the standard in 58 already, or special order seeing it was meant for export?

[watahyahknow]

could be its replaced at a later date or the standard in heavier truck , like they use 24 volts nowadays

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by Steve-W

Something stood out for me and that's the alternator, it's 12V. was that the standard in 58 already, or special order seeing it was meant for export?

12 volt generator would have been standard in a viking here in the states
55-up was 12 volt for chevy, i believe 56-up for gmc

[Steve-W]

Took the cab off today

First moved it backwards and then the three of us lifted it off



On order to do so, we had to take off the lid of the gearbox (SM420) because we had no Idea how to get the gear lever out.

Hmm doesn’t look good.

[watahyahknow]

looks like there was water in there , the rubber seals where probably damaged during the fire have water from dousing the fire pour through the cab floor and maibe having the truck parked out in the rain before you bought it without windows probably didnt help either . you can dunk some diesel / waste oil or so in it and cover the metal parts up then seal it up with some plastic and tape to keep the worst of the rust and junk out but you whont use it anyway and pulling the driveshaft out will cause the oil to leak out again making a mess on youre floor
the gearstick usually isnt atached to the cab just sticks through a hole and it covered up with a rubber covering the gearlever is usually thightened with two bolts on the top of the gearbox , could be the same dust cap rubber has glued the cab to the gearstick
the older trucks have prety thick sheetmetal , you might be able to save that cab with a good sheetmetal wordker and some cutting slots and rewelding to get the expanded metal and buckling ou

[Steve-W]

Originally Posted by watahyahknow

looks like there was water in there , the rubber seals where probably damaged during the fire have water from dousing the fire pour through the cab floor

for sure that caused it, the steering gear looks the same on the inside..
hope we didn't bite off more than we can chew..

Originally Posted by watahyahknow

the older trucks have prety thick sheetmetal , you might be able to save that cab with a good sheetmetal wordker and some cutting slots and rewelding to get the expanded metal and buckling ou

with the doors and front clip still on, everything looked to be lining up pretty good. doors opened/closed nicely. only visible warped metal is the roof.

[watahyahknow]

not sure if you look at cars and cameras on youtube , one of the guys on the show crafted a roof and part of the doorpillars from another truck to the original cab , there definetely not professionals at metalworking but the cab is about ready to be painted about now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8jXoj0prW4
another youtube and different way to do the same thing :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRKkm96MVPc
i think the carsandcamera way is the best even with the headliner metal in there as it help keep the cab in shape a little better

[Steve-W]

had a look in the gearbox and the covered it again doesn't look like anything that elbow grease and a steelbrush won't fix. the gears still travel on the shaft, or at least most of them..


with the cab of I could take a closer look at the brake booster. never seen a system like this, but I guess it works the same as a modern one?

I love that it's made by Bendix Aviation Corp.
the Master brake cylinder probably needs some work


and here is the PTO, driving the rear hydrolic lift..which is gone, so we'll have to find some good use for this.. maybe a tilt front?


I had to look it up but this truck has a driveshaft parking brake system..I heard of it 30 years ago learning to be a mechanic, but never seen one until now. wondering whether it is linked to the PTO? so when you engage the parking brake, the PTO starts building pressure?

[mongocanfly]

nope...its simply a parking brake...nothing to do with the pto....my truck has one as well

[watahyahknow]

Originally Posted by Steve-W

had a look in the gearbox and the covered it again doesn't look like anything that elbow grease and a steelbrush won't fix. the gears still travel on the shaft, or at least most of them..


with the cab of I could take a closer look at the brake booster. never seen a system like this, but I guess it works the same as a modern one?

I love that it's made by Bendix Aviation Corp.
the Master brake cylinder probably needs some work


and here is the PTO, driving the rear hydrolic lift..which is gone, so we'll have to find some good use for this.. maybe a tilt front?

at a closer look i dont think it is but it still be a good idea to change it over to hydroboost
I had to look it up but this truck has a driveshaft parking brake system..I heard of it 30 years ago learning to be a mechanic, but never seen one until now. wondering whether it is linked to the PTO? so when you engage the parking brake, the PTO starts building pressure?

good chance the brake system is a hydroboost system wish is actuaslly a good idea if youre planning to turbo the diesel
https://www.freeasestudyguides.com/h...ke-assist.html
at a closer look ....i dont think it is , but it be a good idea to change it intoo hydroboost

[Steve-W]

Came back sunday from a two weeks holiday in Curacao, where to my suprise aren't any nice old trucks.

yesterday evening after work I wanted to get back to it, so Ferry and I build a transport wagon for the Cab, which will fit on our lift as well.


During my holiday he cleaned up some parts of the cab with a machine bristle brush and treated it with rustöl I think this is a very nice finish, we'll just test on the glovebox whether we're going to (mat) clearcoat it.



so now with the wagon it is easy to work on




and we got a good look at the rot which looks not to bad, considering these are the only spots, which are really gone.

[watahyahknow]

think you can buy replacement sheetmetal for that

https://restorationpartssource.com/s...Body_Parts.htm
https://restorationpartssource.com/s...lass_Parts.htm
https://restorationpartssource.com/s...rake_Parts.htm
https://restorationpartssource.com/s...trip_Parts.htm

[Steve-W]

Originally Posted by watahyahknow

think you can buy replacement sheetmetal for that

Thanks for the links, we usually get stuff from LMC, but in this case seeing we're going for the ratification, we'll fabricate ourselfs.

[Steve-W]

at work!


made some cab mount support brackets


this will replace the old



time is a bit hard to find lately, have been very busy with work, family etc. but we're not in a rush, so this thread wil be continueing slowly but surely/
the floorboard is a bit warped on the right side, but when we mount the brackets we'll pull it back together.

[watahyahknow]

looks good

[Steve-W]

September ’19 was my last update, jeezz time flies and to be very honoust I’ve been spending a lot of time on the Stovebolt forum, because there is so much specilized knowledge there for this age truck. But I don’t want to keep you hanging, so here’s an update ��
The only really bad spots were the front cab mounts and the lower Door hinge mounting point. So the door hinge part we ordered new, but the cab mounts we fabb’d ourselfs. The bolt hole should line out perfectly, the hight is questionable, but thats what shims/spacers are for.


Cab mount fabrication finished


We discovered that the Owatrol Rustol is sprayable! Which save sus huge amounts of time, and it gets in spaces, you can’t get at with a brush.

Next we needed to get some space to work on the rest of the sheetmetal and doors. So we found out the cab fits nicely in the back of my C10.



Time to tackle the rest of the sheet metal; cleaning, scotch brite, decrease and shoot the owatrol on it. it is designed for rust, but it sits pretty nice on paint. Perhaps it washes off in the first rain shower, but thats for later worries. The front fenders had a good amount of bondo on them, so we had a discussion whether to sand them down to bare metal, or just removing the cracked and loose pieces. We choose the latter, just because it is less work and this whole rat rot is about doing whatever we want.. we call it artistic freedom.



After all that metal word, it was time for the mecanical part. The gearbox has had standing water in it, so it looked pretty ruff.

But we cleaned out the gearbox as good as possible by giving it a diesel bubble bath. Check movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdSGaSFMCqw
after this and filling it up with some fresh oil. So far we’ve found 2 forward gears and what we think is reverse, but until it’s on the ground with wheels we’ll just have to wait.

Then we turned our attention to the engine. Mechanics 101, replace all electric stuff; plugs, wires, points, condensator, rotor, distributor cap and even the coil. Fresh oil and such, hose from the fuel pump into a reservoir and helping it with a large syringe ..see movie for the result.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stST2Ery03Q

At this point we had a working’ish gearbox, a running motor and even brakes.. because we blead the master cilinder, the hydrovac and all 4 wheels and we have full lock on all of them. So we’re not pulling the drums, first of all because apart from the fire, everything indicates this car has been maintained meticulously and secondly, we have no idea how to get the drums off ��

The one major problem we were facing apart from the wheels, was the steering. The steering gear had been destroyed by the standing water and all my google experience couldn’t find us an affordable solution of either replacing the steering gear, or rebuilding it. I was getting estimates of $700,- or more, which for just a steering gear wasn’t an option.
So trying to break the endless searches in “the old interweb” Ferry and I had a build off; who makes the prettiest mirror frame. He choose copper, I did steel.

Also I ordered in all the glass which a reseller here in the netherlands had in stock! Christmas!


In the meantime i’ve been in contact with a fabricator who specializes in steel wheels. I presented the problem of the 3 piece wheels and asked if we could turn them into tubeless. Now, here’s some things I didn’t know. 20” truck tires are never tubeless, but going to 22,5” would be an enormous overhead in cost ánd then the tires.. so perhaps it was better to look at 19,5” but the problem there is the gigantic rear drums with a circumference circle of 130cm (which translates into 51”)
At the raised Lip at the back it’s even 136,5cm (53,7”)

I can’t in my right mind drop 5K into wheels and tires where whe whole truck cost me less than 4. And seeing we’re trying to do this as economical as possible, we’re sticking tot he 20”. I know tire size is an issue..but we need a rolling chassis now to proceed and when we go to the DMV and they OK the shortened frame then I’ll rethink wheels and tires. Here are the pics of what the wheels will look like.
Front rim

Rear rim

And with paint I was able to create a dually view with some cutting and pasting.


A while back I bought some stuff from a guy parting out a 1985 G30, among other things a front bench and a steering column whith steering wheel.
Now the Column had to much plastic and electronics on them, so we pulled it apart and where left with a naked column with tilt!

Waiting for wheels, and being bummed out that we could find a solution for the steering gear we focussed out frustration on the G-wagen steering wheel, which in our opinion had to much plastic aswel. So we pulled the airbag out, and the got medieval on its assc ….I like the result. And if you’re wondering how we’re going to make the horn work? Artistic freedom, a.ka. we’ll see.



But then suddenly everything turned bright pink and an Unicorn presented itself. Just by googling in Dutch instead of english (Steering Gear vs. Stuurhuis) I Found a C60 steering gear in the Netherlands!

So I raced 135Mi north to get there as fast a possible. It turned out to be a small, privatly owned ww2 Canadian Allied Forces museum, who had some C15, C50 and C60 stuff for sale. As soon as I got back to the garage I showed my price possesion to Ferry, only to discover it was from a right hand drive!! (canadian ww2 vehicles were RHD..) luckily we could convert everything tot he old steering box and now it works.




It runs, it shifts, it brakes and it goes around corners.. yippiekiyaaaay !

[LT7A]

This is a great project and you guys are doing so well finding and fixing and making what you need. I'm glad for your good luck of finding the glass and steering box even though it was wrong handed to begin with. I look forward to following along. If you have a thread at the stovebolt site maybe you can post it here. I hope that you will give us as many details as you have time for though. Thanks for telling us about this.

[Steve-W]

Originally Posted by LT7A

This is a great project and you guys are doing so well finding and fixing and making what you need. I'm glad for your good luck of finding the glass and steering box even though it was wrong handed to begin with. I look forward to following along. If you have a thread at the stovebolt site maybe you can post it here. I hope that you will give us as many details as you have time for though. Thanks for telling us about this.

Thanks and yes finding the steering gear here in the Netherlands was incredible, I should have bought a lottery ticket that same day
I wasn't sure if you can "promote" other forums here, but here it is: Stovebolt C60 build thread

[jjzepplin]

You have been busy. I LOVE the steering wheel idea!

[RockinKees]

Nice work Steve!
All this can be repaired, the damage of the fire could be really bad...

Great to find the parts you need in good ol’ Holland

[Steve-W]

The problem with fire damage is you have no idea how hot things have gotten and whether the structural integrity has been compremissed. So far everything was looking up. some warping in the roof, but thats about it. the doors looked straight, so we decided to fit them just for argument sake and seeing we had replaced the lower hinge support on both sides, we were curious if the doors would still fit. well, you tell me:


the reason for the right door to be so clean is that they left it open when they bolted to get away from the fire the story behind this truck is almost moviescript worthy.

Seeing we have all the glass and rubbers, we started assembling the doors using as much of the original parts as possible.




To our supprise we were able to re-use everything except the left door lock

Done!

having completed the doors in a matter of hours, we turned our attention to our seating possition. I bought a bench from a '85 G30 a while back, which I actually wanted to put in my C10, seeing that is also blue...but I guess I'll have to buy another one

we used some 2x4's to get to the right hight (vision center window) and while we were at it, my mate quickly cut out a templet for the dash


which is actually a piece of sheetmetal of the G30 hood.

now we're despreatly waiting on the wheels, because we want to put that cab back on!

[olcarguy]

Great job.....will be following along.....