Old School Hot Rod Truck (1964)

[likaroc13]

Good to see you still making progress, & it's all coming together nicely! Good luck with your new military changes.

[nxtruck]

First of all, thank you for your service to our country! Second, you have a very cool truck coming along! Thanks for the updates and pics!

[Arekusu]

Thanks for the kind words all. Rain here in Florida this weekend .. soo no painting for me. I'll show the newly installed stuff tonight after I get done. Everyone likes pics, and this clean install stuff is pretty sexy.

Alex

[Arekusu]

Update again.

Got more of the bed painted. We messed up the paint about 3 times on the bed prior to clear.. so I wet sanded each piece 2-3 times. Then final paint and 2 coats clear.

I purchased the vinyl 3M tailgate stickers.. they went on nice but after installation it had a bunch of air bubbles in the letters.. which I popped with a needle and squished out some water / air from most of the, . We laid one sicker down and had to pull it mostly back up.. this stretched the sticker and made it a true pain .. it was disfigured and we had to trim it once we got it right.

The tired pic of me is in the bed side.. I think I could shave in that. A week longer with the beard I think.. then it's back to clean shaven.

Alex

[Arekusu]

Here are the edges of the doors that my friend Keith did.. talk about masking. I love them. It's such a simple line but the gold, white and turquoise breaks are dramatic. A 3 color paint job done right and then some is some serious work. I have no idea how GM made any sort of production deadline building these things.. They are way simpler, but just the painting and masking is a nightmare.


Alex

[Arekusu]

I tore down the old vent windows . I drilled out the swivel rivet with an 1/8" drill bit and it came out. Like everyone says, note the position of the flat washer with the flat edge on it (bottom of the vent in the "U" shaped bracket), it locks out your vent window from over extending.

I took them down to bare metal, self etch primed them, and shot them in GM black with gloss clear. The new channel has a bit of a chrome edge so I painted over that edge.

I didn't see the point of new glass in the vent windows.. I went with new front and back glass but the sides weren't all that bad. I wanted to polish the glass though.. The local glass guy didn't have polish but recommended I use what is used to clean glass stove ranges or jewelers rouge.. soo I use "bar keepers friend" on my pots pans and glass stove top with good results so that's what I did.. The pic doesn't show it that well. I washed the glass first with dish soap and then made a watery paste and used a paper towel and hand polished the glass on both sides, finishing with more dish soap to remove the "BKF" residue. It worked a little. If I had one of those headlight polishing foam things for a drill, one of those on low speed might have produced better results.

[markeb01]

Wow you are really flying on the progress. Beautiful paint work, and those cylinder heads look like artwork! That engine should be fun.

Good luck on your military opportunities. Are you going to be flying helicopters or is that determined later?

[Arekusu]

Originally Posted by markeb01

Wow you are really flying on the progress. Beautiful paint work, and those cylinder heads look like artwork! That engine should be fun.

Good luck on your military opportunities. Are you going to be flying helicopters or is that determined later?

Thanks for the kind words. I should be flying helicopters, maybe later I'll do a fixed wing transition. But before all that I have to conquer Warrant Officer Candidate School. I hear they give you 6 hours sleep on purpose the whole time.. I'll need lots of coffee.

Alex

[likaroc13]

Looks like ya'll been busy lately! Truck is looking great, & that engine sounds mean!

[Arekusu]

For some reason the cab and the doors don't want to be friends. Between them and the front outer fenders I can't seem to get them aligned correctly so that they a. close, and b. not hit anything. If people have any ideas on / experience on how they have done this before I wouldn't mind hearing about it. I'm already going to have to touch up a few spots where the paint chipped or got rubbed off.

I'm thinking maybe I should pull off the fender and "stab the door on".. like get the latch in there and maybe another person.. put the door where it wants to go and then tighten the hinges accordingly. Thoughts?

Alex

[66redw/white]

i dont have any advice for the doors unfortunately. other than go slow. the obvious fix will come out and smack ya. are you a machinist or is that a buddy thats a machinist? i used to do alot of work on submarines and all they ever give us is 5 hrs max! youll be fine potential sir
that motor sounds awesome. what trans you runnin behind it?

[Arekusu]

Originally Posted by 66redw/white

i dont have any advice for the doors unfortunately. other than go slow. the obvious fix will come out and smack ya. are you a machinist or is that a buddy thats a machinist? i used to do alot of work on submarines and all they ever give us is 5 hrs max! youll be fine potential sir
that motor sounds awesome. what trans you runnin behind it?

No I'm not the machinist .. the guy messing with the carburetor in the movie is the machinist. I have a TKO-500 for now behind the 454.. We'll see how long it lasts.. I think I'll be giving Jerico a call here in a year or so.

[earl84]

Wow, great looking truck! Love the color choices, that's what I want.
Congrats on WOCS and flight school. I retired from the Army, was a commissioned guy, not a Warrant, but flew Hueys and Blackhawks. Now flying in the civilian world. Still love it. Make sure you get all the time you can so you are employable out here in the civilian world.

[earl84]

Wow, great looking truck! Love the color choices, that's what I want.
Congrats on WOCS and flight school. I retired from the Army, was a commissioned guy, not a Warrant, but flew Hueys and Blackhawks. Now flying in the civilian world. Still love it. Make sure you get all the time you can so you are employable out here in the civilian world.

[Arekusu]

Originally Posted by earl84

Wow, great looking truck! Love the color choices, that's what I want.
Congrats on WOCS and flight school. I retired from the Army, was a commissioned guy, not a Warrant, but flew Hueys and Blackhawks. Now flying in the civilian world. Still love it. Make sure you get all the time you can so you are employable out here in the civilian world.

Ha! Nice to meet you Sir. I was a Flight Engineer on the UH-1N before I became a CV-22B "F.E." Now we'll see where the Army wants me to be. Right now I'll take any airframe they give me. All sound interesting. I'll send you a PM if you don't mind.

Alex

[Arekusu]

Well my friend Keith B. saved my bacon again..

I messed with the doors all day.. and got quite mad at how they didn't want to line up anywhere... I actually took the metal file to the top of the passengers door to create more gap.. yup.. going to have to touch that one up..

For all you readers out there that haven't restored your truck yet and are considering using panels / parts off of another truck or reproduction.. Put everything on as you would for final assembly, check gaps, file / grind down as necessary, weld if required, then paint. Don't think because it came off of another '64 and you have a '64 that it's going to fit.. they were made in different plants.. sooo the holes aren't always the same. Just a warning.

I had the cab off the frame and hung the doors to check the fit before the final paint and clear.. I thought I was good as I had already run the fenders before I took it all apart. I thought I just needed to check the doors. WRONG!



Anyway, how Keith B. saved my bacon.. After hanging the fuel pressure regulator and trying to decide what -AN fittings to use where and what degree bend they needed to be.. he Proclaims "I know how to fix your fender / door gap"... then like the sage he is, he tells me to remove the top two bolts on the inner fender attached to the firewall on the cab.. and then it happened.. BAM! 1/8" gap. SO I need to space the inner fenders forward with a washer or two, per bolt, per side.. which also means I need longer bolts. Everything is connected to the front support (minus the outer fenders lower support / shim where the rubber biscuit goes) The front core support has at least an 1/8" .. maybe even a 1/4" of adjustment on it. And it still lines up with the last two rear bigger sized bolts that mount the outer fender to the cab. So I'm ecstatic! I rubbed some door and fender but it's not going to look like crap anymore with crazy body alignment. I hope someone reads this and is enlightened on 64-66 panel / body alignment.

[earl84]

Originally Posted by Arekusu

Ha! Nice to meet you Sir. I was a Flight Engineer on the UH-1N before I became a CV-22B "F.E." Now we'll see where the Army wants me to be. Right now I'll take any airframe they give me. All sound interesting. I'll send you a PM if you don't mind.

Alex

I don't respond to Sir anymore, so when you PM me, drop that immediately, haha. Please do PM with any questions you might have, happy to answer.
Again, love what you are doing here, nice work.

[earl84]

Originally Posted by Arekusu

Ha! Nice to meet you Sir. I was a Flight Engineer on the UH-1N before I became a CV-22B "F.E." Now we'll see where the Army wants me to be. Right now I'll take any airframe they give me. All sound interesting. I'll send you a PM if you don't mind.

Alex

I don't respond to Sir anymore, so when you PM me, drop that immediately, haha. Please do PM with any questions you might have, happy to answer.
Again, love what you are doing here, nice work.

[Arekusu]

Another update.. (hey I might be getting good at these..) This may turn into a proper build thread here at the last minute.. lol

Today my day was wasted at the Army recruiting office.. they needed things like middle names for references.. which I've had on file for 9 years now.. sigh.. anyway.. soo less truck work got done today.

Got home late and decided it was time to do some wiring.


The American autowire harness is just amazing. It's labeled and great. It's made this process a lot easier, and I know I have good wiring instead of old wires from the 60's that got sun baked in New Mexico.

They made me build my own light sockets .. this was a bit of a pain, trying to crimp the nip on the wire was next to impossible.. so I half assed crimped it and then soldered it firmly so I knew it wasn't going anywhere.. This pic shows me using my vice grips as a holder for the wire so I can solder it all pretty.

[Arekusu]

After I got all the light sockets built I completed the dash / bezel lights wiring harness, separated the wires and covered them. This way they are protected and cleaner.

[Low Elco]

How did I miss this? Great work, and congrats on the advancement!

[TJ's Chevy]

WOWZA! Nice sounding big block....you know there is the option of going withOUT the mufflers..........

[gulfcoast66]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

How did I miss this? Great work, and congrats on the advancement!

X2 Great work indeed!!!!!!

[Arekusu]

Thanks guys!

Ya no mufflers is an option.. if I put electronic cutouts on it .

Alex

[NEWFISHER]

Great build! Looking nice, sounding nice.