Help! Someone has stolen my beautiful chassis and left this multicolored hulk in its place!
Not sure which badge to use. I was all set on the 62 badge emblems, but now I kind of like the 66. What do you think?
Why on earth the GM engineers decided to make the front fenderwell opening so huge, and the rear opening so small, I'll never know.
I have half a mind to grab some spare, rusty front fenders I have lying around and experiment with making a bigger fenderwell on the fleetside bed on my 64, to match the front. Has anyone ever seen this done?
I put all the front sheetmetal on because its supposed to rain in so cal for the next week and I wanted to keep the water off of the motor and the chassis. These are all of the exterior panels I plan on using. I didn't get around to mounting the front panel and grill for now. The inner fenders are a test set where I cut away to lower section to give better access for the shock towers I'm tentatively planning to install. It also opens up easy access to the sides of the motor. This sure would make spark plug changes a whole lot easier! Eventually I'll use heavy rubber mat to make a removable curtain to cover the open area and keep water and dirt kicked up by the tire from getting to the motor.
I pulled the steering column from the 64 and put it in the 66. I was so pleased when I bolted it to the column support under the dash and then went to the steering box and found that the column flange lined up perfectly. The column itself is a hybrid of sorts. I replaced the shaft of a 66 column with that of a 68. This resulted in a stock 66 style upper with the double "D" sleeved shaft lower with the breakaway pin.
I didn't like the funky radiator support brackets that came on the 4x4 chassis because they never fit right and didn't seem to be at the correct height. So I robbed the pair from a spare 2wd frame and chopped the bottoms off so they'd fit above my front spring hangers.
I also cut the fron frame horns off of the spare frame. I'll be using these to make a rear frame extension, similar to the suburban and panel trucks, on which I can mount the rear bumper. I'm doing it this way because the bumper on my 64 never seemed sturdy on the little bumper brackets. Whenever I stood on it to reach into the bed it felt like it was flexing.
The doors came off of my 64 as well. They're pretty sturdy with minimal rust, but unfortunately the PO cut big sloppy speaker holes in them. When I was in high school I made the carpeted wooden panels for the door bottoms to cover up the two big holes down there and make a nicer mounting place for 6-1/2" speakers. I have a couple of straight door panels to swap on, and I'll be putting an arm rest on both doors.
Going to take a break for a couple of days. Visiting the fam tomorrow and going skiing on Wednesday.
Happy holidays to all!