Project "Mater" build thread

[Blue'72]

Hey Steve! I didn't know you had an old trailer too. That's cool!! This is a '64 Aristocrat 16'. It looked like something cousin Eddie would pull up in when we got it, but a new coat of paint really did the trick. I started painting it on the inside and we put a small dorm sized fridge in it, but that's about it so far. We've used it a few times and always have so much fun! We bring a 19" TV when we stay at a park and we're camping right along side the much more expensive RV's. Plus we get a lot of comments on ours..

So what do you have?

I got a little done this past week and Brad and my brother came over on Saturday to have a truck work day.

[Blue'72]

[72cheyennesuper20]

Travis looks like good progress, I like the cab pic with the flag in the background. Is that a 1967 Chevelle steering wheel on the tool box? Your brother has the right idea pulling the wheels to work on his truck. I have a 1965 Aristocrat Lo Liner 13'.

[Blue'72]

Good eye on that steering wheel! That's the only part of my dream car that I have left.. Do you have that wheel in your 67?

I love those pics of your trailer you sent! In fact, I'm gunna post one here if you don't mind as long as we're on that subject..

I'll have some more updated project pics shortly.

[Blue'72]

I got back after it and made some headway. After rebuilding the pass side a pillar, I attached the rocker. With the doors aligned, the rockers fit nicely. I had to really massage the pass side to get the huge gap out of it. In fact, I'll go out and take a pic of that.. With the new floor in and all cleaned up, I painted it with some super duper strong two part epoxy that my brother got from work. It's used on pipe and looks like it would almost outlast the pipe. We tested it on a rusty pc of metal that was cut from the floor and had oil and undercoating on it and it can't even be scraped off. Definitely no sanding this stuff.. Anyway, it's super thick and worked nicely. I'm going to go over the whole floor with Hammerite or Por-15 before I soundproof it. I also came across a can of Zinc-it spray can that's used for touching up zinc coated steel after cutting and welding. It's 95% zinc, so I'll use it underneath on the new metal before coating it better. I also started cleaning up the firewall and getting it ready for paint. I sprayed the heater box and brake booster/master cyl flat black which I'm going to have to get a pic of also. The fenders and cowl are now stripped of paint after getting caught up in a downpour finishing up that project.

I'll get a couple more pics then its back to work I go.

[Blue'72]

This should look good against the new paint on the firewall.


This should look fine after a little more work.


I've got some lower pcs that need to be replaced next..

[Palf70Step]

Nice work!

[mike c-10]

nice truck, dont take this the wrong way, but i like the picture of your smiling wife, its because of my wife that all of my projects were possible, i think they are the unsung heroes of any project, its all worth it when they are sitting next to you when your out cruisin!!!!!

[Brad]

Travis' wife is a great lady! She's such a nice woman and is always encouraging Travis on his truck stuff. I can only hope to find a woman like her. I keep asking about the sister, but apparently I'm too nice!
And just for the record, his brother and dad are pretty cool people too!

[liv4fun]

Originally Posted by Brad

Travis' wife is a great lady! She's such a nice woman and is always encouraging Travis on his truck stuff. I can only hope to find a woman like her. I keep asking about the sister, but apparently I'm too nice!
And just for the record, his brother and dad are pretty cool people too!

And she makes one heck of a homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza. And White Trash Soup. And... Well really to many things to list here. I had the Chicken Pizza, or Chicken Pitzie as she calls it, last Saturday. Yum....

PS... Travis - Where are the pics from Sat???

[Blue'72]

PS... Travis - Where are the pics from Sat???

I'm working on it already, gosh...

First of all, mike c-10 you are sooo right! Nicely said! Brad, Dana says "Thanks!". Troy knows how to keep on her good side too..

I got quite a bit of work done this past week. I should be just about finished with all the welding. Everything is also in body filler and is either finished or close to being finished. Pay no attention to the dates on these pics either... Oh, and if anyone has any words of advice or see something I could be doing differently, speak up please. I'm learning a lot of this as I go along, or in some cases finding the info in past threads after I've already done something wrong..

The driver's side fender was one I replaced the original with shortly after I bought the truck. The bottom rear section was in much better shape on the original fender, so at the time I grafted it on and called it good. This time I replaced the rust in that pc. I found a perfect bottom front pc that was cut off an original fender many years ago and bought the rest in repo parts. The front went on nicely and the back was in good shape except for a smaller section that I cut from the repo part and grafted in.

[Blue'72]

The repo'd bottom front pc of the pass fender didn't fit right after I cut it to match the fender. It was too short, so I sliced it and pulled it out to line up with the wheel opening. I had to make a relief cut on the backside also and then fill in the gaps. With a straight edge, it looks like it will turn out fine once the body filler is sanded. The rear section was full of bondo and I saw where they riveted a pc of metal on the backside of the opening where they cut out the rust. Looked like an old repair and definitely needed to be cut off. I had the replacement panel for it, but the backside support pc with the bolt hole was rusted badly.. Luckily the fender that came off Mater was in really good shape in that section even though the rest was junk.

[Blue'72]

Peanut and Shadow weren't quite sure what I was up to.

The last bit of welding I had to do was fill the holes in the fenders and doors

The weather was great on Saturday, so moved everything outside to lay on all the body filler.

[Blue'72]

My brother came over on Saturday and we got busy with swapping the front cross member. First order of business was to remove the grease and grime.


This is what happens when you hand the pressure washer over to my brother. He tends to leave his mark wherever he goes...

"I could really use your help over here. Do you remember if these were the right bolts or not"?

A little more cleaning and paint and then I'll be ready to start putting the motor back in! Unfortunately,

[72cheyennesuper20]

Travis, Great progress. It always feels good when they can at least roll out of the garage on wheels. Motor next thats exciting. White trash soup? I am suprised I have never had that before. Keep up the good work.

[Blue'72]

White trash soup?

She couldn't think of anything else to call it. It actually turned out better than her white trash casserole!

[liv4fun]

Originally Posted by Blue'72

This is what happens when you hand the pressure washer over to my brother. He tends to leave his mark wherever he goes...
Attachment 347061

True.... Very True

[Blue'72]

Well, I got the crossmember cleaned up and painted. I was leary of taking my 4 1/2" grinder with the wire wheel to it because of all the sharp edges and what not, so I wired inline a switch that I can slow the speed down to make this job a lot easier. I still need to finish painting the frame, but with the crossmember painted, I can startgetting the motor ready to put back in. When I turned the motor upside down to pull the pan and replace the gasket, I heard something flopping around in there. Got the pan off and realized that the pickup tube wasn't attached to the oil pump! I looks like it fell off shortly after the motor was new. The pump was still able to suck up the oil, so it always had pressure, but I made sure the pickup wasn't going to fall off again. Also found out the motor is a 4 bolt for what that's worth.

With the pan gasket taken care of, I turned my attention to the Edelbrock valve covers that I wanted to use simply because I didn't want to spend the money on new. After cleaning one of them and simply painting it orange, it doesn't look too bad. I'm open to opinions and ideas!! I've got the flexplate and starter and am about ready to get her set back in place. I was hoping to get that far today, but you know how that goes...

[hotrod 80]

4 bolt & powdered metal vortec rods , cool .

[cardude66]

What I did with my valve covers on my 69 cutlass is painted them body color then sanded off the top and then clear coat them. the picture doesn't show it justice but it turned out pretty good.

[Brad]

That's exactly what I was thinking would look great.

[liv4fun]

4 bolt main... Lu-Key....
The crossmember looks really good, but are you going to paint it with the same paint as the frame, or are you going to repaint the frame?

I agree on the sanding of the valve covers.

[Cyclone44]

That cab floor looks great!!! I can send you my cab and let you do that to it...But I would want it back of course..LOL...That's a great job your doing

[Blue'72]

Thanks Cyclone! Now that I've had the practice on mine, my brother (liv4fun) is chomping at the bit to get his done.

Those M/T valve covers look nice! I'll try something like that with these.

Brad, I got your message last night, but I was looking at my pillow and the phone and, well, laying my head down and going to sleep sounded like a better plan at the time..

I'll PM you or give you a call later.

Troy, I've got some more cleaning of the frame to do and then I'll give it another once over.

[72cheyennesuper20]

Travis, Anything this weekend? What does your brother want to do to his truck? It already looks nice.