Dug's 1959 Fleetside

[rgunlock]

Oops is right! You'd restored that plate too nice in any case

[dug224]

Originally Posted by rgunlock

Oops is right! You'd restored that plate too nice in any case

Ha! To the untrained eye, it looks pretty good. Certainly better than the rest of the dents in the body.

[dug224]

I tried multiple times to adapt new wiper arm assemblies to the '59. No success so I decided to go back to the '55 - '59 factory wipers. Thanks to our fellow Chevy truck enthusiast Jason, I now have a complete assembly. He lives here in Mobile and has collected three trucks of which one is a parts truck. I got the arms unstuck and installed. All I need now is to decide on what new universal motor to buy. Has anyone done this and, if so, what motor was used? 90's Dodge truck/Caravan motors look promising and they are inexpensive ($33-ish). Should be pretty straight forward. Toughest part will be adapting the '59 rotating bar to the new motor shaft. Still using the box of springs my dad had around when I was a kid. Needed a spring for the retention clips that hold the arms on at the motor.




Jason also provided me with a driver side view mirror arm that I used with a new round mirror I had in stock. Appears to have welded on and maybe even shortened. I'll heat it up and move it out just a bit. Much better than the pinch type mirror I had mounted.

[the1ted]

Hey!

[dug224]

Originally Posted by the1ted

Hey!

Ted Zeppelin!! Sent you a few messages to make sure you are still with us!! Hope all is well. How's your project coming along? dug

[dug224]

As I attempt to find an affordable AC system, I continue to fill in with the little stuff. Somehow ended up with a pretty nice engine cover. Not sure where it came from but I got it mounted. Barry's U Pull It provided the front studs that the cover clips over and the rear plate (barely in the photo at the top) that grabs the back of the cover. I had to fabricate a small plate on which to mount the studs since this cover was definitely not meant for this engine. The cover cleaned the messy engine right up. I ended up with about 1/2" of clearance between the cover and hood structure. I need to work on moving the eye sore yellow filter down somewhere on the passenger side. I'll wait until I get the AC in since there's a lot of AC/Heat stuff going on in the area.

[jaws61]

For the wipers you can you a chevy 2000 or 90ish blazer rear wiper works, its what i used on my truck and if you check on youtube someones got a video of it working. Worked great on my truck but takes some playing...

[dug224]

Originally Posted by jaws61

For the wipers you can you a chevy 2000 or 90ish blazer rear wiper works, its what i used on my truck and if you check on youtube someones got a video of it working. Worked great on my truck but takes some playing...

Thanks! I wished I had run across this earlier. The first thing I did when I decided to attempt using a rear wiper motor was to grab one out a late model Trailblazer. Unfortunately, it has a 180 degree sweep and it apparently uses electronics from the T. B. BCM (body control module) to reverse the direction of the motor....which I didn't have. Here's the link to this guys YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJCN20p4jhM

Looks like a pretty straight forward mod and the sweep looks just about right. I'll be grabbing a fresh one when the time comes. Brand new on Ebay $40.

[rgunlock]

Good luck with the wiper motor install. Looks like if you post a final measurement of that bar the wiper linkage attaches to it could help a number of us out. Cover on the engine cleans things up nice!

[dug224]

Originally Posted by rgunlock

Good luck with the wiper motor install. Looks like if you post a final measurement of that bar the wiper linkage attaches to it could help a number of us out. Cover on the engine cleans things up nice!

Thanks...Will do.

[dug224]

After riding around the other day and realizing it was hotter in the cab than it was outside, I reached up and touched the inside of my black roof. Almost too hot to touch. Anyway, went to Lowes and picked up an $18 roll of Frost-King 1' x 15' roll of self adhesive foam and foil and covered it up. Seems to stick pretty good. Headed out later so I'll report on improvements, if any.

[mongocanfly]

looks good dug...ive been thinking about that on mine as well....it had a headliner in it tht was like a cheap plastic tablecloth glued to the roof...when I get it redone I'm thinking some insulation barrier is in order

[dug224]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

looks good dug...ive been thinking about that on mine as well....it had a headliner in it tht was like a cheap plastic tablecloth glued to the roof...when I get it redone I'm thinking some insulation barrier is in order

Do it. It took me all of about 15 minutes to install. Just got back from a cruise. Left in it in a parking lot with the sun shining on it while we ate. The temperature of the freshly insulated panel, as expected, is dramatically cooler than the surrounding double wall sheet metal. The floor and firewall are next since they are getting the brunt of the heat off of the engine.

[dug224]

Decided to work on stopping some of the radiant heat transfer between exhaust pipe and passenger side floor. Purchased some 14" x 10' aluminum roof flashing and bent up a 4' shape to fit over the exhaust pipe. On my exhaust there is a cross over pipe that brings driver side exhaust to passenger side where it turns towards the back then combines just before the factory Trailblazer muffler flange. I ran the heat shield over most of the horizontal pipe and stopped just before the muffler. Welded up and riveted a couple of brackets to the shield and used hose clamps to attached to the pipe. The exhaust pipe (w/ engine running) under the heat shield was about 300 degrees F. On top of the shield it was about 100 F. Cab floor was about 90 F. Success! There is a bit of a rattle at certain rpm's so I'll have to add a stiffener to quiet it down. Part of the muffler is under the cab so I may have to tackle it as well.

I ordered some "foil one side recycled denim" insulation that I will be installing in the cab next. I'm still undecided about whether or not to add KilMat sound deadener since I sprayed both sides of my floor and 1/2 of the firewall with Raptor Bed liner.



Front of the shield just below the O2 sensor.

[rgunlock]

Sounds like success. Hard to tell from the picture, but how much air gap do you figure you have between the shield and the cab floor?

[dug224]

Originally Posted by rgunlock

Sounds like success. Hard to tell from the picture, but how much air gap do you figure you have between the shield and the cab floor?

The front bracket is 1" tall so I have a 1" air gap up front. To clear the rear flange at the muffler, I made the rear one 2" tall so my air gap goes from 1" to 2". Took another road trip to test again measuring temps inside of the cab on passenger side. Anywhere the floor was protected by the shield, the floor temp was 110 F. Ambient yesterday was about 95 F. In a small area (say 10' x 10") of the floor behind the vertical exhaust pipe (O2 sensor) that is not shielded, the floor was 125 F. The rattle ended up being pretty bad throughout most all engine speeds. Basically, the top of the shield was like a drum. To correct, I bent up a small 1/2" x 2" x 1/2" x 48" "C-channel" using the same flashing material. I then ran it the entire length with the shield through my brackets with the "C" facing down. Sorry, no photo. Between the shield and the "C" channel, I installed a 2" layer of exhaust pipe wrap (because I had it available) and riveted it all together. All quiet now...

[dug224]

As I'm ejoying the rain and waiting for the tropical storm Barry turned hurricane Barry to pass, I started exploring my options for a center console. Ended up with a few center consoles out of the Envoys and Trailblazers including the one out of the TB SS (I should have bought). I happened to be at the wrecking yard the day they crushed it so I grabbed the shift knob and center console. Decided to install the nicer SS shift knob while was at it. It has a button for traction control that I may be able to use for my future exhaust cutout.

Meanwhile, I decided to go with the KILMAT sound deadener in spite of the fact I had sprayed RAPTOR liner on all of the surfaces. It showed up today so I dove in. I got most of the full pieces installed and will save installation of the detail pieces for in the morning.

[dug224]

My Home Depot denim insulation arrived. Built up some templates and got it cut and installed. It is heavier and more dense than I anticipated so, once I install the carpet, it ought to hold up pretty good with the exception of maybe where my heal hits at the pedals.



The red paint on my hood badge had worn off so, rather than trying to paint it, I picked up a piece of gold vinyl and cutout a new bow-tie. It matches my wheel center caps pretty close. The stuff scratches pretty easily and doesn't appear to be very durable. Good for now.

[dug224]

Ordered my AC system yesterday so I have some time to start carpeting. Picked up some short loop and commenced with cutting. Most of the exposed edges will be hidden under either a kick panels, center console or some type of rigid edging (TBD). Plan is to glue strips of carpeting to the floor beams and lay the horizontal carpeting up to the beams. Edges will hidden.

I glued insulation to the rear wall and plan on mechanically attaching the top edge of the carpet to the horizontal edge 8 or 10 inches below the rear glass. Not sure how I'll attach the rest. Maybe mechanically attach to the floor.

[dug224]

Carpet is 90% complete. Still have to heat tape the joints on both sides where the firewall meets the trans tunnel (basically under and to the right of the gas), properly attach the rear wall carpet and add whatever I can dream up to cover the edge of the carpet at the step. Covering each floor beam with carpet and tucking the horizontal carpet under it worked nicely. When I covered the beam I left the edges about 1/2" off of the floor leaving room for the tuck. Had to trim the insulation back 1/4" to get the carpet to tuck in under the beam carpet.

[dug224]

Bought a 4'x8' sheet of 0.06 ABS. I'm experimenting with making a closure panel under the dash to hold my Mini Cooper diffusers and hide the Air Handling Unit. Cut a 7" piece and took it to the brake we used to use on for vinyl siding. I was told you could bend it with a brake. This brake is pretty light duty and would not bend it until we got out the heat gun. Does a real good job but you have to the the ABS up to the melting point otherwise it leaves a white deformed corner which you can see in the third photo.




Ended up buying an AC system form Southern Rods. Got the AHU hung.


I'm trying to use the compressor that came with the engine so I will need to have the lines made up using the original manifold. Learned yesterday that Gates makes a fitting that is compression on one end and crimp on the other. If I can't get somebody to TIG ends on this fitting, I may have to use the Gates fitting.

[dug224]

While I had the ABS out, I cut a piece for the headliner. Cut it 2" longer and wider than the opening using my tin snips. Cuts easily with the snips. Cut a piece of the denim insulation (shiny side up) to go on top and slipped it all into place. Although there is no appreciable air gap between the shiny side and the bottom of the roof, I'm hoping it at least reflects a little of the radiant heat back out. Installation got kind of tough for the last 1" of travel since there was nothing to grab onto to pull. Had to get 4 hands on it and push. Slipped right in. We'll see how well it stays up on a really hot day.

[dug224]

I bought a #8 fitting and #10 male fitting and dropped off the factory manifold at ArcPro (local welding school) to have the owner/master welder TIG them together for me. Plan on taking a welding class from them this winter when they slow down and when it's not so HOT.

Since the center console is a stand alone art project that will come later and houses two diffusers and AC controls, I temporarily mounted the AC controls and one diffuser under the dash. I temporarily mounted the two other diffusers where the kick plates goes. Got all the ductwork installed and stuffed the AHU back up under the dash. Pretty snug but nothing interferes with the wider linkage.


Mounted the condenser using the brackets that came with the unit. To avoid cutting the core support for tubing clearance, I mounted the condenser out in front of the core support. This leaves about 2.5" between radiator and condenser and about 0.25" from the front of the pusher condenser fans to the back of the grille. Fortunately, I was able to bolt the new brackets to 4 existing factory nuts that are welded to the core support.




Epoxied and screwed the two condensing fans together and will make mounting brackets tomorrow.

[dsraven]

there you go, thinking outside the box again.
nice job and innovation.

[dug224]

Condenser and fans are all buttoned up including wiring. Rather than making more mounting brackets to make side mounts, I managed to use the plastic slide-in tabs that came with the fans and top mount. They lined up with the condenser's top and bottom flanges. All I had to do was drill some new holes in the flanges.


I managed to maintain the 1/4" gap between the condenser fans and the back of the grill. From this perspective, it is hard to believe it actually fits behind the grill.


Decided to go through louvers with my refrigeration hoses. I removed one louver using my pneumatic body saw. I find that this tool is generally useless compared to my other more aggressive tools. If you are not in a hurry and you have a tough reach, it's the go to tool. Plenty of room below my overflow tank for the hoses and I'll protect the hoses by lining the hole with something I can slide over the metal edges and clip into place. I'll take a look at door seals off of a wreck. I experimented with a split rubber hose but it was not secure.