WunTon's 63' BBW/SWB Fleetside build

[88Stanger]

Got spare fireworks there i see also. LOL
I know where you are... been there... just grab a piece of paper or white board, make a list to complete, not a complete list, just say a list for the cab, or ??? one that you can finish in a month or two, then just jump in. I like to make a smaller list, finish that so i can feel like i made progress and move on. Before you know it, you will be driving this bad arse truck all over!

[WunTon]

Originally Posted by 88Stanger

Got spare fireworks there i see also. LOL
I know where you are... been there... just grab a piece of paper or white board, make a list to complete, not a complete list, just say a list for the cab, or ??? one that you can finish in a month or two, then just jump in. I like to make a smaller list, finish that so i can feel like i made progress and move on. Before you know it, you will be driving this bad arse truck all over!

Yup those are the crappy little kiddy fireworks though. For the 4th this year I took up a collection from the neighborhood and put on a solid 45 minute show for everyone with the good stuff from PA. I like the whiteboard idea a lot and will be doing that for sure as I am list or should I say list crossing motivated lol! I just called to get a quote for blasting and powder coating the frame so we'll see what they come back with and perhaps that will push me to move a bit faster if the price is right.

[88Stanger]

Originally Posted by WunTon

Yup those are the crappy little kiddy fireworks though. For the 4th this year I took up a collection from the neighborhood and put on a solid 45 minute show for everyone with the good stuff from PA. I like the whiteboard idea a lot and will be doing that for sure as I am list or should I say list crossing motivated lol! I just called to get a quote for blasting and powder coating the frame so we'll see what they come back with and perhaps that will push me to move a bit faster if the price is right.

Good! Hopefully they will give you a good deal on getting both done at the same time, assuming the same shop does all. I told my coater in the beginning that this will not be the only thing i bring him wink wink so .... he caught the hint and i got a great deal. So i have returned 3 times with things for him and hopefully will be again with a roll cage to have coated and possibly a few other large pieces. I have my own old oven and powder gun, so for small pieces I do them myself, works great and it is addictive!! LOL

[WunTon]

Originally Posted by 88Stanger

Good! Hopefully they will give you a good deal on getting both done at the same time, assuming the same shop does all. I told my coater in the beginning that this will not be the only thing i bring him wink wink so .... he caught the hint and i got a great deal. So i have returned 3 times with things for him and hopefully will be again with a roll cage to have coated and possibly a few other large pieces. I have my own old oven and powder gun, so for small pieces I do them myself, works great and it is addictive!! LOL

I hope they aren't crazy expensive!

I spent a couple hours last night and made a little more progress. I guess you could say I'm officially in the mockup stage at this point because I got the first new shiny piece attached to the frame!

Removing the crossmember was an exercise in perseverance to say the least! Those rivets are really not meant to come out lol. I removed all of the rivets and will replace the the others that I removed with grade 8 bolts to match the look of the new bolts for the crossmember.


Then I set the new trailing arm crossmember in place and I was able to get 7 of the 8 bolts installed. The 8th will go but its going to require a ratchet strap to pull the frame in a little and I ran out of time so I'll attempt that tonight and see about getting the trailing arm bushings pressed in and bolted up just to add more shiny bits and feel like I am actually making progress!


I'm going to get the rebuild kit ordered for the rear axle today so I can get it built this weekend if time allows and maybe I can have it on the rear wheels by Sunday evening.

[88Stanger]

Quick note: If you are going to get the frame blasted and powder coated, I talked with my coater and he said if i knock off most of all the heavy grease and grim that the price to blast would be less, less work, less mess for him.... cost savings for me. I had a huge mess to clean up, but that is just sweat equity for me... so no loss there.
Not sure this will help you, but never hurts to ask.

[WunTon]

I made a little more progress last night. First and foremost it is pupper dog approved! It's crazy that he is 3 days shy of 11 months old and is 120lbs already but he's a great shop dog.



After bolting the arms on and setting the bags there just because I wanted to see what it looked like I got the axle housing bolted on the arms and used that to mark out where my notches needed to be after removing a whole bunch more unneeded rivets and brackets. Once I had the layout marked I drilled and cut out the first notch and got it temporarily bolted in place.

No turning back now!


Then it was on to drilling and bolting




These bolts are temporary and will be replaced with grade 8 hardware along with welding the notches in place.



Overall I don't think the fitment on this one isn't to bad for cheap ebay special notches. I'll massage this spot a bit before I weld it on but I need to wait for my weldable primer to show up before I permanently weld it in place. I'd like to have a good thick layer of primer between the notch and frame rail first.



We are fostering a pitbull right now who is going to meet his potential forever family tonight and my wife has a tattoo appointment tomorrow night so I likely won't get any time on this until the weekend.

[WunTon]

Originally Posted by 88Stanger

Quick note: If you are going to get the frame blasted and powder coated, I talked with my coater and he said if i knock off most of all the heavy grease and grim that the price to blast would be less, less work, less mess for him.... cost savings for me. I had a huge mess to clean up, but that is just sweat equity for me... so no loss there.
Not sure this will help you, but never hurts to ask.

That's good to know thanks! I've spent a fair amount of time cleaning up the engine area of the frame so hitting the rest with a wire wheel shouldn't take too long at all!

[WunTon]

So here's something I am hoping someone has some insight on. I have the POL crossmember and trailing arms but when I went to bolt them on last night I found a have a LOT of space between the arms and brackets. It seems like it may be more than an acceptable amount of space to be taken up by tightening the bolts but I figured I would ask and see if anyone has encountered this before. I'll also give POL a call and see what they say but wanted to ask the real pro's here before calling lol!

[SCOTI]

Shim w/washers or spacers (aka thicker material) on each side as necessary.

[WunTon]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

Shim w/washers or spacers (aka thicker material) on each side as necessary.

That's what I was thinking as well. I called POL and they said it would be fine to pinch the tabs in with the bolt when I tighten it but I don't like that solution so spacers it is!

On a separate note I got the quote back for blasting and powder coating. $700 for blasting plus another $900 for coating for a total of $1600 for the frame front crossmember and rear axle housing. That seems really expensive to me but I also don't have any basis or idea what others have paid or if my area has anything to do with the price. There's a couple other places I'm going to call and see what they say as well even though they are a bit further away.

[The Rocknrod]

The POL bushings for the trailing arm, are you using theirs? or stock?
The ones I got from them are much thicker on the sides and take up all the space.

[WunTon]

Originally Posted by The Rocknrod

The POL bushings for the trailing arm, are you using theirs? or stock?
The ones I got from them are much thicker on the sides and take up all the space.

They are the ones that came with the trailing arms from them.

[The Rocknrod]

Originally Posted by WunTon

They are the ones that came with the trailing arms from them.

[Grizz1963]

Shop dog and shop cat, great accessories to any shop.

I still miss my Harley.

Your boy looks like a laid back partner in crime.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by WunTon

That's what I was thinking as well. I called POL and they said it would be fine to pinch the tabs in with the bolt when I tighten it but I don't like that solution so spacers it is!

On a separate note I got the quote back for blasting and powder coating. $700 for blasting plus another $900 for coating for a total of $1600 for the frame front crossmember and rear axle housing. That seems really expensive to me but I also don't have any basis or idea what others have paid or if my area has anything to do with the price. There's a couple other places I'm going to call and see what they say as well even though they are a bit further away.

Don't pinch the tabs or.... Pinch them in enough so they're square if they are tweaked outward. The compression on the bushing needs to be square w/the face of the bushing so washers/spacers can accommodate that need.

The blast/PC price quote seems high but it could be a 'location' thing. Shop around to get your answer & seek out other enthusiasts in your area to see if you can find a recommended source.

[WunTon]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Shop dog and shop cat, great accessories to any shop.

I still miss my Harley.

Your boy looks like a laid back partner in crime.

I couldn't be without a dog in my life!

Originally Posted by SCOTI

Don't pinch the tabs or.... Pinch them in enough so they're square if they are tweaked outward. The compression on the bushing needs to be square w/the face of the bushing so washers/spacers can accommodate that need.

The blast/PC price quote seems high but it could be a 'location' thing. Shop around to get your answer & seek out other enthusiasts in your area to see if you can find a recommended source.

Thats exactly what I was thinking on the bushing is that they need to be square especially since I'll be on air and they will be moving a lot. I'll get some accurate measurements and see about finding some spaces or washers to take up the space. I got a second quote on the PC and they came in at $12-1500 just depending on what all I bring them. I a still leaning towards just putting in the time with a wire wheel and a paint brush to do it myself and put that money towards my transmission instead.

[53Sparky]

[QUOTE=WunTon;8846287]


Nice Drift Trike. The rest of the project looks cool too!

I'll be following.

[SkinnyG]

I bought a pressurized pot sandblaster for around $130, but I have a good 15cfm compressor to feed it. It's slow, but it's a lot cheaper than "paying the man."

I'll be 2K epoxy priming the frame on my '61. I have had impressive luck with the cheapie cheap spray guns. I have an expensive DeVilbiss as well, but the cheapie cheapies are not far off.

I did a 12-bolt axle in POR-15 about 5 years ago. It's holding up reasonably well, I did use Metal Prep on it as well, not blasted. Some say POR is comparable to powdercoating as far as durability. If you go POR, I understand the prep is key, and you want to leave the rust on it (no blasting).

I'm sure you could buy the tools you need for less than the quote, and then the next job is "free" because now you have all the tools. Except this costs you time - but unless the time you put in is taking away from your job, labor is free.

[WunTon]

Well I would have loved to get more done but I was able to meet my goal of having it sitting on its own rear axle this weekend!

I got the second notch in with the exception of one bolt. This is what I get for buying cheap ebay notches I guess. One of the bolts on the side of the frame is located directly in line with two of the bolts on the bottom of the frame and the bolts they sent with it are to long so the side bolt contacts a bottom bolt. I can remedy this with a shorter bolt which isn't a big deal since I already planned on replacing the grade 5 bolts that came with it to grade 8 when it comes time for final assembly anyway but still a minor design annoyance anyway.



If you look close in this picture you can see the missing bolt on the left side notch



I got the upper holes drilled for the bag mounts and fittings and got those bolted on but somehow didn't take any pictures. Then I got the wheel studs pressed into the new axle shafts and decided to just toss the carrier in with the old bearings and not do a full setup on the axle until I have it painted or powder coated.



I needed some rollers since I don't want to use the wheels and tires that came with it and since they are brand new I didn't want to hurt resale value on them by bolting them for mockup so I hit up CL with no luck and then went to FB marketplace and found a sent of jeep wheels/tires that someone was giving away free and had the wife send them a message since I don't actually do the book of faces expect to look for stuff to spend money on and I picked them up the next morning.



They are way to big but they will work for now and for the price I won't complain!

After that I got the fuel cell mocked up and drilled all the holes in the frame for that. It was pretty uneventful but another thing to mark off the list none the less so I was excited to see it done.



Once the fuel cell was in I set it on the ground on its own rear axle for the first time in 5 years which was another milestone.



I decided it would make more sense to turn the frame around the other way to work on the front suspension so I grabbed the front and rolled it out into the street like the worlds largest wheelbarrow and had to stop on the way back in for a photo op!



Seeing this picture really makes me want to stop and take time to clean up the garage but my brain keeps saying "no screw the garage must make progress on the truck" so maybe I can talk my brain outta progress for an hour one of these days to clean stuff up.

After I got it rolled back in with about 3" to spare I started on the front crossmember. I got the bag brackets drilled and mounted and drilled out the bigger Ubolt holes for the cross shafts on the lower arms. I started putting it back on the frame and could only find 3 of the new bolts I bought for this task so I loosely put in the bolts I had and called it a night.



I'll pick up the bolts I need today and I figure within a couple hours time I should be ablt to have it sitting on the front wheels.

[WunTon]

[quote=53Sparky;8849609]

Originally Posted by WunTon

Nice Drift Trike. The rest of the project looks cool too!

I'll be following.

Thanks! The trike was my early covid project that I built to keep myself entertained for a while and it has done just that for me!

[WunTon]

Originally Posted by SkinnyG

I bought a pressurized pot sandblaster for around $130, but I have a good 15cfm compressor to feed it. It's slow, but it's a lot cheaper than "paying the man."

I'll be 2K epoxy priming the frame on my '61. I have had impressive luck with the cheapie cheap spray guns. I have an expensive DeVilbiss as well, but the cheapie cheapies are not far off.

I did a 12-bolt axle in POR-15 about 5 years ago. It's holding up reasonably well, I did use Metal Prep on it as well, not blasted. Some say POR is comparable to powdercoating as far as durability. If you go POR, I understand the prep is key, and you want to leave the rust on it (no blasting).

I'm sure you could buy the tools you need for less than the quote, and then the next job is "free" because now you have all the tools. Except this costs you time - but unless the time you put in is taking away from your job, labor is free.

I have thought about going this route but I would need a much larger compressor and I just don't really have the space for all that right now sadly. I've used the POR on offroad trucks I've built in the past with good results and you are right like any good paint job the end result is all about the prep work that you do.

[88Stanger]

damn, 700.00 and 900.00?!?! I got 2 quotes for my frame, blast was no higher than 500.00 at most and powder was same, done together, i would get a discount. I paid just about 900.00 for everything. Not sure if you have other choices in town ,but damn that is alot if you ask me.

[WunTon]

Well I got the front end put together but it appears I've been bitten by the CPP craptastic quality control bug as I've found many others have as well. I ordered the CP4S2 2.5" drop spindles for a 63-70 C10 and when I bolt them on the lower ball joint taper is way too deep to the point that the castle nut is below the cotter pin hole and the nut isn't even tight and the tie rod ends don't fit in the spindle at all. The upper bj fits fine which leads me to believe these spindles are for a later model truck. The way I see it I have three options

1. Call CPP and see if they will make it right which I doubt they will since most every post I've read about their issues ends with them excepting zero responsibility and laying the blame on the seller. I bought them direct from CPP via their eBay store but that was back in February so my money says they will say it's been too long and wash their hands of it.

2. I can change the lower ball joint and outer tie rods but my understanding is the later model tie rods won't fit the early model adjusting sleeves. I've read that a custom sleeve exists to remedy this but I haven't had any luck finding this thing lol. So since the tie rods don't fit the sleeve I would need to change it basically all of the other components to the later model truck components which is silly since everything I have is already new.

3. The easy and likely route is too buy the correct drop spindles from literally anyone else and bolt everything together without any headache and sell these incorrect spindles.

Any input or experience with this is greatly appreciated! I'll get some pics up later.

[Captainfab]

It sounds to me like you may have '73-'87 spindles. What does the casting number say? All of the big name parts suppliers sell the aluminum tierod adapter sleeves.

[WunTon]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

It sounds to me like you may have '73-'87 spindles. What does the casting number say? All of the big name parts suppliers sell the aluminum tierod adapter sleeves.

The castings say CP4S4 but my understanding is that they use the same castings but change the ream depending on the model. I considered the sleeves but it's still have to swap ball joints so I'd rather just get the correct spindles and be done with it.