52 5 window ground up build

[c10derek]

great looking build. cant wait to see more, keep up the solid work.

[Fenhold]

I put both fenders, core support and electric fan roughly in place and moved the motor back enough to have a gap large enough to finagle the serp. belt in. For my effort i received another "thunk" as the passenger side head backed into the firewall. I did some exploratory cuts with my air saw and got the motor in place. I searched for options and ended ordering a Direct Sheetmetal recessed firewall. I would have gone with the *****in Products firewall but I am doing a firewall mount brake booster/master. If I did it over again I would have made my own firewall from scratch. I assumed that what I had ordered would be stamped. It was multiple cut pieces welded together and thus had considerable waves. Since I could go no further forward with the motor, I bolted the motor/trans together, jacked the trans up to the frame until the cross member was flush and worked on squaring it all up. once I was happy with the clearances I welded the frame mounts in place.

[Fenhold]

With the motor and trans in place I got the pinion angle I needed to complete the rear suspension. It took me several weekends to get all of the brackets squared up on the rear end. While I was working on this I looked into gears for the 9 bolt. I found a link here somewhere for 9bolt.com and ordered 3.45's and all of the goodies to get the rear end done. Once I welded up the rear end mounts I dropped of the rear end and parts to be rebuilt. A friend of mine mentioned having remnant pieces of 1/2" stainless tubing at work. His employers idea of remnant and mine are off by about 8'. He does industrial scale piping so anything less than 10' goes in the crapper. He dropped off a few pieces and his 1/2" bender. I ordered up a Mastercool flaring set and started forming up some fuel lines. I spent lots of time forming the lines to the frame. I was able to form them so that they run along the inside of the frame and come out just before the boxing plates where I mounted the fuel filter. with the tank dropped down they can be "corkscrewed" out of the frame if need be. One thing that had bothered me was that the frame twisted if I stood on either of the forward running board arms so I made a simple x brace to minimize this. With all of these things coming together I shot a couple of coats of chassis black on the frame.

[Fenhold]

Originally Posted by c10derek

great looking build. cant wait to see more, keep up the solid work.

Thanks!!

[69CST-V]

Great work.... I'm in for the build.

[solidaxel]

With all that welding, is that frame staying square, corner to corner?

[drivea55]

Originally Posted by solidaxel

With all that welding, is that frame staying square, corner to corner?

I am sure that they are measuring as they go to watch for that...

Frame looks really nice, keep up the good work!

Brian

[Fenhold]

Originally Posted by solidaxel

With all that welding, is that frame staying square, corner to corner?

I'm doing what I can, but this thing had been abused every which way before I started. The rear bumper was a length of steel I-beam and it was beat to hell. The front end was much worse. I'm fairly certain that the two frame rails are very slightly offset. I'm counting on 1/2" holes and 3/8" bolts to give me a little wiggle room.

The few people I have shown my progress to were surprised at the time I am putting into this considering it's just a "cruiser". This is a button soup build. It quickly escalated from "lets clean it up so I can drive it" to "lets make this so my kids can hand it down to theirs". As time went on I told the owner about all of the local shows and meets. He said "cool, you take it". He's a 7 day a week work kinda guy. I suppose that will mitigate the separation anxiety when I'm done.

Thanks guys!

[Fenhold]

A few more minutes and a few more pictures. While the rear end was being assembled I started assembling the front suspension components. Finally a sense of accomplishment.

[Fenhold]

I picked up the completed rear end, gave it some paint and put the rear parts together. I couldn't believe how difficult it was just to get the two poly bushings and inner sleeve into the rear bars.

[Rude Dude]

I run a barrel sander from harbour freight to widen the tube they get kinda messed up from welding heat only takes a couple of quick passes and some WD-40 and they slide nice and easy.

Originally Posted by Fenhold

I picked up the completed rear end, gave it some paint and put the rear parts together. I couldn't believe how difficult it was just to get the two poly bushings and inner sleeve into the rear bars.

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by Fenhold

On the other hand I kept thinking " I just unmade a truck".

he he, that's funny

nice welding and fab skills you have

[RCWillet]

Originally Posted by Fenhold

I picked up the completed rear end, gave it some paint and put the rear parts together. I couldn't believe how difficult it was just to get the two poly bushings and inner sleeve into the rear bars.

I have a question in the 3rd pic were the 4 link brackets are will they flex with out the tubing going all the way across

[RCWillet]

sorry the pic didnt save on my last post

[72ArizonaBurb]

I see you mounted your A/C compressor down low. What brand brackets did you use? My water neck turns down 90 degrees. Would there be enough clearance between the A/C and the radiator hose if I use the same bracket you have?

[Fenhold]

Originally Posted by RCWillet

I have a question in the 3rd pic were the 4 link brackets are will they flex with out the tubing going all the way across

Are you asking about the forward brackets mounted to the frame? If so I don't believe they will. The brackets themselves are stout and most of the side load will be absorbed by the panhard bar. I will shoot some close ups of the brackets at better angles.

[Fenhold]

Originally Posted by 72ArizonaBurb

I see you mounted your A/C compressor down low. What brand brackets did you use? My water neck turns down 90 degrees. Would there be enough clearance between the A/C and the radiator hose if I use the same bracket you have?

I'll set the compressor back in place later today and shoot a close up so you can see how it all lines up. I purchased the motor/ Trans from http://www.turnkeyenginesupply.com/ about two months into the project (January 2009) so I'm not sure what brand the brackets are. The AC mounted low was a disaster as you will see soon and required some notching. I had considered rearranging the motor accessories until I looked at pricing. Hmmmmm......a couple of shiny aluminum brackets and idler pulley or a complete new bed. A few hours of toil and some remnant tubing should pay off (hopefully).

[Fenhold]

Originally Posted by 72ArizonaBurb

I see you mounted your A/C compressor down low. What brand brackets did you use? My water neck turns down 90 degrees. Would there be enough clearance between the A/C and the radiator hose if I use the same bracket you have?

If your water neck is a 90 degree turn down it will not clear. It would put you directly into the pulley. Most of the tabs had to come off due to the way the frame tapers in so much. Figuring out how to clearance the ac lines on the rear of the pump gave me hell (but we haven't got there yet).

[Fenhold]

While waiting for the firewall I experimented with electrolysis on a few brackets and parts. I was surprised how well it worked. Just had to rinse it off and hit the worst parts with a wire brush to get the oxide-ish stuff off. since I was going to cut into the cab I figured I should "square up a few areas that were problematic. The paint was so discolored and blotchy it hid lots of serious dents and other problems. I had noticed that the passenger side kick panel was distorted and wanted to address that area. I was sitting in front of the cab on the passengers side and noticed that several of the cowl louvers were distorted. That's when I noticed the "funny body line" that wasn't on the drivers side. When this thing took a hit (or two or three) to the front fender it wrinkled the inner kick panel and pinched the outer cowl. Check out that ridge in the first picture of the next post.

[Fenhold]

..

[Fenhold]

OK....a month later an I finally have some time to post pics from about 2 years ago...busy busy.

So firewall time. This should have been done on the frame but I was told after the fact....ooops! I did tie the floor and cowl together (awkwardly) before I cut it out completely so we'll see.

[Fenhold]

After excessive measuring and remeasuring I got the firewall held in place.

[Fenhold]

I used a hammer/dolly to get the new firewall as close to the old one as I could. I called and inquired about how *****in products likes to weld and finish the firewall. "Weld it slow,but dont worry too much cuz you're gonna Bondo the crap out of it"........no not so much.

I moved around and allowed it to cool (mostly).

[Fenhold]

Once the entire perimeter was welded I removed all of the setup screws and welded the holes. The following weekend I did some light knockdown with the grinder and went at it again. I chased the original weld from above like a fillet weld really slowly. In doing this I was able to use 80/120 discs and round the firewall/cowl without grinding into the structural weld and avoid Bondoing the crap out of it.

Far from finished but I was happy with the results.

[STOCKISH]

Absolutely amazing work. Looking forward to seeing more progress.