Attempt/Mistake #2

[El Campo]

More pictures: Sorry if I bore you all with so many pictures of same thing but it was a tremendous amount of work. I may be too OCD but I hate rust SO MUCH that I painted with a paintbrush inside every single hole on frame 2 coats of epoxy just to be certain that there will be no breakthrough rust. These are primed pictures.

[NewType72]

damn that's an awesome idea on the boom to raise it like that and from the pictures that frame just looks keep up the progress man seems like everyone on here is painting lately I know I am hahaha

[El Campo]

And here are the finished pictures! This is 3 coats of epoxy primer and 2 coats of single stage urethane.

[mcbassin]

Wow that is big ole nice shop! Nice work on all the parts. I bet it's more satifying to know you did yourself too.

[El Campo]

And here is one for litew8! This is what I did for a job before I went to nursing school. This is to move dirt around. This bucket will carry 14 yards of dirt anywhere you want it.

[gearys 5600]

Frame looks nice..

[El Campo]

The first go around I had to build the truck in the driveway. I think that is one of the reasons why my first attempt was a failure. Really nice having a big shop now. Course I have to share it with my 3 brothers and dad.
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[El Campo]

So I cannot get a video posted but here are some pictures for now. This is the 535 CI big block that came out of the truck. Looks kind of like crap right now but will all be better when it goes back in. Painting the block hugger orange and clear powdercoating everything that is aluminum. This box is what allows me to run the motor on the stand. Will be painting the hookers black if anyone has suggestion as to the best header paint. Sounds good to hear it run again! It has been so long since I built an engine that I had to label the cylinder numbers. Needs some new spark plugs because 3 of the present ones had cracks on them from taking the headers off in the past. Rigged up my MSD to run the engine on stand. Never going back to damn HEI again! I want to run it out of the truck because there is some oil on the pan and I THINK that it is from the old power steering pump but I want to be sure it is not an engine issue that I can fix while it is easy. One of my fundamental measures of how good a mechanic is is by whether his repairs leak or not. This car was in my shop this past weekend. It is my friends 73 Pontiac Ventura.

[litew8]

Originally Posted by El Campo

And here is one for litew8! This is what I did for a job before I went to nursing school. This is to move dirt around. This bucket will carry 14 yards of dirt anywhere you want it.

I had to google it, but that's equivalent to what a tandem axle dump truck can carry.
For video, you can create a Youtube account and post free. Then link to it.

[Tinkermc]

frame is so nice looking now, well worth the time and effort

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by El Campo

So I cannot get a video posted but here are some pictures for now. This is the 535 CI big block that came out of the truck. Looks kind of like crap right now but will all be better when it goes back in. Painting the block hugger orange and clear powdercoating everything that is aluminum. ...

Nice big toy you have there. Is the block aluminum or did somebody paint an iron block silver to kind of match the aluminum heads?

[67c10rustbuket]

I have been watching you for a while and I have to say I was very impressed with the work you did on the frame! Excellent fab work and great ideas on there!

That stinks about the body shop ordeal, personally I think if you tell them to paint it with peanut butter they should do it, You are the paying customer and thats all there is to it. It pisses me off when body shops (any shop for that matter) don't do what you have requested. I have personally removed body parts from a vehicle and returned them to a body shop over crappy work.

Looks like you have a nice shop and some real nice equipment to work with there but I think wearing flip flops while drilling may be a safety hazard.
Keep up the good work I'll be watching for more ideas to steal

PS your oklahoma OG long box is bit(#en cool !

[El Campo]

No it isn't an aluminum block (unfortunately), it is a 427T block that is bored and stroked. It was painted silver to match the body color of the truck. Now that I am going to paint the truck white though am painting it the orange because I do not want a white engine. It does have AFR aluminum heads. I agree one hundred percent about the customer being the one who should tell you what to do!! I had good cash money in hand that I was more than willing to spend if instructions had just been followed!! And you are one hundred percent correct about sandals being bad idea. That was my younger brother in the picture, I learned my lesson the hard way both weldiing and grinding with a die grinder and a carbide bit. Oh and an air nibbler. Those shavings are like a million razors that get stuck in your feet. My girlfriend (who is also a nurse) had to dig all those 100000000 metal shavings out of my feet. Did not go over well and took two evenings before they were all out. Thank you all for looking!!
P.S there are a lot of Okies on here, my mom was born and raised out in Fairview. That is where the blue 72 came from.

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by El Campo

No it isn't an aluminum block (unfortunately), it is a 427T block that is bored and stroked. It was painted silver to match the body color of the truck. Now that I am going to paint the truck white though am painting it the orange because I do not want a white engine. It does have AFR aluminum heads.

Still a great engine, just not as light

Please don't paint the aluminum heads or intake. It's like lowering a 4x4 truck.

Spray on wire wheel cleaner and a soft brush will make them look like new again.

[El Campo]

Not planning on painting anything aluminum. The heads and intake are clearcoated but look like &$@&. I now own a powder coating gun and have some clear powder. Have got negative answers though on whether the heads can be powdered or not. Don't want bare aluminum though because I always seem to get oil and stuff on it that I can't get off.
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[jackson]

Originally Posted by El Campo

Not planning on painting anything aluminum. The heads and intake are clearcoated but look like &$@&. I now own a powder coating gun and have some clear powder. Have got negative answers though on whether the heads can be powdered or not. Don't want bare aluminum though because I always seem to get oil and stuff on it that I can't get off.
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nice truck. i just got a 49 ad a couple months ago. wish i was as far along as you are. im waiting on ups for a triangulated 4 link and coilovers so i can start on the rear. i guess im just down the road from you. you may have seen me driving around in my 02 extended cab s10 slammed with rally wheels

[El Campo]

Hmmm what color is it? Yea our shop is across the road from Nichol's up on 71. David Schmidt is my dad. I am there quite a bit but I am an ER nurse up at Ben Taub so I have an apartment in Houston that I stay at about 60 percent of the time. I would like to check out your project sometime! If you ever need any tools or anything let me know. Won't be able to work on the truck for a while because I am taking the Harley up to the Republic of Texas (ROT) rally next weekend.
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[Bennett68C10]

Wow that is a big ole motor, everything looks great especially your frame. The paint turned out awesome.

[El Campo]

Thanks for all the compliments, I certainly do not deserve them and feel very honored to have everyone looking at my project. I forgot to mention that I smoothed all the welds on the boxing plates on the bottom side with a flap disc on the grinder. Made it look a lot nicer. And if any of you are wondering why I painted the bottom of the frame last it is because that is the part that you will see when the truck is put together. My dad, mom, younger brother and I managed to flip this super heavy frame while the paint was still wet so there shouldn't be any overspray on it anywhere. I DID get a few tiny runs tho in the paint itself that I need to try to get out but I don't know how.
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[67c10rustbuket]

Just giving you a hard time about the "safety" I hear that crap all the time at work. That's kinda funny about the metal shavings in your feet. I got metal shavings in my eye ball and had to have a Dr. grind it out with a device much like a dremel, no drugs, totally sober so I could control my eye while they ground on it. ouch!! not to mention catching my frayed jeans on fire while welding and sticking a sheet of steel into my hand to the bone while running a press brake. smoooooth!

Man that 535 cubes is going to be one gas drinkin' screamer! I am still amazed at the amount of work you put into the frame. I especially appreciate the relocation of the chunk of frame to move the e brake cable down. very nice! I was just thinking of using some extra eye bolts to hold it out of the way but you fixed that problem in a much slicker way, keep up the good work man, hope to see this one in person some day with all the attention and detail I'm sure the finished product will be awesome.

[jackson]

Originally Posted by El Campo

Hmmm what color is it? Yea our shop is across the road from Nichol's up on 71. David Schmidt is my dad. I am there quite a bit but I am an ER nurse up at Ben Taub so I have an apartment in Houston that I stay at about 60 percent of the time. I would like to check out your project sometime! If you ever need any tools or anything let me know. Won't be able to work on the truck for a while because I am taking the Harley up to the Republic of Texas (ROT) rally next weekend.
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its a champane color . right now it has a white camper shell

[El Campo]

I never planned on having an engine that big but when I blew up the 427 (regular blocked) that the truck used to have and cracked the block I needed something different. Was going to get a 502 but then I discovered Competition Products in Wisconsin. They had an awesome deal going on these stroked and bored 427T blocks. The entire engine complete with partially ported AFR 325 heads, all forged internals, H beam rods and JE pistons unassembled was only about 5500 dollars. Then I bought that single plane Dart intake for tall deck and 4150 series Holley flange with drop down distributor hole for about 400 bucks from Doug Herbert. Got all the Competition Cams stuff (mechanical roller and special length pushrods from Summit. Entire engine cost about 8000. I am trying to find the dyno sheets, when I do I will scan them and post them up. When you drop the throttle at almost any speed though that 6 or so miles to the gallon doesn't matter anymore. Incidentally HP stops falling off at 5100 so do not have to wrap this sucker to the moon which I am very happy about. Feels odd cruising along at 70 mph though when the engine is putting out over 600 HP at that moment. I am kind of dissapointed that it only makes a bit over 600 though, I thought it would surely make at least 700 And I hear you on catching frayed clothes on fire! I caught myself on fire THREE different times in one day once!!! Once while welding, once while torching and once with a grinder. The nice thing about moving the E brake through-frame part actually only took about an hour so I am sure that with your skills you could probably do it in even less time.

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by El Campo

...I am kind of dissapointed that it only makes a bit over 600 though, I thought it would surely make at least 700

If it is falling off at 5100 rpm with those heads there is the problem with the combination. Peak power with those cubes and 325cc heads and the stroke of that engine should be around 6500-7000 rpm. What are the cam specs, compression ratio, header tube size, exhaust tubing size & carb size?

[El Campo]

I am at work right now but I will get you all that when I get a chance. I know it's 11:1 compression, and has a Xtreme Energy 292 mechanical roller. Has a Proform 950 carb ( the fuel/air was perfect when it was dynoed). The shop that I had it at thought that the reason it fell off at those RPMs was because of the 4.5 inch stroke. Seemed odd to me that it peaked at such low RPM though. The cam isn't massive (which the heads woul benefit from) because the truck is street driven. I called Comp Cams before I bought everything and this is the one they recommended. Another thing that was odd to me was that it made max power with only 32 degrees of total timing!! That was before I had the MSD though (not sure if that makes any difference) I would be happy to spend some money on the engine if it would help my power if I knew what to do. I had old trashy 1.5 inch no name headers on it when was dynoed. I have since gotten these 1 7/8 inch primary Hookers. 3 inch dual exhausts.
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[TchncnDen]

I agree one hundred percent about the customer being the one who should tell you what to do!! I had good cash money in hand that I was more than willing to spend if instructions had just been followed!!

That stinks about the body shop ordeal, personally I think if you tell them to paint it with peanut butter they should do it, You are the paying customer and thats all there is to it. It pisses me off when body shops (any shop for that matter) don't do what you have requested. I have personally removed body parts from a vehicle and returned them to a body shop over crappy work.

I don't post very often but I read a lot of stuff like this on this forum. I find some of it funny and some of it sad. The guy at the shop should not do what you tell him, it is his shop and his reputation, HE is doing what HE knows works for HIM. Why would they do something you told them not knowing if it would fail or not? If someone came into your doctor's office with a cold and demanded a shot of penicilen would you give it to them? Probably not. Would it hurt them? Probably not. There is always more than one right way to do things and many more ways to do them wrong. He should have told you he wasn't comfortable doing it your way IF your way was fully explained.

I'm not trying to start an argument or even say who is right or wrong, just making an observation. When I was sixteen I took my 68 camaro that I did the bodywork on to a well known shop to get an estimate for paint and they told me they wouldn't paint it, they didn't know what was done and it was their reputation. Being a punk kid I thought they were a bunch of jackasses, but now I totally understand why they wouldn't paint it. The funniest and saddest at the same time rant that I read was someone bought a truck that looked really nice, but wanted to redo it into a custom. When they stripped it down they found up to 1/4" of bondo and patch panels brazed in. If they had known about the shoddy work they never would have bought the truck. Now I have never brazed a panel and I agree that keeping bondo as thin as possible is best, but if you need a grinder to even know there is bondo and you have to cut off the brazed in panel (it didn't just fall off) I'd say that it wasn't such a bad repair afterall. Once again, I'm just saying there is more than one way.