Project '64 Cheapskate

[Low Elco]

Whole thing is perfect. Don't change a thing. Dead on the money.
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[plainred65]

Lookin sweeeet!

[CRGRS 66]

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

Right now, the tire is a 205/60-15. They were on a buddy's '71 El Camino, and I needed some tires for mock-up. I knew that they were going to be too short, but you never know until you bolt them up and get a good look from every angle.

I hear you, I found out the hard way, bought new ones, oh well. Just have to sneak the bigger ones on next spring when the wife isn't looking
Seriously, love the stance though, I like the rake

[kustombrad]

The truck is coming along nicely! Bunch of dumb little things that should take 5 minutes and 2 hrs. later its fixed, but it's getting done. The front tires are actually 215/60's and are just a hair to short, 225/60's will make it perfect! Alex and I are all about wheels, tires and stance and this thing nearly thete! This truck is slammed and I really dig the rake! You guys are gonna flip when you see how this thing will be done!
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[chevyrestoguy]

Originally Posted by Slammed66

Well. You got the stance nailed !!
Love this truck, will you be putting bumper guards on this one?
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Probably not, but I have something planned for the front that you'll see in the next month or two that I think you'll like.

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Whole thing is perfect. Don't change a thing. Dead on the money.
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Thanks! I really appreciate all of your compliments!

Originally Posted by plainred65

Lookin sweeeet!

Still a LOT more to come, so stay tuned!

[nate95gsr]

It is really looking good Alex.

Nate

[likaroc13]

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

I used VHT engine paint. The system has aluminized tubing, so it was pretty clean. I lightly sanded the pipes with a red Scotchbrite, wiped it down with acetone, sprayed the bare metal areas and all fresh welds with metal etch primer, taped off the mufflers (they are stainless steel), then sprayed the pipes with the VHT. I had to touch up a few areas after it was installed, and the VHT covered perfectly with no light/dark spots. Not too sure how durable it'll be down the road, but I can always touch it up, as needed.

I appreciate the info! I will be using VHT on my water pump, & I've contemplated using it on the rams horn exhaust manifolds. I don't have any previous experience with the stuff, so I hope it works well for us both!

btw, i really like the wheels/stance in your pics...looking forward to more updates

[chevyrestoguy]

Originally Posted by nate95gsr

It is really looking good Alex.

Nate

Thanks!

Originally Posted by likaroc13

I appreciate the info! I will be using VHT on my water pump, & I've contemplated using it on the rams horn exhaust manifolds. I don't have any previous experience with the stuff, so I hope it works well for us both!

btw, i really like the wheels/stance in your pics...looking forward to more updates

More updates coming soon!

[Dinos63]

nailed the stance looks slick with the wheels

[chevyrestoguy]

Originally Posted by Dinos63

nailed the stance looks slick with the wheels

Thanks, Dino! I take that as a compliment when the King of Stance gives me his approval!

There's been a lot of work on the body in the last few weeks getting the little dents handled in preparation for the next phase, which I'm really excited about.

A lot of additional chassis work was done in the last week, but I'm going to refrain on posting pictures until I get the areas painted and detailed. A special thanks to Brad and Bob for all of their help on this!

The engine is about 60% done. I need to send the heads to a buddy to touch-up the valve seats, set the spring heights, and reassemble. It'll be a nice little 350, making about 380 horsepower by my estimation. With the 700r4 and the 3.73 gears, it'll be a nice freeway flyer.

[glos55]

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

The axles finally came from Strange on Tuesday, so I had to wait until today to install them. The axles fit perfectly, but we had to do a little grinding on the axle retainers that Rob had made to get them to fit the way I wanted. His measurements were a little "tight", so they had to be opened up just a little.
The drum fit the axle ends perfectly. I like the Strange Engineering logo on the axle end, but unfortunately, it won't be seen when the wheels and center caps are on.


Got the wheels bolted up, and had to made some adjustments to the track bar and also to the bed, which was way out of alignment. Once everything got aligned just right, the truck was lowered to the ground on it's wheels for the first time in a LONG time. Needless to say, I was very happy with the results. I was going to take some more shots of the rear wheels, but the batteries in the camera died.


Tomorrow, I am going to finalize the rear brakes, and work on the front suspension. I would really like to have the front and rear wheels bolted on and the front end mocked up at ride height.

Looks Great!!! Nice Work!!

[coulter]

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

I'm really happy with the way it looks!

looks sweet man i dig that

[Low Elco]

Ok, I'll ask the pros. Yeller has a 700r4/3.08 combo, and the mileage has not been what we'd hoped. We've heard going to 3.73 puts the motor in a more efficient range, thus better mileage. We dunno. About the same hp you're talkin. Any suggestions?
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[chevyrestoguy]

With the 3.08 gears, you might have a condition where it's lugging the engine at highway speeds in 4th gear. Are you able to determine what your rpm is at cruising speed? The reason why I'm asking is that you may be at such a low cruising rpm that the converter is still under the stall speed (example: 1800 rpm cruise rpm with a 2500 rpm stall speed converter) and your converter is still slipping. Do you have the lock-up feature of the trans enabled? If not, having a lock-up definitely helps with fuel mileage.

What kind of fuel mileage are you getting?

[Low Elco]

Ten to Low teens, not much better than it was, if at all. Converter is stock. No tach. Lockup is engaging. Used the full BTO kit. Fresh tune up. We're just now to the sussing out stage. We can roll around, but it ain't perfect. Motor doesn't seem to be bogged down on the freeway, but that's me driving. 70-85mph. Boppa runs a bit slower, maybe that's the problem! We'll look into it further, I guess. Thanks for the reply!
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[Greenlee]

Sweet build! What did you end up doing about the different diameter of the gas tank inlet and filler neck? I have the same problem. Mine is a mid 80's stepside bed. I can't seem to find the right hose. Thanks
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[Low Elco]

I went to Oreilly they have some that are like distribution hubs. Take your parts/measurements and ask to go see what they have. My diameter adapter is the top rail of a chain link fence! Hey, it works!
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[chevyrestoguy]

I haven't hooked my filler neck up yet because I plan to pull the tank one last time and FatMat the inside of the cab for sound deadening. I did do a little research, and you're correct when you say that finding the right hose is not as easy as it seems. The first hose they brought out was about as flimsy as radiator hose and it was expensive. I wound up hitting the wrecking yards and grabbing a few original hoses. They aren't in great shape, though, and eventually I'm going to have to find the right stuff. The original ones are a thick rubber with woven fiber. It's probably the same as what the fuel trucks have on their servicing hoses, minus the outer jacket.

Another thing I have noticed when I was grabbing the original hoses was the different fuel necks. Some were plastic and some were metal. I've got one of each, but for a durability standpoint, I'm going to use the metal. I don't know why the factory would use a plastic filler neck because wouldn't static electricity be a concern?

[Greenlee]

Thanks for the replies. It seems there must have been a lot of changes with fuel filler setup from the 60's up through the 80's. I apparently have dual tank fenders from different years because the setup on mine is even a little different from side-to-side. I found a radiator hose with the right bends that looked like it was going to work, but that's when I discovered each end was a different diameter. I found new ones in LMC for a fleet-side bed, but not for a step-side.

[sean1969c10]

NAPA has the filler neck hose made from the right material.

[chevyrestoguy]

All right...I've now that I've got a little time, I'll explain what's been happening lately on the '64. In my recent postings, I attached pictures of it at ride height, and although I was jazzed about the way it looked, the control arm clearance to the ground was about 1 3/4", and that just wasn't going to fly. I did a lot of research on Dropmembers, Z'ing frames, and sectioning crossmembers, and although each one had it pros/cons, I just needed a nudge to push me in that direction. Enter Kustombrad and Bob......

I've known Brad since I was a G.I. in the Air Force back in the late '80s, and we've always thought alike when it comes to cars. Between us, we've had quite a few cool rides. For the last 20 years, Brad has always talked about wanting to "Z" a chassis on a '73-'87 truck. Once he saw how low the control arms were on my '64, he was on a mission........he was going to do his best to convince me that Z'ing the chassis on my '64 was the way to go. It took a little bit of convincing, because I wanted to carefully plan the job, but Brad already had the cutoff wheel spinning in his brain. Once I said Yes, it was headed over to Bob's house.

A little about Bob.......he's about 60yrs old with the drive and passion of an 18yr old. He is an extremely talented metal man, and has chopped more tops than I can care to count. Nothing scares him, and he was 100% ready to do the job.

Anyway, as soon as the truck was in the shop, it was carefully leveled and measured. The frame was jigged at ride height in front of and behind the crossmember.



The area directly under the crossmember was also jigged.


It was determined that the frame would be Z'd 2" up higher, and forward 1" to center the wheel in the wheel opening. Once the jigs were in place, they determined where the best place to cut the frame would be. In the rear, the frame makes an inward taper, so you have to take that into account. Also, you want to ensure that you cut behind the upper shock stud. You want every bit of the crossmember, including steering and shocks to move up as a complete assembly.

The front cuts have to be carefully planned out, because you have a few things to concern yourself with. First, the steering box. Everything in the steering box area starts to get tight, namely the radiator. You have to plan your cut where it's just forward of the steering box and just aft of the radiator saddles.

In this shot, you can see how close the radiator is. You still have good clearance because the radiator is secured on the top and bottom.

[dr69burb]

wow looks good guys

[chevyrestoguy]

Now, once you're satisfied with the cuts, it's time to start stitching it all back together. The frame is going to be plated with 3/16ths steel plate on both sides of the frame rails, but the frame needed to be joined first. The cut gaps were measured, and small intersection plates were welded in place.


After that, the boxing plates were cut and welded in place. Here is the passenger side outside plate. There is another place just like this welded to the inside of the frame rail as well. So, if you're keeping score, there's THREE pieces of 3/16's plate (two plates and the original frame) at every area where the frame was cut.


Here's a shot of the boxing plate on the passenger side front frame rail. Again, there's another plate on the side of this area as well.


Now that the frame was in place, it was time to address the engine. From the beginning, the plan was to leave the engine in it's original location and only bring the crossmember up. The reason for this is that you don't have to mess with the trans crossmember, and plus, I had already built all my shims to get my pinion angle where I wanted it. So, this meant that the motor mounts had to be relocated down 2" on the crossmember. This was one of the more challenging parts of the job. This meant that the engine mount stands had to be shortened. If you remember, I did an earlier mod to where I could use the engine mount stands from my '79 Suburban donor, which has the superior clamshell-style mounts. In this picture, you can see the surgery that had to be done. To help get the engine lower, the original bolt hole in the clamshell for the long attach bolt was moved up about an inch. The clamshells were also trimmed up, and this picture was taken before that was done. Also, because of the fact that the wheelbase was moved forward 1" to center the wheels in the fender openings, the motor mounts had to be moved 1" to the rear to keep the engine in it's original location. Disregard the groovy green clamshells, I got them from a guy who painted his entire engine engine that color. Yeah, it was ugly......


Here's a picture of the steering box bolted to check for fit and also to get the steering linkage positioned exactly where I wanted it.


Speaking of steering linkage, I came to the conclusion that the '79 Suburban frame was taller than the '64's frame. I discovered this when I went to attach the drag link to the frame. I got the steering linkage leveled, and perfectly in-line with the tie rods, and the drag link was way too low. I remedied this by drilling another hole in the link and attaching it to the frame.


Another area that needed a little bit of attention was the swaybar. The sway bar attach brackets that I got from Early Classic would not work because the rear attach hole was now hanging in the air because the area that it originally attached to was now 2" higher. Because the crossmember was moved forward 1", that was a very good thing, because the bar was now also 1" farther forward. I redrilled the front rails for the swaybar bushing fittings, and it'll now bolt directly to the frame. You can see it in this picture. You can also see that a new steering u-joint was installed to attach my column to the box.


The chassis is now at the point of getting blown back apart and cleaned and painted chassis black. The inner fenders will also need to be trimmed, and I'll post up pictures when I get to that point.

*****I have to give a HUGE thanks to Kustombrad and Bob for all of their hard work on this. I was away at work for 80% of the job, and those two maniacs deserve the credit for the work that was done. They did a great job. And oh yeah, it only took Brad 20 years to find out if his idea of Z'ing a chassis would turn out right!*****

[chevyrestoguy]

Not done yet.....

While the truck was at Bob's, he couldn't help himself. Seeing all of those dents was driving him nuts, so he and Brad broke out the hammers and fixed a bunch of dents and then Bob installed the patch panel on the front fender.


Also, I got a rear lower bedside patch panel from a member on the site (LT1 Burb), and Bob fitted it as well



If you notice, the ugly gaping holes where the fuel access doors used to be are gone, too!!


That's enough for tonight. I'll post up more pictures soon. Still a lot more to do!

[LostMy65]

The patches look really nice.