The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Re: What did you get done on your 'Bolt today?

I attached the left side splash apron on the 1 ton's running board for trial fit and continued to tack weld my two running board halves together.

Jim,i've sourced all the parts I need right here in the UK with the exception of the Mustang II upper suspension arm,it's coming from Speedway in the States. (Just over a week through a vendor here)
I just timed it well for his next shipment.
In saying that,i've never waited more than a couple of weeks for parts...

I've also opted for a good original front fender in preference to a repop,everything else will be new so i'll finally get a splash apron and a chrome grill too.
Mind you,I can think of less painful ways!

The irony there is the front passenger fender that was on the truck when I got it was by far the best of all four....virtually NO rust repair and a couple of stress cracks on the fender lip and very few dents.
I think that's why the damage has been limited to just the corner as it was so solid to start with.

Thankfully most of these parts are fairly readily available here now.

The problem is my parts guy is still in California on a buying trip although he'll be back in Blighty in the next few days.
I originally bought my truck from him so he's cut me a great deal.

Two weeks for parts? That's about how long it usually takes for me. Keep it in the middle of the road buddy.

I actually received my settlement payment from the insurance just today Jim,the money's burning a hole in my pocket!
I fully intend to keep it in the middle of the road in the future!

got the old driver's side floorpan whacked out and almost got the replacement panel cut to fit.

Bought my new clutch kit from Advance Auto. Got a 20% online discount so that made me happy. Should be in by March 2, then I can schedule taking the truck to the transmission shop to begin the tranny swap and clutch overhaul. Getting the driveshaft balanced and two new U-joints installed while it's out.

In the last week:
1 - Re-attached the side vent bracket
2 - Re-attached the hood after tightening the hinge rivets

Good news: The tightened hinges greatly improved the fit of the hood to the cowl: sits on the windlace, much closer to the seam.

Bad news: One of the hinge rivets popped while I was showing off my work to my wife.

Looks like more hinge work this weekend!

Bill

Got the entire exhaust, muffler, & tailpipe at a local shop for $138.50 installed. Sounds like a new truck now.

Brad

Nice price ! I Like the barber pole drive shaft. I drove through your area in November with my 59 I shoulda stopped and got a new exhaust !

Repaired the broken hinge and re-set the hood.

Much better - did not brag to the wife this time

Bill

Moved the battery back under the cab where it belongs (last fall).

Retarded the timing just a bit (today).

Made a gasket for the fuel pump bowl (sprung a leak over winter).

I started cleaning up the garage. I live in a normal US neighborhood house now; during the past year and a half I've built all sorts of truck parts storage & racks. Time for it to come down, since all the parts are truck'ed now.
Found my speedometer cable, so I'll need to install it.

Brad

Installed an adapter plate on my 261 to raise the fan. Still need to get a longer fan belt, but the tricky work is done.

I adjusted all the valves on the 55.2 235 after driving a while.

Brad

I completed welding together the left side of my stock 1 ton 9ft box running boards.
The originals were rotten and banged up, so pieces from parts trucks were cut out and spliced into the damaged areas in my one ton.
Left side done,
Right side started.

Clutch is bad so I pulled the transmission - cleaned and painted it. Pulled the clutch and flywheel for resurfacing. Pulled the oil pan - cleaned and painted and ordered new gaskets plus rear main seal. Put a new needle on my speedometer. Pulled the wiper motor - cleaned and applied light grease. Also ordered a new gas tank because it keeps filling the filters with rust and I have a new fuel pump coming and carb was just rebuilt. It was a busy weekend!

Put the '48 up on the lift yesterday and ran new wires from the transmission speed sensor up inside the engine compartment as part of the installation process for the electronic to manual speedometer conversion. Now I have to figure where to mount the module and how to sync it to the actual speed.

'Grandpa' got new shoes today:
http://ssrjim.wordpress.com

Beat out old spring hanger bushings. Beat in new ones.
Stripped engine for repainting. Hope I marked the distributor correctly.

Been feeling a moderate vibration in the drive line on the '48 Burb at Hiway speeds. Put it up on the lift and removed the rear wheels and took them to the tire shop for balancing. The right one was only out 1/4 ounce but the left one was out 1 1/2 ounce. The tire shop closes at 3pm on Saturday so I ran out of time to get the front done. Project for next week. Haven't driven it yet to see if it fixed the vibration or not.

About to finish transmission mount, then reinstall engine and trans then slide the cab up up and start checking clearances of that huge engine I've put in. And probably go back to my steering gear bracket and installation that I have been working on but keep stoping to rethink it.

Working on my 58 6400, got the inside of the cab stripped, fixed a couple holes in the cowl and kick panel on pass side (keep water out!) and getting the inside primered today.

I hope you remember to put some paper wadding or tape over the distributor hole before you paint the engine...
Welcome to Stovebolt.

Brad

53 Stakebed...Still mocking up, adapting my old Clifford 4 barrel intake to my corvette exhaust 235. This Clifford stuff wasn't precision fit by any stretch, so it's grind this and cut that to make it all live together, but getting there. When I called them was told it couldn't be done but I'm getting close to proving them wrong. I've been away from my shop for quite a while, now it's nose to the grind stone (literally) until she gets back on the road.

got my passenger floorpan done today, now on to the inside step/rocker panels and then the cab is done!!!

pulled both doors off the sub and removed the hinges. Going to install the Jim Carter hinge pin kit to try to get rid of some of the sagging. Pins are oversize so the hinges need to be reamed out to size. Reamer on order.


Weeds

Weeds, on some of the pins you can use a "R" or maybe it's a "S" bit and your good to go. Maybe worth a check to save reaming??

I finished up the receiver hitch for the Suburban today. I modified the one from my '99 F250. Added some 4" channel to make it wide enough for the Suburban frame. It took several hours to get 6 half inch holes drilled through the channel and the frame.

I began fabricating new splash aprons for my 1 ton out of 10" exhaust tubing. Going to be heavy duty, but I'm sick of trying to patch rusty stuff.

Took the panel for a test spin, passenger's door wasn't quite shut. I reached over and gave it a tug, broke the door pull in my hand.

Dang Leo, this thread is supposed to be about fixing them, not tearing them up.

Over the past month or two I repainted my wheels, installed a 3" drop axle by Nostalgia Sid's and 3" blocks, and refinished my rusty license plates. Got it back on the road week before last.


Before
Side shot
Rear 3/4
Front 3/4
Plates

Nice house, nice truck, and nice job on the plates; they're yours forever, gotta take care of them.

Thanks. The house is actually our wedding venue. Got married in October, and had the truck there. Took some pictures with it as well. I don't have any others uploaded to share right now.

Wedding

got the grill cleaned, welded up as needed, and painted for my 58. Also painted under the cowl, cleaned up the front parking lights, sandblasted hood latch (was a rusty lump) and got that and the panel it bolts to all cleaned and repainted. Kick panels painted as well.

Today I found the time to put the Burb on the lift again and pull the front wheels to finish balancing all the tires. Got the back done a week or so back so today was the front. Drivers side took 1 1/2 ounce. I pulled the old weights prior to going to the tire shop. The passenger side took no weight at all. Pulling the old weights put it in perfect balance. Now for a run down the highway to see if the vibration I was feeling is gone.

Continuing my quest to get my damaged truck on the road I fitted my new upper RH Mustang II suspension arm.
My new body parts,grille and bumper will be here next week.

I then realised there was something not quite right when I tried to align everything,it's then during further investigation I discovered the left hand upper and lower arms are bent/twisted too!
Oh...and a crack in the left hand chassis leg/boxing plate at the engine mount.
Obviously I had wildly underestimated the forces involved when you crash at 40+ miles an hour!

I should have checked everything more thoroughly.

I had (wrongly) assumed all the damage was confined to the right hand side.
Thankfully though the chassis itself is OK i.e. not twisted or bent so more $$$ spent and effectively replacing all the upper and lower control arms.

Is your insurance covering this additional cost?

I'm just waiting to hear back from them Jim,I took the liberty of ordering the extra parts anyway.
An extra $400 give or take.

Whatever their decision i'm still going to need the parts!

I also think the fact the tyre was a high quality run-flat type saved the wheel rim. (they have a much stiffer sidewall)
I'll still have the wheel checked for run-out and the inside of the tyre as there is NO indication of external damage just as a precaution.
I had no idea that side had taken such a hard hit as I previously mentioned...