The Stovebolt Site Forums Project Journals Archived Journals 1963 Chevy C10 LWB Stepside - My First Bolt

Hello everyone, i'm back. At least for now. First I would like to apologize for (yet again) taking so long to update my project journal. It has been a crazy last few months between working multiple odd jobs for friends and family members, preparing for college, and working on my truck in my spare time. I have, however made some substantial progress since my last post.

The first thing I did was manage to track down another Borg Warner R-10 overdrive, also in New Jersey. This one, like the last one, is a passenger car transmission, supposedly from a 55-57. I took it apart just to make sure that the inside looked decent, and it did. It also had the governor and the bracket for the lockout cable, two items I did not even realize were missing on the first one. I got a color coded wiring harness complete with relay and kickdown switch for it from a fellow stovebolter by doing a partial trade with the good parts from the first overdrive, and I bought a generic pull cable from Autozone for the lockout. Being a passenger car 3-speed, the lower 2 mounting holes were not threaded, so I put grade 8 thru-bolts with nuts and lock washers in them. I replaced the driveshaft yoke seal, but I need to find the seals for the solenoid shaft and lockout lever.

The other thing I did was to bite the bullet and buy another cab. This one is a cardinal red C-60 cab from nebraska, and is in much better shape. It does have a couple of rust issues, the most major being the top inside edge of the windshield opening. The passenger side rocker will also need replaced, but that's not too hard to do and I already have a pair of OEM rocker panels that I got from a friend of mine.

I have been thinking about different ways to patch the roof rust, my main options as I see it being to remove the rusted areas and patching in the conventional method, or removing/replacing the entire inner roof panel. The white cab, for some inexplicable reason, had an absolutely perfect inner roof panel, so I will be using that to patch the red one no matter what I do. At first I thought replacing the entire inner roof panel would be the easier route, plus it would have the added benefit of allowing me to deal with any issues inside the roof before they become major. With this in mind, I purchased a spotweld cutter, and removed the outer roof skin from the white cab, both for the practice, and to facilitate removing the inner roof panel. The construction of the cab was more complex than I had anticipated, plus the inner roof panel flares out at the front corners where it joins with the inner a pillars, making the panel 2-3" wider then the opening. So, I am now reconsidering the conventional method.

In preparation for leaving for college, I disposed of as much extra bulk as I could to free up space in my grandpa's shop, and (after cutting off anything I thought might be useful) took the remains of the two old cabs to the metal recycler's. I also cut the old frame right behind the transmission crossmember, and threw the rear half away. I plan to make an engine run stand out of the front part sometime in the future.

Unfortunatly, This will probably be my last post for a while, as I am now at college in McPherson, KS, and am about to experience a new definition of the word "busy." I was not able to bring my truck with me, but hopefully I will be next year.

Until next time,
Cedric

Thanks for the update Cedric. Have fun at school. Come back when you can.
Hambone

Hello all,

After a much-too-long absence, I am back to working on the truck in full force, and back on the 'Bolt

I'm still at college in McPherson KS studying auto restoration, but this year I was able to buy a trailer and haul the '63 out here with me, were I can work on the truck under the watchful eye of my professors, and have access to a lot of high-dollar tools that I wouldn't normally. The trip out went fairly smoothly, except for one incident about four hours from home, somewhere in the Shenandoah mountains, when the tow vehicle (a 1997 Chevy C2500 that I bought about a year ago as a daily) started overheating... badly. By the time I got to a place where I could pull over safely, the temperature gauge (which tops out at 230) was pegged, even though the A/C was off and the heater was going full blast. A large pool of coolant quickly appeared in front of the driver's side tire and there was some steam rolling out from somewhere near where the upper radiator hose attached to the radiator. Thankfully, my family was travelling with me in a second vehicle, which we used to scout around, and we managed to find a shop less than a mile away who was able to look at the truck right then. I topped off the coolant bottle and limped the truck to the shop, hoping that it was just a blown radiator hose. Nope... the radiator was cracked. The good news was, while it was expensive, they had us back on the road 4 hours later, and we were still able to make it to our intended destination that night. I think the problem may have been that the radiator cap was have been installed incorrectly, and wasn't allowing coolant to expand into the overflow bottle (unfortunately that idea didn't occur to me until after I had already removed the cap once to check the coolant level, so I have no way of knowing for sure). It was doing fine until we made a short restroom stop, where I shut the truck down for about 10 minutes (with hindsight, I probably should have left it running so coolant would circulate, but who knows). It was an uphill start out of the rest stop, merging into 75 mph traffic, followed by several straight miles of uphill pulling, and I think the combined effect of these extra stresses on the engine was enough to heat the coolant to the point were, possibly not being able to escape to the overflow bottle, it burst the radiator. With the new radiator, I was able to pull the load up hills in high gear with the A/C on without the needle budging off of normal operating temperature. So, now my daily has a new radiator and thermostat, and fresh coolant... not an altogether bad thing. I'm just glad I didn't blow a head gasket, or worse.

Anyway, now for what I've accomplished on the old truck. Last spring, I took a class in sheetmetal forming and welding, which I attempted to put into practice back home over the summer on one of the bedsides. I figured this would be an easy place to start, since it's flat, and, if I screwed it up too bad, replacements aren't that hard to come by. The welding went well. It didn't warp the metal beyond what would have been pretty easy to fix, except that I had a temporary lapse of memory, and thought that welds expanded when they cooled rather than shrunk. Acting on this, I tried to fix what little warp there was by heat-shrinking around the perimeter of the patch . Of course, this only made it worse, and I spent many hours over the course of the rest of the summer trying to get it back to were it was before I made my mistake. Now that I am out here, the body work has been put temporarily on the back burner. I still think I can salvage the bedside, although it will take a lot of work (some might say more work than it's worth, and they might very well be right), but I' learning by doing it, so I'll keep plugging along. I've set up shop in the "sheds," a storage unit rental establishment next door to the college, were with most of the auto students here have some kind of project they're working on. It's not much, but it has a roof, a concrete floor and a power outlet.

The reason I have made the bodywork a secondary priority is that two of the classes I am taking this semester are engine rebuilding and and drivetrain restoration, so I'm thinking it will work out well to go through these areas of the truck concurrently with these classes. As a matter of fact, the drivetrain professor is letting me rebuild my transmission as one of my in-class projects. Originally, I had decided to just put the engine and transmission back in the truck pretty much as they were, but I have since decided against that for several reasons. First, it doesn't seem right to do that considering the amount of work I'm doing to the rest of the truck. I also didn't/don't really know for sure exactly what kind of shape the mechanical components are in, and it will be a good learning experience to put everything I'm learning into practice on an actual vehicle.

I'll start with the transmission. I've actually been out here for about 5 weeks now, and have gotten a fair amount of work done. I had good intentions of resuscitating this project journal closer to the beginning of the semester, but I was just plain too busy. Anyhow, we tore the transmission down completely (the class has been divided into four groups of three which work on their class projects as a team), and found that, while it is in decent shape, it has its fair share of issues. For starters, one of the teeth on first gear was chipped, which did a little bit of damage to the cluster gear and reverse idler gear. First gear will definitely have to be replaced, but we think the other two will be alright. I have the original non-overdrive transmission out here with me, so I thought about robbing the gears out of that one, but wouldn't you know it has the exact same problem! The overdrive unit is in good shape, thankfully, although the governor is inoperative at the moment. Apparently, it is supposed to close the electrical contacts at approximately 500 RPM, so we put it in a lathe and ran it above and below that speed to test its operation. We weren't ever able to get continuity between the case and the electrical contact, despite cleaning both thoroughly with a wire wheel and cleaning up the internal points lightly with emery cloth. There is quite a bit of rust and crud inside the governor, so I'm thinking the weights are just seized. As of the last class on Wednesday, I am working on disassembling the governor so I can clean up the insides. The only other issue with the overdrive part of the transmission is that the metal worm gear which the speedometer gear and the governor run on has been absolutely shredded. It looks like the governor was locked up at one point and chewed up the threads, so I'll be looking for a new one of those, as well as a new governor drive gear. The speedometer gear in the overdrive transmission has 24 teeth, while the one that is original to the truck has 22, so I'm wondering if I'll be able to get a worm gear that is compatible with my original speedometer gear so that the gauge reads accurately. There are some other differences between the two transmissions besides the speedometer gear and the bottom mounting holes not being threaded. The shifter shafts are different lengths and have the shift arms clocked at different positions, so I figured I'd just use the side cover off the original transmission. Unfortunately, the detents which hold the transmission in gear are pretty worn on that side cover. The ones on the passenger car transmissions's side cover are in better shape, so I'm planning on putting the original shifter shafts into the new side cover. Interestingly, the shifter shaft seals on my original transmission are o-rings that fit into a groove around the shaft, while the ones on the OD trans are rubber seals pressed into the cover, so I guess I'll have a double seal on my shifter shafts, which won't hurt.

I'm also working on the engine, although not as a class project, as they don't want me holding up the class (it's divided into groups just like my drivetrain class) if it has to be sent to a machine shop or something, which I can understand. The engines we are rebuilding in that class (mostly Chevy small-block V8s) get rebuilt every year, and so it's a more controlled experience. The professor is very willing, however, to give me advice and assistance with my personal projects, and I can bring the engine, or pieces of it, into the shop for a day or two if I need to. I got the engine pretty well stripped down (removed the alternator, distributor, manifolds, wiring, etc.) and then did a leak-down test on it with a tester the school let me borrow. It was actually surprisingly decent- none of the cylinders registered outside the green band on the gauge (I think the worst was 43%). The rings were leaking on all but one of the cylinders, as were 3 of the valves. Money is a little tight, so I'm hoping I can get away with rebuilding just the head and re-sealing the whole thing. When I did the leak-down test, I pulled the valve cover off for the first time in the four years I've owned the truck. Yuck! There was enough black sludge built up under there that you had to dig to find the tops of the head bolts. Other than this though, and one extremely loose rocker arm, nothing seemed amiss. After I got done with the test, I pulled the head off, same story there. The bores are all clean and there is no scoring or pitting in any of them, although there is a noticeable amount of ring ridge. The pistons also appear to be in good shape.

My goal is to have a driveable chassis by the end of the semester. To do this, I've got to get the engine and transmission re-installed, replace the engine bay wiring and radiator, fabricate an exhaust, and track down a driveshaft and core support. It probably also wouldn't hurt to at least pull the cover off the differential and inspect it. My original one-piece driveshaft got mangled while a U-joint was being pressed in. I'm thinking of going with a two-piece unit, since the frame I'm using was set up that way when I got it, and it eliminates the chance of it bottoming out on the frame crossmember that it passes through. My original radiator core support was badly rusted, so even though I could probably salvage it if I had to, I've decided I need to pick my battles, and just get a replacement. I don't think they're too hard to find. My radiator is shot (Hmm, that seems to be a recurring theme with my vehicles ). The solder joints on the steel braces along the edges have all broken, leaving the braces just sort of "floating" between the tanks, and 90% of the fins have become separated from the tubes. I thought about getting it re-cored, since it is the original Harrison unit, but it seems that, if I could even find someone to do it, it would be considerably more expensive than buying a new unit. I did some research on them between classes this morning, and both Classic Parts and LMC have authentic-looking replacements available for about $350. I'd be curious to know some of your opinions on these, if any of you have used either of them and were pleased with them, and if there's any difference between the two companies. I want to keep things looking at least somewhat factory under the hood, and the engine is staying completely stock, so I really don't want to do an aluminum radiator. I had heard somewhere that somebody made an aluminum radiator that looked like the stock one when painted, as it had all the ridges and whatnot stamped into it, and I'd be fine with that if they're not too expensive, but I haven't been able to find these online anywhere. All this being said, when rubber hits the road the biggest concern is the cost. I want to do this truck right, but I can't throw money around too lightly.

Anyway, it's great to be back. I should be able to post fairly frequently from now on, although some of them may be on the shorter side depending on how busy I am with schoolwork and how much I get done on the truck.

I have plenty of pictures, so rather than post them here, I'll (hopefully) create a link to a Google Photos album. Here goes:

[url/]https://photos.app.goo.gl/p8jB2mY9QT4p78p48[url/:]

Hello Cedric;

A great journal so far, keep on posting!

I recently watched some episodes of " Barn Find Hunter" with Tom Cotter and a 1962 Ford Country Sedan which they restored and donated to McPherson College. ( Episode #63 )

Anyways, kind of interesting at least for me, that the show highlighted where you are going to college.
Tom toured the "sheds" which you mentioned above, so I was really hoping you were interviewed as part of the show.
I just watched it again looking for you or your project and too bad you are not mentioned!

Just missed your 15 seconds of fame???

Keep up the good work,
Steve

Welcome back Cedric. Glad to hear of your experiences and growth. Let us know what you need for your schooling and/or project. We can get the stuff you need.

Thanks Hambone, you guys are the greatest resource I have.

Steve, I'm afraid I did miss my moment in the spotlight . That segment was filmed last spring before I had my truck out here, dang it. I even missed the handing-off ceremony because of a prior commitment. I did have my left arm make it into a Hemmings Classic Car article about the college last spring, though . In the picture below I'm the one in the green coat in the background.

I worked on the governor yesterday, got the guts removed from the case and threw them in an ultrasonic cleaner. That didn't do much, so they're now soaking in a can of solvent until tomorrow. There was a shaft seal in the bottom of the governor that we decided to replace, so we pulled the dimensions off of it so we could look it up in an old Fedral-Mogul seal catalog that the professor produced. (we figured trying to look it up by application wouldn't work too well). It came up as a 474279N, but the local O'Reilly's wasn't able to find any cross-reference for it. I'll probably go back in tonight or tomorrow with the dimensions and see if they can look it up by size (shoulda done that in the first place).

I'm also working on the solenoid. The number four terminal had been broken off at some point and then welded on slightly crooked, but I was able to bend it back where it needed to be. I'm also working on redoing the insulation around the hole in the case for the same terminal, which had dried out and fallen off. As per my instructors advice, I'm going to get three fiber washers and stack them up with the middle one sanded down a little so that it fits in the hole, and keep the whole thing together with a grommet I pirated from the upholstery department.

I'm also including a picture of my mangled speedometer worm gear, in case anyone's interested.

Welcome back!!

I bought one of the aluminum radiators from a company called KKS Motor Sports through Amazon a year and a half ago. I paid $175 for it. I have been very happy with it so far. Here's a couple of before and after shots of it. The only thing missing on it is the Harrison name stamped into the radiator. I can live without that.

Have you figured out how to connect the Tach to your straight 6 yet?

Cedric, I have my old radiator from my 66 in my garage. Did not use it due to laziness in that I had an extra and I mocked up the engine to run on stand with the extra radiator. Did not leak when I took it out of the truck. Its yours if you want it. I am happy to get it to F-burg if you have a courier to pick it up there.
Been waiting for the right time to clear it out of the garage. no charge. Cant beat the price.

Doug, thank you so much, that would be great! I'll send you a PM so we can work out the details.

Dave, thanks for the info, that's exactly what I was thinking of. My radiator is a little different from yours it looks like, Chevy must've changed the design when they switched from the 235 to the 230. My upper tank is straight across the top, and the connection for the upper radiator hose is off to one side because there's a bracket dead center which holds the top of the radiator in place (unfortunately I don't have a picture). Mine also does not have mounting brackets on the sides, instead it is held in place by three brackets (two on the bottom, one on the top) which support the radiator with rubber pads, so there are no screws or bolts holding the radiator itself to the truck. I looked at KKS's website, and from what I can tell, they don't seem to have one that matches mine exactly. I'm sure I could make the older style one work, though, by dispensing with my mounting brackets and using the brackets on that radiator to bolt it to the core support, assuming the width is the same, or close to it. Unfortunately, I left what remained of my original core support back in Virginia, so I can't pull measurements off of it, but I could probably get somebody back home to do it. If I remember right, there were some shields on mine which helped deflect the air coming through the core support into the radiator, which I think could be easily replaced by the brackets welded on the sides of KKS's radiator. I might even be able to use the same holes. If, for some reason, Hambone's radiator doesn't work out, I 'd say that's definitely my next best option. More affordable than the exact reproductions and looks better than the normal aluminum ones, but I still get the advantages of having a three-row aluminum unit.

I haven't figured out for sure how to make that tach work yet. To be honest, I haven't given it hardly any thought since I got a hold of the cluster. I am pretty sure somebody told me, though, that there was a capacitor, or resistor, or something, that could be removed or replaced so that the tach would register a revolution every 6 impulses instead of every 8, but I just haven't looked into exactly what or where that is yet.

I pulled the governor out of the solvent yesterday, boy did that make a difference! A whole bunch of old, gummy grease came out of it, and now I can make the weights flip out by spinning it with my fingers like a top. Now, I just have to figure out what kind of lubricant to put back in the governor, and track down that darn seal! I took the dimensions of the seal, plus another half-dozen alternate part numbers I was able to track down, in to O'Reilly's, and they still weren't able to find anything on it at all . I will say it is a weird seal, as there is an unusually large difference between the inner and outer diameters (0.375"/0.837").

I also finished the little repair on the solenoid case. Could't find any fiber washers at the local ACE hardware with a small enough inner diameter, so I settled for rubber instead. Basically, I made sandwich out of three of them all held together by the upholstery grommet. The center one was trimmed down so that its outer diameter was the same as the diameter of the hole in the case, and all three were lightly belt-sanded before installation to thin them up just enough for the grommet to hold all three. I think it turned out pretty well, and there is no continuity between the case and the grommet, so it seems to be doing its job. If I tried, I could probably push the whole thing out from the inside, but I don't think that'll be a problem once it's installed and has the terminal screw holding it down.

Looks like a good job of fabricating with available materials.

There was a major change from the 60-62 series and the 63-66 series trucks. I had a 63 at one time. That radiator is completely different, just as you described. I was just presenting my latest purchase as an example of the aluminum radiators available.

Sounds like you have a good plan and timeline established. I'm looking forward to seeing it run. :-)

Dave, you and me both! I haven't driven it (or even heard it run) in over two years, so I'm ready to again

Quick update with what I got done in class today (I'm afraid I forgot to get any pictures, though):

We re-installed the reverse idler and cluster gear, made some new gaskets, and started to get the side cover and shift arms back together. Unfortunately, one of the splined shift shafts chewed up the lip seal when we installed it, so I'll have to get a new one of those. I'm thinking next time I'll install the shift arm first and then work the seal down around it, as that should make it easier to get the seal over the splines on the shift shaft without damaging it.

I managed to find out that the seal I need for the governor is available through O'Reilly's, but it's a special order item, so they have to get it direct from National, and none of the staff who were there the last time I went in knew how to do that. So, hopefully that'll be on the way here soon. The main thing I'm waiting on right now is for the supplier to get back with me about the speedometer worm and first drive gear. I can't do much more reassembly until I get those two. I may try reaching out to some other suppliers to see if their response time is any better. Normally, I wouldn't be worried about it at all, but this is technically a class project and I feel like I am beginning to hold up the class. I suppose, worst case scenario, we can shove all the parts over to one end of the workbench and work on the next project until I get the parts.

My engine rebuilding instructor said he'd take a look at my engine tomorrow evening and tell me what he thinks, so hopefully I can get some more done to the engine this weekend.

That's all for now, folks!

Just wanted to share a tip on installing your seal over the splined shaft. I have used shrink tubing in the past with pretty good results, cut the tubing long enough so that it extends past the end of the shaft, enough to pull it out once you've installed the seal. I light coat of assembly lube helps too. Good luck.

Thanks for the tip, that might be just the thing. Next time I'm in town I'll see if I can track down some of that tubing big enough to fit over the shaft

Well, It's been a crazy couple of weeks with school, so I haven't had time to write, but I have gotten a fair amount done on the truck.

I was finally able to track down a governor seal. An inquiry by O'Reilly's determined that the seal was no longer available from National (or anybody else), and none of the other parts places in town (including a specialty bearing and seal shop) had one. I got on the internet and managed to find an equipment company in North Carolina that still had two on the shelf. I went ahead and ordered both, and they came in in time for me to install one in class today. The first-reverse slider gear and speedometer worm gear are on the way, and when those come in I should be able to assemble the main parts of the transmission. I've got some assembly done already, the transmission output shaft, planetary gear set, and freewheeling clutch are in place in the overdrive adapter plate, along with the lockout shaft for the overdrive. The governor is also re-assembled and lubricated and the side cover is ready to reinstall, shift arms and all. I wasn't able to find any thin-walled tubing, heat-shrink or otherwise, that fit over the shift shaft, but we managed to get the shaft seal in safely by putting the shaft into the side cover first, carefully working the seal over the end of the shaft and past the splines with help from a little assembly oil, and then using a deep-well socket to drive it home.

After looking at the engine with my professor, it was determined that it would be best to do a full rebuild, so I borrowed a valve spring compressor and a cam bearing removal tool from the school and got the engine completely torn down, hot tanked, and ready for machining. The valve keepers were all pretty stuck, so I used a spark plug socket and a soft mallet to break them loose. Other than that, disassembly went smoothly. Unfortunately, my daily is starting to act up a little (a starter issue), and so I'm waiting to see how much that will cost before I send the engine to the machine shop. Worst case, I'll have to wait until the middle of next month when I get my next paycheck. I've also been working on the exhaust manifold a little. The exhaust studs were VERY rusted, so I tried using a torch to heat up the surrounding metal and then quenching the bolt with a wet rag, but I could't even get it to budge. Thankfully, I did not break it off, but when I wire wheeled around the stud to try and remove some of the scale to see if that would help, I discovered several small cracks in the manifold, so I think I'm just going to replace it. They shouldn't be too hard to find.

I'm a little short on pictures this time around, I'll try and be better about remembering to take more in the future.

Hello everyone,

Well, the transmission's together! The first/reverse and speedometer worm gears came in a while ago, as did an NOS governor drive gear (in the original box, which is kinda cool) I found on eBay, since none of the transmission places I talked to had one in stock. Assembly went pretty smoothly, or at least it did after I got the overdrive output shaft bearing turned the right way 'round, which only cost me a little time an an 88-cent Woodruff key. The two big gears arrived clean and ready to install, and all the governor gear needed was to have the pilot polished with some emery cloth on a lathe (as did the pilot on the transmission input shaft). All it needs now is the last case bolt (none of the "originals" matched, and several of them had threads that were pretty chewed up, so I decided to just replace all of them), and a plastic speedometer gear compatible with both the overdrive unit and my truck's speedometer. Tractor Supply was the only place in town that had the appropriate bolt in the correct size, but I cleaned out their supply when I bought the first four, and I've been waiting on them to get their hardware restocked ever since. No big deal, that bolt would be easy enough to install even if the transmission was in the truck. As soon as the paint class gets done practicing on it, it'll be ready to install (although I think it may be a while before I'm ready for that).

I got paid last Friday, and a new starter drive fixed my other truck's starting issue, so I should be able to take the engine to the machine shop here soon. The block, head, bellhousing, and associated covers have all been hot-tanked and cleaned, but that's as far as I've gotten with it. I want to check the head, deck, and line bore for true-ness before I take it in, so that I can get a better idea of how much I'll be spending, but I do know the crank needs ground and polished, the cylinders bored and honed, and the flywheel surfaced. I'm also having them fit the new pistons and bearings.

It's the time of year when the deadlines for all the big assignments, research papers, presentations, book reviews, etc., are bearing down on me in close succession, so I haven't had time to do much else with the truck. Things should slow down a little after this week, though.

Next January, I'm taking another sheetmetal class, and it sounds like I'll be able to bring my own stuff in to work on for class credit, so hopefully I'll knock a big chunk out of the bodywork then.

Sounds like you've been making good progress. Keep us all posted on the rest of the details as classes end and the Holidays approach.

Hello all, hope everyone had a merry Christmas and is off to a good start in the new year.

Not much happened after my last post, other than the transmission getting painted, since I was mainly waiting on being able to take the engine to the machine shop. However, I'm back in Kansas now, and back to work. The engine should be going in this week, and today was the first day of the three-week sheetmetal class, so I've gotten the body work started.

I am going to bring the entire truck into class in the next day or two (or what there is of it, meaning the cab and chassis), but I need to get some tie-rod ends put on it before I can move it very far. I ordered them over break and had them shipped out here, but the mailroom hours are quite limited, so I wasn't able to pick them up today. Meanwhile, I'm keeping myself occupied working with the little bits and pieces that aren't mounted to the truck. Today I worked on the grille, or more specifically, a rather large kink in the center of the lower grill bar. There are also a couple of other dings, but this was by far the worst, and the fact that it is over the top of the "R" in "CHEVROLET" isn't making things any easier. I made some pretty good progress, though. The first thing I did was to use a short piece of bar stock with a slot of the proper depth cut into the end to carefully flatten out some of the flange along the bottom of the grill. This was done to make it easier to take a wire wheel to the effected area and to facilitate the use of a jaw shrinker to restore some of the curvature to the lower grill bar. After that was done, a variety of tools were used to try and work out what remained of the dent. It's not done yet, but it's way better than it was. I took too many pictures to attach directly, so here's a link to a Google Photos album:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/MbFivXq2PqLUKfVB8

After I get the grill done, the next order of business is the driver's door, and then the cab. The door is pretty well crunched, as well as being rusted out and bondo-ed over, although everything above the belt-line is in decent shape. The plan is to fabricate a new outer door skin to replace everything up to slightly below said belt-line (to make the weld easier to finish), and replace the door bottom with a repro patch panel (also languishing in the school's mailroom). The cab has two areas of concern. The easy one is the passenger side rocker, and outer floorboard area. I think I can fabricate the section of floor easily enough, and I lucked into an NOS rocker panel which I will use to replace what's left of the original. The tricky part is the header panel above the windshield. I've been given several suggestions as to how to go about patching it, including using a lap joint, plug welds and filler, but at the moment I'm leaning toward the more tedious method involving drilling out all the spot welds holding the outer roof skin giving me access to the backside of the header panel to make it easier to finish a TIG weld. I had toyed with the idea of replacing the entire inner skin just by drilling and re-welding spotwelds, but, after doing a sort of practice run by removing the good inner skin from an otherwise almost useless cab, I decided that wasn't going to work. If I do it this way, I know I'll have to be careful not to distort the windshield opening, but it does have the added benefit of allowing me to take some preventative measures with the inside of the cab roof. I'm open to suggestions.

Besides these two big issues, there's also a bunch of smaller, less intimidating projects which I will do in class if I somehow finish these, and on my own time if I don't. These mostly involve the passenger door, bed, rear fenders, and front clip (which is still back home, so I won't be getting to that until summer regardless). Here's some pictures of the rust issue that I have out here with me:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4fMqjBdVQBNmVH1Y9

On a side note, I recently discovered that my wheels are not the correct ones. As I understand it, the correct set should have riveted tabs for holding the hubcaps on. On the wheels I have, the hubcaps are retained by three tabs stamped into the wheel itself. I don't have a picture of my wheels, but good ol' Google images gave me a picture of a set that looks to be identical. They are stamped "GM", but I have no idea what they came off of, which leaves me wondering what options I have for hubcaps since I really don't want to clean up and paint another set of rims. When I bought the truck, it had three beat-up aluminum hubcaps, which I have also included a picture of the design of. I'd like to find something fairly close to what the truck would have had originally, and they would have to be white. If any one knows of a style that they think might work, I'd be most appreciative.

That's all for now, but I should have an update every day or two for as long as this sheetmetal class runs.

Hello all,

Last time, I said I'd try to do a post every other day or so... so much for the best laid plans of mice and men.

Anyhow, a great deal of progress has been made. I got the major issues pretty well worked out of the grill, but it still needs a little tweaking a few smaller dents worked out. While using a jaw shrinker to try and get the profile right on the lower bar, cracks began developing along the edge of a particularly rust-thinned section, necessitating a patch. The patch is done, and the only thing I have left to do with that section of the grill is to go back to the shrinker and finish what I started.

However, I've set that aside for now so that I can move onto bigger issues. My tie rods came in and I got them installed (I had a great deal of trouble trying to get the clamps tight enough to keep the sleeves from rotating, and they'll need a little work before I actually take the thing out on the road, but that will be a while), so I was able to push the truck over to the sheetmetal lab. I have since commenced work on the driver's door. Upon closer inspection, it was apparent that the door had been crunched and then heavily bondoed over (a layer over the entire lower half of the door up to 1/4" thick in places) at some point in its life, and then smacked into again. I scraped off some of the bondo to see how far up the door the damage went, and then used a small sledge hammer to get the door back to approximately it's original shape (got it to close for the first time since I've owned the truck ). I then made a new outer skin with a power hammer and a plastic 55-gallon drum (laid on its side and used as a bending die). I just finished bending up the flanges around the edges today, and hope to start welding tomorrow. I trimmed away the old skin (got it close with a cutoff wheel and then trimmed the last little bit with a pair of aviation snips), but left a couple of tabs in place for clecos that will help hold the skin in place when I go to weld it. The plan is to put down enough tacks to hold the panel in place, and then remove the clecos and trim away the tabs.

I brought the engine block, connecting rods, and flywheel into the machine shop towards the end of last week, and they're now done, so I'm planning on picking them up tomorrow.

Well, that's all for now, but here's some pictures:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/avkuSZpM7Buq4HSXA

Looks like the truck is coming along nicely! Will be watching this!

That grill photo is comical to me at least.(not in anyway related to you or your repair!) I had two of em with perfect headlight buckets, and the squares in the grip were bent on the both of em! We have a one year only truck so I feel your pain when searching for parts. I have an old Army buddy buried in Culpepper . I may take a ride up that away in the fall (I spend the summer in Maine) with my '63 and see my buddy Mac, and maybe meet up with you if you ain't busy. I'm close to Galax, VA so it ain't really that far. I'm getting older and better start doing all these things I've told myself I'm gonna do one day. One day is getting shorter.
Pete

Possum, thanks! Looks like you've got some pretty cool projects yourself, I especially like that '59 Spartan .

Pete, I usually head out to Kansas around the middle of August for school, but if you are ever up in Culpeper when I'm there I'd love to get together. I hope I can get my truck looking as good as yours someday!

The new door skin has now been tacked, TIG welded, and filed smooth (in the pictures, there are some dark areas along the weld that make it look like I ground all the way through in a number of places. I did not, this is just black sharpie left over from a sort of guide coat I put down to help me pinpoint low spots. Nearly fooled me the first time I saw it!). I had cut away part of the inner skin to allow me better access to the inside of the door. This piece will be welded back in after I get the new door bottom installed. One area that is of concern to me is the indent near the bottom of the rear edge of the door. I believe it is for the bottom of the window track to attach to, but it got pretty badly mangled when the door took a hit, and I have doubts about my abilities to get it back to where it needs to be ( I included a picture of the same indent on the passenger's side door, which is in near-perfect condition). That whole edge of the door is pretty chewed up, actually, and I'm wishing they made a patch panel for it. Oh well, I'm sure I'll figure something out.

I hung and aligned both doors (and drilled some holes through the hinges and hinge pillars so that I can get them back in the same spot), using the body line right under the window as my point of reference, and was honestly rather shocked at the inconsistency of the factory door gap. The bottom front corner of the passenger side door (which I haven't done anything to) goes beyond the end of the rocker almost 1/4" when all the rest of the gaps are even. I guess it is just a truck, and if Chevy wasn't any more worried about it than that, I'm not either. The door skin I made had to be tweaked a little after the skin was welded to make a consistent gap along the bottom, but otherwise fit quite well. That's as far as I've gotten with the door. The class is winding down, so I will most likely have to finish the job on my own time, but I'm pleased with my progress. I won't be able to completely finish until I get the front fender patched up and reinstalled, as I'll need this for reference before I crimp the door skin on once and for all. This process has been considerably more laborious than I was expecting, but I'm sure I'll get better with practice.

The engine is back from the machine shop safe and sound, and bored .030 over. I will begin reassembling it here very shortly. Looking forward to that!

Another development worthy of mention was that I managed to score a replacement hood at a salvage yard just north of here. It has a few small dings, nothing to be concerned about, but most importantly, it is just about as close to rust-free as you can get with 57-year-old sheetmetal . No pictures of it yet though, sorry.

And now, here's the pictures I do have:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2hLdwHQGCfEe4KNK9

Looks good Cedric.

Looks good from my house, nice work.

Hello All,

It seems that, once again, apologies are in order for dropping off the face of the earth for an extended period of time. Not long after my last post, my life kind of got turned on its head, as I'm sure it did for a lot of people, with all of this COVID stuff. On a Monday in March, rumors began circulating that faculty were making plans for the very remote possibility (Ha!) of a shutdown in the face of the pandemic. That was about all there was until the following Thursday night, when they told us to be completely packed up and moved out by the following Monday, and that classes would continue online. The storage facility where I have my shop is independent of the school, so thankfully I didn't have to haul all that off with me, because there was no way I was going to be able to haul everything back to Virginia in one pickup load. So, I had to leave the truck and most of my tools out here over the summer, which meant I was not able to get any work done on it at all. I did, however, keep myself occupied over the summer by doing some rust repair on my grandpa's newer F-250, so I was glad to get some practice in.

At any rate, school has started up again (in person, thank goodness! It's kind of hard to learn things like upholstery and engine rebuilding over a computer), so I am back in Kansas now, and work on the truck has finally resumed, although not exactly at a lightning pace.

Over the last couple of weekends, I have been working on reassembling the engine. The first step was the valves. The school has "Open Shop" most weekends, when the students can buy tickets to bring their projects in and use the school's tools and get help from professors if need be, so that is how I've been getting a lot of my engine work done. I was able to reuse the Intake valves after grinding new faces on them and cleaning up the seats, but the exhaust valves had to be replaced, and new guides and seats installed for them, which I was able to do myself on the school's machines. The valves are now reinstalled in the head, which is sitting, wrapped in plastic, on my workbench, waiting to go back on. I installed new cam bearings that came in the engine kit that the machine shop ordered for me, and gave all the lifter bores a quick run through with a hone made out of some emery cloth and a piece of welding rod (an ingenious invention of one of my professors) to remove the little bit of surface rust present. I also installed the freeze plugs. The next step is to install the crankshaft, which I will check bearing clearances on, as much for my own experience as anything, and cam shaft, which I plan to do this weekend. My goal is to have the engine reassembled and all the vital systems in place so that the truck will be able to move under its own power by the end of this fall.

I also have plans for the seat this semester. I took an upholstery class last spring (although it had to be finished online after only a few weeks of shop time), and I am in the advanced class now, which means I have the ability to work on a personal project when I finish my assigned work, which should be in the next week or so. I have an original seat in decent shape, although it has a couple of broken springs, which I am still trying to source. Over the summer, I was able to buy most of the materials I would need to make a factory-style deluxe seat cover, which will be slightly anachronous, as it will be installed over the standard spring seat base rather than the deluxe full-foam one, but It will still look good. I looked into converting my seat to full-depth foam, but apparently the frames are different, and this, combined with the prohibitive cost of foam, was enough to discourage this idea. It is a little early in the restoration process to be doing this step, I know, but the opportunity presented itself, so I shall have to do my best to keep it clean and intact while I finish the rest of the truck.

That's all I've got for now, other than some pictures. I thought about waiting until I had something really big to report, but that may be a while, so I'm going to go ahead and throw this out there. Again, I'm sorry for disappearing for so long, thank you all for your patience!

Engine Work: https://photos.app.goo.gl/r4nnCuu8skmYENr46

Seat as it sits: https://photos.app.goo.gl/cYfkc5h5uf5FVqcg6

Looks like good progress when you consider the obstacles you've had to surmount.

Great job! Thanks for the update.

I was thinking about you and your likely circumstances just this weekend. I wondered if you were close to va as I drove to winchester. Glad to hear you are back at school and progressing again. I suspect you were anxious to continue with the truck. Keep us posted.