Cheating The Reaper
- Thread starter DRIVEN
- Start date
Well, he posted a "like" on Saturday, so I'm sure he just busy with the projects!
Not really a lot of progress but here's where it stands. The cab is still on saw horses in the middle of the shop. After I cut out the back of the cab I sliced out the rear section of the floor. Just used some 1" square tube to replace the inner structure. Doesn't need to be fancy because it's all hidden. Then I tacked in the ends of the patch panel.
The problem was that the patch matched the profile of the floor but the back of the cab bowed out and overlapped about an inch.
I decided that the least invasive strategy was to do a tummy tuck. The vertical cuts will be hidden on the inside by factory braces. The blue tape is the top of the bed.
Muuuch better now. I ground down most of my embarrassing welds and moved to the firewall. I filled all of the unnecessary holes left from the old heater that I won't be reinstalling, the remote oil filter from when it had a flathead almost 30 years ago, and various other features that I'm going to delete.
The other thing I whittled away at was the bottom of the bed. I needed to notch and clearance for the rear swaybar and chassis crossmembers that interfered with existing real estate.
I also won't need the factory fill hole at the lower rear of the driver's side. I was going to let the body guy deal with it until I noticed that the lower cab has almost the same profile. I think I'm going to use the piece I cut off to make a patch and fill it.
I bought a Upol Raptor bedliner kit to shoot the underside of the cab and bed before they get mounted. The hiccup now is that I need to haul it 450 miles (each way) down to my brother to get the firewall finished and painted before I permanently mount it to the frame. Not sure if I can convince him to shoot the inside of the cab too but it kinda makes sense.
As far as the chassis goes, it's done aside from some brake lines. Hoping to have it mobile by next summer. Planning to test fit everything and drive it a little before blowing it apart again for final body and paint.
The problem was that the patch matched the profile of the floor but the back of the cab bowed out and overlapped about an inch.
I decided that the least invasive strategy was to do a tummy tuck. The vertical cuts will be hidden on the inside by factory braces. The blue tape is the top of the bed.
Muuuch better now. I ground down most of my embarrassing welds and moved to the firewall. I filled all of the unnecessary holes left from the old heater that I won't be reinstalling, the remote oil filter from when it had a flathead almost 30 years ago, and various other features that I'm going to delete.
The other thing I whittled away at was the bottom of the bed. I needed to notch and clearance for the rear swaybar and chassis crossmembers that interfered with existing real estate.
I also won't need the factory fill hole at the lower rear of the driver's side. I was going to let the body guy deal with it until I noticed that the lower cab has almost the same profile. I think I'm going to use the piece I cut off to make a patch and fill it.
I bought a Upol Raptor bedliner kit to shoot the underside of the cab and bed before they get mounted. The hiccup now is that I need to haul it 450 miles (each way) down to my brother to get the firewall finished and painted before I permanently mount it to the frame. Not sure if I can convince him to shoot the inside of the cab too but it kinda makes sense.
As far as the chassis goes, it's done aside from some brake lines. Hoping to have it mobile by next summer. Planning to test fit everything and drive it a little before blowing it apart again for final body and paint.
Nice progress. I was wondering if your brother was still "the body man." I know you recently had it running but please forgive my short term memory loss. I know you put a sexy new 5 speed in it but what is the mill? LT1?
No need to apologize. Its a wordy thread. The LT1 is in my brother's '36.
Mine ('35) has the 283 I built in school a million years ago. It's dressed out in a pretty schizophrenic fashion with the DZ valve covers, Z/28 copy intake, 3310, and 2nd gen dual snorkle Z/28 air cleaner.
To complicate things even further, the '37 that my dad is working on is your standard mild 350. But he's on the hunt for an LT1.
Mine ('35) has the 283 I built in school a million years ago. It's dressed out in a pretty schizophrenic fashion with the DZ valve covers, Z/28 copy intake, 3310, and 2nd gen dual snorkle Z/28 air cleaner.
To complicate things even further, the '37 that my dad is working on is your standard mild 350. But he's on the hunt for an LT1.
Bother. I dig that you had to replace the frame completely BUT.......... properly boxed that center "X" would have worked just fine and there is at least one company that offers a kit to replace/modify the solid bottom plate for the X with one that is bolted in and can be dropped out for transmission access.
Speaking solely and only For myself that frame would have first gone to the tank for degreasing and then to the blasters for rerusting. Then it would have come home and got a good coat of expoxy to seal the pores and stave off flash rust.
Then I would have checked it for square and set it on jack stands and attempted to level it to see if was twisted or kinked at all. Sometimes you can't see any visible signs of damage but they are there anyway.
Finally, before removing any of the crossmembers, I would have welded temporary bracing from rail to rail to both keep the rails at the correct distance apart from each other and to prevent them from twisting or distorting once the crossmember was removed. I also think that i would have removed the crossmembers one at a time and completed the replacement work, new crossmember and associated bits, before moving to the next crossmember.
I strongly suspect that, once you receive your new crossmembers, you might want to consider sending the whole assembly to a frame bench so it can be thoroughly clamped down, the new sub-assemblies fitted into place, and the whole thing measured multiple times to make sure it all is aligned correctly before anything is tacked.
It is possible to build a frame bench from heavy timber but the wood you use has to be dry and straight; Home Depot 2x4's just won't cut it here. Seem to recall a Boob Tube video that shows one built from wood and being used.
Be aware that I am not trying to dissuade you here from executing the whole project on the floor of your shop. it has been and can be done. However, what I am seeing here is that there is going to be a mixture of old and new chassis components and that old and new often have the tendency not to play well with each other unless compelled to.
Nick
Speaking solely and only For myself that frame would have first gone to the tank for degreasing and then to the blasters for rerusting. Then it would have come home and got a good coat of expoxy to seal the pores and stave off flash rust.
Then I would have checked it for square and set it on jack stands and attempted to level it to see if was twisted or kinked at all. Sometimes you can't see any visible signs of damage but they are there anyway.
Finally, before removing any of the crossmembers, I would have welded temporary bracing from rail to rail to both keep the rails at the correct distance apart from each other and to prevent them from twisting or distorting once the crossmember was removed. I also think that i would have removed the crossmembers one at a time and completed the replacement work, new crossmember and associated bits, before moving to the next crossmember.
I strongly suspect that, once you receive your new crossmembers, you might want to consider sending the whole assembly to a frame bench so it can be thoroughly clamped down, the new sub-assemblies fitted into place, and the whole thing measured multiple times to make sure it all is aligned correctly before anything is tacked.
It is possible to build a frame bench from heavy timber but the wood you use has to be dry and straight; Home Depot 2x4's just won't cut it here. Seem to recall a Boob Tube video that shows one built from wood and being used.
Be aware that I am not trying to dissuade you here from executing the whole project on the floor of your shop. it has been and can be done. However, what I am seeing here is that there is going to be a mixture of old and new chassis components and that old and new often have the tendency not to play well with each other unless compelled to.
Nick
I don't know, sounds like a lot of work. I'll probably just keep on hacking it out the lazy way.
