Sure, bring that up when some of us are almost done with ours! :unibrow:

More Welding!
 

We made some more sparks last night. The tank is getting close. I hope to have it hanging in the chassis this week. We'll see. Enjoy more pics.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-04-37_594.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-04-28_180.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...9-12_251-1.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-09-32_531.jpg

Again, I am happy to receive all comments! Thanks. :cheers:

looking good!

What can be said that hasn't already been said. Keep up the good work and I'm living the frame. :hail:

A couple more from last night.
 

Thanks for the comments guys. I am trying very hard to make a good tank all the while teaching myself to TIG. I love it! Wish I could do this stuff all day! Anyway, check it out, it should be hanging in the chassis tonight. :thumbsup:

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-41-35_251.jpg

The pump is mounted and fits very well!

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...21-39-50_9.jpg

NICE!

You're a quick study!

How long you been weldin?'

Those stacks look good!

I soooo want to buy a Tig and try this too!! I'm working on it... I only have a mig and it does good, but tig'd aluminum is so nice.

I understand what you're sayin'...

Nice work man! :cheers:


Lead.

Sounds like you're having a great time and doing some awesome work Chad !!

Should be starting the engine any day now ??

:unibrow:

Jim

More Progress.
 

The fuel tank is essentially done. I have some cosmetic work to do. The top of the tank warped a bit more than I expected when I welded the fuel module tray in. I don't know what I could have done differently. I went very slow, never put down more than 1/2" at a time. I cooled it with air and moved around a lot. Regardless, it seems I get to try and learn a new skill.........straightening panels that you can only get to one side of! Great! That will be for later. The tank held 5 psi of air pressure, it should hold gas quite well. So now it is on to another area of the truck. We need to get the cab sorted out. Time to do the fire wall so that we can get the steering column, pedals and a/c unit mounted. To start the process we had to remove the last piece of the crap firewall we paid to have put it. Don't get me started there. Removing that gave me a chance to use the new toy, check it!

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-15-02_663.jpg

It worked flawlessly. A little buff with a flap wheel and you would swear the cut was done with a shear. So after the plasma work here is what we ended up with.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-15-14_787.jpg

In the interest of time we sent some drawings to direct sheet metal and got a smooth firewall made up. We got it tacked together and attached with clecos. It finally gives us a picture of what we will have. So far so good. Here is where we are now.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-27-24_560.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-27-11_316.jpg

As always all comments are welcome. Thanks for looking! :cheers:

Very Nice! Its coming out great.

Welding isn't a skill that is one size meets all.... some times you have to skip around - and sometimes that will cause more warpage than if you'd have just gone full boogie.... the learning curve is a long steep one. LOL

The guys that do this for a living - day in and day out - they can tell what to do just by looking at something.... ME.... I just pray I don't warp too badly. :lol:

Firewall looks great! I didn't know Direct did that! Good to know!

Thanks Wayne. When I look at your project, I wish I was that far along! I know it was a tough wait, but worth it. :thumbsup:


You hit the nail on the head there! It's hard to hit the go pedal and hope for the best. :lol: Chaulk it all up to experience. Luckily it is the top of the tank that moved. You will never see it as it will be sandwiched under the bed floor. This is where I give Rodger props for his truck. Can't hide anything with no bed floor.

Yea direct built it, twice! The first one wasn't even close. I then sent this:

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...all-Sheet1.jpg

I thought you couldn't go wrong. Right? Wrong, it still isn't totally correct. It will work and looks good, but why can't you get what you ask and pay for? It was supposed to come with floor boards to, never got them. Oh well. The quality of the fabrication is good, but it was not a completely satisfying experience. Ever felt like that? :lol:

Thanks for the compliments guys! :lateral:

Oh yeah --- but I forgot her name...

Chad, it continues to look great. Of course, I wouldn't expect anything less. That's going to be a killer truck.

:lol: :hail: :rofl:

Thanks Bill, now you need to see it in person. Wait, maybe not. You can see too many flaws in person! :lol:

This thing is turning out awesome! My very very first vehicle was a 67 Chevy truck so I have always had love for the 67-72 bodystyle trucks. Cant wait to see some more progress. Its also awesome to see you and your dad working on it together. :thumbsup:

i love watching builds like this,:thumbsup: keep it up.

Almost there !!

Sad to hear about the firewall panel issue - but the install is looking great !

Totally jealous about the plasma cutter - gonna have to order me one now to keep up with the joneses....


Looking forward to the engine start video !

:thumbsup:

Jim

More Stuff Going In!
 

My Dad and I were just saying the other night, We are getting really good at cut pieces off or out of this truck. Now we get to finally put some back in. Since the truck now sits so low, the driveshaft will now interfere with the bottom of the cab. We started fabbing a new trans and drive shaft tunnel. We have some other plans for this are, so we will see where it takes us. I just have a few more puzzle pieces to make to finish closing off the tunnel and floor to the new firewall. It will then be time to mount the Vintage Air unit. I love progress. Anyway, I know pictures are better than words so enjoy!

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-32-44_882.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-32-15_399.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-31-51_716.jpg

Back to it tonight, wish me luck! :D Thanks for looking. :cheers:

Great stuff Chad (and dad)!

Too bad you work will be covered up. Keep the pics coming.



--Eric

More Pieces Going Back In!
 

The trans tunnel and floor are going back in. The previous pictures were with parts tacked together. These pieces are in for good now. There was some rust repair in along with this as well. Turns out there was some rust where the heel of the go pedal was. Must have been wet boots! One thing I learned in this process is that I will just build a new floor the next time. This one will turn out nice, but I have half as much time in this as I would a new floor I think. Anyway, the underside will finish off nicely and more importantly it will be solid for years to come. All in all I am pleased so far. let me know what you think!

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-01-05_412.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-00-13_229.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-01-12_113.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-00-03_419.jpg

Trans Tunnel In!
 

The new trans tunnel is in for good. Not much, but it is progress.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/IMG_9111.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/IMG_9117.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/IMG_9113.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/IMG_9114.jpg

That's alot of progress to me bro. Looking good...keep it up!! I'm following this build because I have a 68 C10 I'm going to be starting on later on next year.

Thanks man, I can't wait to see what you do with yours!

Lots of welding there Chad!

Keep on plugging away!


:cheers:

My back has been telling me the same thing! I need to lift this thing up another foot or so! :lol:

I find it hard to TIG laying down... Wish they'd make a chin operated controller... :willy: :rofl:

Tell me about it! Those welds in the picture are about 2 feet off the floor and in the middle of the cab. The rocker hits me in the knee and then I have to lean in but keep my leg straight and work the pedal. Luckily I'm 6'-4" and can reach in. You know how that is! If I lifted the cab more my Dad would not be able to reach in.

Do you have a thumb control on your torch? Lincoln has a rotary thumb wheel deal for my setup, what do you think of those deals? Might come in handy but they are about 200 bucks.

UH -- NO! I really don't know how that is..... I'm 5'5"

I have a torch controller --- if you had a Miller -- I'd send it to you! I've never used it. It's ON YOU to see if the Miller will work on the Lincoln - if it will - it's yours.

I tried to talk MILLER into developing a torch that would work like an air brush OR like a die grinder -- a "paddle" to squeeze with either your index finger or your thumb.... That is something I could learn to use.

More Pieces Going In!
 

We are continuing working on the cab. Before we mount the firewall for good, I thought it was a good time to build the brackets needed for some of the major components. The below pics are the mounting configuration for the Vintage Air Gen IV unit. Man this thing is big, but it should make it snow in the cab. The truck will be black with a black leather interior. We need the cooling. Next will be the brake pedal assembly and steering column brackets.

There was a ton of work just to prep this area to put the a/c unit in. We had to remove the old fan bump in the dash/kick panel area as well as fix some rust we uncovered. I think it turned out alright. Check it out.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-03-25_952.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-03-37_675.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...4-03-46_57.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-03-56_378.jpg

This is where we removed the stock fan pocket.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-04-02_629.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-04-11_884.jpg

By the way, that is the vintage air mock up unit. Man is it nice to work with. Not heavy and has the actual mounting brackets on it. :thumbsup:

Thanks for looking!

I forgot to respond to this Greg. It doesn't look like it will work with the Lincoln machine. Thanks for the offer though Buddy! :thumbsup:

Dang dumb red machines!

:lol:

More Parts!
 

We are still trying to get as much done under the dash as we can before we weld the new firewall on. Next up is the steering column and mount for the brake pedal. After a lot of measuring, what iffing, we got the bracket built. I decided that I wanted to incorporated the pedal mount anf steering column mount into one piece that could be fixed to the cowl area. This is the area that the factory bracket was fastened too. Here is what we cam up with. A couple more gussets on the pedal mount and I'll get the bracket welded in. Here it is so far.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-09-09_958.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-08-48_347.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-09-19_637.jpg

As always comments good or bad are welcome. :lateral:

Nothing bad here on my part to say....looking good. I like the idea too. Keep up the good work. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

1 Step Back!
 

So before we do anymore work to the cab, I want to get it back on the chassis to make sure everything we have done so far works. I also want to make sure the cab is held in place on the chassis before we fit and weld the firewall in. There were a few things we wanted to do before we put the cab back on the chassis. One of the main things was to fix a missed assumption we made when building the chassis. We set the front drive shaft loop height thinking we were going to use a 3" drive shaft and making some assumptions for rear end travel. Well, it turns out after talking to Denny's drive shaft, we need a 3.5" shaft because of the length and power output. That combined with the wrong guess as to rear u-joint placement and you have an interference with the drive shaft and front drive shaft loop. Here is a close up of how it looked.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/IMG_1280.jpg

You can see it is an integral part of the X-bracing in the chassis. After some head scratching we came up with a plan to fix the issue. First it called for grabbing the plasma cutter and sawzall and getting the bulk of the original loop out. Then we wondered how to get the rest of the bars cleaned up. Here is what we came up with. The trusty tubing notcher!

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-28-47_659.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...1-28-56_77.jpg

It really worked better than we had hoped. Check it out.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-38-04_827.jpg

Then we made some sleeves to fit in the stubs to align the new loop. After that we cut and fit the new loop. Overall we added 2 1/2" to make sure we had enough room. There may be a trans change coming and the new one will be slightly shorter.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...6-04-36_24.jpg

Some welding and grinding and you would never know we made the error, well except for me telling you here. Oh well, it's all part of the process!

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-04-18_739.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-59-06_942.jpg

Next up is putting the cab back on the chassis and then putting the engine and trans back in. Just to make sure everything clears! Better safe than sorry. After that we go for the firewall! Thanks for looking!

Better to find out sooner then later. It looks like you made a nice fix.

Thanks Wayne! Yeah, when we built the chassis we had some things still up in the air. This was one of the areas I was concerned about. All is well now. Waiting to see some update pics of your ride. :thumbsup:

Moving On
 

Let's see where were we? Well the cab is now back on the chassis and the new drive shaft loop fits nice. The driveshaft will now fit as well. All good things! Now that the cab is bolted back on the chassis it is time to continue with the fitting of the firewall. Well, until you get side tracked. More on that in a minute. We set the engine in the chassis to verify that all the work we did on the trans tunnel was correct. It was, however we decided we wanted more room around the bell housing. So we added some pieces to make some room. All in all it didn't take anything away from the interior and it will be much easier to work on the drive train. Here is what we did.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-44-40_713.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-44-13_313.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-43-38_760.jpg

Once this was complete I went ahead and welded in the steering column/brake pedal mount. I coated the cowl area with Eastwood's Por-15 product before welding it in. Here it is.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-33-41_876.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-32-37_246.jpg

Now here is where we got side tracked a bit. As we were taking the motor in and out, we realized we hated our original design for the motor mounts on the chassis. If you look in the back ground in the first and second second pictures above you will see what they looked like. They didn't fit the LS engine as well as we would like since they were put in with the Big Block. They were also tight to the oil pan rail of the LS. You can see the notches we were contemplating. (Looks Like A Mistake Too) They also made us stand the engine and trans up at a severe angle to get the assembly in place. Are you getting where I'm going here? We need to get this truck done, we are running out of cut off wheels! :willy: Out they came and a new design was developed. Check it out:

Old Vs. New
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-56-10_353.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-57-45_673.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-56-30_354.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-56-41_570.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...-58-44_540.jpg

These will allow the engine to slide back between the mounts. Previously the kick outs on the Champ Pan required us to go over and in the set the engine and trans. in. I think these look much better in general. The other thing this allowed us to do was lower the front of the engine 3/4". We couldn't do that with the rack and Big Block. I know it was the so called 2 steps forward one step back, but we will be better off in the end. Once we get the mounts stitched in, we will be off the side-track and back to getting that fire wall put in for good! Thanks for looking and sorry for the long post, but it is progress! :woot:

Hey, those are nice mounts. Any chance of getting the template?

What kind of pan is that? Kevco, autokraft, or something else? How do you like it?

Just out of curiosity, how come you did not lower the engine any more?

I'm not sure the template would help much. It is just a piece of poster board. This was kind of a free form project. If we still have it, I can scan it and email it. But, as I said there was a ton of work and fitting after the concept was worked out on paper.

The pan is a Champ Pan. It looks like a great pan, but have not run it yet obviously. This is the pan Wegner Automotive chose for the engine.. I trust them completely, they have years of experience building LS engines for NASCAR touring series cars.

Lowering it anymore would put the pan on the rack. No more room! :lol:

Thanks for the kind words and checking out the project! :cheers: