Lakeroadsters' Build Thread: '65 SWB Step

Road Trip May 05, 2013

Did a road trip in the ole orange crate today now that its pretty much road worthy . First time its been out on the open road for about 5 years. Time flies when your having fun.

We took our GPS to confirm the speedometer is accurate, which it was to my surprise. I would have figured the huge rear tires would have thrown it off a bit. All in all a good first outing.

Gearing and tires produce 2000 RPM at 50 MPH in 4th gear. Which is pretty much what I had figured.

 

Sweet !

And nice pix too ~

My buddy is trying to get me to drive my '69 up to the ATHS Show in Washington State . lotta similar scenery like you show , up there .

All I need is a case of 40W oil and I'm good to go but might not have any job when I get back .

 

Jobs are over-rated Nate

 

Well ;

I like to EAT regular like , see .

Plus , I lived in trailers and tents as a child and lemme tell ya , a house , even a dump like my termite farm , beats them by miles so I'll keep on working for now .

 

Cool pic

That one from inside the cab looking over hood, reminds me of Mad Max
Pretty cool....Congrats on getting it out on the road!

 

4" HD Rear Drop Springs May 2013

I used 5" drop springs on my truck. The ride was like a big ole Buick and the springs were so light weight that hauling anything of significant weight in my truck wasn't possible.

I replaced the rear springs today with 4" drop Heavy Duty Springs. Much better ride and I like the added rake, looks a little more like a work truck, IMO. Keep in mind it's only an inch different in rear height. But since they are heavy duty I can now haul more than just a couple hundred pounds of stuff The new springs look very similar to the OEM springs that were originally on the truck, just a couple less coils and shorter overall height.


4" Heavy Duty Drop Springs are on the left, CPP P/N 603-4HD, 5" Drop Springs are on the right, CPP P/N 603-5

Before.....

After....

 

Dash Mat Template 05-30-2013

Continued from post #163.... There's a local place close to us that makes custom dash mats. The gal there said if I made them a template they could make a mat for my '65 that has the '67 Camaro dash in it.

So today I made a paper template.

 

Well now you can haul ten ice chest`s of your favorite adult beverage instead of one......! Same reason I got rid of my 5 inch drop springs....

 

Very Nice...very nice indeed...

 

Nice!!

Very nice truck and work!

 

So did the dash mat people ever come through for you?

 

They are pretty darn slow Mark. But I did tell them that there wasn't any need to rush.

I stopped by the upholstery shop and they had just received the material that was special ordered. Looked good but they hadn't cut or trimmed it out yet.

Maybe this week... thanks for asking.

 

Dash Mat Installation 07-13-2013

Well the upholstery shop finally finished my custom dash mat. Easy install, Velcro across the front, gravity does the rest.

 

Looks great John. Must be nice to finally have it finished.

 

Thanks Mark. It definitely scaled back the "Frankenstein" look of the exposed dash bolts

 

Neat & Tidy

Me likey neat & tidy ! .

 

July 2013

I did a bit of touching up with some flat black paint under the hood and around the door jambs the last couple of days and took some sunny day photos.

​

 

Thanks for sharing those photos the truck is really looking good.

 

So Much Detail Works !

I wonder how many Citizens just walk past your ' old truck ' .

 

Yep, It Sure Ain't For The Masses

My S.W.A.G. would be 90% most folks don't "pick up" on all the little changes, and I like it that way.