That's what I thought, John. The long shifter stick and floor mounted park brake handle goes with the '50s truck look. It should fit well with my plan to keep the interior, original looking. No fancy full door or kick panel upholstery. Just a lot of shiny interior paint, to match the exterior. It was back to other work today. Just took time to make an accelerator pedal bracket, to mount my salvage yard pedal and arm. Oh, yeah, laid out THREE wiring harnesses to forward plan where to mount computers. I think the three controllers will fit nicely under the seat, out of sight. Steve.
THREE computers? 1. Engine computer. 2. 3. What are THESE for? Infotainment? Live streaming talk.classicparts.com? Driverless driving? Please Help. Signed, Confused in NH
EZ EFI, EZ LS, EZ TCU. Fuel injection, Ignition, Transmission. I have not bought the EZ TCU, kit yet. I need to decide if I'm going to use the older 4L60E, that I have versus buying a new 4L70E. The harness plugs at the trans end are different. All three "talk" to each other via a CAN connection. The handheld touch screen, "setup wizard" is pretty cool. You can quick setup for basic stock parameters, or advanced if you change injector flow rates or camshafts, etc. You can even program for nitrous timing, and the thing can be used as a electronic dash. RPM, oil press., temp., etc. I'll probably need nitrous, don't ya' think? Steve.
GM now sells "Supermatic" 4L70E and 4L75E trannies. My guess is either would work well with nitrous, which OF COURSE you will need. A Blue Bottle, on beautiful stainless steel brackets, right there in the bed. You don't need to hook it up, or even fill the bottle for that matter. Just the bottle by itself will be "enough". "What's that?" "It's NITROUS" "Oh" "Wanna race?" "No" See?
Yes. I was. My wife came out to the shop and caught me. Not to be deterred, I just asked her if she wanted to hop in and go for a ride. She rolled her eyes and said, "suppers ready". Steve
After much consideration, I've decided on re-building the bottom 4-5" of my original doors. The cost of the re-pops, plus doubts about fit, and the desire to retain as much original steel as possible, helped make this decision. The right door is in the worst shape, but not a whole lot. Here are some pics. of the fit-up of host supplied lower door patch panels. Here is one of what the extent of the rust, was. And, some after grinding and primer. Yes, Mike, mine will need a skim coat of filler, also. Probably more will stay on my door, than yours. But, it will not be excessive. I'm pretty satisfied, all in all, but, I wish I owned a TIG machine. I put in 8 to 10 hours, probably, between both sides, of one door. That is why body shops suggest you buy repops, if possible. One thing I don't like about 47-55, door patch panels is they don't have the half-moon drains punched into the bottom. I will probably drill four .250" holes, for drain holes. Steve.
Much better! Too bad they didn't come with the drains already in them. I assume the original placement of these holes was as good as it gets? You may have an opportunity to make sure these holes are where they are supposed to be. My question? Who will be done first? Mike, who keeps throwing diversions in his way, or Steve, that seems to be gaining momentum? Will I get my bed on my truck before either of these two actually drive theirs? Stay tuned!
Zig, Mike is talking about primer. I'm still test fitting and fabricating. I'm thinking your GMC will have a bed long before I test fire my engine. I'm curious, is your original bed restorable, or will you be buying many new parts? Also, what wood do you like for it? I'm starting to think forward about that, now. Steve.
Steve, Don't get all worried I am going to be finished by tomorrow! There is still a TON of work to do here at my end. FWIW, a complete bed, soup to nuts, was SHORT money several years back (Mar-K). They had a free-shipping promotion at the time.
Such an optimist, Steve! HA!!! Yeah, the bed sides are salvageable. (barely~ and I mean most of you would probably pitch them, but mine is a work truck and they give me an opportunity to try some creative "stuff") I need to buy everything else, including that GMC tailgate. I really wanted to go with hedge boards (Osage orange, or hedge ball tree are other names for this tree) for the bed, but I'll probably just do a yellow pine kit. <<<OR>>> I might go with a Trex deck wood bed and paint the fake deck wood red.
Interesting, and unusual choice. I think that finishes into a orangeish colored wood. Would probably look real good against your paint color. We cut a bunch of those trees down, when I was a kid. They grew along a fence row where we had Hereford cattle pastured. We had an old cow get one of those "hedge apples" caught in it's throat, and about died. I watched dad stomp the old cows neck, where the "apple" was stuck, to break it up. The cow lived on. You can't perform the "Heimlich" maneuver, on a cow... Steve.
well you CAN, but it IS illegal in most states... Steve, there is (yet another) tangential thread about "hedge" on this very forum. I must say I was involved, but I didn't START it. Just wait 'til I start cutting the timber frame for the new barn... THEN we'll have pictures too!
Wow, it's been 8 months... It has been a very busy spring, and summer. Not much progress on the 50 Chevy. Anyway, the last two weeks I've tried to beat the seasonal clock, and get some work done before the outdoor paint season ends. My goal was to get the underside of the cab and firewall finished, and painted, so the cab can go back on the frame permanently. I made it, but, had to wait for two weeks, due to wind, rain, and cool weather. Here are the results... The firewall was finished with first, Finish 1, med. grey sealer. Then, Sherwin Williams ATX, basecoat, in a custom, dark pearl red. Followed by Axalta, Nason, urethane clear. The underside of the cab, along with the inner to outer cowl panels were finished with Dupont, Velva Seal, and topcoated with Dupont Imron, 5000. These were leftover from painting a Kenworth in 1992! Took a lot of stirring, but, the paint was fine. Wish I had more of that paint. The image presented in this digital photo looks a little off to me. Maybe once I get the cab back on the frame, I'll be able to get a better pic. out in the sun. Steve.
Steve, You have officially pulled into the lead by checking the little box next to: FINAL COLOR APPLIED TO TRUCK SHEET METAL. Nicely done!
Really nice stitch welds, excellent penetration. We have a Miller Dial Arc TIG machine but do most of the patch panels with the MIG. One can hold the mig gun in one hand and an air blow gun in the other and with a little practice end up with just about no warping.
You done good Steve. A stock firewall, that has been tastefully cleaned up just looks "right" IMO on this era truck. Your reward for the amount of work that you've done is a firewall that "looks like it was always meant to be". I am envious of your paint and body skills.... I'm a hack. John
Well, I guess, Mike, but, I'm glad this isn't a spectator race. We sure couldn't sell tickets. Evan, Thank You. A complement from you is very encouraging. Thanks, also, John. You are hardly a "hack", at anything I've seen you do. I enjoy the welding part, and painting doesn't seem to come hard for me, but, the part in between, has always been difficult for me. All the prep for paint work takes me FOREVER, it seems, to get, right. I would go broke running a body shop. I used to help a true bodyman some, when I was younger and I would think I had things perfect. He would just rub his hand over my work and tell me how wrong I was. Yeah, Zig, I've always liked red. And, I'm trying to sort of stick to it's high school heritage. This red is different, modern (pearl), and brighter, than the '74 Chevy Dark Red, it was painted back then. But close. Also my first ever venture with base coat/clear coat. Steve.
