Updates 9/3/10

John and Troy at Hot Rod Alley continue to make great progress on the truck! Ash tray and glove box door have been filled in, and a valance has been added beneath the original dash (which will have the A/C unit and vents in it): Here's a picture of the widened fenders (2" wider than stock, to accommodate wider wheels and tires). Also, notice how the running boards have been customized to fit the wider fenders:

A picture of the third taillight/brake light:

Another picture of the running boards, fenders, the fit of the doors, etc. This is the first time the front fenders have been on the truck in 18 years!

The truck as it currently sits. Again, the last time we saw this truck put together like this was 18 years ago, in 1992! Note the Chevy in the background, on the lift...

Proud owners, Papa Mike and Chris, enjoying the progress of a project that began so long ago!

Troy from Hot Rod Alley. We absolutely found the best guy for the job, and would recommend him and his shop to anyone!

A picture of the firewall, which has been filled and will be smoothed and painted red to match.

Some more custom work... notice the stock inner fenderwell here, with the indentation...

Here's the customized fenderwell, with the indentation removed. This will clean up the engine compartment and really make it shine when it's finished and painted!

Another photo of the customized fenders, along with the running boards installed.

Another photo of the dashboard, with all of the holes filled, as well as the ashtray and glove compartment filled and the valance added beneath the dash for the A/C. This photo also shows some more metal work on the floorboards, with the steering column, and around the transmission floor panel.

That's it for now... more to come, so stay tuned!

Updated photos from 8/18/10

Wow... we can't believe how quickly things are starting to come together! Back at Hot Rod Alley, Troy and John have the cab and bed mounted:

Note the fenders, which have been widened by 2":

Updated photos from 8/16/10

Troy and John from Hot Rod Alley come to pick up the chassis, so they can dry-fit all the body pieces before paint/body work.

Updated photos from 8/7/10

Gas tank filled:
Floor pan, rust cut out and replaced:

Bryce and Caleb showing off the filled firewall!

Updates 7/31/10

Updated photos from 7/31/10:

Nice ideas for interior work

This is one of the nicer interiors I've seen around town... saw this vehicle at a car show on 59th and Bell Road a couple weeks ago.

This car has the metal strip added beneath the original dash, which we've talked about doing for our truck. It blends in perfectly with the dash, and gives a little more space to add the A/C vents and controls. Without that extra room, you can see how cluttered the dash would be if he had the A/C vents and the A/C control panel on there.

I don't think we'll be doing a center console like this car has... just the strip beneath, painted to match.

Updates 6/19/10

Updates from 6/19/10...

Here's another look at the bed and gas tank (thanks to Chet Wood for the custom gas tank mounting):

Here's a look at the new axles, just returned from machining (new bolt pattern, etc), as well as the brake rotors (from Baer Brakes). Still having some problems with the axles, hopefully that will get corrected soon. We've had some challenges with the rear end, getting everything to fit and be compatible... hopefully we're nearing the end now!

Transmission pan cover ("Ford C6"). I wonder if anyone will ever look far enough under the truck to see this? : )

Lokar oil dipstick. Also, check out the allen head bolts on the oil pan. Very nice! Again, we hope someone will look under there and take notice!

Christmas in July! More packages from Sacramento Vintage Ford... these boxes contain the running boards and rear bumper, as well as the front driver's side quarter-panel replacement (the original is rusted out). That's the original front grille hanging above the boxes.

Mike & Chris installed the original rear fenders on the new bed, so we could take measurements for the wheels and tires (which should be coming soon... probably going with the Billet Specialties "Qualifier," see wheel posts from earlier to see what they look like!).

Chris finished installing the Lokar shifter and connecting the linkage. Shifts smooth as butter, and looks great too!

That's all for now, but there's going to have to be a LOT of work done in the next month to get the truck ready for body and paint... Troy at Hot Rod Alley is supposed to take the truck on August 1st, so we'll be scrambling between now and then to get as much done as possible. Stay tuned for more!

Thanks to all of you who are following the project... we're having a blast!

More problems... and Chet Wood to the rescue!

These are the little (or not-so-little!) problems that come up during the build phase of a project like this!

We decided to put the brake booster assembley between the frame rails, so it wouldn't clutter up the firewall. We ordered the kit, and were excited to start mounting it after it came in. We found out quickly, though, that there was going to be a problem!

As you can see below, the brake assembly needed to be mounted exactly where the transmission crossmember was! You can see the disconnected brake pedal on the right side of the crossmember, and the silver mounting bracket for the rest of the assembly on the left side. The linkage needed to pass directly through the black crossmember.


So, Mike called Chet Wood, the one who's done all of the custom metal fabrication on this truck (he's done the engine mounts, the rear suspension/leaf springs, the custom-mounted gas tank and frame, etc). Chet worked a little of his magic and came up with this solution (note: this is a mock-up--the revised transmission crossmember will be powdercoated to match the frame):

Problem solved! Thanks so much Chet, you saved us once again!

Coming attractions...

As we're working on finishing up the chassis, I thought I'd post a few pics of what's waiting on the assembly line! Sometime in July/August, the truck and all the body parts will be going to Troy Wait at Hot Rod Alley for body work and paint. Here's what the body parts are looking like right now, as they sit in the garage and wait for their turn!

The firewall will be smoothed out, all holes filled...

Here's the inside of the dash area. Since we'll be adding A/C, we'll need to fabricate an additional metal piece beneath the original dash to make room for the A/C control panel and the A/C vents. Our current plan is to put the radio inside the glove box, so it's hidden.

Here's some miscellaneous parts--cab, doors, fenders, etc. We should be able to use all of the original body parts, with the exception of the bed and the running boards.

5/15/10 Update

Well, it's been about a month since our last blog update. Here's what we've been working on...

First up, we got the brand new bed kit, from Sacramento Vintage Ford. This is the rear box as we're dry-fitting it to the frame. Some minor fit issues toward the rear of the frame, as some of the modifications have resulted in some of the holes not lining up. Should be fixed in no time... good work to Mike and Jerry!

Here's a picture of the engine, tranny, and front end parts. Note the new brake rotors and the Lokar shifter unit, which was just put on today.

A front end photo, showing the March Performance Systems serpentine system. We definitely had some pretty major issues with the March system. It looks great, though, and hopefully will run perfectly!

The new brake rotors and kit, from Baer Brakes. We're also upgrading from drum brakes to disks on the back:

The rear end and gas tank. All of this is custom fabrication and metalwork. As noted in earlier posts, the rear leaf springs have been moved outside of the frame rails, and the gas tank has been moved inside of the frame rails in the back of th truck (the original truck had the gas tank on the side of the truck, outside the frame rails... not good if you get in a car accident on that side of the vehicle!).

The whole chassis, as of today (5/15/10):

Our little helpers (and the future owners of the truck!)--Bryce (7) and Caleb (5).

Jegs.com wheels

Papa Mike found these Cragar Eliminator wheels for much less ($215) at http://www.jegs.com/... let us know what you think!

Final Choices... Billett Specialties wheels

OK guys, I went through the Billet Specialties catalog and nailed down my favorite options (from the somewhat "affordable" choices... some of the wheels in there were $900 per rim!!!).

Here they are... for my part, I like the first two the best!

Street Star -- $350

Qualifier -- $350Dagger -- $375

Bullet -- $375

Apex -- $375:

By no means are these the only options... if we like a style here but can find it cheaper somewhere else, that's OK with me. I'll keep looking.

Note: I did my pricing using a 17x7 and 17x8 (slightly wider in back) size. Changing size will change the pricing.

Chris