No Coal for Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone. I know I haven't posted in a while, things have been a bit slow finishing up a semester of school and the holidays. Now as I did not get coal for Christmas when I first got the truck there was an Ice Cream bucket full of coal in the cab. I'm not sure why the coal was there, perhaps the heater broke down.
Anyways for Christmas I did get a set of MSD Spark Plug wires. Then I also came across a 400 Turbo transmission to bolt up behind my 454. As it didn't come with a torque converter I placed an order for one. Also in delivery I ordered up an MSD distributor, and a flex plate for the motor. In other good news, we contacted speedway motors for an update on my suspension components. They are waiting for only the shocks and then it will ship.

This weekend I will be boxing in the frame, for the suspension cross-member. I'll have more pictures later on of that. I have the frame ready after flattening the part of the frame turned up for the stock steering box.

Low Rider Donny... Donny, Low Rider

I'm excited, I had a very nice time off during the Thanksgiving weekend. Spent time with my family, ate some good food, spent $1200, played some football... Oh well backing up to the spending $1200, I ordered the components of the front suspension this weekend. I was very happy that I was getting free shipping, and saved nearly $200. I was also amazed with the service of speedwaymotors.com. I had previously order the cross-member off their website on a Sunday morning, and had it Tuesday afternoon. When I placed the order for the components Saturday around one o'clock, by four i received a phone call explaining that some of the pieces were out of stock, and they wouldn't ship for a couple weeks. I was amazed to receive this call so quickly and even more so on a weekend. It makes me wish speedway had more parts available for my truck for me to order from them.

I spent a little time this weekend getting the frame ready for the cross-member and soon the components. Also I removed the steering column. Just a little more work before welding can be done. As I have also tried to keep up to date on the fender work I've been accomplishing while at school I have gotten one tail light nearly complete with just the rest of the fender needing to be straightened before sending off to primer. The other fender still needs more fiberglass work. It is looking just as good as I imagined it, I am happy with the results. Hopefully my next post will include pics of the components and the cross-member on the frame.

Is there anything else I can take apart?... Not much.

Iroh is pretty well stuck where she is at. I've removed the front suspension and soon the steering column will come too, to make room for the new suspension cross-member, suspension, and rack and pinion steering. I tried to put the frame all on jack stands but as my stands are too short even at the tallest height the truck would still sit higher had it been still on it's wheels. I actually couldn't put the jack stands on the frame in the back because the rear differential dropped too low, and the jack wouldn't come out from under it. So those stands got put under the rear end. I'll be preparing the frame for the cross-member, some areas need to be flattened, and it needs to be ground down to be welded.

Just as a side note as I'm thinking about it, I purchased a "Wel-bilt" Universal engine stand/rolling dolly, to hold my 454 as it waits its turn for installation. I don't want to have to become a member of the "Northern Tools and Equipment" website to write a review, but it sucks. The bolt holes were close to where they should be to bolt the motor on but they were off just far enough that we couldn't. We got the engine to mount on there but it worries me because only about half the bolts made it in. So don't waste your money you could probably build you're own better, this isn't to dis "Wel-bilt" their creeper I bought is nice but the engine dolly... no.
Anyways moving on... still slowly making progress on Iroh's fenders at school. I seem to be adding a fair amount of weight with the tail light housings but that's okay, it will just help push the rear tires into the ground. One of the front fenders saw some epoxy but a few other dents and maybe some finer sanding is in its future. Straightening, and filler work has started on the rear fenders so hopefully they too will be straightened out and see epoxy soon too.

 right rear fender, other fender saw fiber glass today but no pics yet. 

Left front fender

"What’s behind you doesn’t matter." – Enzo Ferrari

Have you ever done 40 mph in a truck with no engine, no brakes, no fenders, no windows, no seat belts, seat not bolted down, and driver door tied on? I have, and my brother joined me for it. Now my truck is in a friend of my dads, shed. So when I get around to buying the front suspension components, I'll be able to start welding it on to the truck. Once the suspension cross-member is welded in, the engine cross-member will be able to mocked up and welded in also.  

As far as progress with the fenders at school goes, the boxes made for the taillights are welded in and soon they will be getting finished up. The front fenders are being straightened by a couple of friends in my class. They are looking good and soon they should be able be shot with epoxy primer. I don't have the latest pics of the fenders on my computer yet, but here is the rear fenders after being shot with some primer before I welded them in. My brother is on the paint side and sprayed them for me.

There is a big Orange Rat in the Garage

There is no replacement for displacement, my dad told me a long time ago. I'm very excited to have a big block to be dropping into my pickup. Just recently I got some paint on it while the weather is still warm enough to apply it. Growing up I did not like the Chevrolet Orange engines. I thought orange was just a bad color for a motor. However it grew on me, and now it is the color of Iroh's engine. With a little chrome and aluminum to break it up it looks awesome. Just need to bead blast the intake manifold and get the oil pan on.

Progress in school has been a little slow. I only get at most an hour and half to work on my fenders a day. It makes getting the tail lights in a long process. I've got one of the fenders stripped of paint, I need to get it primed before I am able to completely weld the taillight housing in. In my opinion though I think the Cadi lights will add an awesome custom look to the truck. If they look bad I can always cut them off in the future and re do them.

Just a bunch a pics

Today I'm just gonna post a bunch of extra pictures I have that I haven't let you see yet.

 The bed is all there just dismantled

 They don't make screws like they use to. That is a craftsman too, lifetime warranty.

 Original Straight 6 put up a fight but out it came.

 Rust converter on the frame rails.

 Got it home parked in the driveway.

 Fender off, one of the hinges needed to be rebuilt.

 Built in cup holder.

Rebuilding the fenders so they fit the cadi lights better but this gives you an idea of what they will look like.

I ain't nobody dork

I've been trying to get caught up with all the progress I've been making on my truck in the past year and half or so I've had it. In the last post I got up to where Iroh got moved to a shed for the winter. So in the spring I began scrapping down the interior, and taking everything out of it. I picked up a like new seat from a '05 Colorado, a tilt steering column from a Chevy van. The cab has the only three spots of rust I'm going to have to fix on the whole truck, above the windshield, bottoms of the doors and a little on the left cab corner. I sprayed the interior with flat black primer, so it's looking pretty good.

 For the rest of the truck I will be getting new independent front suspension, I have a 454 big block Chevy that will make its home between the fenders. It's bored, steel crank, and double roller timing chain. I don't have a transmission at the moment, but I've got a Ford 8.8 rear end to get the power to the wheels. I feel bad putting any Ford parts in my Chevy, but it has disk brakes, posi, and 3.73 gears, so I'll get over it. Currently I have the fenders at school doing some body work on them. I am customizing the rear fenders to house Cadillac taillights.

6 Cylinders, 2 Flats, No Brakes

Standing in my driveway looking at my dream truck, seeing the potential but also all the work to be done. I started with cleaning the interior out. As It was full of parts, three dead mice,(some farther gone than others) and a bucket of coal for some reason. I found only 3 hubcaps, and that is often how it goes. The seat, even though I had a new seat cover in a box somewhere for it, was completely rusted out. There was no sense in keeping it so that got tossed. However there was good news to be found in the cab. The floor, like most of the truck was solid, and the only thing missing from the dash was one of the knobs from the heater controls. 

The engine was the original 235 straight six, originally putting out a massive 109 horsepower. Don had told me that he had it running. I thought about putting the trans back in it to drive it around as I worked on it, but decided against putting the money into it to do that. Since besides the engine it needed brakes on all 4 corners too. I sold the engine as I had decided an engine compartment as vast as this needed something bigger, eventually big block Chevy power.  

I spent the summer of 2010 pulling wiring, and wire brushing the frame. The frame and the inner fenders I coated in Rust Converter. I put the bed together with enough bolts to keep it together on the frame, but so it is still easy enough to remove. My uncle even donated two tires to replace the flats I had on the back. As winter approached I was not going to be able to keep the truck just sitting in the driveway. I didn't want it sitting in the snow anyway. Much of the work was put on pause, as Iroh was moved to a shed for the winter. Over the winter I did go about acquiring different parts that I could later use. Including a car from my cousin that was gonna make a good donor for a temporary engine, though all that work would have to wait for the spring.

Pure Gold

The day was June 12, 2010 when I bought my truck. A 1955 Chevy half ton short box second series pickup. The history of the truck was short. The original owner gave the truck to his son, who sold it to his son-in-law for $50, from whom I acquired the truck I now call Iroh. Iroh is more of a guy's name but I will often refer to the truck as a she, it is just how it goes. Even though this truck went through three generations before it got to me, it was only driven for 7 years. The clutch went out in 1962 and Iroh was parked. I have the '62 plates that I removed from the plate brackets when I brought it home. I paid a total of $2500 for the truck and all the parts Don (the guy I bought it from) had. These parts include, newly chromed bumpers, and grille. the original radiator and gas tank had been cleaned out, new stainless steel taillights, new oak wood cut for the bed, weather stripping and the list went on.

(This is how she sat on the back porch where I picked her up. We tore down a fence to get her out.)

Since the transmission wasn't in, neither were the brakes, we trailered Iroh home. That probably didn't surprise you after seeing the picture. We were about to roll the truck off the trailer when I noticed the back tire had split open and the inner tube was bulging through. It proceeded to go off with a bang when it rolled over it. I finally had my dream truck in the driveway, I just had a lot of work ahead of me. Which I still do, I'm just trying to catch up to where I am now. I love my truck.
Next time I'll let you know more of the condition it was all in, some of what I have done so far and what some of my plans are for Iroh.

Just Getting Started

Hello I'm gonna try this whole blogging thing out. I'm not sure how many people will follow I'm hoping to get use to this. Most of my blogs will be following my progress on my 55 Chevy pickup, that I am rebuilding. I might also throw a few conversations out that may be about more philisophical things, or just random thoughts that I have. I'm actually thinking of deleting my facebook if this goes well. Facebook is just getting too complicated and does way more crap than I care to spend time doing online. I heard they are switching things up and gonna make everyones profile into a timeline type thing. That just opens up way more facebook stalking than I'm really interested in. All that I mostly did on facebook anyway was share pics of my truck. I think I might find more people who are interested specifically to that topic if i started blogging.