Popular Post _Matt Posted September 20, 2016 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 20, 2016 Made up the 4-link bars and tacked all the mounts on. It's now roll-able for the first time since I pretty much bought it. Lifted the cab and front end back on to check clearances and it all looks good. Won't need much of a gearbox/driveshaft tunnel through the floor. The engine wouldn't fit between the inner guards. Needs a little bit more of a trim, or a lot more if I want to make some better headers for it. So keen for some ITB's! Tray fits well, needs some cutting out of the side for airbag clearance. C-notch doesn't stick out too much 25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post _Matt Posted September 25, 2016 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 25, 2016 Tried on the bumper guard that my parent's bought back from the USA a few years ago. Might need some slight modifications if I want to use it, as it already sits on the ground even though it's not as it's lowest. Started stripping some of the inside. Pulled out the seat and fuel tank which still had about 10 litres of petrol in it. Had some decent lumps of something in there and the outlet was blocked up, which is probably why it never ran anymore. 65 year old sound deadening is the worst to try and remove! Also some steel that surprisingly doesn't have any rust on it. Re-mounted the airbag mounts in the correct place and did some tests. 32 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post _Matt Posted November 6, 2016 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 6, 2016 Spun up some shock mounts for the rear. Top ones got welded through the RHS that goes between the C-notch. Bottom pair got welded to a plate which was then welded to the lower 4-link brackets. Added the commodore sway bar as well. Once everything was fitted we tested it and worked well. Fully welded all the diff and airbag mounts etc so is pretty done for now. Started on the front end again. Test fitted the sway bar and it only just fits in between the chassis and front end. Need to make up some mounts and maybe scallop a bit out for more clearance. Front shock mounts will look something like this. Drew them up and now just waiting for them to be laser cut. 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post _Matt Posted November 24, 2016 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 24, 2016 Made the extension parts on the front end for where the sway bar mounts to. Cut out old piece that looked like this: Fabricate a new piece that fits in nicely. And another piece for strength. Weld, weld, weld Mounts like so, just waiting until I get some sway bar link bushes first before drilling the holes, as the current ones are pretty stuffed and pull it over to one side. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post _Matt Posted November 24, 2016 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 24, 2016 Was told to change the 4-link bushes from the rubber ones to some spherical rod ends, as the previous ones loosen the locking nut when the diff twists and the spherical ones allow more twist. Had some spacers spun up out of aluminium, hopefully they don't clunk too much. Also started designing an Aluminium fuel tank. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post _Matt Posted November 24, 2016 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 24, 2016 Swapped the old commodore driveshaft for a station wagon one which is slightly longer and pretty much the perfect length. So then picked up a new yoke and universal joint to mate up to the transmission. Even clears the floor by ~2mm! Made a driveshaft mount to dummy it up, which worked alright but the driveshaft angled quite a lot when the bags are right down. Need to make another that's about 30mm higher. Running gear basically complete! 27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post _Matt Posted December 3, 2016 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 3, 2016 Front shock mounts are nearly done. Spun up some sleeves and spacers for them, since the hole in the rubber bushes was 3/4" and wasn't keen to use bolts that size. Modified the lower mount, needed to be wider to fit the larger shock eyes. Shock at full extension. Slammed. Just need to weld a plate of some sort between the two upper mounts for some extra strength. 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post _Matt Posted December 4, 2016 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 4, 2016 Today I pulled out all the stuff from behind the dash, chucked the seat back in and temporary mounted a Commodore brake booster/master cylinder along with the accelerator and brake pedals. The firewall now has an excessive amount of holes. Will definitely be welding most of them up. My Dad didn't believe me that the dash was spot welded in all the way along the top, so out came the windows. Really not looking forward to trying to remove the dash, if I decide it needs to come out, otherwise I'll just chop it up and weld it in place so it can be RHD. Little bit of rust in the lower windscreen corners, but not too bad. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Matt Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 Fixed some rust and filled some holes. Along the bottom isn't rusty holes, just pitting unlike what it looks like it the pics. Both patches had seams filled with lead through them which was annoying! Fixed them up the best I could, will figure out a way to paint/blend them back in. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post _Matt Posted December 30, 2016 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 30, 2016 Finished off the front shock mounts. Made some driveshaft hoops. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post _Matt Posted December 30, 2016 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 30, 2016 Took the cab outside for the first time in 6 and a half years to sand blast the firewall. Look at all the holes!! Right hand side floor and lower firewall are getting replaced with some new panels that are on the way from the USA. Have filled about a third of the holes so far, out of about 50 holes in total! 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post _Matt Posted January 1, 2017 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 1, 2017 Done a bit more. So glad I know how to tig weld! Added a swage around the brake booster mounting holes to add some rigidity and try to remove some flex. Also stitch welded a panel on the back to add some strength as well. Still 30+ holes to fill. Kinda over it now haha. 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post _Matt Posted January 2, 2017 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 2, 2017 Filled 3 holes today, then got sick of it and attacked it with a stripper disk and an orbital sander. 23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post _Matt Posted January 7, 2017 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 7, 2017 All un-needed holes are now filled! And is now covered in etch-primer. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post _Matt Posted January 7, 2017 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 7, 2017 Front right cab corner no longer has rust holes in it now as well. 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post _Matt Posted January 15, 2017 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 15, 2017 A little more rust fixed. Getting good at it now! 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post _Matt Posted January 20, 2017 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 20, 2017 Some more rust, this time the cowl vent. The channel where the rubber seal sits needs to be completely replaced. The other piece that is spot welded underneath just needs a few small holes patched up. Attempted to use a shrinker/stretcher to make up individual pieces but it wouldn't stretch enough for the tight radius. So then I thought about other ways and decided to try and form it out of one piece. Drew up some cad drawings and got them laser cut. After one hour of smacking it with a hammer. Came out way better than expected. Just needed to fold the inside up now. The inner corners required heating as they needed some decent stretching. The shape and fitment turned out as good as my measuring and cad drawing skills. 35 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post _Matt Posted February 2, 2017 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 2, 2017 Cowl vent patch is now welded in. Welded like crap because it was still a bit rusty and thin in places, but should clean up nicely with some paint. Gonna have to learn how to airbrush patina or something haha. Started a collection of dashes. Picked up the middle RHD one last weekend from a guy just 5 minutes up the road. Including mine there's now 3 50's Chevy pickup projects within about a 10km radius and that's out in the country haha. Bought the one that's been very badly modified to fit a commodore dash cluster a few years ago, not sure why because it's a hideous thing! At least it's in good condition where the unmodified RHD one isn't, so it's going to get cut up. Got it sand blasted and primed. The left side is mint, the right side is quite holey but it's fixable. 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post _Matt Posted February 5, 2017 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 5, 2017 Back to fixing the lower cab corner rust. Look at that nice 1950's welding! 20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post _Matt Posted February 12, 2017 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 12, 2017 Finished off the outer patch, then cut out the rust on the inside and welded in a new piece. Was a very difficult shape to form. Went to remove the left hand door and got 3 out of the 6 bolts out, but one had a stripped head and the other two's captive nuts started spinning on the inside. Sorted the stripped one by welding another bolt to the head and then undoing that. There was some rust holes on the inner panel so cut it out to gain access to the nuts as well. Ground off their heads and punched them through, so now need to make up a plate with a couple of tapped holes and plug weld it in there. Pulled off the door strikers and a few other bits so the inside and underneath can get sandblasted this week. Hopefully they stay within my paint-pen lines and not blast any of the outer body! 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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