Here's a quick update video for you guys.

 

"That Ant" CAN move a rubber tree plant !

 

Lookin good!

Did you order your rocker from LMC?

 

Nah, it was ordered from Bronco Graveyard. This was not the slip on type either, so for anyone looking for a rocker I'd recommend it but it is only the outer piece. We made the Inside out of stainless.


What wedid buy from LMC was the lower part of the floor pan that bolts to the mount. I was very impressed with the quality and thickness of the piece having had bad past experiences with them and thin metal.

 

Evidently we got a shipment of parts in and dad never told me. New passenger rocker, passenger pillar post, driver cab corner, and new wiper arms.

 

Sorry for the double post but here's some of what I literally just forgot to post.

The passengers side was duplicated to the drivers side. Everything was ground down with an angle grinder and prepped and painted. The underside pics are drivers side. Keeping mind the frame will be cleaned up next year. The backcab cross member shows where the small lift comes from.

 

pdate!

Here's the game plan for spring.

Dad says hes going to send the front clip to a local tech school that I went to to have them temporarily paint the panels to match. While this won't be a show stopping paint job, the panels will match decently for now. He'd like to tryt and reuse the hood since its still good as well. Once the body work is good, he wants the inside of the panels zbarded. Smart idea. This will keep rust from starting from the inside. After that's all set,the truck will be blasted and we will start prepping for paint. This will be the second paint job, excluding original paint.

I believe the motor will be getting some kind of bolt on EFI. It will be from Holley. I have suggsted to him Atomic EFI from MSD as well. This will be a temporary setup to get some gas mileage back from ditching the Holley 4 barrel that's currently on it. Regardless, the engine will probably stay for a bit. For how long I don't know. He said the block that is in the truck is at max overbore somwe will likely find amoher block if we do anything to it. He has tossed the idea around of putting in another 351. I have him interested in a 408 stroker motor. The old block in the garagw is apparently still useable if he bores it out to .060 over. But the concern there is that it will be very close to water jackets inside for cooling. This will also be a temporary engine until the big block gets put in. If you couldn't already tell, this truck is not going anywhere soon haha.

Ordered a new shifter collar for her and a roll pin as well. Broke the old one off moving it :lol: all those years of wear and tear.

Also looking into a sound deadener to put in it everywhere.

 

Hmmmm *grumble* *mumble* I forget your name, Antonio or sumthin' like that, kid from the northeast... spending a LOT of time and energy on what looked like a hopeless cause that would barely be good for parts in many people's eyes but it has sentimental value and so you're proceeding on with something most people would never have considered viable... kudos for that.

Do some research on DynaMat and the like, I think @Gary Lewis wrote up a really good description of how sound waves get transferred from one place to another and the properties of the various sound deadeners and how they operate and, most importantly, where such products should be affixed.

Ziebart is a really good idea IMO but some are going to say the opposite, that it flakes off as it ages and causes more problems than it solves... I don't know about that, my parents had a brand-new car Ziebart'd in 1978 in the Chicago area and the body was still perfect 10 years afterwards - but looking underneath, I *could* see where it was flaking off in various areas. You might be interested in other products that do the same job, though - POR15 comes to mind - do your homework here.

My father has the bolt-on Holley EFI system - ProJection or somesuch - and it works really well once you get the bugs worked out - he kept burning out fuel pumps for some reason, even had a Holley rep fly out and help for 3 days.

Sergio? I forget.... some Italian-sounding name....

 

WOW is all I can say! As you said most would have run away from that truck so you both must love it.


I just bought a 81 flare side that needed floors, rockers & cab corners. Not no where as bad as yours with cab & frame mounts rusted or I would have walked.


It is not that hard to gut the cab so you can work on it off the frame as I did just that with mine by myself.

Test fitting of panels. Cab mounts were good and you can see the old floor, the better side, on the floor. Still need to make a panel for that big opening yet.



You did remind me I have to treat the rust before I weld the panels in, should go do that now.
Keep us posted
Dave ----

 

I for got I am thinking of use DIY bed liner on the floor inside the cab before the cab and seat belt bolts or shifter cover gets put back down.
This way I don't have to buy a rubber mat to put back down that could trap water and start the rust monster again.
Dave ----

 

Others here have done just that....

 

Angelo

I believe DynoMat was what dad was looking into. He was doing some research and evidently there's some cheap stuff at Home Depot which is identical but incredibly cheaper. Somewhere on YouTube he found this. I'm not exactly sure what he was looking at because at the time I was at work though.

Holley Projection was the exact EFI he was thinking about. Ive heard mixed things about it though. It depends on who you talk to. Especially if it burns out fuel pumps a lot. We use a Holey Red style pump....what does your father use? Regardless, the entre fuel system on this truck is getting an entire going through; hes already planning on buying a new tank, sending unit and making a box protector for the pump on the frame rail.

I think it will be a good idea to coat everything. Especially since the plan is to coat things in pieces while its apart rather than after being put back together. I've suggested POR15 to him as well, but he won't make a decision until it gets to that point in the spring. Since we aren't really doing anything to it during the winter months cause its too damn cold, he's taking the time to research everything out he needs. If it held up that good back in 78, I think we won't have too many problems. We are also talking about using some rattle can stuff inside as well.



Looks like a project!

I think we are going to do the same thing before we buy a fresh vinyl floor. That will be coming and he also wants to see how much getting the original bench will cost to get I it reupholstered versus buying a brand new seat.


Like you guys said most people would walk away from this. We ain't afraid of a challenge. This has been in the family for nearly 30 years. Hopefully it will be passed on to me someday. I definitely can't wait till next year when she gets new custom leaf packs and hits the road. That day is sooner than you might think. My friends give me hell for fixing her up but some people just don't understand. Its a passion!

 

I don't remember for sure what pumps he's using but I think they were Holley-branded... they ended up installing some sort of fuel return line system which seems to have cured that problem.

Hopefully Gary will chime in about the DynoMat sound stuff, there's some really good information on that out here someplace....

 

I've posted about this topic several places, but one of the more concise is in Dad's Truck Build:

1. Stop entry: Make every possible effort to stop sound from entering via cracks, holes, etc. Toward this end I'll have new door gaskets, window felts, etc. And, all body plugs will be installed with sealer.
   
2. Reduce vibration: Mass loading a panel, such as with Dynamat, both reduces its vibration as well as lowers the frequency thereof. However, fully covering everything with Dynamat, or similar, isn't necessary as the vast majority of the effect is achieved by covering 25% of the panel - in the middle, as the edges where it meets another panel are not going to vibrate.
   
3. Decouple: If a layer of soft material is used between the panel and another panel the vibration is not coupled to the second panel. That can be accomplished via some closed-cell foam like Ozark1/Jerry used, with a full-coverage rubber floor mat like is used in the trucks w/o carpet serving as the 2nd panel. Or, if you are like me and want carpet, use one with a heavy rubber backing, like ACC offers - Mass Backing.
   
4. Absorption: But, whatever you do there will be some sound that either gets through or is created in the cab, so absorption material is needed. Basically, anything soft helps, but things like deep pile carpet, seat upholstery, headliners, etc are good.
   

Hope that helps.

 

I remember at one point or another we had fuel starvation issues because the pump couldn't get enough up to the carb, but I believe that was a Mr. Gasket pump that we've since bypassed with a Holley red. Things have been fine since, minus having one bad pump from the factory that was returned. I do believe we have a fuel return line installed as well, but I haven't been under it to take a look lately either. Or rather I have, but for different, body related reasons.






Thanks Gary!! I'll be sure to show him your thread. Really great info there.




Also, I put a new junkyard antenna on it. Old one was broke and annoying me.