norms 55 chevy pu build

[washington blue]

Here's a couple pics of the finished product. I also got a 4 wire brake switch so the torque converter lock up knows to unlock when I tap the brake pedal. Wiring is not my strong point by far, other than fixing a mouse chewed wire on a farm machine, or re-doing an older car with no computers. Lots to learn I guess.

[washington blue]

I Found the perfect spot for the drive by wire gas pedal black box. The PSI harness plugs in one side and the pedal cable plugs into the other side. The little mounts allow me to remove this box just like the fuse blocks, by sliding it towards me.

[washington blue]

I got the knobs and switches installed. A little filing here and there did the trick. Sincd I have no choke or throttle knobs the 2 knobs on either side of the lighter are extra wiper switches so the holes are filled and look stock. Never know maybe some time I'll want a switch for something and I've got 2 installed, lol. about all that's left for mounting electrical, is the dimmer switch on the floor, I filled the hole in the floor so I have to figure out something different. I got an ashtray from E bay too.

[washington blue]

Added a disconnect switch and a distribution block

[washington blue]

Decided to get the bear claw latches put in. Everything went pretty well, just small adjustments here and there. The driver door is original 55 and the passenger door is newer so the interior panel on the driver door has 3/16 screws and the passenger door is 1/4 screws. Took me a while to figure out what the driver door had since I had no screws that size on hand.

[washington blue]

I have the wrong bolts in the inside panel as you can see, but they will do the job for now on the pass. side. I had trouble getting the interior handle to work, it kept binding and I was just not happy with what the instructions said to do so I welded a "tab" onto the inside handle pull rod. Now it works very smoothly. I also had to file all the splines on the rod the handle slides on to, they were just too course. They are new aftermarket.

[washington blue]

Ran some battery cables. It should be a cleaner thing when it is all done. I like the safety of the shut off switch since my garage is attached to my house.

[washington blue]

Got started on my seat belts, I saw somewhere on here how to mount the upper belt mount. I had to narrow the Juliano's upper mount a little bit to slide it up the post from below. You can see the welding wire I pulled the piece up with.

[washington blue]

Made an air box.

[washington blue]

A couple more air box pics. I went to the local hardware store and got some 22 gauge for furnace ductwork to make the box and a piece of hose for a gasket around the filter neck. Hopefully when the weather is done being winter I can next get everything media blasted and start the paint process, I think I have done everything I need to do before paint. I have done blasting at home with my small hobby blaster and I don't like it, so I'm going to take it to a shop 12 miles from me. They have a pro blaster and quoted me 2 grand to media blast everything.

[washington blue]

A couple more. In this opening I cut, I bent metal back so it forms kind of angle irons all the way around. Hopefully adding stiffness, don't know if it needed it or not but can't hurt.

[dsraven]

probably needed it since the rad support by itself is pretty small actuall.
you may wanna look at some sort of rain/bug shield or baffle in front of the hole though.
make sure to ask the media blaster if he is gonna epoxy prime those parts so they don't immediately start to rust. also, if thats his plan, ask what he uses and keep track of that because some substrates don't interact well with other coatings applied on top and can create havoc when it comes time for the next coat of whatever you plan to use.

[dsraven]

nice job, by the way. looks like a bought piece.

[washington blue]

Thanks ds, I can't remember what they said they would spray on the bare metal, as I asked last summer when I planned to have it done - then I busted my leg forcing me to take a 3 month vacation and winter came and salty roads. I'm not risking getting anything road salt related on this thing so that's why I have been going so slow on this build lately. You give excellent advice, I will absolutely write down what they spray it with and take that info to the auto body supply place. I always defer to the ABS place expertise when buying paint supplies from bondo, to primer, then paint, and finally clear. This way I never have to worry about chemicals fighting. I even ask what are the newest things in sanding and buffing.

[dsraven]

primer before bondo though, right? bondo is porous and usually they say put something under that so it doesn't rust the metal. 2 schools of thought.

[dsraven]

lots of times its best to stay wit the same brand name too.

[washington blue]

After a very dry summer of farm stuff and right now just before harvest. I took sheet metal parts to a local shop and had them glass bead stuff. If we were to have an early snow and the county puts salt on the road I could not move stuff on my open trailer then, so, now's the time. I have car stuff to do all winter now, looking forward to it right after harvest is done.

[washington blue]

After blasting the shop put a product on called "Chromate Epoxy DTM primer". This will prevent any surface rust while it waits for me to work on it. I have the brand name and the part nos. of these products so when I go to my local paint supplier I can give them the primer and activator numbers for compatibility. The shop recommends that I scuff this green well where mud is needed, and then do mud, removing it all is not necessary.

[washington blue]

It cost a few bucks to do this but I could not have done anything anywhere nearly as well at home with my hobby blaster. I don't really like blasting either.
After the spots that need mud are blocked out, the shop said to go over the whole door, fender, cab, whatever, with some 180 grit for tooth and then spray on build epoxy primer to block again.

[dsraven]

Yup, filler over the epoxy, scuff it first if more than a day later for tooth. Then when the filler work is done spray the high build. Block with a long stiff board to only hit the high spots and not conform to all the low spots. Dont sand through to steel just to the epoxy as a last resort. If you have spots that didnt get touched by sand paper then they are the low spots. Lay a straight edge across those and decide if you will fill those more or keep laying coats of high build down. It's why a lot of guys lay a slim coat of filler on the whole fender or door or whatever. They sand down the highs and the lows will likely be filled already. Then the blocking process takes less time and less coats.

[dsraven]

I personally use pieces of plywood with the paper stapled on the ends( not on the surface that touches the parts getting sanded). It doesnt bend like some foam backed boards do. I find it hard to not push down too much so this way it is harder to bend the sanding board. Pieces of dowel work well for soft body lines. Different colors of high build make it easier to stop sanding when you go through the current coat. If you are sanding blue primer and start seeing the previous color then you are through that coat and need more sprayed on before you start sanding through to metal. Scuff sand the low spots before spraying to ensure they get a tooth.

[washington blue]

I am going to let it sit until after harvest so that will be most likely a month, barring bad weather. Your plywood idea is very good. I tried a long foam thing once and I pushed too hard and it only sanded where my hands were. I went back to my old hand hutch I'm used to. I will do my best not to sand through the Avocado. In the past I've used black lacquer for guide coat. What do people use now?

[dsraven]

lots of guys use something called dry guide coat powder. just google it.
if the epoxy sits longer than the 24 hr time then you will need to scuff it up before putting filler on. the chemical bond between the not cured epoxy and the new filler wont be the same as it would within that 24 hrs. check with the brand of epoxy but I'm pretty sure a month later means sanding before filler. if done within the time linits it's kinda like putting another coat of paint on, it will chemically bond.
the lpywood board sanding block is my go to. a hard office eraser works for small curved areas. a wooden dowl works for bigger curves. crosshatch pattern for sanding ensures you don't make flat spots with the sander.

[dsraven]

different tints of high build is the cheap mans guide coat, lol.

[washington blue]

Block sanding, been doing it for a couple weeks on and off. Going to block all the bondo before I spray primer.