Halfbreed - GMC Z71 + IH Extd Cab

[sparkydog]

Here is the thread by Rokcrln for a forward tilt hood. Many thanks to him for this write up!

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=218253

[sparkydog]

It is time that I publicly retract my statement on post #503 where I implied that my sister-in-law caused the great propane explosion of Christmas 2011. (Not that she will ever read any of this... but it's the thought that counts.)

Turns out that my bro in law (not married to said SIL) saved the stove carcass and later on he got to studying the stove and discovered that the oven door spring had been rubbing into the side of the gas pipe and finally (while we were cooking our bird) it rubbed a hole into the pipe.

So sorry SIL Jill, I take it back. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time when that thing lit off!

[hgs_notes]

I thought of his build as soon as I saw you wanted the forward tilt hood. Looking good.

[theastronaut]

Awesome project!! My avatar on other forums is a sock monkey!!

Kia Sock Monkey Commercial - YouTube

[71Sleeper]

Wow! what a difference a few inches taken out makes. Looking good!

[1985-GMC]

Its starting to tale shape, looks good!

[tecky11]

i just finished reading this form page 1. took me 3 days and you do some great work. and it looks like factory. great job

[1985-GMC]

That was supposed to be take* shape ^

But it really looks sweet man!

[jb1016]

That is gonna look SO much better

Great work, as usual!

[sparkydog]

The thing I like about the sock monkey is you can never tell when he is talking out of his a**.

[sparkydog]

Pic 1 was taken as I was fitting the new filler piece into the PS fender. After marking the front edge I popped off the tacks and took it out to make the cuts.

Pic 2 is after fitting and tacking it all the way in but before any hammer/dolly work.

Pic 3 is after getting both PS and DS sides filled in. I am very happy with this phase of the nose job.

4&5 are me trying to get a shot of how well the pieces are blending even before any hammer work.

4 hours to fill both sides. Once I wrap up the nose job I will be ready to go back and get the rear doors fitted better. I've improved my skills enough to be able to tackle them now.

[low'n slow]

Originally Posted by sparkydog

The thing I like about the sock monkey is you can never tell when he is talking out of his a**.

Gives a new meaning to the term "red eye"

[ERASER5]

Originally Posted by sparkydog

The thing I like about the sock monkey is you can never tell when he is talking out of his a**.

That is due to the sock monkey having Ed Zackery syndrome.

[sparkydog]

Yesterday nothing for the truck but the man-cave and the house got some extra storage using old kitchen cabinets from a guy I work with. There are some base units that may get converted into an island in the kitchen.

OK enough distraction - on with the build!

[1985-GMC]

I looks like it was supposed to be that way. Good job!

[67ChevyRedneck]

I'm not going to even pretend that I wasn't wrong.

My wife doesn't even get to hear this often...

I... was... wrong...

I was a firm believer that your front end redo was going to look like complete ass and ruin all of the hard work you put into the truck.

This sums it up for me as well:

I looks like it was supposed to be that way. Good job!

The proportions look perfect. You nailed it. GREAT job!

[NONHOG]

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

The proportions look perfect. You nailed it. GREAT job!

Cool truck w/o the work you've done. Its cooler now!

[sparkydog]

Took both front fenders off and prepped all the back sides of the seams I will be welding over the next few weeks. Then I put the fenders back on the truck - I prefer to work on them there especially while doing hammer/dolly work so I can see all the curves in the right context.

Then I switched over to the forward tilt hinge project. This takes priority over the finish welding because I can't use the truck until the hood can stay on.

Pic 1 was my first mod - I wanted the cross bar to stay as wide and as high has possible in order to keep as much clearance in the engine bay as possible. Therefore I took 2" out of each side so that the kinked section was as wide as possible.

Pic 2 is prepping the center cut. I made the hinges 48" across in order to tuck up into the IH hood. This was about 8-9" overall that I took out of the stock Buick hinge assy.

Pic 3 I noticed that it looked like the crossbar was only tack welded in 2 spots on each side and I didn't want to take any chances with the IH hood weighing much more than the Buick Lesabre hood. So I fillet welded around as best I could. A warning to anyone else - I think under the paint the metal is zinc plated and I had to fight a lot of sputter before I could get the weld puddle to wick.

Pic 4 the other mod I made to the Buick system was to cut off the stops that limit the travel when the hood is fully open. This is because on the Buick these brackets are horizontal but on my truck I am going to mount them vertical and I will fab these stops back on later if I want/need them.

[sparkydog]

Here is how the hinge looks after all the initial mods. It will be tucking up in this approx location on the hood. In pic 2 you can see that crappy fillet weld I was mentioning in the previous post. In both pics I have the brackets pointed up (vertical) which is the way I will be using them on my truck instead of horiz like they were in the Lesabre.

Pic 3 & 4 is the approx way it will look in the engine bay. Pic 4 is showing how high it will go so that the crossbar will swing up and over the top of the radiator cap. (Even though I don't need access to the cap I still want to try and clear it.)

[sparkydog]

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

My wife doesn't even get to hear this often...

I... was... wrong...

Hah that's funny - my wife has almost never heard those words come out of my mouth either!

But seriously if you ever spot something else on my build that you don't like just chime in - I can always use the detached perspectives!

[67ChevyRedneck]

It almost looks like you know what you're doing!

[Pop's C-10]

very trick

[sparkydog]

Originally Posted by jb1016

^ Great pic!!

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

It almost looks like you know what you're doing!

Originally Posted by Pop's C-10

very trick

Thanks !

[sparkydog]

Can't figure out how to edit an older post so I am hybrid posting this pic again - just want to show the two pics side-by-side.

[sparkydog]

Getting the rest of the latch mechanism ready.