my shipwrecked '63

[shipwrecked]

My morning started shitty. I woke up to cryptic message of "Im sorry" from my childhood best friend and no one was able to get in touch with him for hours. Eventually he was found alive. but damn! Two weeks ago he was sitting on a beach in Portland ME with a gun in his hand ready to bite a bullet.
I went to work to get a few days off anyway because a family friend ( pretty much my god mother) passed away on Friday from a heart attack-aged 61. I am headed to her funeral on Wednesday. But to wake up to this stuff was not fun. I actually cried thinking I lost my friend too. then I was pissed at him for what he did. I just hope he is finally going to accept the help. He is battling his second round of cancer - ironically it was head/neck like mine but he doesn't take care of himself.

Since I took the week off of work and I can't do anything till wednesday, I ran into the machine shop at work to press in the bushings into my leaf springs. Then went home to unload those and head to get the engine.


I'm thinking we can build a good engine from this.

[shipwrecked]

Today- I took a few parts to the machine shop at work and used the sand blast booth. Got a little paint sprayed on them too.







Dropped the pan on the orange engine to check the crank and found it had some water in it. No rust on anything though.






Set the front springs back in their home.






Started to get too dark to see, but I got the axle in its place as well. The U-bolts I bought aren't threaded long enough- so I will have to deal with that on Thursday. Either buy new ones (not wanting to!) and or taking a Die to it and threading it more.

After taking a look at it in place, I am going to repaint the shock mount perch black.






I have the spindles sitting on that pallet I showed in the second picture- they are black.
Will install those on Thursday when I get back from western PA.

[Truckrat]

Hey April, Where did you get the new spring clamps on your red springs?
I looked around all over the place and couldn't find anyone who had them when
I was doing the front springs on my 57! TR

[shipwrecked]

Truckrat- I found them either on Summit or on National Parts Depot. I gotta find my invoices to be sure. Im sure it was NPD. the package was labeled 1957 thunderbird though- I do remember that.

[shipwrecked]

Nothing done on the truck today. Spent the day (rainy out!) working in the garage. I cleaned upstairs in the garage and put some more spare parts on shelves




Cleaned the downstairs section too- thought this is before





My neighbor came over and had me cut some relief cuts in the vise we broke, and re-weld the cuts.





Re-installed successfully- it is still a tough turn but at least it works. He only needs it for a lawnmower blade or two-




I need smaller Squared U-Bolts for the front axle before I can re-install. I also bought some NOS bolts off eBay for the spindel installation. I mushroomed one of them bad- and needed one new one. Fastenal was a poor choice cause the idiot behind the counter couldn't function. I needed an AN8 bolt but fastenal doesn't stock those. I ended up finding it on eBay. Those won't be here for another week or so.

I am considering selling the wrong bed (just the bed) and going with a flareside bed. I have been thinking about it for a long time- and just not making a decision yet. I really like the look of the spare tire up on the bed side by the driver door and I love the wood floor in the bed. I am really really trying to make a decision.

[Truckrat]

Thanks April, I had not looked on either one of those for them.
Built my own for my front springs out of 1 inch steel strap. But I still
will want some for the back springs when I do them. TR

[unibody madness]

The build looks great, I was told that by a spring shop in Sacramento that the threads are larger than the stock so re-threading may not be an option.

[shipwrecked]

Hey UNIBODY-

I realized that as soon as I put a die on it. The threads are bigger then the shaft portion. I ordered a set of custom bent bolts from online at a place up in New York. I didn't want to drive the hour and a half one way to the spring shop up north- so I got online and finally found a place that would do it. Cost was 7.50 a u-bolt and shipping was like 20$ due to being UPS. I wish people would offer USPS instead but I will take what I can get. I didn't want to put any type of spacer in there to make the LMC bolts work. Just not comfortable with that. I am waiting for the bolts to show up now- they were bent yesterday and shipped.

Got a bad wind/rain going over my area right now and it knocked down my sun shade that I had over my truck cab. Its a $80.00 thing I got at Lowes in the spring- it didn't break anything- but a few of the fasteners holding the arms together popped and got lost in the grass. Will fix it on a sunny day- maybe tomorrow as I got the day off.

[shipwrecked]

DAY I BOUGHT IT 3 YEARS AGO




WHERE IT SAT ALMOST A YEAR LATER FOR A YEAR WHILE I DID MY CANCER BATTLE AND TRANSFER TO NJ.




WHERE IT IS TODAY- 3 YEARS AFTER OWNING IT. MAN I HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO!

[SteveCanup]

You've gotten quite a bit done...don't get discouraged. That is going to be a really sharp truck. Can't wait to see the finished product.

[slickmainer]

looking good to me!

[shipwrecked]

My u-bolts for the front axle showed up today-3 days earlier then expected! Will be assembling my front suspension this weekend! Yeah I have a long long way to go. Might even tear down the orange engine this weekend too. Running out of time before I pick up another recruit company which I start prepping for the 30th.

I want to be sure it's driving again by the time my transfer comes up. I put in for the new job in a few months- it sneaks up on us!

[Brucekoukalaka]

THe old truck's looking great thus far... Makes me want to get mine underway. But it will have to wait until I get somewhere to work on it.

[bruceandersson]

I think you are making great progress and enjoy watching the changes. I think we all get surprised at how long it does take to go through a project like this. Things like life and work just keep on getting in the way.

[shipwrecked]

Im not really surprised at how long it will take- more so how fast three years since i bought it flew by. Im making progress every day

[shipwrecked]

Today I didn't do any work on the truck- but did go down and talk to the machine shop guy. He gave me a list of prices of what to expect when I drop my engine off to him for work. Seems pretty reasonable though I have never had engine work done like this before. So I may disassemble the orange engine this weekend and drop the block, crank, and head off to him to start the process. I am not sure how much of the new parts I should order now.

Some of the NOS bolts I ordered off ebay came in. They are used to assemble the spinal to the steering system. I have 9, but only needed 1.




I installed two porch lights as it is getting dark at 1700 and I come home in the dark- I needed to be sure I am not wasting money by leaving lights on all the time so these new ones have motion sensors.

I also installed some insulation foam to the garage door. This past winter I froze too much out there with the wind.
In that hour I was installing the foam, the temperature went up about 5 degrees inside the garage. Hope it helps!









Plan for this weekend is to install the front axle, spindles, some of the steering items, tie rods etc. Get the truck off the jack stands.

Also, if I have time, I will start disassembling the orange engine.

[unibody madness]

You have accomplished a lot in the short time you have actually been working on it.
You will find the everyday tinkering with it to help with your sanity much akin to sawdust therapy.
I bought the home depot roll of insulation for the truck that was brought up a few years back, I helped my son install some of it in his cab, the longer we worked the hotter it got. Makes me glad I will be installing the remains in my cab this time of year.
You have a great pace going.
John

[shipwrecked]

Today- I installed the front axle, the new smaller u-bolts and the new shocks.



I had some day light left so I also installed the king pins.



The driver side gave me hell. no need for any shims on either side, but the driver side was so dang tight. It took me a while to get it aligned correctly and slide that new king pin in. Made sure to grease the bearing before installing, and I also pumped it full of grease once it was in, and the alignment stud was installed.

Had a good time with my pup today too. He was so adamant I do my hair like he does. Always have fun!

[shipwrecked]

UGH- Think I gotta take the axle off again. I accidentally set it up backwards when I re-installed it. How? I had the front shock mounts off when I put the axle back in and the shims. Then tightened the u-bolts, installed the shocks, then put in the king pins. When I installed the king pin locking pin, I noticed it went in the opposite way as I took it out. I guess it would be easier to remove the shocks, shock mounts, axle and turn it the other way then to mess with it down the road when I try to get it aligned.

I was reading in the shop manual how they would bend the straight axle to fix camber. I don't think anyone around here would do that sort of work any more. Don't want to imagine what the cost of it being done if it had to be done.

[shipwrecked]

It took about 45 minutes from start to finish to flip the axle back the other way. I just couldn't take the chance that with it installed the way I had it, it would cause issues later down the road. At least now I know for a fact it is installed as it was before I started replacing parts.
I still have not torqued the shocks because the book says to do about 24 lb/ft but I tried and it seemed as if I was going to snap something. If anyone has some real world advise about shocks, let me know.

I installed the back plates, the spindle arms and got the tie rods ready in the adjusting sleeve.



Installed the wheel studs in the hubs. I used 4 washers and this cheap shackle to help me set the studs in place. I don't have any sort of special tool, so I made one. I couldn't see spending 35 dollars on a tool from NPD to do what I did for $1.34.




I installed the wheel bearing races in the hubs and packed the grease into the bearings. Installed the oil seal as well and ready to install on the spindle.



I didn't get as far as I wanted to for the weekend and ended up on a goose chase for cotter pins. I bought some cotter pins from Dennis Carpenter when I bought the front wheel bearings and tie rods. The ones sent were too big to fit into the hole in the AN bolts. I ended up going up to NAPA auto and sifting through their bin. Of course the people who frequent those bins take what they want out of the pack and leave the plastic in the bin/ minus the merchandise. I did find some cotter pins to work, but what a pain.