A little over a month ago slightly frustrated with my search for another 57-60 to build i ran across an ad in a local classifieds for a 62 uni for $1500. i figured what the hell and called. Turns out it was about 3 miles from the house and literally dead between the house and the rod shop i work at(Rutter's Rod Shop). I figure that close i gotta go take a look despite being told it was partially blown apart and had some rust issues. i went with the thought that if nothing else if it was worth it i might offer HALF his asking price and part it out if there was money to be made.
I get there and first thing i spot is that it's a big window short bed which i wasn't told so i'm a bit more interested depsite the rust(i've worked with worse). Next thing i know $700 later i own it.
Well we got a little busy getting a car ready to go to NSRA Nats in kentucky and i finally got this thing home last saturday. proceeded to shovel/wash several 5 gallon buckets of dirt/mud/moss/etc out of it and scrub all the moss i could off it. that literally took up my whole weekend as i finally got it in the garage sunday right at dark......
oh i also took the half a can of Easy Off i had in the garage and knocked most of that blue off before i rolled it inside.
no pics but this week has been about getting it positioned in my to crowded garage and getting the suspension ripped out from under it. Which raises a question. this truck was ripped apart and had no motor/trans/ or front sheet metal whatsoever on it. when i marked for the centerline it was a good inch+ behind the rubber snubber. i know some of that is from the axis of travel of it being unweighted but i also seem to remember someone else mentioning it's not exact even fully weighted(not this much though).
The truck is getting a jag xj front clip(and maybe rear to) so i'm just curious when the guys doing those are moving it 1-2" forward from the center of the snubber or from the actual weighted centerline. my theory is to go 1.5" forward of the center of the snubber. kinda looking for "get you close as i'm trying to avoid tacking it in and checking anymore than i have to because i plan to notch the jag sub 2" or so into the frame rails to be a little ahead on getting the ride height i want.............
oh and i've already traded the 292/3spd that had been sitting outside beside the truck(under tarps and a rubber mat) for a supposedly rebuilt AOD. even if it wasn't and it's only good as a core it's more useful to me than the 292 was....
Looks like a decent start to me . Hard to tell by the pics but it looks like you have less rust than I have on my 62 short Uni and mine didnt start life with a big back window . I do have a big back window going into it though . You might check with kstone63 and see if theres something on his chassis that he could measure off of to tell you where his jag clip is on the uni he and his son are building.
the only areas of rust that theres not an easy available patch for is the very lower outer cowl(behind the botom of the rear fender. i talked to the guys at Flashback F100s and he said if need be he could probably cut what i needed out of a donor truck from their yard and they are just a little over an hour from me. and of course theres rust where the bedfloor meets the cab wall but i'll probably raise the bedfloor a little and fix that then.
i actually was kinda shocked into the buy. I went as i always do with the theory of my goal being trying to get the truck for about half of the asking price. When i asked the guy what is bottom dollar was he actually told me $700, any less and he'd let it keep sitting there. well since that was less than the half his asking price i had figured on offering i bought it .
Of course a really decent 57 popped up a week later for a grand . oh well...ken....
another hurdle crossed today. finally got up with the guy Project66 had given me the info on for a jag sub at about 2:30 this afternoon. i jump in the car and head to my buddy's house as he said we'd go grab it in his truck since i'm currently truckless. Well of course it had to turn into an adventure as he had decided since he hadn't heard from me i must not have heard from the jag guy and had left to go look at a car and probably wouldn't be back til late this evening. well being the resourceful one i am i decide instead of waiting on him i'd defy some odds.
So........ i proceed to pull the passenger set out of my daily beater 95 vw cabrio . so for anyone who may have had any doubt you CAN load/haul home a complete jag ifs inside the passenger compartment of a 95 vw . deperate times call for desperate measures....
Hot as hell and after that adventure i think i'm letting that be my progress for the day and i'm gonna surf the couch for a few hours...ken....
so i've been on and off the uni(mostly off) due to work and what not for the last few months. did lots of measuring and mocking to find what i needed to do to acheive the ride height i wanted(about the same as these trucks with camaro subs) so i contacted a few guys that had done the camaro sub and got some reference measurements or roughly 7" at the "rocker" give or take an inch or so for desired rake.
Well months ago i figured to get there with the jag a 1 3/4" notch was gonna be the ticket. did the notches cleaned up the crossmember and then got distracted for most of the time.
Well as of last friday i'm no longer the sales guy at rutter's rod shop so i got some free time on my hands. so i got back out and started playing with it today. got the explorer rear pretty much ready to go under it and decided i wanted to confirm my theory mock up. so i hung a fender loosely and stuck a coupla spare rollers under there to see how it looked. i ended up raising the rear 1/2-1" from the original mock theory to get it dead right. i'm floating between happy and taking the rear back to the original rear height and notching the front another 1/2" to bring it back to the rake i like. i'm one of those people that truely beleives 1" + or - can make a HUGE difference in "the look". Here's what i've got right now(bad pics crammed in a small messy garage)....Ken....
Looks like a good stance to me! Lucky to find a big back window shortbed for that price no matter what condition it's in. Slicks keep going up in price, so great find!
yeah most people look at me like i'm crazy when i tell them how small a budget this this is being built on. I paid $700 for the truck. Upon pick up traded the 292/3spd for a rebuilt AOD. got it home pulled all the old suspension out from under it and sold it for $200 which i turned around and bought my jag donor with the $200. Paid $200 for a disc brake explorer rear. new bearings, spring perches, etc take it to about $300. Ordered a set of Welder Series step notches so that's $125. probably $75 worth of other small stuff. a buddy(guy i sold the original suspension to and we have since become good friends, charlieschopshop here) gave me a core 302. so right now i'm sitting about $1200 total investment at this point. hell even my temp rollers under were freebies the shop was gonna throw out hahaha....ken....
yeah it can be tough for sure. my budget is a goal only. if i go over it so be it. being broke helps haha. trying to put a little money towards 2 projects at once doesn't help.
The 67 vw squareback in the first pics background ate up a bunch of money last year and the year before. I got wide eyed after riding in my buddies square to do the break in on his 1914 stroker engine. i immediately came home and started ordering parts to build a 2021 stroker for mine despite have a fairly recently rebuilt engine. i figured i'd be in it for $4-5k MAX i stopped adding receipts at $6k and there were still some there. Well about a month and 600 or so miles later a guy stopped short on me and i rear ended him folding the front clip. that was april. april til october i gather the need parts and then took it to have the frame pulled. picked it up feeling good about getting back on it and about 2 miles down the road had a wiring fire. towed it home and haven't touched it since. so i need to get back at that one to. the good news is i have everything to finish that car other than about $600 in window/door/trunk/etc seals sitting on the shevels already...
. You might check with kstone63 and see if theres something on his chassis that he could measure off of to tell you where his jag clip is on the uni he and his son are building.
. oh well...ken....
