[bartnpenni]

This isn't so much a build thread as its already 2/3 done but still plenty to go and I have a few pics, haven't posted them anywhere as we generally keep stuff private.

Built this as a quick project 6 or so years ago but the engine and gearbox were crap when we put it on the road and knew we were going to redo them sometime anyway.

The truck as bought

Then the whole thing was blasted

Then painted

Penni didn't want any filler in it or the dents removed as "Every dent is a memory"

Then reassembled, this was its first trip out

 

[bartnpenni]

Fast forward 5 years, 20,000 or so miles and the complete lack of synchro in the box, blue smoke from the 235 and flat out screaming at 60-65mph, not to mention a shitty paint reaction now meant we had to bare metal the bloody thing again, so into the garage it went.
Every single panel has been blasted again, and the bed and cab were cleaned off in the garage with all rust cut out and replaced with new metal

 

[bartnpenni]

The old 235 was replaced with a much nicer one, the box is now a Chevy S10 5 speed and also matching rear end, so cruising now shouldn't be painful on the ears.... The electronic ignition, Fenton headers, Alloy intake and twin Carters should make a nice difference too...

More pics to follow :tup:

 

[bartnpenni]

I never would have guessed that with a little tweaking the disc conversion from our '56 Suburban would have fitted onto this axle. I had a new kingpin set for a '55-'59 so apart from the steering arms the complete set up, spindles included, went pretty much straight on. The two bolts on the later spindles were the same but the '46 spindles use 2 slightly different size bolts, the steering arms were drilled to make them the same size (less than a mm difference iirc) so if you want to convert your stock '46 to 5 stud discs its not that bad or expensive.

Please bear with me on this as I've just sat down to write this, it'll take me some time to remember things like how much of an ass, as that pic shows above that rear cab section was or how much it took to figure out how to convert the stupidly skinny doors to bear claw latches were to fit. Its been a bit of a ride with this one, the first time we did it it felt like it fought us every step of the way on so many things but eventually had us an answer. The lockdown meant there was time to do stuff we wouldn't have ended up doing and as I was at home for almost 5 months straight we made some good progress on this and quite a few other major projects too.

Anyway, the disc set up

As the rear axle is out of an S10, its quite a bit narrower (6") so it meant we could move the spring seats in and fit wider rear wheels, this pleased Pen quite well..!!

10"x15" with 265/70x15 will make it a little on the tall side for gearing but its not heavy so hoping for fairly sensible fuel cost, we want to use this as much as we use the rest of the cars when we can.

This would fit with the wheels in the chassis but not in the tub, so.......

 

[bartnpenni]

...This meant the bed needed to be tubbed, and not by a lot. Seems like it should have been more but 40mm was enough, and it went in nicely with absolutely no filler. need to find the bare metal photos

And as we had the welder out and the reflectors Penni bought from a 1930's Studebaker were too small, and the Tiger Eye reflectors were too big, we decided to go with both. The rear stakebed pockets were extended at the bottom, then rear light stands were knocked up to give an almost floating effect and the tiny reflectors were recessed into the slightly bigger tubes underneath.

Again, without any filler as I hate the stuff...

As much as it might not be to everyones taste we think they look pretty cool just for being a bit different

 

[4potHemi]

Superb finish without filler on that curve, Pen.

 

[bartnpenni]

Thanks man, she was proper chuffed at people thinking it was her welding!! msl: its been an interesting journey, and its nowhere near over yet....! My welding might not up to everyone else's standard but it suits me. Using a 200A Jasic and its a great bit of kit, definitely worth the money.

The modifying carried out to the gearbox crossmember seemed to take an age too, had to cut the centre out of it to get the box in there, and as we also converted it to servo assisted dual circuit brakes keeping the under floor pedals it had a support added to it in the end to eliminate any movement of the brake master cylinder. I cut the top of it off, dropped 2"x1" box inside and welded that in, then welded flat bar over the top to clean up the seams

We used a bracket to mount a mk1 Fiesta servo and m/cyl to the inside of the chassis leg on the drivers side ,using the original mounts that were on the bell housing to make a jig so we could make sure the pedals were in exactly the right place so it looks original when its all back together, and many thanks to Simon Prophet for his help on that and who knows how many other jobs on it he has done or helped with....

It's now had new rear shoes, cylinders, drums, pipes and Flexi hoses throughout and the disc conversion had only done a couple of thousand miles when removed so fingers crossed it should have a lot more stopping power than it did before....

 

[bartnpenni]

Due to the amount of rust its acquired over the last few years we've tried to go as far as possible with prevention this time, so everything underneath will be painted with Gravitex then 2k grey and eventually wax oil of some description, kinda curious as to what everyone else uses as original Waxoyl seems pretty crap now..? Certainly be interested to hear what other people recommend.

Penni wanted something interesting on the tailgate, we had a little time one weekend so decided as it was the original we didn't want to change it but it certainly looked a little worse for wear.... I tidied up the ends, measured the centre area and started with the bead roller to make the shapes to surround the letters. Unfortunately as expected I could only use the roller to go so far so the rest of it was done with shaped chisels and a couple of hammers and dollies.

There had to be a bit of compromise to welding it on also as the rolling had warped the panel slightly as expected and as I said the tailgate wasn't exactly straight to start with.... I know its not ideal for all but I seam welded it on as I didn't want to use any filler afterwards, flappy grinding discs are great for taking it back, I've been using RECA's orange ceramic based pads and although not the cheapest they are the best.

As it turned out I used about an egg cup full of filler, was never going to look right else so I relented.... lol It still needs a good coat of primer and a flatting back but should look great once its painted.

 

[Torment]

Top job mate..:tup:

 

[ChopperHarris]

Love the rear light treatment

 

[bartnpenni]

Thanks guys, I sometimes go into the garage just with the intention of making something with the welder as I enjoy it that much. I started doing it on my own once I'd sold the garage, and as long as it pays the bills I don't care if I'm welding up something like the customers '57 Ford van I'm doing at the moment or if its a hideously rusty old Transit! I know most people hate it but I actually enjoy MOT welding.

Anyone tempted with a welding thread somewhere..? Might start one in chat just for the hell of it! Probably need to start taking more pictures, or at least find a way of retrieving our pics from the Mac after the last time it went wrong....

 

[Dan Boy]

That tailgate is brilliant

 

[bartnpenni]

Thanks Dan Boy, it pretty much turned exactly as we planned so proper chuffed!