E-tek Restorations: PROJECT THREAD

[e-tek]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

"I now pronounce these two crazy kids - re-united!!!!" (Throw rice now).

"You may kiss the ride!!"

Also fit the restored heater unit and hooked up the gear linkages. With everything cleaned, buffed, adjusted and greased, things should work a lot better than they had for a looong time!

Did a little more on the steering wheel too. After letting the high build primer dry over night I'll sand it down with 220, then 600 wet, then put some paint on it - should look cool with new 2-tone on it.

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Looks like a 'belt & suspenders' approach to engine installation. lol

Man, your customers must be jazzed to see this quality restoration in progress!
Thanks for sharing (and teaching) all the particulars of the steps you are taking on this truck.

 

[gsport]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

i think it's safe to say that owner is going to be one satisfied guy.....

 

[e-tek]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Movin' movin' movin' - keep that rig a movin'.......

Hmmm.....wonder how these brakes where working.....

I like to use thread locker on critical fasteners. As it where, one of the wheel cylinder bolts was missing off this very wheel! Won't happen again though.

External Oil Filter:

Even cleaned up the external fuse block:

Earlier, someone asked me what I used to paint the carb and I see I mis-named it. Here's the actual product:

Another Eastwood product I've been very happy with is the Extreme Chassis Black coating. It looks good for some specific parts (shiny) and can be used over bare metal or a primer.

The owner's son - who may inherit the truck if he's good came by to get dirty. Here he is cleaning the seat tracks:

You need to keep going over all the parts you have as you move along 'cause you always find things that got missed, other than you needed, or just won't do. Looks like we'll be returning all the brake lines and I'll be making my own, as they don't make a set for the long box - Fun!

 

[Motown 454]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Verey Nice. I love this build.

 

[e-tek]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

A few parts came back from paint today....

Some looking great -

Some looking even worse than they left....Guess I get to break out the guns!

After figuring out that we got brake lines for a short-box, I bought line in bulk and will just make up my own. Although pre-bent is nice, making your own is more fun and you are garanteed a good fit!

Sometimes you can even get a little creative!

Between years of farm and rough roads, plus sandblasting, the jack needed a real good cleaning!

While at the parts store, I grabbed all the items needed to hook up the fluid systems:

Interesting to see all the original clamps and fittings still in service:

Next up - the horns!!

I love this pic :

[/IMG]

 

[NASTYZEN]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Wow! Things sure kicked into high gear suddenly.
What Mrs. E gone away on vacation with the kids?

 

[Mark H]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Truck's coming on great,nice attention to detail!

 

[e-tek]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Wow! Things sure kicked into high gear suddenly.
What Mrs. E gone away on vacation with the kids?

I take a month off every summer to work on a project - and do summer stuff with the family. It's a great way to double-up the income!


Here's those horns:

Made up all the brake lines:

Painted all the inners - again! This time using a Tie-Coat Primer in between to ensure adhesion.

Earlier on, I snapped off two of the rear shock mounts, even though I had heated them red hot. I'm going to cut the heads off the bolts in the foreground, cut the old mounts off and drill through the brackets, then insert the new ones and weld them up from the back-side. That way the shocks will still mount up as the should.

REMEMBER WHEN!

 

[djjsr]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

What is this thing? I think mine is missing.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

It's interesting that a Chevy truck would have Autolite horns on it.

What is this thing? I think mine is missing.

That's the driver's side seat rail.

 

[e-tek]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

It's interesting that a Chevy truck would have Autolite horns on it.



That's the driver's side seat rail.

Correct!!

 

[djjsr]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

That explains why I don't have one of those things. I never had the original seat.

 

[e-tek]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

That explains why I don't have one of those things. I never had the original seat.

Got any more pics of your truck? Would love to see them!

 

[JC23]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Man, you do nice work, e!

 

[mrgm]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

great work

 

[z28snksknr]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Lovin every second of this thread. Thanks for taking the time to share this with us!!!

 

[MalibuLX3]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Just curious, what's with the electrical tape? Is it electrical tape? Why not use shrink tape, or some other type of wire loom?

 

[e-tek]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Just curious, what's with the electrical tape? Is it electrical tape? Why not use shrink tape, or some other type of wire loom?

This is a restoration wire harness made to look excactly like the original. That's how they wrapped 'em years back! It's not electrical tape per se, it has no adhesive. It's a vinyl wrap I guess, which gets tied off at one end.

 

[MalibuLX3]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

This is a restoration wire harness made to look excactly like the original. That's how they wrapped 'em years back! It's not electrical tape per se, it has no adhesive. It's a vinyl wrap I guess, which gets tied off at one end.

Oh, ok, I know the stuff you're talking about. I didn't think you would use electrical tape, but it just looked really shiny for it to the the vinyl wrap. Looks great! What an attention to detail!

 

[Stuart in MN]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

e-tek, do you have a source for that vinyl harness wrap? I have some I bought from Eastwood years ago, but it doesn't show up in their catalog anymore.

 

[e-tek]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

AutoMarine Electricl here carries it, as well, check these out:

Electrical non-sticky harness(loom) tape:

Dry Vinyl Tape From Tape Brothers
www.tapebrothers.com

Dry Vinyl Tapes are non-adhesive plasticized polyvinyl chloride film tape. Easy unwinding characteristics - tape clings firmly to it’s own backing for tight wrap. High elongation and good strength to permit trouble-free binding of wiring harnesses for the automotive industry. Dry vinyl tape also used for plating applications- high stretch, good “cling� characteristics and great conformability provide for superior masking in hard chrome and other plating applications.

DVT-76B 2 in. x 250 ft. Black Dry Vinyl Tape
2 in. x 250 ft. Black Dry Vinyl Tape
Our Price: $6.54 Per Roll

www.wiringharness.com
• Non-Adhesive Vinyl Harness Tape, made to the original mil-thickness.
• Just wrap it tightly around the wires and knot the end.
• 100 foot roll is enough to do 3 to 4 harnesses complete.
• Available in three different widths, as original.
• Correct for all years (1955 to Present).

Part # Description Price
R0058272 3/4" Vinyl Harness Tape, 100 foot roll $12.00
R0058276 1" Vinyl Harness Tape, 100 foot roll $13.00
R0067108 1-1/4" Vinyl Harness Tape, 100 foot roll $15.00

 

[zmotorsports]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Looking great!!! Very nice resto.

Keep the pictures coming.

Mike.

 

[e-tek]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Today I bounced back and forth between the bathroom reno (http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=99314) and the truck and got a LOT done on both!

Went so far as to detail the ends of the driveshaft!

Then lined it up for installation -

but before that, I repaired the rear upper shock mounts:

then back to the drive shaft (another good spot for locktite!):

Finsihed up the brake lines and bolted on the frame clips:

You may recall that a while back I made a door caddy to make door install and removal easier. While it worked well, I found it was a bit tight with big doors. So today I took it apart and re-engineered it (OK, I use that term loosely!). I removed the bars, cut and welded them into L-shapes to better accomodate larger doors like these:

and welded on an insert for the jack:

Now I can put the doors together with them standing upright!

 

[e-tek]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Oh - here's the newly painted door on the caddy!

Almost forgot - sanded the steering wheel for about the 6th time and put a last coat of primer on it. Tomorrow I'll lay down color one of the 2-tone scheme:

 

[jktruck150]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

I like the door caddy! Looks great!

 

[e-tek]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Got the white on the steering wheel - tomorrow I'll mask it off for the black.

 

[e-tek]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Steering wheel got all prettied up!

Let's review:

REPEAT X 6!

Also, stripped the vent windows:

The window surround - seals pulled right out, but the vertical seals have rivets that need to be drilled out....more on these later!

 

[e-tek]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Next up.....interior!

 

[short stack]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Went so far as to detail the ends of the driveshaft!

Bro - You seriously need to reinstall the snap ring on that second (pinion yoke end) u-joint.

1. It is ready to fly out since it is not seated in the snap ring groove

2. Guaranteed vibration with the u-joint not centered in the yoke properly.

3. You may need to clean all the paint off the joint caps and then reinstall the snap rings. The paint may definitely be enough to make the joint to tight to work correctly.


Not an expert on everything, but 20+ years in a drive shaft shop I have learned a couple of things.

Best of luck and congrats on your restoration.


short stack

 

[r6_cannibal]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

steering wheel looks bitchin

 

[e-tek]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Bro - You seriously need to reinstall the snap ring on that second (pinion yoke end) u-joint.

1. It is ready to fly out since it is not seated in the snap ring groove

2. Guaranteed vibration with the u-joint not centered in the yoke properly.

3. You may need to clean all the paint off the joint caps and then reinstall the snap rings. The paint may definitely be enough to make the joint to tight to work correctly.


Not an expert on everything, but 20+ years in a drive shaft shop I have learned a couple of things.

Best of luck and congrats on your restoration.


short stack

Good eye!! And after 20+ years you'll also know that things may not always be as they seem! The shot was a "set up" to point out the use of thread locker on critical fasteners that often go without it (do you use it in these app's?). The DS came back out after the photo - but you make a great point and I'll definitely keep an eye on those. No sense using thread locker on the nuts if a snap-ring let's loose!!

 

[e-tek]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Today the owner's son came over and we got the headliner installed. We commented a few times how it reminded us a lot of a night with our respective (and respected!) wives: lots of pushing, prying, hammering and lube!!

Also, finished stripping, cleaning and painting the vent and door glass surrounds and mechanisms:

Which included drilling out the verticle seal rivets:

The black portions of the surrounds are a shiny epoxy-type finish, but I didn't really want to mix up a pint of paint and do all the area-prep necessary to paint epoxy. So, I used EASTWOOD's Chassis Black in Gloss - which came out beautifully shiny and just like Epoxy, with a gloss second-to-none. I can see using this in a lot of other applications now.

Lots of rust in the glass rails due to moisture trapping over the years. They where a pain to remove!

...and here's how the interior looks today:

Nikki approves!!

 

[Miter Wrench]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

You do great work

 

[GTVi]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

This really is a magnus opus...keeping an eye out for this thread now.

 

[e-tek]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

An update of sorts:

A whole bunch of small parts just got ordered from LMC and Scott's and all the fasteners that where on the truck prior to paint where sandblasted clean (thanks again T!). Although this week I'd like to get the doors back together (vent glass, window regs, glass, opening mechanisms), there's a lot of juggling and organizing that needs to happen before going too far ahead. Like before installing the doors, you want to have as much of the interior done as possible - the dash parts, including vents, cables, gauges, steering wheel, horns, and all that wiring! It'll make it so much easier that I may leave as least the passenger door off until all that and the seat is done and installed.

The seat itself has gone through a resto of it's own by the son-in-law (post some pics T!) and is getting professionally custom-upholstered in a Green/Cream that will really set this truck apart and move it from "real nice" to "Wow"!

The front end sheet metal is next, which should go fairly easily. Then we'll be looking to get the fenders and hood delivered from paint. Once that's done, it should go fairly quickly after that!

 

[Motown 454]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

As usual nice progress. It looks great.

 

[e-tek]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Plugging along getting a lot of the small stuff ready - in order to get to the big stuff....

Painted a bunch of fasteneres removed when it was blown apart for paint:

As well, put another coat on the window regs....

And several coats on the door glass surrounds. For this I again used Eastwood's CHASSIS BLACK paint. It puts down a sheen that rivals an Epoxy with clear! These parts take a lot of abuse, riding in the glass channels and against window seals, so we'll see if this paint lives up to it's durability rating!

Lastly, a box of goodies was dropped off, including small stuff like distributor guts, a wirre set, firewall grommets and brake flex lines. Once this stuff is all on, this will pretty much put the engine in running mode - minus the radiator.

Next week we'll be ready to attach the front end!

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Anxiously awaiting next week's installment...

It's ALIVE!!!

 

[e-tek]

Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Anxiously awaiting next week's installment...

It's ALIVE!!!

I believe the patient will not only survive, but will be better, stronger, faster than ever before....