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E-tek Restorations: PROJECT THREAD

Motown 454

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Ed it looks great! oh and if you feed them you can workem...
 
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re1

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Great build, the truck looks better than new!
can't wait to see the finished product
 
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e-tek

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

A sincere THANK YOU to you gents for the warm recognition!

Don't get me wrong, I like doing custom work, but there's something about taking a vehicle back to it's original (or better!) condition that lights my artistic fires.

(Of course getting paid to do what you enjoy certainly has it's rewards too!)
 
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e-tek

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Thanks to the rest of you too!

BTW - the Av stays!

Today I 'started' bleeding the brakes. As the system was completely emptied - but the res. was not bench-bled, I had to do a lot of pedal pumping, then a couple trips around the bleeders with the vacuum bleeder...
 
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e-tek

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Sunday is family day, plus some time to catch up on a few shop chores. As two engines are on my rebuild list I needed more shelf space to store and organize all the parts. With scrap wood from an old deck and some bi-fold doors from our bedroom prior to the big reno, I put together 15' of shelf space.

While I was doing that, Colt was working on his 240Z(in his PJ's!):thumbup:

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e-tek

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Still working on details - small and large!

Now that the box is all together, the nearly 70 floor bolts are in and it's all squared up, I was able to line-up the frame mounting holes and drill through the bed for the bed-to-frame mounts. I also cut a bunch of rubber pieces out of a rubber mat I had, to act as anti-squeek,scratch and rattle spacers. Only the best comes out of E-tek Restorations!!

IMG00626-20111202-1218-759384.jpg


Wired up the taillights, then wrapped all the wires up:

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Then, more engine troubleshooting - as I was pouring gas into the carb I noticed it leaking at the phenolic spacer....custom gaskets coming up!

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THEN, just as I get the engine to catch and run, the next bump was emt with an ODD noise.....turns out the starter is either not engaging, or not dis-engaging....arrrgh! Now I have to pull that off to see what's up. Hopefully a quick fix and it'll be ready to invite the owners over for the initial start up and break-in!

While I was doing all these items, I also worked on the original (farm) plate the truck had since new. I painted it white, then cleared it, then yellow, then wet-sanded the yellow off the letters. After some touch ups, it looks good enough to mount!

IMG00622-20111202-1006-751277.jpg


IMG00632-20111202-2222-769123.jpg
 
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e-tek

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

FINALLY got the truck started today!! The owners came by and put some extra brain power behind the effort. If you can imagine, after days of checking and re-checking timing, spark, points, coil, etc......it just needed a LOT more gas. The fogging agent put in by the rebuilders was just hard to fire off the insides. After a bunch more cranks and a bunch of gas poured in the carb, she started. Then we found the fuel pump wasn't working so we ended the effort in order to get everthing ready for the photo shoot I had scheduled with Mrs E...

IMG_0229.JPG


Of course, right after the shoot, we came in to see UPS had dropped the last parts for the truck..... Oh well, not like anyone should be looking too closely at the truck - I wasn't!:bounce:
 

bgott

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

e-tek, Chevy SB starters have to have the correct shims. I don't know what you use for a gauge. I'm sure you can find info.

That's not a small block. That's a 235 inline six and the starter bolts into the bell housing, no shim. Early small blocks don't use shims, either, they only use shims if the starter bolts up to the block.

On the bolt-up starters, if you need to shim the starter, you can use a 1/8" drill bit in between the flywheel and the starter gear for a gauge. That is only if the starter is noisy, if it isn't it doesn't need a shim. Now, on Pontiacs with the bolt-up starters, all of them need shims. I've never seen a Pontiac without shims.

BTW, nice truck! And nice girl! :)
 

Racecarl

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Good to see that you got it running, Etek. I hope we were of some help from the Stovebolt page. I've been on that site since 1998.
 
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e-tek

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Good to see that you got it running, Etek. I hope we were of some help from the Stovebolt page. I've been on that site since 1998.

Thanks - Stovebolters have been a great help several times during the build!

Mrs E loves the 56 too - her Dad had the EXACT same truck on the farm when she grew up. As the story goes, when she was about 7 they where headin' down the grid road, she was standing on the seat and as they turned towards the house her Dad had to hit the brakes for a cow to cross. The future Mrs E fell off the seat and whacked her head on the metal dash - OUCH!:wtf:

Luckily, it didn't leave a mark!! :rocker:

IMG_0199.JPG


:D:D
 

customcab

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Etek-

Been watchin this one all along and I'm really impressed with the work.
Two points stood out in these recent posts though.
Number one, don't they have "child labor" laws up there?
And number two.....I really like the "custom seat covers".
I know the truck never came with that on the seat, but what an improvement. :bounce::bowdown:
Great job!
 
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Motown 454

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

e-tek the truck came out awesome! and I'm glad that bump on on the head to future mrs e-tek didn't do any lasting damage she looks great too. Very nice work..
 
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e-tek

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Thanks guys.
Still putting on lots of little details. Hope to present it back to the owners at months end. It's a Xmas present I'd LOVE to get!!:thumbup:

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z28snksknr

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Fantastic job etek - it has to be a great feeling to stand back from it now and be able to say "I did that". I've learned a lot from your thread, and I thank you for taking the time to show us how its done. :thumbup:

Keep posting those little details too - the things you never think of and are a little harder to complete when you don't have a good original part to work with.

Thanks again for sharing!!!
 
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e-tek

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Looks like the truck (and maybe Mrs E) may make it into print!:thumbup:
Stay tuned for details....

IMG_0218.JPG
 
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70Chevy

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

It's fun that she's a good sport about taking some pictures that she knows you'll be posting up.
 

larry_g

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Looks like the truck (and maybe Mrs E) may make it into print!:thumbup:
Stay tuned for details....

IMG_0218.JPG

Looking past the beautiful lady I see a spare tire carrier. If your going to use that check it out for quality. I had an old Chevy with one of those and one day coming down a mountain pass I look out to see the spare passing me and then over the edge and down some 100 yards to the river below. The carrier had broken. Luckily no one was coming up the hill.

lg
no neat sig line
 

Omphaloskeptic

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Yee-haa! Ride 'em cowgirl!

Shall we be seeing the Mrs. in a cover shot of 'Classic Trucks' perchance? Both truck and your lady would look great on the front of that magazine. Keep us posted.
 

glider

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Looks great, so what's coming in next? Excuse me if you have allready mentioned next up.
 
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e-tek

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Looking past the beautiful lady I see a spare tire carrier. If your going to use that check it out for quality. I had an old Chevy with one of those and one day coming down a mountain pass I look out to see the spare passing me and then over the edge and down some 100 yards to the river below. The carrier had broken. Luckily no one was coming up the hill.

lg
no neat sig line

While probably not nice at the time, funny story!!:bounce:

Yee-haa! Ride 'em cowgirl!

Shall we be seeing the Mrs. in a cover shot of 'Classic Trucks' perchance? Both truck and your lady would look great on the front of that magazine. Keep us posted.

We can dream!

Looks great, so what's coming in next? Excuse me if you have allready mentioned next up.

Do you mean next resto project, or next photo of Mrs E? :bounce:

For resto projects, I have a 68 Cougar coming in for metal-work, but I believe the owner will be putting it together after paint. I think that's all I'll take in next year because I have our 71-240Z on the spit still, plus I'm doing a "new" 390 (with a turbo!) for the Galaxie.

As for photo's....stay tuned.:thumbup:
 

MP&C

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Ed, that's the first I've seen of the peep mirrors with the fancy cover over it. Is that to keep the frost off mirror?
 
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e-tek

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Ed, that's the first I've seen of the peep mirrors with the fancy cover over it. Is that to keep the frost off mirror?

He He - maybe it'll work for that in these parts! But i'm guessing it's to reduce glare.
 

MP&C

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Good point. I'd seen similar as fancy do-dads on headlights, but never mirrors.
 
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e-tek

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Still tinling on this sweetheart to get it all done by month's end.....

Today I detailed the wheels and tires. After a scuff with a scotch brite pad and a wipe down with PRE, I put a couple light coats of flat black enamel on the wheels. These had been painted with Zero Rust prior to the resto, so ended up with some primer overspray and some damage due to brake fluid (when bleeding).

After that, I cleaned the white wall stripes, first with Wax and Grease remover, then with Spray9, then wiped WD40 on all the black rubber. I tell ya, WD40 is amazing. This is just one of the 400 uses for the stuff. Out of all the tire shine/sheen products I've used I feel good about putting this on and it gives them a perfect, flat sheen that looks good - and "real".

IMG00694-20111222-1005-757702.jpg


Just realized I didn't take a photo of the entire wheel - I will tomorrow.

Then I ran it up again, to do some more tuning. This time I used my trusty dryer vent tubing to exhaust it out the door.

IMG00695-20111222-1005-732490.jpg


There's still a coolant leak to take care of (heater box....), the 'damn' steering column splice (need a 6 prong connector and a few hours with the circuit tester....) and a road-test, which will have to be on and off the lift due to our winter conditions!!!
 

gustoffur

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

A little more on the history of the truck.

On the first Thanksgiving (Columbus Day in Day in the US) that I spent with the woman who would become my wife we went to her father's farm. While walking around the farmyard I noticed a 1956 Chevy truck sitting back in the trees. Upon closer inspection I notice the incredible shape it was in, even the engine could be turned over by hand. There was only one course of action to take when a person finds a gem like this and I knew what I had to do; I immediately proposed to my girlfriend in hopes that her father would give this beautiful old truck to his new son in-law (My wife still refers to the day I proposed as the luckiest day of her life). Unfortunately it was a no-go; her dad would let me marry his daughter, but there was no way in hell he was going to let his beautiful old Chevy truck go to a Ford man. He had his limits.



The only other respectable thing to do was to assist in the restoration of the old truck. So we cut down some trees, pulled the truck out, cleaned to up the fuel system, put a battery in and drove it. Hard to believe that after 27 years of sitting in the bush it really was that simple. Over the next few years we got it to the point that we had it licensed and could drive it around the farm and down the country roads. It was at this point that my father in-law decided he wanted a complete restoration...so the nightmare began.



Over the next several years we hauled it to a few different auto-body shops, all of whom promised to get on it within a few months and then a few years later we would give up and try the next auto-body shop. One shop had it stored on a hoist when their shop caught on fire. The driver's side tire had started to burn when the fire department put out the blaze just in time. We tried one more body-shop and after a few years on their waiting list my brother in-law got involved. At first the two of us started to do the restoration ourselves but it quickly became apparent that we didn't have the experience or the time to tackle such a large project. Enter E-tek Racing and Restorations.



Edward, owner of E-tek, was a former co-worker of my brother in-laws who does bodywork as a hobby in a large shop behind his house. Edward agreed to take on the old truck as his next project and the results are nothing short of breath taking. Being a car guy I had high hopes for the truck but I NEVER expected it to turn out as well as it did. It was recently appraised for insurance at $44,000. Not an easy number to reach for a vehicle that has a stove bolt 6, 3 on-the-tree and nothing for options or extras. The quality of restoration was the only value added factor to what is normally a $15,000 truck at any collector's auction.



Over the years that it had sat on the farm, back in the trees near the grain bins, several people had made offers to purchase it. My father in-law always politely told them no. Other old cars, trucks and tractors were often sold with not much consideration, but this truck was never for sale. Even the original owner's manual and license plate had been saved. On December 30th we are having a small ceremony to return the truck to my father in-law. The truck his older brother, Peter, had purchased brand new back in 1956 and that my father in-law, Paul, admired as a young man, will be returned to the same farm it had originally gone to 55 years ago, looking just as shiny and new as it ever did.



Oh, and even though I didn't get the old Chevy truck, it turns out that marrying my wife was the best thing I ever did, go figure.
 
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e-tek

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Great wrap-up Trent! I didn't even know some of that - funny too!
Of course you got the girl - but I'm sure Paul also will let you take the truck to the shows next summer!

Here's some more stuff I did today (in addition to it now running nicely!):

Took the front bumper off to install the front plate bracket....

IMG00704-20111223-1210-736258.jpg


Made the plain tailgate pop with the Chevrolet moniker:

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.....and the gauge showing good oil pressure and working charging system on the - now - nicely running Stovebolt engine:

IMG00715-20111223-1645-735374.jpg



For all the details = Check out todays blogpost http://e-tekrestorations.blogspot.com/2011/12/lots-more-details-on-56-chevrolet-up.html
 
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Mike in Ohio

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

E-tek how many hours do you have in this project? Where do you find the patience for this level of detail?

I am truly in awe or your skill and dedication to these projects. It amazes me.

I have done a couple of farm tractor restorations and it is nothing like the detail you are into with this project.

Very very well done!!!

I can not wait for the cougar restoration thread to come. I have a 69 Ford Torino that is in need of restoration and you may just be the inspiration to get me going on it.

Thanks for sharing all of your projects. :beer:
 
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e-tek

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

E-tek how many hours do you have in this project? Where do you find the patience for this level of detail?

I am truly in awe or your skill and dedication to these projects. It amazes me.

I have done a couple of farm tractor restorations and it is nothing like the detail you are into with this project.

Very very well done!!!

I can not wait for the cougar restoration thread to come. I have a 69 Ford Torino that is in need of restoration and you may just be the inspiration to get me going on it.

Thanks for sharing all of your projects. :beer:


Very kind comments - much appreciated! I have about 300 hours into it over 2 years.

Of course I truly enjoy it. I spent nearly 10 years in the primer and paint section, then managing, body shops and at the the time HATED it! So I went to University and got a great job in sales. Now, doing it as a hobby - and not as a job - i love it. I like learning, seeing things turn out nice, and doing all the different aspects of a build. I just do each part as perfectly as I can so that the whole turns out as nice as the parts.

The Cougar should be fun, but first I really want to get to those projects on my cars that I've been waiting on!:beer:
 

pfbz

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Re: E-tek Resto's 56 Chevy Truck

Then I ran it up again, to do some more tuning. This time I used my trusty dryer vent tubing to exhaust it out the door.

What a simple but perfect idea! Of course I've seen heavy duty setups in commercial garages, but this will be a great penny-tech solution for Colorado Winters...

Still in awe of the build. :thumbup:
 
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