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Friday, September 24, 2010

May 14th, 2010

Pretty big update. Have done alot over the past few days. My boys love helping me work on the truck. You can see a few pictures of them below. Dylan has started using the air tools. Its alot of fun having them out there with me. Its funny because I was just thinking about when I was 5yrs old. My dad and I brought this truck home from his Step-Dad's house and started working on it. I helped my dad when asked, like bleeding the brakes. Now history is repeating all over again with the next generation. Making new memories. I hope to one day take my boys fishing in this truck as well. Thanks Dad!

 Few days ago, I started removing the steering shaft. I found out that the gear box has to be unbolted from the frame and the steering shaft pulled into the engine bay. This of course requires you remove the pitman arm. Not having a 1 1/4 wrench, I had to purchase one for $10. I also needed a pitman arm puller, which I rented from Autozone for $13. I have a real problem returning the tools though lol. Once I aquire a tool, its so hard to let go. :-) I soon realized that after the gear box had been unbolted, the inner fender was in the way. Not a setback really as that was the next step in my plan. I removed the radiator, draining it first. Moved on to the grill, all but one bolt came out easy with a little WD40. The last bolt I had to use the cut off wheel. From the looks of it all these bolts will need to be replaced anyway. Once the grill was out I removed the rediator support bracket, then started on the fender bolts. The fenders came off rather easy. The WD40 I pre-soaked the bolts in helped alot. Only body parts remaining are the cab and running boards, and I will be tackling those soon.

I happen to find out that there is a local custom restore shop, right here in town. I stopped by and talked to the owner for a while. He was very knowledgeable in the series truck I have. He even had a few in the shop that he is working on. This could really come in handy, when I need to farm out some work or just bounce some questions off someone. He happen to mention a super pentration oil called "Kroil". I thought I give the stuff a shot and placed a order for some. I will let you know how the stuff turns out.














May 1st, 2010


Found a 2 ton Engine Hoist on craigslist today for $150. Purchased it and brought it home. I have seen several jigs people have made to lift the truck cab off the frame with this type of lift. I have built my first prototype of my jig. Not to happy with the results, so I will likely redo it. While I was at it remove both cab doors. All bolts came undone without issues except for one. This time the head stripped off. Guess as metal ages its either rusted of soft. Next step will be to remove the cab.

Late - April 2010


Removed the Bed and rear fenders from the truck. All bolts frozen with rust. Had to drill out the bed mount bolts. Will deal with dis-assembly of the bed at a later date. Also remove the seats, striped the interior and cleaned everything with the shop vac. Purchased a "Soda Blaster". Similar to a sand blaster, but uses baking soda instead. Safer for your lungs I am told. Purchased from Harbor Freight for $99. Works great. Blasted the rear frame down and now it looks nice and clean. Its amazing how fast it works for such a small kit. Uses alot of baking soda though. So far I have used about 40 lbs of backing soda.






April 2010 - And so it Begins....

1950 Chevy is towed to its new home. The tow company was excellent. He was able to load it in a tight spot and unload it directly into the garage. This helped a ton as the engine hasn't run in over 10 years. The truck was parked due to issues with the brake system. At the time I was living in a Apartment in Austin, Tx and was unable to work on the truck. Things have now changed. Moved the family back home, and this year we finially had the money to put a garage in. This truck has been in my family for almost 50 years. Let the restore begin!


March 2010 - The Shop has been BUILT!

FINALLY! A garage to work on the cars has been built. 20ft X 26ft fully enclosed.


Moving to new Blog

Hi all. Setting up a new blog for the 1950 Chevy - Ol'Nelle. More to come soon.