Posted by Moby on March 23, 1999 at 23:59:54:
Hey all, Just to post a message to all who have been asking how my truck is coming. Well,, it's still in a 100 peices in my garage. Thanks to Hobi Classic PW's for a original frame that Herb and son personally delivered to my doorstep. And to B. Cabot for making a original bed affordable to obtain (After driving 900 mi to get it, it could have been folded in half like a taco and I still would have brought it home on principal alone!) It's nice to find good people around who are willing to help out to keep these rigs on the road. Anyway, My motor is back from the machine shop and looks really nice, .30 over pistons and the block& head surfaces were milled smooth. Also I had the motor and flywheel balenced as suggested on the forum. I cleaned up and painted the tranny and PTO, new clutch stuff, so the basic drivetrain is put together and sitting on bricks in the garage. I'm using a twisted wire wheel to remove scale and grime from the frame which then will be painted with a rust-bloc enamel. One question is what to do about the inside of the crossmembers. I can see there is some mud and gunk in there, probably just use a pressure washer on it. The front end is all repaired ( I had a lower trunion pin that had broken welds), and am wating for a upper steering knuckle bushing to arrive from VPW to put it together and back under the truck. Basicly now I'm just scrubbung grease off parts in the solvent tank then sticking them in the beadblast cabinet and then painting and installing them. Once I get the frame done( hopefully this weekend!)I can start really building the truck back together. I've been putting new bolts and hardware in where possible. So that's where I'm at, the teardown is done and the restoration starts. Once again thanks to all the help out there and especially to Joe for the excellent page that helps bring it all together.