Project '53 Truck

Ged

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Ged
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sexmo VTS
Been away on a holiday so havent had much time on the GMC but I got the chassis back from blasting and undcoated with an epoxy primer for now and started mocking everything back together to check the rough placement of everything.

Trasporting and moving the 20FT long chassis proved challenging all on its own but i got it back into the shed and the engine on its mounts.

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Engine dropped back on its mounts and the bolt in crossmember in. It takes up pretty much the full length of the shed.

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Then i threw the gearbox and cab on too see where the new shifter and gearbox clearence ended up.

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Pretty happy with the overall arrangment of things, the shifter tower is sitting perfectly and the propshaft will go under the floor nicely.

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The sump has gained me a massive amount of room for the axle and steering setup. Hopefully making things easier down the road for some extra work now.

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Next job is to get the wings on and start cutting space for the rad intercooler and alternator clearence.

I also done a scrap run of all the unneeded parts for the GMC after id advertised and sold what people wanted. Commited to the modern axle route now.

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Cheers,
Ged
 
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Ged

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Ged
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sexmo VTS
Trying to keep pushing foward with this project i refitted the wings knowing they wherent going to be easy.

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I started taking away a little at a time for relief
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But soon relised it was going to be a comprimise for access.

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So i made the decision to remove the core support and most of the inner wings. There will be alot more work but it does free up alot of room to get everything into place.

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Just another pile of scrap metal on the floor now

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Suitabally nervous now after all that cutting hoping i can get some decent looking filler plates made and welded in without making a hash of it.

Cheers,
Ged
 

zafturbo

RMS Regular
Messages
7,433
Serious commitment needed for this project .i love the old trucks ,more so than the cars apart from the obvious Ones off coarse..what are you thinking finish ways ,the way it is or is it going for paint.
 
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Ged

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Ged
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sexmo VTS
Serious commitment needed for this project .i love the old trucks ,more so than the cars apart from the obvious Ones off coarse..what are you thinking finish ways ,the way it is or is it going for paint.

Youre telling me defintaly feeling a little in over my head but enjoying the challenge, I havent decided on the paint yet but im working towards a paintable body if i decided to do it.

Been jumping around jobs because im on the hunt for axles and a steering system to suit and to finish out the running gear for mock up, so i kept on at the metal work this weekend.

Started with hammering and pulling dents all over the cab some parts are double skin which was a bit of a ball ache.

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Turned out really well in my opinion for someone who wouldnt be that good at metalwork, quick coat of primer just to keep them from rusting.

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Then began welding up all the holes and cutting and replacing rust around the cab, its rust free apart from where some repairs where done for old wing mirrors etc and holes for something on the rear of the cab that let water inside and a rusted out a cab corner.

This one is just above a factory leaded panel joint which i might try my hand at filling back in with the origional leading method.

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The cab corner was defintaly the worst of all repairs, but the replacement corner actually fitted pretty well and the door gap is perfect.

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Hoping to have all the metal and body work rightly on before the end of this week then im hoping to use holidays at work to get to some time to visit some scrap yards and get the rest of the driveline gathered up.

Cheers,
Ged
 

Tufty

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7,422
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Co Armagh
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RS3/RS4/S6
I love this and the fact that you are not afraid to get stuck in is even better. I really am looking forward to seeing this done and no doubt it will be finished before the Golf lol.
 

Ged

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Ged
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Richhill
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sexmo VTS
Cheers guys, just having a go is right lol, I havent half a notion what im at most of the time, but a few attempts I usually get some acceptable results, got some more work done last night removing the fuel tank and cleaning out the cab, then plating up the filler neck hole in the body. Im going to run a chassis mounted tank for safety and more capacity.

Floors all look solid and theres some space behind the seat now to make some custom storage.
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Cheers,
Ged
 

Ged

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Ged
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Richhill
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sexmo VTS
Cheers Sven :grinning:

Still working away on the truck, completed filling in the firewall with 16g, looks alot better, going to add the last section onto the bolt in panel to allow access to all the bellhousing bolts through the top. Also cut the hole for the shifter into that panel, the old shifter section will be cut out and plated off.

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But mostly ive been busy hunting junkyards for axles and parts, I finally found the ideal rear airbag setup off a 12t man truck, and several possible axles but none with difflock yet.

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This setup will let me run a large bag while still keeping the truck low. I intend to bolt everything onto the chassis to avoid any internal stress cracking from welding so its an ideal starting point before reengineering it to suit my application.

Ive been working on the bed size height and dimemsions while playing with different tyre and rim sizes. As the lower I go the higher the bed has to be in relation to the tyre. You can see ive now lifted the bed 6" above the chassis and ill probably relieve the bed with an arch above the tyre when I start a detailed design on it.

Im not a fan of stacks but ive also been toying with it as I think this truck will suit it. I need to make a headache rack for carrying steel anyways so I may end up running them up with it. Ive sketched a design for it still not sure if ill go with it or maybe try sheetmetal octagons etc.

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Ive also now got an idea of the average widths of most axles of HGVs so ive started factoring that in and I have decided to lengthen the original wheelbase slightly mainly for the proportions of the truck.

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Hopefully ill be able to find the unicorn of a small axle with air brakes and difflock and tall ratio sometime soon, if anyone has one or knows of anyone breaking a daf 45 or small man with the difflock, optioned on tippers and site lorrys mainly let me know.

Cheers,
Ged
 

DavyC

RMS Regular
Messages
433
As others have said, this is a class project. Heavy engineering but technical too. And you don't hang about either.

Whereabouts are you? Have you tried Kernohan's breakers near Randalstown?
 
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Ged

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Ged
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Richhill
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sexmo VTS
Cheers guys, does keep me going knowing people are enjoying the thread.
As others have said, this is a class project. Heavy engineering but technical too. And you don't hang about either.

Whereabouts are you? Have you tried Kernohan's breakers near Randalstown?

Im near armagh but ill head anywhere to get the right parts, ive phoned kernoghans and got through to donal chatted a bit was calling me back but never happened. i tried again today and was told id get a call back but nothing yet again, they are open saturday so i might take a run up and see what they have.

Cheers,
Ged
 

Ged

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Ged
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Been out working on the jobs I can still no axle aquired unfortunatly.

So ive completed the firewall and filled the holes in the trans tunnel added a bolt in section to get to the bellhousing bolts.

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Im no professionl fabricator but with minimal tools i think it looks ok.

Next job i started was hunting for a cooling pack, i found this to be the biggest one avalible for the space i had, its from an iveco lorry then started and made some mounts,

It will be replaced with new packs come the final build.

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-Ged
 

Ged

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Ged
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Richhill
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We now have some parts to continue,

Got one of the 5kw diesel night heaters to provide instant heat for the cab, Ive heard good reports from people on them and for the money its worth a punt against a webasto or erspacher. Box came well packaged with all the bits required and I quickly found a spot for it behind the seats.

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I also got a 3kw conventional heater box from webasto. this will go under the dash and have a split pipework to the demister vents and passanger feet.

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The next job was steering, i have been hunting for something compact and that can fit inside the wheel well due to the length restrictions on the chassis. Finally settled on a range rover p38 steering box. ill be making a bracket up to mount this once i have the axles in place we took the whole mounting setup with panhard rod incase anything is useable, steering lock still looks good.

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Speaking of axles I have progress, I couldnt get excatly what I wanted but ive gotton close, pair of man TGL 12t axles. the rear end has an air setup and a ratio of 3.3:1 which is perfect. The front is cranked for extra sump clearence and they are massive vented air disc breaks all around. The only thing missing is difflock but i am going to retro fit this to the axle at some point.

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Cheers
-Ged
 

Ged

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Ged
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1,218
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Richhill
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sexmo VTS
Got some axles home and into preperation for mockup.

2x man axles rear ratio is 3.3, one daf lf45 axle with difflock 4.1 ratio, going to proceed with the daf and keep looking for the elusive 3.73 ring and pinion for it.

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Found some pitting rust setting into the rear housing so filled it with some extra metal before grinding back.

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2 coats of zinc phosphate primer onto the rear end

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Also got a spare difflock differential, for the daf axle, must be 3 times the size of a landrover diff.

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While waiting for the paint to dry I got a man TGL propshaft roughly the right length and put it in for mockup, its almost perfect. Need an adapter spicer joint and a fabricated plate for the carrier bearing and can get it mounted permenetly. all the CAD and measuring at the outset is starting to pay dividends.

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Next up some suspension desgin and adaptation to get these underneath it.

-Ged
 

HILL9N3GTI

RMS Regular
Messages
159
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omagh
i love this........ its a complete different level of awesome
think it would be even better if you were to keep the original paint on it and age any of the parts were you have done the fresh metal fabrication theirs just something about these old trucks with that weathered look and the original logos still painted on the side :heart_eyes:
 

Ged

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Ged
Messages
1,218
Location
Richhill
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sexmo VTS
i love this........ its a complete different level of awesome
think it would be even better if you were to keep the original paint on it and age any of the parts were you have done the fresh metal fabrication theirs just something about these old trucks with that weathered look and the original logos still painted on the side :heart_eyes:

Cheers guys apreciate the support, jurys still out on paint or not at this stage lol

Been trucking away last few nights getting everything measured and inplace.

Getting this beast slid in was a challenge and slung up.
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Then bolted the prop and all set on axles stands at minimum height
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The current plan to get it held in there is to aquire the man rear spring setup and graft it onto the gmc chassis and DAF axle. Going to be tight width wise with the U-Bolts to the chassis but ive some ideas in mind.

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Cheers,
Ged
 
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FM155

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8,653
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Alfa 155
Class, seeing how straightforward the axles are to swap out on the Binky truck has opened my eyes a bit to how many possibilities that opens up to make an old truck useable. Great approach getting everything blasted and cleaned up to work on too, makes it nicer to work on and see progress. (y)
 
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Ged

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Ged
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sexmo VTS
Class, seeing how straightforward the axles are to swap out on the Binky truck has opened my eyes a bit to how many possibilities that opens up to make an old truck useable. Great approach getting everything blasted and cleaned up to work on too, makes it nicer to work on and see progress. (y)

They arnt to bad most manufactures have a set standard width of chassis etc and alot share componenets between brands etc I just like the openess of everything like a blank canvas.

Effin yes. Epic

Cheers, maybe i can coax you into taking some pics of it when i get it together :confounded:

Couldnt resist a wee update as I got some test patterns off the plasma in work for the wheel adapters last night.


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These are 22.5"x9" alcoas, i may order the 8.25" rims when the time comes to get the final tyres and wheels, im still trying to us a 7ft-6" bed instead of the full 8ft

The adapters are now modelled up and ready for profiling before i get them machined on the lathe. Front are alightly different to the rears as i want to keep the mounting bolts flush whereas the studs are less noticable on the rears tucked inside the deep rim.

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Cheers,
Ged
 
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