51 International Budget Build

Crazy Winter

It has been a crazy winter here in WV, just like most of the mid Atlantic and north east. So I have spent more time plowing snot, I mean snow and trying to keep the shop warm than working on the International. Also took a break from everything and went to bike week for some Floridian weather and a break from this cold. But here are some updates. Floor substructure is completed. Floor is skinned up other than the removable panels for the trans tunnel and master cylinder. Steering column is shortened, ujoints installed and functional. Even managed to save the old rim blow horn set up with a little work. I am really pleased with how it all turned out. Going to try and make a very basic bench seat that will be flat on the floor so there is room for my big, fat ass.

a couple more

I can only get a few pictures to go at a time. Here is another couple.

Lovely floor. Did you mock up your seat and sit in there pretending to drive yet? I hope your knees don't hit the bottom of the steering wheel.
Keep on tinkering.

responsible adult

Haven't worked on the rat like I would have liked. Too busy being a responsible adult and fixing daily drivers. The kids car gave up the cam position sensor, the wife's Jeep had a front axle u joint coming out of it...I have made some minor progress though:

Seat base and back were made from plywood, we purchased nice auto grade foam locally and shaped it with an electric kitchen knife and grinder with a sanding pad.

Heater box was disassembled, core flushed, a known good 12V blower motor added in place of 6V part, box was painted and dolled up a bit too.

Did some welding work on an old friend's mower deck and he turned me on to some old rough cut oak boards he's had in the barn for a lot of years to do the bed floor.

Oh, I almost forgot, a set of UH1 helicopter crew belts are going to be put back into service.

Where did summer go?

Holy cow, I can't believe I haven't posted since April. It's been a busy summer. We put some patch panels in an old Ford Ranger and gave it the Rustoleum Flat Black treatment for my youngest daughter. It's actually in the back ground of one of these pics. The motor ended up going south in it. Luckily got one out of a wreck to do the quickie change over. So finally back to the International for a couple weeks and then on to my plow truck (also needing an engine overhaul with 260K miles...)


For the International:

A friend donated a 70 GMC 8' step side bed that got cut up, some 2" square tube crossmembers and angle were added. Then some rough cut oak and walnut from another friend was used for a floor. A coating of rust converter and then left out to weather a bit. Some flat clear applied and I like the way it turned out.

Another friend sold me the radiator for a song, started fabbing up a support structure for it and the tranny cooler, which was another donation from my brother. Still just C clamps holding it and the rear bumper/cross member on for now.

We put the bed on the truck to get a feel for how it's gonna look as well as to put the whole thing under the carport to free up some garage space.

I got to say having friends who donated such cool stuff for the project is great. If you got any junk laying around, be sure to share it with your buds. They will appreciate it I am sure.

Just drug in my 50 L-112 Binder this passed Saturday and can't wait to get started on it. Have a few questions for you if you don't mind.....
1. How many inches did you chop yours? I'm guessing 4-5".....I'm thinking I want 4" but not sure.
2. Did you section the body at all?
3. I think I read that you channeled yours 7" ........is that 7" more or total? Because aren't they channeled about 6" stock already?

THANKS!
I'm hoping to get my pics in the computer and into photoshop sometime soon, so I can get all my lines right before I start tearing into it.

5" chop, 5" channel

We chopped 5 and channeled 5. I did stretch the lower part of the floor 3" towards the firewall (where it had the kick back in it from stock) to gain some leg room. I fit in it pretty good at 6' tall and 260lb. No sectioning done though. I could not go any smaller on the cab without a serious diet and fitness plan...

Cool truck, man! I have a similar cab waiting for a place to land.

Great progress, thanks for keeping us posted.

77flh said:

We chopped 5 and channeled 5. I did stretch the lower part of the floor 3" towards the firewall (where it had the kick back in it from stock) to gain some leg room. I fit in it pretty good at 6' tall and 260lb. No sectioning done though. I could not go any smaller on the cab without a serious diet and fitness plan...

Click to expand...

Sweet! I've been looking and looking for chopped 50-57 binders and I've found a few BUT I couldn't get any info on how far they were chopped. I taped the lines to chop mine at 4" the other day, but I was being conservative and I was fairly sure I wanted more. Now I'm almost positive I want 5" since I have something to judge it by.

Almost a year has slipped by

It has been a while. The rat has been neglected. I am such a sucker for projects and continually drag more home that distract me. Bought a rust free Bronco that came from the desert and needed a transmission. Tough to find rust free stuff around here in the salt belt, and I just couldn't let it pass me by.

That said, I have been back at the rat finally. The radiator support is complete. A home made grill shell was made to fit it. The headlights are mounted. Have the headers tacked up (check out those baffles ). Transmission cover has been started and shifter getting mounted. No pics of that yet...Hopefully once we get dug out from the snow, I will finish that up and get some pics...

good couple days

Have had a good couple days on the project again -

Got the shifter working nicely, some door and kick panels made out of sheet metal, a driveshaft loop installed and screwing around with some cardboard patterns to make new plexiglass panels for the old SanTay visor.

The door panels are two pieces with the intent being to upholster the upper portion.

Had to mooch my daughter's Ranger summer wheels and tires to put on the front of the rat because one of mine was so dry rotten it wouldn't hold air more than a few seconds...

The five slots will go back on with new rubber when I get closer to completion.

It has a unique look. You will be ready to cruise when spring comes this year.

Coming along nicely [cl

I've built a few baffles but none have looked like that. [S bet their real quit.

Pretty cool, nice progress

A little done

Not as productive as I have been on this stretch of days off, but got together with couple different groups of motorcycle friends that I don't see nearly enough when the weather is bad.

Pulled the bed off and got a rear bumper/hitch fabbed up and installed. I used a giant weld on D-Ring on the front of the rat and decided on two smaller ones on the back to hook safety chains to. I think it gives it a big truck look and goes with the whole idea of this thing starting as a dump truck on the neighbor's farm. I am a little ticked off about the rings not being exact matches though. They are the same brand and weight rating, but shaped just slightly different. I never noticed until they were burned in. Hoping once the paint is on the bumper it won't be too noticeable.

The hitch will get used a good bit I imagine. I have a home built trailer made from an old truck bed with a cap on it and mattress in it that we use as a low budget camper. We usually pull it with my wife's Jeep, but I am sure the rat will be up to the task.

closing in on teardown

I think I am finally closing in on tearing this thing down to paint the frame, finish some minor mods to the under side of the cab and going through the brakes before final assembly.

I couldn't stand the look of the headlights from the side as they were. Just looked like too much stuff hanging out in front of the wheels and radiator. So I had to fab some shock mounts and went ahead and moved the headlights too.

Rear shocks were also mounted and an adjustable pinion snubber incorporated to help with wheel hop. Figure I can tighten it up if I decide to take this heap to the strip and play when it's finally running.

My most proud accomplishment - I saved that old San Tay visor. Made new panels from green plexiglas just like the originals. I always struggle with plastic. In fact it's an unwritten rule here that on new car interiors I stay away from any maintenance if at all possible because I usually end up breaking something or generally screwing it up, but these came out pretty nice.

Also finish welded the headers up, put some heat paint on them as well as mounted a couple of electric fans and got the radiator hoses mocked up...

Way easier to take apart

So these things come apart WAY faster than they go together. Under side of cab is buttoned up, hopefully weather cooperates and the bottom side of the cab gets some paint tomorrow...

true

''these things come apart WAY faster than they go together''~

YEP[

Later

underside of cab done

There are probably gonna be some haters, but we had such good luck with this cheapo undercoat/sound deadener recipe on my youngest daughters Ranger, I opted to use it on the rat's floor pan too. We redid that truck of hers in classic flat black rustoleum and it was nice enough we wanted to try and preserve it. It was a $700 truck we ended up with just over $1000 in total and couldn't justify 100+ dollars a gallon for automotive undercoat. So Blackjack makes a #57 roof coat. Says right on the can it is formulated for rusty metal roofs. So, I figured it would stick to a rusty vehicle's underside just the same as a rusty roof. That truck has been through 2 winters now and everyone who looks under it can't believe how well it has held up to our salt covered roads.

Used a cheap (notice a theme here?) spray gun that is intended for undercoating or bedliner. No need to thin the roof coating. It sprays fine right out of the can.

It has a nice texture which should help with sound deadening, but is actually a little smoother than the undercoat you buy in a rattle can so it will be easier to keep clean.

Best part? only about 50 bucks for FIVE gallons, instead of 100+ for one gallon of the auto grade stuff. I am thinking of repackaging this stuff and going into business...LOL .