smuggled goods

joehalford01 · May 21, 2007

Alright! i'm finally going to post my project here for your viewing pleasure. It's a 63 chevy fleetside longbed. It's going to be my shop truck/parts hauler for future rods. It is pretty much stock right now. 327 with edelbrock performer intake and 750cfm carb which will be changed to a 650 soon. I've also put in hooker full length headers and will be doing the exhaust in the next couple weeks.

The plan for the motor is nothing too radical. I figure upgraded oil pump/bigger pan, upgrade the cooling system, 177 cid weiand blower, 2 1/4" exhaust with smithy glasspacks. It will be bagged, wide whites, and 15" smoothie rims, tubbed in the back for the widest tires i can get back there (do they sell ww's as slicks, hmmmmmm). I am planning a custom toolbox for the bed that will make your jaw drop but i wont share until it's done, sorry. I would also like to do a full front end tilt like some corvettes i've seen. It should be really hard for this truck but i think i can work it out. I was going to simply reverse the hood but someone has already done that so I can't copy, oh well.

Pics of the truck as purchased (i added the left fender dent though)

joehalford01 · May 21, 2007

here are some more pics as purchased

getcarter · May 21, 2007

looks like a solid base. keep us posted.

joehalford01 · Jun 17, 2007

here's some rust i found when i pulled up the decrepid rubber mat, i've been told this is good for my year truck and they are usually much worse.

(do you like my seat?, keeps the beer cold!!)

joehalford01 · Jun 17, 2007

here are some pics of the old exhaust that was on there, boy did it suck, was barely hanging on and would scrap the driveway every time i pulled in. actually that reminds me! when we were remodeling the bathroom (still am), i had the bed loaded with a cast iron tub and a ton of tile/mortar board. I pulled it into the driveway for the night and the exhaust was so low with the weight that something had to give to go up that driveway. it was the drivers side exhaust manifold! I heard a loud "crack!" and all of a sudden my truck went from super quiet to louder then 15 harleys ripping sac on the freeway. The manifold had broken off at the collector, I had to drive it that way for about two weeks until i could get a replacement manifold.

Anyways, there is also a pic of the manifold removed and one of the headers i put on. They are hooker competition headers and were a pain to install but did fit relatively well considering. They were also free!

joehalford01 · Jun 17, 2007

here are some pics of the battery install, the previous owner tossed the battery box and had it sitting in a crappy tool box in the bed. So i ordered a nice new box for my shiny new optima! I tried to go the cheap route with a tray but the battery area is shaped funny and requires a stock style box imo to look right; so i ponied up and dropped the $60 or so bucks required. I repainted a bit as you can see and still need to finish the other cover pictured. I also need to plan a trip to osh for some better hardware for the battery holddown as the stuff i have dosn't look right to me. I also plan to order some better battery cables, the positive worked out ok but auto retail stores don't offer much in the way of longer negative cables.

joehalford01 · Jun 17, 2007

finally got some time to work on the exhaust! I layed everything out and then proceeded with my 3" cut off wheel from hf. I was seriously dissapointed with the straightness of my cuts after fiddlefarting with it for over an hour.

joehalford01 · Jun 17, 2007

So i said screw it! I took a break and drove to hf for a brand new chop saw!

That's better aint it! I welded up my first over crossmember piece of the exhaust after getting the length fine-tuned. this took forever because I would tack, double check that it fits, see it is still too tall, cut, grind, tack again, repeat. took about three times to get it right. then i welded it all up and started grinding the weld down to make it all pretty, realized that was way too much work for exhaust that will probably rust out in the next 5-10 years and called it good!

Gastrick · Jun 17, 2007

Looks like you are well on you way to happiness there Joe. I kind of like the outside of it like it is, with maybe some 60's style sinage on the doors. Like you said though, if you are gonna use this as a shop truck, I would try to keep the engine on the tame side.

joehalford01 · Jun 17, 2007

here are some pics of it installed so you can see what i'm doing, i've also pictured the other side so you can see how the headers exit parallel to the exhaust. i'm sure it could have been done an easier way but i believe taking the exhaust up and over the crossmember and running it parallel to the frame will give me a much cleaner look. Plus it will be slammed hardcore in the future!

joehalford01 · Jun 17, 2007

here is what happens when you use a hf exhaust pipe expander with an impact gun, that went in the scrap pile

.

joehalford01 · Jun 17, 2007

thanks gas! I will definetly be busting out some signage but that will be the very last thing i do. When i'm satisifed with everything, I think that will be my way of topping it off and saying "lets roll!"

tiny1 · Jun 17, 2007

Very nice truck!! Off to a great start ..

Tripper · Jun 17, 2007

Nice hauler

Joe,
Sweet hauler!!! Looks like u have it pretty much under control... that'll b a nice ride!

BoB

24dodge · Jun 17, 2007

Thats a nice truck you have , , keep the progress pics coming.

FlatBroke · Jun 17, 2007

Joe, that is just too cool.
Cool and simple, and very clean to boot...

joehalford01 · Jun 17, 2007

i got the other side done tonight, took only two hours instead of four like the first one. I'm a bit slow at this fabrication stuff.

joehalford01 · Jun 30, 2007

aight, the valve covers are on. a little paint works wonders. I also installed a new msd cap and rotor and a new air filter, plus my jegs 8.0 wires which were really a stellar deal at 35 bucks. what do you guys think? the new carb isn't in yet. it should come in tomorrow, when it does i'll let you know how it runs. oh yeah, my friend already chipped one of the covers

, he dropped a screwdriver on it. oh well, he's a good guy so I try not to hold things like that against him.

Gastrick · Jun 30, 2007

Looks good Joe and at least you got that first chip out of the way already. Now the subsequent chips won't be so painful. Report back on the carb.

BruceR&C · Jun 30, 2007

Nice truck there Joe. That's my second favorite bodystyle Chevy truck. The AD is my favorite. I agree with Gastrick on the body, it's fine as it is. Keep the pics coming as you go on.

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