51 International Budget Build

[77flh]

frame painted

Got the frame painted on the only warm day we had last week. Turned out nice. Some of my brake line fittings and my NiCopp brake line showed up yesterday. Probably won't be much other progress this week. Going to have to be a responsible adult and do some things around the house...

 

[soltz]

Looks good [cl

And yes. I'm very good at taking things apart, putting the back together, not so much.

 

[77flh]

Closing in on brakes

Got the master cylinder and line lock on as well as most of the brake lines ran the last couple days. Not much in the way of eye candy for pictures, but glad to be making progress. Used NiCopp brake line and was really impressed with how easy it is to flare and bend. The corrosion resistance is an added bonus. Hope to run the fuel and transmission lines in the next week or so...

 

[77flh]

cab set back on

Finally finished up the brake lines, fuel line and transmission lines. Used braided stainless for the flex line and NiCopp for all the hard lines. Fabbed up a bracket and got the e-brake cables mounted as well. Used some cool saddle mount zip tie clips with a screw hole to secure the lines to the frame.

http://www.cabletiesupply.com/mounts/saddle-mounts.html

Now that cab is on and secured, hope to get the tops of the doors put on from the chop in the next week or two and start figuring out the door channels and glass.

 

[77flh]

Why no side glass?

It has become painfully obvious why a lot of chopped cars you see for sale have no side glass. Took a few good days to get the tops of the doors fitting right and welded up. Garnish moldings were actually the easier part of this, I was expecting the opposite.

Got a day or so tied up in making new window channels, modifying the regulator arms, moving the glide pin outboard on the arm and moving the entire regulator assembly inboard to clear a one piece window. I had no idea what I was in for on this part of the chop. Still probably going to be another day to have all those items completely finished up...

 

[bob w]

The frame looks great, 77flh. Nice to get the body back on too. Good that you are sticking with it and doing the detail work. You will have a better ride in the end.

 

[smallfoot]

You're doing a fine job! Truck's looking good ...

 

[soltz]

Welcome to the club That's why the sprint has been on the road a year or more and only windshield glass, and it's cracked. Curved door glass [S
The truck is looking very nice. [cl

 

[earthman]

................

 

[77flh]

Just flat glass

Welcome to the club That's why the sprint has been on the road a year or more and only windshield glass, and it's cracked. Curved door glass [S
The truck is looking very nice. [cl

Thanks for the kind words. The door glass is just flat, but because I am eliminating the wing glass, it has to pass on the outboard side of the regulator. This requires the glide pin to be moved both to the other side as well as more centrally located. Took a few more pics which may help someone else doing the same type of thing. I'm sure there are plenty of other ways to skin this cat, but this was what I came up using what I had. I think if I had it to do over again though, I would look for a more modern regulator, maybe out of a late 90's era compact. I think for the time invested, the expense of a universal power window set up may have been a good call too, but, learn the hard way.

Here's the pic descriptions:

1st - Both modified and stock set ups side by side. I just drew the stock windows on the drive way with chalk, but you get the idea. The regulator on the modified set up should be a few inches to the left to be to scale, but...

2nd - The original set up. You can see the pin's relationship to the bottom channel as well as how the window passed on the inboard side of the regulator arm.

3rd - Pin moved outboard of the regulator arm as well as more centrally (note tack welds). I did eventually trim the excess off the regulator arm. Also those triangle pieces are adjustable to take up the slack from having a shorter window and keep it from flopping in the channel. If the window was any taller, I couldn't get it in the opening. So the triangle pieces can be installed after the glass and channel are installed onto the glide pin and keep the window square in the side channels.

4th - Part of the inner door that had to be removed and replaced with flat sheet metal to bring the regulator inboard for more clearance to miss the new one piece set up and allow channel and glass to be outboard the regulator arm.

5th - The replacement flat sheet metal installed. You can also see where the regulator drive for the window crank needs shortened and new hole drilled.

6th - Modified regulator drive/window crank.

 

[77flh]

Windshield Cut!!

I have been stressing over cutting that curved windshield and finally took the plunge.

I used to work in a glass shop out in SoCal 20 some years ago and have cut flat laminated glass with a pretty good success rate. Did a curved S-10 windshield for my brother and it took a few tries to get a good one. So I watched a few UTube videos on the topic and tried to see how other guys are doing it in hopes of getting it on the first try this time.

I opted to take small, triangular slivers off from the outer corners inward with the logic that this will help relieve the stress of the lamination in tightest part of the curve. I used a good set of CRL drop jaw glass break pliers to help with this. Diablo brand belts for your belt sander are available with ceramic abrasives. Use the belt sander to polish the edges - removing the sharp edges not only saves your hemoglobin, but also adds some strength to the glass. Used some universal spray lube (PB blaster lubricating oil, not the penetrant, but any similar will work) on the belts to help them last as well as keep the dust down.

I opted to glue the cut windshield in with urethane, like more modern cars. Thought this would help prevent cracking it fighting the rubber gasket on that short of a windshield. The comical part of all this is that original windshield is really scratched up where the wipers used to run. I am sure someone will comment on my "plastic" windshield because of the scratches.

I am actually planning on transparent green plastic side and rear windows though, like was popular in the 60s-70s on old gassers and altered drag cars...

 

[Old Iron]

Your glass work really looks good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[akatao]

nice work

 

[smallfoot]

Good Job!

 

[soltz]

Nice work [cl
I'm still working on getting one cut for the sprint without cracks, love when i see someone else get er done.

 

[jmlcolorado]

I hear ya on stressing on cutting glass.
I opted to split my windsheild because I can't find new glass for my truck for less then $500 and can't bring myself to cut, then subsequently break a $500 piece of glass.
I figure I can get modern car glass for $150 x2 and when I break one, hopefully I'll learn my lesson and only throw away one piece of glass.
We shal see.

What method did you use to cut it if you don't mind me asking?

 

[77flh]

Cutting laminate

I hear ya on stressing on cutting glass.
I opted to split my windsheild because I can't find new glass for my truck for less then $500 and can't bring myself to cut, then subsequently break a $500 piece of glass.
I figure I can get modern car glass for $150 x2 and when I break one, hopefully I'll learn my lesson and only throw away one piece of glass.
We shal see.

What method did you use to cut it if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I encourage anyone trying this to search "chopped top curved glass" on UTube. I have done a bit of glass work in my past, but learned a lot watching some of the guys and their techniques.

When cutting laminated glass I always just think of it as two pieces, which it really is. Like a sandwich, the glass is the bread, the plastic laminate the bologna. Here is my mind's methodology when doing it, but my mind is scarred, so you may need to modify to fit depending on how twisted up yours is.

1. Lay out final cut/shape of glass with a Sharpie.
2. Lay out how you are getting there, e.g., one large cut, several smaller cuts or a lot of slivers, like I did on this one.
3. Cut and break (run) one side of the first piece you are removing.
4. Either flip the glass over or score the other side from below as closely to "on top of" the first run as you can.
5. Make your run on the second score. Now you should have two breaks directly on top of one another with only the plastic laminate holding them together. In essence, you cut the bread, but still need to cut the bologna.
6. Apply denatured alcohol with a spray bottle to the cut. Light it. Work the glass gently while the heat softens the plastic. Only work it enough to get a razor blade in there to cut the plastic. Note, straight edge razor blades are a lot thinner than utility knife blades and are your friend here.
7. Repeat as needed to get to your final shape/size. If there are places that are a bit rough on the edge where the cuts ended, you can polish quite a bit off with your belt sander. Just be patient. Get it too hot and it will run out from the hot spot...

 

[Sam_Fear]

Good job on the glass! Do you have any close up shots of the finished edge after sanding? I just wondered how smooth you're getting the edges that way. I used a belt sander with a regular fine grit belt and water - I still had small chipping.

 

[jmlcolorado]

And also a picture of the finished install close up of the urethane?
Curious to see how that looks vs factory rubber.

 

[77flh]

urethane

And also a picture of the finished install close up of the urethane?
Curious to see how that looks vs factory rubber.

Here is a close up of the urethane. I glued the glass in place on the pinch weld then let it set up for a few days. Then taped off the area around the windshield, filled it in with more urethane and tooled it off. Used soapy water and smoothed it the best I could. Urethane is a mess to work with, so be prepared with a couple rolls of paper towels and some mineral spirits to clean up everything you get it on that you don't want it to stay on...

Also glued the rear Plexiglass windows in and put my visor back on as well. Even hot wired the thing today, ran the cam in and am pretty pleased with how the motor sounds. As in it sounds LOUD! Tried to post a video, but it won' up load. File is too large maybe...?