‘63 Unibody

BobbyFord

BobbyFord

Secret Agent Man
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Joined
Apr 6, 2005
Messages
75,441
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Location
Southern California.
I asked mods to delete the original thread that I started for this old truck. I just couldn’t get anything going. I’ve been waiting for 5 years for my buddy to be able to live up to his debt. I can’t wait for him any longer.
Had a long block built to replace the old 390. This is a mild 466”, Edelbrock headed 460. 10.5:1, hydraulic cam, oil modifications, rear sump motor. Should be here Tuesday. Thanks to Paul Kane at https://highflowdynamics.com/
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I’ll assemble the rest of the motor.
In lieu of my buddy Paul helping me with the bodywork and paint for the truck, I reconnected with someone that painted Harleys for my family in the past.
My goal is to get the truck body sandblasted and off to Vince’s body shop in Thousand Oaks.
The bodywork and paint should’ve been free through Paul, but he isn’t able to fulfill that debt. Not sure what it might cost me but at this point I don’t care. It’s only money.
I’m looking forward to driving this truck again. I have a transmission to rebuild in the coming days. Prolly going to need custom-made headers. Truck will be baby blue with white grille.
I’m happy to be moving forward even though it will likely cost me $20k more than expected. 🙂
 
Picked up the motor today.
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Block is bare, I asked the builder not to paint it. I’ll disassemble it a bit and pretty it up. I got a bunch of parts to order. Pan will come off, timing cover…
I already have a new iron water pump, maybe I’ll get an aluminum one instead.
Those cheapy valve covers are there just to seal the motor up during shipping. They will go into the recycle bin. Unfortunately, I can't get Blue Thunder valve covers anymore. I might order a set of Ansen valve covers to see how they look.
 
I would’ve bought another set of Blue Thunder valve covers but the owner is a dick and will not even respond to repeated emails or phone calls. I learned that someone created a website for him and told him there’d be a lot of new orders to process. He opted not to go live with the website. I guess he doesn’t need the money.
I opted for a set of, made in California, Ansen valve covers. There are really limited options for these 460s. You can buy the ugly fabbed covers but they aren’t baffled and there aren’t many color, style options.
These are nice and they’ll clear the Trick Flow rockers. Ansen even made a courtesy phone call prior to shipping to see if I wanted any engraving or any other accessories.
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Got a call from Vince today. He had some personnel changes at the shop and he wont be able to do the bodywork and paint. :(
Back to square one.
 
I just finished making the second piece of stainless fuel line. From filter to carb feed line. There’s a few mistakes but I did it in one take. It’s not perfect.
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Also got the re-curved Duraspark distributor. The black cap matches the valve covers.
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I’m pretty jazzed. California has allowed me to transfer the license plates that have been on my Unibody for almost 40 years to my 72 short bed. The 72 would have originally been plated with the blue background and yellow numbered plates. The 63 now has a set of the correct black plates with yellow numerals.
I had the legend, Mike Venditto, restore the blue plates. I wasn’t sure if the state would let me use them because the 72 truck should normally have a six-digit commercial plate. The ones I’m using now from the Uni are seven-digit commercial plates.
I’m not sure why they allowed me to do that but I’m really happy to fly those plates on the short bed.
🙂
 
I got a couple of guys on one of the truck websites that are trying to bust my chops about this truck. I'm not going to let them get my goat. They don't believe I've put so many miles on this truck. This truck has had 5 or 6 engines in it, I can't remember now. I've enjoyed half a million miles on this steering wheel in the 40+ years that I've owned this truck. I have an attachment to this truck and I wouldn't sell it for any amount of money. I keep improving this truck and I keep making it live and it keeps rewarding me with every mile that I drive it.
I've rebuilt this same auto trans 4 times. I'm going to swap the guts into a new case; C6 transmissions don't have a detachable bellhousing for different engine bolt patterns. I can't wait to drive this truck again. I think I'd sell the 72 short bed and the 390/4-speed 67 Mustang fastback before I'd sell this truck.
 
My dad’s unibody was a 62 with a 1969 429.
Those motors were iron headed with 11:1 compression. That thing was a beast. I remember I was 9 years old, he was at Barney’s Beanery (the famous Barney’s) shooting pool, he gave me the keys and told me to go get the truck. It was about a block away on a side street. That fuc ken gas pedal was sooo touchy. I jumped the curb and knocked down a little parking sign. I drove the truck back to the shop which was across the street from Barney’s, I remember that I was a little teary-eyed when I told my dad that I hit the sign.
He didn’t care, just rubbed my head and thanked me for getting the truck. I hope this Unibody runs that good.
 
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