My '63 Unibody (Integral Cab)

Good grief, 5 more hours on the seat bottom.
Built out the front corners and the top of the sides. Tapered the foam down to the frame. Wasn't good enough. Had to build out and taper another inch in the front corners. I covered everything afterward with Dacron polyester batting.
Added 1/8" round mild steel in the bent corner sections of the bolster piping. I didn't take any pics of that area because I was already over it.
The lines don't exactly line up on the seat back and seat bottom but it's going to have to be good. No wrinkles and no bagged out corners.
The seat is firm and awesome. I know something changed because I have to adjust my mirrors.
Front corner shaping...

Full batting. You can see where I had to section the batting due to further adjustments to the foam shaping...

Not perfect but good for a driver...

 
Good grief, 5 more hours on the seat bottom.
Built out the front corners and the top of the sides. Tapered the foam down to the frame. Wasn't good enough. Had to build out and taper another inch in the front corners. I covered everything afterward with Dacron polyester batting.
Added 1/8" round mild steel in the bent corner sections of the bolster piping. I didn't take any pics of that area because I was already over it.
The lines don't exactly line up on the seat back and seat bottom but it's going to have to be good. No wrinkles and no bagged out corners.
The seat is firm and awesome. I know something changed because I have to adjust my mirrors.
Front corner shaping...

Full batting. You can see where I had to section the batting due to further adjustments to the foam shaping...

Not perfect but good for a driver...

Great job!
 
Super job!! Looks good in the truck. What's the next project in this on-going venture?
Keep the updates and photos coming!!
Well, my buddy came over yesterday and asked why I’m doing the seat before the truck is painted. The reasoning behind that is because while I was inside working on the steering column, the seat vinyl split directly under the driver. Once that happens and you continue to use the truck the foam quickly disintegrates at the tear.
Next thing is to use the truck to get the replacement doors and other body parts over to the sandblaster. Just gotta weld up some mirror holes in one of the doors.
 
Wow, I was just Google Image searching for a pic of the speaker wire connector on a stock Bendix 12BT AM radio and spotted a pic of my truck. Clicked on it and it took me to a website that was selling my truck! :huh:
It was a pic from my 2014 Ebay listing and verbatim vehicle description. The ad had a Google map photo of Scott Lake and Bunche Park in FL but had my correct city and state listed on the map and a lot of the wording on the map was written in Russian. :blink:
 
Wow, I was just Google Image searching for a pic of the speaker wire connector on a stock Bendix 12BT AM radio and spotted a pic of my truck. Clicked on it and it took me to a website that was selling my truck! :huh:
It was a pic from my 2014 Ebay listing and verbatim vehicle description. The ad had a Google map photo of Scott Lake and Bunche Park in FL but had my correct city and state listed on the map and a lot of the wording on the map was written in Russian. :blink:
WTF?
 
Yeah, I did a scam search on the website and there’s comments from various car forums. One guy even copy/pasted a response to his inquiry about a specific vehicle. Seems to be some elaborate Nigerian scam.
The same website also has a parts section with stolen photos and details from EBay ads.
They also list/advertise for local businesses in the area (which are completely bogus and non existent.)
The website is 2040-cars dot com. The bogus parts website is 2040-parts dot com.
Here’s a fake listing for a Bendix 12BT radio. Check out the map...
http://www.2040-parts.com/1961-66-f...ed-amp-plays-well-61-62-63-64-65-66-i1992151/
As expected, clicking their “contact us” link gives you zero information about the website or site owners.
A lot of time and effort went into this website. I’m going to alert everyone on the truck websites that I belong to.
 
Yeah, I did a scam search on the website and there’s comments from various car forums. One guy even copy/pasted a response to his inquiry about a specific vehicle. Seems to be some elaborate Nigerian scam.
The same website also has a parts section with stolen photos and details from EBay ads.
They also list/advertise for local businesses in the area (which are completely bogus and non existent.)
The website is 2040-cars dot com. The bogus parts website is 2040-parts dot com.
Here’s a fake listing for a Bendix 12BT radio. Check out the map...
http://www.2040-parts.com/1961-66-f...ed-amp-plays-well-61-62-63-64-65-66-i1992151/
As expected, clicking their “contact us” link gives you zero information about the website or site owners.
A lot of time and effort went into this website. I’m going to alert everyone on the truck websites that I belong to.
Holy crap.
 
Took a few days off after that freaking seat rebuild. I wasn't expecting it to be that involved. The difference between playing with new cars and playing with 50 year old cars is that almost all of the parts for the new car bolt right on and the restomod parts for the 50 year old car always takes a bunch of extra work to get everything to fit. Plus, the 50 year old car is pretty much worn out everywhere.
Working on my replacement doors this week.
One thing I've noticed is that on most daily driver trucks the doors are cracked on the inside at the bottom of the window opening.


The reason is because the door flexes at a spot behind the felts where there is a gap in the stamping of the metal.


The fix is to bridge that gap with a little piece of metal. I did this 20 years ago to the doors that are currently on my truck and they've never cracked again.




When I did the repair before, I O/A welded them with a shield behind the repair spot to avoid burning the inside of the door. Today I used a MIG welder. It's a little difficult to get the MIG tip angled in the window gap but it came out decent.


The outer side of the door has a gap in the stamping also, but doesn't crack because of the contour of the outer door skin.
 
Great pictures to show detail. I noticed that crack many years ago when replacing windows in doors on those trucks. Never understood why they cracked there but you, BobbyFord, solved a decades old curiosity!!
Meantime, nice job on the strengthening of the door with that weld and added piece of metal. Truck will be a freaking show piece when finished or at the very least, a well rebuild and strong means of conveyance. ;)
 
Great pictures to show detail. I noticed that crack many years ago when replacing windows in doors on those trucks. Never understood why they cracked there but you, BobbyFord, solved a decades old curiosity!!
Meantime, nice job on the strengthening of the door with that weld and added piece of metal. Truck will be a freaking show piece when finished or at the very least, a well rebuild and strong means of conveyance. ;)
Thanks Whizz, I hope for it to be a nice looking dependable daily driver that I can actually use.
When it’s finished I also want people to recognize that someone spent a lot of time and effort making it nice.
I had several people tell me not to paint it and leave it like it is. :confused:
A girl at the supermarket came up to me to tell me my truck was, “bad ass.”
There’s no way I’m putting this much time into this truck without painting it.
 
You gotta paint it!! No sense in leaving it looking like an original rust bucket unless you stuff it with a modified engine to fake out guys at lights. :D
That is a real treasure and restored with attention to detail. Only way to finish it off is once all the mechanical and fine tuning stuff is done, give it an extra special paint job.

Meantime, keep posting the photos and sending the details of the progress. :)
 
Holy Chit!! When I said an extra special paint job I didn't mean it had to be that special! Doesn't Home Depot sell paint anymore? :rolleyes:
 
California regulation has really driven up the cost of painting a car.
I was talking to Paul (body shop guy) yesterday about paint costs. I can remember when you could buy enough primer, paint, hardener and reducer to paint a car for about $400. Nowadays the same supplies will cost you $1200-$1500 or more, depending on what kind of paint you’re using (single stage, two stage, pearls, metal flake...)
 
Took a few days off after that freaking seat rebuild. I wasn't expecting it to be that involved. The difference between playing with new cars and playing with 50 year old cars is that almost all of the parts for the new car bolt right on and the restomod parts for the 50 year old car always takes a bunch of extra work to get everything to fit. Plus, the 50 year old car is pretty much worn out everywhere.
Working on my replacement doors this week.
One thing I've noticed is that on most daily driver trucks the doors are cracked on the inside at the bottom of the window opening.


The reason is because the door flexes at a spot behind the felts where there is a gap in the stamping of the metal.


The fix is to bridge that gap with a little piece of metal. I did this 20 years ago to the doors that are currently on my truck and they've never cracked again.




When I did the repair before, I O/A welded them with a shield behind the repair spot to avoid burning the inside of the door. Today I used a MIG welder. It's a little difficult to get the MIG tip angled in the window gap but it came out decent.


The outer side of the door has a gap in the stamping also, but doesn't crack because of the contour of the outer door skin.

Looks real good
 
Waterbase sucks.

It works for us but the white yellows real quick. its not suitable for what you are doing but it keeps us legal and out of trouble with the air quality folks. we aren't required to have a spray booth either.
 
It works for us but the white yellows real quick. its not suitable for what you are doing but it keeps us legal and out of trouble with the air quality folks. we aren't required to have a spray booth either.
There’s only one good clear here that doesn’t separate and peel but it’s expensive.
 
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