My 71 Custom Stepside

[bb429power]

Might want to think about getting wheel tubs and mounting them to the front somehow.

[SRDUMBYE]

Hello bumpmates, today was a busy day but finally i started again the engine.

Previus to the story, i really want to thank all of you who have been posting, as well as all of you who have been following the evolution of my flareside. Your comments really encourages me to keep doing things, as well as your ideas make me easier many things.

second: responding to your comments...

bb429power: thanks for your comment, and even more for that pic, till today i have not seen one frontless, and even more chopped. My grandfather used to said that colours are made for tastes, and in matter of tastes i really like to try something diferent. But don't hurry, this is just a stage, this year my bump is going to roll as a rat rod. and this is because i am repairing all the front, by now i've been focused on the rad-mount, it's being sand blasted and welded to mount it again in case i could not find a better one, and next step will be fix my fenders and grill, paint and store. so wish me luck! this year i want to taste the rat-style.

robroy: for a few minutes, I was concern about the meaning of oddball, but after i search the word in the thesaurus i find it most fun! and trust me, there is no better feeling that the one when i see everyone's face while i'm driving on the street, boulevar, or the beach in my black monster. Those faces of "what the f.k is that?" and in the good way (something between admire and amaze) are really priceless! so that is right, i'm enjoying very much fixing and working on the truck. But the best hours of all, are those when i am driving. Thanks for your comments, keep looking at the post, you may find oddball modifications further.


GSequoia: Thanks for posting! i have in mind you're ideas, i have a friend who is building with fiberglass, a pair of "half fenders" to fit the hole you are talking, and i may have them next week. I'll show you a small modificatión I asked, to see what do you think about it. about the battery, for now is going back, but I am planing to put it under the bed, totally hide to avoid any tries to steal my battery. and about the support bars, I am having some design issues with my old man. i would like to get or build a frame, old as in 20's or get a tractor's front , and from there put a pair of support bars but as narrow as posible, my dad thinks it will look better if we use some kind of chromed pipes and open the angle as much as posible to create the ilusion of a frame... so, until we get the frame, there is no desision taken yet. Thanks for your comments, and look the picture i post today, maybe you find more atractive the idea of the electric board. just imaging without the battery, i didn't have the long wire yet, so i mounted on the front just to turn on the engine and check if i made a missconection that may fry my old wires

[SRDUMBYE]

Gentlemen, fresh pictures from today's advance.

here are the electric "whatever" and my new aquisition, my old skol horn! now my black monster looks like a rat and sounds like a rat too!
enjoy the pics

[FreakysFords]

Lookin good!

[SRDUMBYE]

thanks freakysfords, maybe tomorrow i could get the battery wire and the conections and go to the boulevard to make some noise LOL!

[SRDUMBYE]

Man those headlights are sick!! i really like them, but i guess it will be hard to find some used ones here in mexico, but i'm hunting a pair of old ford headlights, vintage of course!

Thanks TheEskimo

[SRDUMBYE]

Hello people, yesterday i was really tired after a whole day working to fix some issues related to the relocation of the battery. The ground was not so well, and it made the starter had some troubles to run, but some sanding and new stainles bolts and problem solved. the horn was not working and i wondered if was a burned relay or some wiring problem. the good news is that was just a miss conection, bad news is after i solved the problem, I decided to put the horn switch in the steering wheel as close as original. But i dont have the original steering wheel...can you see the problem yet? moreover my steering wheel is in pretty bad shape some modifications needed to be done. taking out the steering was a little trouble, but finding lots of dust, dry oil and some kind of heavy grease was definetly bad.
That's why i forgot the horn and worked on the steering wheel instead. I removed everything but the column, cleaned out all the pieces, welded some wires, changed teh grease to the ball bearing and put it all toghether. so it ended pretty good, but i dont like some things, i have a few questions about the subjet like where can i get new ball bearing? because mine have severe wear, and some others that i'll post in the relevant forum.

So thank for following this rat evolution, and i promise some pictures further.

Mario

[SRDUMBYE]

Hi everybody! after a wile searching and just looking for spare parts to the bumside finaly i've achive some progress. this week i installed the stop switch. And today while i was boring at the workshop, i decided to paint the small piece linked to the distribuitor (we call diaphragma) and then the distribuitor itself, a little test on paint stiles like tint , color base and color resin. it was most educative and fun also. between the dark silver and the blue steel, I much prefere the second one. Which by the way, was supposed to be a silver with blue tint ...anyway it looks great. I also did some upgrades to the workshop and now i have more room and better light to work at night

[FreakysFords]

Loving the build man. Enjoy!

[SRDUMBYE]

Hi everybody, i haven't done much to the truck since i have my car over jack stands, since i had to paint my wheels. Living near to the beach is awesome, but not for your wheels. So here I post a little picture of the new shoes my Baby Benz will look.

Two tone wheels, AMG custom decal and red calipers. and also it is a little experiment with the flat black.

This is the first time I disarm a disk brake, so if you have any advice to rearm, all will be wellcome!

[BiggDogg]

How is your project coming along? Any new updates for us

[SRDUMBYE]

Hi everyone! I know i´ve been distant since my daugther born, but i can honestly say that the past 5 months everything it´s been about Sophi. Well, with my daugther growing fast, and my wife totally recovered and willing to take back family visits, I am having more time to myself, and of course to my bumbside and my workshop. So here come the updates of the week.

Finally move the tools to the back yard, and even when is not totally finished, finally look like a place to properly work, so i hope that in few moths be ready. After a weekend of moving and ordering and detailing, I tooke LA NEGRA to the backyard, and began the restoration process of both brakes and steering.

Step one: disarm and take off all the components
Step two: remove all the rust
Step tree: change the seals, gaskets, bearings bushings, and pretty much all the worn components
Step four: prime coat, and blood red paint, with high gloss clear coat
Step five: install all the hardware back again

I konw it´s easier to say than to do, but right now i am very motivated to change the way everyone look at my truck, remember its gona be the first RatRod in my town, and so far there are a few mates interested in the proyect, so that is the main reason i´m working hard on the appearance.

[SRDUMBYE]

Here are some pics about what i´ve been doing this week