Build thread for the 72 GMC, finally. Thanks John!

Keep at it, you're doing great!

remember roach t-shirts?

i fear i have to do similar surgery to my 68. plus the floor is bad on the drivers side.

keep on it, one day i'll get on mine.

I made it into the garage. I welded in the A pillar, maybe 50%. No pics, no music, maybe 30 minutes. I even asked the wife's opinion. So it went pretty well. I have a few big gaps to make with some sheet steel tomorrow, but after that I can check the door alignment and then tack in the rocker. Exciting times!!!!!

Inspired by this, I sanded some rust off of one of my 122s, and primed it. Baby steps...

The band was named after a steam powered device.

Very cool to see incremental progress. Threads like these are why I just bought a little pile of maintenance parts for myself.

and im going to try your 30 minutes daily progress on my backlog of customer cars. toooooo many builds at one. i have vapor lock of the brain.

pres589 wrote: The band was named after a steam powered device.

You got it!

It's mythical, I think.

Thanks for the inspiration

So tonight was cold. Really cold. I was only out there for a bit. I essentially finished off part #9, welded it up, curved it better, welded it in and painted it. Not too many pictures because it was cold.

Tunes for tonight. Good stuff, but only four songs.

I got this removed:

got it clamped on a board, and then I ran out of songs.

So now...

ARG!

OK, so now I will play with my welder for a bit.

I still got it in, but it isn't pretty. Oh well, I am learning and it will be covered up by the rocker panel.

Tomorrow is this:

I have to make that look presentable and then test for the rocker and the door. We'll see how much I get done and how cooperative the welder is.

Man thats looking good...all that test fitting is paying off! Love this thread!

That's definitely some good progress, especially compared to where this thread started!

progress is progress. little by litlle, step by step.

and sometiomes our work is building tools, repairing the shop, etc. has to be done to keep forward momentum on the project. none of us like to work in dirty, malfunctioning clutter.

so maybe tonight, instead of messing with the cab, you sweep, clean, and fix the welder. go at it tomorrow with a clear head.

michael

Dusterbd13 wrote: progress is progress. little by litlle, step by step. and sometiomes our work is building tools, repairing the shop, etc. has to be done to keep forward momentum on the project. none of us like to work in dirty, malfunctioning clutter. so maybe tonight, instead of messing with the cab, you sweep, clean, and fix the welder. go at it tomorrow with a clear head. michael

Michael, Thanks for the advice.

I earnestly sweep after each night's work (the kids get their own bikes out to play and such in the daytime), put away all hand tools, wrap up all cords, etc. I also fixed the welder last night.

Tonight I am going to focus on how exactly part #9 attaches to the cab corner, and patching the A pillar. Once that's done (and that won't be tonight, we eat at church on Wednesday's and as such get home late) the rocker panel will be test fitted against the door.

due to choir practise tonight, i wont even be touching the firebird. but i may take my dremel and 1/2 drive drill into the dining room and work on the control head for the caddy while were watching dora.

just wanted to let you know that others are right there with ya. family first, man. family first.

Dusterbd13 wrote: due to choir practise tonight, i wont even be touching the firebird. but i may take my dremel and 1/2 drive drill into the dining room and work on the control head for the caddy while were watching dora. just wanted to let you know that others are right there with ya. family first, man. family first.

It's good to hear that. Ever since my first kid was a few months old I realized how important it was just to be home. We work on things together sometimes, and beyond normal chores, I give all of them baths (every other night for the kids, every third night for the baby) and put the three kids to bed myself each night, whether I work on the truck, work my second job, or not. The only time I've missed it is when I had to travel or for Lemons.

OK folks, it's ten and I just got my baby to sleep. She had her shots yesterday and she's fussy. The wife has some issues with (essentially) sleep deprivation, and she needs to take care of the kids during the day, so I am going to stay in tonight, get laundry, dishes and some vacuuming done now that everyone is sleeping. Thus I end my daily streak at day 12. We'll see you tomorrow with more progress.

you're a good man, mr. 55

AngryCorvair wrote: you're a good man, mr. 55

Hey thanks. Nice to have a positive response to a "I didn't get anything done on the truck" post.

tuna55 wrote: Thus I end my daily streak at day 12.

I seem to recall a conversation where someone was skeptical how much progress they'd actually be able to make on this project...

You're making smashing progress. If you keep this up, I'll have to figure out a way to ship my truck to you for bodywork instead of the other way around.

Good on ya for keeping your priorities straight.

JohnInKansas wrote:

tuna55 wrote: Thus I end my daily streak at day 12.

I seem to recall a conversation where someone was skeptical how much progress they'd actually be able to make on this project... You're making smashing progress. If you keep this up, I'll have to figure out a way to ship my truck to you for bodywork instead of the other way around. Good on ya for keeping your priorities straight.

hehehe, right on all counts.

You may want to see how it looks painted before you ask me to hit yours with a welder.

My second job gets charged $200/hr, seriously. I may consider a discount rate for you, though!!!

Still a great update to read over breakfast this morning.

Javelin wrote: *Still* a great update to read over breakfast this morning.

I was worried about you and your oatmeal yesterday at around 11. Yes, I was. Seriously. Stop laughing.

In reply to tuna55:

LMAO! Any update on this thread goes well with the oatmeal. Plus you're motivating me to devote 15 minutes a day to the Javelin. I haven't touched the actual car all week, but I've done a lot of work on the alternator upgrade in the garage. We just have to keep chipping away!

Glad to see and read that you're making progress! Keep it up, I'm in the midst of getting my garage cleaned and organized so I can start on my project, will take any motivation I can get

Another abbreviated night, although I hope that this post, too, is enough to make it through Javelin's oatmeal.

On Thursdays we go to Earthfare for dinner (family dinner night at the natural grocery store - feed everyone for $11) and the wife went grocery shopping afterwards so I got everyone to bed. Then I did some prepper work. My Grandfathers old generator is at my house now, and tomorrow has ice possible, so I spent an hour putting it together.

BAM

OK, now I was going to do some hammer and dolly work to weld the #9 piece to the cab corner.

OK, done. I am not happy with the weld quality, though. The feed speed seems awfully inconsistent. A visual inspection revealed nothing. Sometimes it jumps right out and the bead looks perfect, and sometimes it slows after arcing making the bead stick up all ugly like. I think I found a clue, though. I have the wheel on the feeder for 0.025" even though I am using 0.030" wire. If I use the correct side, it doesn't feed no matter how tight the knob is. Odd, eh? Does anyone have any ideas?

So here is the hole I have to patch on the A pillar side first.

grrr, first pass is too small.

This one looks WAY better

Done, although with the same buggery weld issues. Oh well, at this point it's all being ground flat anyway.

So tomorrow night will be mega-cold, but I still want to finish patching the A pillar. Not much done, but I am further ahead than yesterday.