Friday, August 27, 2010

Does this rearend make my truck look fat?

Kevin and I went to KarBashers this morning and pulled the rear axle out of a 1989-90 Dodge Dakota. It took us about 3 hours and we had to walk the thing out of the yard in a wheel barrow. The truck had 300000 km on it but the axles look pretty good - a bit rusty but definitely better than what I had.  The main reason was to have a 5 lug pattern for the rear wheels which will match the front 5 lug pattern of the front wheels (the old axle I had was 6 lug).  No ABS though - no biggie.

Here is Kevin himself with the old axle behind him and the new one in front. Whatta trooper. 

Holding that shock kinda weird....Just happy to be here I guess.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Front end follies

So in the past week I ground down the welds on the frame and prepped it for paint.  That took about 3 days, because I had to drill a bunch of holes and get the rear spring mounts sorted out before I could paint.  I also had to fill a bunch of holes and smooth everything out as best I could. There is a pile of metal filings about 4 inches high and 2 feet across that I swept outside.

The painting took 2 days because you need to leave 6 hours between coats.  I used a product called DOM16 - it dries glossy black and is hard as nails.  We'll see how it lasts.  One quart did the whole frame 2 coats plus the lower control arms.... and if I remember a quart was around 40-50 bucks.

Today I put the front upper and lower control arms on, Springs and shocks, new wheel bearings, seals and rotors/hubs.  Essentially the front end is as new - all new bushings and moving parts.  I still have to put the steering linkage back on, the motor mounts on, and the sway bar.  Then the front end will be complete.

Here's where it sits right now.
The boxed frame, painted and ready to go.
The front end, totally rebuilt with new rotors.
Close up of the new rotors and nice shiny paint.

I sandblasted most of the parts in the hopes that the rust stays away.  It is hard sandblasting because I don't have a booth.  One day I hope to get one, but for now I sandblast in the driveway.  Michelle is pretty patient with all the sand I track into the house.

I am going to try and get a 5 lug rear end from a wrecker on Friday.  We'll see if I can get Shaver to help me with that project.

So far the entire project has been entertaining and a great learning experience.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Rainy day = parts to pickup

So - I'm now caught up on the blog for the Rust Bomb AKA 1952 Dodge Fargo.

It's raining today so I went and picked up the parts for the front end.  It has all new bushings and ball joints.  Thanks City Spring.  The total cost was $366 and if you add in the Dodge stealership $160 to do half the job then it was over $500 bucks to replace the front end.  WOW!

That may put a dent in the budget.  Here are the new parts.

New control arm bushings
New rear spring bushings
And the old shackle bushing so you can see how crappy they used to look.
I also got a new toy - a Miller 180 welder.  I bought it to finish off the frame welds I have to do.  I have an old Miller 115V welder that I used for welding thin sheet metal projects.  This new Miller 230V welder will weld up to 5/16 thick steel.  It lets me be more versatile with what I can fabricate and what I have to send off to get done.  It is pretty cool. It has a setting on the dial where you set the wire speed at the size of wire you are using, set the temperature for the thickness amount you are welding, and the machine automatically sets itself to weld.   
This is to date one of the coolest things I own.  Yay welder.
I used it to finish the box plates welded on the frame.

I will finish this today and hopefully grind it down for paint tomorrow.  The paint can't be applied while it is raining anyway.

And here is a photo of the air compressor I have.  Since I have been singing its praises I though it only fair.  I use it for the plasma cutter, sand blaster, and a ton of air tools.  It works really well and is on its own dedicated 230V circuit.  I used to have it wired directly into the wall but changed that to a plug so I can plug in the new welder.  It has temporary outlets that work OK but I would really like to mount the hoses on the wall.  Maybe when I get a dedicated shop I will.

I love this compressor.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Aug 12, 2010 - simple chores to stay in the game

I capped the large holes at the front of the frame and sandblasted the front frame to see how it would go.  I have a small sandblaster from Princess Auto and it needs a fair bit of air to run.  Yet another reason I am glad i have the BIG compressor that I have.

Ugly hole...
Filled in by me!
Front frame sandblasted.
The project is now officially down to just the bare frame.  This is the most I have ever taken a car apart and I hope I can successfully put it all back together (unlike the TV remote).

Frame up - kinda neat.

I have some DOM16 paint that I am going to use to paint the frame once the welding is finished.  I have been cutting out the plates from 3/16" mild steel using Bryant's plasma cutter.

Aug 8, 2010 - Slow.

It has been slow going.  Mike can only weld on the weekends and I don't want to pester him too much.  I have been dropping off resumes and looking for work.

As for the Fargo, while I am waiting for the frame to get completed, I ripped apart the front steering components and the rear.  I ordered bushings from a company in the USA and took the parts to the Dodge dealership to get them put in.  I don't have a press and these ball joints need to be pressed in.  The shop told me no problem, we can do that.  Turns out they can't.  They put half of them in and charged me $160 bucks.  That's the last time I go to the dealer.

Good bye old 6 lug rotors and wobbly old ball joints.



I took the half finished parts over to Alberta Springworks, which is where the dealer says they farm out this type of work.  before I left I asked them "why didn't you just tell me that at the start".  They had no answer for that.

I picked up new rotors for a 1990 Dakota in order to change from a six lug wheel (which the donor Dakota had) to a five lug.  The older 4.5 X 5 pattern should fit the original rims from the Fargo - COOL.  I also got new shocks, bearings, seals and brake calipers.  When done the whole front end will be rebuilt and it will be like driving the truck off the lot.

I got all of the parts from Dash Distributers (shocks & calipers) and Part Source (rotors and bearings). 

June 2010 - Time to get back to project rust bomb

2009 ended a bit badly for project rust bomb.  The setback from the rusty Dakota frame had kind of got me down.  I brought the frame into the shop and asked a friend - Mike - to help me weld it.  I only have a little 110 welder which is not big enough for the task.  Mike brought over his welding truck and we started to weld.

Here you can see the plate that I used to tie the two frames together.  It is 3/16" and I cut it using a plasma cutter that I borrowed from Bryant. 

A plasma cutter is awesome to have. It makes a job like this bearable. Without it I would have had to use a jigsaw and that would have sucked. Bry had the Lincoln ProCut 25 which can be used on a 115V line or a 230V line.  I plugged it into a 110 outlet and proceeded to carve up the steel plates.  It is a little slow going but still better than the alternatives.


If you are going to use a plasma cutter you need a good air supply.  I bought a Princess Auto vertical compressor for around a thousand bucks.  I had always wanted one and now I can run all my air tools and the plasma cutter. 

Here is Mike hard at work.  it is a lot of welding to box this part up.
Mike is all "I think we're done here"





Sept 22, 2009 - Fargo gets a steering wheel & a friend.

I planned to get a tilt wheel so I could add a more modern stalk with cruise control. It makes getting in and out easier also.  I found online that old 1970 era Chevy vans have no ignition key on the stalk.  This is what I wanted since the Fargo has the ignition key on the dash.  I pulled one from Pick Your Part which cost $27.43
It was from a Van that had caught fire.  The turn signal stalk was a little melted but my plan was to replace that with a cruise control one.  I had to shorten the shaft and while doing that I screwed up and had to go to Kar Basher to get another.  That wrecker is pretty interesting.  It is very muddy and if it rains it is downright impossible to walk anywhere. The replacement cost me $36.75 - bummer.

I will replace the modern steering wheel later.

I also picked up another Dodge truck - this one a 1951 from a seller in Red Deer.  It actually is a Dodge and not a Fargo.  It cost me $350.0 and gives me another VIN to use that is an Alberta Vehicle.  The guy was planning to restore it but it is in worse shape than mine.  I will use the doors, bumper (hard to find), VIN, and steering wheel (maybe).

Here it is coming home.  My man Nathan helped me bring it back from Red Deer.  That guy is a trooper and seriously helped me with the towing.  Thanks Nate.
The '51 on Nate's trailer. On the right is the '52 frame. 
 I also cut the rear frame from the Dakota and attached a steel subframe to set the Fargo box on.  The Dakotas kick up really high in the back, whereas the Fargo is really straight. This would have worked but for a slight oversight on my part.......
Cutting the shackles loose from the Dakota frame.
Positioning the new steel subframe.
And more positioning.
And a shot of the front for inspiration....

The problem was that the Dakota frame was rusted through underneath and I didn't see it.  While I was working on the front I hit the frame with a hammer and a huge chunk of rusted metal -1/2 inch thick by 2 inches wide by 7 inches long - just fell out. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.  I spent some time planning what I would do and decided to use the front from the Dakota and the rear from the Fargo.  Looking back this is what I should have done first - ah well, the whole reason for doing this project is to learn.  Thank God I was not paying someone to make this kind of mistake.

I cut and tack welded the frames together, set all the parts back on the truck, rolled the truck onto the back lawn and covered them for the winter to wait for 2010.

I have been keeping receipts on the project, one pile for truck and truck related items and one for tools to work on the truck. 

$3862.11 - Fargo Costs - trucks, fenders, nuts and bolts, steel, steering column, etc

$2519. 86 - Tool Costs - in here are some big ticket items like the air compressor and sandblaster and engine hoist.  If you remove those it is more like $650 for consumables like gloves, sanding disks, drill bits, flaring tool, brake cleaner, paint, etc.

Interesting. 


Sept 3, 2009 - more work on Fargo Front End.

I bought some Fiberglass Fenders from Pro's Pick in Ontario.  Front and rear fenders came to $1373.40 Canadian. The ones I has were really bad, especially the passenger side fender. They are a great company, answered all of my questions and maintained contact until the parts arrived.  I had to ship them to a commercial address.

Here they are attached to the truck. You can see the V6 out of the Dakota sitting in the engine bay.  There is lots of room for a radiator and fan and about a half inch clearance to the firewall because I moved the motor forward.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Aug 31, 2009 - Cutting the frame

So the plan was to cut the frame and make the Dakota fit under the Fargo.

 I had to move the V6 engine forward 1.5 inches to clear the firewall. So I welded some tabs onto the Dakota stock mounts. Hopefully in the future if we want to swap engines these mounts will still work.  The plan for now is to keep the V6 for fuel economy.

This mount was also broken because a previous owner had left a bolt out and vibration had cracked the mount.

Kids, when you take something apart put it back together the same way.


I welded posts onto the frame to keep the height the same and then cut the frame apart at the stock seam where Dodge welds the 2 parts together.  I had the cab on the frame and the box and just measured the distance that needed to be removed - 22 inches I think.
Cut complete - kinda scary.  No turning back now.



I pulled the 2 parts together using tiedown straps.  The seam looks factory because it is where the factory join would be.
And here is the frame welded - and a good shot of the cab mounts I made.

Aug. 20, 2009 - Cab mockup

I started to put the Fargo cab on the Dakota frame to figure out where it needed to sit. 
Here the cab is on stands and in the right position. I took measurements for the cab supports and built some out of square tubing. 
I attached the fenders to the cab to make sure the wheels are sitting correctly in the wheel wells.  This is the measurement I used to make sure the cab was in the right place.

Here is the cab sitting on the Dakota chassis. 

At this point the plan was to use the whole Dakota frame- just shorten it and modify the rear to fit the Dakota box.  Sadly I put a bunch of work in that direction before rust convinced me it was not going to work.

Aug, 2009 - Stripping the Dakota

I needed to get the parts off the Dakota so I could cut the frame apart.  So I moved the Fargo out and the Dakota in.
Starting to remove the Dakota parts.

The Dakota with the body gone.
My Neighbors - probably a little miffed  - as this was the yard for most of the summer of 2009.
The yard looking Right out the garage door...

The Yard looking left out the garage door,

June 22, 2009 - I started taking the front apart.

Here we go with taking the front end apart. All in all it went fairly smoothly.
A shot of the glove box.  They were cardboard and the mice LOVE them.  There is not really enough here to make a pattern from.  Don't let it get you down.

I bought a engine puller (always wanted one) and yanked the 289.  It runs, so if you know anyone looking, send me an email.

Pulled the steering wheel and started removing parts so I could remove the cab.

Goodbye front windows.

And finally the cab was removed using the engine puller.  Quite a handy tool - this is easily a 3 person job otherwise.  I did it myself.
The Dodge Dakota in the background is the doner vehicle.  I need it for wiring, engine and transmission, front steering and rear axle.  It cost $400 and looking back, maybe I should have looked a bit harder.  It was really rusty - the frame was rotted through in a bunch of places and many of the bolts would not come out at all.  Everyone I talked to thinks it came from Ontario - salty roads wreck cars.  We are spoiled here in Alberta.

There are many places one can go to research a project - and research should be done before you even buy a vehicle.  Once you decide on a path - Restore, Rod, etc, changing your direction is really hard.  I decided to street rod it - update the engine and steering and chassis and brakes.

The simplest way to fix the front end was to use a clip (the steering, engine mounts, brakes and suspension) from a newer car or truck.  This gives you a solid unit to use.

Once I had decided to use a front clip  I looked for donor vehicles.  Volare cars seemed to be popular, and some people were using minivans.  I wanted to keep the Dodge all Mopar, so when I found people using the Dakota chassis that is the route I went. The track width is only out by 1/2 inch, so it fits really well.  And if you find a 1989-1991 the wheel lugs are 4.5 X 5 so you can use your original rims.

http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/index.php  is a forum for the Dodge Pilot House trucks (1948-1953).  This information is invaluable.  I can't thank the people on it enough for answering questions and helping with different ideas.

June 2009 - Inspecting Mr Fargo




I started to take the Fargo apart in June 2009 to get an idea of what I was dealing with.  The seller had commented that it just needed brakes and was good to run on the street.  Whatever!

My plan was to street rod it - upgrade the steering and brakes and engine, but keep it looking as stock as possible on the outside.

The interior - not too bad as far as old trucks go. You can see the original colour paint - burgundy. 

The engine - a running flathead inline 6. Cool but dated. 

A close up of the box and wooden bed.  Definately seen better days.  The plan is to replace the wood floor.

The box removed from the truck.  Check out the skinny bias ply tires.
This is the passenger side of the frame looking down at the spring mount.  This would be under the box.  Look at the nice crack on the frame... Research online revealed that these trucks were prone to frame cracking. 

The beginning of the 52 rebuild project - or "How I fell in love with the rust bomb"

I have always loved older vehicles - especially trucks. Cars are cool but trucks remind me of the farm where I grew up. Trucks are simpler and less fancy than cars and symbolize a work ethic that I like. My earliest memories on the farm are of helping my father repair an engine and I have always been tinkering with cars and trucks (sometimes because I want to and sometimes because I have to).

I started this blog to help me keep track of a truck rebuild project and hopefully to guide and inspire someone else who is thinking of doing the same thing. I know I have relied on lots of internet knowledge as I progressed with the project.

In May 2009, I took the plunge and bought a 1952 Fargo from a seller near Saskatoon Saskatchewan for the measly sum of $1000.00. The truck was running and "the only thing wrong was the brakes were not working" according to the seller. There are lots of 50's Chevrolets and Fords because the aftermarket parts supply is there for them.  There are very few Dodge trucks and the fact that this is a Fargo makes it a bit unique. 

My brother and I towed it from Saskatoon to Lloydminster, picked up his family there, and towed the truck the rest of the way to my house in Edmonton.
Here is the truck after its long journey from Saskatoon to Edmonton.

That's me outside and my nephew Sheldon in the drivers seat. 
Here is the truck we towed the Fargo with - Old Yeller



















I only have 1 garage so in the summer I park the cars outside on the street and I work on the truck.  In the winter the truck comes out and the cars go into the garage.  So far it seems to work.  So long as the cars don't get snowed on...





 



In June 2009 I started to take the Fargo apart.