MY 61 ECONOLINE P/U IN PROGRESS

The D & D kit works great. I had it on Vanishing Breed.

BALCONES1,
How's it going? We're all wondering about your project and have been following your progress. Hope all is well.
Dan

GOT A LITTLE MORE WORK DONE, BUT BEEN MORE BUSY WITH WORK THAN ANYTHING ELSE. HAD A BLAST AT THE LONE STAR ROUNDUP, AS USUAL. MAN I LOVE AUSTIN!! WILL TRY TO POST SOME RECENT PICS SOON.

WELL I FINALLY GOT BACK TO WORK IN THE GARAGE. IT'S BEEN A LONG HIATUS! THE TOOTH FAIRY BROUGHT ME SOME CASH FROM ALL THE TEETH I LOST BANGING MY HEAD AGAINST THE WALL TRYING TO PAY THE BILLS AT THE SHOP. THINGS HAVE TURNED UP AND ALLS WELL NOW. SO, LET'S SEE. I FINALLY STARTED ON THE BRAKES. GOT A SPEEDWAY ADJUSTABLE PROP. VALVE FOR THE REAR, 10 PSI AND 2 PSI RESIDUAL VALVES,RAN NEW BRAKE LINES (WAS A BITCH FINDING ALL THE RIGHT FITTINGS). FOUND THAT A FRONT BRAKE HOSE OFF OF A 98 DODGE PU WORKS ON THE FRONT WITH A LITTLE CLEARANCE GRINDING ON THE METRIC CALIPER, NOW JUST WAITING ON THE REAR BRAKE HOSE TO FINISH. FINALLY PAINTED THE UNDERSIDE WITH RUST BULLET. PAINTED THE INSIDE BED WITH ERF AND RATTLE CAN SATIN BLACK. REBUILT THE REAR AXLE ASSEMBLY AND PAINTED IT. PAINTED FRONT AXLE AND INSTALLED A SPEEDWAY STEERING/TIE ROD END ASSEMBLY. INSTALLED NEW SHOCKS. WELDED IN ALL THE CHROME TRIM HOLES. INSTALLED THE AUTO SHIFTER FROM A 74 CUTLASS 442 IN THE DASH. FABBED A POCKET FOR THE PREMIUM PORTABLE SOUND SYSTEM. SEAT FRAME IS PAINTED AND AWAITING MY WIFE'S SEAMSTRESS TOUCH. INSTALLED NEW 275/40/17 TIRES ON 17X9 WHEELS ON THE REAR, AND 205/55/16 TIRES ON 16X7 WHEELS ON THE FRONT. NEW REAR BRAKES,HARDWARE,WHEEL CYLS. AT THE MOMENT I AM CLOSE TO PAINTING. BUT THERE IS PLENTY OF OTHER LITTLE THINGS IN BETWEEN. WELL, ENOUGH TALK! LET'S GET TO THE PICS. SEE YA! HAVE A BITCHIN DAY!

Glad to see your back at it

WOW! Just spent over an hour checking out your radical ride!
Great work! Great truck!
THANKS!

SPENT THE LABOR DAY WEEKEND GIVING THE TRUCK A FACELIFT. WANTED TO ADD SOME CHARACTER AND MAYBE A LITTLE MORE AIR FLOW TO THE FRONT END. I WANTED TO FIND A SMALL 9" WOK AND CUT IT IN HALF BUT, AFTER DRIVING AROUND FOR THREE HOURS CHECKING STORES THEY ARE OBVIOUSLY NOT VERY POPULAR IN AUSTIN! SO I HAD TO CUT SOME 16 GAUGE SHEET AND HAMMER IT OVER A BOWLING BALL TO GET THE SHAPE. AFTER MANY CUTS AND WELDING BURNS THEY ACTUALLY TURNED OUT PRETTY GOOD.

Wow!!!! That really opens it up, a very differant idea. What are the plans for finishing the grill. Do you have something special in mind???? It fun watching your built

HERE'S A ROUGH MOCK UP. I NEED TO FIND MORE OLD BUMPER HORNS AND MAYBE SOME COOL TURN SIGNALS FOR THE ENDS.I GUESS IT ALL DEPENDS ON WHAT I CAN SCROUNGE UP.

very cool!!!! old bumper horns??? what are they off of????

I REALLY HAVE NO IDEA! I JUST BUY THEM WHEN I SEE EM. THE ONLY BAD THING IS THEY AREN'T ALL THE SAME. SO THET MEANS MORE METAL WORK. AHHHH! WHAT A LEARNING EXPERIENCE!

That is looking so awesome! Good to see you again!

Great pic's!!!! Keep them coming...

I only got to see your pics off and on on these last two pages. I sure like to see more how you got the brake booster and barkes mounted in. That is something I plane with one of my trucks is power brakes and disc brakes.
I don't know why everytime I clic to this thread the pictures do not show up. And the ones that did are either ther or not or half pics. I'm very intersted in the brake set up.
Like your teeth idea. Give it a vampire look a t bit.

WELL SO MUCH FOR MY LAST CUSTOM METAL WORK ON THE FRONT END. I FINALLY FOUND A GRILLE THAT I COULDN'T PASS UP. SO, I ENDED UP COMPLETELY CUTTING OUT THE LOWER GRILLE AREA AND AM IN THE PROCESS OF FABBING IN A 1954 DESOTO GRILLE. WHAT DO YOU THINK GUYS AND GALS. NEED SOME INPUT, GOOD OR BAD?

It looks awesome! You may need to add a reflective signal marker to your door to replace the function of the original marker. That grille will be awesome in there!

I have been looking at differant bumpers to help you fill that area, but looks like you came up with something. Very Cool!!!!

That is so cool .Good all the way. Bill

Wicked Awsome !

That grill is totally awesome. It gives the look of nasty unit.
Now the critic. The only part I find wrong is the area behind the signal lights needs to be filled. It looks too open there. I think something can be fabricated to fit nicely with the grill design. The signal lights and the grill extention would look like the corners of a mouth.
Maybe once done you will not need a bumper on the front. Just have the lower valance fixed and smoothen to give a nice smooth flow with the grill. Or if you want a bumper to make one that is molded to the body to give a smooth chin look like the newer cars plastic bumpers.
Just my opinion. It is your choice..

YEAH DEMONDOG, THE BACK WILL BE FILLED WITH SHEET METAL. I HAVE NOT FABBED ANY MOUNTING BRACKETS YET, SO THERE IS PLENTY OF WORK LEFT. I MAY FIND A CHROME BUMPER JUST TO GIVE IT A LOWER EFFECT AND BLEND IN THE GRILLE BETTER BECAUSE THE FRONT CENTER TEETH STICK OUT PRETTY FAR. I DONT KNOW, I'LL SEE WHAT STRIKES ME NEXT.

I think whatever you do it will be Cool

Any updates????

did you flip it over upside down....lets see what that looks like....just for kicks. looks real good now. but it might give that lwr look

MADE A LITTLE PROGRESS. STILL WORKING ON THE GRILLE AND SURROUND. FABBED A MUSTACHE TO HELP BLEND IN THE GRILLE AND ALSO SHORTENED FRONT BUMPER AND PUT A SLIGHT VEE IN IT. JUST INHERITED SOME CASH SO I'M ORDERING PARTS AGAIN. ABOUT TO GET REAL BUSY IN THE GARAGE.