"The Buzzing Half Dozen" 63 pickup build

hey Kage i got that front for you

yesterday when I got home I removed the gas tank after I found a leak in it. My tank is full of pinholes. So I am now on the lookout for a new tank.


Since I had the tank out I went ahead and dropped the rear weight that sits between the gas tank and the bed of the truck. pictured below is the 2.5" thick piece of cast iron thats under our truck for those who have never seen it.

Since I had the tank and the weight out of the way I decided to go ahead and start cutting out the bed and getting it ready for the sheet of diamond plate. The sheet of diamond plate will be in next week. I think I might borrow my buddies plasma cutter to finish the job off...if not I am going to burn thru a lot of cutting discs.

yesterday evening I got more of the bed cut out. Unfortunately I ran out of cutting blades.

since supplies are running low there will not be much more progress until payday.

ok...using the scaps of my supplies I managed to get the top of the bed on the drivers side stripped and a little more cut out of the bed.



thanks to this site I have found dome people with parts I can use to patch up some of the badly rusted areas on the truck...like the front wheel well pictured below.

progress on the truck will be slowing down a little. I am trying to get my Merc ready for a show at the end of September.

Yesterday i made a 1000 mile round trip to go pick up the new motor for the Econoline. Its a freshly rebuilt 200 inline six. Punched 30 over, with a dual roller timing chain and a clay smith cam.

Well....the 1stthe Annual Hooligan Hoedown went over pretty well. Now it is time to get back to work on the truck. Im going to be in need of a truck here soon.
so the 1stthe order of business is to pull the old engine and swap in the new. While the engine is out i will clean up and paint the trans and throw in a new clutch. I will get some pics up as soon as i can.

kage wrote:Yesterday i made a 1000 mile round trip to go pick up the new motor for the Econoline. Its a freshly rebuilt 200 inline six. Punched 30 over, with a dual roller timing chain and a clay smith cam.

That's going to be nice

Yesterday i dropped the head off to be machined for the tri-power set up. I pick up the head this Friday.

Today I pulled the old motor and trans. Iam currently cleaning up and painting parts to go on the new motor. Ill get some pics up in the next day or so of the new motor.

I got the head back from the machine shop and i am currently working on fabricating the 2car new carb mounting flanges for the tri-power setup. If everything goes smoothly i should be ready to drop the motor back in in a couple of days.

Sorry for the lack of updates and pics. I have been busy mooving and starting barber school. I just got back to work on the linkage for the Tri-power setup. I will get some pics up in the next day or so.

I did score big at a local swap meet and got 3 brand new carbs for 25 each. The are NOS GM carbs. I had to modify the carb mounting flanges to fit them but the sure do look good

Hey Kage
I have that partial nose in my shed if you want it...
I'll try to take afew more pics of it to send you.
Jim, in NJ

Casimier wrote:Hey Kage
I have that partial nose in my shed if you want it...
I'll try to take afew more pics of it to send you.
Jim, in NJ

That would be great....i would have got it from you already but the move put me a little behind.

I was looking at what you want to cut out on the front..

I would try to keep the passenger EYE mostly intact because my panel has none.

IM me your email address and I'll pass on a pic to you.

The last few days i have been working on the bed. I must say....drilling out all those old spot welds suck!...lol. i also started making patch panels for my tail gate.

Rock and roll on that truck man, Its going to be just as killer as the merc! Man you make me miss my 56 ford sedan delivery...

Gothboy wrote:Rock and roll on that truck man, Its going to be just as killer as the merc! Man you make me miss my 56 ford sedan delivery...

Thanks man...i should finally be able to get some pics up today. I have started radiusing my wheel wells and making my air cleaner for my tri-power set up. Im also still working on getting the rest of the bed stripped and ready for the new sheet of steel.

pictured below is the air cleaner I made for the tri-power set up and the the start of radiusing the wheel wells




I still need to clean up the edge some and then add the 1/4" rod stock around the radius.

more pics to come soon.

i got the heater painted and put back together. it turned out pretty good.


finally got my fuel lines ran. I like the way they turned out. plane and simple.

im diggin the tri power set up, cool...

I repainted my engine


i installed a new oil pump, new platinum plugs, and have a new HEI distributor on the way.

this is an awesome build man. definitely motivating me

Pictured below is the new air cleaner i am working on. I cut out the middle section and split in half. I have the new center section roughed in. Now its time for some welding and grinding.