Check out the smothness of that front roll pan and the removed & smothed turn signals beneath the headlights!

Man, I cannot wait to get this truck done!

Click for a larger version.

See the First Rendering.

Rollpan:

I want LED taillights (red, not white) which match the body line on the side of the truck.

Also, I do not want a license plate holder. I want to have a flip up/down setup so I can make it disappear at shows (or for pictures).

Click for a larger image.

Backup Lights:

I have also though about having a smaller set of white LED lights which would have the same L shape but fit underneath and inside the angle of the larger red ones (shown).

BUT, I think I like the simple and clean setup of just having taillights like this picture.

I am working on the site, and Sammy has already cranked out a rough draft.

Click for a larger image:

Click here for a HUGE image (1280×960).

Over the past 10 years I have collected a large assortment of Truckin’ pictures and internet pictures of trucks which I liked, in order to get a better visual of what my truck will look like when completed.

I am going to try to explain some of that here, but obviously I won’t be able to cover everything in one post. Plus, I have not been able to find some of the old Truckin’ articles I saved. So I will dig those up as soon as possible.

Checkout the pictures and then read my comments below to see how they fit into what I want to do.

Custom Front Roll Pan – Fabricated by Me

These are three very good examples of front roll pans. The bottom two are the same year of truck that mine is. The top yellow on is a 68-72 model, so the body style is different, but the front roll pan on it looks really good.

Regarding the second and third pictures, this is very close to what I want to accomplish; however, I do not want it to appear that there is a bumper there at all. Instead of having it “bump out” like all three of these do, below the grill, the sheet metal will go straight down and be completely flat.

Also, I plan to not have the “slots” beneath the grill either. I’m not sure why they are there. So far as I can tell, they serve no purpose, so they will be removed to leave a very clean front end!

Removable Bumper

Since the front roll pan will leave the front of my ’78 a little too vulnerable for my taste, fashioning the old bumper into a removable accessory is key.

The solution will be to fabricate two brackets in a V shape. One leg of the V will attach to the bumper and the other leg will have four bolt holes on it which will match up to four holes (two for each bracket to keep the bumper from “flexing” from side to side) on the frame underneath the front of the truck.

This will allow a bumper to be on the truck when driving around town, but if it is entered into shows, it can quickly be removed (just remove 4 bolts) for maximum prettiness.

To Turn Signal, Or not to Turn Signal

You can also see from the last two pictures that the orange truck still has the front turn signals and marker lights, while the green one has neither.

My truck will definitely have the marker lights shaved (removed) so the fender will look just like the green truck.

I also want to remove the front turn signals, again, like the green truck, but I need to verify this is legal in the State of Missouri before doing so. I sure hope I don’t legally have to have front blinkers in Missouri. If anyone knows please shoot me a comment.

Verbosity

Wow, this turned out to be MUCH longer than I had anticipated.

I will cut it off here for now and create more posts to keep showing pictures similar to what I want to accomplish.

Feedback and Tips are always welcome!

That’s it! It’s official!

Columbia College called this morning and offered me a full time Web Developer position.

I am so excited to be joining this team.

Of course, Columbia College and I have a long history. My mother & father both attended there, I attended there, my best friend, my brother-in-law, and so many more friends all attended CC!

Dr. Lisa Ford-Brown and Dr. Amy Darnell, with the help of another student and myself pioneered the Speech Communication Degree which never existed in Columbia College history prior to our graduation in 2006!

When my mother and father attended Columbia College simultaneously, one took day classes and the other evening classes so they would pass my stroller in the hallways. Mom joked CC should have given me an honorary degree since I attended both her’s and my dad’s classes. Plus, when there was still a pool, that’s where I learned to swim! But there’s a Student Center sitting on top of the old pool now… It’s much prettier!

Regardless, my first day will be July 26th, 2010 and I’m super pumped.

Other than the fact that the people on the CC Web Team seem amazing from my interactions with them here are some more things I’m really looking forward to:

Bicycling to work (3.7 miles one way)
Showering on site (the awesome CC gym has a full shower / locker room facility)
Free college for Myself, my wife and any future children
Working less than a mile from my wife
Working at the same company with my best friend & his wife
Working less than 700 yards from our Church (Lunch with the church staff & drum practice over lunch)

So, needless to say, I’m very excited and feel extremely blessed.

Thank You for everyone’s prayers.

My 1978 Silverado’s fuel pump was leaking pretty bad, so $42 later it’s got a brand new pump and rubber lines.

Pump: $21
Rubber hose, Brass fittings and Clamps: $21

Pictures!

Here is the pesky old fuel pump I removed which was leaking. Unfortunately the metal fuel line which connects to the carburetor was too stuck to unscrew from the pump. Thus, I had to replace the metal fuel line with a new rubber one.

Here is a close up of the frustrating fuel line fitting which would not unscrew. Penetrating oil and Vice-grips proved an un-worthy adversary for this little fitting!

New hardware! 5 feet of rubber fuel line, two brass fittings and four hose clamps.

Close up of the brass fittings. These things are nice, but at $7.50 a piece about gave me a heart attack. One goes into the new fuel pump and one into the carburetor.

New fuel pump installed. No lines hooked up yet, and the old one needs to be removed.

The carburetor. No lines hooked up yet.

The carburetor with the new brass fitting to make sure it would thread up right. I put the fittings inside the hoses and tightened the hose clamps before screwing them into place.

The brass fitting screwed into the new pump, and the old line (an inch too short) in the picture.

These fittings are super nice. Double flared at the end to make sure the hose doesn’t work its way off (and makes it tough to get it on in the first place). Hose clamp just for extra measure.

He’s ready for his close up Mr. DeMille.

The hose on the fitting, clamped down, and screwed into the carb. You can see the line is routed between the alternator and the alternator bracket, then down to the fuel pump. Hopefully the alternator won’t get too hot and melt my rubber hose.

The fitting screwed into the fuel pump.

A close up of the fuel pump and line.

I was walking by my truck this evening and just stopped to stare at the front. I would have just continued to stare at my pickup, but it was getting pretty dark…

Curious about this powerful emotional response, Google called my name and I started browsing images of other trucks from this year range and body style to see if they solicited the same response.

Few of the truck pictures I found on Google tugged at me, until I found three which caught my attention.

Ironically, each of these three trucks gave me that same heart-pull as looking at my own. The primary trait each truck shares with my own was the color, blue. Blue does happen to be my favorite color, and the tone of blue shown on each of these trucks (and mine) is by far my preferred shade of blue, but something rather profound struck me.

Every time I see that body line, those two round headlights, the pronounced flat hood with such a powerful ridge running down the middle, and Chevy’s bow-tie emblem dead center, I remember him.

Chevrolet only produced this body style for six years, and few people care about them. Most prefer the more stylish 67-72, or the newer 79-89. For me, that L-shaped body curve and those two round headlights hold a powerful emotional significance. For me, these simple sheet-metal and glass elements call back to some of the fondest memories of my life, with a man I will forever strive to emulate. A man who I idolize even in death. A man whose infrequent and soft words have hopefully shaped me into the man I am today, and prayerfully into a better man tomorrow.

That man. That truck. My Grandfather.

It is with tears in my eyes I finish writing. I have long known I loved these trucks because they reminded me of my grandfather. But until tonight, I never realized how strong the simple design elements of these trucks reminded me of his simple nature, soft personality, and powerful spirit!

They are terrible pictures as this was right after I got the truck home, and right before we tore out the engine.

I just used them to send to our insurance agent to get my coverage started.

New pictures with better scenery will follow soon!

Soon I will start uploading pictures of other trucks I’ve found which have elements similar to what I want to accomplish.

After spending about an hour reading ever post written on the site, I was hooked and had to contact the site owner. We had a great conversation and determined that we might have been twins separated at birth as we are both web designers who love working on our 1978 Silverado’s. Very strange combination.

Regardless, his efforts on EpicChevy.com have spurred me to start tracking the restoration work I do on my 1978 Silverado.

Following in Epic Chevy’s footsteps, my first post about the truck will be what I want to do to it. The end goal is to have a complete frame-off restoration completed. While I do have some fancy body ideas for the truck, the snazziest bits are my plans for the Silverado’s cockpit.

I understand this list is long, and might take years to accomplish, but I’m okay with that. My biggest struggle is determining what order to do all the work in.

Body Work:

(Note: shave [shaving] means to remove something and fill the sheet metal hole where it was)

Remove the crappy body molding (weld up the holes left behind)

Remove the front bumper
Remove the lower grill panel (part behind the bumper & beneath the grill)
Fabricate a front roll pan
Strip & paint the old bumper and create a removable mounting bracket (so the bumper can be taken on and off to protect the front roll pan & grill)

Clean up the firewall. Remove all unnecessary components and move the necessary ones to make it as pretty as possible.
Fabricate custom front fenders.

Shave the fender marker lights
Shave the mirrors & replace with something (I’m not sure yet)
Shave the door handles (the doors will have a remote key-fob and solenoid to open them)
Shave the rain drip rail over both doors
Shave the bed light
Convert the windows & window wings into a solid pane of glass (there is a kit for this)

Fix the tailgate (some dents & dings)
Shave the tailgate handle (the handle will be inside the bed)
Shave the taillights
Remove the rear bumper & attached receiver hitch assembly
Add a sheet metal roll pan with LED lighting (no license plate holder)
Build a custom tube bumper and removable mounting bracket (so the bumper can be taken on and off to protect the rear roll pan)
Build a flip-down license plate holder (it flips up behind the front and rear bumper to hide the license plates)

Remove the bed, sandblast, and fix all rust spots
Line-X the bed and put on an undercoating (POR-15)

Frame Work:

Remove everything from the frame, clean (possibly sandblast but there is little rust, so little need to) and put on a bullet proof & permanent frame protector. (POR-15) This has been an ongoing battle with me. I originally wanted to put Line-X on the entire frame, the underside of the bed and cab, and inside the cab and bed; however, this would add 500 POUNDS to my truck! Also, I have been told by several people that bed liner material is more of a saran wrap on metal, so when it cracks moisture is trapped between it and the metal causing worse rust than if it was bare metal. I have found several other materials, but I have not settled on one yet. POR-15 seems to be the best.

While the front clip, cab and bed are off the frame, replace ALL the bushings & cab mounts. The 30+ year old rubber ones are obviously shot and the new polyurethane ones are awesome.

Article about this… $60

Drive Train:

The engine has now been rebuilt twice, and the automatic TH 350 transmission has been rebuilt once. I think it will be fine for the life of the truck but after I’ve completed everything, I think a new fuel injected (crate) engine and a modern transmission with higher gears might be in order for better gas mileage, power and all the electrical craziness I have in mind.

Interior Work: (My Pièce de résistance)

The interior of this truck is where I really want to spend the majority of my time.
Unfortunately, this is the part that I know the least about.

My goal is to have a 30+ year old truck with an ultra modern, electronic interior.

The bench seat is staying (per the wife’s request), but everything else is going to change.

Remove the carpet
Reupholster the bench seat
Replace the old worn out seat belts
Replace the steering column
Line-X the floorboard after putting down sound deadening (emboss bowties on each floorboard)

Now, for the craziness:

Completely remove the dashboard and gauge cluster.
This truck will not have a single gauge, switch or button when it’s completed.
The only thing inside the cab will be the two door handles.

All the inputs for the truck, speedometer, fuel level, oil pressure, volt meter, temperature, odometer, etc… will be ported to a computer which will in turn display everything on a 21” touch-screen monitor which will sit atop the transmission hump in the cab.

The dashboard will be one solid, uninterrupted piece of sheet metal (minus the holes for the defroster) fabricated by me. As clean and sleek as is humanly possible.

Every piece of this truck will be controlled by the on-board computer system through the touch screen monitor, including:

Starting it (which I want to be fingerprint authenticated)
Unlocking the doors (with a manual override by pulling the door handle inside the cab)
Rolling the windows up and down (including the rear window)
and Controlling the in-flight entertainment system

WOAH!

Holy crap, putting all that down, and I’m sure that’s not everything, is really intimidating. That’s probably why I’ve avoided it for so long. Next I need to attach prices and times to each of these items to see if I can finish this before the truck and I both die of old age. The problem is, the more I work on the truck the younger it gets, but I don’t stop aging!

Well, there it is. Almost everything I want to do.
This has been my dream now for almost 10 years.
I’ve got the truck, it’s in good shape, and now I just need to start.
I have pictures of many things I want to accomplish which I’ve seen on other trucks and in Truckin’ magazine, so I will post those soon.

Also, I’ll post some pictures of both my 1978 Silverado’s.

I forgot to mention that earlier.
I actually own two 1978 Silverado trucks, one is my half-ton daily driver (blue & silver) that is in great condition. The second is a 3/4 ton retired farm truck that’s in rough shape. Solid engine and four speed manual (crazy low gears!).

Since I’m no crack welder or sheet metal worker, I am going to use the 3/4 ton truck to practice on, including stripping it apart to see how everything goes together, and using the sheet metal components to practice welding, sanding, and painting.

Alright, pictures to follow soon!

I couldn’t wait any longer to install the software on my own blog!

The wordpress developers have pushed back the release date of the newest version of WordPress 3.0, several times and the newest push has them possibly releasing it in June 2010.

I simply could not wait that long to  enjoy the awesome new features wordpress 3.0 has to offer.

If you don’t know what these are, check out Six Revisions’ WordPress 3.0: Ultimate Guide to New Features.

Well, that’s all, this is simply a gloat post.