Project: Metal Head

[curt_minke]

Hey everyone,
This is my new project thanks to Brian Chamers. I will begin by stipping the truck and smoothing the whole frame, and mounting all the compressors tanks n lines to the frame, and painting it monster energy green. There is a few thing that need to be starightened out. Pics updated daily. Keep tuned to the thread to see the progess.


Basicly whats done already:
-Full two link air ride with control arms etc
-Tubbed for 22's
-small block chevy mounts + tranny + driveshaft
-+ what ever you can see in the pics
What i started with...






Starting to strip the truck.

[JollyRojer]

First thing to fix.


that 2 link lol. truck looks pretty good but its DEF a project huh good luck man! dont hesistate to ask anything everyone here is a big help with even the simple things that stump you.

[OneLowSdime]

i like how the firewall turned out

[chevy42083]

Any info on the bed sides?
Metal, fiberglass?
Aftermarket, custom?

More pics please


This is assuming my eyes don't deceive me, and they are infact flared

[hrspwr454]

i like the hood, do you know where i can get one?

[curt_minke]

the bed is the next step on this project. i have set it aside untill the frame is all done with the motor and tranny in place. my deadline for the frame is end of october with the motor and tranny in. This is a long deadline but again i work during the day and only have nights and select weekends becasue i do have another life including friends and partys lol. Yes its def a project, the rear frame rails have to be straightened, and i am going to make a whole new two link in the back. The shocks have to be relocated aswell. Other than that the cab will be off tonight and i will begin the changes and smoothing. More pics later tonight after cab is off.
And don;t worry i should have lots of questions to come.

[curt_minke]

Bed
- all shaved and moulded as one piece.
- smooth floor (all metal)
- Dump box
Frame
-tanks compressors valves etc mounted to rear of frame
- smoothed
- new shocks and relocated
- etc
Cab
- Shaved
- etc
Front clip
- Shaved
- 99 sonoma headlights
- Custom front grille (this is going to be one off. Crazy)
Wheels
- 20's
Interior
- Full custom interior wrapped in leather, luxury street rod
- havn't put a stereo idea in yet
- ++++++

Stay Tuned!

[JollyGreenMini]

Quote: Originally Posted by JollyRojer

First thing to fix.


that 2 link lol. truck looks pretty good but its DEF a project huh good luck man! dont hesistate to ask anything everyone here is a big help with even the simple things that stump you.

I love how people are always hatin on 2-links. I've been running one for almost 6 years and have put 30-40,000 miles on it with abso-freekin-lutly no problems.


Back to the topic... Truck looks good man, good luck getting everything done... Btw, what's with the hitch reciever inbetween the frame horns?

[Chop Top 10]

Quote: Originally Posted by JollyGreenMini

I love how people are always hatin on 2-links. I've been running one for almost 6 years and have put 30-40,000 miles on it with abso-freekin-lutly no problems.

i agree... there aint nothing wrong wit a 2 link

[chevy42083]

Quote: Originally Posted by curt_minke

the bed is the next step on this project. i have set it aside untill the frame is all done with the motor and tranny in place.

But what about the bed that is on it NOW? I mean, it's obviously flared out. Do you have any info on it?
That's why I asked what material it was, aftermarket or custom flare, and for pics.

Sounds like it's gonna be sweet.

The hitch was probably either to drag, or for easy towing/loading on a trailer. just a guess.

[curt_minke]

ok so the cab is off but everyone took off on me today so i dont haveit removed but anyways, funny thing the box has summmit racing tubs, its flared because the tie ins weren't attatched to the frame. and the reciever in the horns is becasue the guy i bought it off of would put a hitch in so he could jack up the front when it wasn;t all hooked up. so............i think thats all but ya anymore questions im happy to answer.

[tohoopty]

did you get that truck off mautofied.

[curt_minke]

Cab is off...>!

So after looking at the truck after the cab was off i realized there is alot of gummy welds and crap uneven cuts. Little bit of work but you can see for yourself.










Here you can see the rear notches are bowed in...lil bit of tlc needed here.

[curt_minke]

tranny mount is also crooked and wtisted this will be remade for sure.

[fdimeroller]

ha, it looked pretty good in the first pic. glad ur diggin in on it to find all the probs & bad work. good luck man

[Driveway Kustoms]

wait why so many welds along the sides of the frame? was it stockfloored, and do u know the dealio with the bumper cut out where the blinkers go? good project too, good luck with it

[curt_minke]

doesn;t matter bout the turn signals anyways cause its getting changed, and the clear corners are where they are now. sotck floored yes just put 3" square tubing in instead of the regular 5 inch channel. Problems everywhere!!!!. i don;t know what they thought when they did this but anyways its all getting fixed and done properly. And yes its pretty ugly looking stuff.

[Driveway Kustoms]

oh ok, cool man ill be watching this to see where it goes

[curt_minke]

so and update for ya...
Started cutting away at the crap welds and the more i cut the more i found. patches of 3 x 1/4 flatbar cover holes and hacked areas. I have cut this out and placed new metal in place of all the crap. Also cut the crooked and twised tranny mount.
Pics up tomorrow.

[curt_minke]

So this is the situation im running into.

This picture shows the chunk welds and patch jobs on the frame.





And this is the fix I made. Smoother and properly. Now just a bit of grinding and it should look top dollar.

[curt_minke]

question...............
I want to run dual exhast off the headers of my 350 to the back. With the body drop there is very little room to put in 3inch. I was thinking of channeling my cab with 4 x 4 channel.... any other ideas ???? thanks

[V8Blaze]

3 inch duals is pretty big pipe. what all is done to the motor to need that large of exhaust. ive got 2.5 pipes on my blazer and its probably bigger than it needs with the crate motor in it

also truck looks good, doesnt seem like its to bad, nothing a little CORRECT welding and bracing cant fix

[curt_minke]

350 crate motor. on the engine dyno it had 425 on the crank. but i really don;t knwo would 2.5 be enough?

And yes proper welding is right. Ill have more pics up tonight.

[Driveway Kustoms]

wow just seeing that little bit of work, the projects in good hands, ill def be checking this

[ih8hyts]

mmm those welds are sexy.

[powdercoater]

your workin is lookin good man...not so much the previous work though..

[curt_minke]

So last night i finished buffing that frame rail patch i replaced. Then i begain to cut apart the nicest ugly patch that attatches the 3 inch tubbing toi the engine craddle. So where do i start. I used a plasma cutter, zip cut disks, and a torch. Reason: Their was 5 total patches of steel holding it together. WTF.... Everytime i cut one piece off another would be attatched to it. I was about an hour before i ran out of light outside and it took all of that to cut it out and i still have more. But at least when im done it will be right. Just take a look for yourself...

This is the frame rail buffed clean.









And this is the Crappy Patch Work that i stuggled with.

[curt_minke]

Hey. Another night gone by. Finally got all of the crap patches out and my new fix in. Def alot better looking. I got to the point where all i have to do is grind and smooth it out.

All the crap out






One side on








Top on

[curt_minke]

now correct me if im wrong but i believe that looks better than this

[kevdog]

Awesome work! Lookin' great, so far! Can't wait to see more progress!

[rrray88sdime]

wow! looks great man! youre doing really great clean work! i can only imagine how fast and great it would look if you didnt have to fix all that other crap! keep it up man!

[devsdime22]

I agree thats looks a great deal better than before. Keep it up man

[Driveway Kustoms]

awsome fab work

[V8Blaze]

looks alot better, but what was up with the first piece you cut off with all the damn holes in it. plug welds gone wrong?

[curt_minke]

ya the ugly holes are from the stock frame. what they did was add the side of the old frame to the 3 inch square tubbing so that they didn;t have to make new body mounts. Not a bad idea cause they did it right, but its looks ugly. So when im done i want it to look like a stock frame but all smoothed. Thanks for the comments guys, i update everyday.

[jimhrabe]

If your looking for 3in for exhaust why not see if you get some ovaled pipe

[KENNYMO]

do you have any info on that hood?
i would love that thing

[curt_minke]

so busy day today. by the end of the weekend all the smoothing will be done from the rear notchs to the front on the one side should be done....
and i have no idea who makes that hood KENNYMO. sorry

[V8Blaze]

damn i made a post in this thread yesterday, no idea why it didnt post lol

those hoods are made by a few companies, most places that make fiberglass goods have em. Im pretty sure harwood does, usautobody might make them too, they look cool on the right truck. this thread makes me want to stock floor my blazer

[powdercoater]

lookin better with everyshitty piece of steel you gut out of it...good luck

[curt_minke]

ok so.............
I have decided after alot of head scratching and smokes that the center of this frame has to much crap to fix. So......... I have decided to cut the frame from the engine craddle all the way to the notches. Actually i got the idea after stressing out and looking at the 94 bagged v8 project on here. Just going to use 3 x 3 x .25 wall tubing. I figured that this would take prob half the time to do and ALOT less hassle. So i will begin to lay out my frame and brace it on my 12 x 6 surface plate. I will update with pics as soon as i can.

[83LOWrange]

now were talikin. thats looking good man. keep it up

but i would do it out of 3x3 also. i know 2x3 works, but it doesnt hurt you know? i think yo uwould be happier just completely redoing it. i mean your doing ALOT of extra work right now. but either way itll be nice i bet

[curt_minke]

Alright. Tomorrow everyone has the day off at the shop here so i can finally tackle this frame!. god ive been waiting for ever! so now i will be able to mount it to the surface plate and start cutting away! lol. Update with pics tomorrow!.....

[curt_minke]

ok so its been 2 days and im still making the jig to set up the frame. I thought i might as well do it right or i wont be happy. So im currently makes frame brackets to hold my frame 2ft in the air off the suface plate. I love how i can have everything in the air to work on.
and 83lowrange.... i am now redoing it all. Ill post pics as soon as i can. It will be awesome!!!!...

[curt_minke]

ok so its been 2 days and im still making the jig to set up the frame. I thought i might as well do it right or i wont be happy. So im currently makes frame brackets to hold my frame 2ft in the air off the suface plate. I love how i can have everything in the air to work on.
and 83lowrange.... i am now redoing it all. Ill post pics as soon as i can. It will be awesome!!!!...

[curt_minke]

ok so....long delay there with the whole real busy work load goin on. so in the mean time i have take the frame and set it up on my surface plate. Made an adjusting jig to allow it to go up and down in three factory frame dowel hole locations. This is becasue all the others were already filled or cut out from previous owner. But anyways here is how it sits. Just have to brace it and i can begin cutting!

[S.T.L.]

cut out all the ugly shit, i like that !

[Driveway Kustoms]

i see you decided to backhalf it....

[curt_minke]

Ya from the engine craddle back im just going to redo completely with a four link etc.

[blazed00]

this is a badass thread. keep it up, and MORE PICS