The Brandy Build

[Jake_C_]

Driver side rocker is finished, shot some paint on to keep the rust off because my tarp to cover the body has developed small holes, need to get a new one that’s maybe no so bright blue. The inner rocker and floor patches went a lot quicker as expected since I knew what I was doing this time more or less. Everything is rust free and solid.

you’ve probably heard the saying “a grinder and paint makes you the welder you ain’t” for me it’s a grinder, body filler, and paint. But I’m ok with that. The engine is currently at the machine shop, turns out my block is bored 40 over, I could bump it up to 60 but I’m just having the guy hone the cylinders instead. I’ll get some flattop pistons, not sure about the cam yet. Not trying to squeeze a bunch of hp out of it but if I can easily add a little why not. I added the four body mount carriage bolts that attach through the floor in the rear. And I picked up new nuts and bolts for the rest.

My list of things left to do on the body before it goes back on the frame is pretty short. The biggest thing is to wire wheel it inside and underneath and paint it. Before that I have a little work to do underneath like add a nut for the spare tire holder and one for the passenger seat where the metal needed replaced. After all that’s done and the motor is back together I’ll stick it in the frame, finally get the transmission in the frame, get the clutch linkage installed. Button up the fuel lines, and the frame and body can be reunited. At that point I can finish up the rust on the wheel wells, do some rust and metal work on the hood, fenders, doors, and tailgate (all little stuff) And then she’s ready for body filler, primer and paint. Long post I know but for those interested I thought I’d give you an idea of where I’m at.

 

[Jake_C_]

I got the engine back from the shop, he had some heads already redone that will fit a carb intake so I gave him mine and kept those. Number on the heads is 83417368 for anyone curious, pretty standard as far as I know.


Our shop has never had any real heat source besides a torpedo heater which doesn’t really make a big difference unless you run it for a long time. I went ahead and put together a double barrel stove kit and tried it out last night in the shop and even without a fan it got very warm.


Outside temperature was 22° and inside it was probably mid 60s so I’m really happy with that. This means I’ll be able to paint in the shop this winter which is a big deal. Besides that it will be nice to work in a heated shop now. I’m currently waiting on parts to put the motor back together but I’ll hopefully be finishing it around the same time I finish the body. Which should be pretty soon.

 

[Jake_C_]

Got the block and heads primed and painted today, hope this motor runs as good as it’s going to look.

 

[Jake_C_]

Goodies are piling up

 

[Jake_C_]

Just about ready to start putting the motor back together, just gathering the tools and parts I’ll need plus the guy who did the machine work on my motor had some of my parts and was being kind of slow getting them back to me. Anyway I have everything now and while I was waiting I did something I had been putting off for awhile which was cleaning up the core support.


It’s actually quite a bit of work if you take it all apart and wirewheel and paint the pieces individually. Maybe overkill but I usually can’t help myself with stuff like this. I was actually going to paint it flat black since I think most of the black parts in the engine bay are flat but I accidentally did one coat with gloss and it just looked so good I did the rest with it. Anyway I hope to be putting the engine back together in the next few days. Likely after the new year.

 

[RoccoK5]

I hear you on how much work it is, there are like 10 pieces in total, and a bunch of nooks and crannies to clean up. Turned out great!!

 

[Jake_C_]

I hear you on how much work it is, there are like 10 pieces in total, and a bunch of nooks and crannies to clean up. Turned out great!!

Yeah not a fun job! And thanks it’s coming along slowly but surely.

 

[Jake_C_]

Ok one more parts picture before the rebuild.

im going to bust it early this next week to get the rest of the work done on the body before it can go back on the frame. Biggest thing is getting it wire wheeled and painted inside and out but I have some other small things to do also. One thing is the body mount bolts broke inside the captured nuts under the driver and passenger floorboards and my only option is to cut them out and replace them. Which is a big pain in the butt. I plan on starting the put the engine back together as soon as the body is done. Again hopefully early next week. Not really sure how long it will take to put it together, seems like I could have it done in a day but I also want to take my time and not make any mistakes.

 

[Jake_C_]

I got a lot done on the body today, going to wire wheel as much as I can tomorrow. I also worked on the steering column the past couple of nights. I want to tackle little stuff like this at night when I can’t see to work on the body outside. The seat brackets need cleaned up and I need to paint the transfer case shifter stick. So I’ll probably look into those the next couple of nights. The steering column has the typical tilt column wobble. Well it had the wobble. I put loctite on the four bolts and tightened them down. They were actually loose enough to remove by hand easily.

those pivot pins are a pain, the first one I was able to thread a bolt in, grab it with vice grips, and hammer it out. The second one the bolt broke off inside and after fighting it for a long time I ended up welding a bigger bolt to it and hammering it out.

I got it done though and painted the wheel and part of the column with spray dye meant for vinyl and plastic trim. We’ll see how it holds up I don’t have much faith in it but it looks better than it did.

 

[Jake_C_]

I got the inside wire wheeled a couple days ago, fixed the captured body mount nuts under the driver and passenger yesterday, and I got the underside wire wheeled today. It was a heck of a shoulder workout holding the angle grinder up all day.

I’ll start paining tomorrow, should be able to get both inside and underside done assuming I don’t run out of paint. Little side note, I had to weld four or five cracks around the seat bolt holes. At first I thought maybe someone from “my 600 lb life” had sat in the seats but after thinking about it I wonder if it’s been jumped. Anyone else have this problem? Just curious.

 

[RoccoK5]

I bet that was a fun and dirty job! I've gotta do the same soon. What are you planning to paint with?

 

[Jake_C_]

I bet that was a fun and dirty job! I've gotta do the same soon. What are you planning to paint with?

I’m going with por 15 once again. It’s the toughest paint I’ve found so far and does really seem to handle surface rust well. Same stuff I painted my frame with.

 

[Jake_C_]

Inside painted, ran out of time to finish the underside. I’ll either get it Saturday or Sunday. Looks great though, feels good to get this done.

 

[Jake_C_]

Got the firewall and underside painted, still need to seam seal everything but I can do that whenever. Going to start putting the motor together tomorrow night.

 

[Jake_C_]

Wanted to add a better picture of the underside.

 

[Jake_C_]

Couple setbacks, I broke a piston ring, it’s mostly the ring compressors fault but I guess I’ll take some of the blame too. Have to buy a whole new set for one ring, they really should include a spare for dummies. Unfortunately I won’t have them until Friday. Also Jegs sent me the wrong timing gear set. The package says it fits a sbc from 265-400 but the crankshaft sprocket is too big and the camshaft sprocket doesn’t have holes to bolt to the cam. Jegs was nice about it though and they’re sending me a new one next day shipping. I got the freeze plugs, crank and 7 pistons installed and I threw the camshaft in it. Can’t do much more until the rings come in. I’ll probably seam seal the body tomorrow.

 

[Jake_C_]

Well another dilemma, one of the bolts that holds the sprocket to the camshaft snapped. Not sure how, it wasn’t even 20ft lbs. my guess is it was over torqued last time it was installed, I can’t think of any other reason it would break. Really weird. Anyway I was able to unthread the broken part by hand because it was so loose. I ordered some arp bolts so now I have to wait on those. I went ahead and put the heads on and got everything torqued down. No problems there thankfully. Next post will probably be the completed engine.

 

[76zimmer]

Snafu’s happen!

 

[Jake_C_]

Well I said next post would be the completed engine but I ran into yet another issue, I had the wrong oil pan so I ordered the “right” one and it had issues so I had to send it back, 3rd try I got it right though. So I’ll get it painted and installed tomorrow. In the meantime I picked up a set of wheels plus a spare.

everyone likes pictures of wheels right?

 

[Jake_C_]

Well it’s pretty much as done as it’s going to be before it goes back in the frame. Of course I had to put the carb and air cleaner on for looks. Let’s hope she runs well.