Thanks. I want to put it back in really bad, but before I do I'm wanting to thoroughly clean and paint the frame. I hope it turns out as clean looking as the tank did.

 

Its all in the prep.

 

Yes it is. I have friend all the time that rush projects and then ask me "how do you get such good results", and I always say take your time and do it right. It's like anything in life, just have to take some time and do it right or get crap and have to try again later.

 

Not much progress today on the truck, but did get some goodies I have been looking for. stock center caps for my steelies. And best of all is the price ($free)

They were very dull and has surface rust from sitting on a 1974 Hilux RN27 that has been parked on a farm up the street since 1993. The right one in this pic has been polished with rouge bar using a electric grinder with a cloth wheel and now shines like a mirror. Left one is only wiped off with a wet rag.

This is the parts truck up the street. I hope to get the whole truck, but I'm happy to be able to get parts from it, for now. I kinda want the camper to fix up for mine when I go on camping trips.

 

I just saw those same hubs caps online today. I may get a set just to swap around later. Truck is coming along good. I would have never known about the tank stuff if you never posted it!

 

Glad to hear that, and thank ya! Making progress but its slow while working and on a budget.

 

Those are sweet. Theres some repops on ebay.

 

Yeah I saw the repops and wow they are high. I got lucky and found these originals that are buffing out to "almost" new looking with just a cloth wheel on a grinder and some polishing compound rouge.

 

Im still waiting to find a set of stock steelies and the caps.

 

You mean the stocks that had a centercap? Or the stocks with the hubcaps like these?

 

i have two sets of the steelies and this set of hub caps now, but I really wanna find a 15x8 for the rear and 15x7 for the front with a deeper offset that the caps will fit on. I don't know if there is a such a thing, so I may have to just make something work. I know I will need wider tires once the LS swap happens in a year or so.

 

Only steel wheel i have for this truck is the spare lol

 

Been a while since an update and this isn't much of one. Mr hanky has been put on the back burner while I saved money for my family summer vacation. I will soon be back to it though.

Only update is I sourced another set of steel wheels. I had a friend sand blast both sets of wheels. From the two sets I was able to save five wheels. Four of them are pretty clean.

I picked them up last night and he already had them primed with red oxide primer so they wouldn't flash rust. Hopefully after vacation I will paint these and get some tires on. I still need to order parts to get it drivable too.

 

I took a break from MrHankey until I could decide what route I wanted to take with it. I originally planned to just get it running (which I did) and back on the road. However I have always been a Chevrolet guy and knew the weak 20r would get old very fast. Instead of wasting money on getting the weak drivetrain going, I decided to go ahead and build it right the first time.

Meet the new engine, a 4.8 "LS style" Chevrolet v8. I tore it apart and started cleaning/degreasing it tonight.

 

Awesome! You gonna font half the frame? I looked into the Ls style motors for my 74 but it wouldn't fit

 

Damn those narrow frame rails on the early 2nd gens!

 

Mine is a '78, so hopefully the frame will work out. It looks like my issue is going to be the oil pan / steering clearance.

 

That truck will fly whit the V8 in it.

 

Looking good! I'm excited to bed my bed off and follow suit. Thanks for posting the photos, good to see what I'm in for. Can't wait to see what's next on your build