Summer Update

Apparently I'm not very good at keeping up with my blog so, I thought I should give an update to what I've been working on this summer.

The interior is pretty much done, there are still a couple of switches I haven't been able to take out but I'm hoping that when I get her media blasted I'll be able to get into them. They are just so rust welded right now, that I can't even see what size they are... seems to be the story of this old girl!

The exterior is another story.  I have the front end taken apart, the exhaust removed from the engine, and I am one bolt away from removing the engine from the transmission so I can take the engine out. The doors are out, but I still have to get one of the hinges for the passenger door. Her bed has become the storage for all of her "big" parts.

I still have a long way to go, but I can see the end of the deconstruction... I think!

I'll try to get some pictures loaded in the next day or two to show how much different looking she is now.

Changed my mind

Once again I've changed my mind. I've decided that I would like to keep Diane as original as possible, so I won't be making the trip out to Troutdale to look at the 235 engine. I would rather hire a mechanic to look at her current one to see if they can get her started before I jump ship. We'll see what the future brings, hopefully a mechanic that can see the problem quickly and be able to get her started. In the meantime though I'm going to continue removing parts while looking for someone that can media blast her and get her ready for paint and everything else I'm sure she will need.

Progress

Rob came up on Friday and helped me accomplish a lot of tasks that have been giving me some trouble. With Buster supervising us, we were able to remove the heater, the knob for the lights, the doors, and the front shocks. The heater ended up being much easier than I had originally thought it would be. I thought there was three screws on each side holding it to the sidewall, but luckily there were only one the front side, and the back was held up with tabs that Rob was able to pull the heater away from. The knob for the lights was also much easier to pull out, Rob noticed a little piece of metal sticking out from the unit, he pushed it and out came the knob separated from the rest of the unit. The doors came off without too much trouble, and now the cab is really beginning to look bare.

In a couple of weeks Rob and I are going to drive to Troutdale to go look at a 235 and 4 speed transmission from a 1950 suburban that's for sale. I've been told it runs, so hopefully it does. If so I will probably buy it to drop into Diane since I have yet to get her original engine to start.

Until then I'm planning on finishing off the cab,  then maybe even removing the engine and transmission. Getting me that much closer to starting the process of sending parts off to get media blasted.

Photos

As promised here are some photos of where she's at today. Since these photos I have done a bit more work, I have disassembled the front end into pieces for easier storage. I have also removed the hood with the help of Margaret, and I have gotten most of the firewall padding removed. I am still working on finishing up the dash, only a couple things left to remove before it's done. The heater, under the dash, though is giving me a really hard time. There are a couple of screws that I just can't seem to get the right angle on, although I hope to have it out in the next day or two. As far as the engine bay, or opening now, I am beginning to work on getting it cleaned up so I can remove the engine and get the whole thing ready to load up on a trailer to get it power washed.
As you can see though I have found some new rust spots, they are located on the cab, where the fenders met with it. I'm sure I'll be able to find someone who can weld in some new sheet metal.

Progress

I've finally made a little progress after not being able to work on Diane for the past couple of months. From the rain and cold weather, our trip to Jamaica, and everything else that's been going on since the end of February, I haven't been able to get out to the garage for more that a few minutes to work on her. But things have finally settled down a little, this past weekend I made decision to go ahead and pull the front end off so I could gain better access to the engine and engine compartment as well as the mounds of dirt still in the body. Needless to say the garage floor has become the new home for the hood, grill, both inner and outer fenders, and I'm sure the list will continue to grow. I'll post pictures in the next couple of days of what she's looking like now.

Empty Dash

I was able to work on the dash this past weekend when we had great weather outside. Pretty much everything is removed from the dash, all of the gauges, pulleys, and remaining trim. I just need to finish disconnecting the gauges from the wires then start pulling the wires and remove the heater so I can remove the firewall padding, then I think she'll be about ready to have the cab removed and sand blasted to see how bad the sheet metal is. I'll get some pictures posted over the next couple of days.

Cab work

I've been able to get out and work on Diane for an hour or two the past couple of nights. The rest of the headliner is gone except what I'll need to sand away. Unfortunately it looks like there was a bit of decaying under the windshield, I'm hoping it's nothing too serious and that once I get her sand blasted I won't have to replace any of the window framing. I removed the seat and gas tank to find tons and tons of dirt, garbage, and bugs. Everything is all cleaned up and looking much better. I've included a few of pictures of the progress.

More Progress

Well I was able to get out and do some work this weekend. I removed the back windows without any problems. Then I moved into the cab and removed the old rotten and decayed headliner. I was able to scrap most of the glue residue off as well. Next I'm going to get out the sand paper and work on getting the rust and little bit of glue residue.

I tried to loosen the exhaust again without any luck. I sprayed it with more liquid wrench so we'll see. I also tried working on some of the inner fender bolts that have been giving me a hard time. Of course no luck, but I sprayed them again so only time will tell.

Next time I get the chance to work on her I'm going to clean out the cab a bit more, maybe remove the seat frame and gas tank. Once I get everything out, I'm hoping to get everything vacuumed out and start on the cleaning.

Windshield

Well with the holidays, and our new foster dog, Diesel I haven't had the time to get out and work on Diane as much as I'd like too. Although I got to work on her for an hour or so this past weekend. I was able to finally remove the windshield, it was really easy once I cut through the moulding along the edge of the glass, then pop the glass out, and the moulding came off easy. The glass is really amazing looking... it's two pieces held together with what looks like double sided sticky plastic... all together its close to a 1/2" thick and very heavy, definitely not like windshields of today!