MR HYDE IS COMING TO LIFE

[Dr Jkel]

Originally Posted by garcmol

I wish you were closer in Alabama! I've looked at garage after garage design and can't commit to any of them. I need to get something built. I think "man cave" progress is fitting for this thread as well. Don't you?

Norm you are a nut, Man Cave in Progress sounds good to me. The garage will have three bays 1 16 ' door for my Skeeter Bass Boat, 2 10' doors, 1 for Dr Jkel and 1 for Mr. Hide Permanent Home.

The garage on my house is big enough to put three cars in it so I am good there, but really not good enough to work on things so once I get my truck home, the Camaro and Truck will stay at the house until I get the Vette and the 455 HO fixed up. I am making the walls 12' so I will be able to put a lift in it.
I have looked at several lifts in the past several days and talked with a friend about them and there are 2 schools of thought. You can get a 4 posts lift that you can basically store a car underneath and one on top for about 2400.00 or you can get a 2 post lift like most shops have for around 900.00 used that will work really well. So I will do some researchand see how far my money will let me go, LOL

Originally Posted by hamr56

You always know how to put things in perspective. Honestly your a good person and I for one could not think of a more deserving guy. Wished I lived closer I would enjoy seeing what your going to build. I am also in need of a shop, hope to get something planned out this summer on that. By the way 70's Vette is in my top three all time, just love that body style.

Hambone, I appreciate the kind remarks but I am just a simple ole country boy. I will be taking some pictures of the garage as it is being built, maybe it will give some people some idears, lol on what they might want or need. I will say this though if you are needing any help in trying to design a garage or some type of building that I would be willing to help, I am by no means a designer but I have drove a few nails in my life and probably could give you a few pointers and ideas on what to look for.

The Vette is pretty cool, I like the newer model Vettes for some reason. The 73 has a 350 motor in it and has pretty good power for its age, nothing like my Camaro, lol, kinda cramped for a big guy like me, but nonetheless still a pretty cool car. I have been cleaning it up and trying to get the gremlins fixed on it right now. The transmission has a seal leak from sitting up, carberatur is running rich, I think a vacuum line is switch somewhere as the transmission shifts real hard from park to reverse, so a couple little minor things but hey thats the fun of it.

The 455 HO is another story. Uncle Barry had the motor built in the late 70's by a hot rod man in Orlando Florida so that he could compete with the 6.6 liter Trans Ams of the day, well he could but only for a short while because he didn't upgrade any other components and the rear end fell prey to the added hp and that is when he put it in the garage, went back to work and forgot about it always going to do it "Later", sound familiar. Low and behold later never came. So the car has been sitting in his garage for the past 30 years with 43000 miles on it. So once the garage gets done, I get my truck back, I will start on it. Uncle Barry is actually Kelley's Uncle by blood so it is kinda neat in a sense that I have my Uncles truck and she has her Uncles car, Luckily for me my uncle is still alive. From what I was told by his friends that knew tha car back in the day the car pushed well over 500 hp, what does that mean I have no clue but time will tell once I get into the motor and tranny, but once I get it finished it will go to the dyno jsut so that I know what she will do. My hope is that I can have the car done in less than 2 years, painted, engine, etc....I guess it just takes time and money, LOL

[Dr Jkel]

Hello All,

Well another Friday has come and gone and the weekly check of Mr Hyde has been conducted. The bed has been buffed, the wiring is STILL going on but parts are going on the truck. The A/C is being installed and wired. The front bumper was installed along with the new headlights. The bed cross members were painted. Electric antennea installed and wired. Alot of little stuff.

17 days left looks like they need to pick up the pac but once again I have been reassured that he deadline will be met.

Here are a few pictures from today. If you notice on the front bumper I had the mount shaved so that the front bumper would be sucked up closer to the body, just a suttle touch.

[garcmol]

Is that the original grill and bumper? Man, that thing looks sweet. I don't see any orange peel in the bed, excellent work!

[Dr Jkel]

This is actually the original grille and bumper off the truck.. It is not show quality because it was been done so long ago. There are some minor imperfections in each piece but you have to know they are there.

[garcmol]

Well they look great considering how old they are.

[Dr Jkel]

Yes I know today is Thursday, but I had a doctors appointment in Birmingham, had to take my boat to be serviced and after putting 75.00 worth of diesel in my truck I figured that one trip to Birmingham a week was enough. Diesel was 3.55 a gallon

ANYWAY we are 11 days away from D-day. I made my weekly trip to see how things were going and how much progress had taken place since last week. It was actually funny since I was a day early and they weren't expecting me. They were kinda shocked to see me.

Alot of progress has been made, but I still don't see how they are going to be finished in 11 days, maybe they will surprise me. I guess only time will tell at this point.

After seeing the bed together I decided to go back to the original way and not put the rol pan on it and have a rear bumper and real tail lights instead of frenched in LED lights because it just didn't look right.

The header issues were worked out, , and the engine should be running on Monday so they can work out the kinks on it, so basically all they have to do is assemble it. They have one area that still needs to be addressed on the paint and body but it is minor.

I told them that next Friday, Feb 25, 2011 that I will arrive with blue painters tape and identify areas that I see that need to be addressed and that I want fixed, that should be really interesting to say the least, this way it will give them the weekend and all day Monday to correct the areas that I identify.

So here's a few more pictures for you to enjoy.

[garcmol]

That's really coming together nicely. Love that bed! I gotta get my Stratus in for service too. First weekend in March, I'm usually on the water.

[Dr Jkel]

Originally Posted by garcmol

That's really coming together nicely. Love that bed! I gotta get my Stratus in for service too. First weekend in March, I'm usually on the water.

Yeah I broke down and bought me a ZX190 Skeeter with a 175 Merc Optimax last year. The stupid depth finder broke so I had to take it back to the dealer for warranty work, too bad it is on a long weekend and the weather is sooo nice right now.

On another front they are pouring the garage floor in the morning and will start framing it Monday. The True Man Cave is in Progress.

[Dr Jkel]

A little more on the progress, here is a sneal peak of the bed wood. I had it tinted to match.

[garcmol]

That's pretty neat. Tinted? Is it a stain?

[Dr Jkel]

Originally Posted by garcmol

That's pretty neat. Tinted? Is it a stain?

Actually it is neither. I said tinted but what it really is, is paint. What was done was this. Since Oak is very pourous wood the grain had to be filled in, so it was filled in with car clear to a certain point, just a cheap clear. Once the wood was smooth then the body paint was added to the clear and mixed to give it a transparent look so that you could still see the grain of the wood.

On top of that it will have three coats of clear so that it can be cut and buffed just like the rest of the truck. The pictures were just out of the paint booth and still have to be sanded then the clear applied then cut and buffed to a mirror shine.

[garcmol]

Cool. Now, with wood being wood, will you have to worry about it warping or shrinking? I do like how the wood grain shows through. Classic with a modern paint job. Very nice.

[Dr Jkel]

Originally Posted by garcmol

Cool. Now, with wood being wood, will you have to worry about it warping or shrinking? I do like how the wood grain shows through. Classic with a modern paint job. Very nice.

The only way wood warps is from moisture. If wood is completely sealed you will have no issues, couple that with the fact that it will be bolted in place and it should not move. Kinda like the old Woody cars but in this case all sides of the wood are sealed so there should not be any issues, not to mention the fact that this truck will not see alot of water or rain only when washing but it will be dried because I do not want to be buffing the inside of this bed, LOL

[garcmol]

So I read in your Jkel build that the new 'man cave', garage is almost done??? The truck, the car, it all looks great John!