I purchased an ’84 pick up to use as a dd and parts chaser in hopes of better fuel mileage when I was racing stock cars at a local dirt track. This turned out to be the start of much better hobby than the racing primarily due to the fun to work ratio.
I purchased the truck for $500 and had to trailer it home due to the fuel pick up being completely rusted shut. It did fire right off when I looked at it by pouring a little gas down the carb. First mod done was to put a stainless steel fuel cell in it to get it running. The fuel cell came from a parts stock car I had bought when racing. I grafted the fuel sending unit from a ’70 Cutlass gas tank into it and ended up with a fuel gauge that works but reads backward regardless of which way it was wired. The fuel cell was originally mounted where the spare tire was while it had the stock bed on it, after the flat bed was made it moved under the front of the bed.
The truck sat for a while due to poor performance after a carb replacement didn’t help. I decided to try and mount one of the Rochester carbs I had left over from racing due to there simplicity and cheap rebuild kits. Two of the bolts matched perfectly for the Rochester so I took the manifold to work and welded the two holes shut that didn’t line up and redrilled to match the Rochester. After boring the holes to match the larger throttle plates and reconfiguring the throttle cable it worked like a champ.
Now that it was running again I decided to finally do a flame job I have wanted since I was young. The bed was wasted and the cab had some body damage on the passenger’s side and lacquer crack on the hood and drivers side. Now that it was painted I put on a temporary bed made out of some left over siding so I could drive it to work while gathering the steel for the flat bed. On the first day I drove it after finishing the paint job my mother (Alice, for whom the truck was named) had passed away. I used the time I took off work to build the flat bed and reflect on the great times we had. We didn’t have a traditional funeral but a celebration of life ceremony and used her ashes to start the life of a newly planted tree at my eldest brother’s house at her request.
The bed consist of 2”x 3” outside boxing, 2”x 2” main supports offset 1” below the 2”x 3”, 1”x 1” cross bars for the decking and 4”x 1/8” plate to make the taillight and mud flaps structure. 5/4” deck boards were used for the decking and a 1” void between the decking and outer box gave me room to weld recessed chain loops for tie down straps or to make side boards for it. The area between the main rails and the outside boxing got treated to some left over plastic truck bed liner. This gave the bottom of the wood a little protection from the abuse it would endure in the future and provided a storage place for the flags needed at some of the parks we go to. Rolled up they slide down under the 1” cross bars and sit nicely in the deep grooves of the bed liner. The tail lights are from a ’79 Firebird with the backup light portion removed and mounted upside down. I had these lights as spares for the wife’s first car and gave me a no cost solution for the tail lights. A little rewiring and I ended up with the inner and outer being the park and brake lights while the middle ones are park and turn to differentiate the brightness to act as somewhat of a third brake light. This difference is also reflected in the two different flame patterns.
I purchased the truck for $500 and had to trailer it home due to the fuel pick up being completely rusted shut. It did fire right off when I looked at it by pouring a little gas down the carb. First mod done was to put a stainless steel fuel cell in it to get it running. The fuel cell came from a parts stock car I had bought when racing. I grafted the fuel sending unit from a ’70 Cutlass gas tank into it and ended up with a fuel gauge that works but reads backward regardless of which way it was wired. The fuel cell was originally mounted where the spare tire was while it had the stock bed on it, after the flat bed was made it moved under the front of the bed.
The truck sat for a while due to poor performance after a carb replacement didn’t help. I decided to try and mount one of the Rochester carbs I had left over from racing due to there simplicity and cheap rebuild kits. Two of the bolts matched perfectly for the Rochester so I took the manifold to work and welded the two holes shut that didn’t line up and redrilled to match the Rochester. After boring the holes to match the larger throttle plates and reconfiguring the throttle cable it worked like a champ.
Now that it was running again I decided to finally do a flame job I have wanted since I was young. The bed was wasted and the cab had some body damage on the passenger’s side and lacquer crack on the hood and drivers side. Now that it was painted I put on a temporary bed made out of some left over siding so I could drive it to work while gathering the steel for the flat bed. On the first day I drove it after finishing the paint job my mother (Alice, for whom the truck was named) had passed away. I used the time I took off work to build the flat bed and reflect on the great times we had. We didn’t have a traditional funeral but a celebration of life ceremony and used her ashes to start the life of a newly planted tree at my eldest brother’s house at her request.
The bed consist of 2”x 3” outside boxing, 2”x 2” main supports offset 1” below the 2”x 3”, 1”x 1” cross bars for the decking and 4”x 1/8” plate to make the taillight and mud flaps structure. 5/4” deck boards were used for the decking and a 1” void between the decking and outer box gave me room to weld recessed chain loops for tie down straps or to make side boards for it. The area between the main rails and the outside boxing got treated to some left over plastic truck bed liner. This gave the bottom of the wood a little protection from the abuse it would endure in the future and provided a storage place for the flags needed at some of the parks we go to. Rolled up they slide down under the 1” cross bars and sit nicely in the deep grooves of the bed liner. The tail lights are from a ’79 Firebird with the backup light portion removed and mounted upside down. I had these lights as spares for the wife’s first car and gave me a no cost solution for the tail lights. A little rewiring and I ended up with the inner and outer being the park and brake lights while the middle ones are park and turn to differentiate the brightness to act as somewhat of a third brake light. This difference is also reflected in the two different flame patterns.
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