Update April 20, 2012

Sorry for the big delay since last time, but the truck has been undergoing a few bigger jobs that don't really change how things look outwardly, but are more putting things back together. Gary at Westview has the truck now and is dropping in the fresh 350. He's had to wait for some key parts from suppliers and that took some extra time no one counted on, but pretty much everything is now here, except the fuel injection which is turning out to be harder to get than anyone thought! Who knew!!! Al over at Midtown has perked up the tranny and it's going in at the same time as the motor.

I wont get into all the stuff Gary has been doing to the motor right now, but we will list all the work done once it's done. So over the next week it will be over at PA Rad getting new hoses, heater core and rad put in, then over to Minute Muffler for all new exhaust, then back to Gary for a final tune. THEN it's off to Ben's Auto and House glass for the all new glass all round, with all new gaskets and weather stripping. THEN it's back to R&W and get the interior put back with pretty much everything new! NAPA also has some parts coming in this week too!

At that point we are hoping to get the vehicle suspension and parts completely replaced as well drop it 3" in front and 4" in the back (business up front, party in the back!!) Then rims, then air, then then then.........

So there is lot's to go and we are hoping things will move along pretty fast. The lowering could take a while as we have to snag a kit and that may take a couple weeks. Never goes as fast as you want when your doing a project like this, but it's getting there!!

Update March13, 2012

So it's been a while since our last update and I have a bit more to tell you about. The Rockmachine is painted! Just some polishing and small touch-ups left but the paint is done! Now Ward and his crew are busy putting it back together and getting the trim on. Should have that done this time next week and then he will boot it out for the next steps. There is a bunch of stuff that will be happening really fast very soon!

Ben's Auto Glass already has the new stuff in and sent the rear window out to get tinting put on. Hope to get the glass in so it's safe from the elements. Then it's off to Gary at Westview to slap that newly "perked up" 350 4 bolt fuelly under the hood. After a good cleaning at Hackyl's, honing that block nice and level, doing the crank and bumping up the cylinders a bit, it's ready for the new pistons, cam, roller lifters and some other goodies. Al from Midtown Transmission is all done with the tranny so Gary will drop that in at the same time as the motor. Before Gary can tune it up, it's off to Minute Muffler and Brake for new headers and pipes front to back. The crew at NAPA are scouring for as many new interior, exterior and trim pieces as we can find to make this thing scream in the sun! Things are gonna move pretty fast in the next couple of weeks and we can't wait!!

Update March, 2012

OK a short but BIG update today!! It's in the paint booth and the pearl white has been sprayed!!!!! Ward and the guys found a fantastic Escalade Pearl White to compliment the Camaro Blue. You may be able to see that the white has a tinge of blue in it to match the rest of the blue on the truck. They are now reverse masking and will be shooting the rest Friday. Then they will be doing clear and a pile of wet sanding to make it look like wet paint and smooth as glass! We'll try to sneak out Friday and get some pics, or next Monday and have some of the fully painted shots!!!

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Update Feb 21, 2012

Been a bit so we decided to head out to R&W and see what's going on. The shop is full and they are working like squirrels heading into winter! The Rockmachine has been primered, block sanded and is as smooth as glass right now! All they need to do is wipe it down and toss it into the paint booth when it's free. Can't wait to see it all done up. We've been so used to seeing it in parts and all stripped down, that being able to really see it come together will be a HUGE step!

Custom covers has worked their magic with the seats and are all ready to go once R&W paints the frames and brackets! Ya, that's how far we are taking this truck!! Haven't been by Westview to bug Gary recently but he should be pretty much ready with that new 350 FI, and I talked to Al at Midtown who has the tranny all redone and looking pretty - ready to mate with the fresh motor and get dropped in!

Update Feb 3, 2012

Seems we can't help ourselves, we are like moths to a flame, like a duck to water. Had to go to R&W again and check on how things are going! As you can see in the pictures, they have already sprayed the frame, wheel wells and pretty much anything they could to get er looking all nice and clean! They also pushed our baby into the booth and shot all the interior, and I mean everything! They did the jams and the firewall which will look sweet when you open that hood!

Speaking of the heart of the best, Gary has the small block apart, going to make sure everything is as it should be, give it a good steam clean and paint it all up fresh! By the time that gets done, he will have the aluminium heads in, all the internals, new cam, and that new fuel injection system! Al over at Midtown Transmission has the new Turbo 350 all ready to go with a fresh shift kit and converter to handle the extra ponies from that fresh 350. Once R&W is all done, which should be next week, it's over to Westview where Gary will drop in the motor and tranny, then get that new rad in and the new exhaust before he fires it up and gets it running just perfect! Keep ya posted!

Update Jan 30, 2012

Hi Ho Hi Ho it's out to R&W we go! Gotta love the smell of paint in the morning!!! Getting really excited now to see our baby come to life. Everything has been block sanded and ready for the booth! Some of the inner body parts already received their coat of black paint. Even better news is that some of the parts have been sprayed with the final color, a nice deep blue, used on the 2010 Camaro. The pictures don't really do it justice but you can get a hint.

With the truck blown apart so much, it will be easy for the crew to shoot paint in all those places normally not easy to get to (or expensive to get to!) Later this week or early next, they will clear the booth, load it all in and start spraying! Still to come is that nice white pearl from the Escalade to accent the sides!

We also took the seat over to Custom Covers along with some neat ideas what we can do with those boring old stock seats! Have to wait on those but they are about to undergo surgery any day now!

Update Jan 23, 2012

I'm like a kid waiting for Christmas and couldn't stay away from R&W. Just had to go see our pride and joy and where she is. As it turns out, they've been busy little bees and 95% of the parts are in primer and ready for block sanding. After that, it's in the paint booth she goes!

We have a nice little jug of an incredible blue used on the 2010 Camaro's waiting for the baby set off with a nice pearl white taken from a Cadillac Escalade. Ward and his crew are pretty nit picky about the Rockmachine before she leaves his shop deciding to cut out the floor boards because it didn't live up to his standards. One sides already done and the other wont take more than a day or two. He also wants to shot some frame black while everything is apart, you know just cause! Word is the Ward wants to be shooting that paint in a week!

It's almost too much to take! Gary at Westview Steering and Brake is being coy about what he has in store for the motor, but our spies say it looks like he wants to drop in a 350 "perked up" a bit along with fuel injection to make it more drivable. Al over at Midtown is waiting to see what Gary does before tweaking that tranny to match the motor! Ah the dreams we have for this Rockmachine. Kind of looking like there wont be too many parts that wont be new, as it has to match the incredible paint from R&W. This is the third vehicle R&W has done for us and quite honestly we can't think of anyone better!

Once that paints done, it's off to Westview where Gary will HAVE TO show us that new motor. Once that's dropped in it's over to Midtown for the tranny, then off to get a new rad, starter and alternator, then back to Gary to fire it up and do some tuning! After all that it's all new suspension, new interior, new rims and tires, lowering kit, new exhaust front to back, new glass, new stereo, new tilt column, new shocks and springs, box liner, new trim all round and a million things you don't see!

Update Jan 17, 2012

Took another trip out to R&W because we are so dam excited to see our baby! Ward and his crew are going crazy on this Rockmachine and are ahead of the game! As you can see the vast majority of the pieces are all primed and ready for paint. The box doesn't meet Wards eagle eye for detail yet  so he is making the boys work out every tiny little imperfection. Same with the cab. He found the floor on the drivers side wasn't up to his standards so once again the boys will be replacing it with all new metal. Sure YOU wont see any of that, but Ward would not be able to sleep at night knowing it's not perfect!!! We are also wanting to replace almost every little piece inside and out on the truck so we gave Ward a huge parts list to go through and see what he is able to get. He promised he will review it this weekend during his bubble bath, sipping on some nice wine. Looks like this thing will be in the paint booth by months end, along with a good cleaning and painting of the frame and everything under the hood too! It's a nice deep blue (actually the blue from the 2010 Camaro and Ward also wants to shoot a nice pearl white from the Cadillac Escalade as accent in the middle of the side trim!! We haven't been this excited since Lew went and got a cell phone last year!!!

We haven't been over at Westview Steering lately to see what Gary has been up to with the motor. We get a little nervous as every time we met with him, he gets this strange look in his eyes talking about all the stuff he wants to do to this motor. This guy like wrenching way too much and may need help. Last we heard it was going up to a 350, fuel injection, crank and cam, and then he starting laughing like a mad scientist and went into the shop giggling with that look in his eyes - we ran away fearing he would start tweaking our station van with a new 454 motor and lord knows what else!! Al Hopkins at Midtown Transmission has our tranny and is waiting on Gary's motor to match up the tranny with the new power of the motor. Al has done so many of these that he can literally rebuild one while playing Angry Birds on his IPad.

Update Jan 4, 2012

We're a bunch of happy campers today as we went out to visit the crew at R&W to check on the progress of the Rockmachine. After walking into the back shop, we saw our baby over in the corner stall torn right apart as you will see in the pictures we took! These guys (and gal) are busy bee's knocking out every imperfection, sanding, prepping, straitening and more. The only thing left on the truck is the cab...everything else is off!

Talking with Ward, with the truck stripped down this much allows him to shoot new paint in every nook and cranny, making this look factory, but WAY better than paintjobs back in 1977. Since the frame is exposed he's also gonna clean er up and shoot some black on it. While the front end it also off, he'll be shooting a nice coat of black in the engine bay area as well as the rad support.

Not that we are at all surprised at the attention to detail and meticulous work they do at R&W, but everyone in the shop is working on parts and going way above and beyond what we hoped!! So have a look at where things stand now and you'll see what I mean.

Oh by the way, we also stopped by to bug Gary over at Westview about the motor and all he did was smile and mentioned something about putting in a hopped up 350 with new crank, perked up cam as well as fuel injection and working on a nice set of aluminum heads if he can swing it without getting punched by the boss (his wife) The tranny is over at Midtown and last we heard, Al wants to drop in something a little more "fun" than the stock 3 speed!!

Update Dec 19

Because we're just too excited to stay away, we went down to Westview Steering and bugged Gary and the crew even more. Turns out they were even more pumped than we were! Standing around, looking at the 305 in the floor, Gary started talking about the "might as wells" you know since it's apart, we might as well do this and that...Now he's talking about maybe dropping in a "perked up" 350 small block...probably needs a more aggressive cam, and while were at it, what about tossing on some fuel injection! Who are we to discourage them, right! After we quit drooling he threw us out of the shop so they could actually get back to work. Oh and as we headed out the door, he told us the boys threw the tranny in the back of our car and to take it over to Al at Midtown.

We pulled up to the big doors at Midtown and Al was there to greet us with a smile on his face and a gleam in his eye! Those guys love their transmissions! I think he tuned us out as he carried the 3 speed to the shop, mumbling several things he was thinking on doing, other tranny swaps he could do....the doors closed on us and I guess that was our signal to leave them alone and do their magic! Oh and by the way, now that all the mechanical is out of the way, Ward at R&W has his mits back on the Rockmachine. He too got the "might as wells" and said he might as well take the box off to be able to spray the panels between it and the cab, and since it's only six bolts, might as well pull the cab off to get to the frame, which he can clean up and toss a coat of black on it! Who are we to argue with genius!

Update Dec 6

Called up PA Autowreckers to haul the beast over to Gary at Westview Steering as we have to get that motor and tranny torn out so Ward and his gang can tackle the paint and bodywork. The great thing about yanking the motor is that Ward will have clear access to the engine bay, plus four bolts and the cab is off and 6 and the box comes off. This will let them really shoot in all the tight spaces, plus be able to clean up the frame and engine bay while they are at it!

So in the bay at Westview she goes as Gary and the boys will begin ripping the small block out along with the tranny. Then he will drop it off for Al at Midtown to work his magic on and make sure it can handle the power Gary's going to hop that motor up to! PA Autowreckers will be back to haul it our to R&W once Gary has everything out he needs. I'll try to snag some pics of the motor coming apart and coming together. Not sure what Gary has planned for it, but you know it's gonna be special and he'll no doubt throw a few more ponies in the block for good luck!

Update Dec 1

It's really starting to move along real good right now out at R&W. The crew is starting to touch up the nicks and door dings and the more we look the less bad stuff we find. The truck really is in remarkable condition, even better than we thought. I guess that's to be expected when the vehicle probably has seen rain twice in 30 years, NO salt and no snow!!! Actually the day I took these pics, we were just about to haul the beast over to Gary at Westview Steering and Brake so he could yank the motor and begin his magic on that! He promises it's gonna purr real good after he's done with it (and look good too). The tranny also comes out and heads over to Al at Midtown Transmission for perking up and perhaps another gear. After that, it's back to R&W and then they can really go to town. We are really stoked about this years build because we can get to so much of the vehicle we just couldn't in previous years! Ward is already scheming to spray the frame, rad supports, wheel wells, hinges etc. Without that motor and tranny, it will be easy to get to and really clean things up under the hood a LOT!

Update Nov 24

So R&W has begun the process of tearing our baby apart! The more we take off the more surprised we are at what good condition this 33 year old truck is! There obviously is still a long way to go, but one of the next parts is to drop the motor and take that over to Gary at Westview Steering for a complete rebuild and also hop it up a bit. The tranny will head over to Midtown to be freshened up for the new motor sliding back in. Once those are out, the box will come off, then the cab, which will give Ward and the crew easy access to clean up the frame as well! We're changing the color to a deep blue with pearl white inset, so this is the way to go for sure! Here is the latest on where the truck is.

Ahh, it's that time of the year again when we start working on the 2012 Rockmachine! We knew what we wanted but didn't know how or where we would dig one of these up, so we called Wes Thompson at TnT Trucks and Toys.

Wes beside our new project for the 2012 Rockmachine, a 77 Chevy Shortbox

After scouring their sources and spending hours on the net, they actually found, not only the exact type and model we were looking for, but probably one of the best conditioned, even we didn't think was possible.

So they skipped the border and went on the road trip to pick up a pretty unique and hard to find vehicle - a 1977 Chevy Short box. Coming up from Arizona meant this vehicle, despite being some 35 years old, had virtually no rust! Faded from the sun, but otherwise, you would NEVER find a truck like this anywhere else! It was just used for running around a ranch and about the only thing the box was used for, was carrying groceries!

After bringing it up to PA, we immediately went to see Keith up at Affinity Insurance to get our new pride and joy insured! Step two completed.

Step three was a no brainer - without question, we hauled her out to Ward and the guys at R&W Custom Collision, who were the magicians with our previous projects! The dreaming has begun with everything we want to do to make this one super cool ride! We are gonna spray on a wicked Blue Metallic found on the new Camaro's, inset with a pearl white found on a Cadillac Escalade! Although there isn't a great deal of straitening or patching, their attention to detail is fantastic and this is gonna look better than the day it rolled off the assembly line! Should have all the bodywork done and paint sprayed in January.

We felt like a new parent dropping our kid off for their first day of school, but we know she's in good hands out at R&W

After that, we will be tearing down that small block and "perking" it up a bit, and redoing pretty much most everything else! Maybe a lowering kit, new interior, suspension, brakes, cooling and heating, tranny, rear end, trim, stereo, exhaust, starting system, sweet rims and a bunch of other stuff we will get into down the road! The goal is to have this finished and make it's big debut at the MIX 101 Bike Rally Fathers Day weekend 2012

Keep checking for updates and pictures as we will try to document the steps along the way as to what we are all doing to the Rockmachine III

 
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