MR HYDE IS COMING TO LIFE

[Dr Jkel]

People say I am crazy about my old truck but I saw this and bout fell out my chair. I actually have a picture just like the one he has with my Uncle.

[Epitaph]

Any updates yet? September 2nd is 1 week + 1 day...

[Dr Jkel]

Originally Posted by Epitaph

Any updates yet? September 2nd is 1 week + 1 day...

Epitaph I appreciate the concern......Update...............

Last Friday one of the inspectors made a surprise visit to the shop, which was 2 weeks away from the deadline, and talked with the owner. He called me and let me know what he observed and learned.

The engine compartment is completed with the exception of the heater and A/C hoses. A/C and heater hoses arrived this past Monday and from what he was told it would take 3 days to install them since they are stainless steel lines and fittings. Once this is completed the engine will be able to be turned over and ran. Supposedly this Friday it will breathe life.

The grille lettering, side emblems and horn button had not been painted. The interior had not beencompleted yet since they want to ensure that everything works first.

The doors have been completed,windows, window channel, felt and mirrors are installed. They were waiting on 2 brake line fittings to arrive Tuesday to finish up the brakes.

Basically alot of little small things need to be buttoned up. Once it is fired up, hopefully tomorrow, it will give him a week to tweak things, do a drivability test and makes sure all the systems are working.

From the way it appears the rear bumper will not be completed. It was finished welded, worked smooth, inspected and is at the Chrome Shop in Tennessee being chromed. They do not get in a hurry for no one so I may have to bolt that on later. They were going to call the shop and see if they could get it finished before the deadline. It was confirmed by the inspector that the bumper is actually there....so we are waiting on them.

I did tell the inspector that I would accept the truck without the bumper and I would install it when it was finished under the stipulation that if it didn't fit that the shop would do what needed to be done to make it fit correctly and they agreed.

I know it has to be inspected by the local DMV so not sure when that is going to happen.

I did have some people ride by their shop and for some strange reason they having been working late hours lately.......hmmmmm Wonder Why? LMAO

[garcmol]

Sounds good! It'd be great the next pics are in YOUR garage!

[Dr Jkel]

Originally Posted by garcmol

Sounds good! It'd be great the next pics are in YOUR garage!

I am so hoping that this is finally coming to an end. I have a photoshoot planned in front of MY Garage, hopefully for the afternoon of next Friday.


On a side note I contacted a few Classic Truck Magazines about Ole Mr. Hyde, little did I know that most of them are ran by one company...ANYWAY I sent them some of the pictures during the whole build process and some of them near the completion and hey seemed real interested in doing an article and putting my truck in their magazines which I thought was pretty cool. They told me to just contact them when it was finished.

[Scrappy Doo]

Sounds good. Fingers crossed!

[Dr Jkel]

I was contacted by a friend/vendor from this and another site yesterday and he has some other contacts in the magazine world.

He said that he is going to send some pictures to them about doing anothe feature article on Mr. Hyde. This is kinda cool in my book.

Despite all the headaches that I have gone through, the tons of money spent on this truck I am really looking forward to actually just driving it.

I have learned a few lessons, LOL, by doing this type of thing. I will never do it again. If I want another street rod I will but it already built since I had to depend on others to finish this thing........Unfortunately or fortunately depnding on how you look at it, this truck has a TON of sentimental value in it.

I know I will own it till I am gone and then one of my boys will get it. So the thought of selling it has never entered my mind, plus even if I wanted to I would NEVER recover the money spent.

There are A LOT of subtle little body mods done that MOST will never see or even notice, unless you are a truck nut like me.......

I have only 2 worries with this truck......one is a nightmare situation of driving the first time and some idiot crashing into me, but that is what insurance is for.

The other is the power aspect of it. The truck is all steel so it is heavy, not real sure what the weight is yet. So hopefully I have enough motor to push it around like I want.

When I started this project I thought the 327 small block Chevy was the be all of engines. So I found one and had it built to what was supposed to be 400 hp. Again my ignorance let me arrive at that number. Well after it was built it sat waiting to be installed.. Midway through this build I had it engine dyno'd......it had a whoping 216 hp. It ran smooth as glass since it was balanced and blueprinted but 216,WTH........the engine builder basically screwed me.

Luckily for me I found someone who needed the motor for a numbers matching build and was able to recoup most of my money. So the search started for a motor. I had heard that BIg BLock Chevy's were bad about overheating, so I came up with a 400 hp number and started looking at crtae GM motors......I ended up with a ZZ383/425 hp.......

I talked with several people who sold this motor and run it. Most said the 425hp was a very low number for this engine and since i wa adding headers and a fuel injection system I should easily come close to 500........Well that surely is a good number, right?

All these months later I have a Camaro LS3 with with RWHP and have come to realize that 425/500 hp at the crank it an average number because of driveline loss, couple that with the fact it is a heavy vehicle and now I get a little worried about " All Show and NO GO"

I am really interested to find out what happens when I put my foot through the firewall...Hopefully I will not be disappointed........Guess time will tell, LOL

[Dr Jkel]

Received word from the shop that they will breathe life into it either this afternnon or tomorrow.

According to the shop they have 2 heater hose left, filler neck hose and have to install and adjust the shift linkage.

[Dr Jkel]

Talked with the shop this morning and it has not been started as of this morning. Waiting on gas filler neck ( supposedly this morning). According to the shop still waiting on wiring the stereo and installing the interior ( seats and carpet), has to install the door conduit, and 2 pieces of brake line and a couple of vacuum lines ( ran out of material).

Still have to paint the rear roll pan, side emblem accents, horn accents and grille lettering to match the body color and any touch ups that may be needed. Due to the extreme cost of paint and mixing the paint they want to do this last, all the prep work is done just waiting on the color and clear. Not really alot of space and not alot of buffing except the rear roll pan and that is not alot....so we will see.

Still has to go to the alignment shop, have the mufflers put on and that should be it unless there is some unknown/unforeseen mechanical issue. Plus the state inspection has to be completed.

I know they worked on it Saturday and Sunday this past weekend for sure.

I am kinda excited being this close, but am skeptical at this point. Don't really know how long all the little things take to get done but I am supposed to know for sure this coming Wednesday if he is gonna make the Friday date.

Although I really excited to get it back and understand that he is under a deadline, because of his own making, I would rather wait a couple of days to ensure it is correct and everything works 100% correctly. Last thing I want to do is get it and have issues with things not working properly just because he is rushing to get it finished.

I may ease off the date 1 week depending on what needs to be done and how close he is ( just have to sit down and really think about that). I would rather give him a few days to work out any bugs that comes up on the drivability test, hopefully none will arise but realistically something always comes up.

[garcmol]

Waiting for the good word!

[Scrappy Doo]

Originally Posted by garcmol

Waiting for the good word!

Today's the day!

[f5journal]

Just found this thread...very cool Jkel...lot of work and headaches I see...but all coming to an end

[garcmol]

Here's hoping that it's in your garage! That or out ridin' around with your Uncle.

[Epitaph]

I hope he's not in jail