The Day We Went Plum Crazy
There’s something about spending time in your shop in the wee hours of the morning in the summer that is so much better than the wee hours of the morning in the winter. It’s light out. People are on the streets. Just feels like there’s more hope in the air.
And today felt particularly good. So many little things are happening – and it’s starting to get REAL. We started the day with a call to the painter to schedule the body pick up and he hinted that he might be bringing us a present – spoiler alert – it was Plum Crazy…
It’s quite possible that you haven’t seen true joy until you see a clan of five girls catching a glimpse of the first part of their project freshly painted. We heard there was a painted fender and we RAN to see it. Ran. Squealed. Jumped up and down. All of it. The biggest regret of my life is not having that on video. It was amazing.
After thanking our paint man profusely, we loaded the body in his truck – and sent it off to paint. The last (and LARGEST) piece! Yes – you read that correctly – an entire t-bucket body fits in the back of a Suburban – that’s a real thing. Huge shout out to Roger for his crazy quick turnaround time and his on-call haul services!
And then the fun started. We re-installed the front end. And we would have NEVER made it without the handy t-bucket assembly guide. We know that sounds awfully salesy, but honestly, there are step by step directions in this sucker that let you know exactly what you’re going to need to do for each step. AND there are photos. Which are really helpful in, say, trying to figure out if you have drum brakes or disc brakes (hint: we are now certain we have disc…) and deciding if your radius rods are hairpin or split wishbone (hairpin all the way!). Which is most likely never a problem unless you’re un-assembling and re-assembling a car like we are – but still!
We were instructed that the first step in putting together two metal things is applying anti-seize compound, which keeps your nuts and bolts from binding up on you in the future. (That’s a real thing we know, because we read about it here!) Don’t worry, since we knew this was the messy part, we made EVERYONE participate!
Then we put the radius rods back on. Trying to get hairpins on is like trying to get a painting to hang straight. A little adjustment here, a little adjustment there. Back and forth until they are right. And we hear that might not be the last time we adjust those. Bring it on squaring off. We’re ready for you! (Okay, not actually until we get the rear back on, but you get the drift.)
So tada! By the end of the day, we have a frame, with a front end, leaf springs, shocks and our hairpin radius rods all bolted on and assembled!
Next steps: Take rear end to powder coater for a quick blast to avoid long term rust. Put third member back in rear end, add rear end to frame, square it off. Easy peasy right? In the meantime, if you’re just joining in the fun, make sure you read our bios and get the reason behind this crazy project. Until next time, #BucketBetty
