New member and my project

[tcrate01]

Hello,
I am fairly new to AA trucks and this forum. It all started with the purchase of a '29 AA joker a few years back. After some research and really getting attached to 80 some year old technology, the bug bit me hard and I bought a '29 AA truck basket case. I have been at this restoration for about a year now. This summer we got to roll it out and start driving it around like a big go-cart to work all the bugs out before proceeding with body work this winter. This is not going to be a 100% correct perfect restoration, but also not a hack butcher job either. I am doing the best I can with what I have keeping in mind that I am not made of money. This forum has been a wealth of information for this project so far.

[spectria]

Welcome to the Forum, hope you join the AA club.
Looking good so far!!!

ps; If you size your pics around 250kb they will fill most screens...

[tcrate01]

I hope this works. I resized some pics.

[spectria]

Middle photo is good resolution, the top and bottom must have been low resolution before resizing. Always best to start with a mid-hi rez photo and down size.
Thanks for posting.

[spdway1]

Welcome, your project looks good!

[1crosscut]

Looks like you have a nice project going there. The first ride is always a hoot. How is the cab, fenders etc...?
Northeastern Minnesota? By the pictures it looks sort of like the Duluth area or perhaps a bit farther north towards Tower.

[tcrate01]

Thanks for the words of encouragement. The cab and fenders are useable with the typical areas of rust. I got some body hammers and dollys and did most of the patching. It takes a lot of patience to weld in the flush patches without warping. So far it is going good. Not a lot of body filler will be needed.
We are just about 25 miles south of Duluth. With winters like we had last year, it is easy to hunker down and get the shop heated up and make some progress on a major project.
Many years ago I spent six years restoring an antique airplane. I remember thinking that it would never fly again. That project taught me a lot about patience and sticking to it to the very end. Sometimes , the journey can be just as much fun as the finished product.
Here is some more pics if they are sized correctly.

[Stakebed]

Looks great! just gotta keep telling yourself there's a finite amount of parts and bolts to put one of these back together so even if you only had time to clean up and paint a handful of bolts, that's a handful of bolts that is done.

Before you know it you got a big chunk of it done like your frame there.

[Bob C]

That really looks good, can't wait to see the body done.
In the last picture I noticed the rubber is squished out around the metal
plate on the motor mount, did you remember to put the sleeves thru the
rubber before the bolts?

Bob

[Drew Mashburn]

Bob C:

Are the nuts and bolts in your photo painted black, or do they have some other finish on them?

-- Drew

[Bob C]

I stole the picture from Bratton's but the catalog says they are raven finish.

Bob

[tcrate01]

Yes I put the sleeves on the engine mount bolts. When tightening them, I assumed they should be squished all the way until they bottom against the sleeves. Maybe I should have left them looser?
Most of my hardware has been sandblasted then primed with a black epoxy primer along with my frame parts. This primer has been nice to work with and fairly durable. This primer should be top coated with a paint if exposure to sunlight is expected. So some of my stuff has a top coat on it. I even did my lug nuts this way. I just have to be careful not to scratch paint off too much when installing them. I know originally they were cad plated, but this looks good enough for my truck which will be used and not just displayed.

[Drew Mashburn]

Bob C:

That's what I thought they might be. I think raven finish would be the way to go, so as to not scuff up painted nuts and bolts like I've done. What's your spin?

tcrate01....nice lookin' project, Buddy!

-- Drew

[Bob C]

Yes the bolts should be tightened against the bolts. I read that
some of the rubber sets are thicker that the original ones.

Bob

[Stakebed]

Bob C:

That's what I thought they might be. I think raven finish would be the way to go, so as to not scuff up painted nuts and bolts like I've done. What's your spin?

tcrate01....nice lookin' project, Buddy!

-- Drew

what i do is paint the bolts, put em in, if paint flakes off or gets marred, use a small brush and touch up the bolts you can see