OFFICIAL NC FOOD TRUCK BUILD W/PICS

You will probably get as many different answers as people answering this but I would (and did) Start by stripping it down if it needs it then work up a good layout. Once you have a layout and know what equipment in it start to rough wire it up and rough plumb it just like a new house. Then insulate and put up the walls. I is usually best to begin at the top and work your way down meaning flooring last. This way depending on the flooring you are using it will not be damaged by dropping materials and tools.

To add to that, most HD will require a radii floor molding. If done prior to the walls your dimensions could exceed past the lip og the radiused floor molding

Thank you so much Chicnscoop for the tip I thought about the floor getting trashed it is bar already only the aluminum walls and those alum. stud things inside.
 
 
Brian by radi floor molding, do you mean for instance the flexible moulding that I plan to use to seal the wall and floor meeting? and if so point well taken I see why I should do the walls first.
 
 
Thank you so much
 
 
Home depot here I come (back again)
 
Home depot had a 1ft x 4ft light fixture ( florescent) regular 75$ on clearance for 45.00 it was framed in diamond plating on all for sides, it look awesome if anyone is interested in it since a lot of people are using the diamond plate flooring in the builds.
 

I pasted the pic in but can't post pics yet  Google lithonia lighting diamond plate linear to see the pic of it

on my wall drawing, if you look between the pink boards you will see 2" "C" channel....
these will be stitch welded to the truck walls, that way i dont have a million rivets showing on the outside....
stay away from the "fuzzy" stuff, unless you have a 100% hermetical seal it will soak up moisture and you could end up with corrosion and mold issues....
 
the pink board is a solid insulation, comes in 4x8 sheets and is super easy to work with, you can get it at home depot or lowes, the 2" (what im using since my corner braces in the truck are 2") is a special order, but they can have it for you in a couple days......
 
i would do the floor first, that way it can be "held down" around the edges with the walls.....
i actually plan on leaving a 1/4"-1/2" gap between walls and floor(plywood/insulation/frp) and just letting the cove molding fill the gap, that way, if/when i have a major leak, or douse her down for a scrubbing, the wall materials will be up off the floor so nothing can soak into the wall itself...
 
the aluminum studs im using will go all way to floor though, and the cove molding will cover the joint up nicely.... i dont have a plan right now to use plywood on my floor, i have an aluminum diamond plate floor in her now, i might have a bed liner sprayed in though, i dont know yet..

get an official build thread started !!
i will be glad to "forward" pics into it from you so we can see what your doing, until your 30/30  probation is up....
we love pics :) 
its also nice to have an active "diary" during the build so when you get disenchanted with it, you can come and look and see just how far its come ! lmao !

speaking of pics :)
came home to find these waiting for me on the porch!
the tach is on back order, so i have to wait a couple more weeks for it to come in....
now we can start getting that dash buttoned up ! lol

i really wanted to keep the dash as stock as possible, but after endless hunting for the various stock gauges i found out going this route actually saves me 100 bucks ! well, maybe 60 bucks after the new dash is cut, lol....

Great looking gauges BAB....and thank you for the pic post offer I will get up to 30 by tonight

I am going with the pink or blue board I was just gonna do the 1" board because it was in stock, and on top of that I am trying to save as many inches as I can on the walls and flooring to keep my walkway as wide as possible.

lol, how many rednecks does it take to screw in a light bulb ??

the ol' girl has her very own reserved bay at the shop, lol...

finally, out with the old !...and soon to be in with the new :)
it was a bit of a bear getting that thing out of there, but the new one went right in pretty as you please....

my concerns were validated when we got this thing off, had about a gallon and a half of gas left in it, and it was the color of sweet tea, and smelled like paint thinner, lol... that fiberglass patch was really giving up the battle without a fight....

a little blury here, but everything has to be adjusted at times..... one of the ears had to be ground off so the "matched" pick up could be installed in the right direction, lol......

we added a length of tube to the return line so it can be used to feed the gen set and adjusted the float so there would be about 3 gallons when the needle reads empty......
 
EDIT: the new pick up for the gen set goes down to about the 1/4 tank level, so as to not drain the tank dry, and give me a chance to make it to civilization if need be...
 
todays glitch?... lol, it was a good one..... the tank and unit sat on my porch for about a week waiting to get to the shop, and during that time a @%&%# &#@@*#%   @*^&$#&#  dirt dobber started building a nest in the end of the pick up tube..... so after we got everything in and hooked up, about an hour, it took us 2 hours to figure out why the tank wouldnt supply fuel....ya just have to laugh sometimes..... course, this afternoon i wasnt laughing so much as cussing a storm about the damn critters around my house, lol

BAB you are doing a lot of work on your truck are you planing to rebuild the entire truck? some of the things you are doing i haven't really thought of doing. And should i start looking into these things when i picked my truck up it had already had the breaks done, new starter, fuel lines, fluids changed, and newer batteries installed. It does make sense to check and double check everything out before investing thousands of dollars in equipment and such...I guess I'm just so excited about getting the kitchen built I lost track of the maintenance priority part of the TRUCK itself.
 
 
I do know I am NOT changing the gauges, the seat I and taking out off the frame painting the frame and reupholstering myself, the dash I am taking out and painting, the diamond plate cab floor and other aluminum I thought about painting silver maybe not maybe I'll shine it or polish it I mean.....hummmmm decisions decisions

lol, well...........
i got the oldest truck i could find that was the right size for what i needed, sometimes i wish i had just got the '99 model down the street, but where would the fun be in that ! lol!
i was a hot rodder long before i got interested in food, so that has a lot to do with my obsession with pieces parts and the mechanical aspects of the truck....
 
to be honest, i could have probably slapped a coat of paint on the ol' girl, installed my kitchen and hit the streets, but i wanted to make extra sure that once i did hit the streets, everything that i could possibly have done to deter a break down had been done.....
she ran good when i picked her up, and has never given me one bit of trouble, other then a wore out carb and leaky exhaust manifolds.... i replaced the carb with that pretty new holley, and the manifolds will give way to headers here soon, and chromed side pipes :)
 
also in the interest of disclosure im not really dropping that much money, most of the parts for these old trucks are dirt cheap (starter 27 bucks/master cylinder 18 bucks/alternator 17 bucks/etc...)  
the only two what i would call big money jobs so far was the rear end (about a grand), and the gas tank (about 400 total)
i am able to do most of the work myself, so that saves me a lot of money in labor, and when i do have to go to the shop, i usually just pitch into the beer fund for the "after working hours social"..... im lucky to have great friends like that.....
lol, they are just as jacked about getting the truck done as i am (lol, plenty of free lunches coming to them)
being 34 years old, i just wanted to breath easy once i get started and have her out making the big bucks :)

i didnt really want to swap the gauges, but the factory ones i needed were like looking for hens teeth.... i did find them but they were over 500 bucks for a complete set (one of those rare/not made any more items)
the new ones were well less then half that, and i am now able to move things around a bit and fit an hour meter in the dash for the maintenance log, and a clock as well..... the head unit i have for tunes is a digital media unit (no CD, just am/fm, sd card, thumb drive slot, and ipod plug) all that and it has no clock !!
lol, i never wear a watch, but i have to have a clock in the truck!
i might be able to fit the head unit in the dash now as well also, would be nice to be able to do that, but i wont be sure i can until the morning...
 
if you decide to do any polishing of aluminum let me know...lol, i can tell you all the tricks i have learned over the last month or so....... that is not an easy job by any means..... im going to have rhino liner sprayed for my floor, lol...... plus im going to need to keep max head room, i am 6'4 and the inside of truck is 6'4.... i have a plan laid out for raising the roof, but keep back burnering that project because i hate to mess with the lines of the truck.... i will have to make a firm decision on that here pretty soon though...

The whole side of the tank was one big patch?

The whole side of the tank was one big patch?

lol, that entire side plus the entire bottom !.... i think it was fine until the truck sat for so long, once the gas turned i think is when it started raising hell with the patch....there was some serious crud floating around in the old tank, i just talked to my buddies at the shop..... on a whim they drained and strained the old tank this morning just to see what all was in there.......
everything from mud looking stuff, to molasses looking crud came dribbling out.....
i had no idea it was in that bad of shape or this would have been one of the first things i did!!
i picked up the new dash panel this morning, and am starting to shuffle my templates around for that perfect look....

well, spent all evening laying out the dash....
took it out to the van to set it in and get a pic and i'll be darned if i didnt get the whole thing shifted a half inch to the right.....lol
and i was so careful with the scribe and sharpies !!
 
oohh well, it was too dark to get a decent pic inside the van, so i will snap one in the morning and start seeing what i have to do to shift to the left....
 
it going to look sweet :)

With all the work you are doing it going to pay off in the long haul, And it looks sweet there backalley.

BackAlleyBurger
The head unit i have for tunes is a digital media unit (no CD, just am/fm, sd card, thumb drive slot, and ipod plug) all that and it has no clock !! I might be able to fit the head unit in the dash now as well also, would be nice to be able to do that, but i wont be sure i can until the morning...

Im going to have rhino liner sprayed for my floor.
 
I am 6'4 and the inside of truck is 6'4.... i have a plan laid out for raising the roof, but keep back burnering that project because i hate to mess with the lines of the truck.... i will have to make a firm decision on that here pretty soon though...

 
First on any audio or video equipment....what about the area right above the dash at ceiling height? My AM FM is right above the drivers seat. I'll try and take a picture in the next day or so and post it.
 
2nd "Im going to have rhino liner sprayed for my floor." Really? Really, LOL,  do you know how hard that stuff is to clean? It'll shred a mop the 2nd time you clean the floor.
 
3rd i have a plan laid out for raising the roof, but keep back burnering that project because i hate to mess with the lines of the truck.
 
I'll bet locally it would cost me 3 to 5 grand to get my roof height increased.
 
So where are you have you made any progress? Post pictures soon...
 
Jack
 
 

ok, time for an update....
im still waiting on one gauge to arrive, apparently tachometers are in short supply these days, lol
as far as the rhino lining goes, i meant to say the front of the truck, just the "cab" area, my plan is to leave the "working area" bare aluminum and polish it up a bit mainly to just clean it up real nice.....
i hope to put a floor drain in just for ease of washing her down... still waiting to hear back from HD if it has to be plumbed into the grey water tank or if i can leave it "open"
i have just enough space left on the dash to add the head unit, and it would be easily reachable from there while driving....
 
i just got off the phone with speedymetals.com , i highly recommend them for small orders, they have no minimum, and shipping is very reasonable....
i ordered 2 test sticks cut to length for the wall studs, if everything works ok with them, i have my second order already "pre filled" waiting for a phone call to ship it out as well, they are great people to deal with:)
 
with the oppressive heat, and daily thunderstorms last week or so i havent worked on the truck much, but the heat finally broke, and things have dried up a bit, so its time to get busy again !!!! 

@DR- wow, thats incredible, if that was my case the roof wouldnt even be a consideration, i would learn to walk with my head cocked over, lol
 
if i found a "pro" to do it, i think i would come in around the 2-3k area....i have changed who is welding the holes up simply for logistics reasons, about the same price but 3 miles from the house VS 20 miles.....
but the race car builder(welder/engineer for local utility co.) is still my choice for the roof, i should be able to get that done for less then a thousand with him....
he designs and builds race car roll cages and frames, race car bodies, sets engines, rear ends, designs and sets suspensions, etc....
lol, it is his "mega hobby", he has a fully stocked professional level shop in his back yard, so i think he is a good choice :) people come in from 3 states around to have him do work for them so i think this guy really knows what he is doing... best thing is, he is a good ol' country boy who loves what he does and believes in helping out neighbors(lol, even the ones 20 miles away, lol)

well, i ordered the aluminum to get started with the interior walls (the "c" channel for the studs) and a 1'x2' plate of 1/8th" to fill in the brake light holes....
 
it came right on time from speedymetals.com ....... only problem was, instead of the 2x1 channel i ordered and paid for, they sent 2x1/2 channel !!!
i called up my sales rep and explained to him what happened, he bent over backwards while i was on the phone with him to get a duplicate order out, and shipped for wed delivery......  KUDOS for the great customer service speedymetals !!
 
and now the icing on the cake...... he said it was a real hassle to return anything, he didnt want me put out any more then already have been, and to just keep the first order as a "gift" for my troubles :) 
 
170 bucks worth of aluminum... yay me !
now to just find something to use it for :)

bumpity bump bump......
i have been putting in long hours at the paint n body shop in preparation for my turn in the booth.....
most of the aluminum is here for the walls, and as soon as i get the studs welded up i can get down to some serious body prep.....
i have decided to paint, just too many options for what i can do and how i can make it stand out versus just a bright shiny box with some lettering on it....
 
oky doke, im off to the labor camp, have a great day all !
 
ps: my back and feet have been cussing me for 2 weeks now, i got lazy the past year, lol 

got a lot done to the truck yesterday, nothing food truck related so i didnt take any pics, mainly under the hood stuff and worked on that dent by the headlight, i found a front bumper of a mack truck, lol, that thing is awesome and huge !...im going to measure it out and see what i can do with it tomorrow......
the thread on lowering got me thinking, and i need front springs anyway, so i think im going to splurge on a front lowering kit (spindles and springs) will drop the front end 2 inches..... that and a possible shackle kit out back after i get everything in her should have me low and slow, lol we will see......

What type paint are you using...???
 
Does your local HD have any regs concerning paint...???
 
This talk of lowering has me wondering what a food truck / trailer would look like IF one of the classic hot rod builders of the 1960's took on a project like that...???
 
A custom truck with dragster slicks, headers, Muncie shifter, and candy apple paint...would probably be a hit at car shows...