OFFICIAL NC FOOD TRUCK BUILD W/PICS

in all honesty, im probably going to go with a gold base coat under a candy red...
i never realized this but we have about a half dozen small auto paint shops here in town, so probably wont be brand sensitive about my choice, just who is willing to give the best deal...
 
all my painting is going to be on the outside, not sure the HD would even care, i cant see them having anything to say about the paint or body work...
 
if i can swing it, my plan at the moment is chrome side pipes, polished grill, polished aluminum rims...... lol, no drag slicks though
 
im going to try and have the front cab area painted on the inside by the end of the week/week end.....
 
i did see a very interesting color today....called cherry coke.... its a veyr dark grey/almost black base coat, with a mid coat of translucent red, and a tinted clear coat....not sure i want to put that much into it though....lol, i have found out the last couple weeks that paint and body it hard work, lol

less talk and more damn pictures please. :-D

lmao, you got it man !

Does anyone have a picture of their interior walls? I don't know what the bare outside walls look like from the inside. I don't want a picture of the inside sheet aluminum, but a picture of what it looks like if that were removed. My SV has 1/2 inch plywood on it and I want to know what it looks like if I were to remove it. I guess I'm wanting to know what the ribs look like and the rub rail look like from the inside. Any help would be appreciated. 
Jack

i'll post some today DR. I have my window area that I have exposed down to the bare metal. I'll upload in an hour or so.

hey Dr,
my walls are just flat aluminum sheets, no ribs, but this van never had interior walls put up.....
as far as the rub rail goes, it is a structural piece between the top wall section and the lower, its basically just a connection point for the two wall sections...
the reason it is "half round" like it is, is because that takes a lot of flex out of the wall and add rigidity
from the inside (on my van anyway) the upper and lower wall sections come together with about a 1/4" gap between them, and then the rub rail is of course riveted along the bottom and top respectively....
 
i am looking at my rub rail as a possible chase from front to back of truck for wires and possibly plumbing as well..... its hollow inside, same shape as it is on the outside

THE WILD DOG


i'll post some today DR. I have my window area that I have exposed down to the bare metal. I'll upload in an hour or so.

 
Cool I appreciate it.
Jack

BackAlleyBurger


hey Dr,
my walls are just flat aluminum sheets, no ribs, but this van never had interior walls put up.....
as far as the rub rail goes, it is a structural piece between the top wall section and the lower, its basically just a connection point for the two wall sections...
the reason it is "half round" like it is, is because that takes a lot of flex out of the wall and add rigidity
from the inside (on my van anyway) the upper and lower wall sections come together with about a 1/4" gap between them, and then the rub rail is of course riveted along the bottom and top respectively....

i am looking at my rub rail as a possible chase from front to back of truck for wires and possibly plumbing as well..... its hollow inside, same shape as it is on the outside

 
Running anything through the rub rail sounds like a good idea.
 
But there are no ribs that run from top to bottom of the side panels? That means all that holds the truck together is the roof at the top, the rub rail half way down and the truck frame at the bottom... are you sure? LOL
 
My walls have a very high grade oak 3/4 inch plywood on them. The company that built it, did so for a contractor that had a ton of money to spend and he ordered the best from top to bottom for the build. It was his idea to build two of these trucks to go on the road as project trucks with blueprints and a space to meet with clients. Unfortunately he was underfunded and lost both back to the bank, now I wish I had bought both trucks.
 
But I thought there were ribs behind the walls every 4 feet or so. There is an air space behind the plywood or at least the one small space where I can stick a finger in next to some wires. And there are rivets every two feet or so in the walls which made me again think there were ribs from floor to ceiling behind the wall. In fact if I weren't a stainless steel freak I wouldn't have to do anything to my walls other than a good coat of clear to satisfy the HD. Hummmm I'm really anxious to see some pictures now. LOL

i will take some pics of my walls in the morning/afternoon...
 
but yes, from the roof down there is a seam at the top corner, very heavy aluminum extrusion that connects the top of walls to the roof rafters, then heading down, the wall is 1/8th" aluminum sheet, the top wall section is approx 4' from the roofline..... then the rubrail connects the top and bottom wall sections, then the bottom wall section mounts to the floor of the van via a large "L" channel of aluminum...looks sort of like a cove mold turned wrong way
around, the floor of the body is supported to the frame via large "hat" channel, with what looks like oak 1x2 spacers....
 
there are 2 2x2" "C" channels, one in each rear corner, going from the roof to the floor, and another 2 of them framing in the door area on the rear of truck...
 
but yea, long story short, there is nothing on my wall sections except for the rub rail on the outside..... truck is very tight and seems to have held up well over the years
 
 

Dr of BBQ

BackAlleyBurger


hey Dr,
my walls are just flat aluminum sheets, no ribs, but this van never had interior walls put up.....
as far as the rub rail goes, it is a structural piece between the top wall section and the lower, its basically just a connection point for the two wall sections...
the reason it is "half round" like it is, is because that takes a lot of flex out of the wall and add rigidity
from the inside (on my van anyway) the upper and lower wall sections come together with about a 1/4" gap between them, and then the rub rail is of course riveted along the bottom and top respectively....

i am looking at my rub rail as a possible chase from front to back of truck for wires and possibly plumbing as well..... its hollow inside, same shape as it is on the outside

Running anything through the rub rail sounds like a good idea.

 

 
when i said wires i meant low voltage stuff like speaker wire and the such, did you mean to say bad right ? lol

DR. I forgot to get the pics, but the truck is back home now so I will be able to get you the pics tomorrow.

ggrrrrrrrr, i was looking at my walls today while fitting some studs out, and thought to myself, hey, i need to take some pics and post... then i forgot to remember.....will do pics tomorrow i promise, taking the truck in to the shop for some pressure washing and measuring....
 
lol, i did a seafoam "smoke out" this afternoon, yep, the neighbor is pissed at me now, he had family over cooking out, lol........... ive got a sticky lifter that is driving me crazy, going to try and take care of it chemically first to see if i can clean it out, my oil pressure is awesome, truck runs great, so i hate to tear into the motor for a simple lifter issue....

got the lifters adjusted, she is now a smooth and quiet machine, found a set of ford SHO dual fans, so they will be replacing the stock fan tomorrow or next day....
she has been at the shop last 4 days getting a lot of smaller stuff buttoned up that i dont have time to do, have been working on wall layouts and should be ready to start welding up the finished product first thing monday....
 
the back ordered tach finally came in, so i will be working on the dash and wiring hot and heavy this weekend....yay !!
 
OK FOLKS !!...THERES NO TURNING BACK NOW !!.....
i went on a crazed shopping spree last night, purchased the charbroiler and griddle, they should be here friday
i decided on the tri-star concession series line of equipment
so for cooking, i will have a 24" griddle, 15" charbroiler, 12" 2 burner hot plate, and a 25 lb double basket counter top deep fryer.... that should leave me just enough room to fab up a triple half pan steam table........ i may go with baine marie style depending on the final measure, plus i want to do chili this fall/winter
 
well, looks like i will actually be starting on the actual food truck part of the build here pretty soon !

PICS PICS PICS !!!
 
lol, lemme grab a coke and a smoke and i will be right back !

ok first off, a peek at what wall embryos look like......

here are my long awaited interior wall pics......

here is one that shows the single large cross member that is about 3/8ths of the way back in the 10' cargo section.... it looks like there may have been a matching stud riveted to the wall section, but i have not been able to find out if this was a manufacturer thing, or a requested thing due to ordered shelving or something... you can see the staggered rivet holes going down the wall section.... the truck seems no worse for the wear with them missing, its stiff tight and seems perfectly fine without the side sections.... my (coined phrase) alumistuds will surely add back any structural aspects that are missing now
 
  

the @*%&#^% blessed back ordered tachometer finally arrived !! now the dash can move forward !!! :) :) :)

and here is a little teaser of what the final dash project will look like......

figured i better go ahead and get the heating buttoned up..... took the old core into the radiator shop and they laughed at it, lol..... told me to go buy a new one, lol.... so i did..... awesome guys at mills supply !! 

and last but not least....
the star of the show for this evening......
brand spanking new tri-star charbroiler..... i decided on a 15" CB, and 24" griddle, i think it will do me well to get started anyway.....
so, looks like i have a busy weekend ahead of me !! 
 

i know that a lot of my work has been the truck itself, not really food trucky up until now, but i think i am finally at a point where the actual food truck aspects of the build can start shining through.....
 
i wont lie though, i have thoroughly enjoyed the aspects of bringing the truck back to life, and upgrading and customizing certain parts.... i hope you guys have enjoyed those parts as well.....
 
she is going to be one kick ass work of art when i am done
after all, its a food truck, the truck should be just as much a part as the food right ?? 

Looks great, thanks for the picks. BAB keep up the good work, you're very talented.

oohh boy....side pipes...... yea i said side pipes.......lol, should be here by end of week, i cant wait !!......
an old step van with side pipes, lol...... its either going to be the coolest truck ever, or a big gay train wreck, lol !
 
70 inches of 3" chrome side pipes...... im getting worried now, lol.....oohh why did i post this, lol

oohh yea, heater is hooked up, i rewired everything for it, and taught myself about resistor speed control with dual power inputs...... she blows nice and HOT !!
electric fans going on next week, rebuilding, or i should say building a new plenum and ducting for the heat this weekend, found a new(to me) tilt steering column and picked it up last night, really good shape and it has a functioning horn button !!
power steering conversion will be either this week or next, and then in goes the new column, and then i can finish wiring up the rest of the dash....
 
maybe, just maybe, i can get some paint on her before the end of november...
 
i would love to be able to go out and hit the lines at target and best buy for black friday......we will see...even if just coffee and hot chocolate.... kind of a teaser soft opening....

not holding my breath for that....it would take a miracle for that to happen.... but a guy can dream :) lol 

picked up all the parts for a complete power steering conversion over the weekend, still waiting for the side pipes to show up, but hopefully i will be able to swing getting the power steering done this week, and at least the headers put on and the side pipes mounted..... we will see, lol
 
painted the dash saturday, dont like the color so will repaint this week, have just about figured everything out to put it back together if i can make up my mind on a color this week....

oohh, and the walls (studs at least) will be up this week..... at least on the drivers side, and about half the passenger side unless i can figure out the window layout soon, then will get them all up this week

here is the donor power steering box just about ready to come out......

i should say PS pump also........its a beautiful day out today

here is the real gem....... 120 amp alt, will be more then enough to keep batteries charged and lights shining bright.......