haha unreal. did you cut down 8ft bed sides to use on the 6ft? im asking because im about to acquire a super cab short bed and it needs bed sides

 

Ya I just cut the front off the new sides. It's a little under 6 ft now. Didn't quite work out to 6ft trying to center it on the regular cab frame. I was suprised at how little holds the back of the panels on. I ordered a re-pop tailgate, so thin you could use it for a kite, so its decoration now. Took one of the banged up ones off my old trucks and welding patches in. Old one weighs about 4 times as much as new one.....Be scared to set a beer on it...Ha

 

got any pic of the process?

 

None that I can find, but I will check my other computer. It was long, pain in the *$$ Process. Cut, test, cut, test... I had to cut the bottom to match sides, then cut and place supports from bottom to line up properly. If I was getting paid for all the hours it took me to do this, I could buy me a space shuttle... But it makes me smile every time I see it!

 

Can't find any more pics of doing the box. Sorry.......

 

Nice truck, good project, right colour. I'm down the road from you in cow town and am doing a similar project, 78 f350 drw onto a 89 f350 drw. Mines being built to pull a 32' 5th wheel rv trailer. This is the week that I get to take the cab off the 78 and start to match cab mounts, steering column and rad support crossmember. Should be a good nightmare as I'm keeping everything as original as possible. I've got frame pics in my garage alblums and library and was curious as to how close our frames are in shape. I guess I'm worried that the front cab mounts are lower on the 89 than the 78's. A kid posted on my thread about how all the mounts were real close and only took a little bit of modification to line up.LoL I'm not equiped to be lifting and moving my cab a lot so I got to be pretty accurate with my guesses. A little advice would go a long way for me. Thanx and keep up the good work, I know what it's like to be restricted health wise so I can relate to what you've had to go through to get as far as you have. Have a good day and keep the old Henry going.

 

I will tell you one thing, It was WAY more than I bargained for...ha. I made new cab mounts, and positioned them where they wanted to be. I also had to recenter the wheels in the wheel wells, as I was putting a supercab on a reg cab frame, and making it a short box. I can't count how many times I removed the cab and box! I ended up with what looks like a 3" body lift at the end.

What I had the most difficulty was the bumpers. I originally planned on using the 85 style bumpers that fit the frame. The contour of the body is so different, I had to buy new 79 bumpers, make custom adapter plates to fasten them,(still in the process).

Rad support I used the 79, not the 85. Can't remember all the details, been a long time, and so many changes, after changes. But if you have any questions I will try my best to help!

I put the truck in a timeout, working on my Torino for a bit.

 

I am not familiar with the 89 frames. I will tell you that nothing lined up perfect on my build. I really did not have the resources we have now on these forums when I started either...ha

My headers didn't line up.
1) Move brake dist, make new brake lines to get around headers.
2) Steering not even close to working. I made 2 custom u joints to get around headers. I now found a website "flaming river" I believe, that makes all these custom steering pieces....will save you lots of time and expensive mistakes.. I didn't realise how expensive a steering rod was until I had to cut up 3 to make mine!
3) Had to move shock tower on driver side also, just a wee bit.
4) After having my cab where I wanted it, engine mounted, etc. I recieved headers only to find out that they wanted to exit right through my nice new cab mounts. Had to remove them, cut, re weld. Thank god I bought a plasma cutter!

Hope this helps. I would try to have all your parts on hand to measure 9 times before you commit yourself.

After mine was together I took it for a test drive, to find out I forgot to swap out the heater core while it was apart. Not sure how I managed that, but it has to be changed now.

Good Luck!

 

Awesome build man!

How do you like the QFT Carb?

I bought a SS-680-VS for my build, I hope to be able for fire it up in a few weeks when I get back home from work.

 

I have the ss-780 on my truck, and Q-950 on my car. Great carbs. Haven't run the truck much yet. No complaints.

 

Thanks, I was not able to find many reviews online from others using them. The company I bought mine from spoke very highly of them.

Nice to see I'm not the only one dealing with the falling white stuff.....




Glad to hear you healed up from the wreck, sounds like it was pretty nasty.

 

No problem. We just got about 15 inches in the last week, kid is having fun on the ski doo.

Ya it was bad. I'm still in bad shape, but do what I can. Some fine gentleman was kind enough to cross the centerline of the highway as we were doing about 65/mph and hit me head on with his one ton Dodge diesel......

 

HOLY HELL!!! You my friend are lucky to be alive (but I am sure you already know that).

Accidents like that definately affect you for the rest of your life.

 

+1 on that

 

x 2
That was a tough hit, glad you came through it.
Thanx for the advice, I haven't thrown anything out in case I might need it. Figured I would need to cross the mounts with the 78s front rad support. Did the last of my suspension work today so tommorrow I break down my 78 cab, big time thanks for mentioning the apparent 3" lift. I'm going to run a string line from the center of my front spindle to rear axle and try to use that as a baseline to measure off of.
Hope you heal fast, may the force be with you. Thanks again for the help.