What have you bought lately that has accurate and up to date instructions (I don't mean just for your truck)? You need to understand that most of the time these manufacturers/jobbers are small garage businesses thrilled if they sell a dozen units a year, not multi million dollar giant corporations employing hundreds with assembly lines cranking out product by the tens of thousands a month with document production departments. Many are old school and often they are not even computer literate. Updating instructions is far down their priority list, they are much happier/comfortable running a machine tool than a word processor. Making parts and pieces fit and work is what this hobby is all about, they're not model car kits with instant gratification. Relax and be glad that you don't have to make every part from scratch or adapt parts you scrounged at the junk yard on your own like we used to have to do before they was an aftermarket or internet. I'm much more proud of the AC/heater hose firewall penetration cover I made out of a stainless pet bowl, or the console I made from bent electrical conduit and stainless sheet then fitted with controls and parts adapted from several vehicles, or the Miata inside door handles I made work with the stock latches and locks than with anything I just bought and bolted on. Instructions? I don't need no steeenkin instructions!

 

I understand that...guess I just bitch too much..Sorry

 

It's OK, I understand frustration (don't get me started on software that doesn't work like you expect it to or at all...) I'd suggest telling us what issues you ran into, what you did to solve them, that would be more valuable to the rest of us.

 

Subscribed.

You are making some serious progress in a hurry!!

Dan

 

Wow!! Amazing set of pics...looking forward to following along.

 

Yes the pic's are a little fuzzy but they is Big. How ya do that?

 

It's just shots off my iphone 4...

 

As I stated before..the rear shocks just didn't want to work..
The rear end I'm using is an 8.8 out of a 95 Exploder..it had a rear sway bar which I was hoping I could maybe use some how. ...but alas it was not to be.
The cradle brackets welded to the rear end for mounting said sway bar interferred with the shock. There was no way the body of the shock could go where it was supposed to so I broke out the blue tip wrench and off they came..That helped a lot.The bottom mount was at a weird angle compared to the shock so again I used the torch to heat it up and a little adjustment with a 3 # sledge hammer and it worked fine..The pics show the offending bracket both on and off the rear end and the slight alignment issues..
I was a little hesitant of using the torch on the rear end but I just went for it..I didn't burn thru so all is good.
I'm not sure if I am going to roll with this or modify it more or change to something different but for now it is on and I will move forward. I needed to get the shocks in place to see about the fuel system and how much room I had to mount a pump and filter..

 

I only had a couple of hours to dedicate to the Money Pit today..
I managed to remove the doors, seat, heater and sound proofing inside the cab and the rear glass..

 

I wanna see more...

 

Boy, that is some solid looking metal. Where did that truck come from?

 

North Mississippi...from what I understand it has been within 100 miles since new.

 

That was a great find and an excellent base for a project, that's the kind of start everyone should look for. Put the money into getting the best in the part you are going keep.

 

Thanks..the dorrs are by far the worst part of the truck..it will take a LOT of work to get them servicable again! I'm hoping I can find some in better shape as replacements.. We will see.

 

Found out this afternoon that my plans of really moving on my truck during he winter are not going as planned.. in two weeks I have to go have reconstructive surgery done on my right shoulder that will put me out of commision as far as working on the truck til after the first of the year..I was really hoping to make some decent progress on it but that isn't going to be the case..so I guess I will continue to lurk on here for a while and watch other builds to gain a more solid plan of attack once the doc clears me to get back in the shop..I have two weeks to get stuff ready for winter storage and in the shop and or trailer for storage...this is NOT what I was anticipating! ;-(