Moving a little slow the past few weeks, lots of planning. On Tuesday we hit the junk yards and found some suitable inner fenders from a SCAB. It also had a real nice factory exhaust hanger that we will use instead of the cheesy aftermarket style. And then the find of the day were stock valve covers off an old Lincoln. I should have taken a before pic, but here's the after.





We shaved the metal brackets and wire separators and gave them a fresh coat of Ford Blue.

 

What paint did you use? That looks very nice.

 

VHT Ford Light Blue

 

Seems pretty close to the Plastikote Old Ford Blue I used on my valve cover. Different lighting and different pictures though. Can never tell without having them both right next to each other.

Attachment 287629

 

I KNOW how life can get in the way of the important stuff like restoring your ride. Now, I think I'm gonna pull my valve covers this weekend and throw some fresh paint on them. You shamed me into it. Well, here's wishing that both of us have some time this weekend to work on our trucks.

 

The red cab is rust free and in the best shape we have seen recently. But the cowl has many dents and a nice little "antenna" hole in the wrong spot.








Donor Cowl. Drilled spot welds. Peeling back the first panel.





Close up.





First panel removed.

 

Removed old cowl. Found a fair amount of rust. This will be addressed.





Donor cowl mock up.

 

...so much for "rust free."

 

"Rust Free" seems to be a relative term. Looks like you have it on the run though. You've left very few places uncovered at this point that could even have rust. Good work BTW, keep us posted.

 

This fresh air intake also takes in dirt, leaves and water. Unlike many other vehicles of this and earlier periods, it is always wide open. Dirt and decomposed leaves retain water thereby enhancing and accelerating oxidation (rust).
Thus, I wonder about ways and means of closing this opening off when it isn't needed or at least backing it with a metal screen.

 

Good time to make sure your door hinge plates are up to snuff as well. Hate to find a stripped hole after having access to remove them.

 

If you decide to make another set of those radius/control arm brackets, let me know and I'll be the first to buy. A clean and simple solution. I really don't like the brackets I made for my swap.

 

so far it looks amazing!! hard part looks done. just gotta get the body work cleaned up.

lol the crew cab and bronco in the background looks like a 70's excursion in some photos

 

And then we found this at the junkyard...







I'll take some more pictures in a day or two. Floorpans are pretty much spotless, shiny factory paint in the whole interior. This thing had to have been sitting in a garage most of it's life. Perfect cab corners, cowl is clean and dent free. Just a few small dings on the roof.

 

Looks clean! That should save you a lot of time and effort.