Thanks daniels54. Nice truck. I've got a pretty good idea of how I'm gonna paint it. Just need another 5 miles or welding and grinding and smoothing to go.

On another note how do you like your hood hinge set up and which kind did you go with? I have the stock hinges and would like to use them and save the money but no one seems to like them, especially if you're wrenching under the hood.
Hoping to get some more work done on the body tomorrow.

 

I used a kit from MidFifty. They source is from Classic Performance Products. I'm in CA so I always order through mid fifty to avoid an internet sales tax. Plus their service is second to none!

I went away from the stock hinges due to my old hood shoulder bolts and square pem nuts being stripped. The hood was very difficult to work under while it was in the stock position. I weighed the cost of replacing everything and not having access. The first hood I had was in poor condition and buying a different used one introduced issues of the kit not fitting. I often would hit my head on the hood latch pin and working on the engine near the firewall was always a tight squeeze. I became annoyed with the stock hinges due to the first several months of working on a top end rebuild of my engine.

I ordered the MMB kit. Its a very well made kit. Easy to install with minimal trimming needed. It opens up the entire engine bay for easy access to work on everything. Mid fifty has a youtube video on how to install it. It used all stock holes for mounting and i believe you drill a few holes yourself. As long as you can measure everything evenly and patiently, install is no issue. You will need someone to help you lift everything up there later and it can be a pain to line up and adjust due to the kit design. I didn't mess to much with it, I just got it close enough. I'm sure it will all depend on how perfect you want to line all the fenders and hood up, and how straight all of your body panels and hood are.

I've seen a lot of kits out there from No Limit Engineering, but cannot tell you the benefits of that one. Other than those two kits, I do not know of another one out there. But I personally recommend the MMB kit. Everyone has a tilt hood kit, and they are very convenient to work on and display. I'm able to climb inside my engine bay and sit on the fender to work on detail stuff without any problem, the open access is second only to a tilt front end.

If your hood hinges are in good condition and the shoulder bolts and nuts pressed into the hood are not stripped I'd stick with them. You can always rebuild the stock ones using new springs and some fresh paint. Out of all the projects and finished trucks I've seen. I've only seen a handful using stock hinges. Its refreshing to see one with stock hinges or just a hood that opens the "correct" way.

It really comes down to how much engine or engine bay work you are going to be doing once you put your fenders and hood on.

 

Thanks for the info. Not sure what I wanna do yet. I have the originals and they are in good working order and I sand blasted and primered them already. Might mock everything up with those once the primer is done and then can always add the front hinges.
Got some work done today finish welding and filling the front drip rail delete. Turning out pretty good. It's about 95% smooth now. Just needs primer and blocking a couple times.

 

Body work is looking good!

I've been thinking about shaving the dip rail on my own truck. When you cut out the old one, does it leave a huge gap? or is it just a seam?

 

My drip rail was pretty well rusty but I think they're just tack welded to the body. So realistic all if that's the case then it would be a matter of drilling spot welds and smoothing it after. With mine being rusty I had to cut the roof part up about an inch to hit good metal then cut a new metal filler piece and weld it in all the way across. Started on the passenger side last night.

 

Got the side drip rails metal finished.

 

Turned out very nice..

 

Thanks. Now I need to put the old doors on and see if the gap is any good. Fingers crossed but that's gonna be another day.

 

Thanks for the info. I'll look into that a little more before I cut mine. Your metal work is turning out great!

 

Been a couple months of no work on the panel truck but my 65 mustang is back on the roads. Also spent a few days in Vegas for the sema show. Gave me some new motivation for getting back after the truck.
Got the front coil overs out and got to see how it'll almost sit at its lowest setting with the air ride. Hoping to keep plugging away on metal work and hope to get the shell done by the end of the year or early next year.

 

Should look good , thanks for the update..

 

Got some new steel so I can start the process of rebuilding the floor fram and make it a little taller to clear the new height of the c notched frame. Also the rear structural c channel that ties both sides of the panel together will be replaced. The left side had totally rusted through and the left panel is flapping in the wind now. The right side is hanging on by a thread. It'll take some figuring but I already rebuilt the ds lower panel structure. It was the first time I've cut out a panel, made a template and bent and shaped new metal to fit. And it actually worked. Took a little tweaking and massaging but it will look stock once it's finessed. Here is the piece old and new

 

Another day of progress in the books. Got the reaminder of the floor cut out and the rear structural panel out. Made up a new piece to connect the rear panels. I will still have to create a new lower panel that the doors latch into but that'll be a while since that piece alone will take the better part of the day to make.
Tomorrow I hope to get the floor structure welded in and I will finally have about all the main structure done. Even the rear doors fit in nicely. I'm sure there is many many hours of work yet to fit them right but luckily that's for another day.

 

I remember those days well...lol

 

Wow. Gives me more hope seeing that and how sharp you truck is now. Thank you. I plan to narrow the floor suppport so that I can get a wider tire in the back. What I'm thinking for the sides of the floor is just weld the same 2x1 tubing to make extra support.
How did you tie in the floor to the sides of the panels? I can't tell if they were just glued there or tack welded originally but it doesn't seem tack welded. It obviously held moisture since its rusty most of the way around where the floor was at the panel. Would love to see pictures of your floor tie in if you have any. Thanks.