Well, I just finished pulling the F-150 emblems, mirrors, running boards, and the bumpers in preperation fer body work-Slash-paint. Had to pull the stern tank to get ready fer sandblasting the underbelly, needs a new sending unit as the hip mount tank did. That job Sucked. Today will debate taking off tailgate or not, prolly paint it inplace, or not. Got to sand blast and undercoat er before get to far, but saving that fer tomorrow. Still lookin fer 16" rims. Got free tires if I can find em, or just get new tires fer my 15's. Saw some on Craigslist 20 miles from here, may go check em out.
Sure would be Great if all them dern Blackwidows would just go ahead and move out, they aint welcome anymore!

 

Coldsteel ... I got to give Grey a BIG old +1 here.

I know you are VERY insistent that the welder you got is the BEST ... and the quality of his weld is SUPERIOR ...

But ...

1) I cannot tell if he "V" ground the two chassis pieces before he did the weld ... if he didn't ... I don't care HOW many coal trucks he stitched together ... its just NOT a proper weld. Period.

2) Even if the welds are 100% PERFECT ... the metal of the frame has been changed by the heat of the welding process. I have seen metal in a highly stressed member crack on either side of a perfectly wonderful weld because it became brittle by the heat.

3) A couple of plates on the frame rails would have been CHEAP INSURANCE!!! There would not even be a question in anybodies mind about the reliability of the repair.

Body shops have been taking Two totaled cars (one front hit, one rear hit) and welding them together to make ONE good car. Many States will not register cars that have been "built" by this process. Largely because of questions relating to the welds.

I know you don't want to hear it ... but them plates would have been a good idea.

 

the "notch" on the bottom of the frame where he didnt go all the way down will also act as a shear point...

 

Took the truck into the shop at school and cut out the cab corners and replaced with patch panels. Will try and finish it up on Monday.Sorry the pictures are from my phone and not a very good quality, I'll take some better pictures later.
The yellow chunks is what the previous owner used to patch them-- expanding foam (air chisel came in handy for removing). Drivers side is getting rebuilt with some fabricated supports underneath it as it was in a lot worse condition than the passenger side.

 

Awhile back I was at the JY and found a truck with an immaculate black dash and trim panels. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be picking up the dash itself and a red dash pad from another truck. If it's still at the JY I'll have to strap the dash to the top of the Cherokee and finagle the dash pad inside behind the rear seat.

If I get it then stuff's coming apart Sunday evening, and I'll be working on it all of Monday, possibly part of Tuesday depending on how many stuck bolts I find.

I'm throwing the idea back and forth of using the 80-86 dash, pad, and door panels, but using the later year pillar trim. One, because the later trucks had trim that went all around the cab, and two, because there are gauge pods that fit nicely on the pillar trim of the later trucks.

Just depends on what's at the yard next time.

 

Not needed. I fit my entire interior in the back of my mom's old 4 door Cavalier. I folded the seat down, and everything fit perfectly, even the dash.

Actually, 1980 was the first year for full length trim panels on the back of the cab. Your truck doesn't have them, because it's a Custom. Ranger trim trucks don't have them either. Ranger XLT and Ranger Lariats do have them. 1982-1986 Base trucks do not have them, but 1982-1986 XL-XLT Lariat do.

If you want to swap to the newer rear of cab trim, you have to completely relocate your shoulder belts, as the retractor moved to the bottom of the cab in 1987. The only plus to the newer trim is that it is held in with screws and not the stupid clips the 80-86 trucks use. Also, the newer A-Pillar moldings will work on our trucks without swapping to the newer rear trim. I'm pretty sure Lgwilson put some newer A pillar moldings in his truck.

 

This has been more of what I've done this week on my 86 F250. I got the truck for free. I put on a DMI bumper that we got out of a barn for free. Cleaned, painted and installed my headache rack. Next I put the toolboxes in. The PO gave me a nice, complete grill from an XLT and I got it put on. I'm really liking this truck. So far I have about $250 in it in parts. Momma likes that part. Next week it gets the near new tires and slots from my pulling truck.

 

Oh ok. There might be someone in the back seat though, I'll just have to work around that.

I think there were some Ranger XLT trucks at the JY. I'll take a look when I go.

What's involved in relocating the retractor? Is it just a bolt-in deal?

Cool, I'll go take another look at his pics.

 

Even if your jeep is a two door, i'm sure you can still make it fit with a passenger.

As far as the retractor goes, I have no idea. There's a guy who did to an 80 Flareside, so he's the better one to ask. Unfortunately, i've never talked to the guy, so I don't know if he's willing to answer questions or not. He has a few pictures in an album of his that show the newer trim in a 1980.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gallery/displayalbum.php?&albumid=20860

 

Oh ok.

He mentions in the pic description that he had to sew belt webbing. I wonder if I could get around that if I used the entire assembly, belt and all, from a later truck...

 

I thought about that myself.

I really have no idea unless I had an 87+ in front of my to look at and see how the rear trim panels come off. I imagine you should be able to. Maybe the seat belts in his donor truck were dirty or something and he used new seat belts.

 

Installed a Kat's circulating block heater in my truck today at school. Was a lot bigger pain in the *** than I was led to believe, glad I did it on a lift though and not at home on the floor. Managed to snap off the radiator drain **** while I was at it, but I was able to plug the screw shut and tighten it back into the rad with some thread sealant, seems to be fine.


Still been working on patching my bed almost every day, taking forever but an hour class at a time goes by quickly.

 

<a href="http://img163.imageshack.us/my.php?image=video0005.mp4"><img src="http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/2867/video0005.mp4.th.jpg"/></a>

got about halfway through fighting the exhaust and decided i wanted to hear what the mufflers sounded like.

also cleaned up the plug wires and changed the air cleaner, the first one had a drop base and hit the distributer.

 

Popped out a dent by hand on the passenger door in the super-cab, there is still a little den't but not as bad as before. I have another dent behind the drivers door that needs some attention too...

 

Well I got the black dash, and my friend decided to buy the matching kick panels for me while we were there. We pulled the black dash (I managed to do it on three hours sleep...), and after I got off work, I managed to have enough energy to pull my tan one and put in the black one with some help. I didn't get a red dash pad though, it would have cost too much for both the dash and pad, plus tax.

So now I only need to get the red dash pad, black pillar trim, black above-door trim, and whatever other black trim I can get my hands on...oh and red armrest pads for the door panels.


What's funny is that my town's high school colors are red and black...lol