looks great, i use 2x across opening and ratchet straps to pull it up when i do my np435s on 70s fords. glad you still kickin, damn drug addicts are everywhere.

 

This street isn't as bad as it seems bwarren but there are some things about this town that are just not normal, my buddy Dwight chalks it up to multiple generational fetal alchohol syndrome. It doesn't matter where you live in this town, you'll encounter people who should be normal but their brains are totally *****ed. The biggest problem in this area is our so-called police service aka The Junkie Squad or Criminal Protection Service. Its nearly impossible for a junkie in this area to commit a crime and if they do, the junkie squad shows up and releases them. No crime committed = low crime rate = cops doing a good job doing nothing but helping junkies.
Been using the build up of my truck box to chase off the new batch of junkies and hoe's that showed up looking for the new dope dealer. New landlord/ home owner is getting an education on how this dope dealer act affects the neighborhood. The new tenant is on notice, if it weren't for the daughter being in University taking a medical course they'd be gone. The daughter has been reaming on the mother for the last week as she claims to be tired of moving due to mom and son stupidity so hopefully the next 2.5 months will be quieter.
Anyway, bought 6, 12' 2 x 8's some hinge brackets and in total spent about $100 on this truck bed, the 2 x 4's came from a demo site half a block away. **** time



The po backed into a cow or something





It was on my trailer but its not going anywhere soon











This is the first measurement mark I've made so far





trim piece that doubles as a structural piece



Front head ache rack bracing



didnt want to drill holes into the metal



may look hokey but it's solid and won't be going anywhere even if I get hit



These hinges are actually not made for corners



Either way they don't work right unless



You cut a groove



and turn them over



and mount them backwards



and there you go, they now fit right





ready for break down and paint



that weird looking 2 x 4 is the headache rack cross brace, will show its purpose better when painted and assembled



this is just kilz primer/ sealer, the sticks and trim gets done in Tremclad black and the panels get white, bet you didn't see that coming





2 coats of sealer primer is more than good enough for the inside as its just going to get worn off anyway


So thats how I kept busy, these truck boxes are easy to build and can be made for under $200 including paint quite easily, theres a piece of 1" osb around here and that will go against the headache rack but I need to do something about the spare tire location first. Camera system works good, had to lower them a bit and turn them due to infra red reflection off of the house and immediate surroundings. going to drop the front cameras a bit lower so that I can get a better view of the street. It's still going to snow yet this spring and that'll help snare the bike thief, he goes by between 9.10 and 9.20 in the morning but only on certain days and I'm making them on the calender to see if theres a pattern.

 

Got the truck box painted and remounted thanks to this warm spell and am enjoying a weekend of possible freezing rain. Wired up the front gate with a chime style alarm that doubles as a doorbell. Got a few compliments from neighbors driving by, would be nice to get some work off of them this season. Next jobs are front tires and 1 piece rims, pair of hand cranes and interiors on both trucks.




















Got the alarm thru best buy and the harness casing was at Quality tools for a buck and now that the stones are back on the ground all a person sees is the contacts and 3' of green harness, have fence paint for touch ups but will bang up fence some more before I touch it up.

 

That truck sure looks like it is ready to earn its keep and look good doing so. Great work, especially under less than ideal conditions.

 

Keep that little red car parked behind the truck as protection against drunk drivers...

 

Thanks for the kind words Flowney, I've been following your thread and wish that I was in a situation that I could put one of these together right like you do. Still have my rust free 78 F350 out back sitting on a 89 F350 frame to get to but that might not see much serious work for a while. I'm on my winter budget so that means $200 a month for truck work. I need to pick up 1 or 2 more 1 piece rims and match up the tires for the front end plus there are a pair of hand cranes to be built, maybe 3 depending whats forsale cheap on kijiji.
That little red car got hit about a month ago and the other driver took off, the other driver is saying its the red car that was at fault. It may get written off or I might have some body work to do, theres a lot of $1500 cars around here so I'm trying to get her to write it off. That red car will be my crash test dummie for a while yet PBY lol
Painting a neighbors rental unit and killing time til the month end when I get my budget money again. Have money that I could spend but that would screw up my job float when the season starts, hard to buy a fence package, sidewalk stones or start a landscape project if I'm tapped out so it's grin and bear it season for now. Painting Sigurd's place helps as it's cash flow that I wasn't expecting so maybe these interiors might get done before the season starts which would be nice.

 

So, it's been a while, that little red car didn't help to much as a crash test dummy, more on that later. It's been chills, thrills and spills around here but I wouldn't have it any other way, can't figure why not. Got a bucket seat story, carpet story, crash story, got into a social politics schmozzle story and the truck is bringing in some cash flow now, so at least it's getting better.
Bucket seats- Saw an add for bucket seats out of a 2000 Exploder and here they are.








Not bad for free, the guy had paid $45 for them at pick n pull 2 weeks earlier and lost his receipt so he couldn't exchange them, receipt was in the passenger seat between the cushion and back. HA HA
Carpetting-Went to a few places trying to find carpet for the truck and the prices were in the $130 - 150 range and still would have to mess with them to make them fit. Went to Giant Tiger for groceries and came home with $40 worth of area carpets that wound up doing the job just as well.




So now I have a 1/3rd finished interior
Crash bang boom- Got a wake up call March 28 at 1.53 am when I heard a crash but didn't hear a stop sign falling down, it's a sequence of sounds that we hear on a regular basis. If you don't hear the stop sign falling down or hear a second impact it's time to investigate. Went to the kitchen window and saw a Mustang cozying up to my truck and it wasn't a horse.






The car got stolen and the owner decided to chase the guy down, it bounced off of


Serge's truck and rolled across the street into mine, must be my magnetic personality that attracts stray vehicles. This is the second time someone has hit a truck of mine while parked in front of my house, the last time was April 13 2015. This is what happens if you park 160' from a corner. Insurance doesn't cover stolen vehicle damage as it's to hard to collect from criminals.
Social politics- I started a crime watch program and was supposed to have a place to hold a meeting, until I handed out notices of the meeting in the hood. A. I had a picture of the neighborhood menace on the folder that held the notices, B Named him in the notice, C referred to a group of Police Officers as the "junkie squad". We're now having an open house at my place on Sunday instead, it's probably for the better LOL. Phone sure rang a lot yesterday.
I've worked the truck twice and it's brought in $310 and it works again on monday so that helps, it'll help cover the cost of this


And how was your March madness.

 

Wow, with retirement like that, I want to keep working!

At least the crash only dented the door a bit. Too bad you can't get any insurance money out of it

 

Yeah, it's to bad only politicians, bankers and drug lords profit from crime, would be nice to get a slice of someone else's pie.
I forgot to mention the 23 flat screen tvs and amplifiers that Tom gave me, the room that I built for James mother, tv shelf that I built and stained and there's a dresser in the middle of my living room that I converted to a credenza.
Retirement sucks when you use up your Saturdays PBY

 

Glad to read your stories! sound like allot of excitment to ba had in the spring, im getting out with this spring fever and getting a few little things done here and there. stay safe from the junkies.

 

Today was a bit to exciting, $160 towing bill on a $180 job site. Will figure out the problem tomorrow as I got home at 11.30 tonight, to tired to be pissed.

 

I hope that car thief got his *** beat for destroying that notchback Fox Body!

 

The cops and car owner couldn't catch him. He outran the car owner even though the owner nearly ran him over and he eluded the cops, the K9 unit and the HAWKS helicopter. Some days this place is the Keystone cops and Laurel and Hardy all rolled into one show.
Got to go look at the truck, will dig out a good battery, alternator and voltage regulator out of the shed. I had it parked on site and when I jumped in to start it the 7 month old battery was dead, got my neighbor to drive there and give me a boost. Truck started up immediately and ran good, turned on lights and they were really dim, but needed to get going so we left. 5 blocks later as I left the lights the truck started to die, barely got through the intersection and it backfired and died, battery was deader than before. Carb reeked of gas. Got it boosted again, started up immediately, drove about the same distance and as I down shifted to catch a light the truck died and the battery was dead. Neighbor wants to tear apart the carb as he thinks it's my float sticking, I'm going to replace charging system with pieces that I know are good and boost it with my year old battery and see what happens. Til later

 

So, I dug out some short 2 x 4s, 1 x 4s, 2 x 6, 1 x 6 and a 1 x 2 and decided to see how much of this dent that I can get out of the door.











I started out with just a single 2x4 and the 1" boards as thats all that would fit, most of this is leverage work but I also had my 3 lb hammer, don't beat on it as it's only a light dent thats easy to move. Add more lumber as room allows and keep going back and forth working from the low spot out, don't try to get it out in 1 try. There are 2 low spots the size of a nickle and I'll get the out the next time I'm on the door as I'll be using 2x6s to work out the last 1/8" of the warp in the panel and hammer out the high spots that will show up. Then it's bondo time, total time involved including clean up was about an hour, had a shopping trip to go on.
The shopping trip




















1950 F4/5 and a T tub and frame, theres parts all over the place and in the garage, the motor was started and ran last year and its a believable story as theres been a fair amount of work done on the truck and the motor has a new fuel pump, coil, solenoid and belts. Theres a yard clean up involved plus theres the front and rear suspension complete sitting in the yard. This is a confusing deal as my neighbor is interested in the truck and I have most of the parts he needs to make it modern drivetrain, brakes and suspension wise. I originally wanted the truck and he was looking for a Jalopy project, no idea how this will shake out until month end.
I've wanted a flathead rod for over 40 years.

 

You're getting entirely too much work done!

Love to read your updates. Although you're a lot younger, you remind me a lot of my grandfather. Nothing he couldn't figure out how to do, to rig up or to fix.

Nor did he take any guff from the scofflaws...I remember once, when working on the "rough" side of town, a "youth" was attempting to steal tools from his truck. When confronted, he took off running. My grandfather threw a hammer at the young man, hit him in the head, knocked him clean out, and walked up to retrieve his tools.

The old men watching from their patios were impressed.