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Somehow, I just knew someone would comment on that.
At one time, someone punch a hole in the roof for some reason. Maybe a CB antenna. It was filled over with bondo, and no backing. So when I started sanding the roof, it just fell out.
So, what to do? This truck is meant to be a daily driver, and a "5 Footer" at best. So rather than going to all the effort and risk warping the roof by welding it, I made a cap using a fender washer with a stud welded under it. I epoxied it to the roof and cinched 'er down with a nut. Can't see it on the outside from the side. Only when you step up onto the bed. Then you see a smooth circle sealed by epoxy, and a few layers of paint. But you can't see it on the photo of the rear of the roof, can you?
Anyway, like I said, 5 footer.
Looks pretty good to me, I would of done it like that too. I like the hoop style framework for the headliner, I have yet to get to that part on my truck. Nice work Mikey!
After driving O'l Furd around for a few weeks, I took stock of the shortcomings, and spent the last week taking care of a couple of 'em. One of 'em was engine cooling. I wasn't happy with the performance of the two 12" electric fans that came attached to my aluminum radiator. I didn't order the radiator with fans, but it came that way none the less. So, I figured I'd use 'em. Unfortunately, the didn't seem to be up to the task of our Central San Joaquin Valley summer temps, frequently hovering around 105° in the afternoons. So I went back to my original plan and use a high performance engine driven fan. I chose a Derale 17" six blade fan, and I made a shroud from aluminum sheet I had on hand. Rather than a flat sheet with a ring stuck to it, I made the area around the ring dished so, theoretically, it would draw air through a greater area. Now my aluminum welding skills are marginal. Not much practice lately. It's stuck together good, it just ain't pretty! But it's done. I had to make a removable panel to get the fan on. There is just no room. So, time will tell how that works out. It's still plenty hot here in the afternoons, so a few drives around town in stop and go traffic, which is the conditions it ran hottest with the electrics, should spell it out. The other item to deal with was the harsh ride quality of the rear end. I posted a thread called "Rear Spring" a week or so back. This truck had the stiffest leaf spring pack available. Nine leaves. The more common set-up was five leaves. I took the spring packs apart, blasted off the rust, painted the individual leaves and reassembled, leaving the bottom three leaves out, with a coat of chassis grease between the leaves. Labor intensive, but all it cost was sweat. Lots of sweat! The new stance may look really cool, but it might be a little too low. I have a bit over two inches to the axle snubbers. But at least now, maybe wifey won't call Ol'Furd the "Boobie Bouncer Special."
Mikey, looks like your fan blades are “inside” the shroud, is that right?
My 7 blade and shroud w stock clean and copper radiator isn’t cutting it in the 100+ Texas temps. My fan sits just outside the shroud and I was wondering if it would pull more air thru the radiator if it was closer to the radiator and just inside the shroud.
Yes, it is fully inside the shroud. All of the factory stuff I've looked at is that way. I reckon theoretically, it forces the fan to pull through rather than whip the air around.
It remains to be seen how effective it will be. We have similar heat here, just not as humid as Texas. "Yeah it's hot, but it's a dry heat!" Still hot.
Also the aluminum radiator I have is wider than stock and three rows. The stock radiator's core was about six or eight inches narrower. That's a lot of cooling area!
The result from the fan and shroud change-over is that the motor stays close to the t-stat opening of 180°. Even in traffic of a hot Central San Joaquin Valley summer day (100°+) and the AC running. So, it was a good move. I have not noticed any increase in noise or loss of power. But then I don't lead foot this thing either.
Radio install nearly complete. It's up and running. This is in no way a high end system. **** Chung radio with Kung Pao speakers (actually Pioneer....same difference). At least the radio has bluetooth, so I can either listen to radio stations or music from my phone. I also put the dome light in it. The overhead console is made from MDF particle board panels, screwed and glued together, shaped, primed and painted.
This truck never had a radio put in the dash. I was looking at putting in one of retro radios that look period, but have all the modern gizmatronics....until I saw the price. Nearly ten times what I paid for this Amazon special head unit.
The rear speaker enclosures were also made from MDF. Tucked nicely into the corners. The enclosures and the rear of the cab will be covered in that fiber speaker carpet material.
Next up will be finishing the framework for the headliner shell which will be laid up in fiberglass and covered with either late model style headliner fabric, or the same type of fiber carpet material I'm using for the speaker boxes.
Thanks KO!
A lifetime of skill building involved. Learn by doing, screwing up and re-doing! The screw-ups teach you to plan better! This was carefully planned.
As far as being able to adjust, the big **** is volume. Easy to find without looking. Answering a phone call is something that will need some practice as to where the button is. But, there's also a little remote that does quite a bit. But I'm not all that particular about ultimate sound quality in a vehicle with as much ambient noise as O'l Furd! Once I get treble, bass and balance adjusted, I doubt I'll touch anything but volume.
Also, my drag race car has the main switch console overhead like this. So it's kinda second nature now
Over the last few months, I've pretty much just been driving the Ol' Furd, and taking care of some details, along with any small issues that crop up.
I have the body rough sanded and covered in high build primer. Color will be sprayed sometime in the spring.
I finished up the headliner. What a job that was! And just at the time I finished making a fiberglass shell for that, I found a company that makes a 'glass headliner shell. It figures. It took a lot of hours to make what I did, and it's done with headliner fabric glued to it. Not perfect by any means. I got a few wrinkles in it that I couldn't get out without destroying the fabric. Oh well. It's a driver and not a concourse show truck.
Once cold weather set in, I found that the motor runs cold. I've replaced and checked thermostats till I'm just done with it, and figured it was a design thing. The heater water return line by-passes the t-stat, so with the big radiator I have, it passes enough coolant that it never sees full temp. I blocked the grill opening to allow it to build some heat, and that works to an acceptable degree.
A few weeks back, I took 'er out for a road trip of a little over 100 miles. With the Holley Sniper 1100 single barrel EFI unit on the stock intake, she got 22mpg on the road. I'm happy with that! Not as happy with in-town fuel mileage tho. But, with shorter trips, it runs a good deal of time in cold enrichment mode. So, I reckon it is what it is.
Other'n that, only a few minor issues to address over time.
I really want to get power steering. That'll be a fun project for the near future.
Wind noise....Over 50mph, the wind noise is a bit annoying. I reckon that'll be a work in progress as I track the leakage down and fix it. I know one leak path is the leading edge of the drivers door. Had some water leakage there during a big rain event recently.
Most of the rest of the work will be cosmetic in nature. The fun stuff!
Looking good!
I've been chasing wind noise for years. Door weatherstripping tight as a VW, still with the noise. I need to open a window to easily shut the doors.
But if I tape the door seams that really helps. Appears to be leading edge and top of the doors.
Drip rail area looks like a noise nightmare.
If you make any discoveries in this regard please pass them on!
I will! Some of it is coming from the vent wings, but I'm gonna try this weatherstripping I found at McMaster Carr for the top and leading edge of the doors. It's an adhesive backed "D" shaped hollow foam strip. Maybe it will help......maybe not. I't not expensive, so it's worth the gamble
Wow, what great progress! It sounds like the Sniper is working out well, glad to hear that as it's on my list. I imagine the sound dampener mat helps with the noise quite a bit also. Great job & thanks for sharing!
