One thing about doing this project on a budget is that it has really forced me to hone my sheetmetal skills and is helping the others who are involved as well. It's really quite amazing to see what can be done with a few simple tools. It's also amazing to see how much easier it is with some simple, but expensive tools, like an e-wheel, powered bead roller, power hammer, etc. Still even with the tools, I've learned that there is still a lot of skill, and a little luck, in reading the metal and knowing how it will react to an action or knowing what to do to counter something that the metal has chosen to do. Making some of the patch panels so far has been pretty easy compared to when I start on the fenders and hood, as those will be fairly complex shapes. Hopefully, by then I'll have gotten a little better. 'Course another thing I've learned is that anything you can do to metal can be undone. It just takes a little more effort than the first part.

Keep checking back, and I will keep posting progress as it is made.

Dave

 

BTW, my wife just read some of the comments y'all made. She thinks that they will inflate my ego. I say, whateg0!. Thanks again!

Dave

 

Small change in plans. Well, not so much a change as a detour.

To put the truck in the car show I want it in in September, I need to tag and insure it. To get it tagged and insured, it has to be a complete vehicle and pass inspection. So...

I am going to focus a little more on the frame, so I can be working on things like brakes and steering while continuing to get the cab in a form that can be mounted to the frame. This may require some temporary stuff, like brackets and the like, but since they won't need to be spit-shined, they should go faster, and in many cases will serve as a prototype for the real thing.

I know some would say that the priority should be doing everything 'right' the first time around. And I agree. But much of this needs to occur anyway, so that I can get accurate measurements and such. The things that I don't agree with is trying to rush the final job. By 'prototyping', I will be better able to take my time on the finished product.

So, I'll still be posting pics and keeping the status updated. Just think of it as getting some bonus material.

Dave

 

Wow, that's quite the deadline! Looks like it's coming well though.

 

Didn't get much time to work on it tonight, but I've been playing with a couple of things a few minutes at a time lately. First, I've been wielding a hammer and dolly and making a little progress on the area right in front of the passenger side door. I don't have a shrinking disk of my own yet, and I returned the one I had borrowed, so I had to make due with the torch. I still need to do some shrinking, but it's closer.

It's hard to tell the difference without the light in just the right spot, but this is the before shot. It was anything but flat and smooth.




Here it is after an hour or so of tapping and heating and cooling and tapping and heating and cooling and tapping and - well, you get the idea.


Dave

 

I also took the center strip out of the windshield. I am thinking of making a new one this weekend, just to see if I can. Then if it works, I may pick up some SS and make a real replacement.

This is the inside piece.







Dave

 

Here's the outside...

Before...


After...


(Notice the Bondo still attached to the ends of this trim piece.)


Dave

 

WOW WOW Dave! Incredible work--------Incredible mind to be able to picture all of that and to bring it to fruition! My oldest Grandson and I are in the process (2 years now) of putting a '47 Ford Effie on a Chevy S-10 chassis with a 350 SBC and a 700R4. NO NO, not Cabover!! I sure admire your ambition AND your skills. Wish I had some of each. We have a fairly nice '52 GMC F352 Cabover waiting for us (a someday project), what a cutey! We want to make it a crew cab with a fifth wheel to tow a camper trailer. Course he wants to make it a car hauler. But I got final vote cuz it's my money! haahaaaa. We also have a '29 Essex coupe body wanting some attention too. We have a 230 ci inline 6 and a B/W T-5 and an I beam axle from a '49 Ford F1 and a rear from an S-10 4x4. It's wider by 4 or 5 inches than the 2 wheel drive rear end. Still need a bunch of stuff for that one and I'm drawing S.S. Disability right now, so real low income. Not much to buy parts with! Maybe in a couple of months I can get back into something, I hope! Again, Great Vision, Great Workmanship, Great Project Dave. Good luck. Perley

 

Wow....this is the first time I have seen this thread. All I can say is you have some mad skills. I am overly impressed that someone has the ability and ambition to tackle something like this. Keep posting on this. I have a 47 1 ton that I am planning on kinda restoring/rodding but in no way could do that. Impressive.

 

I haven't had much time to work on this lately, but I've been doing a lot of thinking and scheming...

Right now I'm thinking about motor mounts because I came across some stuff on a Honda Civic forum that piqued my interest.

Hopefully, once I get my new fixer upper (read cheap) car road worthy, I'll be able to get back on this thing.

Thanks for the comments and encouragement. It seems that I keep moving dates out, so now I am hoping to have "something done" by September. Oh, well, it's fun, and I'm learning lots!

Back later!
Dave

 

hey man, i was browsing the farm/ranch section of a welding website... and saw "www.ford-trucks.com" in a sig. and i just had to click on it... from the 3 pages ive looked at good job... im gonna keep comming back to see your progress...[and maybe you might also see me on that welding website... but maybe not]

anyways great job keep it up

 

cool truck!!!! now, get something done!!!!!!!

 

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Life happens!

I did get my "other project" running and on the road, so I've been working a little more on this, sorta. One of the problems I've been fighting with the cab since I got it back to my house is that I couldn't work on it very easily because of the height. It was sitting almost on the floor. So, I've made a dolly for it and it's at a more reasonable height.

I'm also in the process of constructing a new welding cart because I picked up a second bottle of gas. So, now with Ar and C25, I need a bigger cart to hold both bottles and the MIG and TIG welders. I also picked up a bigger O2 bottle, so that cart/dolly needs to be replaced with a bigger one. Here's the upside to all of this as it relates to the truck... I'm getting some good practice in with the TIG. I've used a friends PT225, and it's one of the nicest transformer machines out there, IMHO. But I have a cheap inverter that isn't as user friendly. It still is capable of doing the job, but it takes a little more skill to do so. So, I'm practicing. I would like to TIG most of the frame together, since the welds are generally nicer looking, but we'll see. So, anyway, I am making progress, even though it isn't visible at the moment.

I'll try to get some pics of the cab dolly in case anybody wants to do something similar, though it's nothing real fancy.

Dave

 

cool. good luck with the welding. any plans on wheels yet?

 

Uh, yeah. They'll hopefully be round.

Seriously, I don't really know, but since this is a budget build, I may end up with stock steel wheels for now. My bigger concern there is what to do about the bolt pattern issue. The T-bird rear end has a 5x4.25 pattern. If I stick with the front end I have now, I'll have a 5x5 there. I think I have enough real estate to redrill the rears to make them 5x4.5. Then I'd just have to figure out what to use for the fronts. The nice thing about the front end I have now is that it will bolt right up to the frame rails. I doubt I can find a 5x4.5 hub that will fit the Chevy PU spindle. Maybe I can make something else work. Or maybe I just scratch build the front suspension like I'm going to end up doing for the rear.

Like another thread says, if it wasn't hard, it wouldn't be fun.

Dave