Re: pdx-sanity66
 

The portion of the flare is what scares me.
I worry the curve won't blend. How did yours turn out?

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

I had a lot of trouble with that part. Getting the curved lip to match took me a while. Actually that is the first version of this fender. I kept running into pitted sheet metal up the rear brace. I found a patch that was 17" long and matched up perfect. I think I got the patch from Brother's.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

I got the bed mounted on the frame. All the cross sills to frame bolts all lined up with no problems. I'd like to get the bed wood and strips soon so I can get them fitted and marked for the bedside and front panel holes. I also got the tailgate trunnions I ordered. Very nice parts. I've also been working on the front of the hood. I'm almost ready for some primer.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Coming together.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Thanks, I've got most of the parts ready to install. I'm making sure it all fits together, then finish body work and hopefully get her painted, The hood is a big project and I still have the inside door bottoms. I am planning on a white roof so that will be the first priority to get painted so I can get the front and rear glass installed.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Now that I have the bed out of the way, I'm going back to the hood project. First is finishing the front of the hood and the brace. I media blasted the front area under the brace, the new brace, and the side patches. Everything welded up and a little filler to clean things up and it's on to the rear brace.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

The rear brace was very intimidated for me and I almost decided to just replace the ends of the brace where the rust through was but I knew there was rust lurking under the brace so off it went. It wasn't as tough of a job as I thought it going to be and there was some rust that I media blasted then coated with rust reformer and rust encapsulater. Same procedure for the new donor brace. I welded in the patches where the brace mounts to the hood. Today I'm going to give the rear of the hood and the under side of the brace a couple of coats of extreme chassis black from Eastwood. Then installation of the brace to the hood. I have test fitted it and everything lines up very nicely.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

more pics of the rear brace replacement.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Nice work! I am doing the exact same thing on my hood right now too

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

I checked your thread and you have a very similar job with your hood. Great work.

here are some more of the rear brace replacement.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Looks great, nice work!

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Thanks you sir. I see your from the NW. Oregon or Washington? I'm formerly from Portland. I moved to Tucson 3 years ago but still have many friends and family up there.

! got all of the welding done on the hood and started smoothing things up this morning. Our Tucson heat wave ran me out of the garage at noon temp of 102.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

damn Pdxhall, very nice work!! you are a craftsman. I to learn from your body work pics here, i am way off of your work, but trying. damn nice job.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

We're currently stationed in East Washington but we've also lived in Portland for a few years. Beautiful place up here, no doubt; but I'm not opposed to exploring some more. Before Washington we lived in Colorado and the Rocky Mountains were our backyard, that was killer! How do you like the desert?

Sorry to get off subject, the work on the hood looks good though, I got some areas on our truck I need to get around to myself....

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

That's a great compliment considering I've been in awe of your frame and suspension work since day one. Thanks so much.

I've got the hood brace and front nose replacement done for now, the underside needs to be painted and a lot more sanding, priming, repeat, repeat....on the front side. It's just too hot to paint right now with our heat wave we've having right now. The hood hinges/springs and latches are ready and waiting.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Since it is too hot to paint right now, I've been working on some other projects to get to the point that I can drive this thing. I pulled out the cab lights that have been in storage waiting for their day since I restored them. I made some new gaskets for the bottoms and set them on the roof of Sanity to see if I still liked them. I do. Any opinions or comments are welcome. I've also been working on my trans temp gauge and getting it mounted. I'll post some pics tomorrow.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Nice work! Love the lights. Reminded me that my dad had them on one of his trucks back in the day.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Thanks for looking. I liked them because they are painted not chrome and I think their shape is cool. The center light is slightly different than the outer 2 and apparently came that way as the set as the original pic shows.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Nice job on the hood. They can be tough to get just right. I couldn't tell but it looked like you filled the seams on the front. If so, how did you do it?

Big fan of the cab lights. And the bed looks great too...

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Thanks man, I did fill the seams. Mig welded everything up, ground it down, and smoothed things up with a skim coat of filler. I've still got some work to do on the front side.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Today I installed the hood hinges and springs. I also finished polishing the housing for my trans temp gauge, put it all together and installed it under the dash. It still needs to be wired up as soon as I get a sender for it.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Cool housing you found. The whole thing is coming together nicely.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Thanks, it's been a long time but Sanity is finally close to being complete, except for paint. The housing was originally a clock that sat on the dash and I was going to just restore the clock but then I got to thinking....also, I knew it was cast aluminum so I decided to polish it rather than paint.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Looking great buddy! I love that little housing.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

I installed my seats and I'm working on my Craftsman tool box center console.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

That's a cool idea for the center console. Maybe add some cup holders off the front of it?

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Thanks Cort. I couldn't pass it up.

Thanks. I removed the piano hinge and reinforce the side a little and then hinge it so it tips back but won't be noticeable. i've got all the original hardware to put back on. Fun project so far. I hope it works out. I've been thinking on the cup holders. got to be there somewhere.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Wow, this is quite a saga. I read your thread over the last couple of days and I'm very impressed. You have a calm way of going about the work you're doing and learning the necessary skills. The truck reflects your insistent efforts and is the quality of a project built by a good shop. I will enjoy following along now.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

WOW, thank you so much. you're comments mean a lot. There are only a handful of people that have seen Sanity in person and I am really proud how it's turning out. Things have slowed down a bit the last few weeks because of the heat wave we're having down here. I haven't had a chance to get some painting done on some critical parts right now and I'm waiting on new wheels to arrive.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

I've been a little quiet for a couple of weeks but I've got a few things done. There's something I've been avoiding talking about because I feel like a fool for what happened. It started back when I was first firing up Sanity for the first times. I was running straight off of the manifolds so it was very limited and I needed to get some sort of exhaust on to continue running the engine. For some reason I was very reluctant to do it myself....so I did some research and trusted Sanity to a local exhaust shop. This is the first thing I have trusted to anybody to work on my truck except for the upholstery on the seats. Well, I got the job done, and you guessed it, it sucked. It didn't look so bad from the underside and I still had the old plywood bed on. When I took the bed off to replace it is when I got a real good look at the work. I can't live with it this way but I won't go in to details now. So I've torn most of the exhaust out and I'm in the process of buiding my own 2 1/2" exhaust. Two steps forward one step back.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Dang, that sucks about the exhaust. I too have a not so great looking exhaust. It's something that I've wanted to do myself, just gotta find the time to do it. Your welding skills are better than mine though, so I'm sure it won't be too hard for you

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Thanks Christian, it's going pretty well. I've got it set up, now tear down for welding and add some hangers.
I got my new wheels today. 17x8. I had to try one on Sanity. I'm lovin' them.
Now to get tires and get them mounted.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Sorry to hear about your exhaust. I just went yesterday to talk to a shop about exhaust. Like you no one has done anything to my truck but me. Now I am apprehensive. I hate to have anyone else do anything to my truck.

I hope you get your exhaust on soon and you will be better off for having done it yourself.

Love the new wheels!

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Thanks, I'm a lot more pleased with it already. I would make sure the the shop uses mandrel bent tubing. That's just my opinion after this adventure.
I'm hoping to get some tires mounted on the wheels very soon. If anybody has any suggestions or favorites I would welcome them.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

So i never went through your entire thread, i would read a page here to there, but damn i just did the entire thing today! What a crazy, fun and great adventure you have been having! Awesome work Sir!! Love to see what/where you started and where you are now... it great!

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Thank you so much for the compliments and taking the time to read my thread. I started with not much of a budget, working full time, and being a single parent working in half of a two car garage. Now I have the best setup I could wish for but the older I get the tougher it gets but I can see the finish line and that keeps me motivated.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

So, the exhaust project is getting close to completion. The welding went okay and like anything learned I got better as it went. The bad news is I got literally 3 in. left on the last piece and my mig gun bit the dust. I learned to weld on my little Eastwood 135 welder and I love it so I bought the replacement gun made for the welder. It went on fine and I'm ready to go. I still have to get some hangers on but I know where I'll put them. Here are a few pics of what I've been up to.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Congrats! Looks good. You have rams horn manifolds don't you? Can you show a picture of what you did coming out of the manifolds?

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Thanks. The front of the exhaust from the x pipe to the manifolds is still the work of the muffler shop. It is useable for now but I will redo it after I get a few more pressing things done. What I can tell you is I discovered a few things while the front was being done. I ran into the only downside I have found from moving the engine 2 1/2" forward. It made the passenger side coming off the manifold tricky, I knew it might be more than I wanted to attempt and is the main reason I sent it to a shop. All in all I ended going to a mini-starter and they ran 2 14" pipe off the manifold to the x-pipe. When I redo the front I will stick with the 2 1/4 coming off the manifolds but I will switch to 2 1/2" as soon as I can. Right now I'm getting some hangers figured out and tailpipes.

Re: pdx-sanity66
 

Thanks, I knew we had the same manifolds and both moved the engine forward...so your truck is as close to my build as I have found so I watch yours closely as we are in similar stages also.