My 48 ford shop truck

[jgb7038]

The shaft clears,and can easily be removed/installed,can get to the spark plugs and header bolts,so I welded eveything up and dressed the welds.



I drilled a couple of need holes in the frame,one for headlight wiring,and one for the brakeline thru the frame fitting.I mocked up the front lines to make sure there was enough slack in the lines with the wheels turned.



Moved to the passenger side rail,repeated the process,weld,fill,box,plate,grind....

[jgb7038]

One area I have had touble with is the grill insert.I have made 2 attempts at it already.....neither of which I was happy with.So I am making attempt number 3. I used 1/2" flat stock to make the outside ring,welded some bolts to the shell to mount it.



I added a couple of temporay horizontal bars to keep things lined up while building it.The top part of the grill needs to be layed back slightly so the hood will clear when it opens and closes. I used 3/4" flat stock for the vertical bars.i started in the middle and worked out toward the sides.





Its hard to see in the pictures,but the bars follow the hood lines,meaning that theypeak in the center,and move rear ward as they go toward the outside,basically thay are not flat.

[jgb7038]

I switched back to 1/2" flat stock to finish out the bars.It looks pretty flat in the pictures,but again,it is not.I still need to add some rear supports and finish welding it all up.Its not quite how I pictured it,but it will work.I can always change it later if I want to.




Well,thats where it stands right now,so I need to go out and get back to work today.........

[kyull67]

I think it turned out pretty good. Are you going to have it chromed?

[ERASER5]

Do you fab for living? You have skills man!

[jgb7038]

Originally Posted by kyull67

I think it turned out pretty good. Are you going to have it chromed?

Not planning on chroming it at the moment,probably just shoot some paint on it for now.

Originally Posted by ERASER5

Do you fab for living? You have skills man!

Thanks,and no, I dont do fab work for a living,would like to though.

[jgb7038]

Did some more work on the grill.finished welding up the bars,added a single horizontal bar to hold the verticals in place and ground all the welds.





Was 50 degrees and sunny here in NE Indiana,so I rolled her out into the sunshine so I could clean up the shop a bit....took a couple of pics before I rolled her back inside and got back to work.....

[nuke1]

This has got to be one of the coolest trucks there is in my opinion. You have done a GREAT job so far. keep it up!

[GREASEMONKEY72]

some really good fab skills, lookin forward to the rest of the build

[89muscletruck]

WOW!

[jason65]

Awsome truck. It looks tuff.

[jgb7038]

Took a short break from the '48 build,did a few thing that "needed" to be done. Was in the 70's today so I started cleaning up the shop.Needed to make room to put my '38 back in with my '48.Had to make room in the other garage for the wifes new toy......




As usual,I took some pictures of the two projects while I had them out side....

[jgb7038]

And a few more......






Now that eveythings put away,I can get back to the '48 build......

[jason65]

Awsome!

[big_al_71]

you have some great skills,,,,awesome..

[jgb7038]

Got off my lazy butt,and started back on the truck.I'm using reproduction '37 ford tail lights.Needed to make a mount for them.Used flat stock as a base to attach the light.

[jgb7038]

Used some 1/2" square tube,angled and closed off one end.Drilled a hole on the topside for the light wiring to pass through.Welded it to the base mount.

[jgb7038]

This is how the mount looks on the light bucket.



Took some measurements,and welded the new mounts to the truck.

[jgb7038]

The cage nuts for the tailgate hinges wre long gone before I got the bed.



Welded some weld nuts on some steel and made some patches.





Made some room for the new patches.



Welded them in....



Dressed the welds.....

[jgb7038]

Even though the bed is built,it still needs finished inside....





Cleaned up the rest of the welds/rust/paint/scale/etc.Decided to replace the front bed panel,so it did not get cleaned.





Sprayed some rattle can etch on the bare metal.Didn't spray the floor cause I'm still working on it.



Started back on the storage compartment doors.drilled holes ,and made recesses for the lock cylinders.All the doors will have locks.

[jgb7038]

Got a little slow at work,so I took the gauge pods in to work to keep myself entertained.stripped all the old paint of and and cleaned up the speedo.





Using after market gauges in the other 4 pods,so I made some simple backets to bolt them in.

[jgb7038]

Im using a 67-72 blazer tank in the truck,but I needed to move the filler neck.Got a simple replacement and welded it in.

[jgb7038]

Had a few of the guys from work stop over at lunch to help lift the bed off. Stood it up on the front panel(going to replace it later) so I can work on the underside.

[jgb7038]

Needed to clean up the bottom of the bed,trim some excess sheet metal and weld up a few more spots.



Cleaned up the metal and sealed all the pockets and seams.





When the sealer dried,painted the entire underside of the bed.

[jgb7038]

Dropped the tank out while the beds off.Needed to fill the original filler neck and vents that Im not using.



Cut everything flush to the tank,made a cover plate,and sealed everything up.





Added a little paint.....