Project "April"

[Fw190d9]

Since I had to rebuild the rear window pinch weld from the damage, The fresh paint was too nice to cover up with an ugly gasket so I went with the Fesler flush mount rear window. It fit the window opening perfectly and is urethaned in like modern windows.

[Fw190d9]

Followed by a Fesler flush fit windshield. No mods needed to the pinchweld. it fit suprisingly well. Urethaned in and no more leaky gaskets.

[Fw190d9]

So since the Kid was doing so well in school, I thought a nice bonus was in order.

[MDPotter]

I'm drooling all over my keyboard now. Your shop with some form of heating/cooling, perfect bodywork, Fesler glass, and what looks to be a supercharged LT engine.

[Fw190d9]

Thanks MDPotter. Yeah its a crate LSA engine. Same as what the ZL1 camaro had a few years back. Its a connect and cruise LSA so came with a brand new 4L80e trans and harness. It fit well in the roadstershop frame with the exception of the trans mount. I had ordered the frame for the old 5.3 4l60e combo so I had to reposition the mount.

[Fw190d9]

Complete rolling chassis

[Fw190d9]

Put the accessory drive and blower drive on, then placed the cab on the chassis with some new cab mounts from LMC truck

[Fw190d9]

The new Roadstershop frame came with a rack n pinion so I had to fab up a steering shaft to connect to the column and clear the headers. 3 steering U joints were used along with a big Heim joint to secure the mid section to the frame.

[youngrodder]

Wow what an awesome repair/upgrade....Your son will be stoked...
Nice job dad....

Marc

[Fw190d9]

The front fenders were junk so I got a new set from LMC. Kept the original cowl panel and hood. Alot of time was spent on getting the gaps right.

[Fw190d9]

Even brand new fenders need a bit of smoothing out. The E coat was stripped off, fresh epoxy laid down and multiple coats of K38 block sanded before color

[Fw190d9]

Front fenders out of paint prison

[Fw190d9]

The original hood was still in great shape so was block sanded, colored and cleared. The gaps came out real good.

[1971Stepside]

Looks awesome! Great shop too. I hope you test fit your grill surround before paint...

[TA_C10]

Originally Posted by Fw190d9

The original hood was still in great shape so was block sanded, colored and cleared. The gaps came out real good.

Looks great! Did the hood have any oil canning that you had to fix before block sanding?

.

[Fw190d9]

71stepside, Yessir I did. Forgot to snap pics of that part.

TA_C10, It didn't have any oil canning or major low spots. I had to weld a 1/8" welding rod to the drivers side edge where it meets the fender as the gap was too big.

[Fw190d9]

Since there was going to be some order time for the wheels, I went ahead and bought some Michelin Pilot sport tires in the sizes that I wanted. 285/35/20 fronts and 305/35/20 for the rear. Mounted the tire on the backspace measuring tool and got the measurements I needed to order the wheels.
Fronts came out to 5" b.s. and the rears 6.5"

[Fw190d9]

Since the bed was part of the "totalled" part, I ordered a new one from Brother's . Standard fleetside shortbed with all the parts and a tailgate with the Chevrolet lettering. The bed floor was promptly cut in half to make the doghouse that goes over the frame rails. and temporarily mounted to get tire measurements.

[Fw190d9]

To clear the big 305s in the rear with the lowered stance, I went with the big large inner tubs from LMC and modified the bedsides to have them bolt in about 4" higher than normal. This is going to be a street truck so I wanted to maximize bed space.

[Fw190d9]

So since the tubs were moved up 4" I made some steel supports for where the tubs attach to the bed floor. Tubs are still bolt in and can be removed after all the mods.

[1971Stepside]

Wow! That is just a ton of work that you made look real easy. Glad you checked the grill (I figured you had). Did you go with the chrome or aluminum? My chrome one needed a lot of work to get it to fit.

[Fw190d9]

71 Step, I went with the aluminum and a bit different one to boot. You'll see as I post later pics

[Fw190d9]

We all know how bad these splash guards fit. Had to section and re-weld to get em to fit.

[Fw190d9]

So thats the bed metal work done. Tailgate fit was rather sloppy. More on that later. The bed was then disassembled and all parts sanded down and bodywork commenced.

[Fw190d9]

The bed floor was then modified to accept the Boyd's fuel tank and a fuel filler made to mount the new fuel cap. Both sides of the floor were then sanded thoroughly and readied for the bedliner