Jans 53

[Russell Ashley]

Nice work on the truck and also on the hammers and dies. Too bad your neighbor didn't just walk over and see what you are doing. He might have learned something instead of making himself look silly and childish.

[NorCalGal]

This week I started the bodywork on the cab,so I started with what I figured would suck the most the firewall. Hoping to get a lot more done this weekend.

[Advanced Design]

That came out nicely!

[gigamanx]

Wow that's real nice. Did you have to fill in all the holes or just primer and paint?

[NorCalGal]

Thanks AD

Yes gigamanx I welded all the holes up and moved the steering to the left an inch and a half, still need to drill new a hole for the steering column.

[gigamanx]

Then holy cow, that's smooth. I can't even tell there were ever holes there.

[NorCalGal]

Finishing up body work on the cab this weekend. Ordered new 3m accuspray gun hoping it will be here soon so I can get the surfacer sprayed.

[ptc]

Coming along! looks good

[69CST-V]

Nice work....keep up the pace and you'll be done in no time.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Everything looks great! What color(s) are you thinking?

[NorCalGal]

Thanks everyone,
Dan color is undecided but I was really wanting to use a satin paint. I really didn't want anything high gloss but I have been reading up on the maintenance of satin and I seems like a real pain in the a$$!
If I do the satin I like the color of the Boyd Coddington shop truck

[Dan in Pasadena]

Hi NCGal,

Ha, I couldn't love your choice more. My JUST sprayed '55.2 is almost identical to what your pic looks like except I used a base coat/clear coat on mine. But my truck before the current build had a sort of shop truck vibe and I used satin rattlecan paint on it. Yeah, I know - cheap. But it's what I could do then. Really liking your build!

[NorCalGal]

That looks awesome! What brand and color is that? It's really close.

[Dan in Pasadena]

It's 2012 Honda Milano Red.

I saw a car at a show last summer that was Honda San Marino Red and thought that was the color I wanted for certain. But when I saw the two colors side by side the San Marino was too dark. Here's a picture of the car I saw. The picture doesn't look anything like it really looks because the flash went off. It looked great at the show but I'm REALLY happy with the Milano Red I chose.

[NorCalGal]

Loving this SPI epoxy, crazy how this stuff lays down the reflection makes it look like paint.

[NorCalGal]

Oops forgot the pic

[NorCalGal]

Dug my chassis out of the garage today to work on the radiator support, can't believe it's been 3 years since I mounted the running gear into the frame. The metal work on the body took longer than I wanted, seemed like there was always something in the way of working on the truck. The body work gets boring......zzzzz.
My job tomorrow is to re angle the lower radiator inlet and tig it in a strait or downward angle.

[gigamanx]

I've done the opposite. Got the truck running and skipped all the body work

I notice your radiator has the exact problem mine did. I had a shop cut the piece out, flip it around and weld it back in. Worked a charm to have the bottom hose outlet pointing outward.

Maybe we should all write to speedway and ask them to either make the bottom outlet straight or point slightly outward haha. I wonder how many of these 19x22 rads have been modified.

[NorCalGal]

I cut mine off and rotated it 90 degrees until it pointed downward. I'll see how it works tomorrow.

[iowaboynca]

Your welds look better than OE!

[NorCalGal]

Thanks Iowa boy for some reason I find aluminum easier than steel.

Today's plan is to get this radiator support mounted. Decided to weld a plate to the frame because I wanted to be able to run a thread in to the frame to hold the support.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Everything still looking great, Jan.

[NorCalGal]

Since the weather is too cold for body work I decided to spend the winter months doing the final mock up of the cab. Today I spent time adjusting the radiator support, ended up bringing the front up another 1 1/2 inches. It's harder than you think finding that sweet spot where things don't look weird. Yesterday after I mounted the cab I went ahead and drilled the hole for my steering column and installed the lower mount. Still need to mount the running boards. Figure out where the wiring is going to go through the firewall so I can drill holes before painting the cab. So far it's going together pretty smoothly.

[ptc]

Looking really good there NCG!!!! Its great when things start coming together for the last and final time! =

Mine still has a few odds and ends so it will be in the "Graduating Class of 2018" finished trucks! It will be at Autorama "Drive-In" too come February so come on by and say Hi

[gigamanx]

Originally Posted by NorCalGal

Since the weather is too cold for body work I decided to spend the winter months doing the final mock up of the cab. Today I spent time adjusting the radiator support, ended up bringing the front up another 1 1/2 inches. It's harder than you think finding that sweet spot where things don't look weird. Yesterday after I mounted the cab I went ahead and drilled the hole for my steering column and installed the lower mount. Still need to mount the running boards. Figure out where the wiring is going to go through the firewall so I can drill holes before painting the cab. So far it's going together pretty smoothly.

Looking good! I'm beginning to regret that I never put the hood on when I set all my mounts and core support up. Looks pretty good right now but who knows what kind of disaster I caused myself