47-55.1 1953 3100 "Honey-do"

[rnrdthefox]

I also had to go back and add some material where I went a little too wide on the cutouts for the tires on each side of the bed. I hate rework like this, but I wanted to be able to bolt the inner tubs all the way down to the bottom.

[rnrdthefox]

Since the inner tubs changed the location of the middle bed support, I took some time to make a couple mounts for the frame. Nothing fancy, just functional and enough room to get a nut on the bolt end. I may end up welding the nut in place to remove some hassle later.

[rnrdthefox]

Finally, I added some material to the window trim for the door where the vent window once was.

[8man]

Nice work.

[rnrdthefox]

Originally Posted by 8man

Nice work.

Thanks.

[rnrdthefox]

Ok. Time for a quick update. I haven't done a bunch, but I did get some things knocked off the list. I needed to get the gas tank where it was going to end up so I could work on the rear roll pan. I got the frame for the tank tacked in now for final welding. This allowed me to get the filler neck located. Some pics.

[rnrdthefox]

Next up was getting the rear roll pan in. I decided that I wanted to weld it to the rear bed support. I was back and forth on this, but figured that if it's ever rear-ended, I'll just buy another rear support and pan and redo things. I also added a couple bolts to the sides of the roll pan where it mates to the bed sides. For some reason, I didn't take a picture of this, but it's nothing complicated. Just added some additional support. Once this was done, I cut the hole for the filler neck behind the license plate.

[rnrdthefox]

Finally, I decided to tackle the dash that I have been kicking down the road for weeks. I ended up fixing the rust issues with it mounted in the truck. The top wasn't that big of a deal. The bottom was a pain working upside down on my back. Oh well, it's done. It's not perfect under the glovebox, but it won't be seen and I will end up putting a lower valance below it for the HVAC ducts later.

[rnrdthefox]

Couple more pics. I ended up using the bender to start the bends of the back edge then finished it with a 3/16 round rod to get the radius. Welded in the inner brace then the outer sheet metal.

[rnrdthefox]

Bottom pics.

[Father&son56project]

You stated "It's not perfect under the glovebox". Wrong! That's nice work in a normal position. It's awesome work for being upside down and cramped under a dashboard!!!!

[8man]

Yes it is nice work.

[rnrdthefox]

Quick update. I've been focused on the cab getting things cleaned up. Not a lot of fancy progress over the last few weeks, just a bunch of little things that needed to be done - filling holes in the dash, cowl, and floor, welding and grinding, and a few misc. other things.

Decided I didn't want to do all the welding and grinding after it was media blasted to save on the splatter cleanup, so I started with the floors. Just a bunch of making filler patches, welding and grinding and then more welding and grinding.

[rnrdthefox]

Went ahead and pulled the cab to get to the cowl and bottom of the floor. I wanted to reinforce the floor where the seat frame came across and add two frame supports. While it was off, I added the additional reinforcement around the trans tunnel. I used 1" square tube. This leaves about 3/4" to the frame for a mount and rubber pad.

[rnrdthefox]

Rebuilt the rear cab mounts, filled in the gas filler hole, and cleaned up the door pockets for body work.

[8man]

Making good progress.

[rnrdthefox]

Used the wiper control knob hole for the ambient light sensor. Had to make a bracket that it clips into under the dash. With a little file work and a couple weld beads to clip to, it was done. Finally, I closed in the two knob holes for the radio. I'm leaving the square hole open for now as I want to use that for the location for the HVAC controls. The boss wants to keep the throttle and chock knobs for looks. I may use one to control a fresh air vent door on the passenger kick panel later. Not sure yet.

[rnrdthefox]

Originally Posted by 8man

Making good progress.

Thanks. You are way ahead on your build. Can't wait until I get there.

[oldman3]

Nice clean work...Jim

[youngrodder]

Nice metal repair work. Looking good. It takes a ton of time.

Marc

[youngrodder]

Nice metal repair work. Looking good. It takes a ton of time.

Marc

[rnrdthefox]

Thanks for everyone's comments. They are much appreciated. This will be my last update for a few months as I just had rotator cuff surgery and will have several weeks of rehab and PT before I can get back at it. These updates are mostly incomplete and still have work to do but wanted to get a few pics up anyway.

I was looking for a windshield wiper motor that had high, low, and parking functions. I ended up pulling one from a 90s s10. I will have to modify things so that the wipers still sweep a 90deg pattern with a 360deg rotating arm from the s10 motor. I have an idea about how to tackle this but need some time mocking things up. Has anyone used this motor with the stock wiper arms?

The size is larger than I wanted but think I can fab an under-dash bracket to make it work. The other thought that I had was to use one of the vendor after-market motors that they sell for our trucks but wasn't sure if they were wired for H, L, Park, Gnd. Does anyone know?

I've tested the motor in the electrical harness and get all the options from the steering wheel pod (high, low, variable delay, mist, washer, return to park) as they are all controlled with the BCM.

[rnrdthefox]

Next up I wanted to add and third brake light. I really wanted to add it the cab roof, but only could find an aftermarket version that was body-worked into the sheet metal. It was low profile (depth wise) but would still require me to cut into the inner roof and I didn't want to do that. So, I took the advice from others and put it just below the belt line.

This is from the trunk of a Chevy Impala. It has almost the right curvature of the truck cab and it can be modified to work. Also, the size seemed to be about right. I cut the whole thing out of the donor trunk. It has a LED board, inner diffuser, and outer lens. I put the outer lens on the bench and reduced the curvature with a heat gun. The donor metal tacked in well and conformed to the truck. Still needs final welding and to tabs for holding it in place inside the cab. I was pleased with how it turned out so far and should be watertight.

[gsinon]

Great project

[rnrdthefox]

Finally, I wanted to get the final placement for the steering wheel, seats and center console figured out so that I could start looking at the under-dash valence for the a/c vents and cleaning up the transition between the steering wheel and dash, and console to dash and floor. These are just cardboard mockups, but you get the idea. Ideally, I would like to do this in metal, but I'm not sure I have everything I need to do this and make it look the way I want it to look. More to come on this.

The console is out of a CTS-V. The shifter allows for sport mode, manual shifting, and normal P, R, N, D. The plan is to remove the shifter stalk from the steering wheel. Tow/haul function is just another transmission shift strategy and would equate to Sport mode. The manual shifting up and down from the stalk would equate to the same manual function on the CTS-V shifter. The third mode is just normal driving function. More details on this later down the road when I get to wiring and programing.