1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule

[Old_Green]

Been a little while since I posted but I have been working on the doors.
I took a bunch of video of the door skin stretch and re-assembly, so I may to post that to YouTube and will post a link if so.
I finished up the passenger door skin, cleaned up the welds as best I could and reassembled the door. Re-bending the hem material of the skin back onto the door was a pain. The 1968 panel (blue) I had only bent 30 to 45 degrees, but it split in several places when bending back down, so I had to weld the door edge after I got it all back together. I didn't have any issues with the 1972 panels, even where I had to bend them up to 90 degrees to get the panel back on the frame.
I then used a surface conditioning tool to remove all the old vinyl sign material. You can see on the last post that the doors had some magnetic signs on them over the old vinyl too, so there is some rust that got between the magnet and the door. I wanted to expose all of that, and get it cleaned up and treated. I also took the rest of the paint off the skin. Then I test fit the door onto the cab.
It will need a little work on the drip edge gap.

[Old_Green]

So, once again it has been a while since my last update. there has been progress, but not as much time to document it as I had.

A couple months ago, I placed the cab and bed back on the frame to be able to get measurements so I can shorten the frame, as well as double check the clearances for engine to cab, radiator etc...
I also put the bed in place on spacers so it would be the correct height, and centered the wheel openings over the axle. Once that was done, I was able to determine that I would need to shorten the frame 23 1/2 inches.

Since it was so close to looking complete, I also put all the body panels back on to kind of get a feel for how it would all look together.

[Old_Green]

After testing all the fit and getting the frame measurements, I pulled the body back off the frame and put it on the cart, and the bed on another cart.
Using another cart, I welded some cross braces to support the frame rails in front and behind the proposed cut lines. I'm finding I get to focused on the project and dont take enough pictures as I am working. The first frame picture below is after all 4 cuts and the gap closed up and clamped. The last picture is the weld completed from the outside.

[Old_Green]

The sections that were cut out of the frame each had a one inch section cut out of the middle, and then they were welded back into the frame as a fish plates. Once the frame is painted, it will be nearly invisible from the outside.

[G-749]

Good job . Looked at entire thread. Wish mine looked that good.
Good luck on all your projects. 😆

[Old_Green]

Thank you, I enjoy it, but I wish it was moving along quicker.

[Old_Green]

Another catching up post.

I pulled both axles out, and set the frame on the 14 bolt rear axle and Dana 60 front axle from the sleeper truck. Now, I'm working out U-bolts and mounting angles.