Columbus..the 1957 IH 4x4..

[72 tigger]

Nice work- everything is looking great!

[mongocanfly]

thanks zepp and tigger....
I really didn't want black wheels but they only come in black....they're starting to kinda grow on me the more I look at it.....
I heard from ORD today and they suggested a 88-98 gm truck steering box...it mounts inside the frame...I looked at one in the parking lot and believe that ,with the crossover steering that it'll solve my steering clearance issues...

[mongocanfly]

with the issues i was having with steering clearance and after talking to ORD ive decided to do a crossover steering....this will eliminate any tire to steering clearance issues....am going to use a 88-98 chevy truck 2wd steering box...they mount inside the frame and swing side 2 side.. so it should be perfect since this frame is 7" wider than the chevy frame...gonna wait til I get the engine set before I try mounting the gearbox
also finally got the rear fender and bumper off the other truck so ive got something else to work on now
was considering grafing the 2 fenders to make the white one with no spare tire hole but now im going to try to fix the old [bad] fender first...will get it blasted next week to see what ive got

[mongocanfly]

Not much to report....got the crossover steering kit from ord....may try to install that next week so I can get the steering squared away.....got most of the body parts in high build primer today....ran out of high build primer before i got done..the cab and 1 rear fender will have to wait til next week.....getting real close to seeing some color.....

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

yeah it seems like one extreme or the other...it either rains all the time or its dry and hot...
looks like your down to the short rows on the siding job....I bet that's fun in this 90+heat with all the humidity...

No, no it's not. I finished the siding this weekend, minus the top row on the front/back. I have to mark out a new line for the soffit and get that installed and I can give my friend his lift truck back before he just comes and takes it

I also just bought a 1968 Pontiac Firebird. I did get permission this time, but I have to finish the house before I can mess with it.

Truck is looking good! Still can't believe how clean it is.

[mongocanfly]

I feel you Jesse.....i saw where you had a tailgator...i hate those guys.....looks like a nice bird though...
last 2-3 weeks its been mid 90s, high humidity , 50% percent chance rain.....every day.....about 4hrs working on the truck and im done for the day....
doing the final sanding on most all the parts....still have a little body work left but maybe it wont be long before i see color....

[mongocanfly]

Ive been sparing yall from the grisly pics of high build and sanding,sanding,sanding....getting close to paint...still have 1 door and a fender to go....so I thought I'd work on the radio box a little and see if I could pull it off...here's a few pics of what I've done so far....1st I made a radius bending die for my homemade metal bender...it works purty dang good...made it from some 1in square tube and a piece of 1in round tube...bent up a couple pieces of metal to see how it would look...

[mongocanfly]

And here's a close fitting....hopefully I can weld it without burning it up...I'm using .22 gauge metal shelving from a old cabinet they were throwing away at work...

[mongocanfly]

Here's what I'm shooting for..the factory radios were mounted overhead like this one....

[Nut Case]

Mongo

Very impressive as usual!!!!! Looks like you're headed in the right direction.

I'm coping the photo's for my file, looks like you built the brake as well.

Thanks so much for sharing.

Keep on keepin on

NC

[67ChevyRedneck]

That's pretty freakin cool!

Do you have a stock radio or are you going to just make it "look" like that and put modern guts inside there?

[mongocanfly]

thanks guys...
yep..i made the metal brake...I wanted something small but extra heavy duty....ive bent 1/8in by 16in wide in it and it handles it with no problem...in those pics I removed the top part so I could use the radius maker...

on the radio I bought a retro sound unit that has the remote knobs....that way I can mount them similar to the original radio...

[Advanced Design]

Building tools is always cool. Looks good!

[mongocanfly]

Yeah Doug,,,ive always liked building stuff...usually what ever I need I'd rather build it than buy it...just to see if I can......

[mongocanfly]

So back on the radio box I started out with some 22ga.....that didn't work out to well...a simple squeeze of the mig trigger and it'd blow a hole big as a pencil in the metal...even though my welder is supposed to weld 22ga and I was using a copper backer....so i dug around in the boneyard at work and found some 20ga....it's a little better but not by much...
So I bent out a whole new unit from the 20ga
Got it mostly welded up...
I needed to make some corners for it so I started out trying to dimple some sheet metal in my press...
I started out using a ball peen hammer with a socket for a die...the ball peen was a little to pointed so I stuck some round stock in the lathe and made a better radius punch...
After punching out a couple I think they'll work ok....

[mongocanfly]

After cutting the dimple out I hammered 3 sides flat and cut out the corner of the box...after some grinding and shaping it fits fairly good....got one welded up and got one to go...still have to do the dimple across the front and punch some lovours on the bottom side....then gonna have to do some filler work and smoothing but I think my fake homebrew radio box will be ok......then it'll be on to fitting the box to follow the roof contours....

[Advanced Design]

Creative solution...nice work!

[72 tigger]

Nice craftsmanship! You're talented

[mongocanfly]

thanks Doug and tigger....im not 100% satisfied with the radio box....I may try to make one more just for the heck of it and see if itll turn out any better
its been a slow procees ,with a lot of setbacks, but its starting to come together....maybe just maybe itll start seeing some paint next week

[JoeKan]

Mom go, you're doing a super job. I'm really enjoying reading your posts

[mongocanfly]

thanks Joe.....

[mongocanfly]

Well I hope 3rd times a charm.....seems like alot of that lately....I just wasn't happy with the way the radio box was turning out.....sooooo.....I built another one.....I also made a new radius bending die from some 1 1/4 tube...the 1in radius just didn't look right.....the new die brought other issues...when I tried to bend the panel it would try to fold the metal rather than it follow the contour....I tried several things and nothing was working.....so as a last ditch effort I stuck 2 pieces of metal in it and bent both at the same time ....and it worked!....so I used a sacrifice piece along with my good metal and now have some nice 1 1/4 (5/8r)radius edges....I also narrowed up the size...originally I made it 10in wide and i dropped it to 8in now...I think it looks better...still have to finish the corners.....
started working on making a "dimple maker" to add the dimple thats on the front panel of a original radio box...tried it last night on a scrap piece and i think it'll work ok...still have to maker a backer for it to make it finish the ends of the dimple.....then I'll try to duplicate the louvors on the bottom panel....more on all this later...

[mongocanfly]

well my dimple punch didnt work out....it was pulling to much metal to make the dimple and really warping the surrounding metal...so i backed up and studied to pic of the factory radio some more and the dimple looks more flat than radiused...so i made a flate plate punch and die from some 1/8" plate....works great on my test pieces...so im gonna go with this on the enclosure box front....only shooting for close...not exact

[rgunlock]

Your flat dimple looks great! That's cool that you are making your own tools for this project.

[mongocanfly]

Thanks gunlock...
I went ahead and punched the flat dimple in my radio box and cutout the holes for the radio and the knobs...next ive got to fit it to the roof contour and figure out what length and height it needs to be...after I cut it down I'll do the louvors in the bottom panel and make the mounting bracket...