Wife's 48

[Tempest67]

Nice work on that dash.

You are really making progress, can't wait to see your floor.

Keep up the great work, enjoy the process, and thanks for sharing.

[8man]

Thanks Tempest.

[mongocanfly]

Nice "fix" Robert....!!

[8man]

Thanks Greg.

[8man]

Needed something else to work on, so I thought about the outer door trim rings. So I pulled them out,
IMG_0497 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

Then I cleaned them up some.
IMG_0498 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

So I thought WTF, I'll put one on this rusty door. NO BUENO! I tried it from the outside in and the inside out, and obviously I don't know how to put these things on. I wound up bending it in two places. Luckily I was able to straighten out the bends.

What is the trick?

[joedoh]

i fold them together without bending too much till I can get the front lower corner in, then work that corner in with a broom handle or stick (it will want to sit an inch or two from seated) then get the back lower corner in, by then you can unfold it and work the 3 remaining corners into place, at which point the overlap at the top will work.

[8man]

Thank you. I put that "how to" in my "Assembly Book". Maybe next time I won't bend them.

On another happy note, I picked up the floor pan today.
IMG_0500 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr
The large turned up lip goes up against the back support that was on the floor in front of the gas tank. It should weld right up to it. The sides are cut to fit like the original, and bend down at a 90. The only hic-cup is the front lip is turned at a 90 instead of a 45, but I think I can deal with that. Went with 16 gauge steel, so it is pretty sturdy as is, but I think I'll add a stiffener or two just to be safe. It was $175.58 as you see it, and I got the drops from the sheet, almost a 1/2 sheet to play with. Pretty pleased with it, now to get the time to put it in.

[oldman3]

Robert, hope it slides right in, look good...Jim

[8man]

Thanks Jim.

You know I couldn't wait. I went out and dropped it in place. The turn downs on the sides are about 3/4" too long toward the front of the door opening, so it won't drop all the way down, but with a little trimming it will.
IMG_0503 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

Bottom left of picture shows how the turn down sticks out past the kick panel flange about 1/2". I'm going to have to work on the front, shortening it and re-bending the lip to mate up, but I'll wait on that to see how the firewall fits and then mate them up.

[OutlawDrifter]

Looks good Robert!

[8man]

Thank you all. It made my day when Laura said "we did good on the color."

The running board idea was not my original idea, I "borrowed" it too.

[olcarguy]

That's what is so good about this site...nobody minds if you borrow an idea....

[8man]

Yep!

[oldman3]

Robert, like the color and running boards are sweet...Jim

[8man]

Thanks Jim.

[8man]

Ok, I posted a pic of the new floor. Well, I've been working on getting it in the truck.
The first thing was to build a support brace that will make it solid. With the thicker steel in the floor itself, I think a 1 x 2 tube should be plenty of support. Also, since there is an angle to the cab about 20" in front of the back brace, I used some 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 tube on the sides and then cut the cross member to fit.
IMG_0521 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr
The idea is to turn the truck up on it's back, and stitch weld the floor to the cross member.

Of course I needed to tie the two supports in front where the body bolts hold the cab down to the new support crossmember, so I had some old bed rails laying around, and...
IMG_0523 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr
I cut them a little long, cut the front so I could bend it down to match the originals. Then I used a 4" plate and some 2 x 2 thick wall tube to clamp everything true and straight, measured everything over and over and had to cut 1/2" off of one and 5/8" off the other, but when welded it up, all the measurements were good.

Then back to the floor. The original has a relief for the head of the body bolt, so it will recess into the floor a little. I built a buck, used a bolt to hold it all together while I persuaded it to get into position and...
IMG_0520 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

So I test fit the floor.
IMG_0522 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr
It is very solid! The back lip will weld up to the rear cross support, you can see the clamps back there. There is a lip of old floor in front of that, and from the bottom I'll weld that to the new floor to seal the cab. The bolts fell right into the holes for the body mounts. I had to do a little trimming on the sides, and will have to work them up against the side of the truck, they are about 1/4" too wide. I've worked it back and forth and have about 1/8" on each side, and think if I heat and hammer and heat and hammer and heat and hammer the floor at the 90 on the sides, I can get it to lie flat against the side of the truck so I can plug weld it.

With the floor held in with the front bolts and the clamps in the rear, simulating where it will sit, I test fit the firewall. NO JOY! I was concerned about the fit of the floor and I had it cut a little long. About 3/4" long. So now I have to work on that. After putting that bulky, heavy piece of steel in that truck too many times to count, I quit for the day. That thing is a workout!

[Tempest67]

looking good

[oldman3]

Nice work...Jim

[Tinbasher]

Looks great 8man! its probably not a bad time to figure out what seat and how you are going to mount it before you weld the new floor in? If you like you can pm me your email address and i can send you a few pics of how i am doing mine.

[joedoh]

haha necessity may be the mother of invention but indignation about high cost and inferior parts is the daddy.

nice work man!

[8man]

Thanks guys for the kind words. I got to admit, it felt good when the bolts dropped right in.

[OutlawDrifter]

Robert, way to work through a solid solution!

It's been fun watching all this come together, you're doing a great job!

[8man]

Thanks Outlaw. I'm still going slow as I have to think everything through since this is all so new.

[mongocanfly]

Floor turned out good Robert..

[8man]

Thanks Greg.

I just got some pictures from Tinbasher showing how he did his floor replacement, very nice work.