47-55.1 1953 3100 "Honey-do"

[rnrdthefox]

I started on the drivers door today, but quickly realized that Brother's Trucks sent me two passenger side patch panels for the inside. It's my fault for not checking each one. I looked on the receipt and it clearly shows a left and right, but I got two right panels.

Hopefully, next weekend I'll be done with the doors. I'm so ready to be done so I can move on to the cab corners.

More to come. Thx

[rnrdthefox]

Time for an update. Got the inner door bottom panel in and finished the driver door. Some pics of the work.

[rnrdthefox]

Hung the doors to check the bottom of the door and gaps. Overall, things lined up well. It's close enough for now. I will do some slight tweaks and clean up once the doors are media blasted. The passenger door for some reason is rubbing the rocker panel at the bottom right. I may have been off my measurements about 1/4". Not sure, but will probably need to grind the edge down and weld the seam.

Next up on the metalwork list are the cab corners now that I have the doors re-hung.

[rnrdthefox]

While I was waiting on the driver door panel, I decided to work on the brake pedal, gas pedal, steering wheel and seat belts.

I found a 92 S-10 at the pick and pull and got the brake pedal assembly. Modified it according to the well documented process I found in the S-10 conversion sticky.

The brake pedal seems a tad high for my liking. I will likely extended the length and inch or so. What have others done with the S-10 bracket length?

[rnrdthefox]

Pics of the brake and gas pedal. The gas is going to be drive by wire. It's easily moved. I will likely mount the pedal to a "ramp" on the fire wall to push the pedal closer to the floor once I get final placement of the seats.

One other thought I had on the brake was to swap the pedal pad for a wider one off a 90 full size truck. I've got one laying around the shop already.

[rnrdthefox]

For the seat belts, I used the ones out of the donor escalade as they are already attached to the seat. One think I like about them is the shoulder height adjustment. This makes it nice for myself and to boss to drive. I used 1/4" bar stock about 3" long as the mounting brackets in the b-pillars. I tapped them and welded a nut on them. Finally, I radiused the edges (not pictured) to match the inside of the pillar incase of an accident, they don't act as a cutting edge.

I will bolt the seat belt spools in the cab corners on the inside wall. I'm waiting to do this work when I open the cab corners for better access. Hopefully that will be done on the next update.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by rnrdthefox

I pulled everything that I thought might be of value. I wish I had a place to "park" it out of sight as there were a few more items I would like to have had after the fact. I could have sold a few more parts also. Oh well. That's how you roll in the land of HOAs.

Glad to see another mate fight the good fight with the HOAs ha ha (I can't wait to move out of their reach) enjoying your progress/build, concerned that the donor was not wrecked which makes me wonder why it made it to auction

[8man]

Nice work, and that is a good looking Bronco sitting next to the truck.

[rnrdthefox]

Originally Posted by Gregski

Glad to see another mate fight the good fight with the HOAs ha ha (I can't wait to move out of their reach) enjoying your progress/build, concerned that the donor was not wrecked which makes me wonder why it made it to auction

Thanks. I can't wait to get out also and have more room/freedom.

It was wrecked although not that bad. You can't tell from the pics, but the rims were trashed (broken inside lips) and the back bumper gone. It likely jumped a curb at high speed and ripped the bumper off. Also the rear door panels had been removed as if it was being searched. I had a person that wanted the frame before I hauled it away, but when he had his insurance run the vin, they said they wouldn't insure it. It had been turned in for fraud.

[rnrdthefox]

Originally Posted by 8man

Nice work, and that is a good looking Bronco sitting next to the truck.

Thanks. The Bronco was a restomod several years back. I enjoy it a lot. It was my dad's and had ~ 23K miles when I started. It required a ton of metal work after sitting outside it's whole life.

It's got a 393W stroker with Explorer top-end and 94/95 mustang computer driving the engine and 4R70W, PS and power disk front and rear. It will cruise down the interstate at 75 like a dream. I need to get it out now that it's finally spring here in Colorado.

[rnrdthefox]

It's been a few weeks so I should do an update. The cab corners were the only major sheet metal work left on the cab. Each had pencil size holes rusted through them. I started with the driver side first.

I ended up having to fab some of the inner corners that had rust issues.

While I was in there, I took the time to add a bolt mounting point for the seat belt retractor. I welded a nut to a 14 ga plate and bent it to fit the curve and welded it in just below the reinforcement bracket behind.

[rnrdthefox]

More pics of driver side. I ended up with some shrinkage along the weld seam. A small amount of body filler should do the trick I think.

[rnrdthefox]

Next up was the passenger side. Same exercise, except this side had more rust issue to the inner corner. The right side of the truck has had more rust than the other side. I guess it might have to do with how it was sitting in the weather?

[rnrdthefox]

Still had some shrinkage on this side too. I also took the time to Por-15 both sides while it was open and easy to get too.

[rnrdthefox]

Getting a little tired of sheet metal work. Decided to get the steering wheel mounted where it will end up and built a second bracket that I welded to the brake pedal bracket (will show a pic when I pull it back out for final welding). Also, while I was walking the junkyard the other day, I noticed a nice firewall boot that I thought might work. I still need to weld up the original factory hole below it, but it looks like it might work. It's flexible, so I'm hoping I can get it in the right position to get around the headers with the next section of linkage.

I'm going to start working the brake system, steering linkage and gas tank with behind the license fill. I got a start on them this weekend.

More to come. Thx.

[youngrodder]

Lots of great progress there. It is always great feeling when you get all of the rust/rot taken care of.

Marc

[8man]

Nice work.

[rnrdthefox]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Probably time for another update. Looks like it's been about a month now.

My headers finally came in so I was able to get the steering linkage put together. Made a short double D shaft for the end of the stock shaft to the second u-joint and attached it.

The ID for the stock shaft was slightly larger than 3/4" so the ends are slightly different sizes.

[rnrdthefox]

Next was the steering shaft support bearing. Pulled out some 1.25" bar stock cut it to length, drilled and tapped for 3/4 - 16 and tacked it into place on the frame rail.

I tucked it up close the header to keep the angle down, but it still ended up about 35 degrees. It doesn't bind, but I may need to revisit it later once I get the power steering hooked up.

[rnrdthefox]

While I was working on the steering, I pulled out the brake pedal assembly and change the pin size for the push rod and BOO switch. It's a larger pin so I knocked out the old one, turned down another one to the correct size and welded it back in. The push rod end will be sleeved and welded to the S10 rod end once I set final pedal placement. Also added a piece of angle iron for the bottom bracket of the steering column to attach to with weld in nuts.

[rnrdthefox]

Moved my attention back to accessing the next phase of the metal work. ALL of the panels, hood, cab, and fenders will need some hammer and dolly work on the larger dings and dents. I've been looking at my bed and decided that I didn't want to invest the time to bring it back to life. Over the years, tie-downs for various loads had ripped the stake pockets open along with the top metal. It had been welded up several times, but didn't hold. After accessing the bed with several large dents, rot and very thin rust areas, and a tailgate that appeared to have come off and been run over a few times, I decided to start with fresh sheet metal from Mar-K. I upgraded to the hidden latches for the tailgate. I gave the old bed to a 16 yr old in Kansas who is working on his project. Here are some pics.

Also, you might notice the rear roll pan clamped in on one of the pics. I don't recall the brand, but I wish it was 3/4" wider to meet the edges of the stake pockets. if I "pull" the bed ends in to make up the difference, the tailgate is too tight (and the bed isn't square). I guess I'll cut it in the middle and add some metal to widen it. I'm getting better at metal surgery now, so I guess it isn't a big deal, just another thing on the list. But that discussion is for another day. If someone has done this, let me know how well it went and the approach you took.

[rnrdthefox]

I decided to start on the driver rear fender and take out several large dents and fix a stress crack and some rust that I found. I started on the large dents on the top. Once I stared working the dents, I ended up with some smaller highs and lows. I tried my hand at a shrinking disk for the first time. I was surprised at how well it worked after a few passes. You can see the fender progression in the next few pics.

I continued to work it until I could feel minor highs and lows with my hand. I have a new appreciation for people who work these panels back to perfection.

[rnrdthefox]

Some pics of the rust and stress crack repair.

After it was said and done, I spent an entire day on this fender. It could be body worked at this point without a lot of filler build up. But, I'm going to spend a few more hours on it later to work a few more spots. I don't have the patience to work it all at once.

My hat goes off to the metal artist who take the time to get these panels perfect and only require a small skim coat. This is not my forte' and is just a necessary evil for my goals....

[mongocanfly]

Doing some really good work there....
The guys that are really good at metal work are amazing..MP&C and the astronaut have several builds down in the alternative tinkering section...always good to see what they're up to..and I've started watching pro metal workshop on utube...another master at his trade..

[rnrdthefox]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Doing some really good work there....
The guys that are really good at metal work are amazing..MP&C and the astronaut have several builds down in the alternative tinkering section...always good to see what they're up to..and I've started watching pro metal workshop on utube...another master at his trade..

Thanks. I've seen the Pro Metal Workshop guy. I bought his shrinking disk after I saw one of his videos. I didn't even know what a shrinking disk was a few months ago...